Comedian Fined $15,000 For Heckling Lesbian Couple

The British Columbia Human Rights Commission has ordered Canadian comedian Guy Earle to pay a lesbian couple $15,000 for "a tirade of homophobic and sexist comments" made during a stand-up performance in Vancouver in 2007. Guy Earle lost the four-year legal battle which was brought on by Lorna Pardy and her partner.

  The Vancouver Sun reports:

Earle had countered that he and others appearing on stage that night had been severely heckled by Pardy and as tempers flared, she threw drinks in his face. He also admitted that at one point, he broke her sunglasses.

In a judgment this week, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal agreed with Pardy's argument that Earle's comments insulted her dignity, self-respect and feelings. The tribunal ordered Earle to pay her $15,000 and the owner of the restaurant, Salam Ismail, to pay her $7,500. The commission also ordered another $320 be paid to Pardy for lost wages.

"Mr. Earle's treatment of Ms. Pardy was both verbal and physical, and involved both aggressiveness and physical contact," wrote tribunal member Murray Geiger-Adams. "It is important both to Ms. Pardy and to the public to clearly identify that the conduct engaged in by Mr. Earle, in particular, was a breach of Ms. Pardy's human rights under the code.

Earle's attorney has accused the Tribunal of being in contempt and the comedian says that he will not pay the $15,000 fine.

Watch an interview from 2007 wherein Earle tells his side of the story about that night, AFTER THE JUMP.

Watch: 'Raise Your Glass' Lip Dub with a Cast of Thousands

The University of British Columbia Vancouver's lip dub, set to Pink's "Raise Your Glass" and Marianas Trench's "Celebrity Status" is the most ambitious I've seen to date, even taking plunge in the school pool.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #829

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MARRIAGE: Matt Baume of Stop8.org offers an update on marriage battles across the country.

PRISCILLA:Liza Minnelli pays a visit to the London West End cast of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

GAY PARENTING: CNN's report on gay parenting in the Bible Belt.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

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For fans of the tilt-shift time-lapse genre.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Vandals Target Gay Newspaper Xtra in Vancouver

The Canadian gay newspaper Xtra, which publishes in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver, says more than a dozen of its newspaper boxes have been destroyed by homophobic vandals in Vancouver:

This is "far and above what we've experienced in the past," he says. "This we find quite alarming."

"The energy that's required, the persistence to rip out a part that is very deliberately anchored in, suggests that this person has some significant issues," Kirkby says. "Somebody walking the streets out there has a real hate-on for the gay and lesbian community."

"I understand that people are not targeting Xtra with this; they're targeting the gay community. We're just a stand-in for the community," he says.

Among the stand-alone street boxes, only Xtra was attacked, Kirkby notes. But in at least one multiple publication box on Hornby St the only other gay publication, LOV magazine, was also targeted, its clip ripped out in the same way. No other publication was touched.

To systematically rip out the clips on 14 gay publication boxes from Gastown to English Bay suggests an obsession, Kirkby says, concerned the fury may escalate.

The Globe and Mail adds:

Ken Coolen, president of the Vancouver Pride Society, called the actions “cowardly.”

“It’s frustrating and it’s disappointing. We’re going into 2011,” he said. “It sounds like one or a group of people who are homophobic and looking at a way to lash out against the gay community. I guess this is a way of them doing it without thinking they’re going to be in as much trouble.”

Constable Jana McGuinness, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Police Department, said while it’s too early to call the vandalism a hate crime, “it certainly does look targeted.”

The Vancouver Police Department and Crime Stoppers are taking tips at 1-800-222-8477.

Vancouver Man Gets Six Years in Prison for Assault That Left Gay Man Brain-Damaged

Shawn Woodward was sentenced today to six years in prison for an "unprovoked attack, driven by virulent homophobia," according to the judge, for an assault on 62-year-old Ritch Dowrey which left Dowrey with permanent brain damage.

The Vancouver Sun reports:

"Woodward, 37, punched Dowrey in the face in the Fountain Head Pub, a gay bar in Vancouver's West End, March 13, 2009, causing Dowrey to fall unconscious on to a tile floor. Woodward was charged with aggravated assault. Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Jocelyn Palmer rejected Woodward's evidence that Dowrey had touched his crotch before the assault. She said the evidence showed that Dowrey — who was celebrating his retirement that night — had twice approached Woodward and asked if he could buy him a beer and had merely touched his shoulder. However, Woodward responded: 'I'm not like that,' meaning 'I'm not gay,'" said the judge. As he was leaving the pub, Woodward sucker punched Dowrey and then stepped over him to get to the door, Palmer said. 'Mr. Dowrey had no opportunity to defend himself,' the judge said. Patrons held Woodward outside the pub and he told them Dowrey was 'a faggot' who deserved what he got."

According to friends, Dowrey now has no memory and is living in a care facility because he can't care for himself.

Said Dowrey's friend Lindsay Wincherauk: "Ritch on March 13, 2009, was this really super happy, fun-loving, good guy who encouraged everyone. Since the event, Mr. Dowrey has no recollection of today, yesterday, years before. He's happy to see you but he's not the same person ... it's like he died that day."