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Coquitlam Liberal MLA distances herself from ad buy in anti-LGBTQ magazine

Joan Isaacs said it's time for a review of where politicians put their money after both Liberals and NDP caught with ads in publications with articles opposing homosexuality
Diane Strandberg
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA Joan Isaacs
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA Joan Isaacs was among several Liberal MLAs who jointly bought an advertisement in a controversial Christian magazine. She said she won't be buying any more ads in The Light Magazine and wants a conversation about the topic, saying the NDP is buying ads in controversial publications, too.

A Coquitlam MLA is distancing herself from a BC Liberal ad buy in a conservative Christian lifestyle magazine which publishes controversial views about the province’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI-123) curriculum, LGBTQ issues and assisted death.

In a June 30 Tweet, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain MLA Joan Isaacs said Light Magazine has content which is “not aligned with her personal principals and values” and that she “embraces diversity and inclusion.”

 

Her decision to not support the magazine comes after it was revealed that several BC Liberal MLAs have spent thousands of dollars worth of taxpayers’ money on ads in the hardline conservative magazine.  

According to expense receipts from August, 2019, Isaac’s constituency office contributed $102 towards an ad buy totalling nearly $1,000 made by the BC Liberal Caucus.

Participating in a joint ad buy in multiple publications can be an efficient use of taxpayer dollars and ensures people know who their local MLAs are, contends Isaacs, but she agrees it’s time for a broader conversation on how politicians get their message out in the media.

“It’s raised issues of what other messages that might be in a publication that might not align with your views,” Isaacs said.

She points to a BC NDP advertisement, which features several NDP MLAs including Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth, in a copy of The Miracle that published a letter denouncing homosexuality.'

“I’m saying we all need to review our policies, we have to have a broader conversations about where we as politicians place ads and we have to be more prudent,” Isaacs said.

 

In a story first reported by Press Progress, it was noted that the BC Liberals have spent at least $1,700 on ads in a magazine that promotes conversion therapy and a Christian accord that, among other things, opposes homosexuality.

Other articles in Light Magazine include those written by Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a former televangelist and failed People’s Party of Canada candidate who is an outspoken critic of SOGI-123.

Some of her articles oppose SOGI-123, a curriculum developed for B.C. schools to backstop anti-discrimination policies that are now on the books of the Human Rights Code of B.C.

The BC Liberal Party has promised to revamp its advertising policies, and in another June 30 Tweet, Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said more scrutiny will be placed on advertising buys in the future. 

Yet that hasn’t satisfied critics, with some calling out Wilkinson’s position as a failed apology, while others, like LGBTQ+2 advocate Nicola Spurling, questioned why advertising wasn’t reviewed before it was purchased.