High-profile gay activist minister charged with sexually abusing boy in 1970s
Canada’s
most celebrated homosexual activist minister has been charged for allegedly
sexually abusing a boy in the mid-1970s.
Rev. Brent Hawkes, 65, of the Metropolitan Community Church in
Toronto, has been charged with indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.
He was summoned to court in Kentville, Nova Scotia yesterday to face the
charges. Local police have refused to provide further details.
Hawkes, who lives with his male "husband," has become
a major icon of homosexual activism in Canada.
He famously flouted Canadian law by illegally
"marrying" a homosexual couple in his Toronto church in 2001. When
the Canadian government would not recognize it, he took the government to
court. Subsequently, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice recognized the
"marriage" as legal, beginning a process of judicial activism that
eventually culminated in the legalization of homosexual "marriage" by
Canada’s Parliament in 2005.
For his “lifetime of distinguished service” in promoting
homosexual ‘rights’ and ‘equality’ Hawkes received Canada’s highest civilian
award — the Order of Canada — in 2007. In 2014, the WorldPride Parade in
Toronto honored Hawkes by making him grand marshal of the event.
Hawkes is denying the charges. “I want to be crystal clear: I am
innocent of these allegations. The purported events simply did not take place,”
he said in a statement appearing on his church’s website.
“While it is impossible for me to understand where these almost
40 year old accusations come from, I have a faith that will sustain me as well
as faith in Canada’s justice system.”
"For 38 years, I have fought, with all that I have, for
equality for my community. I have fought to give voice to those without voice.
Now I will fight, with all that I have, these accusations. This time, however,
my fight will be different; this time I will allow others to give voice for
me,” he said.
Hawkes is being represented by civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby,
known for his work of defending abortionist Henry Morgentaler and convicted
child pornographer Benjamin Levin, as well as for bringing legal
action against
the British Columbian government for approving a Christian-based school of law
with its Christian code-of-conduct governing sex.
Ruby said he believes Hawkes’ account. “I have known Brent for
more than a quarter century. I believe him, completely, when he tells me these
accusations are false and that these events did not happen,” he said in a
statement that appeared on Hawkes’ church website.
“We will now show, in court, that Brent is innocent of these 40
year old allegations. Like Brent, I have confidence, not only in our justice
system but, in the outcome of this matter. I am confident that Brent will be
vindicated, found innocent and that his 38 years of commitment to human rights
and progressive Christianity will remain unblemished,” he said.
A plea date is set for April 13.
