Update: Protest Brews Over Pageant

There was definitely some "double, double, toil and trouble" yesterday afternoon outside the Radisson Plaza Hotel Admiral on Queen's Quay W., where the Miss Toronto Tourism pageant was being held.

Local witches picketed for four hours in support of Stephanie Conover, the 23-year-old Miss Toronto Tourism Pageant judge ousted for her Wiccan beliefs.

In a letter, the committee said her beliefs were "not acceptable by God, Jews, Muslims or Christians."

But Miss Toronto Tourism board member Ainslie Baillie denied Conover's rejection was tied to Wiccan beliefs.

"This pagan conference was calling up our sponsors and threatening them," she said. "I was just told that she wasn't qualified. A lot of it has to do with judging experience, not religion." Full Story

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