September 23, 2010

[Ajax, Ontario, Canada] A first-time Ajax mayoral candidate apologized Thursday for comparing flying a Pride flag to one with the Nazi swastika. Sherry Clymer said her faux pas during a debate Tuesday with incumbent Mayor Steven Parish turned into a campaign-damaging political flap. Website critics branded Clymer homophobic and politically naive. While debating several issues, she criticized Parish for having the banner raised in June to honour the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered community (LGBT) during Pride Durham. When he said his decision represented the town's diversity, Clymer countered, saying people would never come together by focusing on differences, suggesting the mayor had "best be also hanging up the Nazi flag." In an interview, she said "it wasn't at all my intention to compare one group with the other. My thought is why are we singling out a particular group ... anybody who says 'look at me, why should we look at them'?" When asked where she stands, Clymer said she opposes LGTB gay lifestyle on religious grounds. "What is so good about being gay?" she said. "God says no, and I believe him." By flying the flag, "if you are promoting entering the gay lifestyle, that's wrong," Clymer said.

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