The city of Lethbridge, Alberta has been plastered with homophobic and racist graffiti, resulting in a citywide cleanup effort. Still, the fact that this story actually made national news is a pretty good indicator of the awesome progress being made in Canada, don’t you think?
Continue readingTag: Frustrating News
Slap Upside The Head: Tories Reduce Hate Speech Protections
The federal Conservatives quietly removed protections against hate speech online and over the phone from Canada’s Human Rights Act last week, stripping Human Rights Commissions of their power to investigate incidents of hatred or violence being incited against identifiable minorities. The first sign that this might not have been a
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Toronto City Councillor Tries To De-Fund Pride (Again)
Looks like Toronto’s got another annual event coinciding with Pride Week: A city councillor has proposed—once again—that funding for the city’s annual Pride festival be withheld until it can be confirmed that a group called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid does not participate in the parade portion of the weeklong event.
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Gender Reassignment Surgery For Troops Up In The Air
The Canadian military has hinted that it will stop funding gender reassignment surgery in its health care package as a cost-saving measure. Yeah, because that’s the spending problem we’ve got in the military; not, say, some other $25-billion spending plans currently under consideration.
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: The Real Wildrose Candidates
Danielle Smith, the leader of Alberta’s Wildrose Party, says she’s in support of same-sex marriage (an odd thing to say, since that’s already the law and provincial politicians don’t have the legal authority to change it), but she clearly isn’t speaking for her candidates. Allan Hunsperger, who is currently running
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Principal Disqualifies Student for Supporting Same-Sex Marriage
An assistant principal at Fullerton Union High School in California interrupted and disqualified a student competing for the title of Mr. Fullerton (A silly contest the school has going on, apparently) because the student said he hopes that same-sex marriage will be legal in California so that he can get
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Twisty Poll
An anti-gay lobby group called Scotland for Marriage is publishing the results of an in-house poll which claims that a majority of Scotspersons opposes equal marriage rights, a deviation from what reputable polling companies suggest. Perhaps this difference can be explained by the wording of the question, which asks if
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Utah Proposes Anti-Gay Censorship Bill
The Utah state senate has voted in favour of a bill forbidding discussion of homosexuality in classrooms, even if a question was posed by a student. Other jurisdictions are now reportedly considering legislation forbidding discussion of Utah.
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Here’s Why It Shouldn’t Be Up To The States
Even in jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is legal, gay couples in the United States are paying a lot more in taxes because the federal marriage benefits available for straight couples aren’t available to gay ones. I guess that’s one strategy for paying down the debt—tax the gays instead of the
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