The small town of Emo, Ontario, and its mayor, Harold McQuaker, have been fined a collective $15,000 for deciding not to celebrate Pride Month or fly the rainbow flag in 2020. The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario handed down the ruling late last month.
The town is being fined $10,000, while McQuaker had his own $5,000 fine tacked on. He was also ordered, alongside the CAO, to complete human rights training.
The issue began when Borderland Pride, which describes itself as a “2SLGBTQIA+ Pride organization,” requested Emo declare June as Pride Month and fly its little alphabet flag for a week.
The council in 2020 voted against doing that. And the organization’s director, Daniel Judson, could only conclude it had everything to do with “sexual orientation and gender identity issues attached to pride.”
Mayor McQuaker noted, however, that by making a special…
