CKNW Editorial
for October 26, 1999

There is a curious parallel between some of the things being said in the Surrey School Board issue and things said in other areas at other times about other people.

The reluctance of parents to have their children taught by a gay has, according to them and their spokesmen, nothing to do with the fact that he is gay. It’s more, you see, that he has a gay agenda and the fear is that he will use his sexual status to further that agenda. But, and this they emphasize, it’s not because he’s gay, you understand. Why you can almost hear the crowd braying as one, some of my best friends are gay.

I remember when the racial bars were dropped at a golf club I belonged to back in the 60s. The issue was raised because a man of Chinese background by name of Lee, with an Anglo-Saxon first name had been unwittingly accepted. It wasn’t that anyone was against Mr Lee, you understand. Not at all. Why if it were just Mr Lee, you see, everything would be fine. But the next thing you know the place is full of them, speaking their language, clanning together, and just, well, spoiling things, don’t you know.

When blacks were seeking equality in the Southern States – and they’re far from getting it – it wasn’t a matter of rights. Not at all. That’s not what white folks were against. Lots of them were good nigras who knew their place … why if they were the only ones going to vote there would be no trouble. But, by God, if you were to let a few get to vote and get decent jobs in the public service meaning anything above the role of janitor, those damned nigras would never know their place again. And let one be a teacher or have anything to do with kids, why the nigra agenda would take over and we’d hear nothing except that society destructive notion of equality of the races … This is something the Jews know something about. In England they kept Jews from being Members of Parliament until one of the Rothschilds finally made it. Not that the MPs wouldn’t have always welcomed Jews … it wasn’t that they were anti-Semitic or anything like that! No Siree. It was just that the oath MPs had to take was a Christian oath and Jews couldn’t take that, of course. You couldn’t change the oath because … well, that was the oath you see. That scamp Disraeli fooled ‘em of course and became an Anglican and even though his churchly connections didn’t seem all that strong … well, you know how these things are.

It’s sort of like Doug Collins and his mouthpiece Doug Christie. Anti Semitic? You must be joking. Why these chaps and their friends are only in favour of free speech. The fact that their free speech seems to be about little else than pillorying Jews and Indo Canadians is beside the point.

So when it comes to judging the School Board in Surrey we must be very careful not to think, much less say, that they are homophobic. Perish that thought. Why they are simply arbitrators of an unhappy case where some parents didn’t want their children taught by a gay. Not that they as school trustees had anything against gays, mind you … it was just that someone had to arbitrate the matter and what better solution than to sully the teachers reputation while endorsing the homophobia of the parents themselves.

Did I say the parents were homophobic? How silly of me, I’d quite forgotten. It wasn’t that he was gay that was the trouble – it was the fact that he didn’t hide it and play it straight.

No, we’ve had it all wrong. Those Southern crackers weren’t bigoted – they just wanted to save the black the grief that would surely come his way if he went to school with white kids, sat in the same part of the bus as the white folks or, God forbid, got the vote.

Doug Collins and Doug Christie wouldn’t want you for a moment to think they were racist – they know how much free speech means to Jews and Sikhs so they'll just keep on doing them the favour of exercising it as long and loudly as they can.

And goodness knows that the Surrey School Board, in an election year, wouldn’t want to offend any large groups in the community so they’re dealing with the Chamberlain case with great tact and care – that there are a hell of a lot more rednecked parents than gays had absolutely nothing to do with their decision.

It’s comforting to know that the high standards of tolerance set by the Surrey School District and so many of its parents can now safely be passed on to the next generation. As the song in South Pacific goes, "they have to be carefully taught … "