Sorry kids, but today's post has been, like, totally pwned. Postponed, that is. Tune in Wednesday for our regularly scheduled programming!
September 17th, 2008
Now that it’s election time, Xtra has a great list of crazy MPs that maybe should have worn their muzzle just a little tighter in the past few years.
I won’t spoil all the fun, but the list includes such gems as Cheryl Gallant:
The danger of having sexual orientation just listed [in hate crimes legislation], that encompasses, for example, paedophiles.
Garry Breitkreuz:
In the 1950s buggery was a criminal offence. Now it’s a requirement to receive benefits from the federal government.
And who could forget Harold Albrecht:
Same-sex marriage will succeed in wiping out an entire society in just one generation.
For some added fun, guess the party from which most of them hail. OK, I’ll give you a hint: it’s not the Green party… or that yogic flying one.
September 15th, 2008
Chasing Pavements, a hit song by UK artist Adele, has reportedly been banned by some radio stations in the United States over bizarre claims that the mellow pop song is actually a gay anthem.
Adele, speaking at the Nationwide Mercury awards last week, expressed disappointment over the whole incident, insisting that there’s absolutely nothing gay in the song:
Some weirdo on the Net wrote that Chasing Pavements was about being gay, which isn’t true at all. Because of that some radio stations in the States wouldn’t play it.
Adele said that the controversy started after an anonymous user posted an entry at Urban Dictionary, a slang dictionary website to which anyone can contribute definitions. The term “chasing pavements” was not on the site until after the song was released, but is now defined as something… err, not terrifically fitting for such a laid back ballad. Weirder still, there’s nothing in the rogue definition that is necessarily gay-related, making me wonder why all this gayness entered the picture in the first place.
Still, those of you who want to hear this filthy, filthy song can catch it on YouTube.
September 12th, 2008
The Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy has released the shocking conclusion of a 36,000-person political study: Gay people don’t vote for the Conservative party!
I’ll… give you a moment to absorb that.
The report, made from data donated by Ipsos Reid, states that only 7.3% of gay men and 10.4% of lesbians voted for the Conservatives in the last federal election, compared to 40.7% of straight men and 32.4% of straight women. More interestingly, though, the study revealed who they did did vote for. Gay men were more likely to vote Liberal, at roughly 40%, while lesbians generally voted for the NDP in the same percentage.
The Tories, who have been completely shaken by these results, have vowed to win back the gay community by purchasing more fashionable and better-fitting sweater vests for all of Harper’s future anti-gay press releases.
September 10th, 2008
Vancouver’s Lorne Mayencourt, a gay Liberal MLA with a strong record of supporting AIDS research and anti-bullying campaigns, is running for a seat in the federal election as a… Conservative candidate?
Yes, after vehemently opposing equal marriage rights, fighting against adding gays to protective hate crimes legislation, axing the minority protections in the court challenges program, appointing an anti-gay lobby member to an influential government job, appointing a Supreme Court Judge that had formerly called equal marriage unconstitutional, and even drafting a bill that would make it legal for public servants to discriminate against gay people, the Tories have welcomed an openly gay MLA from a provincial Liberal party.
While I don’t take this as evidence that the Conservatives are no longer hostile toward gays, I do think it would be nice to have a gay influence among the Tory seats. If it came down to it.
September 8th, 2008
A tiny church in Backlick, Ohio has drawn some ire from local residents over its illuminated sign out front: “I kissed a girl and I liked it. Then I went to hell.”
The text is, of course, a reference to a hit song by Katy Perry, though I’m not sure why they don’t share the world’s enthusiasm for mass-manufactured pop music. When asked about the sign, Reverend Dave Allison said that the message shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, saying that the sign was posted “as a loving warning to teens.”
Aw, gee. That really makes you feel loved, doesn’t it?
September 5th, 2008
The Vatican has ordered a Bloc Québecois MP, Rev. Raymond Gravel, to quit his post in Canadian parliament and return to being a Roman Catholic priest. Vatican officials indicated that Gravel’s support of same-sex marriage and women’s rights were the cause of the order.
This isn’t the first time The Vatican has ordered a public official to leave politics. From a Globe and Mail article: (emphasis mine)
In 1984, the Vatican also ordered Rev. Robert Ogle to give up his New Democratic Party seat in the House, in a bid to avoid a blurring of lines between the secular and spiritual worlds.
You heard it here first, kids: The Vatican always abstains from debating or influencing public policy!
Rev. Gravel expressed disappointment at having to leave politics, but said he had no choice but to comply, as being a priest was his first calling.
