Charles McVety, president of Canadian Christian College and a member of the executive committee of Rushfeld's committee, said the federal government helped pay for a "pornographic" book being promoted as a developmental guide for teens.
He said the book, entitled The Little Black Book for Girls was produced by an organization in Toronto called St. Stephen's Community House. It is designed as a guide to personal and sexual development for teenage girls.
He suggested it could eventually be used in schools, although he said he's unaware of any schools using it.
"This book is now curriculum designed for 14 year olds in this country and it is deeply, deeply offensive," he said.
"It puts forward terrible pornographic statements, wrongful statements that 80 per cent of our country is bisexual.
"It shouldn't be taught to our children."
If it's the book I'm thinking it is, I read an online copy a few months ago (I'm hunting for the link, and will post it if I find it again), and while the book is certainly frank; may even use language I'm not comfortable with, most of it is written by teens for other teens. It is far from "pornographic", although it does talk about sexuality and relationships in rather raw terms.
The inference McVety is making is positively vile - he's picked up on this publication as something he finds offensive, and is now claiming that it would become part of a school curriculum as a result of bill C-38. The insinuation itself is offensive, the conclusion he draws is plain false.
There are worries that freedom of religion may be eroded and that clergymen could be forced to conduct same-sex marriages even if the concept conflicts with religious beliefs.
Ummm...no. This is yet another utter falsehood. Bill C-38 contained explicit verbage protecting churches from performing marriages that they do not "believe are valid", similarly, Bill C-250 also provided for religious exemptions with regards to the hate speech amendments. McVety is pulling the "repeat a lie often enough and it will be the truth" routine.
But McVety said same-sex marriage was rushed through without proper consideration.
"It was a real joke, it was a real insult," he said. "We're looking for an open, honest debate."
Dear God, McVety. You don't call the years worth of debate both political and legal that led to the decisions at the provincial level in Ontario and British Columbia weren't "open, honest debate"? Or are you admitting that half of your arguments are based on outright lies, and the other half are pure insinuation?
Representatives of the United Church, the Unitarian Council, some rabbis and the Quakers said the move to jump-start the debate is an effort by the religious right to impose their beliefs on the country as a whole.
"The religion of one should not become the law of others," said Laurie Arron of Canadians for Equal Marriage.
At least there were a couple of sane voices that the reporter talked to. It's way past time to move beyond this issue. Canada's society hasn't crumbled as a result of C-38 - that really isn't surprising either. Even the most optimistic estimates show that only a tiny fraction of the population will take advantage of the extension of legal marriage to same-gender couples.
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Can't find a direct link for it myself, but following is a description of the book from off of Amazon.ca...
Check it out: not just a book about sex, but a look at girl culture by teenagers. No stuffy school textbook. No nosy adults. Just a diverse group of teen girls from a community youth project who had questions about sexuality. To find answers, they collected stories, poetry and artwork from other youth. They also interviewed frontline health experts to get solid facts about the personalities and pressures that young women have to deal with.
It's a great mix of real-life examples and life-saving info. Topics include:
Relationships
Periods
Sex
Birth control
Pregnancy
Sexually transmitted infections/AIDS
Sexual assault
All the content has been vetted by doctors, and the book is endorsed by health professionals -- so girls know they're getting good info. There's also a section at the back with places to contact to find out more.
It's all stuff that youth need to know, and it's all decked out in a compact, easy-to-browse zine style. The Little Black Book for Girlz is an important, take-anywhere empowerment guide. Girls shouldn't leave their teen years without it.
About the Author
St. Stephen's Community House is a community-based social service agency in Toronto that assists more than 23,000 people each year. Its self published edition on which this book is based has been used by educators and social workers across North America.
Oh, and Grog, a few years ago I would have agreed that more direct street language may not have been appropriate, but one fine dayabout 15 years ago, two girls, about 8 or 9 years of age went riding past me on their bikes. The first one was angry at the second one and she screamed back at her, "If I ever thought I'd have a kid like you, I'd learn to take it up the ass!" Since then, I'm not so upset by the street language used in certain materials to educate the public, especially when designed to reach a specialized segment of society.
I would have agreed that more direct street language may not have been appropriate
It's not really an objection on my part. I understand what the purpose is, and I'm not about to condemn something because it "uses coarse language". {But, I also recognize that some will find the language objectionable}
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