Letter to the Editor:

Private Members Bill C-250 (formerly C-415) is on its way through Parliament. But you can still tell your MP not to support this bill which seeks to include sexual orientation in Canada’s hate propaganda provisions. Svend Robinson’s attempt to arm the criminal code with weaponry needed to prosecute anti-gay anything is seriously flawed. Already we confront the problem that "sexual orientation" is yet undefined in law. Consider the query put to the B.C. Attorney General: "Do you agree (as a Liberal MP suggested) that the term ‘sexual orientation’ includes heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, trisexual, bestiality, pedophillia, incest, polygamy, sadomasochism etc.?" Who picks and chooses?
A concern that C-250 will be used by paranoid gay activists challenged by other political opponents is fed by Robinson himself: To raise funds, a conservation group let web page visitors pay to remove digitally created objects from various parts of "men exposing themselves for donations." The Report magazine said Svend "reacted badly" in the House of Commons to comments made regarding photos posted. Why? Because the Honourable Member of Parliament was himself one of these "Hunks for Habitat" (in June). Anti-gay slurs were never made as Mr. Robinson suggested. And we should wonder why this MP’s dappled anatomy received such little media attention. Would Stockwell Day have provoked less had he traded in his sea-doo suit for such a rare photo op?

C-250 will also have church going citizens at odds with their consciences because it vilifies their convictions while elevating others. Editor Sylvia MacEachern was persecuted for having a moral position on homosexuality as stated in the Roman Catholic Church official catechism. She was placed under investigation by "the hate crimes unit of the Ottawa-Carleton Police" Bad Sylvia needs to bend the knee elsewhere — conviction be damned. Meanwhile, secular gays are privileged to new policies protecting them from being harassed. A Bluewater public school system committee deems "heterosexism" bad — the belief that heterosexuality is the norm.

Yet another serious case: The Citizens Research Institute (CRI) was prosecuted by the BC Humans Rights Tribunal for providing parents with the Declaration for Family Rights. An offended gay activist argued that in doing so the CRI was promoting hate, contempt and discrimination against him.

A clincher for not wanting to go where C-250 leads is an Eastman Kodak employee who, after 23 years on the job, was fired because he refused to sign a letter renouncing his "homophobic" attitudes — he didn’t like "diversity" group messages bombarding him at work. The New American magazine wrote, "...policies intended to make the workplace ‘gay-friendly’ can lead to unemployment for non-conformists."

Realize, there is nothing healthy about a society intimidated by a movement’s increased power to punish minds unwilling to accommodate their sexual orientation. Bill C-250 is not live and let live legislation.

Janet Gritter