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I doubt it.
A video by a group of Conservative MPs aimed at supporting gay youths who are bullied had drawn more than 6,000 viewers by Friday - and no shortage of reaction.
On Thursday, the Tory politicians posted an It Gets Better video online after the suicide of Jamie Hubley, an Ottawa teen, whose funeral was held that day.
In it, several MPs, ranging from John Baird, the Foreign Affairs Minister, to Vic Toews, the Public Safety Minister, repeat the maxim "it gets better" in a bid to reassure youths they have support and can seek help if they are ostracized or bullied over their sexuality.
What I find particularly rich is criticism from Dan Savage:
Dan Savage, a Seattle writer and founder of the It Gets Better Project, the viral video movement sparked by a YouTube video he created to inspire hope for gay youth facing harassment after a rash of bullying suicides in the U.S., wasn't impressed. He weighed in through an online column.
"I'll just say this about Canada's Conservatives' contribution to the 'It Gets Better' Project: People who are in a position to make it better - elected officials - but who have chosen, over the years, to make it worse, can come around," he wrote.
"But it's going to take more than a video to undo the damage done by Vic Toews and Canada's conservatives. This was, quite literally, the least Vic and his fellow conservatives could do. The very least."
Oh please. Savage goes on to say that because some Tories voted against gay marriage, it makes them hypocrites to participate in such a video. This is absurd. Look, you can be against gay marriage but not think it's ok to bully a poor kid because of his sexual orientation or because of what you imagine his sexual orientation to be. Further, Savage refers contemptuously to the "damage done by Vic Toew's and Canada's conservatives." Damage? What did they do? Well, they insisted that same-sex marriage be debated in parliament! How awful for people in a democracy to want to debate something important!!
Last time I checked, same-sex marriage is still legal in Canada, which is as it should be.
I find it a bit rich for an American to make such comments. I hate saying that, because I'm not anti-American (and I'm pro-gay marriage rights), but really Dan Savage, would you be making such comments if Liberal MPs had made the exact same video?
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