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In today's Halifax Herald, the president of Focus on the Family (www.fotf.ca) wrote a piece defending the marriage rally on March 5th. A sneaky piece, it defends "promotion of marriage" without once mentioning the words "traditional", "Bible", or "opposite sex." It's almost like he's on the side of equality, which anyone who's followed FotF can quickly tell you he's *really* not.
My response:
Dear Editor
I read with approval Dr Darrel Reid's defence of pro-marriage rallies (Rally
will celebrate marriage, 18 Feb). He was extremely careful to be very inclusive
in his descriptions of marriages, which I appreciate; not all families have one
mom and one dad, and since his organization spends an inordinate amount of time
Focused on non-traditional Families, I'm glad to see that's sunk in.
He wants the rally to ask "what we can do to strengthen and preserve marriages
in our own lives, our churches and our communities." I'm encouraged to hear
this. I assume that we will soon hear about new additions to the participants,
such as PFLAG, which helps parents and families of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered loved ones. Or possibly Wayves Magazine, which provides GLBT-
centric news and opinion to individuals and families in Atlantic Canada. One I
recommend is Gay Fathers of Halifax -- dedicated to helping gay fathers and
their families.
He also states that "we all have a stake in encouraging strong marriages and
stable, committed child-rearing." I couldn't agree more. Which I why I'd like
his help in pushing provincial governments to allow second-parent adoptions. In
New Brunswick, my two friends have a daughter, but only one parent is her legal
guardian. Were something to happen to her, my other friend could lose her child
to the government. Why? Because they happen to be the same gender.
Dr Reid says that "92 per cent of Canadians who report having good families as
being their No. 1 value." I'm sure that's correct. Can he explain why less
than 90% of Canadians are allowed to make their families legal? I'd love this
rally to help resolve that problem.
Cameron MacLeod
Halifax
My response:
Dear Editor
I read with approval Dr Darrel Reid's defence of pro-marriage rallies (Rally
will celebrate marriage, 18 Feb). He was extremely careful to be very inclusive
in his descriptions of marriages, which I appreciate; not all families have one
mom and one dad, and since his organization spends an inordinate amount of time
Focused on non-traditional Families, I'm glad to see that's sunk in.
He wants the rally to ask "what we can do to strengthen and preserve marriages
in our own lives, our churches and our communities." I'm encouraged to hear
this. I assume that we will soon hear about new additions to the participants,
such as PFLAG, which helps parents and families of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgendered loved ones. Or possibly Wayves Magazine, which provides GLBT-
centric news and opinion to individuals and families in Atlantic Canada. One I
recommend is Gay Fathers of Halifax -- dedicated to helping gay fathers and
their families.
He also states that "we all have a stake in encouraging strong marriages and
stable, committed child-rearing." I couldn't agree more. Which I why I'd like
his help in pushing provincial governments to allow second-parent adoptions. In
New Brunswick, my two friends have a daughter, but only one parent is her legal
guardian. Were something to happen to her, my other friend could lose her child
to the government. Why? Because they happen to be the same gender.
Dr Reid says that "92 per cent of Canadians who report having good families as
being their No. 1 value." I'm sure that's correct. Can he explain why less
than 90% of Canadians are allowed to make their families legal? I'd love this
rally to help resolve that problem.
Cameron MacLeod
Halifax
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Here's the original piece for your gentle readers' benefit.
Re:
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"To the Editor,
Dr. Darrel Reid of Focus on the Family Canada wrote an interesting letter to the editor ("Rally will celebrate marriage", 18 February 2004). Dr. Reid questions why a gay group would ask Gary Beals to cancel his appearance at an upcoming "marriage rally".
As Dr. Reid probably knows, and for some reason didn't want to say in his letter, is that his organization is against gay marriage. A visit to the web site of the organization contains titles such as: "one man. one woman." and "No compromise." Not to mention calls for people to call their Members of Parliament to not allow same-sex marriage. It would be reasonable to assume that he will only be promoting opposite-sex marriage at the rally. I doubt Dr. Reid is truly "puzzled" by this reaction. Dr. Reid, like the gay community, knows that this is an anti-gay marriage protest.
Dr. Reid goes on to state: "For years, social researchers have been telling us that successful marriages yield immense benefits to individuals and communities: Married people live longer, are happier and healthier, report fewer sexually transmitted diseases, are safer physically, report less substance abuse, raise better adjusted kids, earn better incomes, and even report more satisfying sex lives than their non-married or divorced counterparts." Those all seem like good reasons to allow any two people to get married, including same-sex couples. Why would anyone be against allowing two people make such positive contributions to society?
Since Dr. Reid chose to be misleading with his letter, did he mislead Gary Beals as to the nature of "the rally"? Shouldn't the gay community, or any community for that matter, raise their voices to let an entertainer know when he/she might be used to promote discrimination?
Kirk Brown"