Xtra Vancouver (using the same word — “pets” — that I’ve used to describe gays for years, btw):
We should all be concerned about the rulings in this case — and the willingness of some community members to run to the courts for validation whenever their feelings have been hurt.
Is it because our march toward equal rights has been led by the courts that we run back to them now whenever we feel picked upon? Are we no longer capable of discerning denial of service from disagreeable ideas contrary to our own?
We should be reaching for a society in which everyone feels welcome to exchange ideas freely. Not a society where the perspectives of the court’s pets are protected, while those who dare challenge us are silenced and punished.
For one thing, this leads to an increasingly stifled society where only a narrow range of views are tolerated.
For another thing, we may not be the court’s pets forever.
