On May 10, the industry “watchdog” Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled that radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s characterization of the sexual behavior of homosexuals as “abnormal,” “aberrant,” “deviant,” “disordered,” “dysfunctional” and a “biological error” are in violation of the human rights provision of the voluntary Code of Ethics of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
In so doing, the Council not only declared war on the second most popular radio host in North America, but also on faithful adherents of the Jewish and Christian religions. For good measure, the CBSC’s May 10 statement also attacked free speech.
In its statement, the CBSC labelled Dr. Schlessinger’s observations about homosexual practices as “clearly pejorative,” “fatuous,” and unsustainable.” “To use such brutal language as she does about such an essential characteristic flies in the face of Canadian provisions relating to human rights,” the Council decision said.
However, if Dr. Laura’s pronouncements on homosexualism are pejorative, fatuous, brutal, and unsustainable, so are the Holy Bible and the teachings of the Christian Church, because they say essentially the same things she does.
Pertinent Bible verses include Genesis 19:5, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Judges 19:22, Romans 1: 26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:10, all of which express absolute opposition to homosexual behaviour with references like “vile passions,” “against nature,” “unrighteous and immoral wrongdoers,” “an abomination” and “perverted.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church declares that “sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes,” and that, “based on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” The Catechism also refers to homosexual inclination as “objectively disordered” (articles 2351, 2357, 2358).
So, are the Bible and the Catechism “hate literature?” If Christians and Jews don’t begin to fight back, I anticipate that the not-too-distant future will see homosexual lobbyists and their fellow travellers mounting campaigns to have the Bible banned or purged of certain “offensive” passages.
Moving along to address freedom of speech in general, the Council ruling declares: “In Canada, we respect freedom of speech but do not worship it.”
That statement says volumes about the putrified ideological compost in which this ruling (which carries no formal legal weight) is rooted, and reveals a speech-chilling agenda that collides head-on with Canadians’ supposedly Charter-protected freedoms of speech, expression and religion.
The notion of qualified free speech is an oxymoron. Rationalistic fudges like “responsible speech” will not do. Either speech is free or it isn’t. Once you introduce the notion of “responsible speech,” the question is begged: “responsible to whom?” Obviously in this instance to the commissars of political correctness.
Incidentally, last January the CBSC ruled that broadcast of the government-funded, lesbian rape and pornography film Bubbles Galore “breached no broadcast codes,” not even its own ballyhooed violence code. Last year the Council determined that “casual and flippant” portrayals of “traditional Catholic practices” are perfectly fine on Canadian airwaves.
“The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is becoming a pro-homosexual propaganda machine,” warns Ron Gray, leader of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada. In a statement, Mr. Gray declared that the CBSC owes Dr. Schlessinger an apology, adding that “it must purge its staff of pro-homosexual propagandists.”
Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s talk show reaches 900,000 Canadians and 20 million listeners on nearly 500 stations in the United States and Canada. She also writes a column that appears in more than 100 newspapers. Unfortunately, it appears that despite Dr. Laura’s grassroots popularity with their listeners, radio stations that carry her show are going to meekly knuckle under to the CBSC.
Ian Grant, managing director for Toronto’s TALK 640, told the National Post that he would soon issue on-air apologies for Dr. Schlessinger’s comments in response to the CBSC ruling. “We’re very disappointed with the findings, but we’re going to adhere to them,” Mr. Grant said. “It’s sad, he continued, “because it’s our most popular show – by far.”
I suggest that if Mr. Grant and his station are so disappointed with the ruling, they might show some backbone and stand up to the bullying political correctness jackbooters. If somebody doesn’t start defending free speech in Canada, it’s soon going to be history.
