In light of the choruses of outrage being voiced over CPC MP Tom Lukiwski’s 17-year old ramblings about homosexuals, comes this tape from NDP founder Tommy Douglas (Keiffer Sutherland’s grand-dad, for those too young to remember). Yes – in 1968, while then justice minister Pierre Trudeau was decriminalising homosexuality, the NDP position was that homosexuality was a disease to be treated by psychiatrists. I suspect the United Church of Canada, in which Douglas was ordained, concurred; a fact that would horrorise most of its clergy and members today.
Times change and what mainstream people think and believe changes. Arguing that Lukiwsky was 40 years old when he made the comments, as Scott Brison did yesterday on the Mike Duffy Report, and should have known better is partially valid only. Bill Siksay, more generously, accepted Lukiwski’s apology and seems prepared to let the matter drop, having scored the political point. Lukiwski’s apology appeared sincere and the incident may do as much to enlighten others about the dangers of hate-speech as anything else that has been said during this Parliament.
Maybe also, certain members of the NDP are not so proud that they will be known for rooting through the garbage left behind when the Saskatchewan Party moved offices in the provincial legislature building.
Thanks to Queer Liberal for pointing me to the Douglas tape.
