Thursday, December 22, 2005



Those swinging Canadians

The Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that "swinger's clubs" are legal in Canada, and overturned a conviction for running a "bawdy house". Their reasoning?

Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society

Or, in other words, what happens between consenting adults in the privacy of their bedrooms, motel rooms, or a private room at a club, is none of the government's damn business - no matter how weird they get or how many people are involved. They've also significantly tightened the test for indecency, from whether conduct "[breaches] the rules of conduct necessary for the proper functioning of society" to whether it causes "actual harm or a significant risk of harm to individuals or society" - effectively a statement of Mill's Law.

This is a welcome judgement - but it's also rather surprising that they'd actually need to make it in the first place...

5 comments:

And at only C$20 a year too. It's amazing he can make money like that.

I bet the prices at the candy bar are outrageous.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/22/2005 05:50:00 PM

Just as long as they don't smoke there. That will get you prosecuted.

Posted by Nigel Kearney : 12/22/2005 07:08:00 PM

I'm glad with this ruling. Now let's just see them say the same when it comes to wage restrictions.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/22/2005 07:49:00 PM

If you let judges decide social policy they will soon show you they can as idiotic as any of us. We made a Charter of Rights several decades ago that let the judges sneak into making new law instead of interpreting what was already law while looking steadily backward at all times...the proper role of a judge. We are now paying for that huge legislative mistake, big time.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/23/2005 07:52:00 AM

Actually, while Canada is highly advanced on LGBT and other human rights issues, it's woeful when it comes to sex work and censorship policy, although moves are afoot on the first of these.

Craig Y.

Posted by Anonymous : 12/23/2005 10:20:00 AM