The Yogyakarta Principles
Bill Siksay, the openly gay NDP MP for Burnaby–Douglas, has tabled a motion calling on the government to recognise the Yogyakarta Principles.
The Yogyakarta Principles, as you know, is a three-week breakfast challenge designed to keep you regular through a scientifically formulated probiotic culture.
Wait, wait. No, sorry; it’s a four week challenge. And I might be confusing it with a set of international standards affirming rights for gay and lesbian people everywhere.
The principles, which were affirmed at a human rights convention in Geneva last month, apply existing international declarations and legal precedent to ensure governments extend equal treatment to their people. Specifically, they aim to end violence, abuse, and discriminatory laws for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people everywhere.
While Canada seems to be making OK progress in this respect on its own, it really wouldn’t hurt if the current government did something to affirm these standards. You know, something other than—oh, I don’t know—hiring anti-gay lobbyists to prominent government positions, appointing judges with a legally unsound anti-gay bias, scrapping programs designed to help keep unconstitutional laws in check, attempting to overturn 8 consecutive court decisions affirming equal marriage, drafting bills to legitimize discrimination for civil servants, and so forth.
So, will the NDP motion pass? That depends. Shall you commence the breath-holding, or shall I?
- Canada must end GLBTQ rights [NDP Press Release]
