The unthinkable

I am going to do something that is normally unthinkable for me:  I am going to applaud the leader of Ontario's Conservative Party.  Doug Ford is a dangerous idiot with too much power, but today he did the right thing.

The Ontario Conservative Party passed a motion at their annual meeting to debate removing all references to gender identity from Ontario's sex education curriculum.  It is sad that this passed at all, but not surprising - the Conservative Party is the de facto home for all of the best types of bigotry.  They didn't just want to control how the subject is addressed, they wanted it completely banned. 

You know you are doing it wrong when you decide that the thing to do is use the law to prevent children from learning about how some people feel.  It is right up there with "we are going to burn all of the books" on the list of things you should be worried about advocating.

But our premier decided to quash that completely and made it clear he will do anything he can to prevent this even being debated, much less implemented.  Good! 

He isn't doing this because he is a decent person, obviously.  It is a calculated move to keep the rabid bigot base of the Conservatives from blowing up his chances at reelection.  He knows that most people are largely against these sorts of things, and that he will be correctly painted as an intolerant asshole in the next election.  Adding ammunition to those charges is not a thing he wants.  He needs to be just enough of a bigot to please his base, but not so much that he pisses off the middle ground who are willing to put up with *some* evil, but not *too much* evil.

You have to sneak these sorts of things in under the guise of helping, by carefully making up nonsense about how the old curriculum wasn't giving parents 'choice'.  This resolution was too obviously bigotry, and the public won't stand for that.  They insist on their oppression being wily and stealthily coming in the side window.  Knocking on the front door and saying 'Delivery of evil for Ontario' won't fly.

So yeah, Doug Ford did something right for all the wrong reasons.  Yay!