The McGill Tribune Vol. 20 Issue 22

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'All your base are belong | to US' F e a t u r e s 2 3 I 9CT UP U8

T R I B U N E

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P u b l i s h e d bv t h e S t u d e n t s ’ S o c i e t y o f M c G i l l U n i v e r s i t y

Adding colours to the rainbow Jeff Derman “Homophobes”, “HomoDisputatios” and “Genderfuckers”: Out of love, fear or logic, they are battling for the control of litiga­ tion in the bedrooms of the nation. What underlies the controversy of gay marriage is getting right down to the issue of right and wrong. ‘Black and white’ are beginning to show up in the colors of the rain­ bow. Recent controversy sprouted over the involvement of two McGill professors - Margaret Somerville, McGill Centre of Medicine, Ethics and Law, and Katherine Young, Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill - who are scheduled to appear as expert witnesses on the potential effects of formal gay marriage in an upcom­ ing court case. The plaintiffs are two men who have been living together in a serious relationship for the past 28 years. They are chal­ lenging the Quebec Civil Law, which states that a marriage license may only be granted to a man and a woman. Shari Brotman, an assistant professor in McGill’s School of Social Work who helped start Project Interaction, a homosexual support group, resolutely opposes the stance taken by Somerville and Young. “This is an issue of right and wrong. There is very little gray area here.” A petition against the profes­ sors was distributed by Project Interaction that read: “We strongly oppose argu­ ments like yours, which are based Please see G A Y , page 17

A vote: It’s in you to give. Voting in the Students’ Society of McGill University election Tuesday through Thursday. See pages 6 and 7 for a voting guide

C h o w d h u ry d is q u a lifie d fro m ra c e P r e s id e n tia l e le c t io n c a n d id a t e o f f t h e b a llo t a fte r b y la w v io la tio n Shehryar Fazli In a 2-1 vote, the Students’ Society of McGill University’s Judicial Board upheld a decision made by the chief returning officer of Elections McGill last Friday, to disqualify Arif Chowdhury from the SSMU presidential race. Chowdhury was ousted from the contest after Ramzi Hindieh, another candidate for SSMU presi­ dent, reported to CRO Brian Lack that a small group of individuals referring to themselves as the “Brownstreet Boys,” later identified

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as Manish Srivastava, Winston Maricar, and Nadir Nurmohamed, had approached him earlier in the week requesting that he withdraw his candidacy. At the heart of this alleged proposal was the belief that Hindieh, a science student, would split some of the votes from science students which might have gone to Chrowdhury. Hindieh presented a detailed account of the encounters between himself and the group to the CRO on Friday night. According to this report, the ‘Boys’ had suggested that Chowdhury would stand a bet­

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ter chance at winning the elections if Hindieh was no longer running. “At that time [the individual] believed that [SSMU presidential candidate] Jeremy [Farrell] was leading Arif by 150 votes, ones he wanted me to give up since we are both in [the Faculty of] Science and he was planning to capture the vast majority of science students’ votes for his friend Arif,” Hindieh stated. “However, [he] didn’t want me ‘coming out with nothing.”’ According to Hindieh, the offer presented was that in return for dropping out of the SSMU elec­

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tions, Hindieh would be guaran­ teed the presidency of the Science Undergraduate Society. Hindieh claimed that the individuals assured him that with their support, his chances of winning the faculty organization’s top executive posi­ tion, currently held by Chowdhury, were entirely fail-safe. He further stated that the ‘Boys’ tried to con­ vince him that the SUS presidency was equally as stimulating as the SSMU position. Hindieh rejected the alleged offer. However, he claimed that Please see J U D IC IA L , page 4

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B P A d UVS n ÿ s p L I AUS & SUS present The Red & White Graduation Bali March 10, 2001 Omni Hotel T i c k e t s a v a i l a b l e la t b e L e a c o c k lo b b y

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