WATCH: A candidate for Burnaby mayor in the upcoming municipal election wants to ban kissing, and even holding hands. Tanya Beja reports.
BURNABY, B.C. – A candidate for mayor in Burnaby is raising eyebrows with a promise to ban kissing and holding hands in public.
Sylvia Gung is running for mayor for a second time, one of five candidates hoping to unseat Derek Corrigan of the Burnaby Citizens Association, who has been mayor of the Vancouver suburb since 2002.
In her unedited candidate profile posted on the City of Burnaby website, Gung says the current job of mayor in the city “allows nothing for the real job – establishing wholesome society.”
But perhaps the most controversial of Gung’s proposals are around the issue of public affection.
Gung promises “banning behaviors that hints sex/sexuality, even including Bridal Kiss and walking hand in hand, that hurt public decorum and lead to further violence.”
She told Global News Tuesday that gay and lesbian couples who are seen holding hands are especially at risk of violence.
“It shows the affection between two persons, but it also shows sexuality, and for someone who is strongly against gays and lesbians, they may follow them, and they could be stabbed and shot, and killed,” says Gung.
WATCH: What do Burnaby residents think of the proposed ban? We sent our Global News cameras to find out.
She says homophobic violence cannot be stopped due to tradition.
“We can’t stop that violence, because of the moral question. And the moral is set in people’s minds deeply, it’s tradition,” says Gung.
She also takes issue with the school board, saying she would “get rid of it,” and that it “as nothing but funnel to thwart its political agenda down the throat of the public education.”
Gung also promises to “innovating two backward organizations that are the unions and PAC’s.”
The civic election is set for Saturday, November 15. Advance voting begins November 1.
Comments