Why should gays and lesbians tolerate discrimination anywhere, Lorne Gunter?

Check out yet another alarmist column by National Post writer Lorne Gunter, now crying foul of the decision last week by Ontario's Human Rights Commission against Christian Horizons for discriminating against Connie Heintz because she's a lesbian.

Hidden between the lines of Lorne Gunter's column (and many others like it) is the assumption somehow that LGBT citizens don't deserve protection from discrimination under the law. Otherwise, why the need to publish such a piece?

Gunter writes: "I have no doubt the OHRC's ruling would have been exactly the same if CH had been running its residential homes completely privately having raised its entire annual budget without any help from taxpayers. After all, in 1999 the OHRC forced Toronto Christian printer Scott Brockie to do print jobs for gay and lesbian customers even though his print business was private and not under any contract with Queen's Park to provide print services. "

So let's see, Lorne - a private company provides services to the public, makes money in our society, yet can decide it won't do business with gays and lesbians, and this is completely okay?

If the same company decided it wouldn't serve Jews, would that be okay too, Lorne?

Of course, Gunter at least admits that because this religious organization was taking public funds, it should be forced to conform its practises to public laws.

As for the commission-ordered sensitivity training that goes along with the employment ruling against Christian Horizons being "very dangerous", as Gunter puts it, it would seem, based on what I've read of Ms. Heintz's case, the people at this organization desperately need this training.

Heintz quit her job at Christian Horizons in September 2000 after employees and supervisors made her final months there "the worst time of [her] life." After revealing she was a lesbian, Heintz said some co-workers made unfounded accusations that she abused residents.

It's sadly typical that people who claim to be loving Christians regularly lie and defame gays and lesbians as being sexual offenders, diseased or otherwise.

It's unfortunate that Gunter and his ilk consider weeding out this kind of systemic and vile hatred within such organizations so "dangerous". I would suggest that such sensitivity training is designed to change behaviour and outward action, not "police thought" as Gunter alleges.

Those at Christian Horizons or similar organizations have every right to maintain any vile bigotries their faith may inspire them to hold. There's nothing any Human Rights Commission or sensitivity training can do to change that.