Published today to SignOfContradiction.Blogspot.ca
I took the title from an article this week in BarbWire.
I took the title from an article this week in BarbWire.
What follows is the relevant portion from our illustrious House
of Assembly Proceedings of just a few days ago. Themes: Homophobia,
Transphobia, Same-Sex
Parenting, Tolerance
and Diversity.
The controversy
at Trinity Western University was even raised and the gauntlet thrown down:
As a member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, I will be
making a submission that emphatically states that attorneys educated under a
homophobic program lack the requisite, character, and fitness to practice law
in our Province.
How tolerant!
The inmates have taken over the asylum.
Sick. Unnatural. Godless.
-------------------------------------------------------------
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 28
May 15, 2014
MS SHEA: Mr.
Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to recognize Saturday, May 17, as
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. The theme of this year's campaign is Same-sex
parenting: I love my two moms, I love my two dads, and it aims to reduce
prejudice towards children who grow up in same-sex parented families.
Mr. Speaker, this day aims to raise awareness of homophobia
and transphobia, to campaign against it, and to celebrate gender and sexual
diversity.
Celebrating the full diversity of our Province and
continuing to educate is the first step to preventing violence against all
vulnerable populations, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
people, or LGBT individuals.
Every day, Mr. Speaker, LGBT individuals are subjected to
acts of violence in schools, workplaces and communities, and experience higher
rates of violent victimization than heterosexual individuals.
Mr. Speaker, our Violence Prevention Initiative aims to
educate and increase awareness about the prevention of violence against women,
children and youth, Aboriginal women and children, older persons, persons with
disabilities, LGBT individuals, persons of varying race or ethnicity, and
persons of different economic status.
As part of the Violence Prevention Initiative, our Regional
Co-ordinating Committees have many events planned throughout the Province to
educate and celebrate International Day Against Homophobia and
Transphobia. For example, the
Southwestern Coalition to End Violence arranged a proclamation signing
yesterday in Stephenville. Violence
Prevention Labrador has arranged for an individual with same-sex parents to do
an interview tomorrow morning with CBC Radio's Labrador Morning Show, and the
Western Regional Coalition to End Violence has created stickers promoting facts
about same-sex parenting which will be placed on coffee cups provided by Brewed
Awakening in Corner Brook.
Mr. Speaker, I invite all of my colleagues to join me in
recognizing International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and
acknowledge the hard work that our Regional Co-ordinating Committees do on a
daily basis. The Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador remains fully committed to preventing violence against all
populations so that residents of Newfoundland and Labrador can live in
violence-free communities.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for Burgeo – La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advance copy of her
statement. Certainly, we in the Official
Opposition would also like to recognize the International Day Against Homophobia
and Transphobia.
Gains made in the LGBT community have been hard fought and
won by the LGBT community. The right to
marriage, the right to raise children, are accomplishments we should all
celebrate because it is reflective of a society that is evolving. These are rights we should defend in our
daily conversations to uphold a tolerant society.
We are all aware of the controversy surrounding the
application of Trinity Western University in British Columbia to establish a
law school that requires all students, faculty, and staff to sign a community
covenant prohibiting any sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage. How can the pursuit of law proceed unhampered
when lawyers are being trained in homophobic institutions, when their
institutional homophobia conflicts with our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
Law Societies across the country are grappling with this
issue and our own Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador are seeking feedback
from its members on how to deal with graduates from this school. As a member of the Law Society of
Newfoundland and Labrador, I will be making a submission that emphatically
states that attorneys educated under a homophobic program lack the requisite,
character, and fitness to practice law in our Province.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this very important
day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS: I too
thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement.
As a same sex parent, I am proud to stand in this House to
celebrate the incredible work LGBTQ activists have done throughout the ages and
around the world with passion, audacity, determination and style to bring us to
this point where our rights are enshrined in our human rights legislation. Rights are not given but hard won.
Our Department of Education has become a world leader with
Egale Canada by developing and implementing a full education program to deal
with homophobia and transphobia in our schools.
This will benefit our whole society, Mr. Speaker, as these very students
come and teach us all about diversity and acceptance.
I invite all members here today to join me in the
anti-homophobia breakfast tomorrow morning, organized by Planned
Parenthood. It is at the Uptown Club on
Kenmount Road at 7:00 a.m.
Bravo again to all the LGBTQ activists and bravo to Planned
Parenthood.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
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