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Topic: A Warning from Canada: Same-Sex Marriage Erodes Fundamental Rights (Read 666 times)

legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1003
We are the champions of the night
Why is it you two are so against gay marriage like we are in the 1800s?
This is the 21st century, and the vast majority of the people on earth still opposes perversities such as faggot sex, beastiality and pedophilia.
Did you really just put 2 consenting adults doing something on the same level as with a child or an animal?  Wooow...

Annnyway, onto the OP article


We have great compassion for people who struggle with their sexuality and gender identity—not animosity. And we love our parents. Yet, when we go public with our stories, we often face ostracism, silencing, and threats.

That seems like an asshole problem, not a gay marriage one

In Canada, freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association have suffered greatly due to government pressure. The debate over same-sex marriage that is taking place in the United States could not legally exist in Canada today. Because of legal restrictions on speech, if you say or write anything considered “homophobic” (including, by definition, anything questioning same-sex marriage), you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government.


Why do police prosecute speech under the guise of eliminating “hate speech” when there are existing legal remedies and criminal protections against slander, defamation, threats, and assault that equally apply to all Americans? Hate-crime-like policies using the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” create unequal protections in law, whereby protected groups receive more legal protection than other groups.

No argument here, people should be able to say what they want short of inciting violence.  However, if you attack somebody and it's motivated by that it doesn't seem unreasonable to provide the same protections as an attack based on religion, race, etc...  Whether those laws should exist or not, if we're punishing motivated crimes heavier then at least include them.

Having witnessed how mob hysteria in Indiana caused the legislature to back-track on a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, many Americans are beginning to understand that some activists on the Left want to usher in state control over every institution and freedom. In this scheme, personal autonomy and freedom of expression become nothing more than pipe dreams, and children become commodified.

The 'mob hysteria' was over the potential to turn people away from a public business based on their lifestyle.  If you run a business, you're open to everybody.  It's not a church.  It was also quite civilized.  Nobody was rioting in the streets, just protesting the state.

Children are not commodities that can be justifiably severed from their natural parentage and traded between unrelated adults. Children in same-sex households will often deny their grief and pretend they don’t miss a biological parent, feeling pressured to speak positively due to the politics surrounding LGBT households. However, when children lose either of their biological parents because of death, divorce, adoption, or artificial reproductive technology, they experience a painful void. It is the same for us when our gay parent brings his or her same-sex partner(s) into our lives. Their partner(s) can never replace our missing biological parent.

The vast majority of same-sex couples adopt their children.  It's growing up in a loving family vs in a state care facility to raise as many as possible.  Nevermind the fact that they're not worse off than the general population.  The biggest issue honestly seems like it would be people that harass them over it

Over and over, we are told that “permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive anyone of any rights.” That is a lie.

When same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005, parenting was immediately redefined. Canada’s gay marriage law, Bill C-38, included a provision to erase the term “natural parent” and replace it across the board with gender-neutral “legal parent” in federal law. Now all children only have “legal parents,” as defined by the state. By legally erasing biological parenthood in this way, the state ignores children’s foremost right: their immutable, intrinsic yearning to know and be raised by their own biological parents.

That's not a gay marriage issue, that's a shitty law issue.  You can easily have one without the other.

Mothers and fathers bring unique and complementary gifts to their children. Contrary to the logic of same-sex marriage, the gender of parents matters for the healthy development of children. We know, for example, that the majority of incarcerated men did not have their fathers in the home. Fathers by their nature secure identity, instill direction, provide discipline, boundaries, and risk-taking adventures, and set lifelong examples for children. But fathers cannot nurture children in the womb or give birth to and breast-feed babies. Mothers nurture children in unique and beneficial ways that cannot be duplicated by fathers.


It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that men and women are anatomically, biologically, physiologically, psychologically, hormonally, and neurologically different from each other. These unique differences provide lifelong benefits to children that cannot be duplicated by same-gender “legal” parents acting out different gender roles or attempting to substitute for the missing male or female role model in the home.

So should we make every couple take a personality test to make sure the father isn't feminine and soft, and the mother isn't harsh and tough?  Having only one parent can make you worse off, but that's as much of it putting you in worse economic circumstances, more time the children are alone because of work, the knowledge of having a parent in jail in some cases....

Just for fun, here's yet another study showing children of same-sex couples aren't worse off.  The author of this is making a lot of claims without anything to back it up.

In Canada, it is considered discriminatory to say that marriage is between a man and a woman or that every child should know and be raised by his or her biological married parents. It is not just politically incorrect in Canada to say so; you can be saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, fined, and forced to take sensitivity training.
Anyone who is offended by something you have said or written can make a complaint to the Human Rights Commissions and Tribunals. In Canada, these organizations police speech, penalizing citizens for any expression deemed in opposition to particular sexual behaviors or protected groups identified under “sexual orientation.” It takes only one complaint against a person to be brought before the tribunal, costing the defendant tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The commissions have the power to enter private residences and remove all items pertinent to their investigations, checking for hate speech.


The plaintiff making the complaint has his legal fees completely paid for by the government. Not so the defendant. Even if the defendant is found innocent, he cannot recover his legal costs. If he is found guilty, he must pay fines to the person(s) who brought forth the complaint.

You can have gay marriage and still keep freedom of speech.  This sounds like a system that really could use some adjustment, but the answer isn't just to toss gay marriage out entirely because we went too far with censorship.

If your beliefs, values, and political opinions are different from the state’s, you risk losing your professional license, job, or business, and even your children. Look no further than the Lev Tahor Sect, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Many members, who had been involved in a bitter custody battle with child protection services, began leaving Chatham, Ontario, for Guatemala in March 2014, to escape prosecution for their religious faith, which conflicted with the Province’s guidelines for religious education. Of the two hundred sect members, only half a dozen families remain in Chatham.


Parents can expect state interference when it comes to moral values, parenting, and education—and not just in school. The state has access into your home to supervise you as the parent, to judge your suitability. And if the state doesn’t like what you are teaching your children, the state will attempt to remove them from your home.
Teachers cannot make comments in their social networks, write letters to editors, publicly debate, or vote according to their own conscience on their own time. They can be disciplined or lose any chance of tenure. They can be required at a bureaucrat’s whim to take re-education classes or sensitivity training, or be fired for thinking politically incorrect thoughts.
If you're a public business you need to be open to all.  The government shouldn't touch religion, or what's being taught in the home as long as it isn't 'If you see a gay guy, punch him for god'.  Teachers can say whatever they want on private social networks (or writing to an editor, who does that now though?).  However, if you're doing it publicly it could be seen as representing the view of the school.  I really doubt a teacher would get anything besides a warning unless it was wishing violence or something.  As for voting, who is even going to know how you vote?

When same-sex marriage was created in Canada, gender-neutral language became legally mandated. Newspeak proclaims that it is discriminatory to assume a human being is male or female, or heterosexual. So, to be inclusive, special non-gender-specific language is being used in media, government, workplaces, and especially schools to avoid appearing ignorant, homophobic, or discriminatory. A special curriculum is being used in many schools to teach students how to use proper gender-neutral language. Unbeknownst to many parents, use of gender terms to describe husband and wife, father and mother, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and “he” and “she” is being steadily eradicated in Canadian schools.

You're telling me there's a class on how to not call a dude a dude?  I call bullshit on this part.  Using language that includes everyone isn't wrong if you're just trying to, well, refer to everyone.

Wedding planners, rental halls, bed and breakfast owners, florists, photographers, and bakers have already seen their freedoms eroded, conscience rights ignored, and religious freedoms trampled in Canada. But this is not just about the wedding industry. Anybody who owns a business may not legally permit his or her conscience to inform business practices or decisions if those decisions are not in line with the tribunals’ decisions and the government’s sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination laws. In the end, this means that the state basically dictates whether and how citizens may express themselves.

The right to discriminate as a business is not a right.  If you're open, you're open to all.  I live in the deep south, and given the choice there would be a toooon of places that would turn away gay people.  You shouldn't have to look all around to find somewhere to take your money, or call ahead to make sure a business is 'gay-friendly' any more than if it's black-friendly.  

Freedom to assemble and speak freely about man-woman marriage, family, and sexuality is now restricted. Most faith communities have become “politically correct” to avoid fines and loss of charitable status. Canadian media are restricted by the Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is similar to the FCC. If the media air anything considered discriminatory, broadcasting licenses can be revoked, and “human rights bodies” can charge fines and restrict future airings.


An example of legally curtailed speech regarding homosexuality in Canada involves the case of Bill Whatcott, who was arrested for hate speech in April 2014 after distributing pamphlets that were critical of homosexuality. Whether or not you agree with what he says, you should be aghast at this state-sanctioned gagging. Books, DVDs, and other materials can also be confiscated at the Canadian border if the materials are deemed “hateful.”

Soooo let them keep talking.  I have no problem with crazies like Pat Robertson rambling on TV about the gays trying to infect people with AIDS rings.  However, the majority of private channels are probably going to not want to cause controversy like that, and they have a right to govern what's on.  Soon enough nobody will want to just because it makes you look like an asshole.

Nothing against handing stuff out that says you're going to hell.  I had some random Christian give me a pamphlet on "Hell-bound and Who Cares" chilling at my motel on vacation.  Wasn't even doing anything wrong, just look crazy I guess.  People should just laugh that stuff off.




tl;dr:  Say what you want, don't discriminate as a business, let people get married.  Kids aren't worse off.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 1001
Chef, what's your opinion on this? You just posted the article but didn't share your point of view. Helps with the discussion by leading us off!
TECSHARE makes a good point^. On one hand we strive to fight for freedom for everyone but we reject the government and much of the psycho-left shoving bullcrap down our throat. IMO, people should be able to have voluntary contracts of whatever relationship between them and their loved ones that they want but unfortunately, there are hustlers gaming this debate in their PC way for their own benefit which affects plenty of people who have their personal disagreements w/ said issue of gay marriage.

Religious types shouldn't have to allow nor serve up any relationship ceremonies that they don't want. Personally, government shouldn't be involved in marriage of any kind and just local areas, religious or otherwise, just handle contracts between consenting parties. I'm Catholic so I'm inclined to not go for gay marriage but I subscribe to the aforementioned scenario where government isn't involved and each couple or more can make their own contracts w/ each other by whatever outfit is there to sign off on it, or forget all about it and live their lives together to live free. I just don't like the politics behind the one-issue same sex movement that I've been seeing for decades.
legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Why is it you two are so against gay marriage like we are in the 1800s?

This is the 21st century, and the vast majority of the people on earth still opposes perversities such as faggot sex, beastiality and pedophilia. If some brainwashed idiots in the Western Europe and North America recognizes gay marriage, that is not the end of the world. A majority of the people oppose homosexuality in India, China, Russia, Middle East, Africa, and even in Poland.
sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
Loose lips sink sigs!
Chef, what's your opinion on this? You just posted the article but didn't share your point of view. Helps with the discussion by leading us off!
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
That Darn Cat
Look no further than the Lev Tahor Sect, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Many members, who had been involved in a bitter custody battle with child protection services, began leaving Chatham, Ontario, for Guatemala in March 2014, to escape prosecution for their religious faith, which conflicted with the Province’s guidelines for religious education. Of the two hundred sect members, only half a dozen families remain in Chatham.

May be this can be a lesson to everyone. Every heterosexual family living in Canada, which is trying to bring up their chidlren in a heterosexual society, should consider leaving Canada for saner countries such as Russia or China. If you have the necessary skills, then you will be able to thrive anywhere in the world.

Why in god's name would someone from Canada want to move to Russia where they seriously lack basic human civil rights?  Why is it you two are so against gay marriage like we are in the 1800s?
sr. member
Activity: 770
Merit: 250
Look no further than the Lev Tahor Sect, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Many members, who had been involved in a bitter custody battle with child protection services, began leaving Chatham, Ontario, for Guatemala in March 2014, to escape prosecution for their religious faith, which conflicted with the Province’s guidelines for religious education. Of the two hundred sect members, only half a dozen families remain in Chatham.

May be this can be a lesson to everyone. Every heterosexual family living in Canada, which is trying to bring up their chidlren in a heterosexual society, should consider leaving Canada for saner countries such as Russia or China. If you have the necessary skills, then you will be able to thrive anywhere in the world.

Yea, go live in a country where it's currency is losing value every day with a torn economy, and another that's communist and oppressive. You're a joke bryant.coleman, why don't you go live in Somalia, where such things as same-sex marriage bring a death sentence? I'm sure you're limited mind and perspective will enjoy such luxury. Pathetic.
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1001
minds.com/Wilikon
Just as with feminism, gay rights groups started with the mandate of equality, and have morphed into supremacist groups.  These groups are currently little more than tools for Marxists to pry apart the moral fabric of society to create an opportunity for socialism to spread. They have gone long past their charters for equality and are now advocating the destruction of all opposing systems in the name of tolerance. The USA is being butchered and stripped of its assets, and socialism is the butcher knife the elite use to cut all the meat off of a collapsing society to fill their own bellies.


Those who deny this are part of it.


legendary
Activity: 3766
Merit: 1217
Look no further than the Lev Tahor Sect, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Many members, who had been involved in a bitter custody battle with child protection services, began leaving Chatham, Ontario, for Guatemala in March 2014, to escape prosecution for their religious faith, which conflicted with the Province’s guidelines for religious education. Of the two hundred sect members, only half a dozen families remain in Chatham.

May be this can be a lesson to everyone. Every heterosexual family living in Canada, which is trying to bring up their chidlren in a heterosexual society, should consider leaving Canada for saner countries such as Russia or China. If you have the necessary skills, then you will be able to thrive anywhere in the world.
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 2008
First Exclusion Ever
Just as with feminism, gay rights groups started with the mandate of equality, and have morphed into supremacist groups.  These groups are currently little more than tools for Marxists to pry apart the moral fabric of society to create an opportunity for socialism to spread. They have gone long past their charters for equality and are now advocating the destruction of all opposing systems in the name of tolerance. The USA is being butchered and stripped of its assets, and socialism is the butcher knife the elite use to cut all the meat off of a collapsing society to fill their own bellies.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 1001
I am one of six adult children of gay parents who recently filed amicus briefs with the US Supreme Court, asking the Court to respect the authority of citizens to keep the original definition of marriage: a union between one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, so that children may know and may be raised by their biological parents. I also live in Canada, where same-sex marriage was federally mandated in 2005.


I am the daughter of a gay father who died of AIDS. I described my experiences in my book: Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting. Over fifty adult children who were raised by LGBT parents have communicated with me and share my concerns about same-sex marriage and parenting. Many of us struggle with our own sexuality and sense of gender because of the influences in our household environments growing up.


We have great compassion for people who struggle with their sexuality and gender identity—not animosity. And we love our parents. Yet, when we go public with our stories, we often face ostracism, silencing, and threats.
I want to warn America to expect severe erosion of First Amendment freedoms if the US Supreme Court mandates same-sex marriage. The consequences have played out in Canada for ten years now, and they are truly Orwellian in nature and scope.


Canada’s Lessons



In Canada, freedoms of speech, press, religion, and association have suffered greatly due to government pressure. The debate over same-sex marriage that is taking place in the United States could not legally exist in Canada today. Because of legal restrictions on speech, if you say or write anything considered “homophobic” (including, by definition, anything questioning same-sex marriage), you could face discipline, termination of employment, or prosecution by the government.


Why do police prosecute speech under the guise of eliminating “hate speech” when there are existing legal remedies and criminal protections against slander, defamation, threats, and assault that equally apply to all Americans? Hate-crime-like policies using the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” create unequal protections in law, whereby protected groups receive more legal protection than other groups.


Having witnessed how mob hysteria in Indiana caused the legislature to back-track on a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, many Americans are beginning to understand that some activists on the Left want to usher in state control over every institution and freedom. In this scheme, personal autonomy and freedom of expression become nothing more than pipe dreams, and children become commodified.


Children are not commodities that can be justifiably severed from their natural parentage and traded between unrelated adults. Children in same-sex households will often deny their grief and pretend they don’t miss a biological parent, feeling pressured to speak positively due to the politics surrounding LGBT households. However, when children lose either of their biological parents because of death, divorce, adoption, or artificial reproductive technology, they experience a painful void. It is the same for us when our gay parent brings his or her same-sex partner(s) into our lives. Their partner(s) can never replace our missing biological parent.


The State as Ultimate Arbiter of Parenthood



Over and over, we are told that “permitting same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage will not deprive anyone of any rights.” That is a lie.


When same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2005, parenting was immediately redefined. Canada’s gay marriage law, Bill C-38, included a provision to erase the term “natural parent” and replace it across the board with gender-neutral “legal parent” in federal law. Now all children only have “legal parents,” as defined by the state. By legally erasing biological parenthood in this way, the state ignores children’s foremost right: their immutable, intrinsic yearning to know and be raised by their own biological parents.


Mothers and fathers bring unique and complementary gifts to their children. Contrary to the logic of same-sex marriage, the gender of parents matters for the healthy development of children. We know, for example, that the majority of incarcerated men did not have their fathers in the home. Fathers by their nature secure identity, instill direction, provide discipline, boundaries, and risk-taking adventures, and set lifelong examples for children. But fathers cannot nurture children in the womb or give birth to and breast-feed babies. Mothers nurture children in unique and beneficial ways that cannot be duplicated by fathers.


It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that men and women are anatomically, biologically, physiologically, psychologically, hormonally, and neurologically different from each other. These unique differences provide lifelong benefits to children that cannot be duplicated by same-gender “legal” parents acting out different gender roles or attempting to substitute for the missing male or female role model in the home.


In effect, same-sex marriage not only deprives children of their own rights to natural parentage, it gives the state the power to override the autonomy of biological parents, which means parental rights are usurped by the government.


Hate Tribunals Are Coming



In Canada, it is considered discriminatory to say that marriage is between a man and a woman or that every child should know and be raised by his or her biological married parents. It is not just politically incorrect in Canada to say so; you can be saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, fined, and forced to take sensitivity training.
Anyone who is offended by something you have said or written can make a complaint to the Human Rights Commissions and Tribunals. In Canada, these organizations police speech, penalizing citizens for any expression deemed in opposition to particular sexual behaviors or protected groups identified under “sexual orientation.” It takes only one complaint against a person to be brought before the tribunal, costing the defendant tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The commissions have the power to enter private residences and remove all items pertinent to their investigations, checking for hate speech.


The plaintiff making the complaint has his legal fees completely paid for by the government. Not so the defendant. Even if the defendant is found innocent, he cannot recover his legal costs. If he is found guilty, he must pay fines to the person(s) who brought forth the complaint.


If your beliefs, values, and political opinions are different from the state’s, you risk losing your professional license, job, or business, and even your children. Look no further than the Lev Tahor Sect, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Many members, who had been involved in a bitter custody battle with child protection services, began leaving Chatham, Ontario, for Guatemala in March 2014, to escape prosecution for their religious faith, which conflicted with the Province’s guidelines for religious education. Of the two hundred sect members, only half a dozen families remain in Chatham.


Parents can expect state interference when it comes to moral values, parenting, and education—and not just in school. The state has access into your home to supervise you as the parent, to judge your suitability. And if the state doesn’t like what you are teaching your children, the state will attempt to remove them from your home.
Teachers cannot make comments in their social networks, write letters to editors, publicly debate, or vote according to their own conscience on their own time. They can be disciplined or lose any chance of tenure. They can be required at a bureaucrat’s whim to take re-education classes or sensitivity training, or be fired for thinking politically incorrect thoughts.


When same-sex marriage was created in Canada, gender-neutral language became legally mandated. Newspeak proclaims that it is discriminatory to assume a human being is male or female, or heterosexual. So, to be inclusive, special non-gender-specific language is being used in media, government, workplaces, and especially schools to avoid appearing ignorant, homophobic, or discriminatory. A special curriculum is being used in many schools to teach students how to use proper gender-neutral language. Unbeknownst to many parents, use of gender terms to describe husband and wife, father and mother, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and “he” and “she” is being steadily eradicated in Canadian schools.


Which Is More Important: Sexual Autonomy or the First Amendment?



Recently, an American professor who was anonymously interviewed for the American Conservative questioned whether sexual autonomy is going to cost you your freedoms: “We are now at the point, he said, at which it is legitimate to ask if sexual autonomy is more important than the First Amendment?”


Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian citizens were supposed to have been guaranteed: (1) freedom of conscience and religion; (2) freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; (3) freedom of peaceful assembly; and (4) freedom of association. In reality, all of these freedoms have been curtailed with the legalization of same-sex marriage.


Wedding planners, rental halls, bed and breakfast owners, florists, photographers, and bakers have already seen their freedoms eroded, conscience rights ignored, and religious freedoms trampled in Canada. But this is not just about the wedding industry. Anybody who owns a business may not legally permit his or her conscience to inform business practices or decisions if those decisions are not in line with the tribunals’ decisions and the government’s sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination laws. In the end, this means that the state basically dictates whether and how citizens may express themselves.


Freedom to assemble and speak freely about man-woman marriage, family, and sexuality is now restricted. Most faith communities have become “politically correct” to avoid fines and loss of charitable status. Canadian media are restricted by the Canadian Radio, Television, and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is similar to the FCC. If the media air anything considered discriminatory, broadcasting licenses can be revoked, and “human rights bodies” can charge fines and restrict future airings.


An example of legally curtailed speech regarding homosexuality in Canada involves the case of Bill Whatcott, who was arrested for hate speech in April 2014 after distributing pamphlets that were critical of homosexuality. Whether or not you agree with what he says, you should be aghast at this state-sanctioned gagging. Books, DVDs, and other materials can also be confiscated at the Canadian border if the materials are deemed “hateful.”


Americans need to prepare for the same sort of surveillance-society in America if the Supreme Court rules to ban marriage as a male-female institution. It means that no matter what you believe, the government will be free to regulate your speech, your writing, your associations, and whether or not you may express your conscience.
Americans also need to understand that the endgame for some in the LGBT rights movement involves centralized state power—and the end of First Amendment freedoms.

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14899/
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