The Toronto Sun will not apologize for running an ad in its Oct 2 edition that activists have called transphobic.
The ad, from the Institute for Canadian Values, is a slightly modified version of a full-page ad that ran in the National Post on Sept 24 and Sept 28. Following a social media outcry, the National Post issued an apology and stated that the proceeds from the ad sale would be donated to a queer charitable organization.
Under a picture of a young girl, the ad reads, “Please! Don’t confuse me. I’m a girl. Don’t teach me to question if I’m a boy, transsexual, transgendered, intersexed, or two spirited [sic].”
The ad calls on the leaders of the three major Ontario parties competing in the Oct 6 election to “please tell me you will stop teachers from confusing me.”
Sun publisher Mike Power says that the newspaper has received “a few” complaints about the ad and that he is aware of the outcry the ad has generated online.
“We feel that they’ve made their point and we’ve chosen not to run it again,” Power says.
He declined to explain why the Sun has chosen not to run the ad again but did say that the paper will not be issuing any apology or statement on the matter.
The final week of the Ontario election campaign has featured Progressive Conservative flyer and mail-out campaigns with similar erroneous and misleading statements in several Greater Toronto Area ridings.
The Liberals claim that a PC candidate in Willowdale, Vince Agovino, included the ICV ad in a mail-out he sent to homes in Willowdale.
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