Anti-LGBTQ comments rejected by nearly six in 10 B.C. voters: poll
While it is important to ask about the impact of homophobic and anti-LGBTQ comments by candidates in an election poll, such questions are also being described as “somewhat symbolic” by an official for one of the province's leading LGBTQ organizations.
More critical are the policy changes made behind the scenes to support LGBTQ issues and communities, said Joel Harnest, manager of programs and community engagement for Qmunity.
Harnest was responding to the results of a question asked in a poll conducted for Postmedia that found 58 per cent of voters were less likely to support a party with candidates who made homophobic and anti-LGBTQ comments before the provincial election.
“While it is an important question to ask, it is somewhat symbolic,” Harnest said.
“What happens below the surface? What happens beyond the statements of support or affirmation? What happens beyond political parties marching in Pride parades?”
Harnest asked whether, for example, any party is showing “some degree of leadership and courage” to ban conversion therapy, a discredited practice to try to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.
“It is a dangerous, outdated practice that overwhelmingly impacts youth,” he said.
“It can absolutely degrade one's mental health, sense of safety and security and self. We know that the outcomes of conversion therapy are, more often than not, ongoing depression, clinical anxiety, suicidal thoughts and ideation, and in worst-case scenarios, completion of suicide.”
Qmunity, based in Vancouver, describes itself as B.C.'s Queer, Trans and Two-Spirited Resource Centre.
The Leger poll released earlier this week found that seven per cent of respondents were more likely to support a party whose candidates have made homophobic and anti-LGBTQ comments, 28 per cent said it wouldn't change their likelihood of support, and 58 per cent that they would be less likely to support a party with candidates who made such comments.
The largest group least likely to support a political party whose candidates expressed such views were voters aged 18 to 34, at 69 per cent.
People were asked the question to gauge how voters have responded to recent controversies involving two Liberal candidates.
In Langley East, B.C. Liberal candidate Margaret Kunst has been criticized for voting against painting a rainbow crosswalk between the RCMP detachment and the school board offices.
Fellow Liberal candidate Laurie Throness in Chilliwack-Kent has also been criticized for defending an article supporting conversion therapy.
Harnest said he has noticed a dramatic change in awareness of LGBTQ issues in particular during the five and a half years he has worked with Qmunity.
“In that time alone, the cultural awareness, the sensitivity, the affirmation provided to LGBTQ+ folk has increased exponentially,” Harnest said.
Qmunity is holding Proud 2 Vote, a virtual provincewide town hall, on Oct. 20 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Hamish Telford, a political science associate professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, said LGBTQ issues around the two Fraser Valley candidates plus recent sexist comments by Jane Thornthwaite, the Liberal candidate in North Vancouver-Seymour, have “definitely derailed” leader Andrew Wilkinson's campaign.
“I think it has put into jeopardy some of the ridings that Liberals hold,” he said.
“I think it has hurt the party quite seriously.”