Legalizing Bigotry

Since the Tories won't have enough votes to ban same sex marriage in Canada, they're planning to present a so-called 'Defence of Religions' Act according to the Globe & Mail. The bill, however, goes beyond legislating that clergy and justices of the peace would be protected from performing marriages that clash with their religious beliefs. It would also legalize bigoted speech against homosexuals.

The measures are also intended to protect the free-speech rights of religious leaders and others who criticize homosexual behaviour or refuse to do business with gay-rights organizations, The Globe and Mail has learned.

During Question Period on Wednesday, Stephen Harper flatly denied that his government was comtemplating such a bill and deflected questions about it by quoting Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff who had previously made an unflattering comment about the Charter of Rights. Perhaps Vic Toews can explain why he confirmed this planned legislation to the G&M then:

While refusing to discuss specifics, Justice Minister Vic Toews confirmed the government's intentions yesterday in an interview.

“The nature of the concerns that are being raised with me are relating to freedom of religion and freedom to practice religion [and] freedom of expression,” he said.

“The Prime Minister has indicated that he is bringing the matter forward — the issue of same-sex marriage — on a free vote. And there may be certain options open to the government as to what the response should be in either event, whether that opening is successful or not successful.”

Sources say the government is considering measures to protect individuals who oppose homosexual marriages or even relationships from human rights' complaints.

Imagine that someone out there started a religion (or perhaps there is one that already exists) which includes the belief that its adherents should not have to perform marriages or do business with those who are not caucasian and that the government was planning to defend their right to do so. If the Tories aren't careful about what's written in this legislation, they could be doing just that and that hypothetical further illustrates exactly why legalizing religious bigotry is so dangerous.

We have free speech in Canada but it is restricted to protect the rights of our citizens. Take the case of Dr Laura and her views on homosexuality expressed on her radio show which the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council excoriated her for:

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, is a voluntary organization with members from about 450 Canadian TV and radio stations. They decided on 2000-MAY-17 Dr. Laura Schlessinger's "unremittingly heavy-handed and unambiguously negative characterization" of gays and lesbians violates Canadian broadcasting codes on human rights. They described her comments as "abusively discriminatory" and expressed concern that it might motivate unstable individuals to commit violence against gays and lesbians. A CBSC spokesperson commented: "This [ruling] has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with comments that are made on an identifiable minority. It could be an identifiable minority by reason of the color of their skin; it could be by reason of their religion; it could be by reason of their gender. In this case it was by reason of their sexual orientation." Their ruling mentioned that Dr. Laura characterized the homosexual behavior as "abnormal," "aberrant," "deviant," "disordered," "dysfunctional," and "an error." It stated that: "The sexual practices of gays and lesbians are as much a part of their being as the color of one's skin or the gender, religion, age or ethnicity of an individual. To use such brutal language as she does about such an essential characteristic flies in the face of Canadian provisions relating to human rights."

In practice, the only result of this ruling is that member stations will be required to describe the CBSC ruling on air, during prime-time hours. No censorship of Dr. Laura's program will be imposed.

That decision angered Canada's fundies like to so-called REAL Women of Canada. And, if this proposed 'Defence of Religions' bill actually passed in the house, it would be a free-for-all for bigots like Dr Laura and the so-called REAL Women to metaphorically lynch the gay community in public without consequence.

That is not what Canada stands for.

Thankfully, in this minority government situation, it is highly unlikely that such legislation would be approved but let this be a wake up call to those who refuse to believe that neo-conservative Reform party types are now running Canada's government and that we must all be extremely vigilant.

See also: Tories under fire over gay-marriage plan

Update: Robert at My Blahg has a list of bloggers who are covering this story.