What, you thought we’d be on the cover? “A recently released guidebook for new [Canadian] immigrants, Discover Canada, is a mixed bag of trivia and ideology. The handbook has an explicit section on gender equality, where it condemns the “barbaric cultural practices” of spousal abuse, honour killings and female genital mutilation. There is a section on diversity that gives a shout out to atheism but leaves out gays or lesbians. Queer people are relegated to a sidebar next to a photo of Mark Tewksbury, in the section devoted to sports, arts and culture.” Which, to be fair, is the gay section. [Xtra]
Canada’s Immigrants Learn About Homosexuals Via Meaningless Sidebar
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Michael
You can thank our Conservative government.
They’ve also decided to glamourize our combat war involvement in “Discover Canada”. Apparently our peace keeping image wasn’t cool enough for them.
Travis King
Part of a global trend of right-wing conservative nutbarness. I have always admired Canada and found the people and environment quite enjoyable when visiting. If my country (your whiny upstart ingrate cousin to the south) has been responsible in any way for this recent conservatism in Canada, I sincerely apologize (or apologise, if that’s how you spell it there—I’m never sure how that works. Still, I know Canada’s fairly LGBT-friendly. There must be better guidebooks out there.
Travis King
Whoops, I forgot to close my parentheses in my last comment. Blame the American education system. Cheers, my friends! And fret not. There will be a day when the queer community will no longer be marginalized.
alejandro
fuck stephen harper.
Sammi
Sure, blame Stephen Harper!
Where is the left in Canada? Dead.
It was former Governor-General, Adrianne Clarkson, and her husband (John Ralston-Saul) as well as a team of academics that helped to release the new immigrants guidebook.
With such a tiny percentage of Canada’s population, the homosexual community is lucky that it even got mentioned.
Gays and lesbians in North America are a lazy, bitchy lot, who do not realise how good they have it.
And, if it hadn’t been for Canada’s involvement in World Wars One and Two, the Korean War, and the War in Afghanistan, the GLBT wouldn’t have the rights that they do now.
You people, in the United States, should just accept civil unions without the necessity of marriage; It’s good enough! The Defence of the Marriage Act, and Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell are supported by the majority of Americans! Do you wish to defy democracy and impose your homosexualist agenda on an unwilling people? Just like Communists during the Cold War Era, the homosexualist fanatic thinks that they, and only they, are right, and everyone else is wrong.
Travis King
Yeah, people like Matthew Shepard have it so good here. And how about we just get rid of marriage altogether and you straight fucks can have civil unions too? If it’s good enough for us it’s good enough for you. The only “homosexualist” agenda is equality.
TommyOC
@Sammi:
With such a tiny percentage of Canada’s population, the homosexual community is lucky that it even got mentioned.
Seriuosly? Statistics would indicate, on the low end, 8-10% of the general population to be gay. For the sake of your argument, let’s knock that down to 5%. How many people in Canada are immigrants? 5%? Muslims? Hindus? In the military? And to think that each of those populations themselves have a gay minority. I would think that’s all worth mentioning?
The Defence of the Marriage Act, and Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell are supported by the majority of Americans
DOMA still has the support of a majority of Americans, true. But it is a long held facet of American culture that a majority should never decide the rights of a minority. All of America’s civil rights progress has happened *despite* the majority’s stance, not because of it.
DADT is actually *opposed* by the majority of Americans. Get your facts straight.
Also, the U.S., in case you weren’t aware, is a *Republic*, not a democracy. If you don’t know the difference because of your location (“defence” indicates your Canadian at best, British at worst), you should look it up. The U.S. is not a democracy. We just employ democratic principles.
Seriously, dude, I have no idea what planet you live on. But I’m sure they have lots of crack – you appear to be smoking your fair share.
William Day
@TommyOC
Why “British at worst”? Not that I intend to turn this into an Anglo-American (assuming you are American) pissing contest, but what have we done to offend you so badly?
strumpetwindsock
@ Sammi
Actually I’m not sure what you’re on about either.
No disrespect to our soldiers, but there was a bit more to securing our rights than sending our troops off to die in wars – some of which were completely pointless. That’s the oldest lie in the book; much of the real work was done right here at home, and it would probably have come about just the same even if we had never been involved in any foreign wars.
And on the marriage issue I am not sure what your beef is. Are you just pissed off because we have those rights here in Canada and no homophobic fanatics are going to change that?
Sammi
All that I am arguing is that the tiny homosexual population, which I am part of, should just resign itself to the fact that life is great here in the West. We do not need, or do we want marriage.
We have bigger battles to be fought; such as basic gay rights in Iran and throughout Africa; Hence the homosexualist agenda is nothing more than a bitchy group that wants their already ex-tenuous rights expanded by being forced upon the heterosexual majority.
At about 4-8% of the population, we should be grateful for what we have!
The radical homosexualist agenda should just give up its leftist slant and redirect its efforts elsewhere.
Travis King
Well, Sammi, if by “we” you mean yourself, then that’s fine. But I know many LGBT persons who do want marriage. I’d say the majority want it. I know I’d like to see it come to fruition.
Your argument doesn’t make much sense to me. Should African-Americans of the 1960s been satisfied with “separate but equal” laws in the USA? That’s basically what civil union vs. full marriage rights equates to. Go find some black people and tell them how great they had it and that they should never have bothered with the civil rights movement. See what kind of reaction you get there.
As TommyOC said, it’s generally accepted that, while the majority typically decides the direction of the nation, the majority should never be allowed to force their will upon the minority if that will stands in the way of basic rights–and especially if that will has no effect on the majority. Same-sex marriage has no effect on how straight people live their lives; the only argument they have against it is a religious one, and religion should never mix with politics.
I don’t know why you want to be happy with your lot, but you don’t speak for the majority of the LGBT population, so why don’t you sit back, enjoy your second-class status, and let the rest of us whine–or rather FIGHT–for the equality we deserve, okay?
Chris
From the way he worded his first post, there is no way Sammi can be a homosexual.
We can still be grateful for what we do have while being dissatisfied with the amount of rights being denied us. Anybody who says we shouldn’t fight for complete equality is pretty dumb.
crystalglass
@Travis King:
… and don’t forget Jesse Dirkhising who had it even worse than Matthew Shephard.