Gay-bashing Alliance MP

Waymores Ghost

Me thinks the recent gay-bashing by an Alliance MP was not driven by an anti-gay agenda so much as it was a politically motivated move to ensure that the Alliance and Tory parties never merge. But he's still a dick-head.

Wg

Mysterious

I can't believe he was treated so leniently, he should have been GONE. Stephen Harper tries to play things down more but he's on the "gays can change if they want to" side as well, perhaps this is why he didn't punish his MP too harshly.

For anyone who didn't read the story:

http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.Alliance-Spencer-Gays.html

Scully

News Item from the above link (in the event that the page gets removed):

November 27, 2003 Alliance MP's anti-gay comments fuel concerns about unite-the-right efforts OTTAWA (CP) -- An anti-gay rant by a Canadian Alliance MP plunged his party into damage-repair mode Thursday at a critical moment for the unite-the-right movement.
Larry Spencer was swiftly suspended from the Alliance caucus as the party sought to limit the damage on the eve of crucial votes on a plan to merge the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives. The Saskatchewan MP was punished for telling a newspaper reporter that gay sex should once again be illegal under the Criminal Code as it was before 1969.
He also claimed that gays have engaged in a long conspiracy to seduce young people on playgrounds and in locker rooms over recent decades to convert them to their lifestyle.
Spencer apologized Thursday and withdrew his remarks, but that wasn't enough for Alliance Leader Stephen Harper, who has long struggled to shake off perceptions his party is intolerant.
Harper fired Spencer as the party's family issues critic and suspended him from caucus pending a review.
"Obviously the statements made today -- or the implications of these statements -- are not party policy," Harper said before entering a weekly meeting of party MPs.
"They're not the policy of this party and they're not going to be the policy of the new party."
The swift discipline came in response to a rant that could potentially hamper the unite-the-right cause.
Progressive Conservatives will spend the next few days electing delegates to determine whether their party should merge with the Alliance in an attempt to unseat the Liberals.
The incident fuels concerns from moderate Tories fretting over a merger with their more hardline conservative cousins.
Tory Leader Peter MacKay, who called Spencer's remarks "ugly" and "completely unacceptable", said he didn't think it would impact the merger.
". . . I hope you will see people reacting in such a way that it will demonstrate that this is not the type of party that a new conservative party would be," said MacKay, in Calgary attending the Tory's annual leader's dinner Thursday night.
"This is something that has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We have to demonstrate that gays and lesbians have to be protected."
But former prime minister Joe Clark jumped on the incident as an example of the danger posed by a merger.
"This is clearly a warning to Progressive Conservatives who are thinking about folding up our progressive party and merging into something else because they think it might be more competitive," Clark said in Calgary.
"If they were troubled before this happened they're going to be more troubled now that it has happened."
By Thursday evening, Harper was telling a $500-a-plate Alliance fundraising dinner in Ottawa that all types of conservatives are welcome in the new party.
"We will not ask the state to impose our values on others," Harper told social conservatives in the audience. "But we will demand that the state stop undermining those values."
Harper later told reporters the Spencer issue was behind him: "I'm moving on, I've dealt with the issue."
As for Clark's critique, "it's sorry to see him go out on this wave of resentment and nitpicking," said Harper. "It's of no utility."
Yet one potential leadership candidate for the merged party said he will continue supporting the proposal only if the new party avoids "bigoted" comments.
"My faith has been challenged and tempered but I am still clinging to my increasingly tepid support," said Tory MP Scott Brison, who is openly gay.
"Family values is being used (by the Alliance) as a euphemism for prejudice and bigotry -- and that's unacceptable."
The comments by Spencer are the latest in a long series of inflammatory remarks by Alliance members. Some other incidents include:
-- Manitoba Alliance candidate Betty Granger complaining in November 2000 about an "Asian invasion" in Canada.
-- Ontario MP Cheryl Gallant telling Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham to "Ask your boyfriend" during a Commons debate in April 2002.
-- Saskatchewan MP Brian Fitzpatrick joking about being scalped by natives in November 2000.
Several critics, including Brison, said Spencer should be permanently expelled from caucus. But Harper has refused to go that far.
New Democrat MP Svend Robinson, who is gay, slammed Spencer and the Alliance. He also urged Tory Leader Peter MacKay to back away from the merger.
"Do you really want to be in bed, Peter -- you and your party -- with this group of Neanderthals?" Robinson asked.
Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, a likely leadership candidate if the merger proceeds, said the new party would need to choose a moderate leader to improve its electoral prospects.
"We are going to have to select a leader who can inspire Canadians but also someone who Canadians trust,.
"Canadians are a respectful people, a tolerant, compassionate, generous people. If Canadians don't see those values reflected in our new leader they won't support us."
While he condemned Spencer's remarks, Harper would not answer when asked whether he believes homosexuals choose to be gay.
Harper recently said in a House of Commons debate that homosexual "orientation" is more accurately described as "sexual behaviour."
Spencer, 61, had told the Vancouver Sun that homosexuality should be outlawed and cited a "well-orchestrated" conspiracy that began in the 1960s and led to recent successes in the gay-rights movement.
The Saskatchewan MP and former Baptist preacher issued a statement Thursday apologizing "completely and without reservation" for his remarks.
"I retract the statement I made indicating I would support a bill to criminalize homosexuality.
"I do not believe that homosexual behaviour should be criminalized or that homosexuals should be persecuted."
Spencer had said the gay-rights movement has waged a long campaign to make homosexuality acceptable over the last four decades.
That included a conspiracy to seduce and recruit young boys in playgrounds and locker rooms and the deliberate infiltration of North American's judiciary, schools, religious community and entertainment industry.
The gay rights group Egale called the allegations "insensitive, hurtful and uninformed."
"His outrageous comments would be laughable if they were not so harmful and outside Canada's usual civil discourse," the group said in a news release.
Spencer had also claimed that homosexuals, due to AIDS and other health problems, have a far lower life expectancy than straight men.
"Let's just say if . . . anybody that used Colgate toothpaste, their life expectancy was lowered by 10, 15 years. What do you think would happen to Colgate toothpaste? It would be outlawed. Well, we know that's what happens to men living a gay lifestyle."
Spencer told the Sun there will soon be strong pushes to legalize polygamy and pedophilia.
He also said people who have been practising homosexuals for most of their adult lives could transform themselves into heterosexuals.

Just my 2¢ here, but I would rather not see these extreme and bigoted agendas infiltrating the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. I seriously feel that they need to be kept separate. I don't have a problem with there being four major political parties in Canada (OK, I'm giving the NDP more credit than it deserves right now... ) The extreme conservatives and the socialists can have their parties, while the middle of the road conservatives and liberals can have their own parties too. Otherwise I'll be compelled to quit voting all together. Or maybe even vote for the Rhinocerous Party (anybody remember them? LOL) Love, Scully

shamus

Just my .02 cents, but watching canadian politics is like watching grass grow...

That guy is a freak, end of story. Just shows you that any arsehole with any agenda can get in. Pretty sick, eh! I bet the ppl that voted for him are regretting it..

Waymores Ghost

Hi Scully,

Canadian politics offer the citizen a broader range of choice I suppose, but personally I'd like to see both the former Reform party and the NDP dissolve into oblivion. NDP kooks are just as aggravating as the right-wing ones.

Wg

Waymores Ghost

Hi Shamus,

:I bet the ppl that voted for him are regretting it..

Many Alliance supporters are having doubts. Hope they join the Tory ranks, or we'll never get rid of the Liberals

Wg

shamus

Waymores,

Welcome to the forum.. I haven't met you yet!

I still stand by my comment that Canadian Politics are about as interesting as watching grass grow.

RAYZORBLADE

Personally, Waymores, I'm with you there with regards to the Alliance.

I have zero use for them, and their wacko right wing agenda .

Give me carrots, but don't give me the Alliance .

As for the other parties, if you factor in the Liberals, and the so-called 'Progressive' Conservatives, I think the country would be still be in a time warp of sorts. Mind you, under Trudeau, Canada really shook off its cobwebs, and became a very interesting country.

I've supported the NDP, Green Party, and some Liberals (not often), and never the PCs or Alliance. Uh-uh! No way!

Yeah, that comment that that lunatic (Spencer) said was just about as wacked as you could get.

"Na-na-na-na..na-na-na-na...hey-hey-hey...good-bye" (by the band Steam)

Waymores Ghost

Hi Shamus,

:I still stand by my comment that Canadian Politics are about as interesting as watching grass grow.

I can't really argue with you about that.

Wg

Beans

It was Trudeau who really opened the party to a liberal view of a diverse sexuality, why politicians have to stick there noses in this issue is beyond me.

There will always be homosexuals in society and there always has been, why can't it be left at that! Give them equal rights and treat them the same! We have come so far in the last decade so there is no need to backpeddle.

Gay-bashing Alliance MP

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