Same-sex Marriage in Saskatchewan - Human Rights Complaint: M.J. V. Nichols

Human Rights Complaint: M.J. V. Nichols

In 2005, Orville Nichols, a 30-year marriage commissioner and devout Baptist, refused to marry a gay couple, M.J. and B.R., because it conflicted with his religious beliefs. M.J. filed a complaint under The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, on the basis that "...Mr. Nichols refused to perform a marriage between M.J. and B.R. on the basis of the prohibited ground of M.J.’s sexual orientation." The Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal ordered Nichols to pay $2,500 in compensation to the couple for infringing their right under The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code to access to public services without discrimination. In 2009, the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench dismissed Nichols' appeal.

Read more about this topic:  Same-sex Marriage In Saskatchewan

Famous quotes containing the words human and/or rights:

    A potent quack, long versed in human ills,
    Who first insults the victim whom he kills;
    Whose murd’rous hand a drowsy bench protect,
    And whose most tender mercy is neglect.
    George Crabbe (1754–1832)

    In the course of the actual attainment of selfish ends—an attainment conditioned in this way by universality—there is formed a system of complete interdependence, wherein the livelihood, happiness, and legal status of one man is interwoven with the livelihood, happiness, and rights of all. On this system, individual happiness, etc. depend, and only in this connected system are they actualized and secured.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)