Gay Today: World

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council Accuses Dr. Laura

By Rex Wockner
International News Report

Canada's broadcast watchdog agency blasted U.S. radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger May 10, saying her homophobic statements could ignite anti-gay violence.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) denounced Schlessinger for calling gays "abnormal," "aberrant," "deviant," "disordered," "dysfunctional" and "an error".

"[She] is abusively discriminatory and in breach of [Canada's broadcasting] code," the council said. "[She] may well fertilize the ground for other less well-balanced elements [in society] to take such aggressive steps [as] homophobic hostility or, worse, brutality."

The agency called Schlessinger's anti-gay positions "fatuous and unsustainable."

"The sexual practices of gays and lesbians are as much a part of their being as the color of one's skin or the gender, religion, age or ethnicity of an individual," the council said. "To use such brutal language as she does about such an essential characteristic flies in the face of Canadian provisions relating to human rights."

The ruling requires radio stations to cease broadcasting any comments by Schlessinger that breach the broadcasting code, CBSC head Ron Cohen said.

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Other programs that have faced crackdowns include the Howard Stern Show (which is now broadcast with a time delay to allow deletions), the Jerry Springer Show (also time-delayed) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which was banned in Canada due to excessive violence.