Login / RegisterTribunal awards Lorna Pardy $22,000 for discrimination at Vancouver comedy show
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has awarded a woman more than $22,000 after she complained that she was harassed at an open-mic comedy show in Vancouver.
Lorna Pardy alleged she was discriminated against on the basis of her sexuality following a heated encounter with comedian Guy Earle at Zesty Restaurant on Commercial Drive.
Pardy went to the restaurant as a patron on the night of May 22, 2007 to meet her then-partner Zoe Broomsgrove and a friend.
After sitting outside, the group was brought inside by staff when the patio closed and they were seated near the stage during the comedy performance, hosted by Earle.
After seeing Pardy and Broomsgrove kiss, Earle directed homophobic and profanity-laced comments at their table from the stage, according to the tribunal’s reasons for decision.
Pardy, who was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, said she felt threatened and humiliated.
The respondents denied they discriminated and Earle argued he was just dealing with hecklers.
The respondents also said the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal does not have jurisdiction to consider the case but the tribunal disagreed.
Pardy filed the complaint in September 2007 and the hearing took place in March and April 2010.
In the reasons for decision issued today (April 20), tribunal member Murray Geiger-Adams said Pardy’s complaint is justified against Earle, Zesty Food Services Inc., and the restaurant’s proprietor Salam Ismail.
“Mr. Earle’s treatment of Ms. Pardy was both verbal and physical, and involved both aggressiveness and physical contact,” Geiger-Adams wrote.
“In my view, in the circumstances disclosed by the reliable evidence in this case, 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 has been ordered to pay Pardy $15,000 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self respect.
Zesty and Ismail have been ordered to pay Pardy $7,500 for injury to dignity, feelings, and self respect.
Pardy is also to be paid for lost wages and interest on the awards of damages.
The next time you're at a Canucks game be sure and look around before yelling "The Blackhawks Suck!". You never know when a nearby 'Hawks fan will sic this sham we call a Human Rights Tribunal on you.
Frankly, she should be charged with assault and made to pay for the indignity she caused him.
This is why the tribunal is a complete joke.
Yes, he directed those words from the stage. A place where free speech needs to be allowed. Then the audience member threw a drink at the comedian when he was offstage twice. They turned it into something physical. He removed her sunglasses and broke them. Maybe, maybe he or the restaurant should have paid for the sunglasses. What really should have happened is Purdy should have been ejected from the restaurant for heckling and disrupting a comedy show. But we ended up in a Bizarro-Land where she's reward for her behavior. This is a shameful decision with no recourse to overturn it.
Seriously, Earle might have been a jerk, but HE'S A COMEDIAN. The plaintiff heckled and threw water on him and he called her a bad name. This case is a frivolous sham.
Earle made homophobic remarks. He instigated a situation which got completely out of hand.
This case does not reflect a comedian's lack of right to free speech on a stage, it represents the law stating that harassment based on one's sexual orientation is hateful and not permitted.
Who cares about 22, 000.00? That's chump change compared to 29 billion towards fighter jets..
And chump change? Are you serious?
Mind giving me some chump change?
Hint to all people with delicate sensibilities: Don't go into clubs that advertise, "The Edgiest Show In Town," or you might get shell shock.
And a $15,000 payout.
A comic is now fined for mocking hecklers. A joke is now a hate crime. Free speech is more endangered than polar bears.
BTW, how many lesbians does it take to screw in a light bulb? One, but she's too traumatized by lesbian-light bulb jokes to do anything but bring legal proceedings against me for my hate crime.
Guy got robbed by a kangaroo "court" that isn't a court and I do hope he will smarten up and deal with these marxist thugs properly. Like Kathy said, "Earle had a chance to “be Mark Steyn,” but chose to remain a confused liberal, even donating some money to a gay charity in an attempt at atonement. It didn’t do him any good, as we see now [and as we all told him at the time.]"
I hope that Mr. Earle can somehow pull himself together and get this nonsense before a real court, where this "decision" hasn't a snowball's hope in hell.
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