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Equality - In
our faiths - Jesusland takes aim at Canada February
9, 2005 Jesusland
takes aim at Canada
American-style
attack on freedom won't work here By
Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell Anyone
who thinks that the debate on same-sex marriage is a local one has not been paying
attention. The Vatican is the world's
leading source of bigotry and hate-mongering towards gays and lesbians and its
campaign against equal marriage is waged by local bishops
on behalf of the Pope and his Inquisition's chief villain Cardinal Ratzinger.
So
it should come as no surprise that Canada's tremendous success at ending discrimination
against homosexuals has attracted the attention of groups outside of the country,
especially as same-sex marriage is now a reality in most of Canada, with the rest
to follow soon. Gay marriage symbolizes the full equality and righteousness of
queers, with no "if", "and", or "but". It's driving
the opponents of freedom nuts. The
Montreal Gazette reported
yesterday that the U.S. headquarters of the Knights of Columbus paid $80,782 to
print 2 million postcards to promote discrimination in Canada, through Canadian
Catholic parishes enlisted to fight marriage equality. Likewise, the extremist
Focus on the Family led by U.S. fundamentalist James Dobson, paid for radio programming
on 130 radio stations across Canada. According to the same news report, "it
supplies hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in services" helping the
Canadian branch attempt, ineffectually, to undermine the progress of same-sex
marriage in this country. | "No
God I know would willingly segregate an entire segment of the population based
solely on sexual orientation ... It's become acceptable to play this game with
gays because it isn't fashionable to marginalize any other demographic group...
We were supposed to look to our places of worship as havens, to our clergy as
guides. Maybe that's still true -- as long as you're not gay. Religion has instead
morphed into a weapon. Opponents of same-sex marriage use their self-assigned
God-given right to justify discriminating against those who do not meet a rigid
definition of who is truly worthy. Their argument has precious little to do with
marriage and everything to do with the fact that it represents the last acceptable
forum within which some members of our supposedly tolerant society can discriminate.
"Why
drag God into same-sex furor", London Free Press, Feb. 9, 2005 | |
As
a result, Canada's Justice Minister has said he's looking into the situation.
"We don't want the public opinion to get mortgaged to the highest bidder,"
Irwin Cotler told the Gazzette. Cotler
would do better to explore the tax status of these "Christian" organizations.
It's time these organizations are removed from the public trough. Foreign
groups are pouring money into Canada to fight gay marriage because they know that
this country's standard of equality and freedom is having an impact on the lower
bar set by countries like the United States. That's why the Concerned Women For
America has called us "domestic terrorists".
As
a process analyst once said, "If your standards are low, up yours!"
But
while attacks have come from the U.S., so has support. U.S. citizens have donated
to assist us in our work, and we have received awards from California's
State Assembly, Equality California,
and the U.S. human rights group  Equality
Forum. This year, we have been included in a salute to "40
heroes who have made a defining contribution to GLBT civil rights" in
the United States over the last 40 years. Our radio public service announcements
are played on Air America's 48 radio stations across the U.S. Our web site statistics
show that a large percentage of our audience comes from the U.S., and our traffic
spikes upwards during important U.S. events, like the San
Francisco marriages, or victories like Massachusetts. We
are all in this together, and Canada is playing a leading role in influencing
change beyond our borders. That's why former Prime Minister Chretien will be in
Philadelphia in  April
to accept Equality Forum's International
Role Model Award for his part in ending marriage discrimination. So
no wonder Jesusland is throwing the Bible at us. No problem. We have a great recycling
program. We are confident that Canadians will reject American fundamentalism,
just as the majority of Canadians reject the policies of George
Bush and the U.S. wannabe Stephen Harper.
In fact, the more offensive their strategy becomes, the easier it will be to defend
our "true north, strong and free" and the better example we will be
for the world community and the universal expansion of human rights. |
