Ryerson to honour gay-marriage critic

[jason]

Ex-Lemmingworks. ##.

TheStar.com - Ryerson to honour gay-marriage critic

Degree to come at start of Pride WeekEthicist says she’s pro-child, not anti-gay… Margaret Somerville is a well-known Montreal ethicist who holds a slew of honorary degrees — and strong opinions against same-sex marriage. Her views have generated controversy, enraged gay-rights activists, attracted hate mail and even prompted protests during her classes at McGill University.

What is making me happy is the back-channel discussion going on among faculty at Ryerson, and their work to bring this to a reasonable conclusion. I hope that the administration is listening to the debate, which is very one-sided, and remember that Ryerson has taken upon itself to be a university of the city, and that there’s no reason why we can’t foster open debate on controversial issues while at the same time honour those who reflect and support our community values.

Comments

[a2cook.livejournal.com]

I believe everyone has a right to their own opinion about same-sex marriage but although some are against it, we must be accepting and open-minded when dealing with same-sex parents. Our profession is very anti-bias in order to work with children of all walks of life. I personally do not have a problem with same-sex marriage. Everyone has a right to be happy!
Amy

[gela-max.livejournal.com]

Well said Amy, We preach anti-bias, we also need to practice anti-bias.

[dansar.livejournal.com]

I too believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion and we need to respect it. True as educators in the ECE field we need to be open-minded and antibias.
Mary Luise

[r2glily.livejournal.com]

Hi Jason,

I found this article to be quite thought provoking. I too believe that everyone should be entitled to their own happiness and if that means being gay - go for it (who are we to judge others - when we have enough skeletons in our own cupboards!). However, the point raised by Somervile on the issue that parents of the same sex cannot be as effective in parenting as two parents of the opposite sex is interesting. This topic can be debated in many ways. As an ECE, I often wonder obout the rights of children. Children do not get to choose their parents and have no voice on the issue. I see Somerville's point on how she is thinking about the needs of the children (who have no voice). Parenting is complex and many factors are involed in raising healthy children. It is only through research that we would be able to find out if same-sex parents could could be as effective as hetero-sexual parents.

However, I do believe that a child would benefit from having a positive role model in their life (be it male or female). A child would benefit from having two parents of the same sex rather than a single parents (I have no doubt about this - more love the better).

Somerville should be able to voice her opinions. After all, is that not we preach about "free speech?" I don't think it is right for the gay community to subject Somerville to harrasment, after all the gay community is aware of what it feels like to be singled out! It is not about who is right, rather what is right! Unless, people are able to put away their differences and work together, we will never have a peaceful world! I may not know a lot, but one thing I do know is that two wrongs do not make a right!

Roshine.