Friday, January 13, 2012

Gay Marriage and the Unrepentant Old Hippie

















I don't know why the Unrepentant Old Hippie feels she has the right to dump on progressives, in such a foamy manner, for having the decency to defend the human rights of gays and lesbians.

Especially since she regularly accuses progressives who despise Stephen Harper and his foul Cons, of suffering from "Harper Derangement Symptom." And probably voted for him, because like him she thinks Big Government and taxes are bad, capitalism and greed are good, anyone left of Michael Ignatieff is a commie, the Canadian occupiers are spoiled kids and rabid animals, and Great Not So Bad leader promised to kill her hated gun registry.

Because she does love guns.

Prozac anyone?

But before she shoots me eh? I might ask her to explain why we should not be concerned about this small detail. 

While Mr. Nicholson’s announcement alleviated some concerns, it left one central question unanswered: Does the government consider marriages involving same-sex non-residents to be legal, or not?

Or this one:

It also emerged that the Toronto case was the second time in the past year that Justice Department lawyers have intervened to raise obstacles in a same-sex divorce case.

Several months ago, it launched a legal intervention in the case of a Canadian man, Wayne Hincks, and his partner, who had obtained the status of a civil partnership in Britain.

The Crown contended that a civil partnership obtained in Britain is not equal to marriage under Canada’s Divorce Act – notwithstanding the fact that Britain considers a civil partnership tantamount to marriage.

I might ask her whether she really believes that in a government as tightly controlled as the Harper regime, on a matter like gay marriage, the Justice Department didn't get the green light from the PMO? And the religious fanatics who run it. 

I might ask her whether she's aware that Great Not So Bad Leader and his gang are waging a stealth war on gay people AND women, by exporting their foul ideology.

Last fall, three other Conservative backbenchers openly criticized a Harper decision to provide funds to International Planned Parenthood, claiming the group was “deceitful’’ in its language to obtain funding from Ottawa.“We have been clear. We are not reopening the debate on this matter,’’ a Harper spokesperson said at the time.

But the Harper government has been clear that it will not provide funding under its maternal health initiative to countries where abortion is legal and will not fund organizations that provide abortions.

And does she even realize that if it wasn't for a really smart lawyer the Cons would have got away with their evil machinations. 

Typically, lawyers are reluctant to speak with the press until a verdict is rendered. Well, what would have happened here? The court might have ruled in her favour. But it’s just as likely — probably more likely — that the court would have held that the law of domicile is a longstanding part of Canadian law, and the couple’s marriage was never valid. And then, when McCarthy complained publicly, Harper and the feds could have blamed the judge and wiped their hands clean of the issue. Their filings would have been buried, and probably no journalist would have gone any further. Not good.

But hey, JJ has a right to express her opinions. What she has no right to do is insult the LGBT community, and its progressive friends, for defending our rights so strongly. Because most of us gay people and real progressives don't trust Harper and his Cons as far as we can spit. And for good reason.

Great Not So Bad Leader has voted against every single gay rights bill ever presented to Parliament, including the one making attacking gay people a hate crime. He believes sexual orientation  is a "behaviour" that can presumably be cured. He forced a second vote on the gay marriage bill, he boycotted an AIDS conference in Toronto, he has cut off funding to gay groups. 

And most despicably he has never lifted a finger to help bullied gay kids, and when he was asked to make an "It Gets Better Better" video, like so many other leaders have, he flatly refused.

Even though so many Canadian kids, like Jamie Hubley, were killing themselves.














Which is just one reason why I will NEVER apologize for fighting the Harper Cons, the foulest government in Canadian history. Why I am so grateful for the support of so many progressive bloggers.

And why I believe that anyone who attacks our friends in such a Con manner, should take some prozac themselves. Or decide whose side are they are REALLY on.

Oh boy. Once upon a time the Unrepentant Old Hippie was one of the progressive bloggers I most admired. 

But that was long ago.

Goodnight Jamie.

Play this one for JJ...

11 comments:

Cathie from Canada said...

I just did a post on this, too. I just don't believe that the Harper Cons will bring in a law that their base opposes, and whip their caucus to vote for it. I hope I am proved wrong...

Anonymous said...

My deepest sympathies to the Borges Family. I'm just catching up here. I find it rather nasty that a PB like you MS would diss another great blogger like UROH, not ON fellow, not on. Find another way to express your outrage, but do not ATTACK someone who is on your side. Just saying....

Simon said...

hi double nickel...yeah well, when you take shots at decent progressive bloggers you shouldn't be surprised if you get some return fire. Er...metaphorically speaking. ;)
I almost didn't bother to write a post, because I don't like attacking other bloggers, but then I saw the comments...

Simon said...

hi Cathie...I don't believe the Cons will dare do that either. But they will do what they can to harass and discriminate against the gay community. And as I pointed in the post, if it hadn't been for a very smart lawyer, they would have got away with it...

Simon said...

hi anonymous...Are you saying that JJ should be able to dump all over others bloggers but we are not allowed to reply in kind? Because if you are, I'm sorry but I don't buy it. As I said in my post I don't trust the Cons as far as I can spit.I'm proud of that, and because this gay marriage issue is about MY life, I don't take shit from ANYBODY...

bcwaterboy said...

My take on this is that is completely a tactic to further bury the liberals. Nobody will ever convince me that harper didn't know about this. The plan was to get it into the news quickly, have harper respond the same way he does around abortion, and then along comes spokes piece Nicholson who paints the issue as being the liberals fault. The reform party comes out smelling like a rose and "supportive" of LGBT rights. They're anything but. We're the political pawn which helps to further bury the liberals, and no doubt even people in our community will fall for it, saying that harper ain't such a bad guy after all. To me, there's nothing more obvious about this issue. They will find a way to go after LGBT rights but it will happen behind the scenes and will be subversive as to not tarnish their moderate image.

Anonymous said...

I don't recognize JJ anymore. The way she goes after progressives is frightening, and that post about guns was sicko. I think she's got some issues.

Omar said...

I have never read her blog until now and yes, that gun piece was bizarre. Yeah, she's about as 'progressive' as Red Tory is. Which is to say, not very goddamn much.

Simon said...

hi B.C. Waterboy...I'm not sure it's a tactic to make the Cons look good. As that article in Xtra pointed out if Martha McCarthy hadn't gone public before a judge ruled, the Cons would have been able to wipe their hands of the issue ...even though they initiated it...the SoCons in the PMO would have been high fiving themselves,and thousands of gay marriages would have been left in legal limbo for who knows how long.
It would be their present to that other Catholic extremist Rick Santorum. Also, I have yet to hear a good explanation for why they were spending thousands and thousands of tax payer dollars trying to undermine gay equality in Britain. I'm surprised more people haven't focused on that because it is the smoking gun. And as the Star article I quoted reminds us, it isn't the first time they've exported their foul ideology.
They launched a stealth attack to hurt gay people, somebody blew the whistle on them, and now they're scrambling to cover up their tracks. But would you trust Rob Nicholson, the Minister of Prisons to deliver? I certainly wouldn't...

Simon said...

hi anonymous...I don't know what happened to JJ. As I said in my post, I was once one of her admirers. I even wrote this post to welcome her back after she took a blogging hiatus:

http://montrealsimon.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-summer-journey-and-jjs-return.html

But she changed. She became obsessed with guns, and began attacking lefty progressives as if they were the enemies instead of the Cons.
I only hope this is just a passing episode, the kind all bloggers have, and that we can get the old JJ back.
Because that one I miss...

Simon said...

hi Omar...yes I see that Red Tory has come out with guns blazing attacking progressives for daring to distrust the Cons on the gay marriage fiasco that they engineered. But then, like the Unrepentant Old Hippie, he showed his true colours when he attacked the Occupy movement, by calling them "degenerates" and demanding that the authorities destroy them "by whatever means necessary." They say a lot of people become more conservative and bitter as they age. I just hope I never will...