MISLEADING MARRIAGE FLYER STIRS UP FEAR AND ANXIETY

Mysterious “Concerned Canadian Parents” group denies minority rights

ST. JOHN’S, NL – A group calling itself “Concerned Canadian Parents” is circulating a flyer in Newfoundland and Labrador asking people to contact their MPs to oppose the federal government’s equal marriage bill. The group is well-financed, having run full-page ads in major newspapers and now distributing its flyers across Canada.

Nobody knows who’s behind this group, as they’ve seen fit to disclose only the location of a rented post office box in Toronto. The group claims that opening up civil marriage to same-sex couples:

“is not about minority rights”

“will destroy our Canadian way of life – and damage our families!”

“will spell disaster for the moral and social welfare of our country”

“will destroy the roots of Canada’s ‘living tree’”

and that “Our greatest Canadian treasure is about to be dumped into the garbage can of history.”


“The information that this unknown organization is putting out there to the public is false and misleading,” said Gemma Hickey, of the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of Canadians for Equal Marriage and the St. John’s chapter of PFLAG. “It stirs up fear and anxiety. The flyer’s over-the-top fear mongering has no place here.”

“The flyer is wrong in saying this is not a minority rights issue,” added Ms. Hickey. “Court after court after court has said government cannot exclude people from civil marriage because of their sexual orientation, that doing so is contrary to the Charter. If we’re excluded from civil marriage, that means gays and lesbians are second-class citizens.”

“Letting same-sex couples marry doesn’t change the rules for heterosexual couples in any way,” continued Ms. Hickey. “Opening up civil marriage to gays and lesbians improves our lives and hurts no one. Equal marriage has been a fact of life in Newfoundland and Labrador for many months, and in other parts of Canada for almost two years. Where’s the threat?”

Canadians for Equal Marriage is a national coalition of organizations whose memberships comprise millions of Canadians, including the Canadian Association of Social Workers, Chinese-Canadian National Council, Canadian Labour Congress, Egale Canada and the Canadian Federation of Students.

PFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) helps parents to help themselves and family members deal with, understand, and accept their non-heterosexual children and the new world they are thrust into when their children "come out."

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