luvbight ([info]luvbight) wrote,
@ 2008-04-09 13:01:00
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Current location:Austin, TX
Current mood: lethargic
Current music:"Cleaning this gun", Rodney Atkins
Entry tags:bdsm, canada, civil rights

Canadian Court to decide if BDSM is protected as "sexual orientation"
According to a Reuters report on Yahoo News ( http://tinyurl.com/6a5z7z ), a Canadian Court will hear a case from a man who was denied a permit to work as a chauffeur because of his BDSM Lifestyle.

The police tried to get the case thrown out claiming that the protection designed to protect gays and lesbians did not apply to BDSM, but the court rejected the police attempt to block the hearing.

Does protected status make BDSM less fun?

--Mick


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[info]elorin
2008-04-09 06:50 pm UTC (link)
Protected as in "cannot discriminate regardless of"? Hell no it doesn't make it less fun.

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[info]luvbight
2008-04-09 11:19 pm UTC (link)
Yup...the law protects against discrimination. I'm not sure how broad the Canadian law is, but I worry that it's doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

The issue ought to be privacy...

We don't have an explicit right to privacy, so the SCOTUS has invented one. It's better than nothing, but I'd feel safer if we had an explicit amendment that isn't subject to being un-invented.

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[info]guy_with_hounds
2008-04-09 08:21 pm UTC (link)
Our Northern friends take the issue of Civil liberties and rights very seriously. In a way I would hope that BDSM does earn a protected status because it just helps pave the way to greater public acceptance.

Then at the same time, the greater the public acceptance the more normal I seem to the rest of the world...and where is the fun in that?

Although makes we wonder why a cop would even ask if the guy was kinky? Was he wearing assless chaps when he walked in?

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[info]luvbight
2008-04-09 11:24 pm UTC (link)
The story was very spare as to why the police denied this man a permit he needed for his chauffeur job.

It seems strange to me, though. Being into BDSM certainly doesn't prevent someone from being a police officer :-)

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[info]sweh
2008-04-10 03:24 am UTC (link)
The day I can wear my collar to work; the day I can have a picture of my Mistress holding a whip in my cubicle; the day I can go in cross-dressed... that's equality.

US law (yeah US; not Canada) actually enforces gender discrimination in the work place. Dress code is an example; you are expected to wear clothing _normal_ to your job. Yeah, circular definition. So a man wearing a skirt _can_ be sacked. But a woman wearing a man's shirt can't. Huh.

Now the Canada ruling is actually more about what happens in personal life shouldn't impact your employability. But that isn't equality. It's not even a step towards equality. At best it's a statement against discrimination. Nothing more.

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