Liberal MP Scott Brison’s Christmas card is making some headlines after the Globe’s Jane Taber blogged about it yesterday. She calls it the “first same-sex married couple MP Christmas card.”
Maxime St Pierre and Brison pose on their Nova Scotia property with their dog Simba.
Taber wrote that the “Liberal MP says the card has gone out throughout the rural riding. And there have been no negative comments or raised eyebrows.”
Heartwarming.
But then the Globe posted this message below Taber’s blog post: “Comments have been closed due to an overwhelming number of hateful and homophobic remarks. We appreciate that readers want to discuss this issue, but we can’t allow our site to become a platform for intolerance.”
Urgh. As Xtra’s federal politics blogger Dale Smith notes, “Seriously? In Canada in 2009? You’d think that people would get over it by now.”
It’s too bad the Globe didn’t leave the comments open. Homophobic wingnuts only remind us how much work we still have to do. It would be better to challenge their bigotry with counter-arguments, rather than shutting down the whole discussion.
And really, Brison’s card isn’t even very gay. It’s a lovely photo, but there’s such a distance between the two men that they could almost be mistaken for brothers.
I haven’t seen her Christmas cards yet, but I’m hoping Liberal MP Hedy Fry can challenge Brison for the gayest Christmas card of 2009. It’s probably too late, but may I suggest this fabulous photo? (That’s her in red)
(From Mitchel Raphael’s Capital Diaries blog)
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UPDATE, OCT 18: The Canadian Press picked up on the Brison story yesterday afternoon, and they spoke to Matt Mills, editorial director of Pink Triangle Press. Mills said it’s a mistake to censor homophobes, as it just drives homophobia underground and out of the public eye.
Curiously, when the Toronto Star re-ran the Canadian Press piece, they removed Mills’ comments. Weird. The CBC, the Chronicle Herald and CTV also re-ran the Canadian Press story, but they kept Mills’ comments.
Why you can trust Xtra
