Athée Canadien
Posts tagged lgbt
Taking the wrong side
May 11th
As the resident American on Canadian Atheist, I’m usually keeping one eye on what’s going on back in the States. Earlier this week Ophelia Benson posted on Facebook the following article: LGBT “Welcome” Ad Rejected by Sojourners, Nation’s Premier Progressive Christian Org. Here’s the rejected video in question:
This video shouldn’t be controversial — but if you’re forced to view the world through the eyes of a Bronze-Age morality, suddenly this welcoming video becomes a threat.
From the article:
you can imagine our dismay when Sojourners refused to run our ads. In a written statement, Sojourners said, “I’m afraid we’ll have to decline. Sojourners position is to avoid taking sides on this issue. In that care [sic], the decision to accept advertising may give the appearance of taking sides.”
Taking sides? What are the sides here? That young children who have same-gender parents are not welcome in our churches? That “welcome, everyone” (the only two words spoken in the ad) is a controversial greeting from our pulpits? That the stares the young boy and his moms get while walking down the aisle are justified? I can’t imagine Sojourners turning down an ad that called for welcome of poor children into our churches. So why is this boy different?
Sojourners is one of the most prominent progressive-Christian organizations in the States — and if they can’t stomach the message of this ad, what does that say about their views toward the LGBT community? I’m fascinated by the resistance of religious people to giving full rights to ALL members of our society: whether they’re fighting it tooth and nail like the Mormons and California’s Proposition 8, or being more subversive in their rejection, like Sojourners.
It’s just another example of the imprisoning and hurtful power of religious dogma. I’m glad I got out when I did.
Senators for transgender rights
Mar 9th
Despite the looming election-speculation, which would kill the transgender bill of rights, Bill C-389, a few senators responded to my email requesting that they support the bill to become law.
Nunavut Conservative Party senator Dennis Patterson wrote simply:
I will.
Dennis Patterson
Senator for Nunavut
Newfoundland Conservative senator Elizabeth Marshall was a bit more cryptic:
Thank you for your views on Bill C-389
Manitoba Liberal Sharon Carstairs says:
I will support the bill.
And finally, Nova Scotia Liberal, and leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Jim Cowan writes the most stating:
Dear Mr. Bushfield,
Thank you for your email of February 26 concerning Bill C-389, an Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression).
I agree with you – passing Bill C-389 is the right thing to do. Transgendered Canadians continue to suffer discrimination and even sometimes violence, simply because of their gender identity. The amendments proposed in Bill C-389 are an important step to ensuring that transgendered Canadians enjoy the same rights and protections that all Canadians have a right to expect.
Bill C-389 has been introduced in the Senate, but not yet brought forward for second reading debate. I must tell you, with Conservative senators now holding a majority position in the Senate, I am not optimistic we will succeed in moving this bill through the various stages of the legislative process. But please be assured that it has my personal support.
Thank you for taking the time to write to me about this important bill.
Yours sincerely,
James S. Cowan
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Assuming the bill isn’t pre-empted by an election, I think there is a chance that this bill will pass into law. Harper didn’t whip the vote in the House of Commons, and a few Conservative MPs even voted for it (while a few Liberals voted against).
A counter-protest without a protest
Nov 15th
A contingent of LGBT supporters, atheists and progressives turned out a few days ago in Edmonton to counter-protest the supposed appearance of Fred Phelps and his God-Hates-Fags protesters who were planning to picket a play about a Wyoming gay-bashing.
While Fred didn’t show, his son Nate, the Executive Director of CFI Calgary, did speak, along with the local NDP MP, MLA and a few other activists, namely, our own Brent Kelly and the new CFI Edmonton.
Photo by UAAA President Ryan Bromsgrove
It sounds like a great time was had by all, and I hope the speed that this rally came together demonstrates the commitment to LGBT rights in Canada.
Also, it’s worth noting that no local Conservative MPs, or MLAs, or even Liberals MLAs (like Laurie Blakeman, Hugh MacDonald or Kevin Taft) were there.
A campaign against a homophobic charity
Sep 6th
Mark at Slap Upside the Head, has started a campaign to get the Canadian Revenue Agency to revoke charitable status for Exodus Global Alliance.
This “charity” is a homophobic US Evangelical group that seeks to “proclaim freedom from homosexuality.” They run anti-gay conferences where they attempt to “cure” gay people and counsel families with gay people in them.
They have been registered as a religious charity since 1999 within the category of “Missonary Organizations and Propagation of Gospel,” which basically means that our government considers curing gay people worthy of issuing tax receipts for (while at the same time also sanctioning gay marriage). While we (and I presume to speak for everyone here) at Canadian Atheist take exception with the propagation of religion as a charitable activity, it is especially disgusting to see such an endorsement of hateful, discriminatory practice by our own system.
So what can you and I do?
First, read more from Mark, and learn what’s going on. Then write CRA to complain. And finally, share this story so more people can get the word out.
Mark’s even provided a form letter to use to file your complaint:
I’m concerned that the activities being performed in Canada by Exodus Global Alliance, a registered charity, do not meet the criteria of a public benefit as defined by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Exodus’ primary activities include the promotion and treatment of homosexuality as a mental disorder—a notion not supported by the medical and psychological community. Since homosexuality has not been listed as a disorder in medical literature since the mid 1970s, it does not require treatment as promoted by Exodus. Several respected medical and psychological associations, incuding the American Medical Assocation and the American Psychological Association, have issued official statements attesting that such treatments may even result in serious psychological harm.
For these reasons, and in the interest of Canadians, I believe Exodus Global Alliance’s charitable status should be re-evaluated according to the Canada Revenue Agency’s public benefit criteria.
Which can be sent to:
…Contact Revenue Canada’s Charities Directorate at 1-800-267-2384, or write to them:
Charities Directorate
Canada Revenue Agency
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5You can also contact the Office of the Commissioner and Office of the Deputy Commissioner of the CRA:
Mrs. Linda Lizotte-MacPherson
Commissioner — Chief Executive Officer of the CRA
7th Floor
555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5Mrs. Lyse Ricard
Deputy Commissioner of the CRA
7th Floor
555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
It’s about time that we started challenging the promotion of religion as a basic charitable activity.
Two great videos from the SSA
Aug 21st
I apparently missed a great conference earlier this summer at the Secular Student Alliance (read Katie’s description here). If you have a spare hour and a half, watch both of these videos (if not, make the time).
The first is Debbie Goddard’s talk which focuses on diversity in the freethought movement. It’s a bit abbreviated, so I think her full-length talk might have been a bit more valuable, but it does do a very good job at introducing the challenges as they stand in the movement.
The next video is of Greta Christina who talked about what the atheist movement can learn from the LGBT movement. She has many great points which include the need for more community building (especially offline and off campuses), that our debates about tone are stupid and we need both firebrands and diplomats (something I strongly agree with), that our debates over language are equally stupid (atheist vs. agnostics vs. skeptic vs. humanist etc.), and that we need to be prepared for mainstream (i.e. when atheism is no longer cool). She also talked for a while about how the LGBT movement failed horribly at building a diverse movement and is now paying for being predominantly white men. She emphasized that we have the opportunity to fix this in the atheist movement (because it is a problem), and that we have to keep talking about it.
This talk is exceptional, and I can’t wait for her to come to Vancouver in the fall (details are still being negotiated between the SFU Skeptics and her).
Be sure to subscribe to Greta’s blog too as her writing is consistently awesome.
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