Letters to the editor...Reader's views prove Diversity March is needed here

Dear editor, Re: Diversity March was irrelevant (Oct. 4 letter to the editor). I would like to thank Matt Penney for proving exactly why Georgetown needs a diversity march. Thank you Matt for being brave enough to say outright that people move to Georgetown to get away from people of other ethnicities, religions and sexualities. I told the students in a tutorial I was leading on local government issues at Ryerson University this week about our town's `Diversity March' and the negative response in the letters to the editor column. They knew I was talking about Georgetown before I mentioned our town by name because Georgetown does have a reputation for intolerance. I've heard this from students at Ryerson, as well as during my undergrad at Carleton in Ottawa. And I tell others that Georgetown is intolerant because that's been my experience. Growing up hearing racial slurs towards South Asians and East Asians on the school bus or in the break room isn't normal. "Paying a premium for your property" to segregate yourself is racist, is homophobic and is ignorant. Saying you're alright with someone's lifestyle as long as you don't have to see it is racist, is homophobic and is ignorant. Alison Hawes, Georgetown