Now, first of all I realize that this is an op-ed piece, and as such it reflects the author’s own opinion and nothing else, that CBC has an obligation to present all sides of a story, etc… I must say, however, that I am disapointed to see this kind of drek being spouted. Sure, I know that there are assholes everywhere, and bigots, and extremests, but my experience with Canada in general and Canadians in specific has been marketdly different. Ginger prides herself on the tolerance that Canada celebrates, and in my expierence, she’s got something there. The lack of a large fundie contingent and a general live and let live attitutde towards gay folks in specific have made me feel that in the area of gay rights, at least, Canada is far and away a better place than America. Seeing this bullshit published, even in an op-ed piece, leaves me feeling like something that was much better, much more right than what I grew up with is now sullied. I know it’s just one person, but I want to send out a hearty FUCK YOU to Ms. Gwendolyn Lan-DORK for her knuckle dragging attitudes and slavish embrace of pseudo science. Hauling out false stats and questionable studies does not make your case, bitch. Highlighting personal anecdotes about one gay person does not mean those atitudes are applicable to the gay community as a whole, you worthless cum dumpster. Finally, if that’s the way you truly feel, get your ass to Topeka, you don’t deserve to be a Canadian.
What follows is the text of the letter I sent to the editor in reply:
I stopped reading at the unsubstantiated “therefore” in the first graf:
“However emotionally bonded a same-sex couple may feel, their relationship is not, and cannot, ever be a marriage. This is because their relationship is completely different from that of an opposite-sex married couple. It is completely false, therefore, to suggest that the relationships are equal – they are not.”
“Therefore” should have some sort of permit or tax attached; only people who know what it means should be allowed to use it.
Yeah we have our share of embarassing people up here, all right. Ms. Landolt is unfortunately not alone in her views. I know it’s a generalization but it seems these types of people always exhibit a certain mixture of either racism, homophobia (or both) and an assortment of vague, nebulous fears and paranoia. IMO they’re essentially threatened by change, as we all are to some degree.
Her “arguments” are all pretty tired and nonsensical, her opinion obviously of little consequence in the grand scheme of things. Maybe the deluge of letters like the ones posted/linked to above, which she undoubtedly and deservedly will receive, will give her some food for thought. I kind of doubt it will change her mind, but you never know.
It’ll be nice when same-sex marriage becomes just a regular, everyday commonplace thing and people just get over it and relax already.
I guess my (Canadian) boyfriend had better claim that Dutch citizenship he’s entitled to so he’ll still be able to get me into a civilized country. The Dutch haven’t been pulling anything like this, have they?
grumble grumble going to move to Amsterdam and hide and NEVER COME OUT
Reading your reply depressed me. It’s not that you were wrong. You were of course right in every respect.
What depressed me is that this same argument has been going back and forth over and over, and it’s become obvious to me now that those who are opposed to gay marriage do not have their opposition based in any sort of intellectual position. Every argument against gay marriage is easily refuted with just the simplest logic and a dollop of common fucking sense. Yet the same objections are voiced again, and again, and again, and again, and again, with such astounding vitriol that there’s no room for any constructive dialogue on the issue.
Those opposed to gay marriage simply hate gay people. I know some will object to this generalization, but I believe it to be almost universally true, and if anyone reading this is going to get upset and object and claim “not me, I’m opposed to it because blah blah blah” then I may as well tell you to save your breath because I do not believe you. Some hate them because they believe in a “God,” who orders them to hate certain people. Others hate because they’re afraid, or because they were taught to. Either way, it’s just pure hatred, and I’ve become convinced that that’s really the entire situation, and it is thoroughly depressing.
Fuck you, Ms. LanDOLT… and the dinosaur you came in on…
I think Ms. LanDOLT has a great future… in the Conservative party… or as a speechwriter for Ralph Klein…
On a brighter note… the Canadian Government tonight announced that it would be treating Same Sex Marriages exactly the same as Straight Marriages in issues of immigration…
You heard it here, folks. Men work, women stay in the kitchen and have babies. Men make money, women spend it.
Yeah, maybe that’s because their own parents hate them.
Anarchy! People will desire nothing more than having frenzied, lust-maddened orgies in the streets! No work will ever get done! Cats and dogs will lay down together!
We read this article and understand that it was written by one complete idiot. It does not represent the views of the majority of Canadians. Sad to say the same can’t be said for the US.
The U.S. is one of four countries in the entire world where it is possible for same-sex couples to be legally married. I’m guessing Canada is not one of the other three?
I coulda sworn Cambodia also allowed it, but articles I’m finding say that the King of Cambodia said he thinks gay couples should be allowed to marry … however, as he has no executive power, it doesn’t seem to me (from what I can find) to have gone any further than that.
RickJay, I think there’s an alternative to your POV. I think it’s extremely possible that a large percent of people don’t have enough respect for the topic to become aware of counter-arguments, or don’t care about gay people because they don’t know they know any, or they simply don’t think it’s an actual issue (newsmedia, obviously, notwithstanding), or they otherwise don’t have the attention span and correctly-firing neurons to read and understand the arguments for gay marriage. There are some, to be sure (many, even) who despise gay people to some extent, or think they’re [fill in religious excuse], etc.
To say they all hate gay people is, I think, losing sight of the fact that a lot of them are simply intellectually lazy. Many also don’t recall the most recent civil rights movement that culminated in the … 80s, really, with the removal of racial qualifiers for federal scoholarships, but is often thought to have culminated in the 60s. They don’t remember it and they mostly haven’t faced an abbrogation of rights similar to what the GLBT crowd has been facing … for almost the entire history of both our countries. They don’t understand why it’s absolutely essential that they care about their fellow citizens. In a sense I wonder if it’s best to have a period of 20 years or so in between civil rights movements, because while it allows a civilization to heal somewhat, the lag period between them also serves to let people forget what happens when we grow complacent.
Count me as someone opposed to gay marriage. Here is my reasoning on the issue:
Hetero couples have children, gay couples cannot. OK, some hetero couples choose not to have children, but this does not mitigate the fact that they can, should they so choose. And granted, some hetero couples are infertile, but once again, they can choose to have children. Well, they can’t. But they could if they really wanted to. Well, not really. But the hetero couples who are unable to have children are still better than gay couples who can’t have children, because, well, they can, even though they can’t.
