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News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Natasha on September 15, 2008, 06:10:24 PM

Title: The crazies in Parliament
Post by: Natasha on September 15, 2008, 06:10:24 PM
The crazies in Parliament

http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/The_crazies_in_Parliament-5492.aspx (http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/The_crazies_in_Parliament-5492.aspx)
Krishna Rau
9/15/2008

Maurice Vellacott, the Conservative MP for the Saskatchewan-Wanuskewin riding, has been another vociferous opponent of same-sex marriage.

In 1999 he wrote an editorial arguing that marriage should be restricted to a man and a woman because of the need to have and raise children. He wrote that "homosexuals already have the right to marry, providing that — like everybody else — they marry someone of the opposite sex."

He also opposed spousal benefits for same-sex couples, saying supporters of the initiative were "activist liberal judges and a small but aggressive homosexual lobby."

In 2002 Vellacott mailed out a pamphlet opposing the inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected category under Canada's hate crimes legislation. Vellacott wrote that the policy change "substantially interferes with the right of religious and education leaders to communicate essential matters of faith."