By

This video, uploaded to Youtube, shows part of an incident which involved christian parishioners preaching and singing on a residential street. Some of the locals took offense, allegedly because a gay couple’s house was being targetted.

But the story isn’t quite so simple, as this article from the Toronto Star shows.

First, although the man who posted the video titled it as:

“Neighbourhood comes together and kicks out religious haters.”

He admits in the article that he himself is new to the neighbourhood, and did not in fact witness any homophobic statements.

Adding to this, one of the men allegedly targetted is defending the parishioners.

He said the parishioners preached on the street long before he and [his partner], arrived 13 years ago. Moreover, he said, [they] have never felt personally targeted by the parishioners, have never heard them say anything homophobic, and have not even been present for three years on the summer Sundays when the infrequent sermons occur.

The parishioners also claim they were not targetting anyone, and after this incident would not return.

Not saying I’d really want that in my neighbourhood, but I’m also not sure where to lay blame here. Seems like an over-reaction. People should be able to peacefully demonstrate, but a residential street seems a strange place to do it.