Human rights commissions in the United States

Tomorrow morning I'm making my presentation to a bi-partisan committee of the U.S. Congress. My topic is how the soft jihad of "lawfare" is undermining our Western values of freedom. It's particularly pronounced in Europe, and it's come to Canada in a big way in recent years, though our human rights commissions.

So why would Americans care? After my presentation tomorrow, I'll share with you what I told Congress. But let me show you how even in the land of the First Amendment, political correctness can start to creep into daily life with the force of law behind it. As always, it starts out benignly enough; but once the precedents are set, more malign purposes can use those same vehicles. That's why it's important that we fight for freedom in the first ditch, not the last ditch.

Five minutes on Google can find the early stages of Canadian-style political correctness in the U.S., including through various "human rights commissions" cropping up below the 49th parallel.

Here's a recent case from Alexandria, Virginia, where a local restaurant was found guilty of discrimination:

While the commission's authority is limited with respect to recommending compensatory damages, it is possible that it will recommend other specific remedies, including the levying of civil penalties...

The news story didn't say what T.G.I. Friday's did to be found guilty. But this news story says it: they fired an employee who had AIDS. That's similar to Alberta's ruling in favour of a restaurant manager who was fired for having Hepatitis, and a B.C. ruling in favour of a McDonald's employee who didn't want to wash her hands.

America's HRCs are catching up quickly to Canada's.

And then there's Philadelphia's "human relations" commission, with its $2.1-million budget and staff of 33 -- similar in size to the entire Alberta Human Rights Commission, but just for one city. Here's a story, written as a hagiography, but which I read with terrible premonition: the Philly HRC's boss, a radical activist named Rue Landau, sounds like Ontario's Barbara Hall, but with less self-control:

"Government bureaucracy is slow. It's inefficient. The law department is overwhelmed. There are a lot of things the agency can do that it's not doing now."

Naming new commissioners is a start. The current members "aren't active in the community and don't take the job seriously," Landau says. "My people will."

...Landau will "strongly suggest" that every city agency undergo diversity training, particularly involving transgender people. Philadelphia is one of only 13 municipalities in the state to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Landau estimates that 90 percent of complaints filed with the commission involve employment discrimination. Of 336 cases in 2007, only one - Geno's, in December - made it to a public hearing.

Thus far this year, it's zero. Landau's goal is to hold more hearings, possibly every three months. Commissioners, appointed by the mayor to open-ended terms, receive $100 per meeting. Landau attends meetings but cannot vote.

Landau also plans to lobby City Council for an increase in the commission's penalties and fines. Now it can only issue a cease-and-desist order and/or levy a $300 fine per violation.

At left is a picture of Geno's -- quite a landmark. And below, left, is the anodyne sign that hauled Geno's before Philly's HRC, telling customers to order in English. It's a political point of view, and a fairly mainstream one, if mildly offensive to some. But it was one that the government tried to chill with an abusive prosecution.

The proper answer, of course, is for offended customers to complain to management; or go elsewhere; or tell their friends to boycott Geno's; or publicly criticize it. But not to call in the government to punish it, or re-educate it.

Based on my personal experience with the Alberta HRC, and my observations of the other Canadian HRCs, I think it's inevitable that, before long, Commissar Landau will soon be prosecuting politically incorrect ideas as "hate speech", despite her disavowal of the Geno's case.