The Canadian Human Rights Commission ruled Catholic Insight did not promote hatred against gays and lesbians despite its outspoken stance, The National Post reported Saturday.

The legal battle was brought by gay activist Rob Wells and lasted more than a year, costing the magazine $20,000 in legal fees.

Yet despite his legal victory, the Rev. Alphonse de Valk, editor of Catholic Insight, was hesitant to celebrate since the case could be appealed.

It's good news, of course," he said following Thursday's ruling. "But I don't want to start celebrating prematurely. If it's appealed to the court, then we may be spending another year on this."

The Post said Volk has adamantly denied Wells' allegations that the publication was hate literature, saying the activist misconstrued published works to make his case.

"All of his charges were false and we proved that," Volk said. "He plucked quotes from several different articles to give the impression that we were spreading hatred ... it's just not true."