Saint John Potty Mouth

Proud she is of her intolerance.

Imagine if you will, a Massachusetts state rep (or a U.S. one, for that matter) telling homosexuals to shut up about their preferences. Then she would turn to gay-pride parades:

When it comes to people who wish to live together, whether they are women or men, why do they have to be out here in the public always debating that they want to call it marriage? Why are they in parades? Why are they dressed up as women on floats?

They do not see us getting up on the floats, for heaven's sake, to say we are husband and wife. We do not do that. Why do they have to go around trying to get a whole lot of publicity? If they are going to live together, they can go live together and shut up about it. There is not any need for this nonsense whatsoever, and we should not have to tolerate it in Canada.

...all this from the woman whose autobiography cover shows her in dinner jacket, cummerbund and bow tie.

So, why would Canadians care about a hard-to-look-at, intolerant, homophobic retired politician said a couple of years ago when she was deputy leader of the federal Tories? They already know that she won't apologize. Plus, she did not run for re-election as an MP.

The answer is that with the Tories trying to use same-sex marriage as a wedge issue in the pending election, she can't stand being out of the limelight. Her kind of divisiveness plays well in the Canadian hinterlands, on both coasts, much as we have our Fitchburg in Massachusetts and our swards of sectarians throughout the United States.

Mini-rant: As here, the bigots tend to be in more agricultural states with lower education levels. Our own arch-conservatives like to say it's them lib-er-all college professors who indoctrinate susceptible youths. Yet, what we really see is that the large majority of college professors tend to be left-wingers simply because the more you know of history and humanity, the more open you are to differences, the more tolerant you are, and the more you would like to obey the Biblical commands to care for the needy. In short, the more liberal you tend to be. Yes, it's cause and effect – not propaganda but knowledge. End rant.

So, Mrs. Wayne has joined Vote Marriage Canada as Atlantic chairwoman. She'll be a stalking horse for Tory Leader Stephen Harper. She gets to play the abrasive anti-gay grayhead to rouse the rubes.

How well this will play du Nord is debatable. According to an article in the Brandon Sun, "While this may appeal to Mr. Harper's base of support, he is trying to look more moderate and mainstream," says Laurie Arron, director of advocacy for Egale Canada, a national organization fighting for gay rights. "Canadians do not want to reopen the issue. This is actually a negative for Mr. Harper."

Many polls show that Canadians are like we Massachusetts citizens, already beyond the SSM issue. Yet, the extroverted ex-MP is not. Instead, she claims that Liberal Party head Paul Martin "just listened to a few loudmouths on this issue."

Her anti-gay position has remained the same. "If you want to live that lifestyle, go live it. But don't ask us to change marriage. Just shut up about it."

One suspects that many Canadians wish she'd take her own advice.