Combating bigotry the gayest way I know how.

  • Home
  • About
  • Archives
  • Resources

Meet The Anti-Gay Lobby: Margaret Somerville

November 6, 2009

It's time again for...

Who’d have thought one could make a career out of being scared of change and gay people? In this exciting series of slaptacular mini-bios, we take a look at the very special, terrified folk who are lobbying against your rights.

Name: Margaret Somerville

Butchified Name: Marg

Favourite Food: Anything painstakingly prepared by an obedient wife over a vintage 50s electric stove

Actual quote:“It’s a big mistake to think marriage is really about two adults’ public commitment to each other and a declaration of their love.”

[caption id=”attachment_3040” align=”alignleft” width=”250” caption=”Margaret Somerville reacts to a gay wedding card at the Hallmark store.”] Margaret Somerville reacts to a gay wedding card at the Hallmark store.[/caption]

What she does: Margaret currently teaches a seminar on torts (not to be confused with tortes, which are much, much tastier) at the law department of McGill university, but is much better known for preparing rich, flaky, anti-gay testimony to go. Margaret has not only testified against same-sex marriage here in Canada, but regularly travels abroad acting as an expert witness to try and stop gay marriage in strange and foreign lands. Margaret calls herself an ethicist, heading the Centre for Medicine, Ethnics, and Law—which she created.

Harshest Reality Check: It’s a three-way tie! In 2006, Margaret’s nomination for the Order of Canada was rejected because she was deemed “too controversial.” Later, Ryerson University went on record to say they regret giving her an honorary degree. The real kicker, though, has to be the complete dismissal of her testimony before the Iowa District Court. After travelling all the way to Iowa to testify against same-sex marriage, the courts had this to say about Somerville and two of her colleagues at McGill:

The Court concludes that these individuals are not qualified to testify as experts regarding the issues in this matter. […] Though these experts desire to make statements regarding gender, results of same-sex marriage on children and the universal definition of marriage, they do not appear to possess expertise in relevant fields such as sociology, child development, psychology or psychiatry. Ms. Somerville specifically eschews empirical research and methods of logical reasoning in favor of “moral intuition.” She has no training in empirical research and admits having no knowledge of existing social science research relevant to this case. She concedes that her views do not reflect the mainstream views of other ethicists.

Oh, burn!

Party invitation index: Hmm… I’d give her an 8, just to see how an ethicist does at a game of Scruples after a few drinks.

(A special hat tip goes to Dr.Dawg over at Dawg’s blog for alerting me to Somerville’s involvement and subsequent amusing thrashing at Iowa’s courts.)

  • Q&A with pioneering ethicist Margaret Somerville [Maclean’s Magazine]
  • PDF of Iowa Court decision
  • Proudly Canadian

    Canadian Flag and Pride Flag
  • The Trophy Shelf

    The Trophy Shelf

    Thanks to readers like you, Slap has been voted the Best GLBT Blog in Canada at the Canadian Blog Awards for the fifth consecutive year!

  • Follow Slap on Twitter

    Follow me on Twitter
  • Become a Fan on Facebook

    Become a Fan on the Slap Facebook page.
  • How to Slap

    Slapping Directions
    1. Find a kooky bigot
    2. Extend your arm and form a firm slapping hand
    3. Slap upside the head

    Disclaimer: Slap Upside The Head only deals in metaphorical slaps. Real slaps should be administered only after obtaining notarized written permission from the slapee.

Canadian Flag Pride Flag

© 2019 Slap Upside The Head