Toronto & Portland, separated at birth

Australian blogger Chrenkoff notes that the PC police in Toronto, Ontario, Canada forced the newly-crowned Miss Universe — a 23-year-old Canadian named Natalie Glebova — to remove her official sash during an appearance at a local festival.

The reason? A law on the books that forbids "activities which degrade men and women through sexual stereotypes or exploit their bodies to attract attention," according to a story on News.com.au, which I think is the Australian version of Fox News.

This brought a response in Chrenkoff's comments section from one Kate Shaw:

Toronto is so deeply involved in sniffing the underwear of the Gay Pride / Gay Marriage / Gay Universe voters, er, citizens that heterosexuals can simply take a hike; hence the focus on 'gender stereotyping'. A man wearing a g-string in Nathan Phillips Square would be worshipped, as long as he declared his homosexuality. In fact, a man dressed as Miss Universe would be given a royal reception by our Socialist Mayor and his minions.

It's all about what they used to say about Arafat -- Toronto never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Had Miss Universe worn a bandolero instead of her sash, and shouted "Death to America!", the bureaucrats would have remained mum.

Or possibly if she had had sex with another woman on stage.

Toronto is a ringside seat at a train wreck.

This comment reminded me of something . . . oh yes, the mayor of Portland!

As you might remember, the Mrs. Oregon America pageant asked Mayor Tom Potter to sign a letter acknowledging his support for the event, which was held last month. Potter's office turned down the request "because its contestants must be married to a man. The rules also require contestants to be natural born females," according to an Oregonian story which is no longer available online. "In a statement, Potter said city policy requires it not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The pageant's rule 'fails to recognize the other loving relationships in our community,' his statement said."

Mayor Potter apparently thinks the pageant should be open to anyone who wants to show up, including gay and transgender women. Much like Ms. Snow pointed out in her comments above, the local Socialists, Critical Mass riders, environmental terrorists, and gay pride parade marchers can say and do almost anything they want, but a simple pageant for heterosexual married women gets dissed. (Actually, we're just assuming they're not gay because they're married, but they could just be in denial; if they'd just own up to their sexuality, I'm sure Potter would be first in line to support their efforts!)

Wanna place any bets on Potter's response if a cross-dressing festival were to solicit the mayor's support? As Portland's Jack Bogdanski wrote about the pageant a few months back on his blog: "The group celebrates traditional marriage. If the lesbians want to have a pageant that celebrates lesbian unions, I'd be fine with the city endorsing that one, too. Indeed, Tom Potter would support that one so fast and furious that your head would spin. There'd be no talk of 'discrimination' then."

Toronto and Portland: the cream of the crop in achieving political correctness.