Bob CollinsQuebec’s proposal to ban public workers from wearing religious symbols and garb is generating plenty of heat as testimony opens on the proposal.
Its supporters, however, say the ban is necessary to protect Quebec as a secular province. They call the proposed ban the “your head scarf or your job” bill.
The Montreal Gazette blog says religious people who cry “discrimination” are getting a taste of their own medicine.
Indeed, I have a hard time feeling sorry for religious people who are upset about the Quebec charter if their religions still discriminate against LGBTQ people and would deny them equal rights — and just about every religion out there does discriminate against us. How many religious organizations in Quebec welcome LGBTQ people? How many will perform same-sex weddings? How many recognize the gender identities of transgender people?
The “discrimination” Quebec is considering pales in comparison to the grief superstitious religious organizations have caused so many people.
LGBTQ people are in a global village slugfest with primitive religious holier-than-thou institutions and their followers, who feel they have the right to force their superstitious, often absurd belief systems on everyone else.
On Monday, people opposed to the ban wore head scarves and other religious symbols to work. It was organized by a woman who said she was attacked on Montreal’s subway system.
“She told me my hijab and myself don’t belong in Quebec,” Samira Laouni said.
She also testified at the opening of hearings on Tuesday.
“We refuse absolutely, firmly and categorically that someone be forbidden from wearing something that he considers part of his faith and of his identity … to have access to a job,” she said. “Choosing between the expression of one’s identity and one’s job is a horrible choice.”
A union boss testified, however, it’s a step in the right direction, even if it means people lose their jobs.
A retired history teacher originally from Lebanon, was also in favor, Al Jazeera America reported, saying Quebec is suffering from a “malaise” from its struggle to accommodate an influx of religious minorities.
