Postal service apologises for delivering anti-gay leaflets

The Canadian postal service has reportedly been forced to apologise after delivering a bundle of homophobic leaflets to households in Newfoundland.

The eight-page booklets, entitled “Same-Sex Marriages and God’s Word”, condemn homosexuality as “a sin”, “hostility towards God” and – perhaps most bizarrely – “almost always violent”.

The leaflets purported to be published by The People’s Gospel Hour, a local church group in the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

But local LGBT activist Denise Cole said she had been shocked to read the flyers and put the blame for their distribution on Canada Post.

She told The Labradorian: “We are all responsible as agency people that we approve and actually review things that we are going to be sending out to our customers.

“This isn’t just about being offended . . . there are laws in place now around hate crimes and around same-sex discrimination.”

Canada Post said that it was part of their practice to deliver any packages given to them which are properly prepared and paid for – but did apologise if anyone was offended.

“We didn’t know what was inside, because we didn’t open it… it didn’t seem to be anything that was untoward when they looked at the cover of it,” said spokesperson John Caines.

“But once we reviewed the content, we can see how it can be offensive to some people. I can say that we apologise if anybody was offended by it and that we won’t deliver any more of it, if it comes in.”

The People’s Gospel Hour, meanwhile, failed to mirror the postal service’s apparent regrets.

A spokesman told The Labradorian that while the material was written several years ago, the church still stands by what the flyer reads.

“We’re just putting forth what the Bible teaches,” he said. “The Bible says, ‘thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is an abomination’.”