Editor:
Re: Candidate asks Larry Hayes to apologize, BCA statement does not apologize, NOW online, Oct. 7.
Thank you for your article in the Burnaby NOW.
You say that “the anti-SOGI people in the crowd ruined the event by shouting while trustee candidates were trying to give answers,” but what you don’t admit is that the shouting came as a response to the behaviour of the candidates in the meeting.
You surely have seen the video and know that Ryan Stewart was aggressively interrupting Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, creating a chaotic environment and forcing her to either engage with him or seem weak. Did you see him immaturely turn his back on the candidate speaking? Why don’t you report the whole truth?
“Maybe the anti-SOGI crowd was trying to provoke a confrontation so they could film it and blow it up into a larger incident.” Maybe they weren’t. Perhaps the anti-SOGI crowd is sick and tired of seeing the media misrepresent events or interviews. Perhaps filming the entire thing gives firepower to their movement because they now have evidence and can support claims that they are being misrepresented.
As for Larry Hayes, he knows all the trigger words and uses them. I have no doubt that the meeting was terribly uncomfortable for him toward the end, but he’s an elected official and can calmly answer for his views at a meeting. If he cannot, he can still own up to the fact that he doesn’t know.
Norma Zenky
