TORONTO - Former Rogers Sportsnet host Damian Goddard is accustomed to talking into a camera. But with the lights temporarily shut off on his TV career he is looking forward to telling his story to a live audience.

Goddard will be a featured speaker at the Toronto Pro-Life Forum 2012 to be held June 15-16 at Hotel Novotel in Toronto.

Goddard was fired by Sportsnet, part of Rogers Media, in May 2011 after he tweeted support for hockey agent Todd Reynolds������Ƶapp position against gay marriage. Rogers says the firing was unrelated to Goddard������Ƶapp tweet. A year later, still seeking fulltime employment in the broadcast industry, Goddard stands behind his words.

TORONTO - The Catholic Civil Rights League is standing by the human rights appeal of Damian Goddard, a sports anchor fired for his Catholic views on traditional marriage.

Goddard, a former host of Connected on Rogers Sportsnet, plans to file a human rights complaint against his former employer, Rogers Communication Inc.

“Mr. Goddard������Ƶapp case typifies a theme we hear all too often in other, lower-profile cases of workplace discrimination against people who do not support same-sex marriage on religious grounds,” said Joanne McGarry, league executive director. “We hope Damian������Ƶapp case will establish that freedom of religion and conscience, protected by the Civil Marriage Act of 2005, were meant to be given a robust interpretation.”

Goddard posted comments in early May on his Twitter account supporting Burlington, Ont., hockey agent Todd Reynolds for criticizing the New York Rangers' Sean Avery who appeared in a TV ad for Human Right's Campaign's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality Campaign" in support of same-sex marriage. (New York legalized same-sex marriage on June 24.)