（注：此信是受人之托为有关组织起草的，但由于种种原因未能递交，现发表在此，聊作留念。2006年1月2日）
尊敬的《星星生活》编辑，
我们是来自“多伦多XX俱乐部”，“全加XXXX会多伦多分会”等几个组织团体的加拿大华人。贵报在7月1日（第196期）刊登了红蚂蚁的文章《彩虹还是乌云？——质疑同性恋婚姻合法化》。此文用诋毁之辞在华人社区散布对同性恋者的仇恨，造成了非常恶劣的影响，我们对此感到极为愤慨，在此郑重要求贵刊及作者道歉。
同性恋及同性婚姻是最近两三年主流英文媒体报道和争论的热门话题，但一直以来，大部分中文报刊对此都保持沉默。当我们第一眼看到此文时，尽管预料到这是一篇反对同性婚姻的文章，我们仍然为中文媒体终于打破沉默而感到高兴。但是我们万万没想到的是：作者红蚂蚁出于无知，偏见和无端的仇视，在此文中充斥了大量对同性恋者的歧视和诋毁之辞。以下是对原文词句的引用：
1) 称同性恋为“不正常的畸恋”，“一种变态的爱情”，“一种危险的爱情”；
2) 称同性恋为“腐朽的生活享乐方式”；
3) 称同性恋“违反人类社会公德和大多数国家的法律”；
4) 把艾滋病的泛滥归咎于同性恋者的所谓“恣意放纵”；
5) 把同性恋等同于艾滋病，声称其“不良影响”“是对人的生命和尊严的挑战”；
6) 称同性关系为“苟合”，“由此而产生的所谓婚姻必然是畸形和荒唐的”；
7) 称“同性婚姻对自由和民主构成危害”；
8) 把同性婚姻比喻为社会的“癌症”；
9) 称同性婚姻“腐蚀和损害正常的社会秩序，有碍社会的稳定与进步”。
任何有判断力的读者，都能从这些词句中辨别出：该文的真实意图不是讨论同性婚姻的合理性问题，而是在用主观臆测和狭隘偏见丑化同性恋的形象，用“危险”，“变态”，“腐朽”，“癌症”等恶毒词语煽动对同性恋者的仇恨情绪。加拿大是一个言论和新闻自由的国家，但这不等于任何个人或媒体可以信口雌黄。根据加拿大《刑法》（Criminal Code）第八章《对个人和名誉的侵犯》（OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON AND REPUTATION）中对“诋毁言论”（Defamatory Libel）和“仇恨宣传”（Hate Propaganda）的定义，像该文这样对特定群体进行的恶毒攻击的行为不但不受法律的保护，而且要受法律的惩罚。去年二月份通过的C-250法案更是在原有的“肤色，人种，信仰，民族”等群体划分的基础上增加了“性倾向”一项。这意味着从此以后，针对同性恋者的仇恨宣传也是不折不扣的违法犯罪行为。
红蚂蚁作为加拿大少数族裔的一员，一方面是这个国家开放包容的“多元文化”政策的受益者，同时也是那些残存的狭隘偏见和种族仇恨的受害者。中国有句谚语：“己所不欲，勿施与人”，遗憾的是，对于另一个弱势群体，红蚂蚁所表现出的歧视和偏见真是比种族主义者有过之而无不及。而对法律的无知则使他此次文责难逃。
而作为一个正式发行的，在华人社区颇具影响力的报刊，我们本以为贵报应该明白作为一个公众媒体对社会的责任。再加上最近以来，《星星生活》对同志议题有相当的关注，所以我们一直对贵报持基本正面的评价。但这一次，贵刊的行为让我们非常失望继而出离愤怒。不论发表此文是因为审稿把关不严或者报社自身的恐同偏见，它造成的实际后果都是诋毁同性恋和宣扬仇恨情绪。这个性质并不会因为发表了奕尘的反驳文章《愿天下有情人都成眷属- ---驳“同性婚姻乌云论” 》（7月8日的第197期）而有任何改变。因为这不是一场一般的摆事实讲道理的正常争论，而是一个其中一方明显违法的新闻事件。正常的争论可以启发读者在双方论据的基础上独立思考，而危言耸听和逻辑混乱的红蚂蚁文章只能误导广大读者。更为严重的是，此文对同性恋社区造成了极大伤害，在华人社区里挑拨了恐同情绪，而这些都不是一两篇反驳文章可以弥补和抵销的。
因此，我们在此对该文的作者红蚂蚁和出版者《星星生活》提出强烈的抗议，并郑重提出如下要求：
1) 在收到此信的两周之内在《星星生活》同一期的头三版内下列三封信，每封信不得小于半个版面：
a) 此抗议信（包括附注）；
b) 《星星生活》报社的书面道歉信；
c) 作者红蚂蚁的书面道歉信；
2) 在收到此信的两周之内在《星星生活》网站首页发表以上三封信，并且保持两周以上。
虽然我们目前暂时不会诉诸法律。但是如果我们的合理要求没有得到满意答复的话，我们保留随时运用法律手段的权力。
最后需要说明的是，这次抗议不等于我们害怕关于同性恋的争论文章。正好相反，我们深知：没有声音比反对的声音更可怕，所以，只要是有理有据有节的，我们不但不反对，而且还非常欢迎。我们相信，在这个崇尚多元，尊重人权的社会体制下，任何有主见的华人都会摒弃偏见，用理性的思维和开放的态度去判断自己不熟悉不了解的人和事。
我们抗议的最终目的并不是为了惩罚谁，而是要纠正该文所描绘的同性恋的负面形象，并让华人社区听到我们的声音。反歧视反仇恨是一项长期艰巨的过程，华人媒体肩负重大责任。今天我们华人同志群体站出来，要求作者和报社对自己的错误言论做一个道歉，更多的是为了反对一切形式的歧视和仇恨，更多的是为了一个公正和谐的社会。
我们静候您的答复，谢谢！
多伦多XX俱乐部
全加XXXX会多伦多分会
2005年8月1日
附注：
《刑法》（Criminal Code）中关于“诋毁言论”（Defamatory Libel）和“仇恨宣传”（Hate Propaganda）的章节参见：
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/42801.html
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/42972.html
____________________________________________________________
Dear editor of New Star Times,
RE: Author Red Ant's article in issue 196, July 1, 2005
We are a group of Chinese Canadians from the organizations of Toronto Tongzhi Club, Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, and Asian Canadian for Equal Marriage. We are writing this letter to express our disappointment and outrage with Red Ant's article "Rainbow or dark clouds? -- Questioning the legalization of same-sex marriage" published on Issue 196, July 1, 2005. In this article, the author used malicious words to defame gay/lesbian people and spread hatred against them in the Chinese community. We demand an apology from your newspaper and the author.
Gay/lesbian and same-sex marriage have been a popular topic for mainstream English media in the recent years, but the Chinese media have remained silent about it. Therefore, when we first saw Red Ant's article, knowing it was against same-sex marriage, we were initially excited about breaking ground in opening discussion on this topic. But, this article is in no way what we expected or could have imagined, and for example, we would like to address the following quotes:
1) It calls homosexuality "abnormal", "perverted", and "dangerous";
2) It labels homosexuality as "decadent and indulgent lifestyle";
3) It states homosexuality violates the social morals of human being and laws of most countries;
4) It accuses homosexuality for causing the wide spread of AIDS/HIV;
5) It implies homosexuality equals AIDS/HIV and it will "challenge the life and dignity of human being";
6) It degrades a same-sex relation as "Gou He" (a derogatory Chinese word meaning furtive and illicit sexual relationship) and claims "same sex marriage must be abnormal and ridiculous".
7) It predicts same-sex marriage would "jeopardize freedom and democracy"
8) It calls same-sex marriage as "cancer of society";
9) It claims same-sex marriage would "corrupt the normal social order and obstruct social stability and advancement".
From those malevolent words one can easily tell the real intention of this article. It is not to debate same-sex marriage, but to spread homophobia and hatred against gay and lesbian people. We all know Canada allows freedom of speech, but it does not mean there are no boundaries. According to the explanation of "Defamatory Libel" and "Hate Propaganda" in Criminal Code of Canada, "A defamatory libel is matter published, without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure the reputation of any person by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or that is designed to insult the person of or concerning whom it is published"; and "every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, willfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group" is guilty of "Public incitement of hatred". Furthermore, BILL C-250, which was passed in February 2004, expanded the definition of "identifiable group" by including "sexual orientation" in addition to "color, race, religion, or ethnic origin". It means hate propaganda against gay/lesbian people has been explicitly defined as a crime since then.
As a member of a visual minority in Canada, Red Ant is afforded the benefit of this country's multiculturalism policy. At the same time, however, he is not immune from prejudice, stereotype and racial hatred from individuals. There is a saying from ancient China: "Do not treat others the way you do not want be treated". If Red Ant himself wants to be treated equally, he should learn to respect other minority groups as well. Homophobia and racism are the same in nature, and no one has the right to pick and choose which groups are to be discriminated against.
As a publicly distributed and well-known Chinese newspaper, New Star Times should know the responsibility of public media. Actually, we used to have a positive opinion about this newspaper because it had some acceptable coverage of gay/lesbian events like Pride Parade. This time, although we will give your newspaper the benefit of the doubt that this article was published as a result of poor editing instead of an underlying homophobic agenda, either way, it is unacceptable as it promotes libel and hatred, and we are truly disappointed and outraged. Although we are glad to see Yichen's counter argument article published in your paper (issue 197, July 8, 2005), the printing of Red Ant's article already had its ill effect within the Chinese community that can be long lasting and can not be "balanced" and cancelled by one or two correcting article(s).
Given our deep concern about this issue, we demand New Star Times:
1) to publish this letter (including "Additional information"), an apology letter from your newspaper, and an separate apology letter from Red Ant within first 3-pages of a same issue of "New Star Times" no later than 2 weeks after receiving this letter, each letter not smaller than a half page; and
2) to publish the three letters above on the homepage of www.newstarnet.com and keep them posted for at least 2 weeks.
Although we are not planning to take any legal action for the time being, we reserve the right to use legal weapon to protect social justice if we do not receive any satisfactory responses.
We want the public and the media to know that this letter does not mean we are afraid of different opinions about same-sex marriage. On the contrary, we believe silence and complacency is nearly, if not as bad as the voice of hatred itself. We welcome all kinds of discussion, as long as the discussion is based on facts, logic, and press ethics, and believe strongly in and proudly support Canada's hard-earned human rights legislation where diversity is respected. It was not that long ago when Chinese immigrants were gravely discriminated against in Canada during the construction of the Canadian railroad. Many immigrants of Chinese decent were tragically worked to death because no human rights legislation was yet in place to ensure their protection. We believe Chinese people living in this society are by and large proud of Canada’s human rights and they are able to make their own judgment about unfamiliar or new things with a rational, intelligent, and open-minded attitude. Thus your paper should not assume that Chinese people living in Canada can automatically be fed the hatred of Red Ants homophobic rant without consequence. Your paper serving the Chinese community in Canada’s most diverse city has a responsibility to promote human rights to best serve this educated group, and ensure a responsible and intelligent discourse.
The ultimate goal of this letter is not to punish anybody, but to correct the negative image of gays/lesbians Red Ant painted, and to let our voice to be heard by Chinese people in Toronto. Anti-hatred and Anti-discrimination is a long journey and Chinese media has their own share of responsibility. In the big picture, our letter is to stop any kind of hatred and discrimination and to promote a society where everybody can live with equality, fairness and harmony.
Sincerely,
Toronto ** Club
**** Council Toronto Chapter
Additional information:
For details about "defamatory libel" and "hate propaganda" in Criminal Code, please visit:
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/42801.html
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/42972.html
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