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Denial of same sex rights shameful The defeat last Thursday of the provincial governâ€" ment‘s bill to recognize same sex relationships may be seen as a victory by many people. Those who opposed ::;n d‘rmmhpym ples â€"â€" from the hierarchy of the Catholic church to the Progressive Conservative Party ~ are likely patting themesives on the back for a job well done. Lest the bigots get carried away in their smugness, let me point out that not all of the reasons for the bill‘s failure stemmed from their hate campaign. The Tories‘ opposition stemmed more from their apparent degire to be seen as the most virulently right wing m‘hfinm‘lh'fln.wmmwhm made discrimination on the basis sexual orienâ€" tation illegal, three Tories (including their leader, Larry Grossman), voted in favor. If anyone in the Conservative caucus was inclined to break ranks this time, they were likely discouraged by the rightward shift of the party. The Liberals are much more difficult to figure out. Just two months ago, Lyn McLeod was writing to Preâ€" mier Rae, begging him to introduce same sex legisiaâ€" tion. One of her backbenchers, Tim Murphy, had introduced a Private Members Bill that went almost as far as the defeated bill. When decision time came, however, only three Liberals had the guts to stand up for human rights. Not even a former Cabinet minister who is widely known to be gay voted yes. McLeod is somewhat of a medical marvel, having been born without a spine. She is so busy trying to distinguish her party from the government on every issue, that the actual issues seem to be irrelevant. ing the Liberals from the Conservatives than from the NDP if she isn‘t careful. McLeod is now saying that even Murphy‘s timid proposal has been "withdrawn" (apparently this is news to him) and that her governâ€" mmtmld'nholutdy_mt'infiodtmmformof legislation to end discrimination against gay couples. ‘The 12 New Democrats who opposed the legislation Scanning recent headlines in our daily newspapers, I wonder â€"â€" and worry â€"â€" about just how intolerant our nation is becoming. For example, headlines on the front page of one recent issue of Kitchener‘s daily paper included, "Sameâ€"sex bill defeated", Antiâ€"Schindler note distrib uted in Kâ€"W" and "Galt legion official hopes Sikhs don‘t apply" â€" and that‘s only one page on one day. Results of a recent study suggest that most Canadiâ€" ans feel minorities are to blame for their own inequalâ€" ity in our society, and that discrimination isn‘t to Recent polls have shown most Canadians have no problem with denying homosexual couples many of the basic rights heterosexual couples take for granted. Members of Canada‘s two major opposition parties appear poised to deny the only bona fide Canadians their right to selfâ€"government, ignoring the fact that natives, unlike French Quebeckers, didn‘t choose to have Ottawa run their lives. A handful of Canadians continues to preach overt hatred of Jews and whatever other groups they can single out as scapegoats, and while this is nothing new, it is the large number of people who still secretly (or not so secretly) share their views that is disconâ€" certing. ‘Taken together, these facts paint a dismal picture of Canada. Strangely, however, many Canadians are in denial about our collective intolerance. If a minority has a problem, the WASPs say, it‘s because he or she isn‘t trying hard enough to adapt to "Canadian valâ€" Intolerance stains Canada to expect better from them. While their opposition alone is not responsible for the defeat of the bill, they must accept a large part of the blame. As far as I am concerned, the intolerance of these MPPs is evidence that the party needs to do a far better job of screening its candidates in the future. I also hope to see them challenged by rights supporters in their ridings when they seek the party‘s nomination for the next provinâ€" cial election. Fortunately, the fight for human rights is not lost yet. The courts â€" which are not influenced by letter writing cempaigns â€" have been granting rights to gay couples on a piecemeal basis for years. That trend is expected to continue as law after discriminatory law is successfully challenged. Indeed, by the time govern ments get around to acting on gay rights, the changes ous legal judgements (witness the federal governâ€" ment‘s belated progress in adding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to the Canadian Human Rights Act). History has a way of relegating decisions like the one that was made last Thursday to a special hall of shame. The denial of same sex rights will soon join decisions like the ban on women‘s suffrage, the internâ€" ment of Japanese Canadians, and the "separate but equal" segregated school systems in that hall. And so merit special attention, if only because we have come it should. Just where have these people been for the last halfâ€" This attitude flies in the face of what Canada is really all about: the mutual respect central to our "culâ€" and religious cultures and ways of life make our nation unique in the world. Respect for homosexuâ€" als,too, should go hand in hand with these concepts. Perhaps immigration in the last few decades was so rapid and voluminous that it was unfair to expect Canadians descended from 19thâ€"century British and Irish immigrants to be able to absorb the shock easily. That mistake, however, is no excuse for hatred and Jew fascists â€"â€" they‘re all antiâ€"Canada as far as I‘m concerned. 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