Applica Consulting Group

Posts Tagged ‘conservative movement’

TORONTO–Everybody knows about Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre Alliance MP Larry Spencer’s (in)famous interview with the Vancouver Sun and the predictable fall-out from it. Spencer — who quickly apologized — said it was a “mistake” to legalize homosexual acts and talked about a “conspiracy” of homosexual activists recruiting school children to push their agenda. As he must have known would happen, the earth suddenly came crashing to a halt, and all the forces of righteousness — as they would see themselves — went into attack mode. Furrowed brows and wringing hands became the order of the day. Spencer was dismissed as a bigot, a crackpot, and more. Worse, the entire social conservative movement — and indeed, the Canadian Alliance itself — was tarred. Even the National Post, usually more sensible about these things than, oh, The Toronto Star or The Globe and Mail, resurrected the usual suspects — i.e. Betty Granger’s “Asian invasion” comments and Bob Ringma’s remarks about moving minorities “to the back of the shop” — to illustrate how pervasive these unacceptable views are among Reform/Alliance supporters. Never mind that both Granger and Ringma’s comments, like so many of the standard examples of “intolerance” used to marginalize so-cons, are wildly out of context in the retelling. Everybody knows that while not all Alliance members are crackpots, if you are a crackpot, where better to feel at home than in the Alliance? Before you think I support Spencer’s suggestion to criminalize homosexuality or tie it to pedophilia, I don’t. I do think, however, some of his remarks are valid, e.g., his concerns about a sharply lower life expectancy among homosexual men, which should be a legitimate subject of public health debate, but can’t be because of the tyranny of the media and others brought to bear against anybody who dares raise them. Spencer’s mistake — and it was stupid of him to make it — is that by being so extreme in part, he ruled out the possibility of reasonable debate over his legitimate concerns, providing a convenient target for all those who do not wish to discuss any of the negative side of homosexuality. Lest you think we so-cons are a tad paranoid, perhaps you care to explain why Liberal David Kilgour, who uttered similar (although not quite as extreme) concerns about the homosexual lifestyle, has been virtually ignored by most media. Nobody argues that because Kilgour, a Liberal, said such things that all Liberals must be extreme, any more than they would define all New Democrats as extremists because of some of the decidedly immoderate comments and actions by such stalwarts as Svend Robinson over the years. That one-size-fits-all-formula, it seems, only applies when the extreme view comes from the Alliance. To read most reactions to Spencer, and to others who have been roasted for far less offensive remarks on the subject, you’d think that concerns about homosexual lifestyles was restricted to a tiny minority of Canadians. Yet everybody knows this is not true. The Wednesday Post, for example, ran as its main story a public opinion poll showing a mere 31 per cent of Canadians polled supported same-sex marriage, down dramatically from earlier polls showing roughly a 50-50 split. The COMPAS poll found 31 per cent said marriage should include heterosexuals only, and another 37 per cent said the traditional definition of marriage should remain intact, but a new category could be created to allow for same-sex unions. So does this make the 67 per cent who do not favour same-sex “marriage” all bigots, crackpots, kooks or homophobes? Apparently. On the issue of health, lost in the avalanche of vitriol directed at Spencer, even the ultra-liberal Star reported on its front page this week that HIV/AIDS cases are up 17 per cent in Canada, with the largest group by far still homosexual men. Surely this is a serious, and tragic, health issue. But the danger of muzzling anybody who questions the homosexual lifestyle on any level is that it cannot even be addressed for fear of provoking charges of “homophobia” or worse. Social conservatives, in theory, have as much right as social liberals to be heard. When they say something really stupid, as Spencer did, they also should expect to be criticized. After all, free speech does not protect you from other people’s rights to exercise their free speech right back at you.