PQ leader takes strong stand against homophobia
Charter wouldn’t hurt rights: Marois
On Tuesday night, at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of Fugues, a Montreal magazine focused on the city’s politically savvy LGBT community, Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois came out strongly against homophobia.
The celebration, with seven-foot-tall drag queens and shirtless male waiters wearing black bow ties and braces, was held in downtown SainteMarie — Saint-Jacques riding, which includes the Gay Village, and where PQ incumbent Daniel Breton is being challenged by Manon Massé, of Québec solidaire.
“When the rights of a single person in our society are trampled on, the liberty of all of us is diminished,” Marois said.
Quebec’s human rights charter forbids discrimination on the job or in other activities for reasons of sexual orientation, but also discrimination for reasons of age, disability, language, religion, race and more.
On its website, the Quebec human rights commission calls the PQ government’s Charter of Quebec Values “a clear setback for human rights and freedoms.”
Asked Wednesday how she could defend the rights of gays, while proposing a charter that discriminates on the basis of religion, banning religious signs, Marois argued there is no contradiction.
“It would not trample on human rights,” she insisted Wednesday. “Freedom of expression, religion, religious practice, is completely, absolutely and totally respected, no matter what the person’s conviction, no matter what church you belong to, no matter what mosque, we want to respect our faith and practice it. That is not questioned.”
The charter would state that Quebec is neutral in questions of religion, and Marois said the 600,000 public employees must reflect that neutrality.
The Quebec human rights commission points out on its website that in addition to prohibiting discrimination based on religion, the human rights charter already “guarantees fundamental freedoms, including freedom of conscience and religion,” and establishes the neutrality of the Quebec state.