Gay activists want Canadians to pay them for past ‘discrimination’: here’s why we shouldn’t
Homosexual activists are pressuring the
federal Liberal government for new demands. These include, among
others:
- Apologizing to homosexuals who were convicted of the criminal
offence of gross indecency for committing homosexual acts;
- Apologizing to homosexuals who were dismissed from the public
service or discharged from the military because of their homosexual acts;
and
- Awarding compensation for the above reasons. This
would involve individual compensation and/or funding for programs or
services.
Alleged discrimination towards homosexuals in Canada, however,
can be clearly distinguished from the treatment shown other groups.
There is a long list of discriminatory policies by previous
governments, for which the Canadian government has since
apologized. For example, some groups were denied admission to Canada
and even if a few were admitted, they were denied full citizenship
rights. To cite some examples:
- The Chinese Head Tax of $50 passed in 1885, but increased in
1903 to $500 which was equivalent to two years' wages for a Chinese
labourer. In 1923 Canada passed the Chinese Immigration
Act which excluded all but a few Chinese immigrants from entering
Canada; During this exclusion era, Chinese who were already
resident here, were not allowed to bring in their families;
- In 1914 the ship, the Komagata Maru, which had 376 passengers
from India, was refused landing in Vancouver. Sikhs and Hindus
at that time were denied the right to vote, prohibited to run for public
office, serve on juries, and were not permitted to become accountants,
lawyers or pharmacists;
- In 1939 the German ship, the St. Louis, turned away 900 German
Jews seeking sanctuary from Nazi Germany. It was forced to sail
back to Europe where many of these passengers died in concentration camps;
and
- In 1942 the Canadian government by Order in Council ordered the
evacuation of all persons of Japanese origin to internment
camps. Their property was seized without compensation and never
returned to them.
The situation with regard to the homosexuals is
different. Homosexuality was prohibited under the Criminal
Code until Trudeau Sr. decriminalized it in 1969 for consenting adults
over 21 years of age, (later reduced to 18 years). The practice of
homosexuality was a crime, formerly referred to in the Code as
buggery or sodomy, but referenced as anal intercourse in the 1969 Amendments to
the Code. This prohibition was in accordance with the social and cultural
values of the time.
The Criminal Code prohibition against homosexuality
was based on the moral law as expressed in the Judeo Christian faith and
principles. Society in general believed religion provided good
guidance which protected people from negative consequences. For
example, bacterial infections and death by venereal disease, were the
consequences of promiscuity before antibiotics. Thus the law
served to protect people from these and other negative consequences.
The reason for the dismissal of homosexuals in the military and
public servants was because they were subject to blackmail if their sexual
orientation was publicly disclosed. This blackmail could
result in not only forcing homosexuals to pay money in return for silence, but
also could include requiring them to divulge national security secrets to which
they were privy because of their employment. Also, homosexuals in
the military had led to problems in operational effectiveness because of the
impact on the cohesion and morale of the unit.
You don't have to agree with the past law that prohibited
homosexuality in the Criminal Code. It may not be acceptable to
everyone, but it was not unjust discrimination. Such action by the
government was distinguishable from the outright discrimination that occurred
when groups were refused entry into Canada and denied full citizenship
rights.
This was not the situation with homosexuals who were, in fact,
accepted as citizens.
