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A Quebec couple has been ordered to pay $18,000 to their former landlords over homophobic Facebook posts, verbal comments and hand gestures that spanned more than a year.

The landlords, Renald Blais and Richard-Alain Loubier, accused the tenants of harassing and intimidating them after a dispute over a noise complaint in their Quebec City-area apartment building escalated.

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Blais and Loubier “were deeply affected by the conflict” and considered selling the property to finally be rid of the problem, Quebec Human Rights Tribunal Judge Doris Thibault wrote in her judgment.

“They felt helpless, threatened, depressed, discouraged by the idea that the conflict would never end. For Loubier, the anxiety was so strong that he had panic attacks and had to go to the hospital, take medication and receive follow-up medical care.”

Blais and Loubier, who have been together for more than 20 years, both testified that the ordeal brought back traumatic memories of being bullied and harassed when they were younger over their sexual orientation.