Freddie P's Blog

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Gay Victory

February 9, 2010 @ 17:22

Let's not kid ourselves, last week's by-election in Toronto Centre had little to do with politics, and very much to do with sexual orientation. They replaced one gay man, George Smitherman, with another gay man, Glen Murray.

So when Premier Dalton McGuinty yaks about Liberal Murray's election as a "wonderful way to begin Ontario politics in 2010," take it for what its - bullshit.

As for Murray himself, who became the first openly gay mayor of a North American city when he captured Winnipeg in 1998, don't listen to him either.

Here's what he had to say. "I think people are starting to understand this government is getting elected because it's working hard on real issues for real people."

Who is he trying to kid? The McGuinty Liberals aren't working hard on the real issues for real people, far from it.

What put Glen Murray over the top last week was his sexual orientaton. Beginning, middle and end.

Some might argue that it was McGuinty throwing money at Toronto Grace Hospital in the eleventh hour, but I don't think so, I think Murray was elected first and foremost because he's gay, and believe me, to use an overly used phrase, there's nothing wrong with that, because it's part of the democratic process, just like proroguing is.

If anything, it displays the power of our process. If a group of people organize and work toward a common goal within our system, they can accomplish anything. There is a large gay population in Toronto Centre and they have obviously decided they want another gay MPP so they went out and voted.

Too bad more people didn't exercise their franchise in such a way.

Of course, a devil's advocate could say that it's not good for democracy. They could say a man was elected not on the issues or track record, but elected solely on what he represents from a non-political standpoint - Barack Obama comes to mind.

But again, if that's your beef and you have a problem with it then you're free to organize your own group to counter-balance it. But there rarely happens because if you're not part of a group you tend to be complacent and think your vote won't matter.

Last week's election is Toronto Centre was no reflection of the sitting government, because the sitting government has been an unmitigated disaster and doesn't deserve the support it got and another indicator of this was the missed opportunity of a protest vote.

I'm convinced if Glen Murray wasn't gay, the vote would either been a lot closer last week, or the people of Toronto Centre would have voted in the NDP in an effort to send a message to Dalton McGuinty.

But they didn't because they didn't care as much to send a message as the gay community did to replace one gay MPP with another.

And good for them.

One final thought. If Murray was Conservative, do you think he still would have won in Liberal loonie Toronto Centre?

I do.

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