Anti-Gay Islamic Scholar Shouldn't be Welcome in Calgary

My Calgary Herald column from last week looks at the invitation extended to the controversial Dr. Bilal Philips from the Muslim Council of Calgary:

Alison Redford has already made history as Alberta’s first female premier, and later this week, she will make history once again.
On Saturday, Redford will become the first Alberta premier to appear at the Edmonton Gay Pride Parade. She is set to make the opening statements at the celebration directly following the parade.
Colleen Sutherland, co-chair of the Edmonton Pride Festival Society, describes Redford’s appearance as “quite significant.”
With regard to anti-gay comments by Wildrose Party candidate Allan Hunsperger, which surfaced during the recent provincial election, Sutherland says Redford’s appearance takes a stand against such sentiments.
Hunsperger, of course, wrote on his website about homosexuals spending eternity in a “lake of fire.”
Clearly, such views were highly disturbing to a great many Albertans, and no doubt badly damaged the prospects of the Wildrose Party.
As ugly as Hunsperger’s comments were, later this month a Calgary audience will hear from a man who believes homosexuality is worthy of the most severe of penalties: execution.
Dr. Bilal Philips is a Jamaican-born, Canadian-raised convert to Islam who now resides in Qatar. He is billed as a leading Islamic scholar, and is read and watched by Muslims around the world.
Philips is the main speaker at an event organized by the Muslim Council of Calgary called The Power of Unity Conference, which is billed as a “celebration of Islam in a Multi-Cultural Canada.”
For as much as eternal damnation for gays seems to be the extent of Hunsperger’s views, for Philips, that’s the least of it.
Philips describes homosexuality as “evil and dangerous,” and believes that AIDS represents divine punishment for gays.
But Philips is not content to leave the punishment of gays to the afterlife. He is firmly of the belief that the Qur’an mandates the death penalty for practising homosexuals (not lesbians, mind you — their punishment is “only” lashes).
It’s a belief that got Philips expelled from Germany last year, but the folks at the Muslim Council of Calgary have no such qualms.
This is no fringe organization, either. The council describes itself as the “main umbrella” and the “official representatives” of Sunni Muslims in Calgary.
That’s not to suggest that the council speaks for every single Muslim in the city; quite the opposite, I’m sure.
That was clear last September when Calgary’s first Muslim mayor, Naheed Nenshi, became the first mayor to lead the city’s annual gay pride parade.
No one for a moment would suggest that Nenshi is in anyway sympathetic to the views of Philips, so should he be expected to condemn Philips’ appearance in Calgary? I think it would send a strong message.
Keep in mind, though, that the mayor saw fit to speak out about Hunsperger’s views.
And what about the premier herself — the very same premier who will be taking a strong stand against homophobia this weekend?
Last year, when Philips spoke at a conference in Toronto, politicians of all stripes condemned his beliefs. In fact, the gay rights group EGALE and a Toronto MPP both filed complaints with police.
I wouldn’t advocate involving the police; Philips should have the right to be an Islamic extremist and a virulent bigot. However, I would hope to see a powerful condemnation of not only his views, but his very presence in our city.
By basing his views in religion, Philips — and those who embrace him as a figure of authority — sends the message that Muslims are intrinsically and fundamentally opposed to even tolerance for homosexuals, never mind equality.
It’s also worth noting that Philips is not the only speaker at this event who should concern us. Also on the agenda is Dr. Hatem Alhaj, who was recently dismissed from his job at the Mayo Clinic over his controversial support for female genital mutilation.
British MP George Galloway, a notorious apologist for the Syrian and Iranian regimes — as well as terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah — is slated to speak, too.
How tragically ironic that an event billed as a celebration of unity and multiculturalism would so brazenly demean and desecrate those very concepts.