Teh One Who Knocks
07-29-2013, 11:30 AM
Jake Edmiston - National Post
http://i.imgur.com/BZnH11W.jpg
Following a bizarre correspondence with an anonymous letter-writer, Ontario’s human rights tribunal has strongly dismissed claims that the A&W fast food chain’s Burger Family poses a threat to the self-respect of the LGBT community.
The complaint — filed last month by a man posing as a radical lesbian feminist — demanded $50,000 from the restaurant chain, alleging that its trademark Papa, Mama, Grandpa and Teen burgers were “an attack on my womyn identity.”
http://i.imgur.com/11sztQx.jpg
“The whole heteronormative, phallocentric marketing scheme of A&W is highly degrading to non-tradition families,” reads the complaint filed to the tribunal last month.
“The level of humiliation and degradation I felt exceeded that which I felt when I was raped.”
Calling it “outrageous” and “vexatious,” the human rights tribunal threw out the application earlier this month over concerns regarding the veracity of the complainant’s story.
Questions over the legitimacy of the claim came after learning the pseudonym used on the application, Gloria Ironbox, was the same as a parodied feminist on the adult cartoon series Family Guy.
In further correspondence, the complainant revealed himself as a man, but urged the tribunal to continue to process his complaint or risk denying his right to expression.
While conceding that his complaint was “ridiculous,” the complainant said it was no more ridiculous than a recent human rights tribunal ruling in B.C. that saw a comedian Guy Earle fined $15,000 after directing a barrage of slurs toward a lesbian couple at a restaurant in 2011.
In the seven-page document posted on the Can-LII website, associate chair David Wright slammed the complaint as attempting to abuse the system.
http://i.imgur.com/fwD0k1K.jpg
“I understand his argument to be that the Tribunal should process the Application so that he can demonstrate what he sees as flaws in the human rights system in Canada,” Mr. Wright wrote in the July 19 decision. “
A Canadian human rights activist took no issue with the A&W menu, choosing instead to criticize the anonymous complainant for ridiculing the tribunal system.
“This is doing a disservice to the queer community by undermining genuine concerns regarding heteronormativity,” said Dara Parker, executive director of the B.C. LGBT advocacy group, Qmunity.
Spokespersons at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and A&W were not immediately available for comment.
http://i.imgur.com/BZnH11W.jpg
Following a bizarre correspondence with an anonymous letter-writer, Ontario’s human rights tribunal has strongly dismissed claims that the A&W fast food chain’s Burger Family poses a threat to the self-respect of the LGBT community.
The complaint — filed last month by a man posing as a radical lesbian feminist — demanded $50,000 from the restaurant chain, alleging that its trademark Papa, Mama, Grandpa and Teen burgers were “an attack on my womyn identity.”
http://i.imgur.com/11sztQx.jpg
“The whole heteronormative, phallocentric marketing scheme of A&W is highly degrading to non-tradition families,” reads the complaint filed to the tribunal last month.
“The level of humiliation and degradation I felt exceeded that which I felt when I was raped.”
Calling it “outrageous” and “vexatious,” the human rights tribunal threw out the application earlier this month over concerns regarding the veracity of the complainant’s story.
Questions over the legitimacy of the claim came after learning the pseudonym used on the application, Gloria Ironbox, was the same as a parodied feminist on the adult cartoon series Family Guy.
In further correspondence, the complainant revealed himself as a man, but urged the tribunal to continue to process his complaint or risk denying his right to expression.
While conceding that his complaint was “ridiculous,” the complainant said it was no more ridiculous than a recent human rights tribunal ruling in B.C. that saw a comedian Guy Earle fined $15,000 after directing a barrage of slurs toward a lesbian couple at a restaurant in 2011.
In the seven-page document posted on the Can-LII website, associate chair David Wright slammed the complaint as attempting to abuse the system.
http://i.imgur.com/fwD0k1K.jpg
“I understand his argument to be that the Tribunal should process the Application so that he can demonstrate what he sees as flaws in the human rights system in Canada,” Mr. Wright wrote in the July 19 decision. “
A Canadian human rights activist took no issue with the A&W menu, choosing instead to criticize the anonymous complainant for ridiculing the tribunal system.
“This is doing a disservice to the queer community by undermining genuine concerns regarding heteronormativity,” said Dara Parker, executive director of the B.C. LGBT advocacy group, Qmunity.
Spokespersons at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and A&W were not immediately available for comment.