For the first time, the leader of Alberta’s Wildrose party, Danielle Smith, has spoken out against homophobic comments made by a former Wildrose candidate.
In a 2011 blog post, pastor Allan Hunsperger wrote that being gay is a choice, public schools were immoral for protecting gay pupils, and all queers would burn in a lake of fire.
“We have a lot of people [in Alberta] with fairly conservative values who should be allowed to practise their religion,” Smith said during an interview on the queer women’s podcast called I Dig Your Girlfriend.
“If you want to seek public life, if you want to be a politician, you have to decide what hat you are going to wear. You have to decide that if you are going to be a public official that you will do so in a way that allows you to represent every single one of your constituents.”
While Smith’s stance should be applauded, are these the words of a queer ally or simply someone trying to sway queer voters?
Listen to Smith’s full interview on I Dig Your Girlfriend — where she also discusses her province’s stance on funding gender reassignment surgery, same-sex marriage and abortion — below and decide for yourself.
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