A rchive Date
[ 29-05-2000 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]

Dr. Laura facing a tough call

By Jim Chapman

-- London Free Press

May 13, 2000

Seeing as we're practically buddies, being broadcast on the same radio station and all, I'd like to say a few words about Dr. Laura Schlessinger. She has recently been taken to task by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) for repeatedly using words like "deviant," "aberrant" and "dysfunctional" to describe homosexuality.

As a professional radio talker myself, I am deeply concerned when tribunals of any type attempt to stifle the free expression of opinion.

The CBSC, is a self-regulatory organization created by Canada's private broadcasters to monitor a code of behaviour that applies to everything heard on their stations. Responding to complaints about Dr. Laura, they launched an investigation into charges that she was in the habit of making comments that ran afoul of the

human rights

provisions of the CBSC code.

Earlier this week, they ruled that although Schlessinger's comments were not "abusively discriminatory," they were of an "abusive and discriminatory" nature. They criticized her choice of language and suggested her outspoken condemnation of homosexual acts lends support to people whose more direct condemnation of the homosexuals themselves often leads to violence.

In their ruling, the CBSC also noted: "In Canada, we respect freedom of speech, but do not worship it." It's an apt observation.

We Canadians have accepted legislation to restrict our rights in this area in pursuit of the noble goal of reducing intolerance and violence within our society. By banning hateful and discriminatory language from public discourse it is hoped we can reduce the incidence of hateful and discriminatory behaviour, too.

But such legislation is tricky because it can also be used to suppress genuinely held beliefs grounded in a firm moral tradition. Dr. Laura's supporters claim she is being victimized by the CBSC in exactly this very manner.

But at what point does espousing one person's moral values metamorphose into promoting hatred towards people who do not share them?

It's a tough call.

According to what I've heard her say, Dr. Laura believes homosexuality is something that can generally be "cured" and that people who actively participate in homosexual acts are making a conscious decision to do so, a decision they could and should reconsider in the light of "morality."

Those who believe otherwise, she roundly denounces.

On the other hand, I have also heard her paraphrase the Christian admonition to love the sinner even if you hate the sin and I've heard her decry acts of violence against gay persons.

In the emotion-charged arena of sexuality within our culture, she is trying to walk a fine line between denouncing the sexual activities of gays and denouncing the gays themselves.

The CBSC believes that distinction may be lost on some of her listeners.

Dr. Laura should be free to promote her vision of how the world ought to behave but it is naive to expect her comments will be without consequences.

In spite of her personal protestations that gays as individuals are as worthy of love and protection as heterosexuals, her harsh language and blanket characterizations of all gays as "abnormal" (and worse) do little to promote the kind of compassionate society in which she claims to believe.

The CBSC was right to remind her of that fact.

Given her obvious way with words, I don't think it is too much to ask that she find less abusive ways to express her opinions to ensure they do not promote the kind of violent anti-gay acts she has, to her credit, denounced even more strongly than she has denounced homosexual behaviour.

The potential destructive power of a talk show host with 20 million listeners should not be underestimated, especially by the host herself.

Jim Chapman is host of CJBK-AM Radio's Talk of the Town. His column appears Saturdays

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Cross-Indexed:

Vatican Fuels Firestorm Over Gay Marriage

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