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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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 Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:53 am Post subject: Canadians can have group sex in clubs |
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Can't believe I'm the first to post this here!
Got to love that headline.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051221/wl_nm/sex_dc
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Canadians can have group sex in clubs - top court By David Ljunggren
26 minutes ago
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Group sex between consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday, dismissing arguments that the sometimes raucous activities of so-called "swingers" clubs were dangerous.
In a ruling that radically changes the way Canadian courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.
"Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society," said the opinion of the seven-to-two majority, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
The decision does not affect existing laws against prostitution because no money changed hands between the adults having sex.
The court was reviewing an appeal by Jean-Paul Labaye, who ran the L'Orage (Thunderstorm) club. He had been convicted of running a "bawdy house" -- defined as a place where prostitution or acts of public indecency could take place.
Lawyers for Labaye and James Kouri, the owner of another swingers' club in Montreal, had argued that consensual sex between groups of adults behind closed doors was neither indecent or a risk to society.
The Supreme Court judges agreed.
"Criminal indecency or obscenity must rest on actual harm or a significant risk of harm to individuals or society. The Crown failed to establish this essential element of the offense. The Crown's case must therefore fail," wrote McLachlin.
In indecency cases, Canadian courts have traditionally probed whether the acts in question "breached the rules of conduct necessary for the proper functioning of society." The Supreme Court ruled that from now on, judges should pay more attention to whether society would be harmed.
The judges said that just because most Canadians might disapprove of swingers' clubs, this did not necessarily mean the establishments were socially dangerous.
"Attitudes in themselves are not crimes, however deviant they may be or disgusting they may appear," the judges said, noting that no one had been pressured to have sex or had paid for sex in either of the cases.
"The autonomy and liberty of members of the public was not affected by unwanted confrontation with the sexual activity in question only those already disposed to this sort of sexual activity were allowed to participate and watch," they said. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:09 am Post subject: |
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This ruling is good news.
The next step is for the court to realize that money exchanging hands is no threat to society either, and legalize prostitution.
Maybe someday Canada will be a truely free nation. |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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| God I love and miss Canada! This also clears the way for the end of discrimination against gay men who frequent similar establishments. Way to go supreme court another victory for progress! |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I'll bet this is a relief to all those who can't score alone. |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| It's a relief to all of us who are law-abiding citizens who feel the government has no buisness in our private lives. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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| The fact that the PQ in Que has an openly gay, admitted ex-coke user as it's leader (and no one really made an issue about it) is a testament to the tolerance of human pecadillos north of the border. |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| "Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society"-Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| canuckistan wrote: |
| The fact that the PQ in Que has an openly gay, admitted ex-coke user as it's leader (and no one really made an issue about it) is a testament to the tolerance of human pecadillos north of the border. |
There's more...Trudeau probably smoked pot while he was Prime Minister in the 70's. NB, a supposedly conservative province, kept re-electing Richard Hatfield as PM throughout the 1970's and 1980's. He never officially came out of the closet, but everyone knew. Pot was found in his suitcase one year during the Queen's visit. Heck, our first prime minister was an alcoholic. He'd drink during meetings and sometimes couldn't remember what went on during that day. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-74-1456-9697/people/john_a_macdonald/clip4
"One of the most often recounted stories of Macdonald's drinking has to do with a witty comeback he made after vomiting in the middle of a public debate. There are several different versions of the story, but the gist of it is that the drunken Macdonald stood up after vomiting on stage and said that this was just another case of his Liberal opponent turning his stomach. The audience roared with laughter." "Macdonald frequently made light of his own drinking. He is said to have often remarked that the country would rather have a drunk John A. in power than his Liberal opponent George Brown sober."  |
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riley
Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Location: where creditors can find me
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I guess I know where I'm taking my vacation. |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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| It looks like Canadians have lots of time on their hands. There was a time when scientific, human endurance and commerical accomplishments were triumphed but the laws discussed in these threads seem like leisure time pursuits. More jobs come from the patent office. |
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canuckistan
Mod Team
Joined: 17 Jun 2003
Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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Dulouz wrote:
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| It looks like Canadians have lots of time on their hands......the laws discussed in these threads seem like leisure time pursuits. |
All that spare time must mean we're rich  |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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Dulouz, I still like to engage in scientific and commerical pursuits but after a long week in the lab what's better than an orgy to release all that work related stress.
And I think group sex counts as a pursuit of human endurance, no? |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
There's more...Trudeau probably smoked pot while he was Prime Minister in the 70's. |
Let's not forget Trudeau's wife (estranged) hanging out in Studio 54. There was a famous paparazzi photo of her in Studio 54 in a mini skirt and sans panties. The gates of heaven fully open.
And then our first female PM, when she was Justice Minister, posed topless (albeit her judicial robes were occluding her naughty bits). No one got raw assed about that. |
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Octavius Hite
Joined: 28 Jan 2004
Location: Househunting, looking for a new bunker from which to convert the world to homosexuality.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| And Trudeau also dated Kim Cattrall (aka Samantha from Sex and the City) which makes him our greatest PM ever! |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 12:22 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
The fact that the PQ in Que has an openly gay, admitted ex-coke user as it's leader (and no one really made an issue about it) is a testament to the tolerance of human pecadillos north of the border.
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Does this really demonstrate Canadian tolerance, or Canadian hypocrisy? Because Canada still arrests, prosecutes, and jails people for drug offenses. And those unlucky enough to fall victim to these laws likely have their career prospects torpedoed in a pretty big way.
All the Boisclair case really proves is that Canadians(more precisely Quebeckers) will tolerate an erstwhile drug-using leader who managed to avoid getting arrested.
And the "hypocrisy" charge applies to any other country that shrgus off illegal behaviour in its leaders, while still sending other people to jail for doing the same thing. |
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