This month’s editorial cartoon is about scratching the surface – of this newspaper. Recently we’ve received a handful of letters from readers who feel that The Interim is hateful toward people who are homosexual. The gravity of the charge, and the apparent sincerity of those who have written, merits a response.
Even a casual reader will no doubt be aware that we strongly oppose what might be referred to as the gay political agenda. We believe that homosexual activity is wrong, and that the psychological condition which gives rise to such activity can be managed and even healed. Accordingly, we are against granting any special status to homosexual couples, and we oppose the use of human rights codes to silence those who speak up for traditional morality.
It may seem to some readers that we give too much coverage to these issues. But we are, after all, pro-family as well as pro-life; and because the gay agenda is front and centre in Canadian politics right now, we feel we have a duty to respond.
Nonetheless, we have long been concerned that our coverage of homosexual issues might seem narrow, since it is driven so much by current events. For this reason, we have attempted to deal with homosexuality in a way that indicates our concern for homosexual persons, as distinct from the political lobby which claims to speak on their behalf. We have tried to provide insight and resources for adolescents, parents, pastors, and all people who are struggling to deal with homosexuality in a way that is both compassionate and faithful to traditional morality. We have also tried in various ways to show how the vast heterosexual majority, through its enthusiastic acceptance of the “sexual revolution,” is primarily to blame for the moral problems we face in society today.
Our hope has been that readers will recognize our efforts in this regard; and our assumption has been that everyone knows we are not motivated by hatred of people who experience same-sex attraction. Still, it appears the time has come to state a few things for the record.
The Interim believes that all human beings are creatures of God, and that each of us is precious in His sight. We also believe that, because of the reality of sin, each of us is in need of God’s mercy and grace. Homosexual persons are fully and equally human beings, precious in God’s sight and in need of His mercy and grace. Accordingly, we oppose any expression of hatred or violence or unjust discrimination against people who are homosexual; and we will not remain silent when a libertarian ideology which we believe is harmful to homosexual persons and to society is being advanced.
Having stated these things for the record, we ask anyone who still has doubts about our sincerity to ask himself whether we have ever printed anything which actually expresses hatred of or counsels violence against homosexual persons. We believe that a dispassionate examination of The Interim reveals nothing that is not based ultimately on the editorial positions outlined in this article. If anyone takes issue with something specific we have published, let him confront it squarely. If his criticism has merit, he will have no need to level charges of hatred to try to rebut us.
Some will say that while we may not harbour hatred against people who are homosexual, some of what we print could be used by those who do – to which we respond that the same could be said of any movement which publicly voices legitimate and pressing concerns, no matter how carefully those concerns are articulated.
We have done well if our critics have accepted our defence to this point; but let us be so bold as to add one more argument: if Canadian society should ever turn against the currently fashionable “gay-positive” ideology, based as it is not on genuine tolerance but on self-interested indifference, the pro-life and pro-family movement may well turn out to be the only true friend homosexual persons have.
While the gay lobby howls in protest against the distinction between the homosexual condition and homosexual acts, it is on that very basis that we would defend homosexual people against real attacks on their persons and their rights. Moreover, we are well used to defending the dignity of those who are viewed as somehow less-than-human – the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly.
We are hopeful, however, that we will not come to that point, and that if Canada ever does turn away from the gay ideology, it will do so, not because it has adopted some new but equally erroneous philosophy, but because our country will have undergone a true conversion to the Judeo-Christian principles on which this Dominion was founded.
