Last week’s letter by Lyle Carbert received a lot of attention from readers. Many of those comments expressed disgust over the opinion and some went so far as to suggest people boycott the newspaper.
First, we would like to clarify a few points. Carbert is not an employee of this newspaper as some have suggested. The submission was a letter to the editor from a private citizen. The letter also in no way reflects the opinion of this newspaper. In fact, we have published our own opinions in support of the LGBTQ community.
While we do not agree with the opinion expressed by Carbert, we also try not censor opinions nor stifle debate on topical issues. We also made an effort to gear the letter more toward criticizing the newspaper and not the students, unfortunately there was only so much that could be done on that front.
One of the functions and indeed responsibilities of a newspaper is to foster discussion and promote debate on sensitive issues. We have done extensive reporting on both sides of the debate regarding the new LGBTQ guidelines implemented at Cochrane schools. Letters and opinion pieces aside, the news coverage demonstrates that there is still much debate regarding people’s understanding of the LGBTQ community and indeed their acceptance of people who identify as and support that demographic.
Unfortunately, the opinion the letter expressed is not unique, though we are lucky in Canada that it is less prevalent than in other countries. We only have to look across the border to the south to see the divisiveness that the human rights movement in regards to the LGBTQ community creates.
A man in Texas was recently caught following a woman into a women’s bathroom because he thought she was a man – a response to the growing outrage over transgender bathrooms in the US.
There are two sides to awareness. The first is education, something the Eagle tried to foster by giving the students from Cochrane High a voice in the newspaper to discuss why the new LGBTQ guidelines are important. Their candid responses showed the challenges they face on a daily basis.
The second is exposing ideologies that many find distasteful – such as Carbert’s letter. It can be argued that showing that those types of opinions still exists fuels the need for more awareness and education. Sweeping them under the rug doesn’t make them magically disappear; it merely gives them a place to hide. There is also the argument that Carbert’s opinion defends the religious beliefs of some and freedom of religion is still a right afforded to everyone in this country. Perhaps one day the rift between some religious beliefs and acceptance of the LGBTQ community will be closed, but that is unlikely if people fear talking about it.
Only through debate and discussion can ideas progress and evolve and while the newspaper opened itself up to some backlash, we see the level of debate that occurred regarding this letter as a positive. Some posts on the Cochrane Rants and Raves Facebook page suggested there were those who left the discussion with a greater understanding. Would they have gained that understanding without the aforementioned discussion? It is hard to say, but possibly no.
Here at the Eagle we care about one thing, balance. We hope that our readers do not want a publication that will be bullied into pandering to one side of an issue or another. We believe that is the best way to ensure the information we report can be trusted as unbiased. To that end, we give all letters the same weight and consideration.
Too often we let emotions cloud intelligent debate and the result is the ever-growing polarity we see in our society.
