Local Lesbian Band Sugarbeach releases new album

Here’s a message from Marlee and Tully:

“Our new album “Not Deserted” has just been released worldwide!

To hear our online CD release and interview with the lovely Len Rogers in Virginia, USA, go to http://www.rainbowworldradio.com (till Sept 15)

Get yourself a cuppa (Aussie for a cup of tea) and settle in. You’ll hear the first half of the CD, then a nice long interview, then the second half of the CD.

“Not Deserted” can also be heard at:

www.sugarbeachmusic.com & www.myspace.com/sugarbeach

You can also see videos and photos and other info on these 2 sites.

To purchase “Not Deserted” either in disc form or digital, go to: www.cdbaby.com/sugarbeach1 You’ll be able to download the individual songs from iTunes in a few weeks.

Thanks

Marlee & Tully

OXOX”

Sugarbeach's new album cover

Mary Kathryn Arnold – The Girls They Speak in Spanish

Mary Kathryn Arnold

Mary Kathryn Arnold is a Nova Scotian lesbian from Halifax. Editor of Rhythm Poetry Magazine, her poetry has appeared in The Antigonish Review, The New Compass, Mezzo Cammin, The Fiddlehead, and is forthcoming in If Poetry Journal.

(more…)

Lesbians and Bicycles

Excerpts from : Subjects of the Visual Arts: Bicycles by Carla Williams / Taisau

“Bicycles, introduced in Europe around 1863, were the first democratic means of transportation. In practical terms, bicycles eliminated the reliance on the horse and buggy.

The “Golden Age” of bicycles came in the 1890s and they were particularly fashionable in cosmopolitan cities such as New York, London, and Paris.”

“During this Golden Age campaigns were waged to encourage women to ride and, as a result, the bicycle became both a symbol and a means of women’s liberation.

With the new transportation came a “rational dress” movement for women, who could not reasonably be expected to ride in full skirts, wearing the average of thirty-seven pounds of clothing that was common before the advent of the cycle. As a result of the cycling craze bloomers in the 1880s at last became a viable fashion option for women, although feminists had pushed for years for their acceptance.

Another direct result of cycling’s popularity was a rise in female athletes–cycle riding had proved that exercise was not detrimental to women as was commonly believed. However, women cyclists were criticized for abandoning their femininity and becoming “mannish” or “manly women.”

In the United States, an image of singer Katie Lawrence appeared in men’s clothing on the sheet music for the 1892 popular song Daisy Bell, a love song to a cycling woman about a bicycle built for two. ”

“In France, Art Nouveau advertisements for bicycles often included nude or otherwise liberated women; one ad from around 1899 for Liberator Cycles depicted a bare-breasted helmeted Amazonian warrior alongside her wheels, while another from around 1895 for Cottereau Cycles showed a woman astride her cycle while breast-feeding.

In Staten Island, New York, lesbian photographer Alice Austen often pictured her bloomer-wearing women friends astride their bikes. In what would be some of her only commercial work, Austen made the illustrations for Violet Ward’s book Bicycling for Ladies (1896).”

Pride Parade Basics for Straight-Run Companies and Organizations

Yay for cultural sensitivity.

Here’s the link to that article: Pride Parade Entry Basics for Straight People

Vancouver Pride Society has new easier volunteer system – looking for volunteers

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that we are still looking some volunteers for this year’s Pride! We have lots of opportunities available, for both individuals and groups.  Our new system allows people to create a volunteer account, and immediately select their own events/times/tasks/shifts.  It’s super easy, and there is no waiting.  People will know the level of their commitment immediately.

We also have TONS of group opportunities if you are interested in getting involved as a group.We are currently looking for volunteers for the following events:

Davie Street Dance Party, July 31st
Terry Wallace Memorial Breakfast, August 1st
The Pride Parade, August 2nd
Sunset Beach Festival, August 2nd

Individuals can sign up on our website at www.vancouverpride.ca, and interested groups can check in with me (Monika, mwhitney@vancouverpride.ca)

All volunteers get T-Shirts, Snacks, Drinks, and an invitation to our awesome Volunteer Party (August 8th, 2009).  Our volunteers also get front-row seats to the parade, to be behind the scenes at one of the biggest events in the city, and are eligible to win lots of prizes.

Thanks so much!

Cheers,

–
Monika Whitney
Director, Volunteers
Vancouver Pride Society

office: 604-687-0955  fax: 604-687-0965
email: mwhitney@vancouverpride.ca
www.vancouverpride.ca

Why Lesbians Should Vote for STV

Photocredit: BBaltimore

I think that anyone who believes in diversity, democracy and fairness will want to vote Yes for STV on May 12th.

Diversity and Fairness:

The current system (First past the post) only delivers fair results if everyone lives in a riding where they have the same political opinions as all their neighbours.  In a diverse society, we’re going to be living up next to people who are different beliefs from us. STV makes sure that we don’t lose our political representation when we do that.

The data on countries that have STV is that the popular vote (how many votes for each party in all the ridings) matches closely the number of people from each party who get elected. This is the definition of a fair system in my book.

In countries with STV, more women get elected than in countries with our system, and more lesbians and other minorities get elected. Both are good for lesbians.

For example, if little politically progressive me moved back to my home town of Prince George, currently I could kiss goodbye ever being represented by a politician that didn’t make me ill. There would be nobody to represent me. If STV gets passed, most of the elected folks in my district would be conservative, but there would be at least one I could support that got elected.

If I stay in my progressive East Vancouver riding, currently I have to split my conscience between a Green Party candidate who supports my hard core environmental values, and an NDP candidate, who also supports things I believe in but who has a prayer of being elected.

Under STV my voting could be more nuanced. I could have the luxury of voting for a Green Party candidate that supports my environmental values, as well as an NDP candidate.

Similarly, a conservative right-wing person living in my current riding would have some representation if STV is adopted that they wouldn’t have otherwise. We both get what’s fair. With STV every one still gets one vote. The ridings are larger, more like federal ridings, and there are more MLA’s elected in each riding. When you vote, instead of voting for just one person, you are allowed to indicate who your second, third and fourth choices are.

There’s a great little video online that does a good job of showing how the votes get counted. 

How my vote counts more with STV: When my favourite candidate has enough votes to get elected, the surplus votes gets assigned to our second choice. This means that I can vote for a Green candidate and an NDP candidate, knowing that my vote will go to where it does the most good, or even to support two candidates from the same party I like. I don’t ever again have to vote strategically to prevent a bad candidate from getting in. We can all vote our conscience.

How my political opposite’s vote counts more with STV: Although the majority of MLA’s representing their riding will be not to their taste, the conservative family down the street will be part of electing a small number of candidates whose values they agree with. When they need help from a MLA, they now have one with whom they feel comfortable.

So I hope you will vote to make this historic change to the way we elect people to represent us, and help spread the word about BC-STV.

John Cleese on Proportional Representation in England (STV is a type of PR. All of Western Europe uses some form of proportional representation except England)

Lesbian Book Review – Angel Food and Devil Dog: A Maggy Gale Mystery – Liz Bradbury

Review by Jeanette Nelson

I was intrigued by our lesbian heroine, Maggy Gale, and her qualifications. At the age of 37 she has acquired and accomplished so much. She has an arts degree and then rose to the rank of leiutenant in the police department. She owns her own apartment building and had the expertise to do the renovations in that building herself. She earned a black belt in Karate.”

“This”, I said to myself “is a single woman. And she’s been single for a long time.” Who else would have time for all that? On some levels I can relate to our heroine. After all, isn’t that what we are trying to do when we read these books? But then it starts to sink in that she achieves so much more that me and seems devoid of any faults so I stop relating to her. I become confused as to why I haven’t been able to accomplish half of this stuff myself, after all I have something in common with the our heroine: I like root beer too.

Then I realize, “Oh, I’m busy reading about this and she’s busy living this”. Even so, Maggy’s ability to jump over a piano and do handstand push ups is a bit over the top. Despite her perfection, the character and story are engaging, making for a fun read.

Needless to say, our heroine is well qualified for her job as a private detective. She’s a retired (by choice) police lieutenant with all the contacts a private detective needs to ply her trade. In Angel Food and Devil Dog, she investigates the death of a professor at the local college, and finds herself attempting to find the killer before she herself or her lover is the next target. Will she solve this case before another life and her love are taken from her?

This mystery can be ordered from Amazon

Mrs Gaugin’s Pool Parlour

Some friends and I were at the All India Sweets restaurant on New Years Eve, prior to going to the Dreamweaver women’s dance at the Coast Plaza on Denman for a little end of year dancing.

At All India we were greeted by a doorman in ostentatiously brilliant semi-drag. Gerry Gaugin wore a gold brocade tunic with glittery piping, a fake jewel encrusted gold brocade turbanlike hat that he insisted we call a chapeau rather than a turban, big rhinestone earings and hands full of fake jewel rings.

I’m a big fan of femmes, and know that us girly gals and guys don’t get no respect usually, so I made sure to compliment Gerry on his fabulousness. Gerry was all campy queenly graciousness and chatted a bit about his wardrobe and where he’d gotten it made before seating us with our group.

On the way out Gerry asked about our plans and when we told him we were going to a women’s dance he told us that he had once been the proprietor of a women’s bar and pool parlour called Mrs. Gaugin’s Pool Parlour. Apparently, Gerry’s sister’s friend,  a lesbian, was lamenting that there was no place for lesbians to play pool, back in the 70’s, and Gerry had a bar for men that ran from midnight to wee in the morning at the time. So prior to opening the guys space, the women used the space from noon to 10 pm to play pool, visit, flirt and all the things we gals do. Since Gerry was often called Mrs. Gauguin, the space was called Mrs Gauguin’s Pool Parlour.

I did an internet search on Mrs Gaugin’s  (and Mrs Gauguin’s) pool parlour and didn’t bring up anything, so I’d love it if any women who were out in Vancouver in the 70’s might be able to fill in more details. Just log in and add them as comments to this story or email me at editor@lesbianquarterly.com

Gerry told us he has been with his partner 38 years and had a long career as a drag queen, performing at a place in San Francisco as Sophie Tucker for 11 years. He also mentioned having been proprietor of several queer establishments in town, including, apparently  Hamburger Mary’s.

Volunteer Wanted for LQ

You may have noticed that our Lesbian Agenda is a bit empty. This is not because I don’t get sent lots of notices of events. It’s because I have no time to post them. LQ is looking for an “Editorial Assistant in Charge of Events” (yes, you can put that on your resume) to post events to the site. Full training provided, and your prerequisite skilset is about right if you know how to blog, or at least to figure out your web-based mail and facebook. I’ve heard from lots of people that the up to date, older-lesbian oriented events are helpful, so it’d be nice to have that feature active again. Interested persons can contact me at editor@lesbianquarterly.com

Hate the Bigotry, Love the Person.

I think I have some insight into the bigotted actions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), now.

I’m Facebook friends with more Mormons than any lesbian normally is, as my wife’s family are about half Mormon. I’ve attended their wedding receptions and family reunions, played with their babies, last year I even played King Herod in their nativity play on Christmas eve. (I didn’t know when I accepted the role he was the Pagan baby killer character, which I was appalled by but didn’t raise a fuss about at all.) I’ve given gifts at countless Mormon weddings, and supported their ceremonies and rites of passage. At my most recent Mormon niece’s wedding reception, I organized the punch and kept it full, helped decorate tables and made sure people arriving felt welcome. I am a great aunt (and actually, a great-aunt).

So imagine my hurt and disappointment when another one of my neices, who I really like and who has always been friendly, chose on facebook to raise money to take away my civil rights. (more…)

November Editorial – California Marriage & Olivia Cruises

The wife and I got back from an Olivia Cruise to Mexico a few weeks ago (more on that later).

The ship sailed from San Diego, and Olivia organized a party the night before, which doubled as a wedding reception for the 50 couples that got married that day in the city. Many had no family or friends there, since they’d travelled from other parts of the US in order to get married. The shared reception party was so meagre compared to what Jeanette and I had experienced in love and support from our family and friends, that although I was happy for them, I was sad for them as well. We had the opportunity to meet several of those couples on the trip, and so the ‘no on proposition 8′ campaign became more personal to me.

In California, yesterday, people actually voted about whether they were going to discriminate against gay and lesbian people by ammending their state constitution to allow only heterosexual couples to marry. 

My neice, a Mormon, actually joined a facebook group devoted to ‘protecting’ marriage from other lesbians and gays getting to experience it.  What joy to recieve this notification in my facebook family updates.

I did my auntly duty and tried to explain how such groups are promoting hatred and discrimination against me and her aunt, but I don’t think she was convinced. I’d thought that 8 years of witnessing to her and her family that her aunt an I are good, honourable, loving people would have had some effect, and perhaps it has, but not enough.  In the process I came across the best refutation from a Christian religious perspective against this survival of outdated and dodgy cultural practices enshrined in the bible, which still includes such things as a requirement of a widow who had not borne a male heir to have sex with her late husband’s brothers in turn until she bore one. Here’s the link in case you ever need it: http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-gay-christian  The Mormon church in particular has thrown huge amounts of money and the free labour of an army of devout women and men at enshrining hatred and discrimination.  Shame on them. Who would Jesus deny human rights?

The Proposition 8 decision is too close to call. As of today, according to the “No on Proposition 8″ website, there are 3-4 million provisional and absentee ballots left to count, which could make the difference as the bigots are only ahead by 400,000 votes. (For those of you who might think the use of the word bigot is a bit harsh, it appears it’s meaning is derived from the Old English oath ‘bi Gott’ or ‘by god’.) For those interested in updates on this issue, they’re available at: http://www.noonprop8.com/  No on 8 supporters in California are gathering tonight in cities all over the state to share food during the wait.

So, tonight, my heart goes out to the 100+ newlywed women I met on a boat full of 1800 lesbians (and one or two straight women) earlier this month.

Speaking of the boat. I’ve always wanted to go on an Olivia cruise. It was fun but not quite what I’d hoped or expected. First off, all the ship staff were men, with the exception of a couple of women who worked in the salon.  Seriously. All the waiters, cabin stewards, people driving the boat and such were all men. Does Holland America not have any female staff or were they just afraid of us gals?  The presence of guys all the time precluded such happy events as topless sunbathing, but luckily didn’t prevent the couples from kissing or holding hands.

Secondly, I know the tourism industry in the US is suffering from the recession, and it looks like Olivia had some struggles filling the boat (hence the great deal we got on our trip), but the organization was lacking. I’d really love to rave about this historic lesbian run tourism company for lesbians, but unfortunately, I can’t. If the point of giving out some good deals on cruises was to win ongoing customers who’d be willing to pay more, Olivia missed the mark. However, Mexico and the women on the boat were so great, the vacation as a whole was still wonderful.

Compared to the hyper efficient and helpful Holland America staff, the actual Olivia staff seemed un-lesbian in their disorganziation and un-helpfulness. I’m used to lesbian-organized events being better run than average, so this was a bit of shock. For example, the wedding reception party was crowded and there wasn’t enough food or chairs, not enough fuss was made over the new couples individually (would it have killed them to have a ‘annoucing Jane and Marsha from Iowa, together 38 years, married today’ introduction of the newlyweds into the room? Family members were trying to take pictures of the group ‘first dance’ but the floor was too crowded to see everyone.)

I competed in the Olivia Idol competition with an original song about vaginas which went over well. After advancing into the second round, Olivia assigned a surly Olivia staff member who was a dancer to allegedly ‘help’ the finalists get our second song set up . She announced at our ‘rehearsal’ at midnight the night before the finals that we wouldn’t be able to do any of the original songs we’d been practicing for days, and would have choose a song from a Karaoke list. We were then allowed to hear about a minute of this song we’d never heard in order to ‘rehearse’. ”No originals, we want is to pop!”. She didn’t help women find a song in the right key, ensuring that they would look and sound like idiots. “Oh, and dress up, people, we want you to look GOOD” she said with a sneer. Three women, lesbian original composers who had performed beautiful, high quality originals (a capella, but still with impact) in the first round, dropped out. I performed the stinking karaoke but was very stressed out, not something I wanted on my vacation. How is it that lesbian composers were suppressed in favour of performing heterosexual pop songs?  To their credit, apparently Olivia is looking at having a separate songwriters showcase if they do it again. The woman who won kicked everyone’s butts, however, performing a powerful and sophisticated version of “I will always love you” that got a standing ovation. Honestly, she would have kicked Whitney Huston’s butt too if she’d been there, she was that good.

One of the best parts was seeing little old lesbians in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s ballroom dancing every night before dinner. It warmed the cockles, I tell you, and I had the pleasure of dancing with some of them. There were some lesbian performers every night, including Suede (who I’d never heard of, but was a decent soft butch jazz artist), Poppy (a comedian, with a nasty streak), Vicki Shaw (comedian), the Wau Wau Sisters (comedy troupe) and some others. Oh, and there were some sports people too, including tennis star Billie Jean King and a gal who did an interesting (but US-centric) history of [US] women in sports presentation. Olivia also arranged for lesbian-friendly television programming on the in-cabin tv’s, including footage of Billie Jean’s famous ’battle of the sexes’ tennis match (that I’d never heard about iether) which was a nice touch.

I’m still hoping for a win in California. The thought of being stripped of your marriage by a bunch of bigots is horrific. May justice and equality prevail.

Lesbian Cancer Survivor Group

Are you a lesbian cancer survivor?
⇒ The Cancer Support Network is hosting online and teleconference support groups for lesbian
and bi-sexual cancer survivors.
⇒ The six-week pilot support groups are being held this fall and will be facilitated by an
experienced lesbian peer support facilitator. All you need is a Telephone or Internet Access to
connect from the comfort of your own home.
If you are interested in learning more, or participating in this pilot, please contact:

Kathy Thompson
OBCIEP Project Coordinator
Phone Toll Free: 1-888-837-9071
E-mail: kathy@cancersupportnetwork.ca
Website: www.cancersupportnetwork.ca

The Ontario Breast Cancer Information Exchange Partnership (OBCIEP) is hosting the Cancer
Support Network pilot of teleconference and online support groups with other partners that include
the Canadian Cancer Society, the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, Lung Cancer Canada,
Ovarian Cancer Canada, Wellspring and the Odette (Sunnybrook) Cancer Centre