It's hard to believe that this is still happening in Canada, even in a city as diverse as Toronto.
It's hard to believe that some crackpots still think that religious rights should prevail over human rights.
Juliet Stewart says her clients, a Seventh-day Adventist husband and wife, told her in no uncertain terms during a screening interview that they would never allow a gay couple to rent their basement apartment.
It's hard to believe the arrogance of bigotry.
“I said, ‘I don’t mean to cut you off, but you do realize that’s against the law.’ She said, ‘I don’t care, and don’t go all gay rights on me,’” and hung up the phone, he alleges.
Or the hideous comments...
It's hard to believe this is happening in Canada not America. Where those who call themselves Christians, have been stuffing their faces with hate
To defend Biblical Marriage...
Or for that matter, can you believe what my comment moderation page looked like for about thirty seconds today?
(click pic to enlarge)
I mean do you feed it once a day...or water it? Do you call the police, or the zoo?
But here's the thing eh? What happened to that couple, the never ending torrent of abuse from religious freaks, the kooky threatening comments, the senseless violence, still happen to LGBT people all the time. Even in Canada.
Where Stephen Harper is refusing to lift a finger to fight anti-gay violence, to pleasure his rabid religious base, and bigotry is once again rearing its ugly head, as the Cons attack the Human Rights Commission, and make the country more and more like Amerika...
And sadly too many progressives think the battle against homophobia is over, when it isn't.
But then this too is true: none of this will change the final outcome. No bigot was ever born who could intimidate me. The long struggle of LGBT people and their friends for justice and dignity will continue.
However long it takes, the religious hatemongers will be defeated. And so will the Harper Cons.
For the NO SURRENDER I have tattooed over my heart is for both of them eh?
And Canada will NEVER be Amerika...
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17 comments:
gee I guess all those good christains forgot about the part in the bible which says something along the line of, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Refusing housing to people because they are gay just isn't on. So what if they inserted F.N.s, or Jewish or persons of colour. If people are permited to discriminate against LGBT people then they could discriminate against you next time.
My Canada includes everybody regardless of their sex or sexual orientation or whatever. We are all people & should be treated with dignify. I guess when it comes to bigotry you just can't beat a christian.
"And Canada will never be Amerika".
No, I'm afraid it's worse nowadays. CAnada has now become the most Conservative country in the world, now, surpassing the US.
This is why I lean toward Quebec separation these days.
Th
The only thing progressive about Canada these days is Quebec (and I mean French Quebec).
Also, remember that Toronto put Rob Ford in by a large margin in 2010. Toronto ain't that Liberal anymore, if it ever was.
Simon, you & Sebastien should move back to Montreal.
@ck - I don't want Quebec to separate or anyone to leave Canada; I want more of us to stay and fight for the country we could be. Harperland is a huge backlash to civil rights that were, at one point, moving slowly but surely in the right direction. Let's not run from it, or separate from it, but keep on fighting.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you....When it comes to Harper, you need to do it first.
The rest of Canada should separate from Ottawa, and Alberta of course. Canada would be a much better place, without them.
Why is it hard to believe, Simon? Intolerance of any stripe is the natural, perhaps inevitable, outcome when religious fundamentalism (Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Hindu) merges with political power.
hi e.a.f... I went to Sunday School long enough to know that those bigots aren't Christians. They are entitled to believe and say what they want,as long as they don't trample on the human rights of others. And what annoys me the most is that they don't seem to understand that religious rights are not as important as human rights. They're not on the same plane. One is a comforting fantasy, and the other is the reality of LIFE.
And since we all have one life, how dare they try to ruin the lives of others?
We need a new global religious/political movement
if we are going to save this planet...
hi Steve...I forgot to add: Or should I call the PMO and ask if they're missing a moron? Because that should cover all bases eh? ;)
Religious saps have to come to grips with the reality that human rights trump their weirdo "values" and their belief in their imaginary friend.
BTW Simon, ... I see the gutless anonymous moron who used to plague my comments board has turned to trolling you in desperation. The spam filter was made for snivelling anonymous freaks like that. Over and done with. And then the shit-head has nobody to interact with until his mother comes around again to sodomize him with the pot-scrubber.
Anonymous, you do realize that not everyone living in Alberta votes Conservative, right? More to the topic at hand, I really do wonder at the mentality of some people and what it will take to change it. I applaud the GLBT community's struggle in this. Stories like this remind me of how easy I have it. I really do hope for the day when two people, regardless of sexual orientation or whatever else can simply walk hand and hand down the street and enjoy a nice summer's evening without being subjected to all the bullshit.
hi ck... I don't blame you for leaning towards separation, I've been thinking a lot about that myself. I still cling to the hope that our differences can be reconciled. And the idea of the bourgeois Pauline Marois as the Mother of the Quebec Nation doesn't exactly inspire me. But when I see what Harper is doing, and how so many in English Canada are so viscerally anti-Quebec, sometimes I think it's inevitable. Especially if progressives split the vote again in the next election, as I fear they will, and the Cons get in again. I think many Quebecers would give up on federal politics after that, and I would too. I want to live in a society with different priorities, and five more years of living in Harperland as it gets weirder and more sinister is
simply unthinkable.
As for Seb and I, we can't return to Montreal for a while, life is complicated and jobs are precious. But I think I'll keep our bags packed in case we have to leave in a hurry... ;)
hi anonymous...well that's an original idea where can I vote for it? Seriously though, I believe that Harper's policies are fracturing this country. It was never going to be an easy country to keep together. But Harper is doing nothing to create a sense of national purpose, and his economic policies, and his tyrant manners, are dividing us even further.
Canada was the product of our genius for compromise. The day we forget that is the day we are doomed....
hi Mound....yes you're right. As usual. ;) I guess what I was trying to say was I'll never understand that kind of senseles. I just find senseless hate so hard to understand. What I do understand is that religious fundamentalism is a growing threat, and fatal to the kind of reason we need if we are going to survive. I have always believed that Harper has a fundamentalist component. And Mencken was right, religion is the greatest fomenter of hatred the world has ever known...
hi Thwap...Lordy. He sure is a pathetic case. You can practically hear him sobbing as he hits those key with his thumbs. My guess is he's a closet case filled with self loathing, or his mother dropped him on his head too many times. A few years ago I had a troll like him, but he pushed his luck, the police detained him and took him off to a mental institution, which is no doubt where Sobby will end up. Or jail because he is clearly a danger to himself and others. If only he knew what a mistake he has made. My only fear now is that he will commit suicide, before they knock on his door and drag him away in his diapers... :)
hi Way Way Up....nice comment. It really is the limit when people attack others for who they are or what they look like. Like that bastard who attacked a Sikh temple no doubt thinking that they were Muslims. Ignorance and bigotry walk side by side, and we won't have a better world until we have defeated both of them....
You pair are a trip, typical internet tough guys. The place is full of them, sadly, on the left and the right. You two, especially Thwap, act like your shit don’t stink. Your ultra self-righteous tone is why people get turned off politics and especially the left. You can’t last on public boards because you basically can’t get along with other people because you are so bloody self-absorbed. And spare me your threats, you are talking out your ass and we both know it, lol. Another leftwing internet tough guy, you make my day you know!
Does that include your own, or just those who you disagree with?
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