Calgary Pastor Derek Reimer appears in court over all-ages drag queen storytime protest

The case of Pastor Derek Reimer was once again heard in court for another bail review on the morning of Tuesday, March 14.

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The saga continues as the pastor's bail hearing has been adjourned to March 29, 2023.

Derek Reimer, the pastor for Calgary's Mission 7 Ministries, was arrested on March 2 on mischief and causing a disturbance charges stemming from a protest at a children's drag queen story hour held at Calgary's Seton Library on February 25.

At this protest, Derek was aggressively thrown out of the library room after using his voice to express his concerns to the group. No charges have been laid against those who allegedly assaulted him on camera.

Derek's bail conditions prevent him from speaking to any member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, even if that person is a friend or family member seeking spiritual counseling.

Is he required to ask about people's sexual preferences before speaking to them? But then already if he were just to ask, he would have just broken those conditions if they happened to be part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

What happens if Derek goes to his local coffee shop and the one taking his order also happens to be a member of the community? Derek must have to walk on eggshells to stay out of jail.

Derek Reimer initially refused to sign bail conditions that he insisted are designed to set him up to fail and that he felt frustrated with. Later on the day of his hearing, he ended up signing on those conditions after lacking the help he required for a medical emergency. Derek was eager to reach a nearby hospital. He was released on the evening of March 6.

Simultaneously on Tuesday, the mayor of Calgary and the city council passed a Safe and Inclusive Access bylaw whereby, (1) A person must not engage in specified protest on publicly accessible property within 100 meters of an entrance to a recreation facility or a library. (2) A person must not engage in specified protest anywhere inside a recreation. Maximum penalties are fines of up to $10,000 and or 1 year in prison.

Who gets to specify which protest is illegal or not? Does the mayor get to decide who has free speech and who doesn't? That's not how it works in an allegedly free and democratic society.

In this report, I spoke with lawyer Ben Allison for a quick update after court wrapped up today. Additionally, there was another turn of events at city hall today as a small prayer group led by Pastor Derek Reimer entered city hall in a prayer protest once again. Derek was left with a $600 fine under the Trespass to Premises Act.

Thanks to all of your help, we were able to hire an amazing lawyer by the name of Ben Allison through The Democracy Fund to help Derek fight the city to protect his religious freedoms, free speech, and the right to protest.

To contribute, you can head to SavePastorDerek.com.

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