Activist acquitted of assault on pastor

Conduct described as 'rude' but not criminal

David Helwig
CW Ontario Correspondent
ontario@christianweek.org

CAMBRIDGE, ON–Controversial Christian activist Erika Kubassek behaved in a rude and offensive manner but did not criminally assault a pastor about to preside over two same-sex weddings, Ontario Court Justice William Horkins ruled January 22.

Kubassek, who refers to herself as a "prophetess of the Lord," is known around Ontario for disruptive protests that sometimes involve a bullhorn.

On January 14, 2001, Kubassek says God instructed her to to attend Toronto's Metropolitan Community Church, hours before Reverend Brent Hawkes was to preside over two widely publicized weddings in which gay couples were to be united after "reading of the banns," an almost-forgotten tradition in which a couple's intentions are read aloud in public three Sundays prior to the ceremony.

"The Lord spoke to me by the Holy Spirit and said: 'Go and tell them what Scripure says about homosexuality,'" Kubassek told CW.

Kubassek and her husband attended service. When Hawkes asked people to come forward to receive an anointing for healing, she proceeded to the front of the church and began reading Bible verses, although Hawkes asked her to stop.

Witness accounts of what happened next vary widely.

Hawkes says he never touched Kubassek, but she pushed him in the chest so hard with both hands that he fell backwards and almost stumbled over a pew. Kubassek admits hitting the pastor with one hand, but says it was not intentional. Hawkes had placed his hand on her shoulder and yelled at her, she testified.

"Immediately, my hand went up and I was trying get him out of my face," she told the court.

Horkins commented that Kubassek behaved in an "extreme," "rude" and "offensive" manner but he described the alleged assault as "trifling" and said he was not convinced the activist had any criminal intent.

"It was an answer to prayer," Kubassek told CW after the ruling. "I don't feel badly because [Hawkes] wasn't hurt…I didn't do anything wrong except quote Scripture."

Kubassek faces an additional charge in the same matter. Metropolitan Community Church has filed a private complaint accusing her of willfully disrupting or interrupting a religious service. That matter was to be heard in court February 6.