Blue Like You

Jonathan Kay has had a controversial series of posts in the National Post’s Full Comment. It starts here, then here and finally culminates in today’s print column generated from this post.

The main issue seems to be this particular statement in the original post:

…In fact, many Canadians still regarded homosexuality as a lifestyle choice rather than what it is — a hard-wired aspect of a person’s identity, little different from their race or sex…

(Well I might might dispute the notion of sex or gender being hard-wired these days. It seems to be more like something you decide when you get up in the morning.)

In any case Mr. Kay, who is openly secular, believes that homosexuality is hard-wired. Indeed, he is convinced of it and chastises the religious right for vocalizing any opposing viewpoint:

…The idea that these specimens “turned gay” voluntarily — or that they could reverse their God-given lust thrusters 180 degrees as a matter of conscious will–is laughable.

I say all this not to make fun of religious types. But speaking selfishly as a secularized conservative, I do find their line of free-will argumentation slightly embarrassing. It furthers the unfortunate stereotype of conservatives as being out-of-touch with anyone outside society’s mainstream (narrowly defined). It also bespeaks a mindset that privileges dogma above empirical observation, an accusation usually reserved for the left…

So what I glean from this is that Jonathan Kay wants everyone on the religious right to shut up, because he feels that they are embarrassing him and undermining the credibility of the right. (And never mind that religious conviction is not just the purview of the right, although some parties choose to punish or expel their dissenters - all in the name of ‘tolerance’.)

Let’s be clear - There is no place in Canada for the incitement of hatred of any kind. However, we must differentiate between being able to vocalize one’s personal religious belief vs. hate mongering against any other group of citizens.

Which leads me to this question: Is there a hierarchy of ‘rights’ in Canada?

If so, I suppose religious rights are at the bottom - probably because they’re not ‘hard-wired’.