York Regional Police (YRP) inspectors have wrapped up an internal investigation of their in-house rabbi, launched in response to a complaint about a "very homophobic" sermon.
The "letter of concern" was filed by Kulanu Toronto, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews, against Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, the Jewish chaplain for YRP.
Gee, Insp. Ricky, could it be that you're only in a position to judge what's hateful when the so-called hate is aimed at Muslims and not at the LGBT'd? And would it be, um, hateful of me to point out that your position--that homophobia is okay as long as it's framed in a religious context--is completely in synch with the sharia P.O.V.?In his sermon, given just before Toronto Pride 2010, Kaplan instructed his followers to not support Kulanu or the Pride parade, referring to gays as "an abomination," says Justine Apple, executive director of Kulanu.
The police conclusion suggests that homophobia is okay so long as it's framed within the context of religious scripture.
“After reviewing his case it was concluded that his statements were technically a correct interpretation of religious scripture because they were put in context of a religious text. So his words had clout and were deemed not homophobic, and his comments were not viewed as hateful,” Apple says.
Ricky Veerappan, an inspector in the diversity and cultural research bureau of YRP, says police could not substantiate the allegations of hate rhetoric.
“We looked at it from a purely religious perspective,” he says. “Experts agreed that the content was technically correct. I’m in no position to judge if that’s hateful.”
Update: Re the above, Mark Steyn observes:
When a Muslim diversity cop investigates you for “Islamophobia,” it’s unlikely to end well. But, when a Muslim diversity cop investigates you for “homophobia”, your odds are somewhat improved.Update: BCF has unearthed another instance of Ricky's tricky double standards.
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