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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

New museum head under fire

Murray's stand on gay rights raises concerns

By: Carolin Vesely and Carol Sanders

Posted: 09/19/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Stuart Murray (MIKE.DEAL@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Stuart Murray's appointment as head of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is coming under fire because he voted against gay rights when he was leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party.

"We must let our voices be heard loud and clear that homophobia cannot be tolerated anywhere, least of all in a national museum on human rights," ex-Winnipegger Daniel Voth wrote in an email blitz to gay people and their heterosexual allies across the country.

In 2002, Murray voted against an NDP bill extending adoption and other rights to gays and lesbians. In an interview after his appointment as human-rights museum boss this week, Murray said he was just following the wishes of his caucus during the vote seven years ago.

Voth's email blitz encourages people who agree with him to write to Murray, Friends of the Museum, the Asper family, MPs, the minister of Canadian heritage and Manitoba NDP leadership candidates to express their concern.

Voth told the Free Press he started the email blitz as "more of a call-to-action" to some (70 or 80) of his friends and was surprised at how quickly it developed.

His intention is to "start a proper public debate" about the museum appointment.

"It's apparent the federal government hasn't put a whole lot of thought into this," he said.

In recent media appearances, he said, Murray came across as "woefully uninformed" about the larger scope of human rights, specifically when he said people have differing opinions when it comes to gay rights.

Activist Jonny Sopotiuk said Murray didn't seem to understand that gay rights are law.

"The way I read those statements was that human rights for members of the gay community were up for debate," he said.

"The Canadian courts have said they're not," Sopotiuk said.

When the museum opens in 2012, it will reflect that, its board says.

Murray could not be reached for comment Friday but in a statement issued Thursday he said, "I have always been open to opportunities to have conversations to foster my own understanding of human rights (about) the challenges, the triumphs, the common links between seemingly diverse situations and people. I welcome the opportunity to meet with representatives from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community to a meeting at their earliest convenience to introduce myself to them and to hear directly about their concerns," he said.

"I commit that sexual orientation will be an important theme to be explored within the museum and will work to further develop the rich partnerships with human rights organizations and LGBT representative organizations, already begun by the museum team, to ensure that the community is involved, engaged and heard."

"Sexual orientation is definitely going to be an important theme of the museum," said museum board spokeswoman Angela Cassie.

Cassie said the federal government got to choose the first CEO for the museum, and the board welcomed the appointment of Murray because of his business background and leadership experience, she said.

When asked if the board was concerned about the controversy affecting support for the museum, Cassie said, "People can be confident we're going to be an inclusive organization."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca

The Free Press' Mary Agnes Welch asks Stuart Murray about a 2002 vote in which he opposed an NDP bill extending adoption rights to gays and lesbians:

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 19, 2009 B1

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