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rfmcdonaldOriginally taken from Queerty, this is a reproduction of Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison's Christmas card, featuring him with his husband Maxime St-Pierre, who he married in 2007. The card, sent to five thousand constituents and supporters, made some homophobes unhappy but overall received a positive and supportive response.
One of the more prominent articles critical of the card is this Anglican Samizdat post, where the author concluded by saying that "considering Christians do not accept same-sex partnerships as true marriage, to use a Christian festival to deliver this political message was an act of considerable crassness."
I raised the subject of the United Church of Canada because Brison's Wikipedia article identifies him as a member of the UCC and he himself was married in his hometown's United Church. Sending out a Christmas card featuring him and his partner isn't crass, as the post's author said, but is rather entirely in keeping with the theology of the church to which Brison belongs. Never mind that most MPs' Christmas cards--47 of which are viewable at the CBC--don't include any religious sentiments, or that Christmas is a holiday. As I stated in a comment that, curiously, hasn't been posted on the site, Brison's United Church of Canada membership makes it entirely possible for him not to be crass: sending out a Christmas card featuring him and his husband is entirely acceptable by the United Church's norms. Arguing, as some did in the comments, that the United Church isn't Christian and presumably isn't a sound moral judge is strangely irrelevant to the card.
Anyway. I'd like to congratulate Brison on his decision to send out the very nice Christmas card, and to observe that the supportive reaction of Canadians to the card as measured by journalistic and blog responses to the card says good things about Canada.
The overwhelming response has been very positive," Brison said from Windsor, N.S. "There's always a very, very tiny minority of bigots. It's their problem, it's not my problem."
At least one news website had to shut down its comments section running under a story about the card. The Globe and Mail web editor said the section was shut down because of "hateful and homophobic remarks."
Toronto Star blogger Susan Delacourt tried a pre-emptive approach: she closed off comments before any vitriol could be posted.
"So crazy hateful people should probably just walk away from the keyboard now," she wrote. "Yes, backward, just like that, slowly, hands in the air. There you go. Get outdoors; it'll be good for you."
Brison is one of the few openly gay members of Parliament. He married his partner in 2007, two years after same-sex marriage became legal in Canada. He easily won re-election last year.
The card features the two men standing in a field separated by their golden retriever, Simba, in Brison's rural riding of King-Hants.
It's the first time the couple have sent out a Christmas card together. The picture came from a photoshoot they were given as a wedding gift.
One of the more prominent articles critical of the card is this Anglican Samizdat post, where the author concluded by saying that "considering Christians do not accept same-sex partnerships as true marriage, to use a Christian festival to deliver this political message was an act of considerable crassness."
I raised the subject of the United Church of Canada because Brison's Wikipedia article identifies him as a member of the UCC and he himself was married in his hometown's United Church. Sending out a Christmas card featuring him and his partner isn't crass, as the post's author said, but is rather entirely in keeping with the theology of the church to which Brison belongs. Never mind that most MPs' Christmas cards--47 of which are viewable at the CBC--don't include any religious sentiments, or that Christmas is a holiday. As I stated in a comment that, curiously, hasn't been posted on the site, Brison's United Church of Canada membership makes it entirely possible for him not to be crass: sending out a Christmas card featuring him and his husband is entirely acceptable by the United Church's norms. Arguing, as some did in the comments, that the United Church isn't Christian and presumably isn't a sound moral judge is strangely irrelevant to the card.
Anyway. I'd like to congratulate Brison on his decision to send out the very nice Christmas card, and to observe that the supportive reaction of Canadians to the card as measured by journalistic and blog responses to the card says good things about Canada.
