Gay Rights/Human Rights

Human rights law took a step in the right direction today with Lindsay Blackett’s proposed Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Amendment Act. If passed, Alberta would be one of the last Canadian provinces to protect gay rights in its human rights code.

In 1994, a gay rights activist named Delwin Vriend took the Alberta government to court. Vriend was fired from his job for being gay and, at the time, the Alberta Human Rights Commission would not investigate the case because discrimination based on sexual orientation was not covered by the Alberta Human Rights Act.

While Vriend’s successful ruling from the Supreme Court does offer protection to Alberta residents it is only now, 11 years after that ruling, that the Alberta government is making a move to cement that Supreme Court decision into provincial legislation.

11 years.

So, what took us so long?

As a society, one would hope that we would have learned some lessons from history. A little something called the women’s rights movement springs to mind. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have no rights? To fight for the right to not be considered property? To fight for the right to be an equal member of society?

Our grandmothers fought the fight that no one should have to. Gay rights activists like Delwin Vriend are fighting another fight like that right now. When can the fighting stop?

Just like women should never have had to fight for the right to their own bodies, homosexuals shouldn’t have to fight for the right to not be discriminated against. A homosexual’s right to equality is not distasteful, offensive or ridiculous. It is simply a human being’s right.

On the whole, this can be viewed as a positive piece of legislation even though parents retain the ability to pull their child from teaching that conflicts with religious beliefs or sexuality. This allows for parents to exclude their children from any teachings around same sex relationships or the human rights of homosexuals. That being said, Minister Blackett’s proposed amendments are a step in the right direction. A step towards a society of equals.

But in 2009, in a first-world country, in one of the UN’s top 5 countries in the world to live in…why do these steps come so slow? How slowly do they have to come before we question, are we really making any headway?

Why are we not faster, better, stronger at stepping up and showing other countries the way to go? Canada, nay Alberta, why follow when we could lead? Where is our Spirit to Achieve?