Canadian Televangelist: They Canceled My Show Because I'm Anti-Gay

Canadian televangelist Pastor Charles McVety is crying censorship after a Christian network canceled his show for "disparaging remarks" he made about gay people. A government broadcasting agency had warned the network that McVety was violating their code of ethical standards.

The tension between the reverend and the Christian broadcaster began in December, when the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, an industry watchdog, said CTS violated national broadcasting codes when McVety made "disparaging" on-air remarks about homosexuals. A station spokeswoman, meanwhile, denied the cancellation of Word TV was a consequence of bowing to political pressure. Rather, it was based on the show's "lack of compliance with the CTS code of ethics," Carolyn Innis said. In December's ruling, the council said McVety's description of Toronto's gay pride parade as a "sex parade," as well as his characterization of gay events as "malevolent, insidious and conspiratorial," were in breach of the standards. McVety said he was also scorned for saying the new Ontario sexual education curriculum could turn some school kids into homosexuals.

The Christian network says it repeatedly asked McVety to comply with requests to tone down his rhetoric, but he refused. It will be interesting to see how this plays with the American anti-gay right, who are always pointing to Canada as harbingers of the chilling of free speech here.