Iftody was a committed Roman Catholic, and was part of the socially conservative wing of the Liberal Party. In late 1994, he opposed his government's plans to add sexual orientation as a protected category under Canada's hate crimes legislation. He later opposed similar legislation protecting homosexuals under the Canadian Human Rights Act, and was one of 17 Liberal MPs to vote against legislation expanding the benefits of same-sex couples in 2000. Iftody said that he did not support discrimination and denied being part of a parliamentary "God squad", but nonetheless expressed a personal view that homosexuality was "spiritually unhealthy".