Victim defends alleged homophobic church group

The video has gone viral and even American columnists have commented on the incident. A group of churchgoers have been called homophobic and lambasted for preaching outside the home of a gay couple in Leslieville, Toronto.

On Sunday evening, members from the Highfield Road Gospel Hall, a congregation of roughly 30, stood preaching to the residents on Highfield Road. The neighbors heard the loud shouts coming from the street and went out to confront the congregants. Geoffrey Skelding was one such resident; only he grabbed his camera and caught the end of the confrontation, which he later posted on YouTube. The entire scuffle lasted only minutes before the crowd dispersed. James McKay was the first resident to meet the church members on the street. ”Nobody wanted to have people screaming and chanting on a Sunday night.” He added, “They have a right to protest. They have a right to religious expression. But they don’t have a right to yell and scream at our neighbours” The church claims to have not been targeting one specific house, but all houses. Preaching to the public and singing hymns is something they do on Sunday evenings in the summer. A member, who wished to remain anonymous stated, “We’re there for everyone to hear the gospel. We’re not there to preach to just one house. That would be discrimination.” American Sex Columnist and blogger, Dan Savage, commented on the video Monday afternoon on his blog, or Slog, “Christofascists in Toronto protest in front of the home of a gay couple—not because the couple did anything in particular to the church. But the couple exists...” The victim of the alleged homophobic attack, Blair Chaisson, has since spoken out. On Wednesday he came to the defense of the church members. “There’s a fire hydrant across the street, so that’s an open place where they can stand...The fire hydrant just happened to be directly across the street from our house.” “We don’t even know the people that started this…So the people who are apparently our defenders, we don’t even know who they are.” he said. Mr. Chiasson called his neighbours “immature,” adding, “I was reading some of the comments online, and it just made me sick...I think this generated more hatred than the actions on the street.”