ADAMS: The vast majority supports LGBTQ rights, why don't Doug Ford and Jim Karahalios?

An Ontario PC MPP is under fire as of recent because of his super questionable homophobic past, and honestly, none of this should surprise anyone who has been awake in Ontario for like the past five years. According to PressProgress, Ontario PC MPP Will Bouma was actually the head of some religious “youth and education committee” that published a magazine for kids telling them to reject the “homosexual lifestyle”. That's actually insane behaviour, but apparently, people just let it happen back then.

So yeah, while Bouma was running that committee, they made this thing called Youth Messenger Magazine. It was supposed to be like “advice for young people” and all that, but instead it was basically a DIY guide to conversion therapy. It told kids to “reject the homosexual lifestyle” and even suggested people become gay because of drug addictions or because they were “love starved” when they were younger. Like, sorry, but who writes that? Who sits down and thinks, yup, this is what the youth need to hear? It feels like something that would've been printed on a pamphlet someone hands out at a random gas station at 2 AM.

When people brought this back up, Bouma went on Twitter and was like, “I'm a proud and supportive father of an LGBT daughter,” and that he had no involvement in writing anything. And like, okay man, but you were literally the head of the committee. Even if you didn't type the words yourself, you were still the one in charge. Also, he turned off comments, which kinda screamed “I'm saying this, but please don't talk to me about it.”

Then Doug Ford jumped in to defend him, because of course he did.

Doug basically said Bouma didn't write any of it and acted shocked that anyone would even suggest he believed those things. According to the Star, Ford said, “He just doesn't believe in that, and he didn’t do it, I don't know who's making this stuff up.” And this is coming from the same guy who wanted to throw Ontario sex ed back into the 90s. Like we get it, Doug, you're consistent at least.

Anyway, the PCs being weird about LGBTQ stuff isn't new, but what really takes the cake is the New Blue Party of Ontario, because they're like the PCs, but if you turned the dial way too far to the right and then snapped it off. They act like they're a bold “true conservative alternative,” but half their content is basically them yelling on video about “woke ideology” like it's hiding under kids' beds.

In one of their videos, co-leader Belinda Karahalios literally said, “They're injecting our kids with woke nonsense,” and then brought up Critical Race Theory, even though CRT is not taught in any Ontario school. Like not even slightly. They say it anyway because it sounds scary, and that's the whole point. Their whole party is built on bullshit slogans they don't understand but say really loudly so their followers clap.

And the anti LGBTQ stuff is basically their personality at this point. They like pretending they’re just “concerned” but then turn around and act like kids coming out is some kind of government plot. They call teachers “groomers,” they claim queer kids are “brainwashed,” and they freak out every time a rainbow shows up in public. They try to frame it like they're “protecting children,” but all they're doing is making it harder for LGBTQ kids to exist without feeling like someone is waiting to call them a problem.

Honestly, the funniest part of the New Blue is how everything they don't like is suddenly “woke.” Teachers are woke. Pride is woke. Students being themselves is extremely woke. If a kid wears a rainbow bracelet, it's the wokest event of the century. According to their definition, everyone is woke.

So yeah. The takeaway here is pretty simple. If you're LGBTQ or support LGBTQ people at all, these parties are not for you. Their entire vibe is restrict, suppress, attack, then act confused when anyone calls them out on it. Ontario deserves better than politicians who treat queer people like props for moral panic.

This piece is an archival work of the author, originally published elsewhere, and is presented here for historical record. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of the Provincial Times. Read our Content Policy here.