Sean Bickerton

 According to Xtra West, Ray Lam, the gay politician running for the NDP in False Creek was forced to resign over a controversy to do with two racy photos on his Facebook page.

None of the images displayed nudity or sex and the whole controversy was blown way out of proportion by a media pack that seemed to take a little too much pleasure in embarrassing a serious young gay candidate.

To me, the most revealing aspect of the tempest over his tightie whities says a great deal more about the out-of-touch mores of the media criticizing Ray than it does about his character. As best I can tell, his offense was being young and alive.

If the city’s reporters spent half as much time discussing the new, permanent $2,000,000 camera surveillance system put in by Mayor Robertson with no public discussion, or the recent charter revisions that restrict civil liberties in Vancouver (again without any public discussion) – as just two recent and notable examples – they might not spend as much time sniffing the briefs of young candidates trying to improve their communities.

I wouldn’t have voted for Ray Lam – I like Mary McNeil and Damian Kettlewell better – but voters deserved to hear his ideas debated on the merits. Every politician is improved by good debate, and it’s often in debate where good policies emerge.

I think the entire process is flawed when a gay candidate in his early twenties is disqualified for a party pic on Facebook, when actual elected officials erode long-standing rights without a peep from the same self-appointed keepers of the community’s conscience. 

It’s no wonder young people get turned off politics – the unpleasant reek of hypocrisy is too much for them  …