In A Pinch

It is often said by my fellow Washingtonians that whatever happens legislatively in California will soon make its way up here. Unfortunately, the same is usually true with our neighbor to the north, Canuckistan.

Which is why this is more than just a little alarming

At the time LifeSiteNews.com interviewed John DeCicco, an active Catholic and member of the Knights of Columbus. DeCicco, an Italian immigrant who came to Canada at the young age of 15 and is fiercely proud of the country he now calls home, told LifeSiteNews.com at the time, “In this great nation of ours we can express our opinions and when you can’t there’s something wrong.”

In August, homosexual activist couple John Olynick and Greg Koll filed a complaint against DeCicco with the human rights commission over remarks he made at the council meeting and repeated in media interviews. In line with Catholic teaching on the matter, he described homosexual acts as “not normal and not natural.”

In the June interview with LifeSiteNews.com he explained, “I’m not against lesbian and gay people, but I don’t agree that I should have to endorse it.” He also said that people can do what they like in the privacy of their own homes, but, he said in reference to gay pride parades, they shouldn’t “go out and flaunt it, in front of people who don’t necessarily agree.”

While DeCicco already apologized for the incident once back in October, that apology was not considered part of the settlement. In addition to paying $1,000 to Olynick and Koll, DeCicco will provide a statement saying his comments were “inappropriate and hurtful to some.” The settlement will allow the councillor to avoid a Human Rights Truibunal hearing. The city of Kamloops will pay DeCicco’s legal fees, according to a report by Kamloops Daily News.

Like DeCicco, I have nothing against any individual in the GLBTGTS community. Unlike DeCiccio, I enjoy watching the Pride Parades for their unbridled and unabashed jocularity.

However, what I find absolutely abhorrent is that a person in a country within 150 miles of my home does not have the right to speak his mind about his views. The fact that a person can be fined by their government (and possibly jailed for refusing to pay a fine) for saying something that someone else finds offensive should make every Canadian, and likewise every American, quake in their boots.

Today in Canada, a priest or reverend or minister can lose his or her license to perform marriages if they refuse just once to perfrom a marriage between two men or two women. While I do support the GLBTGTS community’s right to register themselves with the state in anyway they see fit, including marriage (so long as they don’t force it upon cummunities via the courts), I do not support forcing people to violate their belief structure and perform the civil cerimony.

Just yesterday, it was reported in the Guardian UK that Catholic Churches in the UK will have to get out of the orphanage and adoption business unless they violate their core values and begin adopting to GLBTGTS couples. I could personally care less whether a person who is GLBTGTS and wants to adopt; each case needs to be treated on an individual basis which focuses on the health and safety of the child, but for the government to force an organization to violate their core values is wrong. One of two things will happen: Either the Church will capitulate or thousands of orphaned children will be left on the streets. I want neither to happen, I just want government out of the business of legislating morality.

As a note on this topic: There is no connection between civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s and the gay rights militarization of today. “Sexual Orientation” is not equal to race. Race is a genetic fact, whereas “Sexual Orientation” is an emotion.