Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Well, at least in Dirks's case, he really painted himself as homophobic, both from his past words/actions and by being the only candidate to refuse to wear a rainbow sticker at a campaign event.
I don't see how anyone could legitimately call Prentice homophobic, though. He was one of a very small number of federal Conservatives to break ranks with Harper and support the Liberals' gay marriage bill back in 2005.
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This I agree with. I don't think Dirk's will do anything to hamper the LBGQT community in Alberta, there's really no strong evidence of which from his time on the CBE. But he really could have easily squashed those questions with a few more small gestures.
I think the biggest thing is when there's no real "Lake of Fire" comment to build off, calling the election a discussion on equality for all when you're a new party would confuse some of the older and more casual voters. For most of them these by-elections weren't about equality or human rights (Most people have no idea of what Section 11.1 or Motion 503 is all about), to them it was about whether or not they think the PCs needed a lesson/statement. It's one thing to paint a new party with a questionable background as homophobic, it's hard to call the siting party with no real persecution of the LBGQT community as homophobic. While that plays well with younger progressive voters who aren't fond of the PCs, calling older people who have voted for the PCs for a good portion of their life homophobic to me is a dangerous call.