Cell phone videos captured the moment when a pastor was forcibly removed from a drag queen event at a library in Canada.
The pastor peacefully protested that a drag event was being held at a public library in the first place. The Blaze News reports that the pastor was knocked flat on his back as he was forced out by those attending the event. Now, police in Calgary, Alberta, are looking at charging the pastor with a potential hate crime.
According to the Calgary News, officers responded to a disruption at the Seton Librarys Reading with Royalty event at 11:15 am on Saturday. Police released a statement in which they stated:
We were subsequently called to the location for reports that several individuals aggressively entered a library classroom, shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs at the children and parents in attendance, scaring the children while causing a disturbance and subsequently refusing to leave.
Two people at the event helped library staff throw the people out while waiting for police to arrive, reports the Calgary News outlet.
Police arrived, arrested 36-year-old Derek Scott Reimer, and charged him with a hate crime for his actions at this event. He now faces one charge of causing a disturbance and one count of mischief.
The Calgary News reported:
CPS reminds people that hate-motivated crimes are things like assault, theft, vandalism, or any other crime where the offender was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate that is based on nine characteristics of the victim.
Officers are piling the charges on top of Reimer as they also put by-law charges with six counts of harassment. They noted that each charge could have a penalty of up to $10,000 per charge and up to six months in jail if he is found guilty.
Pam Rocker an activist, speaker, and director of Affirming Connection in Calgary spoke with the Calgary News in an unrelated story that in a civilized society such as Canada, we should be ok to say, This is who I am. That is who you are, and we are each unique in our ways of being. And we should celebrate that and not be afraid of it.
Rocker stated that these events are about respect. Theyre about seeing people and allowing people to be seen for who they are.
Whatever the case, some in the United States and beyond are horrified that a pastor could be charged with a hate crime for simply protesting an event that he firmly disagrees with on religious grounds.
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