Trial Concludes with Avalanche of Media Attention

Justice Beaudry of the Federal Court of Canada reserved judgment on Wednesday October 17, after a 2.5 day trial. Decisions can issue as soon as a week after a hearing or as much as months afterward.

There were no surprises at the hearing. Both parties followed closely their written arguments that had been filed months earlier.

The unexpected aspect of the trial was the enormous publicity it received. Many  major wires service covered the case: Reuters, AGF (Agence Presse-France), Canadian Press, CanWest News Services and AHN (All Headline News).

Thanks to the press agency coverage, the story of our case went around the world. Newspapers, websites, radio, and television stations from every continent mentioned or discussed the  trial.

Do a Google search with the key words “Sex Party” and “Canada Post” and you will get the picture.

The case was also widely discussed in the blogosphere. Check out the Google blogsearch tool for the dozens and dozens of discussions of the case.

The report of the case that probably reached more people than anyone else occurred on the popular television show The Colbert Report. Stephen Colbert presented the Sex Party logo, discussed the case and pulled out a dildo as part of his comedic route. A video clip of the Colbert segment will appear on this site soon.

Our web traffic jumped during the coverage. Normally we get about 500 unique visitors a day to our site. During the trial media coverage this jumped to 4000.

The best thing about this publicity is that it brings us new supporters, members, and potential candidates. We received a great deal of email support - too much to reply to individually. We also received about a dozen inquiries from individuals across Canada interested in running for us in the next federal election. We are following up with them.

For a sample of links discussing the trial, go here.