Gay OK, Catholic No Way

• A decision by Canada's broadcast regulator, the CRTC, on 5th April approved a new all homosexual radio station in Toronto, the first new English-language radio station approved by the CRTC since 2001.

• In 2003 the CRTC rejected the application for an all Roman Catholic radio station in Toronto. This, despite the fact that about 2 million of Toronto's population of 4.5 million identify themselves as Catholic and surveys have demonstrated that only 1% of Canadians identify as homosexual.

Evidence of homosexual activism at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) can be seen in their recent decision, since one of the conditions, set out by the CRTC, under which the radio station was permitted its licence, was that the station would fund gay 'pride week'. "The licensee shall contribute a minimum of $30,000 in each broadcast year to payments to musical artists showcased at the Pride Week celebrations"

In 2003, the CRTC rejected the application of the Catholic Radio Endeavour which attempted to commence an English-language all-Catholic radio station in the city, home to some two million Catholics.

Tony Gosnach, a member of the Catholic Radio Endeavour, said

"After putting in lots of hard work, not to mention large amounts of money, toward an ultimately unsuccessful application for a full-time Catholic radio station in Toronto, I and others involved in that effort are appalled to learn that our federal broadcast regulatory body approved a gay FM radio station for Toronto."

Gosnach, a Catholic writer, assistant editor of the Interim and a member on the editorial board of Catholic Insight, has called on Catholics to express their concerns to their members of parliament, the Canadian Heritage Ministry and the CRTC.