October 30, 2012

The Peak gets murdered at SFU

Four of the editors of The Peak, Simon Fraser University's paper, have been gruesomely murdered within the halls of the university they loved so dearly. All that remains is a video recording that leaves us with more questions than we began with. They died in the lines of journalistic duty, and for that, we salute them.


The Ubyssey rejects an advertisement from the Salvation Army

There is no gay sex or any abortions happening inside of that trailer. (Photo courtesy of tojosan/Flickr)

Last week, The Ubyssey, the student newspaper at the University of British Columbia, declined to run an ad from the Salvation Army, both because of the content of the ad (weirdly anti-abortion) and also because of the Salvation Army's publicly homophobic stands. Here's what they had to say about it.
After considerable staff discussion and a vote by the editorial board, The Ubyssey has opted to decline to run an advertisement from the Salvation Army, slated for the Oct. 25 print edition.

The editorial board had grave concerns about both the content and source of the advertisement and thus cannot, in good conscience, accept it for publication.

In a unanimous vote, the editorial board decided that we are uncomfortable running an ad from an organization like the Salvation Army. In the past 10 years, branches of the Salvation Army have petitioned all levels of government for policies that deny equal rights to LGBTQ people. In 2004, the Salvation Army threatened to leave New York City entirely because of an ordinance that required groups with contracts from the city to “offer benefits to gay employees’ partners,” according to the New York Times. Their current position statement on homosexuality “calls for chastity outside of heterosexual marriage.” While the Canadian branch has been less vocal on this front, we believe the organization as a whole ultimately dehumanizes a group of people on the basis of their sexuality.
The rest after the jump.