Gay-activist pastor accused of sexually abusing a teen set free by judge

A Nova Scotia judge has acquitted Canada’s most prominent homosexual-activist pastor of charges that he sexually abused a 16-year-old boy, despite acknowledging in his ruling the “likelihood or even a probability that some sexual activity happened in the bedroom.”

Judge Alan Tufts acquitted Toronto gay-pastor Brent Hawkes in a case going back to the 1970s after concluding that the complainant’s testimony did not hold up to scrutiny, and that there were “significant inconsistencies” in the testimony of the witnesses.

“In the end, it is not clear what happened in the bedroom that evening 41 years ago. It is easy to speculate, but that is something that is not permitted here,” he wrote in his 59-page decision given on Tuesday.

Tufts ruled that while “there is a likelihood or even a probability that some sexual activity happened in the bedroom, possibly between the accused and [the complainant],” he was “not convinced of that beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“For that reason the accused is found not guilty,” he stated.

Hawkes, 66, a pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto, was a key player in the legalization of homosexual “marriage” in Canada. He was charged in February 2016 with one count of indecent assault and one of gross indecency.

The charges stemmed from allegations by men who were students when Hawkes was a high school teacher in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley four decades ago.

During a six-day trial in November 2016, the judge heard testimony from the complainant that Hawkes forced him, then age 16, to have oral sex with him in the bedroom of Hawkes’s trailer, where he and other teenage boys had been drinking heavily.

Tufts also heard testimony from witnesses, one of whom testified that Hawkes pulled him into a small bathroom and told him “he was 80 percent sure I was gay.”

The identity of the complainant and two other witnesses are protected by a publication ban, according to a report in Xtra.

Tufts wrote the complainant’s testimony, while compelling, had weaknesses, and that there were “significant inconsistencies” with the testimony of the witnesses.

“There is a strong possibility that [the complainant] reconstructed and recreated and possibly embellished this event over time, as a result of memories that came to him later on,” the provincial court judge wrote.

Hawkes, who categorically denied any sexual activity had taken place, was present at the Kentville courtroom for the verdict. He gave a brief statement thanking his “husband” before leaving for the airport.

Hawkes’ high-profile  Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby, who defended abortionist Henry Morgentaler and convicted child pornographer Benjamin Levin, was not in attendance.

But homosexual activist Toronto lawyer Doug Elliott was on hand in his stead, to scold the crown for bringing charges against Hawkes.

“There’s a lot of people in the community who are very grateful for the human rights work that has been done by Reverend Hawkes over the years,” Elliott told the media.

Homosexual activist Hawkes, who moved to Toronto in 1977, infamously flouted Canadian law by "marrying" a homosexual couple in his LGBTQ-promoting church in 2001, and taking the Canadian government to court when it did not recognize the “marriage.”

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.