Toronto Decides Whether It Needs Separate Gay High Schools, Or Just Gay Equality

Last Wednesday, University of Toronto student Fan Wu hosted a community forum to discuss his proposal for a queer-centric high school in Toronto. Although his idea was ultimately voted down, his proposal has generated discussion on how best to address the problems LGBT students face in school.

Fan Wu, via Xtra.ca

Already way ahead of Edmonton, where the passing of  Alberta’s Bill 44 prevents educators from speaking about gay issues without first sending students home with consent forms, Toronto already has a program in which LGBT students and allies can earn high school credits in a safe, queer-positive classroom setting. Called the Triangle Program, it was started in Toronto 15 years ago. Still, Wu was hoping to expand the program into an entire high school, similar to the Harvey Milk school in New York.

Founded in 2003, Harvey Milk is designed as a refuge for, and to meet the specific needs of LGBT youth and even their teachers. In an interesting New York Magazine piece about the controversy surrounding the gay-centric high school, an English teacher spoke of how, at Harvey Milk, he felt comfortable addressing gay issues with more frankness. Orville Bell, who, like many of his students, is both black and gay, has 29 years of experience as an educator, but was ready to retire before he heard about Harvey Milk. He thought the school “sounded wonderful.” There, he is able to teach plays such as Bent, which is about homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps and includes a sex scene between two men.

The silencing of gay teachers is an issue with which Wu has first-hand experience, and it’s a problem he feels could be solved with a queer-centric high school. In an interview on CBC radio’s The Current, he explained how, as a teen, queer teachers would give him gay books, but only “under the desk,” so to speak. Though he didn’t experience outright discrimination, he calls the silence surrounding gay issues a kind of covert bullying. Covert bullying is bad enough, but unfortunately for many students it is not the only kind of bullying. As Dan Savage told The Current, the bullying of LGBT students is a serious issue that can lead to suicide, and the existence of queer-centric high schools can save lives. Michael Erickson, a teacher and gay advocate, reminded listeners that people who have experienced trauma need a place of healing; and for many, that can’t be the place where the trauma occurred in the first place. For queer students who have been bullied, returning to school not only makes them vulnerable to more bullying, but it’s also triggering. No wonder many opt to drop out instead. A large percentage of Harvey Milk’s students come to the school behind in their studies. Many don’t graduate until age 21 because they’ve been left behind by the mainstream school system and have a lot of academic catching up to do. There’s also the fact that “20 percent [of students] qualify as homeless or living with someone other than their immediate parent or guardian.” I don’t need to say that getting kicked out of the family home is an unfortunate reality for many queer teens and that the bullying of those who are different is still commonplace in school’s everywhere. It’s undeniable that Harvey Milk fills a very real need.

But in Toronto, which already has the Triangle Program, does the same need exist? At Wu’s forum, Triangle Program graduates expressed concern that a queer-centric high school would put the program at risk. This is a concern echoed by Michael Erickson, who says there’s only so  much money that can go around. The Ontario school system is still dealing with the severe cuts made by Premier Harris in the 90s. Creating a queer-centric high school will not only take away from the already thriving Triangle Program, but it will also pull resources away from city-wide educational programs that benefit everybody – gay students and straight students alike. “Building a queer-centric school doesn’t address all the problems we see across the city,” he told The Current. In New York, Democratic State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister from the Bronx,had a similar criticism: large amounts of money should not be spent on a single school for LGBT students when across New York, there are many inner-city schools in gross need of funding. Diaz Sr.’s views were dismissed because he is a known homophobe, but he and Erickson raise a valid point: when it comes to education, which group gets priority on the money?

via beyond-school.org

Of course, these arguments divide students into groups – gay and straight, inner-city and affluent. In an ideal world, shouldn’t the point of education be to lessen the divisions between groups? To learn together about one another? Jonathan Turley, an associate professor at George Washington University, says queer-centric schools “promote a ‘separate but equal’ educational system uncomfortably reminiscent of one of the most shameful episodes in American history, when black students were placed in separate schools from their white peers – supposedly for their own good.” Turley goes on to say that “to simply remove the object [of a] prejudice does not deal with the underlying prejudice.”

This is why, as one of the students interviewed on the Current believes, Toronto’s Triangle Program is only a band-aid solution and the idea of a queer-centric school only moves people further from the goal of LGBT acceptance in mainstream schools. Yes, it’s good for there to be a safe refuge where gay students can learn and thrive in safety, but the goal should be to create this kind of safe environment in mainstream schools. This is important for openly gay kids, but also for closeted gay kids, and kids who don’t even really know they’re gay yet. As a 14-year-old, I knew I kinda-maybe-sorta liked girls, but there was no way I would have wanted to have a discussion with my mom about attending a queer-centric high school. There was also no way I was going to go to a Gay/Straight alliance meeting. What helped me love and accept my sexuality was seeing everyday gay people in everyday environments.

For openly gay and bullied teens, queer-centric schools fill a need, that’s true: students shouldn’t have to suffer while they wait around for the mainstream school system to get its act together. But it’s important to realize that the end goal is to have queer role models as well as discussions of queers in history and in literature in all schools. I don’t want a situation in which confident gay students and teachers are drawn to queer-centric high schools, leaving all the little queermos-to-be without any good role models. You shouldn’t have to go to a gay high school to read Bent or to learn about people like you. Part of the Harvey Milk school’s mission is to help students “in the process of coming to grips with their sexuality and the emotional trauma associated with it.” But  straight  students also have to learn to come to grips with, and deal with the emotional implications of realizing that there are students whose sexuality differs from theirs, and that one day, their sexuality, too, might differ from their current definition or understanding of it.  As the Toronto student who views separate but equal’ as a band-aid solution says, “A permanent solution is making sure that when you’re in a Sex Ed. class, you’re hearing about your relationships, when you’re learning about families, you’re learning about all types of families, when you’re learning about sexuality, it’s not just assumed that everybody is straight.”

Hong Kong Business Tycoon Offers $65 Million to Make His Gay-Married Daughter Straight

This week in news to hide your face in your hands about, one of Hong Kong’s richest businessmen has publicly offered to give $65 million to any man with the power to win the heart of his lady-loving daughter.

Gigi Chao, the 33-year-old daughter of business tycoon Cecil Chao Sze-tsung, married her girlfriend of seven years in Paris earlier this year. But her father claims that reports of the marriage are “false,” and has offered the sizable bounty in response to the news. Though denying he would actually force his daughter to marry a man, Mr. Chao has put a price on his own heterosexism — and what a price it is!

Gigi Chao (right) and wife Sean Eav (left)

Hiding behind the age old I just want my precious daughter to be happy parenting trope, Mr. Chao told the South China Morning Post, “I don’t mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted.” Oh, and that he’s a he. As added incentive, he said, “Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work.”

Despite the fact that her father is trying bribe men into wooing her away from her (hot) wife, Chao has been speaking highly of her father, telling the Associated Press, “I’m actually on very, very loving terms with my father. We speak on a daily basis. He just has a very interesting way of expressing his fatherly love.” I guess she really is “generous and kind-hearted.”

And what’s more, Chao seems to really, truly get where her father is coming from: “It’s not that he can’t accept me,” she said. “It’s that he can’t accept how society would view me and the status that it would incur. Marriage is still a form of social status. I do understand him. I understand why he’s doing this.” Since the marriage bounty offer, she has received upwards of 1,500 marriage proposals and nude photos of hopeful singles. I wonder how her wife feels about that.

Though she speaks highly of her father, Mr. Chao doesn’t seem to exactly have the same heart of gold that she does. Marriage bounty aside, he’s infamous in Hong Kong for once boasting that he has slept with over 10,000 women (not to slut-shame or anything). And ironically, up until now he has shunned traditional marriage. Isn’t interesting how some people base political views on convenience?

Cecil Chao Sze-tsung

Before shacking up with her wife, Chao had dated both men and women, and though she was very open with her family about her relationships, she reported that her mother literally banged her head against a wall when learning of her adolescent relationship with another girl. And Chao has said that Hong Kong in general is not very accepting of the queer community, though visibility has increased in recent years. I have a lot of respect for Chao, because if I were her, I would be totally furious (maybe that’s the difference between 23 and 33?). The important thing is that Chao doesn’t seem to be letting anyone put a price on her love – which is good, because it would be a tragedy to lose something that seems as good as this relationship.

Canadian Government Figured Out You’re Gay, and All It Had To Do Was Secretly Track Your Internet Use

Fictional Person Amanda is seventeen years old and in her second trimester of pregnancy. Scared of her parents’ reaction, she’s keeping her pregnancy a secret. But Target, where Amanda went to buy zinc and magnesium supplements the week before, knows everything. When she finds diaper coupons among the usual food and clothing ones, Fictional Person Amanda saves them for a later date, innocent of the fact that Target is an expert on the inner workings of her uterus.

In a fascinating New York Times piece, it’s explained how the “predictive analytics” units of major corporations and retailers can easily gather the bits and pieces of not only your consumer habits but your personal life floating around on the internet so as to effectively market to you. Target can compile data on your ethnicity, job history, marital history, and even your pregnancy status. As a regular recipient of Gmail and Facebook ads for dog food and gay cruises, I’m well aware that companies are trying to make money off my personal information. While it’s a little creepy but expected that Target will try to use my private information to market to me, I hold the Canadian government to much higher standards.

This is why it’s disappointing that in the latest move from Canada the country to Canada Corp. Ltd (CEO: Harper), the government displayed a personal information ethic no better than Target’s. Minister Jason Kenney profiled Canadians according to sexuality and then marketed government propaganda to gay citizens. Like a grocery chain marketing junk food as healthy, he sent an email extolling the virtues of nutrient-free, Canada Ltd.

Jason Kenney via cbc.ca

Titled “LGBT Refugees from Iran,” the email, sent on Friday, is about how Kenney, as the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism, is proud of Canada’s treatment of LGBT refugees. He wrote that he believes “Canada should always be a place of refuge for those who truly need our protection.” I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I don’t support Kenney. Since the Conservatives won a majority in May of 2011, the minister has transformed this country’s refugee and immigration policy, and not for the better:  he has restricted refugee claimants’ health benefits, tightened spousal sponsorship rules, and even  deported an American war resister. He has also given employers more power in selecting immigration applicants; and as part of the infamous Omnibus Bill-38 made changes to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program that will allow employers to pay migrant workers 15% less than minimum wage. Lest this move lead you to believe that Kenney is against all types of immigration, you should know that he may have granted Conrad Black, a convicted criminal who renounced his Canadian citizenship in order to claim nobility status in the UK, a temporary residence permit. Datejie Green, one of the many recipients of Kenney’s email, pointed out that the government is trying to pinkwash its activities by making them seem LGBT friendly, when really, reforms such as refugee health cuts have a direct impact on gay and lesbian refugees who are often in need of trauma care and basic medical assistance.

Kimberly Rivera, the first female Iraq war resister. via The Canadian Press

Many who opened their inboxes to the surprise email from Kenney weren’t only angry at the message’s false political advertising. They also wondered how the Minister could possibly know their sexual orientation. They were creeped out.  Meredith Richmond of Peterborough was not one to pine for a private Gchat with Kenney — quite the opposite. She had never supported the Conservatives and wondered how the Minister had gotten her personal Gmail address along with information on her sexual orientation. Little did she know that when she signed a 2011 petition on Change.org supporting a gay artist from Nicaragua facing deportation, a form letter with her reply email address was sent to Kenney’s office, where a program saved her and others’ information for later use.

A spokesperson for the privacy commissioner’s office has called the event troubling but says there’s not much that can be done. Though political parties gather enormous amounts of highly personal information about citizens, Canadians have no legal rights when it comes to information amassed by parties and held in databases for partisan use; nor is it illegal for corporations to compile your information.

“Security Camera 3” still life painting, Gerard Boersma

Some may argue that with everyone’s information floating around, the personal information of one single person hardly rings any alarms. Yes, we are putting a lot of information out there, but so is everyone else. It’s as though everyone’s information creates all this noise which takes the focus off of individuals. With all the Facebooks, Twitters, and Tumblrs, have we crossed the threshold of the visible into the post-visible, or invisible? The greater the number of people who put their information out there, the less it will be seen, ironically.

But anonymity is a privilege dependent on circumstance. Anywhere besides an A-Camp-like environment, a heterosexual couple holding hands has the privilege of anonymity while a same-sex couple doing the exact same thing is made to be hyper-visible. Depending on their city, their class, and their ethnicity, the individuals in the lesbian or gay couple could even be in danger.

Just like in real life, being a minority activist on the internet, be it a gay activist or a feminist activist, makes you stand out, and standing out as a minority can have consequences. Like the Canadians who signed the petition from which Kenney pulled his information, it’s brave to tie your name to a cause most people don’t know or care about, but it’s also a risk. Many queer people have a lot to lose if knowledge of their internet activity falls into the wrong hands. While being gay on the internet has obvious and wonderful advantages, like realizing you’re not the only weirdo gay nerd on the planet, it doesn’t change the fact that when it comes to privilege,  you’re at a disadvantage.  This is why a queer person’s loss of internet anonymity has the potential to have significantly more dangerous consequences than that of a straight person’s.  In a hostile environment, you could get kicked out of your house or even have your life put at risk. And even if the people around you are supportive and wonderful, society at large is not, so it’s understandable to feel uncomfortable, if, as a gay person, knowledge of your queer internet activism falls  into unexpected hands (like, say, Jason Kenney’s) to be then  used for propaganda you don’t agree with. Even though (as far as I know) none of the email recipients were put in danger, Minister Jason Kenney of Canada Corp. Ltd needs to understand you just don’t mess around with the privacy of queers on the internet.

France Removes “Mère” and “Père” From French Forms For Gay Families, Which Is Magnifique

France is removing the words “mother” and “father” from official French forms and replacing those words with the gender neutral “parents.” And bully to France, I say! While the change in language may seem like a small thing, it’s indicative of something quite a bit larger brewing en France.

The first thing to understand about French as a language: just about everything has a gender. A table is female. A book is male. So I am completement choquée (completely shocked) that they’re making a push for gender neutrality in this instance, because language. But perhaps I shouldn’t be. After all, it’s not a change to language itself. That’s much more difficult to alter, as any change to the French language needs to go through the Académie Française, which is basically a group of people literally called les immortels (the immortals) who are the official authority on the French language. That’s how seriously the French take their French. This is just a change on forms, on legal documents and French legal code, much like the removal of Mademoiselle from government documents. Still, because much of the language is gendered, it’s a pretty big deal. Changing to a gender neutral term is a real signifier of where the country is politically. Same-sex families would now be able to fill out forms in a way that accurately represents their family, whatever gender the parents may be.

François Hollande via itv.com+

The change is coming about as part of a larger movement to legalize gay marriage. Unlike the United States, France has had national access to civil unions, called pacte civil de solidarité and commonly called PACS. Much like civil unions, PACS provides some of the same legal benefits as marriage, but not all, and can be drawn up between any two people of any gender as a contract to share life and property. People who have engaged in this practice are no longer viewed as single, but as pacsée, which as you could probably tell is not the same word as mariée (married.) And while it’s a damn sight better than what the U.S. has got, it’s still not marriage. Back in May, France elected a new President, François Hollande. He defeated incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy (sometimes called “Petit George”, in reference to his similarity to George W. Bush.) Part of his campaign promise? Legalize same-sex marriage and adoption. Like, marriage-marriage, not just PACS. The bill will be introduced this October and many are drawing links between this piece of legislation and the change on the form because once the draft is introduced and presumably passed, children may not have one of each anymore. They may just have parents. And in the end, isn’t that what we all have?

via Le Monde.

France is going through much the same discussion as the United States is: BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?! Le Monde, a French newspaper, recently conducted a survey (not to be confused with a study) they asked the children of gay parents how they felt. And then they wrote about it. And the sentiments of these French children (and adult-children) sound like a) American children and b) every structure of family’s children. For example, one little boy has two dads, who he describes as “one who says ‘yes’ more, and one who says ‘no’ more.” Some children worry about what happens to them if one of their moms gets sick or dies because they aren’t legally the child of the other, other wonder why the church has anything to say about it when the discussion surrounds civil marriage. And everyone’s answer has one theme running through it: we’re fine. Yes, it’s subjective, but sometimes numbers don’t stand up to experience.

As expected, the Catholic church is reacting poorly both to the change on the forms and to the possible legalization of same-sex marriage. In summary, France hurt their feefees. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the highest ranking Catholic cleric in France, lost his shit on a Christian radio show, claiming that that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy and incest, and also the fall of society. Pope Benedict XVI invited 30 French bishops to Italy to urge them to fight against marriage equality. But as wondered previously, what role does the Church have in any civil marriage? And if you need any ammunition against this argument of “because the Bible says so” in any country, you may want to check out Fish Out of Water or this week’s Savage Love podcast.

For those who are beginning to believe in the forthcoming social apocalypse caused by equality for the French queermos, it’s worth pointing out that Paris has an openly gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, and that God hasn’t yet smote Paris. And he’s a mayor who cannot wait to begin performing same-sex marriages in his city and has some major issues with Cardinal Barbarin’s sentiments. 

“‘It is very shocking and even surprising coming from him, because he is someone I consider a wise man, he said [of Cardinal Barbarin]. ‘I don’t know what came over him, he flipped his lid a little bit and what he said was downright ugly.'”

It may seem like two simple words. Mother. Father. It’s such a small thing, changing the terms in French civil code to something gender neutral. Most would say that it’s not much of a to-do. But look at the impact just this action can have. Although the Catholic Church has it’s knickers in a twist, Mayor Delanoe doesn’t seem concerned one bit. The kerfuffle and the act itself signify a time of great political change for France, from it’s previously conservative and traditional outlook to something much more progressive. So while yes, it’s just a word, these words mean that it’s a great time to be queer in France.

Australian Government Votes Against Gay Marriage Bill and For Inequality

This Wednesday the Australian Senate rejected a marriage equality bill with a vote of 41 to 26 against same-sex marriage. This happened less than a day after the House of Representatives also overwhelmingly voted down the legislation with a vote of 98-42.

Both Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott voted against the bill. Gillard allowed her MPs to vote according to conscience, and not along party lines, on the issues. And despite the bill’s failure to make it through parliament, the numbers are encouraging. Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese, who voted in favour of the reform, spoke to reporters saying that “Just a few years ago there wouldn’t have been the support of anything like 42 votes on the floor of the national parliament for a marriage equality bill.”

Loren Cowley and Michelle Ricketts are still waiting for a legal marriage

Then there are the statistics showing that the majority of the Australian public is in favour of same-sex marriage. Earlier this year the House of Representatives conducted a survey of over 270, 000 participants and found that 64% of them supported same-sex marriage. Albanese thinks it’s only a matter of time before Parliament catches up with public opinion. Meanwhile, same-sex unions are already recognized in five states, and next week Tasmania might just go ahead and legalize gay marriage. If the bill passes next Wednesday, it will offer state-sanctioned marriage to any Australian gay or lesbian couple who wishes to tie the knot. Tasmania is hoping all the happy newlyweds-to-be will help boost its tourism industry.

Not surprisingly, Australia’s marriage debate caused a bit of a soap opera in Parliament: there were many well-dressed people with a lot of feelings. When Liberal senator Sue Boyce read the riot act to her colleagues – There are good gays and bad gays; rich gays and poor gays; gays who want to get married and gays who don’t; gays who like footy and gays who don’t; gays who want children and those who don’t – poor Senator John Madigan felt like he was being bullied. He said:

Under the guise of compassion for the desire of same-sex couples, we have endured a non-stop campaign of denigration against those who have refused to buckle under the weight of an attack designed to pour scorn and guilt on those who have the temerity to refuse to deny their principles.

Madigan went on to say that getting angry at politicians who don’t support same-sex marriage just isn’t very loving, and marriage equality proponents ought to practice what they preach.

As Finance Minister Penny Wong, who’s raising a child with her partner, put it:

I do not regret that our daughter has Sophie and I as parents. I do regret that she lives in a world where some will tell her that her family is not normal. I regret that even in this chamber, elected representatives denigrate the worth of her family. I will not rest in the face of such prejudice. I want for her, for all of us, an Australia which is inclusive and respectful, and this is why this campaign will not end here.

Senator Cory Bernardi, the parliamentary secretary for Tony Abbott is very afraid that an inclusive and respectful Australia will lead to people marrying their dogs, among other things. In a comment made last week that later forced him to resign, he predicted, “The next step, quite frankly, is having three people or four people that love each other being able to enter into a permanent union endorsed by society,” he said during the parliamentary debate. There are even some creepy people out there… [who] say it is okay to have consensual sexual relations between humans and animals. Will that be a future step?”

Bernardi needs to educate himself on non-monogamy; but it’s even more crucial that he read up on consent because he obviously has no idea what it means. If he thinks an animal is capable of consent, maybe he also thinks a woman can consent when she’s sleeping or that no actually means yes.

via consent.ca

His knowledge of international news is also sorely lacking because though same-sex marriage has been legal here in Canada since 2005, I have yet to develop any sort of sexual attraction towards the elk I see in Jasper. Nor are my fellow Canucks up in Churcill, Manitoba rushing to hook up with the nearest polar bear.

Australia’s decision on same-sex marriage is certainly disappointing, and it’s deeply unfair to same-sex Australian couples that the obvious bigotry and willful misinformed-ness of some of their legislators is preventing them from accessing the same level of stability that their straight counterparts have. But it’s heartening that there’s still so much passionate support for marriage equality, both in and out of the legislature. And there’s hope that the next time this vote comes up, it might go differently. Which isn’t enough, but is going to have to be for now, because the Australian legislature is still putting its irrational fears about what gay equality would mean ahead of Australian families.

A Little Glimpse at a Lesbian Church

Carmen’s Team Pick:

In 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this amazing thing happened: two lesbians founded a church. And Buzzfeed has 15 photos of it.

The Cidade de Refugio has a specific mission: to bring people closer to God without excluding any of His/Her people.

The church’s NGO, “Hands in Action,” is specifically focused around ending homophobia:

“About 4 years ago, I began to understand a principal that changed my vision of the role of the church, and I know that that vision can be applied to any kind of society; “extending hands towards the needs of those around us leads to healthy progress.”

With the creation of the church, there also came the understanding that it’s important to reach out to all who have suffered any type of trauma, whether it be psychic, physical or mental, and that we need to pay attention to the emotional consequences of maltreatment and rejection, verbal and physical aggression, and homophobic actions that can lead to death. 

Imbued with this sentiment and vision, we decided to create NGO: HANDS IN ACTION from the point of view that, as a heterogenous society, created from many different citizens, we needed to help encourage diversity, understanding that a lack of education about what is misunderstood only serves to promote solutions that are impossible and detrimental and which generate more division and unity. We wanted to eliminate this type of action.”

The church’s site is full of LGBT resources, information, and blog posts, all of which make it easier to navigate our sometimes hopeless world — together.

From their mission:

“Your lesson begins in Jesus’ selection of his disciples, which makes it clear that the kingdom of God is not interested in appearances. The call to God is not based on stereotypes, but goes beyond into the heart of being. Jesus proved that rougher men can be molded into apostles. He taught us to be patient during the process of improvement and proved that our weaknesses can be direct channels though which God shows his grace.”

Australia’s Anti-Homophobia Ads Are Awesome, A Long Way Off For America

by Sarah Hansen and Rachel

A new anti-homophobia ad has come out in Australia and it made me tear up a little bit.

Here’s a tissue. Let’s talk about it.

No To Homophobia is a new campaign in Australia to educate the LGBTQ community and their allies about discrimination and harassment and the laws in place to prevent it. The ads include workplace, school, and sport harassment examples, but also extend to “employment and employment-related areas, education, where goods and services are provided, land sales and transfers, accommodation, clubs, sport and local government.”

The campaign focuses on harassment in Victoria, but No To Homophobia:

sends the message to all Australians that homophobic, transphobic and biphobic harassment are never acceptable, and that those who experience unlawful harassment have official avenues to respond to it, including the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the police, which can result in consequences for perpetrators.

via { Wikipedia }

Victoria, and Melbourne in particular, is arguably the most gay-friendly area in Australia, though it remains surprising to see this type of ad on television. Australia is more open-minded with regard LGBTQ rights than America, with most states recognizing same-sex marriage at least at the de facto level.

I asked one of my friends in Australia if she had seen the ad in Queensland (one of the country’s more politically conservative states thanks to the recently elected LNP dickhead Campbell Newman — but that’s a whole other can of worms), and she said, “I saw the end of one the other day, but the whole lot makes much more sense. ADS LIKE THESE ARE IMPORTANT. People don’t know that they can shame the douchebags!! AND THEY SHOULD!” Well said, my dearest Delilah.

But these ads aren’t just suggesting we shame the people who harass us; they’re calling upon us to actually report that discrimination to the police as a crime, and implying that there will be consequences for the harasser if they do so. To American viewers, this idea may seem foreign; most Americans don’t report instances of homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia in part because they feel ashamed, but also because there would be no point. In many places in America, there’s no real legal recourse, because the law doesn’t recognize the discrimination that queer and trans people face. In a lot of ways, the law doesn’t recognize that queer and trans people exist. And the enforcers of the law haven’t necessarily proven to be allies either; Jene Newsome was discharged from the military (pre-DADT repeal) when local police officers outed her as a lesbian to her superiors, and when trans woman of color CeCe McDonald was assaulted by a group of people and defended herself, she was the only one from the scene arrested as her attackers went free.

Even aside from the code of law on a national level, many workplace discrimination policies don’t include sexual orientation or gender identity; far from being able to report it to the police, you can’t even report it to your boss. They don’t have an obligation to do anything about it, and sometimes, you can even be fired for it.  In 30 American states, it is still legal to fire someone for being LGBQ. In 39 states, you can be legally fired for being transgender. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which has been introduced in every Congress since 1994 except the 109th. George W. Bush even threatened to veto the bill if it should pass Congress.

There’s a reason that when Americans do see PSAs that deal with homophobia, they tend to be about anti-gay bullying in schools. Although there still isn’t nearly the level of response or responsibility that there should be to protect kids, that’s one of the only arenas in which there’s any level of accountability at all. Even if it took the senseless deaths of schoolchildren to do it, there now seems to be a national consensus that schools (and parents, and communities) have a responsibility to make sure kids are safe, even from other kids. But in the workplace, on the street, in the doctor’s office, in public spaces, or even in higher education, most LGBTQ people in America don’t have an authority they can turn to and expect them to affirm their right to live with dignity. In Michigan, there was also a new public awareness campaign launched in the last year, but its point wasn’t to remind gay, bi and trans people that they have the right to be treated with respect. It was to remind them that they can be fired for being gay at any time, and so their only recourse is to stay in the closet at work.

I am doubtful that anti-homophobia PSAs will become nationwide in America any time soon. I am doubtful because ENDA hasn’t been passed for 18 years. I am doubtful because policing my genitalia and the genitalia of my romantic partners still seems to be a political issue. We’re still not in a place as a nation where we can admit that homophobia exists; the time when we can tell people that they can rely upon law enforcement to help them with it and are comfortable doing so in a national broadcast seems even farther off.  So, good on ya, Australia. We’re proud of you, and we hope that someday our rights start catching up.

Unidentified Members of Pussy Riot Flee Russia, Call Foreign Feminists To Action

A week and a half after three members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison for protesting the Church’s political support of Putin, Russian police have announced that they will be searching for the other two unidentified members of the group who participated in the protest. On Sunday, Pussy Riot reportedly tweeted that two of their members have fled with the intent of “recruiting foreign feminists to prepare new protest actions.” It’s unclear if the two members who fled were involved in the church protest, as the band counts over  a dozen people as members. It’s also not yet clear whether the two unidentified members have successfully escaped Russia. Pussy Riot has tweeted that twelve members of the group are still in Russia.

Even as the verdict of the trial was being read, one of the band members who escaped arrest played “Putin Sets the Fires of Revolutions,” Pussy Riot’s latest song, from a balcony across the street from the court house. And it seems that foreign feminists are gearing up to join in as well. Since the protest, groups like Let’s Start A Pussy Riot! have sprung up in support, and feminist idols like Kathleen Hanna have voiced calls to action to revive Riot Grrrl through support for Pussy Riot. On her blog, Hanna wrote, “Who knows, this could be the start of a whole new thing, a whole new motivating source for a globally connected unapologetic punk feminist art and music scene. A catalyst, no matter what it gets called. Anything is possible, if anything, this band has reminded us of that.”

Around the world, concerts and other events are being held in solidarity with Pussy Riot. Most recently, a pop-up art exhibit and fundraiser in Chelsea has been announced. It remains to be seen what and where the new protest actions planned by the original Pussy Riot members will be, but they already have the support of a global feminist network itching to join in. So what do you think? Is Pussy Riot going to the the catalyst for the revival of Riot Grrrl? Or something even bigger?

Hopefully, wherever the two women who fled Russia are going, they will be greeted with the same enthusiastic support that they’ve received online.

Alpbach, Austria, via the LA Times

Indonesian LBT Women Exposed to Backlash

By Grace Poore, WeNews commentator

CEDAW–the international beacon for women’s rights–does not shine on lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in Indonesia. This is a painful disappointment, given LBT people’s need for protection from a fundamentalist backlash.

Two protest signs that read, “Against harassment to the Prophet Mohammed” and “Gay and lesbians are sinful.” via Ardhanary Institute

(WOMENSENEWS)–Lesbians, bisexual women and transgender (LBT) people in Indonesia have been part of the women’s movement for over a decade, fighting for equality for all Indonesian women.

Yet because LBT rights are not seen as women’s rights by the Indonesian state, the global beacon for women’s rights, the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), does not apply to LBT people in the country.

At the CEDAW Committee’s review of Indonesia held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City in July 2012, even Komnas Perempuan (the Indonesian National Commission of Women) was reluctant to raise LBT issues.

“The fundamentalists are saying that when we push for women’s rights we are pushing for same-sex marriage,” said one Komnas Perempuan commissioner. “If we bring up LBT, it will weaken our advocacy.”

That was terrible news for LBT people, who are in dire need of support.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has been aware over time, through activists reports, that since 2008 fundamentalist thugs have been leaving threatening phone messages for LBT groups. They are stalking LBT activists and violently disrupting human rights workshops. They are using the conservative media to incite violence against LBT people.
“Prohibit liberals: Masters of gay. Breeders of homos and lesbians” is a sticker that has been posted in restaurant windows in Jakarta and a banner with similar hate language has been displayed in public spaces in this year.

Since 2010, the LGBT community has been exposed to vigilante attacks by groups like Front Pembela Islam and police complicity with the attackers in several major cities, resulting in cancellations or early closures of gatherings, including the International Lesbian and Gay Asia Conference in Surabaya, the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission’s human rights training for waria (transgender women) in Depok and the Indonesian Q Film Festival in four of its seven locations. Indonesia’s LGBT activists are maintaining the fight to retain their freedom of association and assembly.

Decentralization’s Effects

These human rights losses grow out of the decentralization process initiated by the Indonesian government in 2001 to grant autonomy to provinces so they could govern themselves.
Religious extremists have seized the chance to create discriminatory bylaws in their provinces and enforce them in the name of morality. The worst example is in the province of Aceh, where conservative parliamentarians have implemented Sharia against sexual rights, reproductive rights, women’s rights and LBT rights.

The snowballing effect of the discriminatory bylaws is that since 2008, employment discrimination and sexual bullying in schools has sharply increased throughout Indonesia, according to research by the Ardhanary Institute, a Jakarta-based center for lesbian, bisexual and transgender research, publications and advocacy.

By 2010, family violence against LBT people doubled in Jakarta, and tripled in the provinces. Lesbians–particularly lesbian tomboys–are increasingly being sexually abused by male relatives. Those who go to the police risk being blamed for provoking the violence and lectures by police officers to change their sexual orientation and gender identity. Reports on the violence were quashed by police to prevent “smearing family reputation.”

More than 150 local laws in districts throughout the country now regulate how women dress, including butch lesbians and lesbian tomboys who are punished for the length of their hair and not appearing “feminine enough.” Waria are punished for “acting like women.” In Aceh, these laws include forcing women to cover their heads, controlling where they socialize and dictating how late they can stay out; all of which affect all women, including LBT people.

Most Egregious Law

The most egregious discriminatory local law is the Aceh adultery law passed in 2009 by religious hardliners. If this law is implemented, heterosexuals will be stoned to death for adultery and LGBT people will be caned 100 times and face 8.5 years in prison for homosexuality (defined as sexual activity outside marriage). Civil society groups have filed for judicial review with the Indonesia Supreme Court. While the new governor of Aceh is said to favor amending the law, LGBT groups fear that even if stoning is removed, the penalties for homosexuality could remain, given the lack of solidarity.

Patricia Schulz, an expert on CEDAW from Switzerland, spoke out against the entirety of the Aceh law at the July CEDAW meeting in New York City. She told the Indonesian delegation that they “represent grave violations of the rights of women to life, liberty and security.”

Schulz protested to the Indonesian delegation that decentralization cannot invalidate women’s human rights at the local and provincial level. “Democracy and rule of law, including anti-discrimination and equality law, have to walk hand-in-hand, at all levels of the state structure. Governments are responsible for upholding the obligations arising from ratified human rights treaties,” she said.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, director-general of human rights in Indonesia’s Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, deflected, saying, “The allegation about criminalization of LBT is incorrect because Indonesia does not criminalize LBT groups … regarding the punishment in Aceh, the law is not in place yet.”

Indonesia has no sodomy law, but there are laws that disproportionately affect transgender people. The national Anti-Pornography Law classifies homosexuality as “a deviant act” punishable with jail. The Ministry of Home Affairs has not ensured that local bylaws are nondiscriminatory and in compliance with international human rights treaties ratified by Indonesia.

To read the original version of this article, including quotes and a more thorough review of the CEDAW session, please visit the IGLHRC blog.

Originally published on WeNews. Republished WITH PERMISSION MOTHERF*CKERS.

About the author: Grace Poore is program coordinator, Asia and Pacific Islands, of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. She can be reached at gpoore@iglhrc.org. For more information, visit www.IGLHRC.org

Saudi Arabia’s Working Women Propose Their Own City Because They’re Tired of Waiting

Saudi Arabia is, to say the least, a man’s world. In fact, it’s consistently ranked one of the worst places for women worldwide. Women in the region require permission from a man to marry, divorce, or travel. It is illegal for them to drive a car. 60 percent of college degrees earned in the region — including PhDs — are awarded to women, but only 15 percent of the workforce is female. Conservative religious customs and old-standing tradition and law have rendered Saudi women almost powerless, and despite small gains, they remain far behind in their recent efforts for equality.

But when the government expressed an interest in increasing women’s civic and economic participation in the kingdom — granting women voting rights and instructing employers to open more employment opportunities up to women — a small crew of businesswomen made plans to leave, rather than stay. Instead of working to fit into a world created almost entirely to exclude and silence them, they planned to construct their own cities. And one of them will be finished next year.

Hofuf is home to an industrial site set to be completed next year and created entirely for the purpose of employing women. The site’s placement in Hofuf puts women in a major Saudi urban center; located close to residential neighborhoods, it is possible for women to commute. The development will create a multitude of opportunities for women while appeasing the longtime tradition of sex segregation in the region  and the social customs that often make it impossible for a mixed-sex workplace to be efficient, safe, and successful.

The proposed site, perhaps unsurprisingly, has garnered a lot of controversy. Homa Khaleel wrote a scathing piece on the proposed cities in the Guardian. She finds them to be, simply put, an unthinkable option:

But how can further segregation be expected to solve the problems caused by discrimination? It takes a peculiar leap of logic to think the answer is instead to build whole new cities where women who choose to have careers can be herded. Would this be seen as acceptable, even progressive, if the cities were there to house workplaces for people of one race rather than one gender? But where are the voices calling for an end to the country’s discriminatory practices? There has been none of the broad support that would have ensued had the segregation been along race lines. In South Africa such segregation was the basis for a worldwide boycott, yet Saudi Arabia is merely seen as an “exceptional” place with a different culture.

Clerics will say that Islam does not allow women and men to mix at work, while the rulers explain that segregation is part of Saudi culture. Yet Islamic feminists have pointed out time and time again, that the prophet Muhammad himself was married to a businesswoman – with no need to hide in an all-women city. A culture that does not just segregate women, but enshrines in law that they are second-class citizens is hardly one worth preserving.

But for the 65 percent of Saudi women who desire financial independence, the 75 percent who remain unemployed, and the women under 25 who yearn to make good use of their degrees in the foreseeable future, a single-sex city may be just what they need. 

The first of five planned women-only cities, Hofuf alone will offer 5,000 jobs in textiles, pharmaceuticals and food-processing, as well as opportunities for women to be at the helm and finally see women-driven product lines. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority, called Modon, released a statement from their deputy director general saying “women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, nature and ability” within the city.

Hussa al-Aun, one of the businesswomen who proposed the series of cities to Modon, said it was “essential to cut unemployment among [the kingdom’s] female graduates.” Women working in the city will also be offered training and and opportunities to further develop their talents.

The implications of Hofuf have yet to be fully recognized, but from a historical standpoint, this could be the first step towards turning Saudi Arabia on its head, or on its elbows, or on its knees. In a region where women have historically been oppressed at a very extreme level, an entire city devoted to their potential and ambitions seems like it could be a major step forward for the women involved, although what it will mean for the future of Saudi Arabia as a nation remains impossible to predict. In the wake of the accepted proposal for the site, academics and journalists alike have harkened back to Jim Crow, arguments about same-sex education, and the failing logic of a segregated city. But that isn’t wholly fair. After all, same-sex education in America might not be our ideal now, but Wellesley and the other sister schools exist because at one point, the Ivy League was a big treehouse with an obnoxious “no girls allowed” sign attached to the front. At one point it was impossible for American women to get an education comparable to that of presidents, business owners, and other breadwinners — so they simply made their own space to do it. Sometimes you have to stop waiting to achieve equality alongside your oppressor and you have to pack up and go.

Achieving equality alongside men may not be possible for Saudi women at this point, who exist in a climate where they are policed socially as well as legally to remain silent, subordinate, and inactive — but they desire it. Hofuf is an opportunity for Saudi women to show their families, peers, and leaders that they have tangible skills and ambition, and at this point in their movement that seems a necessary step in order to create change in their benefit within the region. The idea that women have to prove to men anywhere on this planet that they have worth is frustrating and stupid, and we are right to react with confusion and anger at the premise that it is the only way. But that doesn’t change the fact that it also isn’t a novel concept, and that women still have to do that here.

Saudi women do not have time for gradualism. The kingdom which they call home is freedomless for them. Why should they continue to wait for slow political progress, and trust in individual public figures for their own liberation, when they can just pick up and go? Saudi women do not have time for gradual progress — but now they have the opportunity to explain and exhibit why it never made sense to wait in the first place.

Nepal’s Colorful, Musical March to Even Greater LGBT and Gender Equality

Today is a special day in Nepal: hundreds of people have just marched through the city of Pokhara, demanding that the government recognise the rights of third-gender citizens on official certificates, allow same-sex marriage, and criminalise discrimination based on sexual and gender orientation.

Though the goal of the march was serious, it had a celebratory feel. Bollywood music played over loudspeakers and participants were outfitted in colourful clothes with beads and jewellery. There was no hostility towards the march’s approximately 2,500 participants. Instead, bystanders lined the streets, cheering them on. This isn’t surprising; though the march attests to the work that still needs to be done, Nepal’s LGBT rights movement has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Today’s scene would’ve been hard to imagine a decade ago, before the end of Nepal’s 10-year Communist Revolution in 2006.

via montrealgazette

Nepal’s foremost LGBT rights organisation is the Blue Diamond Society which was founded by gay rights activist and politician Sunil Pant. A country boy, Pant moved to Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu in his late twenties, hoping to find a sense of community. What he found instead was a stark contrast to the open, accepting atomosphere surrounding today’s march. Only a little over ten years ago, LGBT people in Nepal had to hide in an underground subculture, meeting at night in parks and feeling under constant threat from police violence. Yet Pant refused to hide in fear and shame. In 2001, he, along with a group primarily made up of transgender sex workers and third-gender identified individuals, started Nepal’s first gay rights organization – the Blue Diamond Society (BDS). The BDS became popular when, in 2004, the arrests of 13 of its members were covered by major NGOs and media outlets.

Following the end of the Communist Revolution, Pant was invited to participate in the Yogyakarta Talks. In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a group of experts came together to discuss international human rights and how they are related to gender and sexual orientation. Pant was inspired by the talks and felt that with the end of the revolution, a new Nepal was possible, one in which LGBT peoples would be respected and have an important voice. At Pant’s urging, the Nepal courts adopted some of the conclusions from the Yogyakarta principles, the main one being that the sole criterion for identifying as a specific gender is self-determination. A third-gender category was established, and this 2007 Supreme Court decision has been called “arguably the single most comprehensive judgement of affirming protections of same-sex peoples anywhere in the world.” It led to the inclusion of the third-gender category on Nepal’s 2011 census.

via worldpolicy.org

Gender. Biology. Self-determination. These are some very, very important words. Words that affect a person’s worth and self-esteem. Words that can affirm a person’s humanity. That the Nepalese law recognises an individual’s right to self-determine gender is groundbreaking, but it doesn’t erase the social stigma many third-gender individuals feel. When census officials came to the home of a Nepalese farmer, the farmer’s wife marked the box titled male for her husband, not knowing that her spouse did not feel an affinity for either the male or female category, and would’ve much preferred to mark the third-gender box. Being properly accounted for was so important that, after returning home from the fields and discovering what had happened, the farmer chased after the census-takers only to be told that because the box was marked in pen, it wouldn’t be changed.

That a wife didn’t know the gender identity of her husband speaks to the shame and invisibility of many third-gender people. Another troubling incident occurred when census officials asked parents to remove their child’s clothing when they described the child as third-gender. This demonstrates not only an extremely troubling and invasive disrespect for privacy, but also a lack of understand ing about Nepal’s third-gender category. Because third-gender is a self-determined identity, it doesn’t need to have anything to do with biology or how a person looks naked.

In Nepal, third-gender people are those who don’t see themselves as having a fixed gender or sexual orientation. The category third-gender can also be used by people who feel they don’t fit into the male or female gender roles of their culture. This is different than in Australia, where there is also a third-gender category, simply marked on official papers, as “X,” but it can only be claimed by transgender people who are post-op and also by intersex individuals.

Something’s missing here.

Today’s march was a way of lifting the veil of invisibility that, despite the country’s growing LGBT movement, still hangs heavy. There are also pressing legal matters that many LGBT activists in Nepal feel still need to be remedied. Though the government recognises the third-gender identity, people who applied for certificates marked third-gender have to wait ridiculous amounts of time to receive their identification. In the meantime, they find it hard to get jobs, passports, enrol in college, or own property. It’s one thing for a court to give a ruling about accepting and recognising the rights of sexual and gender non-conforming people, as it did following the end of the Communist Revolution. But it is another thing entirely to see what’s decided upon in court translated into the realities of people’s every day lives.

Nepal’s marchers also want to ensure that queer rights will be included in Nepal’s new constitution, which will be written sometime after November . Twenty-six year-old Basu Guragi, who recently came out as gay and was a participant in today’s march, spoke of how too many in Nepal are still afraid of their families’ reactions to their sexual and/or gender identity. Today, Nepal’s queer community has fought to end fear, shame, and invisibility. They’ve done so colourfully, with awesome jewellery and music, and to cheers from bystanders.

August Prides are Hotter and Sweatier!

Feature image via The Telegraph

A lot of cities had their Prides weeks ago, but that isn’t to say that rainbows stopped soaring. All around the world people are putting on their beads, glitter and smiles and taking to the streets. Admittedly some of the facepaint you’re seeing may be a bit more nationalistic in spirit, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be out shined by the Olympics! LGBT groups are dressing up (or dressing waaaay down) to fight for their right to celebrate this weekend.

Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem had its 10th annual Pride parade on Thursday that honored the victims of a 2009 shooting at a local gay centre. Between 3500 and 5000 queers and allies came out to honor the victims and celebrate the LGBT community.

Montreal, Canada

Montreal’s Pride Parade isn’t until August 19th, but there’s no need for pity. Montreal actually has two Pride festivals and this weekend is Divers/Cité. The Old Port transforms as DJs take the the stage and community leaders show off Montreal’s true colours. I’m gonna head down to the docks tonight!

via DJorgensen

Liverpool, UK
Between the Olympics and Pride, I imagine that the UK will be running out of facepaint and alcohol by Monday. Liverpool Pride will be Nautical but Nice this year as they host the UK’s second largest Pride march this Saturday. This march marks a milestone for this third annual festival as two Premier League football clubs come out for the first time ever!

Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver Pride will always be my pride in my heart and the festivities kicked off without me! There will be a number of outstanding individuals part in Sunday’s Parade. Jenna Talackova, the Miss Universe Canada contestant that helped change pageant rules for everyone, will be one of the Grand Marshalls. She’ll be joined by the Canuck’s Manny Malhotra. He’s serving as an ambassador for You Can Play, an organization that seeks to break down barriers and stigmas for LGBT athletes.

via Bizarre Tambourin

Hanoi, Vietnam

Hats off to Vietnam as they pull off their first parade on Sunday! Earlier this week it was reported that the Ministry of Justice started to propose revisions to the Marriage Law. This inaugural 200 person march could be the first step to make Vietnam the first Asian country to recognize same-sex couples and their rights!

Port Stanley, Canada

Since I can’t write a happy post without someone raining on my parade, Port Stanley officials are doing just that. The Port Stanley Pride Festival is trying to have their inaugural parade this year starting August 10th. The municipal officials are “uncomfortable” with the situation and are demanding last minute changes that take up $12,000 of a $35,000 budget. I want to imagine that the world isn’t a horrible place that hates the pretty unicorns, so I’ll be naïve and believe that festival organizers may have missed some paperwork in their original application. Either way, good luck Port Stanley!

Pride 2012 isn’t over yet, so grab your beads and take to the street wherever you are! Amsterdam, Ottawa, Windsor, Eugene, San Jose, Hampton Roads, Madison, Chico, Charlotte, Calgary, Duluth and Austin all have a bit more time to plan their costumes. Make sure to message your fellow Autostraddlers and meet up if you need a friend. March in the parade, wave a flag or just be your fabulous self in solidarity. And oh, if any of your fabulous selves know how to remove glitter from hair/skin/underwear it would be much appreciated.

Chevi Rabbit is Attacked for Being Gay but Won’t Stop Being Fabulous

Feature Image via Soko Fotohaus

 On Thursday, July 19th in Edmonton, Canada, 26-year-old gay University of Alberta student and makeup artist Chevi Rabbit was feeling hungry. He wanted a snack, so he did what you or I would do when running low on groceries and faced with a similar gastronomical situation — he decided to walk the few blocks to Safeway and get something to eat. Walking to the grocery store is the most ordinary of activities, but Chevi Rabbit is no ordinary guy. To put it simply, he’s fabulous! And as he walked to Safeway that Thursday evening, you can bet your gay unicorns he was wearing perfectly applied makeup. It’s hard to imagine what exactly was going on in the minds of the three men who attacked him, but they must’ve had a major problem with a visibly gay man who had the audacity to be out doing an ordinary activity in public with makeup on. Edmonton, like too many North American cities, has an affinity for gender norms and an aversion to walking (driving is the preferred method of transportation here). I guess that makes Chevi somewhat of a radical. Since I also live in Edmonton, Chevi’s story hit close to my heart. I was lucky to interview him about the attack as well as on violence against gender non-conforming people, what he is doing to make the city a safer place for queers and why, as he puts it, “walking to the grocery store should not be a life or death situation.”

Chevi tells me that as he was walking to Safeway, a vehicle pulled up beside him. Inside there were three men. “They stopped at the intersection beside me,” he says. “They started shouting anti-gay comments such as, ‘Hey faggot, you’re a fucking faggot, you faggot!'” Chevi handled this verbal attack with remarkable poise and well, fabulousness. He turned around to face them, said, “Thank you.” and continued on his way.

“It was embarrassing.” Chevi says about being verbally assaulted. “There were so many people around! There were over 15 people playing volleyball next to the sidewalk where I was walking. The neighbourhood is a good one. There are so many students in the area and everyone could hear what they were saying to me!”

He texted a friend about what had happened, not realizing that the van had begun backing up towards him. It stopped and the three men jumped out of the car, putting Chevi into a headlock and pushing him onto the concrete sidewalk. “Luckily there was a group of people who had witnessed everything,” Chevi tells me. “They scared off [the attackers], ran after them, and even managed to get their license plate and description.” Unfortunately, the three men still managed to steal Chevi’s iPhone.

In many ways, our culture is still deeply attached to a structure of rigid gender norms, and specific gendered behaviours assigned to one gender or the other. Who’s ever heard the expression “boys will be boys?” Growing up, I didn’t understand why there was supposed to be much of a difference between boys and girls. I painted my little brother’s nails and had clothing exchanges with the neighbourhood boys. I’d invite them to my room, undress them, wear their hockey jerseys and put them in my dresses. When I went to church on Sunday, the fact that the priest was always a man offended the little-girl feminist in me. What if I wanted to be a priest? To me, gender was one of the many things adults made unnecessarily complicated.

And even though I guess I’ve now joined the ranks of the adult, I still can’t wrap my head around why people get so hot and bothered about gender non-conformity. Remember when Jenna Lyons painted her son’s toenails in a JC Penney ad, and it created a huge controversy? Psychiatrist Keith Ablow shared his thoughts on gender and the ad on the oh-so-reputable Fox News:

This is a dramatic example of the way our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity – homogenizing males and females when the outcome is not known.

As far as I know, Keith Ablow is not assaulting any gender non-conforming individuals on their way to the grocery store, but comments like his touch upon the discomfort many feel when the trappings of femininity or masculinity are loosened. But gender shouldn’t be trapped by its trappings; it should be dressed up, dressed down and played with. The outcome of gender non-conformity should be having fun and letting us feel more like ourselves.

This is something Chevi understands. He’s been wearing makeup and has felt comfortable with his sexuality for a long time. “I came out about my sexuality at a very young age — early teens.” he says. Luckily, up until July 19th, he had experienced little homophobia. “Thank goodness that I had a very accepting family and a strong mother. My mother has always given unconditional love to me and her family. Because of her love for me, I was able to be myself and have grown up comfortable with my sexuality. I don’t have any issues with who I am as an openly gay man. I feel that sometimes it’s others who are caught off guard with how comfortable I am with myself in all situations.”

But post-attack, he wondered if he should wipe off the makeup for good. As a professional makeup artist working freelance and also for Yves St. Laurent and Giorgio Armani, Chevi tells me that makeup has always been a huge passion of his. But it’s dangerous to be different — and a man openly passionate about makeup is certainly different. We were all horrified when we heard about the attack on a lesbian woman in Nebraska, and closer to home for me, there was the violent assault on Shannon Barry in Edmonton. To add gender non-conformity to an identity as a sexual minority can create a dangerous mix. A 2011 report found that gender non-conforming youth are the most vulnerable when it comes to violence and bullying. Comments such as Ablow’s only add fuel to the dangerous fire that is the all-too prevalent bullying and attacking of queer and gender non-conforming individuals. Despite the danger, Chevi decided that the prejudices of others shouldn’t stop him from being himself. He says, “I have come to the conclusion that yes, this was a terrible hate crime and attack, but I will not let it change who I am. I will continue to wear makeup and live a fabulous gay life.”

For Chevi Rabbit, it’s not enough to be himself. Since the attack, he has become quite the activist, speaking out to the media about what happened to him while actively organizing a NOH8 March and Rally that will take place in Edmonton this Thursday, August 2nd. “There needs to be some tolerance.” he tells me. “Certain demographics of people need to be educated on the differences that exist in our society, and that those differences are okay and should be embraced. It’s okay to be different and unique and feel safe being so!”

This Thursday, August 2nd, people in Edmonton are encouraged to come to Chevi’s NOH8 rally. He asks that you wear purple, the anti-bullying colour. The march will begin on the corner of 110st and 84 ave, where the attack happened. “Then we will walk,” Chevi says, “holding the hands of someone of the same sex as you.” There will also be speeches from some pretty impressive community leaders including Michael Phair, the director of community relations at the University of Alberta and the first openly gay city counsellor; Lewis Cardinal, the Aboriginal Federal NDP candidate; and Gary Simpson from the United Church. Tony-award nominated Broadway singer Michelle Rios will also be performing.

When I first heard about what had happened to Chevi, I was both saddened and angered by the violence and homophobia in my city. It made me think of the first time I held hands with a girl: I was walking down Edmonton’s Jasper Avenue when a man muttered, “Would you look at that!” I’ll never forget how angry his eyes were, and all I could think was, “I’m just being myself in my city.” Chevi is working hard to make Edmonton a safer place for anyone who is different, anyone whose sexuality and gender presentation doesn’t fit into a neat heteronormative box. My reaction to his story has changed from feelings of rage and grief to courage and inspiration. Yes, Chevi was attacked, but people came to help him and chased his attackers away. And now on Thursday, July 19th Edmontonians will gather to let the city know that hate crimes will not be accepted. Before our interview ended, I asked Chevi if he had anything to say to anyone who is being harassed and/or feeling bad about being different.

“I hope that my story helps someone know that it’s okay to be yourself, that it is okay to be openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. You are valued in our society. And life is worth living.”

I thanked Chevi for the interview, for sharing his story, for being brave.

Feel free to contact Chevi Rabbit for freelance work, or even just to offer a message of love and support at chevirabbit [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also visit his makeup artist’s blog. And for more information about August 2nd’s NoH8 March and Rally, please check out the event’s Facebook page.

LGBT Equality, Activism and Inspiration at the Celebration of Courage Award Ceremony

Two weeks ago I received an invite to the annual International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission’s Celebration of Courage award ceremony and immediately agreed to go. Shortly after, I began to ponder the awkwardness that might follow in attending a fancy gala where I knew no one in real life other than Charlotte Bunch and would likely be milling about with queer famous writers/politicians/professors of note.  There we’d be,  just me and my glass of champagne. Seeing as this is not the Real (or fake) L word, this is not as sexy a scenario as one might think, but moderate social anxiety aside – onward and upward!

The evening recognized two lesbians for their outstanding work for human rights, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and Chilean Judge Karen Atala who received the Felipa De Souza Award. As you may recall, Tammy Baldwin is on track to become the first openly gay non-incumbent elected Senator in the United States, and has fought vigorously for women’s rights supporting the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and defending the Violence against Women Act (VAWA), aggressively striking back against the War on Women, all while representing the less than lefty state of Wisconsin.  As coverage of the event by the Advocate explains, Baldwin also established the LGBT Equality Caucus in 2008, co-chaired by Barney Frank, which has now grown to over 100 members.

Tammy Baldwin is a candidate in Wisconsin for Senate this year

Hosting the event was Maulik Pancholy who you probably know from his roles in 30 Rock and Weeds and probably don’t from Whitney.   Presenting the awards were recently married powerhouse NY City Council woman Christine C. Quinn and Professor Suzanne B. Goldberg of Columbia Law School. So many lesbians in  power suits, so little time.

IGLHRC’s acting executive director Jessica Lynn Stern also addressed the crowd, opening with a statement about her coupled status and confirmation that no, she is not a swinger so sorry ladies! Stein continued,

In lofty terms, we at IGLHRC would say that our mission is to end human rights violations based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but in daily terms, we promote something much simpler: story telling. After 22 years of experience advancing LGBT rights worldwide, our breaking news for you tonight is that the oldest tool in the books is the best one. The most powerful tool for social chance is our own voice, telling our own story.

Most moving for me was the story told by Judge Karen Atala of her experiences defending her right to mother her three daughters as a lesbian in Chile. Her actions defending her rights as a mother and lesbian led to a landmark ruling at the Inter American Court awarding her monetary compensation of $50,000 plus $12,000 in court fees for the years spent defending her human rights.

Judge Karen Atala testifying to regain custody of her three daughters

Atala read her incredibly moving speech in Spanish while an overhead prompter translated:

I’m a Chilean woman, of Palestinian origin, a lawyer by profession, a judge by trade, a mother and a lesbian. These are some of the characteristics that define me and only one of them was enough for the Excellency Supreme Court of my country to deprive me of custody of my daughters in a 2004 ruling. They determined that my female partner and I constituted an exceptional family model, one that does not have value in the Chilean society.  According to the ruling, only traditional, heterosexual families have value, and because our family is different, they ruled that my daughters would be exposed to stigmatization and be outcast by society.

In my position as a judge, I never doubted the institution, the empire of Law and its technical character. It also never crossed my mind to lie about my lesbian relationship, to disguise it as a “friendship”. The truth prevails before everything that is the measure that guides my work, that’s why I didn’t deny my sexual orientation during the custody hearings. However, that truth was not politically current in those days.

Also in attendance was the outspoken Ugandan LGBT activist Val Kalende, who helped found the LGBT organization Freedom and Roam Uganda (FARUG). Her activism was documented in a short video showcasing the work of some human rights defenders who have worked in collaboration with IGLHRC and has been widely documented.

Val Kalende speaking at the Creating Change Conference

An announcement was made during the gala that an anonymous donation of $1 million dollars was granted to the organization, leaving everyone with a sense of the incredible possibilities for the future work of IGLHRC.  I’d be remiss to leave out that a personal highlight of the evening was when I turned to make small talk while waiting for my beverage and realized that I’d mused about the mystifying line organization to none other than Judith Butler. Also, I made off with a swag bag including, among other things, Alan Cumming’s perfume Cumming: the scent. Alan Cumming serves as the honorary chair of IGLHRC, we all win.

To learn more about the different types of work IGLHRC is involved with across the globe, find out what projects the organization is involved with by country. You can also watch the gala streaming online and see event photos.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Bill C-38 is an Affront to your Feminist Sensibilities

Feature image via stylingdutchman.blogspot.ca

I’m going to warn you right off the bat that this article is biased. Completely, utterly, 100% biased against Bill C-38, the Conservative government’s budget bill that was passed mid-June. But before we get to my great big bias, let’s take a moment and get properly introduced to the Bill. First off, Bill C-38 is kinda like a nickname; and Bill’s actual name, which is the “Jobs, Growth, and Long-term Prosperity Act,” sounds nicer, don’t you think? I mean, who doesn’t want jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity?

This is how I like to imagine I’d feel on ‘jobs, growth, and long-term prosperity.’

I certainly do! I’m raising my hand, waving it side to side like an eager student of Prime Minister Harper’s policies: “Oh my god! Please! Could you pick me for the jobs, and the growth, and the long-term prosperity Mr. Prime Minister?” Harper looks right past me. What the fuck, I think. I’m always raising my hand, trying my best at this class participation thing otherwise known as democracy, and he never even looks my way. Am I too much of a visible minority for his liking? Too female? The Prime Minister points to the middle-aged white man sitting at the back of the class folding hundred dollar bills into missiles – he’s a weapon’s manufacturer, you see. “I would like to offer the jobs, growth, and prosperity to you,” Harper tells the man, “and also to you,” he points to another middle-aged white man. This one’s not even paying attention but instead is playing with his model oil rig set. I sulk in the corner and post anti-Harper status updates on Facebook.

Now here’s why I’m biased: unlike the growth being offered to, say, the weapons manufacturers or the oil companies, the growth being offered to people like me is the bad kind. Like a wart. With a hair sticking out of it. Gross. You see, being a fan of things like women, healthcare, minority rights, employment equality, the environment, etc. just makes me amazingly, supremely biased against Bill C-38. You should be biased too if you: are a woman or like women; are a Canadian or like Canadians; are Aboriginal or like Aboriginals; and are a fan of things like healthcare, minorities, and the good old, “equal work for equal pay.”

There’ve been many articles in the media (or at least the Canadian media) about how Bill C-38 is incredibly bad for the environment because, well, Bill C-38 is to the environment what an angry fist is to a nose – a punch in the face: the Fisheries Act is severely weakened, endangered species protection has been pushed off the government’s agenda, the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act has been effectively killed , and I could go on, but I won’t because there has been a lack of good old fashioned feminist analysis on Bill C-38, and it’s about time we did something about that.

1. Bill C-38 does not like Fair Wages and Employment Equity:

Once upon a time, in a Canadian land far from the reaches of the wicked Harper, there was something called the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act. This Act had been around since 1985, and as its name states, its purpose was to make sure federal contracts pay fair wages and overtime. You would think an Act in favour of fair wages and working hours wouldn’t offend anyone; but apparently Harper isn’t a fan. I guess with these tough economic times it’s just too expensive to treat people fairly, but as far as comprehensive reasons go, I’m grasping at straws here. There really was no explanation given for the repeal of the Act. The Bill simply says, The fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act” is repealed.

“What exactly is a fair wage?” you may be asking. Obviously, it varies depending on your cost of living, but it shouldn’t vary according to gender. I’ve even heard self-described non-feminists say, “I’m no feminazi or anything, but you know, I do believe men and women should get paid equally.” “Do you?” I will say next time a woman who’s a Not- A-Feminist-or-Anything says this to me. “Well, Harper doesn’t!” With Bill C-38, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has taken the notion of equal pay for equal work, and to use legal terms, has amended it. That’s right, the Employment Equity Act has been amended. The Employment Equity Act came about in the mid 80s and exists (or should I say existed) to promote equality in the workplace, and seeks to correct conditions of disadvantage experienced by women, aboriginals, people with disabilities, and visible minorities. Thanks to the amendments to this act, federally-contracted employment sectors no longer have to worry about whether they have discriminatory hiring, promotion, and pay practices.

2. Bill C-38 does not like Aboriginal Women:

There’s a huge problem in Canada — women, especially Aboriginal women, are going missing, and not much is being done about it by police. Luckily there are a number of organisations in the country marching, speaking up, and otherwise advocating for these women. Unluckily, the current government does not see these women as important, as the funding for many of these organisations, such as the First Nations Statistical Institute, the Native Women’s Association of Canada, and the National Aboriginal Health Organization has been cut.

Missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. Via Terrace Daily Online

3. Bill C-38 Does not like Healthy Women

Let’s talk about health for a minute, okay? Not only are Aboriginal women more likely than non-Aboriginal women to go missing, but they are more likely to live in poverty, suffer abuse and disability, and be afflicted with diseases such as diabetes and tuberculosis. The suicide rate for First Nations citizens is six times higher than the national average. I don’t even want to know what the suicide rate for queer Aboriginal women is. With these depressing statistics, you would think the government would recognise the need for the National Aboriginal Health Organization, which, since it was founded in 2000 has participated in crucial research and outreach on suicide prevention, tobacco cessation, housing, and midwifery. But it doesn’t.

And for some more depressing news on health cutbacks, the Bill has cut funding to the Canadian Women’s Health Network, a volunteer-run organization whose mission is to “improve the health and lives of girls and women in Canada and the world by collecting, producing, distributing and sharing knowledge, ideas, education, information, resources, strategies, and inspirations.”

4. Bill C-38 Does not like Healthy Refugees

I am all for improving the health and lives of girls and women in Canada, but I recognize that at least Canadians have access to free healthcare, unlike, say, refugees. That’s right, the Conservative budget has cut funding to the Interim Federal Health Program, which provides healthcare to refugees while they await to see if they will be granted asylum in Canada.

Via Montreal Gazette

Bill C-38’s budget cuts are not only an affront to your feminist sensibilities. The Bill also spits on the face of democracy. In a proper democracy, amendments to environmental legislation, healthcare, Aboriginal organizations, and refugee care are brought up and deliberated on an individual basis. This makes it easier for the population to keep up with what’s going on and consequently, have a say in the decision making process. It also helps each amendment get the research and attention it deserves. Never before in Canadian history have so many laws and regulations been altered in one go. Bill C-38 is over 400 discriminatory pages long. A federal budget bill should never be that long – especially in a reputably democratic country. In one of her articles criticizing the Bill, Elizabeth May writes that democracy is not a constant state of affairs. It can be won and it can be lost. Like anything, it can change. Having the right to vote, free health care, and legalized same-sex marriage is not an excuse for Canadians to get too comfy in their democracy. We have to pay attention to what’s happening under the current Conservative government. And as queer people who care about women and minorities, we need to be aware and infuriated about what’s happening in Canada.

This Is A Rick Mercer Appreciation Post

If you care about Canada or laughing or both, you need to be watching The Rick Mercer Report. Canadian politics can be depressing and/or really, really boring, but Rick Mercer takes the issues happening in this country and turns them into something you can laugh about. Plus, he’s relevant to your queer interests: in response to ongoing backlash from Canadians and the Harper government against same-sex marriage, he posted this spoof on so-called traditional values. My favourite lines are “Every child should have a mom and a dad and nothing else. That’s why I believe in the traditional definition of ‘bastard.’ That’s not a curse word, kids. That’s just grown-up talk for the little fellow next door.”

Following the suicide of gay teen Jamie Hubley from Ottawa and responding to the “It Gets Better” Campaign, Mercer made the following video, saying queer adults have a responsibility to gay teens to make it better not at some unknown point in the future, but right now. Teens can’t afford to wait, he argued; so successful gay adults need to come out of the closet. The video went viral and its message was powerful, but he was criticized for insisting adults have a responsibility to forgo their privacy in favour of gay visibility.

Here is the video:

Do you agree with him. What d’you think?

Finally, here is Rick Mercer talking about coming out to his family:

For more information on Rick Mercer, you visit the Rick Mercer Report online.

How Do You Prove Your Gayness To Canada?

Back in 2007, Nigerian Francis Ojo Ogunrinde came to Canada seeking residency status as a refugee claimant. The 40-year-old man sought refuge in Canada on the grounds that, as a gay man, he would be persecuted if he returned to his native country. The Canadian Immigration and Refugee board rejected his claim in 2010, deeming that Ogunrinde lacked credibility as a homosexual . Ogunrinde fought this rejection, applying to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for an assessment of the risks he would face if he returned to Nigeria. Those who are in danger of facing death, torture, or other means of persecution in their own countries are legally supposed to be able to stay in Canada. Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria and is punishable by stoning. The difficulty for Ogunrinde lay in convincing the government that he was, in fact, gay.

This was no easy task. He provided the board with a letter from a man with whom he had been in a long-term relationship as well as photographs of the two of them together. Additionally, he provided a letter from the Toronto Community Centre where he had been attending “Coming Out, Being Out” meetings. To demonstrate the reality of the persecution that awaited him in Nigeria, he even included in his application a letter from a Nigerian friend who explained that police had been looking for Ogunrinde because of his “homosexual activities.”

Apparently a boyfriend, a gay community, and insistence on being wanted by police for homosexuality was not enough to convince a senior immigration officer that Ogunrinde was gay. The letter from Ogunrinde’s boyfriend had not given explicit details of the romantic and sexual aspects of their relationship; and the officer just didn’t think Ogunrinde really behaved like a gay person should.

In short, Ogunrinde would have probably been a more convincing claimant had he included a sex tape in his application and then taken the immigration officer out for a makeover and a shopping trip, followed by an evening spent re-decorating the officer’s living room while listening to Cher.

Don’t listen to me? What kind of a homosexual man are you?

Canada is not the only country in which gay applicants have a difficult time seeking refuge.

Pause and Prove

Recently, Iranian Ghorbani Danesh was rejected asylum in Germany. because a German judge thought it feasible that she pretend to be straight upon return to Iran, and consequently avoid all danger. Danesh has only one month left in Germany before she will be deported.

Ogunrinde’s story has a more hopeful ending. Last month James Russel, a federal judge, decided that Ogunrinde’s case be reopened. Russel wrote that “it is inappropriate for officers to rely on stereotypes when evaluating whether or not a person has established any ground of risk, including sexual orientation” and that “the acts and behaviours which establish a claimant’s homosexuality are inherently private.”

Unfortunately a claimant’s privacy will continue to be disrespected as long as he or she has to, in some way or another, prove homosexuality. Privacy issues notwithstanding, sexual orientation is not something that can be proven. Even if Ogunrinde had never had a boyfriend or participated in “Coming Out, Being Out” meetings, he would still be gay. Though Ogunrinde’s luck seems to be looking up, it does not change the fact that it has taken no less than five years for a judge to essentially say, ” Maybe you are in fact gay and we shouldn’t demand a play-by-play of your sex life.”

What would have happened if Russel had not stepped in? Ogunrinde is safe for now, but only by a stroke of luck.

Both Ogunrinde’s and Danesh’s stories highlight the prevalence of false assumptions about sexuality in our society. Danesh’s sexuality is seen as essentially disposable. To the German judge, lesbianism does not seem to be a relevant sexuality. Instead, it is little more than a minor inconvenience that can just be hidden away in favour of a normal, heterosexual lifestyle. In the case of Ogunrinde, a gay man’s sexuality is diminished to being just about sex and stereotypes. Thinking lesbians don’t have to be, you know, actual lesbians, and viewing gay men as home-decorating porn stars has repercussions that reach all the way to federal immigration boards across the globe.

An Illustrated Guide To Giving Away Your Blood

It looks like the People Who Get to Donate Blood Club is opening up to include a few more queers. On July 1, China lifted its 1998 ban on lesbians, finally welcoming lady-loving-ladies and all of their fluids. Canadian Blood Services is hoping to submit a policy to Health Canada this fall that would remedy the self-confessed “archaic laws” preventing gay men from joining up. In light of a national shortage, the FDA is finally reevaluating its stance on gay male exclusion.

Hey guess what Autostraddlers? Applications are still open for you to join the People That Get to Donate Blood Club! The fact is, donor numbers are dwindling across the board, so why not step in and help? It isn’t that hard or that scary! There are people who can’t donate — either for valid reasons or ignorant ones — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. So roll up your sleeves and learn how to pop your blood donor cherry. Let’s get started!

The Prep

Just like an academic test, there’s a little bit of homework. Start by calling your blood donor organization to make an appointment with a clinic or mobile blood-drive.

Eat properly (including iron rich foods) in the days leading up to your appointment. If you’re an omnivore, keep it up! Meat is rich in heme iron, a form of iron that your body readily absorbs. If you’re more of a herbivore, you’re still covered! Lentils, beans and dark leafy greens will raise your hemoglobin levels when eaten in large enough quantities. You won’t get pumped like Popeye by gulping spinach, but did you know you can more out of your greens by munching them with vitamin C and saving your tea for dessert?

Drink a lot of fluids before you go. The more fluids you drink, the greater your blood volume will be. Your veins will be easier to find and your blood will be collected more readily.

Oh and get a good night’s sleep.

The Registration

Start registering by presenting your ID and contact info to the receptionist. If you become a pufferfish by simply touching latex (or rubber or anything else in a clinical environment) talk that shit out.

At this point the receptionist will clip your identification to all of your paperwork. You will promptly forget this. Then, when anyone asks for your ID, you will freak out and imagine you lost it. You will start to give yourself a full body pat-down as the nurse calmly unclips your card. This dance will happen during 99% of your donations.

The Screening

Canadian Blood Services, Hema-Quebec and the American Red Cross diverge a bit when it comes to the screening steps. If you’re in America, you get to proceed straight to a one-on-one interview with a nurse. If you’re in Canada, you get to partially fill out a questionnaire all by your lonesome. Just like in middle school, they will give you as much information on proper bubble form filling technique as possible.

When you go to the private nurse’s office, try to remember that you aren’t in elementary school anymore. Resist the urge to rifle through the drawers looking for lollipops since you’ll get your treats later.

Easy stuff first! He or she checks your arms for lesions and takes your blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. The worst this gets is squeezey.
Discomfort Level: Anaconda hug from your uncle.

Testing your iron levels is neat. The nurse draws a sample by poking your finger with a spring-loaded needle (read: it will be over instantly) and checks if its a sinker or a swimmer (in a graduated cylinder of copper sulfate) or runs it through a magical machine called a mini photometer. This would be a great time to nerd out.
Discomfort Level: Rifling through a drawer of pushpins

When you pass with flying colours, you move on to the intimate conversation round. Rowr. If you’ve ever spoken to a new fling about the state of your lady bits, this’ll be easy by comparison. The nurse walks you through your medical history. If your memory sucks like mine, pack your planner. The questionnaire covers your history in terms of family, travel, sex and drugs. Oh and whether you’ve ever had a work relationship with a monkey. Do not freak out. Learning about you and your health is important! Certain diseases are hamfistedly screened against to try to protect the recipient. In some cases having a common background may help the transfusion. Plus, if any new issues emerge, they can track the blood from the recipient to the donation and back to you (winwin!). If you still feel uncomfortable, speak up!
Discomfort Level: Comparing your Number with your girlfriend’s Number.

The Donation

The nurse leads you to a chair and narrates every single thing that’s being done. (It’s kind of like being tucked in with a bedtime story. Yeah, think of it like that.) The nurses will see if you have an arm preference then begin the search for Your Best Vein. Once its found, they’ll make a light-hearted joke and proceed to tape and tourniquet your arm. A nurse will swab your inner elbow with sanitizer for what seems like a century.
Discomfort Level: Being licked incessantly by a dog with a cold tongue.

Okay so there are needles. (Did I mention there are needles?) Find your happy place! If you’re afraid, let the nurse know. If you can’t bear to look, turn away. If you feel like running and jumping, resist the urge since you’re attached to a lot of medical doodads. If it’s way too real and you can’t deal with it, that’s okay too.

When the needle goes in, you may get a hit of adrenaline that makes the room wobbly and shit. Do the in-and-out lung thing and lay back. The spinning should stop. The pain should be bearable. If this really isn’t working, let the nurse know that you want off the ride.
Discomfort Level: Variable! Unfortunately I can’t give advice here. If you’ve gotten a body mod before, you can handle it. One friend described it as, “a bee sting without all of the anaphylactic choking fun times.” I think it feels like a cat sharpening its claws on my leg — which I’m okay with since it happens far too often.

So now you have a metal arm accessory. Ask someone to cover the site if you can’t stand the sight. A few samples will be drawn off for testing, then the nurse will leave you alone. Or not. If you need the company and feel like whining, they’ll listen. Would a blanket make you feel more comfortable? Do you want your feet elevated? Do you feel thirsty? Are you bored? The nurses will help you within reason and probably have stories about someone that freaked out way more than you did. (If you’re getting antsy or competitive, wiggle your fingers to increase circulation and speed up the process. Ask for a rubber ball or a glove filled with warm water and massage that shit.)
Discomfort Level: Waiting for a bus that just won’t come when your arms are loaded with groceries (and the bags are cutting into your inner elbows).

Once they’ve drawn your pint you can shed the needles and tubing! You will be told to press a cotton ball on your booboo. Now would not be the time to rebel and show how tough you are since pressure stops your arm from turning purple. After a brief rest, the nurse will apply a band-aid (hopefully with a smiley face) and ask if you’re feeling well enough to stand up and shove your face full of food.
Discomfort Level: Standing up too fast and banging your arm on a table.

It’s juice and cookie time! A volunteer monitors you for about ten minutes and fulfills your need for OJ and sugary pucks of happiness. Munch that shit. If you have a dietary restriction that prevents you from eating Free Cookies, eat the snack you brought instead. If your earlier discomfort hasn’t subsided, let the volunteer know. Otherwise, you’re done!
Discomfort Level: Eating cookies.(Maybe you aren’t into that?)

The Aftermath

So now you’re no longer a blood donor virgin, what should you do?

• Wear a pin/sticker and get thumbs up from cute girls? YES!
• Poke your band-aid? NO! You want that to clot, so let it be.
• Rehydrate while reading NSFW Sunday as a low-impact activity? YES!
• Play a game of softball? NO! You should wait at least five hours before doing anything strenuous.
• Convince someone else to think about donation? YES!!

The Feelings and Doubts

If at any point you felt like you shouldn’t be giving blood, you can stop! Whether it’s before you’ve made it to the clinic, when you’re sitting with a nurse or a week later when you’ve come down with a cold, it’s okay to say no! Things happen and memories kick in. You may suddenly feel sick. You may remember that one night stand. You may realize that your tattoo was in fact five months ago, not six. Talk to your organization and tell them you don’t think you should continue and that your blood shouldn’t be used. Don’t feel bad! The operator/receptionist/nurse/doctor will appreciate that you are a responsible human.

At some point along this process, you may be temporarily deferred. You may have any number of feelings when you learn that you aren’t “healthy” enough for the donation. Rejection sucks, and we know how to deal with that right? So start processing.

Being scared or worried is okay. No one likes to learn that they aren’t healthy. This may be a blessing in disguise. Talk to your family doctor and figure out a game plan to become a better you. For all you know, you’ll discover a way to improve your health.

You may be angry or disappointed. It may seem like you just wasted an afternoon, but you know what? Unlike a lot of people, at least you tried. Don’t give up. If you were rejected this time, you can still try again in 56 days.

The Ban?

Unfortunately, your deferral may be permanent. You will feel offended. It’s weird to think you’ll be permanently deferred by being too well travelled. It’s upsetting to think you’ll be permanently deferred because you have had sex with a man who’s had sex with a man after 1977 when you were born in the 90s. It sucks when you’re rejected for something you can’t control.

Be angry. Then channel that energy and refocus — people still need blood. Volunteer your time as another way of giving. Encourage others to donate by organizing a blood drive. Tell others they have the option.

Or make a big change. Groups like Carleton University’s student association are debating the need for political action as well as an individual’s need for blood. Look into petitions that are trying to change unfair laws to accept more donors. That’s how China got to join the club.

For more information on blood donation visit Canadian Blood Services, Héma-Québec or the American Red Cross.

Actually a Good Thing: England Delays Decision on Female Bishops

feature image via The Telegraph

Despite Scotland’s branch of the Anglican Church deeming it legal to ordain female bishops in 2003, it’s taken a while for this news to leak south of the border to England. This week has seen the General Synod debating the ordination of female bishops within England, and on July 9th, they decided – in a nutshell – that they were going to put off deciding. Ridiculously though, it was the best possible result for women. “But HOW can that be?” I hear you wail, while silently cursing the patriarchy. To be fair, I suggest we blame our second-favourite cause of female oppression this time: the Evangelicals.

via the telegraph

The Anglican Church has a complicated decision-making process that involves drafting legislation years in advance of voting on it; this legislation on female bishops has been in the works since February 2009. At the Synod at the beginning of July, the three houses – Bishops, Clergy and Laity – decided to vote on it. Would it be permissible for England to allow female bishops? 42 out of 44 of the diocesan synods support the measure, so it should have been a clear-cut case… except it wasn’t.

The right-leaning members of the Church – comprising mainly of Anglo-Catholics and Evangelical Anglicans – were firmly “theologically opposed” to the measure. No doubt they cracked open the Bible, and pointed to choice bits of rhetoric. Saint Paul is a particular favourite:

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent –1 Timothy 2.11-12

Biblical teaching like this seems not to have affected the Anglican Church in other countries. The Church of England’s ordination of female bishops is not a New Thing. The first female bishop was Li Tim-Oi, ordained in the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao, in 1944. 1944, you guys. That’s… a long time before I was born. That’s ten years before my dad was even born. Barbara Harris was ordained as an Episcopal bishop in Massachusetts in 1989, and female bishops became legal in Ireland (and Northern Ireland) in 1990, though none have yet been consecrated. My girlfriend was born in Belfast that year. It’s mad to think that the entirety of her life, female Anglican bishops have been legal in her country, but not in mine. So seriously, what gives?

It turns out the right-wing presence in the House of Laity was large enough to cause significant problems for the proposed legislation, and in May a late amendment to the legislation was tabled. This resulted in Clause 5.1 being hastily added in an attempt to appease them: in essence, it states that any parish that doesn’t want a female bishop can opt to have a male bishop installed who shares their views on women in the church. Not just “a male bishop”, but a male bishop who agrees that women are incapable of ordering and ordaining male clergy within the church.

This created a difficult situation for supporters of the bill. Do they vote for the long-awaited piece of legislation that aims to finally give female priests the chance for promotion they deserve in England? Or do they flush it, on the basis that it would “enshrine discrimination in law”? The Archdeacon of Hackney, Rachel Treweek, described the problem to The Guardian:

It would be very easy to say, ‘Oh, let’s all just vote in favour and get this through.’… I want to get it right now. I don’t want to get something in legislation which means we’re having to come back to this.

In the end, they took a third option – the three houses voted to postpone the bill until a “special” Synod in November. The purpose of this was to ramp up pressure on the House of Bishops – led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams – to get rid of the offending clause.

via David Walker

Williams has conceded that the amendment is “a corner into which the Church has backed itself and out of which we are trying to get”, but also implied that senior Bishops might not be able to come up with a better legislative compromise. It seems that the supporters in the house of Clergy and house of Laity will have to fight hard to get the bishops thinking of solutions. “Never in my experience has the church been so out of step with the good news and of the people of this country,” laments Celia Thomson, Canon Pastor of Gloucester cathedral.

In reality, this delay of the bill was the best possible result for female clergy, but that’s not the key issue here: it’s that the people who still believe in theologically-sanctioned sexism are being taken seriously, even pandered to, and thus impede actual progress. Evangelicals have threatened to leave the Church if the legislation passes; coincidentally, this mirrors the threat of the Anglican Church as a whole to break with the UK as the state religion if gay marriage law passes.

On a world scale, 18 provinces of the Church of England have no legal bars to ordaining female bishops, with female bishops serving in 5; so far the world has not ended, and God has not struck them down as heathens. How can we say the Church of England supports female bishops in Cuba if it does not support them in England? It’s time the home of Anglicanism caught up with the rest of the world, before it gets any more embarrassing.

Defunding of Queer Health Resources Means It Kinda Sucks To Be Gay In Queensland Right Now

So, to recap: the Australian State of Queensland recently had a change of government from the marginally left-wing Labor Party, led by Anna Bligh, to the right-wing Liberal National Party, led by Campbell Newman. (Note that in Australia, “liberal” refers to economic liberalism rather than social liberalism, which is why the parties sound backwards to American ears.) The Newman government has a crazy majority right now; the Labor Party currently doesn’t even hold enough seats to form a minority government. And the Liberal National party seem to have taken this as a mandate to tread on the rights of those who it deems undeserving of them, including Queensland’s LGBTQI citizens.

The Queensland legislature has voted to strip down civil unions to something akin to registering your pets; couples can no longer even have a “state-sanctioned declaration ceremony.” Planned legislation would make it so only people who are in a heterosexual partnership of more than two years could use altruistic surrogacy to have children. Both are unconscionable attacks on queer families, but another action of the Queensland government has more immediate results. Queensland’s government health organisation, led by health minister Lawrence Springborg, has removed funding for the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities(QAHC), which supports LGBTQI health throughout the State.

lawrence springborg

QAHC started its life in 1984 as the Queensland AIDS Council. As poor health outcomes throughout the LGBTQI community were recognized, the organization changed its name and widened its scope (like many of the former AIDS Councils around Australia). Today QAHC provides HIV/AIDS prevention and services, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, support for LGBTQI Indigenous Australians, and a visiting group for LGBTQI seniors. Many of these programs are subsidized by grants, including two from Queensland Health, one for HIV/AIDS prevention and the other for drug and alcohol abuse prevention.

On May 20, Springborg announced that effective at the end of June, Queensland Health would be withdrawing its funding for QAHC. Reasons cited for this funding cut include supposedly rising rates of HIV infection in Queensland (more on that later) and QAHC’s political advocacy for LGBTQI Queenslanders. Interestingly, QAHC is losing its funding for drug and alcohol abuse prevention as well as its funding for HIV/AIDS prevention, but the government has only made statements about the HIV/AIDS funding. (A Queensland Health spokesperson confirmed that QAHC’s drug and alcohol abuse prevention funding expires on 30 June.) The money in question makes up 75% of QAHC’s funding.

The government might have a point about HIV/AIDS services. HIV and AIDS are no longer a “gay disease.” In Queensland, the highest rate of new HIV infections is among heterosexuals, a population which QAHC did not serve. Perhaps it is time for a re-evaluation of where funding for HIV and AIDS services best support patients.

This, however, was not a re-evaluation. It was more of a proclamation. QAHC was never consulted or told that their services were inadequate. They discovered they were being defunded through the newspaper instead of any direct communication with Queensland Health. Queensland Health has said that they will form a ministerial committee (the members of which were announced recently) to determine the best use of this funding. But to remove funding from an organization providing vital services without examining the impact of that action is foolish at best, especially when this is the only non-government organization that has lost its funding. QAHC themselves have even said they welcome the dialogue – but in order for dialogue to happen, the other party must be allowed to speak.

Another reason that has been given for QAHC’s defunding is their political advocacy for LGBTQI people, particularly around same-sex marriage. Springborg has said many times (including in his official statement) that the organization is too political. QAHC believes they are just advocating for their community, which, as we well know, has poor health outcomes due in part to the way they are treated by mainstream society. Asking an organization committed to a community’s health to ignore the reasons that their community is experiencing poor health incomes seems, at best, counterintuitive. As QAHC Executive Director Paul Martin said in this interview:

“The overwhelming focus of our work is providing frontline services to LGBT people and working in partnership with mainstream services to increase their capacity to respond to the needs of LGBT people. Following the World Health Organisation’s ‘Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion’ we do promote healthy public policy. This means raising policy or legal issues that help or hinder the health of LGBT people. This has included supporting civil partnerships. Advocacy on healthy public policy is specifically written in to our contract with Queensland Health, but is only a very small amount of the work that we do.”

a qahc safer sex campaign

In the context of the recent actions of the Queensland government, it’s hard not to see this as an attack on LGBTQI Queenslanders. The way that Queensland Health has conducted its business is not helping their case in any way.

Regardless of whether or not QAHC continues to receive funding for its HIV/AIDS services, its drug and alcohol abuse prevention services are vital. As we have discussed many times on this site, queer people are much more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs due to disenfranchisement within the larger community and cultural expectations. It’s not necessarily reasonable to expect a mainstream drug and alcohol abuse prevention program to be effective in LGBTQI spaces because of the additional challenges that we face. QAHC is trying to fill that gap, and they cannot do that without money.

What can we do? For you local Autostraddlers, you can write your member of parliament. Even if QAHC’s funding cannot be returned immediately, we can at least help prevent further erosion of LGBTQI rights in Queensland. For those of us interstate or overseas, consider making a donation to QAHC to help them continue their work. You can also find a list of more things to do here.