Dear Editor,
I read with interest the many letters and opinions on the topic of the LGBTQ policy approved by Richmond’s Board of Education. I will say at the outset that I have no problem with the policy, even though, initially, I wondered why it was necessary, since gender identity and expression are now included in the B.C. Human Rights code.
What piqued my interest, however, was the use of the word “progressive” by many letter writers.
It is a word attached to political, social and economic discourse and is portrayed as something inherently good and desirable…in a sense, sacrosanct.
“Progressive society,” “progressive policies,” “progressive views,” “progressive school district,” “we would progress even faster”… were all found in some of these letters.
The word progressive in the political sense means change, improvement or social reform. Taken at face value, who can argue with progress? It is when we start to question what kind of change or social reform or improvement and for whose benefit, to what end and at what cost, that we run into cultural, religious and moral disparity.
For example, some would consider killing (abortion and doctor assisted suicide) as regressive rather than progressive from a societal moral perspective.
In our plural society, the word tolerance also has its limits and constraints.
There are those who do not accept the “antiquated mentality of the past” of some groups with opinions and values that differ with the progressive ideology.
Others consider and judge someone’s opinion (writing structure aside) as “absurd and laughable” and clearly have no respect or tolerance for Christian values. There are those who do not respect opinions contrary to the cult of “progress” and the liberal secular ideology.
Social reform can extend into social engineering and political correctness and diversity into identity politics and so on.
Words are not absolute and giving them a “favourable resonance” can occlude much that is important.
N McDonald
Richmond
