YOUNG PEOPLE STRONG ON TOLERANCE

Canada's top politicians and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy don't have much
in common, save their collective appreciation for showmanship.

This federal election, however, the TV show's popularity among young
Canadians may be partly responsible for engaging teens in social politics
- -- most notably, the contentious gay marriage debate.

A new poll commissioned by CanWest News Service shows 59 per cent of
Canadian teens, aged 14 to 18, support gay marriage.

Calgary high school students told The Herald gay marriage is a right that
should be extended to Canadians.

"I don't think gay marriage is a problem. It's a personal decision and
doesn't affect other people, so it should be legalized," said Deanna
Sedlowsky, a Grade 12 student at James Fowler High School. "It's part of
personal freedoms in Canada. You should have the choice."

Garrett Hamilton, a Grade 12 student who will turn 18 three days before the
vote on June 28, questioned why certain Canadians should be discriminated
against.

"If two people want to get married, it doesn't matter if they're both the
same gender," Hamilton said. "If they're in love, let them be happy."

According to an expert in political studies, the poll's findings are to be
somewhat expected of a group that's coming of age while homosexual
celebrities and icons are so ascendant in popular culture.

"If it's not in the closet, it has to have an impact," said Brenda O'Neill,
an associate professor at the University of Manitoba who has studied youth
voter apathy. "This means that over time, Canada is becoming more
progressive in its attitudes regarding civil liberties."

The poll of 500 Canadian teens was sponsored by the Dominion Institute and
Navigator Ltd. as part of Youth Vote 2004. The CanWest initiative is
designed to engage young Canadians in the federal election and to give
parents, teachers and politicians a look at where young people stand on key
issues.

The issues that hit home with Canadian teens and the hot-button topics of
the federal election aren't necessarily one and the same, said O'Neill.

"What the heck is a youth issue? MP3s?" she asked, laughing. "A politician
with any foresight will recognize what youth think today is going to matter
for tomorrow. But you also have to recognize that young people's attitudes
will change as they age."

The CanWest survey was conducted at the end of March and has a 4.3 per cent
margin of error.

Other key findings include strong support for immigrants (58 per cent of
respondents disagreed with the statement that immigrants don't want to fit
into Canadian society), engagement in the community (29 per cent have
volunteered at least once in the past three years) and a feeling of safety
in their environment (90 per cent said they feel safe when they travel to
school every morning).

The social issue that drew some of the most polarized responses from youth
was the decriminalization of marijuana. When asked if the drug should be
made legal, teens were almost split down the middle, with 55 per cent
saying no and 41 per cent saying yes.

Sedlowsky said decriminalizing the drug would foster youth disobedience.

"For medicinal reasons, it's OK. But if it's decriminalized, it would
become rampant," she said. "People would be spending money they don't have
on the drug."