Peter Baklinksi of LifeSiteNews:
An organization in British Columbia that champions the natural family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life has filed a human rights complaint against the Vancouver School Board (VSB) for using in its meetings, policies, and schools what the group calls “hateful, defamatory, and demeaning terminology.”
Culture Guard filed the complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal last Wednesday claiming that the school board’s use of the terms “homophobe, homophobic, and homophobia” is “offensive” and discriminates against beliefs and values held by certain groups.
“Such terms are designed to promote hatred and contempt,” stated Culture Guard president Kari Simpson in a press release. “They are used to isolate, marginalize, and belittle individuals and groups that hold opinions at variance to those of the sex activists within the education establishment.”
Simpson told LifeSiteNews that the complaint was filed not only on her own behalf but on behalf of Chinese Christians residing in Vancouver who, according to Simpson, were verbally assaulted when they raised concerns over the ‘anti-homophobia’ policies that were being enacted in their school district.
12 Comments
If you believe that gay people are sinners/evil/less than/repugnant/mentally ill/vile/shameful/detestable… etc, then by all accounts, you meet the definition of a homophobe. In a society in which all men are created equal, the establishments that society has created (schools, legislatures, laws, etc) should be free from the verbal or physical persecution of a person(s) whose religion somehow condones bigotry.
What a belief system NOM supporters have, to believe that GOD almighty justifies the hate speech that seems to rampant among its supporters against gay men and women. The personal religious beliefs of people deserve respect, in that they deserve to be left alone in the church and home. When you bring your religious beliefs to the public arena and attempt to have them legislated, you will face resistance from those who do not share your beliefs. (A note: Beliefs which cannot be proven or substantiated are more likely to garner skepticism than facts which can be observed, documented, and repeated)
Maybe the compromise is the use of terms like "homophiles," "homophilic," "sodomiphiles," and such.
if only the left was not so Christophobic we would not have to fight so hard for our religous beliefs .
Moralphobic. Heterophobic. Normalphobic. Reproductophibic. Procreatophobic.
I like that last one, especially. Afraid to form procreative relationships.
But what about freedom of speech!?
Or is that only valuable if you're lying?
It's hard to follow y'all's trains of, er, "thought" sometimes.
Pat asks: But what about freedom of speech!?
And the answer is that homosexuals are playing the victim card and it's disingenuous and insulting. Two can play at that game.
OvercameSSA states: "Homosexuals are playing the victim card and its disingenuous and insulting"
So, I guess Matthew Sheppard died of his own accord? I guess the countless thousands of gay men, women, and trangender individuals who have been beaten and killed are just making it up for political sympathy?
When a majority claims that they are being bullied by the persecuted minority is a day in which many will wake up and say "ummmm, Im sorry, but how often do you hear about gay people killing straight people simply for being straight?"
You are entitled to your religious beliefs. You are entitled to be a bigot til the day you die. You are not entitled to have your beliefs influence my life in any form or fashion.
Austin -
I haven't heard about the countless thousands of gay men, women and transgendered beaten and killed. Which news outlets are you following, because I'd like to read about them. Where I live and what I watch on TV, gay men, women, and transgendered are treated just fine in our politically-correct environment. Unless you want to repeat "Matthew Sheppard" a thousand times.
Admittedly not a researched source (as I actually have work to do), but in less than ten seconds I found a link that answers your questions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_acts_of_violence_against_LGBT_people
Furthermore, I know of people who have personally been beaten while walking down the street just because the y were perceived as gay. (I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area)
Therefore, I say to you that the violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people is real. I have been at the side of a friend beaten for the crime of walking while gay. I have seen the damage that can come from a religion that acknowledges that all men are sinners and are deserving of forgiveness, while spewing vile bigotry towards a vulnerable minority.
I am an open minded person. Religious people deserve respect for their beliefs. I do not try to belittle them in any way. I just ask that their religous beliefs stay out of my life and out of my bedroom.
A good list in the US of less than a hundred people dating back to Harvey Milk in 1978. And we know that the homosexual community generally contributes enthusiastically to such opportunities to show their victimhood, and this is the best they could do.
There are plenty of whack-jobs out there committing violence against any group of people that have different characteristics from the norm, and they're not religious folks, they're usually ignorant heathens. I don't know where you get the notion that religious folks are violent; my guess is you don't have a religion to know otherwise.
Homosexuals suggest that the whole freakin' country commits violence against them, and that's just not true. There's a boatload of people who disagree with the sexual behaviors of homosexuals, sure. But very few people believe in violence, not just against homosexuals but against any human being.
I'm open-minded too. I ask that homosexuals keep their bedroom activities out of the streets, off the public airwaves, and out of my kids' classrooms. The only time this was ever enforced was when homosexual acts were considered criminal acts, back before 2003. I think we should return to those days.
Overcame, you're funny when you write:
And I think it makes the point very well ... that knee-jerk accusations of anything are unhelpful, particularly when they are packed with charged terms like "bigot" or "homophobe". ( Or "sodomite, folks. Just sayin' - it works both ways )
Good for Culture Guard! I'm not familiar with the group or its full agenda, but this is the kind of action we all should support. Bravo!
You're a little less funny when you write:
I don't see where anyone but you expressed this notion. Nobody here claimed that religious folks commit violence, that I can see. I don't even see a claim that religious folks are responsible for the violence committed.
I see that Austin wrote:
Doesn't seem like a harmful belief.
Austin also writes in opposition to:
I don't expect reasonable people are FOR spewing vile bigotry, particularly towards a vulnerable minority. Am I mistaken?
And by the way, I interpret all the 'phobic' variations posted here as satire, to illustrate the stupidity of the term 'homophibic' in the way it is used. But if you mean to assert that only heterosexuals have the capacity for morality, or for Christianity, you would be mistaken.
Overcame:
Tell you what. If you want to make illegal the activities of my bedroom, fine. I just ask that, in return, I can make the activities of your bedroom illegal as well.
How pathetic you must be to say that religious people do not use violence. Rev. Phelps from Kansas and Sean Harris of North Carolina are just two examples I can name off the top of my head. Both urged violence against people for simply being gay.
Homosexuals never said that the "whole freaking country" commits violence against them. Gays and lesbians merely say that the extreme conservatives and ultra religious are the predominant perpetrators of violence against the LGBT community. Not everyone in a group can take responsibility for the actions of others in that group, granted; however, gays are justified in saying that by saying that merely being gay is a sin, you encourage those who are already on the fringes to act out on their violent urges with a sense of justification.
Finally, how un-Christ like are you to claim that it is not a big deal that I was only able to produce a list of near 100 instances of violence and death against LGBT people. You shame yourself and the lives of those innocents who died for merely being who they were. Shame on you. If you teach the values that gay life is less than straight life, you teach bigotry. If you think that the loss of any life is inconsequential, then you do not abide by the tenants of the religion you claim to uphold.