Close X
Saturday, November 2, 2024
ADVT 
National

NDP Candidate Harbaljit Singh Kahlon Apologizes For Former Views On Gay Marriage, Homosexuality

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Oct, 2015 12:01 PM
    An NDP candidate who once told a TV program same-sex marriage could lead to polygamy and public nudity, is offering an apology and says he no longer holds those views.
     
    Harbaljit Singh Kahlon also said during the 2005 OMNI TV show that there is no research that gays are born homosexual.
     
     
    "I do not hold these views and apologize unreservedly for making these comments in 2005," Singh Kahlon said in a statement.
     
    "I want to reaffirm my commitment to protecting human rights for all people in all circumstances without exception."
     
    Singh Kahlon is one of the party's top candidates in the Greater Toronto Area, running in the hotly contested riding of Brampton East. He was the campaign chair to MPP Jagmeet Singh, deputy leader of the provincial NDP.
     
    On Tuesday, in nearby Mississauga-Malton, Jagdish Grewal was dropped as the official candidate for the Conservative Party for comments he made about conversion therapy for gay youth.
     
     
    Grewal stood by his position that parents of gays should have the "right to bring them back to their straight life," and has said he will continue to run.
     
    Singh Kahlon appeared on the Punjabi-Canadian television show Chardi Kalaa in 2005 which was discussing same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage was made legal in Canada that year.
     
    "If we change for them, what are we going to be doing tomorrow? Are we going to be accepting people actively living in the nude?" Singh Kahlon said in English. He was identified as being with York University, where he was a business student.
     
    "There are other issues that would be classified as scaremongering, but these are obviously real issues that also come along with human rights," he added, using his hands to indicate quotation marks around the phrase human rights.
     
    Another student, identified as Jasdeep Walia, debated Kahlon and argued that Sikhism promoted tolerance of all people.
     
     
    "I think there's no research that says gays are born gay; it's a choice they make upon lust," Singh Kahlon said.
     
    NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told reporters Wednesday he has accepted Singh Kahlon's apology.
     
    "That candidate has apologized unreservedly for those comments and has evolved in his thinking and says it no longer reflects in any way his thinking," Mulcair said.
     
    Last month, the party said it was standing behind its candidate in Scarborough-Rouge Park, Rev. KM Shanthikumar, who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.
     
     
    Shanthikumar said he stands by the NDP line on the issues, while keeping personal views.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Richmond Woman Sexually Assaulted By Man Pretending To Be Massage Therapy Student At Kwantlen

    Richmond Woman Sexually Assaulted By Man Pretending To Be Massage Therapy Student At Kwantlen
    RCMP say the man allegedly approached a 19-year-old woman at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and said he was doing a survey.

    Richmond Woman Sexually Assaulted By Man Pretending To Be Massage Therapy Student At Kwantlen

    Kimberly Mack, First Nations Woman Alleges Illegal Search, Says Police Threatened To Seize Her Child

    Kimberly Mack, First Nations Woman Alleges Illegal Search, Says Police Threatened To Seize Her Child
    Kimberly Mack will appear in provincial court in Bella Coola Thursday asking to be compensated $15,000 for what she alleges was an illegal search that failed to turn up any drugs.

    Kimberly Mack, First Nations Woman Alleges Illegal Search, Says Police Threatened To Seize Her Child

    Urban Deer Problems To Be Addressed By New Committee, Provincial Cash

    Urban Deer Problems To Be Addressed By New Committee, Provincial Cash
    The Ministry of Forests says the province is committed to creating a Provincial Urban Deer Advisory Committee and providing up to $100,000 for future urban deer management projects.

    Urban Deer Problems To Be Addressed By New Committee, Provincial Cash

    Verdict Delayed For Speedboat Operator Accused In Shuswap Lake Death

    Verdict Delayed For Speedboat Operator Accused In Shuswap Lake Death
    Leon Reinbrecht is charged with criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in the July 2010 crash on Shuswap Lake that claimed the life of Ken Brown.

    Verdict Delayed For Speedboat Operator Accused In Shuswap Lake Death

    Police Watchdog Probes Officer-Involved Death Of Man In B.C.'s Fraser Valley

    RCMP say British Columbia's police watchdog has been called to investigate the death of a man who apparently injured himself with a knife.

    Police Watchdog Probes Officer-Involved Death Of Man In B.C.'s Fraser Valley

    Municipalities Vote To Call On B.C. To Eliminate Local Auditor General Position

    Municipalities Vote To Call On B.C. To Eliminate Local Auditor General Position
    VANCOUVER — Municipal leaders in British Columbia have voted to call on the province to scrap a controversial office that audits local governments.

    Municipalities Vote To Call On B.C. To Eliminate Local Auditor General Position