TORONTO, Dec 19, 2000 (LSN.ca) – Toronto City Councilor Kyle Rae hopes to warn Pope John Paul II that he had better not speak about homosexuality in Toronto during his upcoming World Youth Day (WYD) visit in 2002. In September, Rae, who describes himself as “openly gay”, told Toronto’s controversial NOW magazine that he hopes to meet with Father Thomas Rosica, WYD coordinator in Toronto. Contacted by LifeSite, Rae said the pope’s often-repeated statements about homosexuality are “hateful”. He said that voicing such “hateful and hurtful” opinions “is not permissible in our society.” He commented, “I don’t think religion should be used as a shield against hate.”
Rae said the delegation from the city of Toronto that went to discuss WYD raised the matter. “They discussed that in recent times the pope has made very controversial and hurtful comments about the gay and lesbian community and that it would be a problem given that Toronto is not a monotheistic city .. with the pope coming here, his continuing negative comments about gay and lesbian people would make it very difficult come WYD 2002.” When informed that the pope’s comments are about behaviour, not people themselves, Rae said he could not accept the distinction between criticism of homosexual acts and homosexual inclinations. “I can’t separate out what I do and who I am,” he said. Rae told LifeSite he would be meeting with Fr. Rosica to sort out the situation.
Father Rosica told LifeSite that he had spoken very briefly with Rae while thanking the city for a $1 million interest free loan for WYD preparations, but could not recall the conversation and did not mention any forthcoming meeting with Mr. Rae.
Toronto is the Gay Pride capital of Canada where the annual parade attracts over 500,000 participants, including for the past few years Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman. Toronto city council is also forcing taxpayers to pay for a challenge to the marriage law, in order to allow homosexual “marriage”. In May, LifeSite reported that the city clerk referred a case of a homosexual couple requesting a marriage licence to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice rather than simply rejecting the request as law would suggest. Moreover, Canada is a world leader in the promotion of special protection and privileges for those living the homosexual lifestyle. Federal and provincial governments have forced through laws allowing basically all the rights of marriage (including adoption) for homosexual couples. Canadian courts have often been notoriously biased in favour of gay legal activism and have usurped the responsibility of elected representatives by writing significant gay friendly rulings into law.
Canada’s promotion of homosexuality goes beyond its own borders. Secretary of State for the Status of Women, Hedy Fry was quoted last year in the country’s leading homosexual newspaper Xtra! as saying that Canada is the foremost supporter of homosexuality at the UN. Speaking to lesbian activists, she said, “All I can tell you is that Canada went to the wall on this issue, and it’s the only country that goes to the wall on this issue every single time.”
See the NOW magazine coverage at: https://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2000-09-28/newsbriefs.html
See related LifeSite coverage: https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1999/march/990326.html#2 https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2000/may/000523.html#1