Going Back to the Beginning...

Going back to the landlord/tenant matter which was reported at the beginning of this blog, I'd like to tell some more about what happened....


The landlord was a church-going person and this came out in our first meeting....  She also asked if I could provide a character reference from my church for her....  I was also somewhat of a religious person; and I complied successfully with her request--although I found out later that the person giving the reference wasn't completely reliable and not everything said about me was positive.... 


Before very much time passed in my tenancy, my landlady made an indirect sexual solicitation towards me and she assumed that I was going to be interested in her....  I was actually shocked and my first response was to tell her the Bible says homosexuality is a sin....  I believe it was permissible for me to say that because she had asked about my church at the beginning and my church doesn't condone homosexuality....  Lawyers might say we belonged to the "same group," as Christian people....  However, there are Christians who accept a homosexual lifestyle and those who don't....


After the Bible comment, my landlady had an opportunity to invite me into her home for seemingly innocent purposes and I accepted; but then, because of some circumstances, I began to feel uncomfortable and left earlier than planned...and I never wanted to go back there again....


It was shortly after this that I got an eviction notice and I became angry....  My landlady was unavailable to talk to me and I unfortunately left her one or two angry telephone messages.  In the messages, I also made a politically-incorrect comment about her sexual orientation....  Having had very little experience in dealing with gay people, I hadn't thought through what was appropriate and what wasn't.  It's not that I meant to cause harm but I just wasn't tactful where I should've been....  And, no doubt, I shouldn't have gotten angry....


The landlady typed up transcripts of the phone messages and brought them to the hearing at the Ontario Rental Housing Tribunal offices.  Of course, anybody who saw the messages would've been offended and I believe that's what happened....


Continued.