Del Duca stands by candidate despite remarks
Semple apologizes for ‘hurtful’ column he wrote in 2004
A Liberal candidate has apologized for what he now calls a “hurtful” and “offensive” column on the gay community that included his observation “the term homophobia is being tossed around like confetti.”
But Noel Semple of Etobicoke Centre has escaped the fate of three other Liberal candidates fired by party leader Steven Del Duca this week — two of them for controversial remarks about homosexuality.
Semple, a lawyer and law professor running for the June 2 election, said Friday he was “disappointed and deeply embarrassed” to be reminded of the 2004 opinion piece he wrote in the University of Toronto’s student newspaper opposing a subsidy for a campus LGBTQ organization.
Del Duca said he is standing by his candidate in a riding where the Liberals hope to topple Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s infrastructure minister, Kinga Surma.
“Enough is enough. Eighteen years ago, Noel Semple wrote an article in a student paper opposing a new student levy,” the Liberal leader added in a statement that capped a week of distractions from his campaign messaging.
“In the same article he denounced homophobes as scumbags. He is not and was not a homophobe.”
The apology followed questions from the Star about the column to Del Duca earlier in the day at a campaign stop in ScarboroughAgincourt. He said he was not aware of it despite the party’s vetting process for candidates, but said he would review what was written.
Semple’s article argued against a levy on students that would raise $25,000 for a group called LGBTOUT and stated the money would be better spent on other causes such as fighting poverty.
“LGBTQ people, by contrast, are not a needy or victimized subset of society,” he wrote in the March 15, 2004 edition of The Varsity.
“You’re here, you’re queer; we got used to it a long time ago. Go find your $25,000 elsewhere.”
Semple, who made it clear in the article he supports same-sex marriage, also compared the harassment of lesbian, gay and trans people to being taunted as a boy.
“I don’t doubt that there are a few scumbags out there who might personally insult or attack students because they’re gay. I was a fat kid. I used to get teased about it.”
In his apology, Semple said he drew “offensive, short-sighted, and not at all comparable parallels to my own experience with bullying growing up. As a young and naïve student, I never intended to hurt people, but wrote provocatively, with flippant language.
“2SLGBTQ+ people are without question an equity-deserving and under-represented community in our society. 2SLGBTQ+ identity is rich and complex — not a ‘set of sexual behaviour patterns,’” he added.
“It was ignorant of me to suggest otherwise, and in the 18 years between when I wrote this op-ed and now, I have better acquainted myself with the true nature of homophobia and anti-2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, and committed myself to fighting it.”
Del Duca, who appeared with Semple at his first event on the first day of the campaign, moved to assure the LGBTQ community “we are your allies,” citing several candidates from the community by name.
But the New Democrat campaign said Semple should be fired for the “homophobic” column.
“Being an ally requires walking the walk, not just talking the talk: will Steven Del Duca’s Liberals stand up to bigotry against 2SLGBTQIA+ people and drop this candidate?”
The controversy overshadowed Del Duca’s announcement on his promised return to rent control and new ads taking shots at two Ford MPPs for views against abortion and gay marriage.
In a recording obtained by the Liberals, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Minister Parm Gill of Milton is heard saying same-sex marriage is why “I first ran for the Conservative Party of Canada, because I did not agree with that policy.”
An ad also points to Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff, parliamentary assistant to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, who said it is time to “make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime.”
“It’s telling that the NDP are attacking Mr. Semple rather than Conservative Minister Parm Gill who is quoted in 2015 as ‘getting into politics to stop gay marriage,’” Del Duca said.
Campaigning in Windsor, Ford said he was not aware of Gill’s comments and defended him as “an outstanding minister who is working hard.”
Del Duca, whose party terminated two other candidates in Conservative strongholds within minutes of learning about their comments over the previous two days, maintained he does not have a double standard for candidates based on the likelihood of winning the riding.
“I believe in making sure we have all the information in front of us before we can make any kind of decision about how we’re going to go forward,” Del Duca said.