Beauty Queen Rejected as Pageant Judge - for being Wiccan

[lightningandsnow]

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/297985

http://torontosun.com/News/OtherNews/2008/01/27/4796226-sun.html

This absolutely disgusts me. I don't have traditonal religious beliefs (I was raised Jewish, and I'm Celtic Pagan/Buddhist/Unitarian, and I've been lucky enough to not experience a great amount of discrimination because of it - although one of my classmates once told me that he doesn't consider paganism to be a real religion.

This kind of treatment is totally unacceptable. And this pageant is supposed to promote multiculturalism?

Shame on the pageant organizers.

Edit: oh yeah, and you also have to be "born female"

How nice for a pageant promoting diversity and tolerance. No pagans or trans women allowed. :sarcasm:

:puke:

[Hepburn]

1. Hey, my asshole neighbors think that I worship the devil....

...cuz I am basically the same background as you. One of the bitches that lives next door to me put up Catholic crosses pointed at my home cuz she found out that I am into nature and spirits...so with her limited brain power, she assumes that means I worship the devil.

Wicca to outsiders = devil worshipers.

GMAFB!

[Captain Hilts]

2. That's "Toronto the Good" for you... Puritans. nt

[lightningandsnow]

5. I kind of agree, sadly.

I live here, and there still is a huge amount of bigotry going around, even if we promote ourselves as being all liberal and "We love everyone!"

[Captain Hilts]

6. I lived in Tee Oh for four years at UofT. I go back regularly. I couldn't get over...

all the Sunday closings, high liquor prices, etc. when I first got there - mid 80s. It was like being in Virginia, NOT in a good way.

[baldguy]

3. Is it the knitting thats on the "dark side or the occult"?

But then I haven't heard her sing.

[lightningandsnow]

12. Yes! Knitting is eviiiilllll!!!

[AlienGirl]

4. "Diversity and tolerance, except for those scary people over there..."

:puke:

[Danieljay]

7. This is about pleasing the sponsors... none other of one is which... you guessed it..CURVES

Founder of Curves, and I quote "The 700 Club was a great resource for me. One of the things The 700 Club taught me was the difference between relationship and religion. God designed us to be in relationship with Him. I began to read His Word and spend time seeking that relationship that He had for me"

"One of the great resources that I drew upon in those early years was Pat’s (Robertsons) book The Secret Kingdom. Even today I talk about those biblical principles that I had placed as the foundation of my business and can attribute those principles as the key to our success. One of those principles is the law of integrity. What does that mean? You tell people the truth. And the law of unity, you can’t have unity without integrity, but if people can count on what you say, they can believe in you and you can work together. Today we have over 5,000 franchises. Together we are meeting the needs of over 2 million women. That’s the power of unity."

[lightningandsnow]

10. Holy crap!

I did not know that about curves.

[Echo In Light]

8. Cults are only popular and accepted after enough believers and $ are involved

[RC]

9. They want someone 'down to earth', yet they will except someone

who hears and answers voices in their head without question.

[ProgressiveFool]

11. I can't make up my mind on this one without pictures /nt

[PDJane]

13. I live in Toronto.

Yes, there is some intolerance here; which is bizarre, since 50% of Torontonians were born outside the country. I have not, however, in all my years of living here, heard as much of that "Christian" and "god-fearing" stuff as I have in the past two years. I kept hoping that particular contagion would stay down there, but it appears not.

However, these folks are still a minority, as far as I can tell; we do have a fair bit of difficulty with the immigrant population too, in the sense of everyone getting along. We have had, not that long ago, another "honour killing", for instance. The unrepentant father and brother are currently jailed, I think. We have had the usual problems with those unwilling to assimilate, usually males (they have the most to lose), and we do have problems with language training, gaining Canadian experience and certifying professionals from other countries.

This, however, is a first. I have never heard of wiccans referred to as "devil worshippers" and the "dark side" is all between these folks' ears. We don't usually get the fuss over books until the US starts raising a fuss, either...there has been one person who wanted The Golden Compass removed from the school library.

If this continues, I may end up trying to find someplace where I can become a hermit.

[lightningandsnow]

14. I remember a few years back,

My junior high school had a moral panic that the kids were becoming "satanists", because of people *gasp* drawing pentagrams. Anyone was totally banned from drawing or wearing any kind of pentagram, and whenever a student asked "Why?", the teachers explained that is was a satanistic symbol and promoted evil.

I tried explaining to them that it was the pagan symbol of the five elements; they were kind of like "Shut up, you're 12."

[PDJane]

15. I'm grateful my son went to downtown schools....

and the alternate school system. He was taking a course in comparative religions at eleven, so I guess I've just not come in contact with it.....thankfully.

I have come in contact with a whole host of interesting and unusual people, but the uber-religious tend to avoid the places I hang out, I guess.