On May 12th, British Columbian voters will be asked the following question when we vote:
Which electoral system should British Columbia use to elect members to the Provincial Legislative Assembly?
The existing electoral system (First-past-the-post)
The single transferable vote system (BC-STV) proposed by the BC Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform
In Brief:
BC-STV elects multiple MLAs per riding using a single, fractionally transferred vote from a preferential ballot
You rank a number of candidates in your electoral area. Votes distributed according to overall rank. Top-ranked elected.
Voting yes to STV on May 12th will radically improve how fair our provincial voting system is.
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 electedthan 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.
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.
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?
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.
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
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. (Continued)
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.
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:
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
When you are lesbian and traveling with your partner outside of a Pride Weekend celebration, even if you manage to locate a LGBT friendly venue, whether it be a bed and breakfast or café, chances are, you are on your own taking on whatever homophobic or internalized homophobic situation arises. Making the decision to travel taxes every aspect of your relationship. Romances are born and killed as easily as finding out that the once quirky personality trait now seems like an obsessive compulsive disorder.
Backpacking around the world is a mystical adventure full of awe and wonder only to those who don’t do it. Backpacking around the world with a partner in a lesbian relationship is full of breathless moments, electrifying connection and at times, a real struggle not to hand-in your toaster and return to the Monastery.
Traveling and living abroad challenges, changes and magnifies every part of your relationship. What is unique to same-sex couples though, are the opportunities to not only establish how ‘out’ you are when in strange and unfamiliar territory, but how enriching and validating experiences can be when you meet gay and gay-friendly people in the most historically patriarchal and anti-homo places.
Tango’d Relationships
In Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires, there is a mecca of LGBT clubs, okay, maybe similar to Vancouver, but they exist and if you’re a boy, you are in luck, the opportunities double. For women, there is a really good salad at the Pride Café. No, there is more than that, but the clubs are only on the weekends and open after 1am which, for two nearly-weds, was impossible to get to after a full day of sight-seeing. Queer Tango, on the other hand, in public allowed us to see the boys show up in double again, but in private, it comes highly recommended. A teacher who can instruct how to lead and follow and how to switch it up in the middle ranks high on my list of relationship enhancers.
In Córdoba, the Catholic Capital where we lived for 4 months, I immediately began my search for the undercurrent of oppressed and aching queers to liberalize - what else is a newly defined housewife to do? Trying to keep my hair short to use all possible tactics, I explained to the hairdresser with sign language and the sound of a razor how I wanted my hair to look. Soon, I was walking around with an 80’s mini-mullet suitable only for the beginning of the Stanley Cup finals.
There must be dykes somewhere!? But everywhere I turned, long-haired, anorexic womyn in heels and skirts walked the streets. In a city with seven Universities and a gazillion people, I wasn’t about to give up hope yet and went through every possible search engine on the net. Luck found me when I walked into my first Spanish class and met my gay teacher.
The night we went to Zen, a gay-friendly club, was the night we saw behind the masks: their hair was tucked inside of ball caps and the fashion was straight out of the L-word. In my tight black tank-top and cargo shorts, I wondered if the gay-boy thought I was a guy as he hit on me, regardless, with my she-hips it was a complement. My partner, on the other hand, practiced her Spanish and instead of asking why he handed me a beer, she accidentally asked them to kiss, which they did – either way, resulting in some heavy gender-bending flirting.
Learning the language
In Argentina, womyn meet each other at marches for womyn’s rights, there is no LGBT Centre, at least outside of the district of San Telmo in Buenos Aires. The lesbians online are also pretty much only in Buenos Aires, leaving the rest of the country hanging out near the clothes. But in the middle of the country, unbeknownst to foreigners on the tourist circuit, there is an underground lesbian club in a barrio of Córdoba. It is here I learn about “tortas,” (cakes), used as a slur against lesbians. And that “bizarre” translates to “trucker” which is equal to being called a butch. They tell me there is no concept in Spanish that means “gay-friendly” so, in fact, they use the English words. When I ask about reclaiming “tortas” as the word “queer” has been reclaimed, they tell me that it is not an important issue right now, there are other more pressing rights at stake. Aware of my naïvety and feelings of gratefulness for living in Canada, I gave them the website for Womyns Ware.
In Buenos Aires, there is Civil Union for gays, similar but not equal to marriage, but for the rest of the country the acceptance varies from outright religious rejection to wonderful and truly sweet people, straight and gay, who will do anything to celebrate your happiness as a couple. However, the true test begins during times of missed buses, being lost in the city, late for a flight, cancelled tickets, or starving all day and then being unable to communicate in a restaurant with no menu. Add to this, being in an area of high-theft and armed robbery, and you might as well either pack it in, or produce the ring, because together the two of you will survive it or not.
Building Communication
In Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro and Sãn Paulo, the gay scene is lively and inviting, but you might want to hold off walking around with that ring. Theft and mugging is more of a worry than homophobia here. Whether it is open affection on the many beaches or intimately leaning in while talking over dinner, nobody really cares about your business. Where some couples may have more difficulty is deciding whether it feels safe -or not- to be open, to be out, and to be comfortable with public affection. On occasion, you may not equally have the same vibes. When it appears to you that you are surrounded by friendly straight folks and you attempt to hold your partners hand but she pulls away, this is the time to wonder how each others history and experience impacts one another. On the surface, it might not be clear to either of you what message is being sent and what is really happening inside.
Being careful not to judge, nor to become impatient or to feel rejected, it’s important to slooow down how the interaction is perceived – both given and received. Internalized homophobia or not, this isn’t the time to express resentment, and it isn’t the time to accuse your partner of insensitivity and to shut-down. In any situation that involves charged feelings you are at the highest risk of communication breakdown. And, on the other hand, you have the greatest opportunity to understand and build upon foundations of life-enhancing connectedness. Rehearsing in your head what you want to say that will promote the greatest possibility of empathy for your partner will go much further than to accuse your partner of not understanding you. If we do this more often, we will breakdown the walls so inherent in the stories we’ve been told about ourselves and have healthy same-sex relationships.
Power Dynamics
Traveling in countries that don’t speak your native tongue adds another dimension, especially if only one of you can speak the other language. How is it possible to maintain independence, a healthy “you are you and I am I” balance, and feel equal in your relationship when she does all the talking? By being aware of how this change in power and autonomy impacts your relationship, you can both benefit from identifying unwanted feelings of dependency and feelings of overwhelming responsibility or resentment. Sensitivity to how decisions are made when one person must translate for the other requires a commitment of patience on both parts.
Talking yourself through how to show compassion to your partner will increase the likelihood that she will respond in the same fashion – opening lines of communication and glimmers of connection. Feeling like you want to blame each other because there is no one else around to complain to in English isn’t uncommon. Frustrations can build easily and when you are together 24-7 passionate playfulness isn’t probably the first thing that crosses your mind when you get back to your bedroom. But in these moments, it’s time to remind yourself that relationships are not lost in fleeting times of stress and discouragement. Nor are they necessarily built – let’s be real – but in that second, for that night, remind your self to give the gift of space. Space to be miserable, space to feel fatigue and space to recover from the day.
If you have the opportunity to travel, even to go camping in the rain, do it. Relationships are to be full of movement, discovery and growth. Adventures can take place in your living room, and when you can risk more, they can take place anywhere.
Tania Zulkoskey is a therapist in private practice, located in East Vancouver and the Tri-Cities. As a feminist lesbian social worker, she works with both individuals and families often on relationship and trauma issues. She has just returned from traveling the world for a year with her partner climbing many mountains and exploring all the valleys. www.tzcounselling.ca Tel: 604-771-8647
Well, here we are at the 19th edition of Lesbian Quarterly. Fall, well yes, it does feel like fall, now. We’ve got elections coming up here in Canada, and I can’t be the only one waiting to see if the US claws itself out of the grip of homophobes and war mongers and starts looking after her own people. Wait a minute, I guess I could say the same for Canada too. May both countries best selves prevail.
Lesbian Ellen Woodsworth is seeking COPE nomination to run for the post of Vancouver City Counsellor. Vancouverites will remember that Ellen served Vancouver as city councilor recently, and LQ interviewed her for LQ 7 near the end of that term of office.
Do you run a lesbian-owned business you’d like to profile?
Beginning in September Lesbian Quarterly now hosts a map of lesbian owned businesses in BC. If you’d like your business to participate, send to
a short description of the business, name of the owners (at least one of whom who must self-identify as lesbian) public contact info for the business (phone, email, web) and a street address in British Columbia. The address can be a nearby street-corner (eg: Hastings @ Commercial) for home based businesses.View Map
Fall’s Topics:
Lesbian Traveling - guest writer and therapist Tania Zulkoskey provides a lesbian travelogue of Argentina along with some travel relationship advice.
Looking For Lesbians - Online Survey about our Work Lives - help these folks out with some information about our lives. If we’re going to stop being invisible we have to let people know who we are. The survey itself is anonymous, however.
I received a link to this video recently, which gives excerpts from speeches given by Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. Now, I’m always keen to have women in political power, so was hopeful Hilary Clinton would be nominated, but after viewing this video, I was pretty impressed with Obama’s support for lesbians and gay people. That was until I heard he’s still one of those who think that marriage is only for hets. How a black person would not know better than to think that ’separate but equal’ is a legitimate response to discrimination is beyond me. He does however, seem to oppose employment and housing discrimination, which would be a good start. I’m thinking, as charitably as I can, that saying openly that you support gays and lesbians, as he’s done in the video, is about as far as an American politician can go without committing political suicide at this point.
I’ve been girlcotting the US and US products as much as possible, given their governments’ abyssmal human rights record regarding us (not to mention their shameful lack of public health care). This is not to say I blame the American people. If we Canadians can’t get rid of anti-equality bigots like the Stephen Harper conservatives and Gordon Campbell’s Liberals, we’ve got no call to criticize the US for taking so long to oust the Bush dynasty. If Obama is elected, I may visit the US again, but I will still think that the US has a lot of maturing to do as a country before they’re up to Canada’s higher human rights standards.
Some friends and I went early to the Vancouver pride parade on Sunday to get a good seat to watch the parade. Sitting there for what seemed like 6 hours, I had lots of time to reflect on the most common mistakes straight-run companies and organizations make when trying to be supportive or market to LGTB folks. I thought I’d pass on some advice here, in hopes that some will Google for advice before next years parade.
If you’re going in the pride parade, go gay for the day. Is it a little scary? Worried it might offend your other customers/stakeholders? Good. This is what being a real ally is about.
Flying the colours is important
1) Mistake number one - no Rainbows: Not having having any rainbows or other explicitly gay community markers is almost an insult. The pride rainbow is the main symbol that goes with the Pride Festival, Make sure you use all 6 colours - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and lilac. The police motorcycle drill team went first in the pride parade this year. I won’t even go into the sacrilige of having first of all straight people, and second of all NOT dykes on bikes go first in the pride parade, which was bad enough, but would it have killed them to have shelled out $5 each to have a rainbow flag flying proudly on each bike? They had Canadian flag holders on some of the motorcyles, which could have easily been switched to rainbow ones. Not flying the flag when you’re leading the parade says “we’re only here because our boss made us” when it could so easily have said “LGTB people are our people too”.
2) Mistake number two -Flaunting your Heterosexuality: If you are dancing with someone or holding hands with someone or walking arm in arm with someone in the parade, make sure they’re the same sex/gender as you. Yes, I know, you’re straight, but isn’t it a little homophobic to need to advertize it all through a parade celebrating same-sex relationships and queer culture? Take take a risk that someone might think you’re lesbian/gay, and walk a mile (or a few blocks) in our shoes. If you’re walking with your sig other, holding hands is okay, but compensate by going out of your way to proclaim your support. A great example was the straight couple and kid walking near the back of the ‘Family Pride’ group. They had written in nice big rainbow letters on their backs - “Breeders Supporting All Families” - Nice touch, or the PFLAG folks slapping big pink “I am loved by PFLAG” stickers on us.
Jack Layton with a pink bandana is showing support for pride.
3) Mistake number 3 -More HeteroFlaunting Note for straight women (yes, this is for you, Hedy). Walking around in a fancy dress with a bunch of hot guys makes you look straight, not gay. It’s a brave thing for a man to break the boy dress code rules and wear a smashing gold lame number. On a straight woman, it’s more boring hetero flaunting. If you really want to show how unhomophobic you are, try butching up a little or walking arm in arm with some dykes. Much as I’m peeved at former Mayor Larry Campbell for supporting the Olympics and for taking campaign money from one party and then switching to another one once elected, he did great at the pride festival a few years ago showing up in his skirt, I mean kilt.
Priding up your company car doesn't have to be hard - think flamboyant!
4) Mistake number 4 -No Effort: Driving your company van underadorned or wearing only your company colours in the parade does not qualify as a float and is worse than not showing up at all. It screams insincerity - “I want your money, but I don’t give a damn about your special day”. The exception to this is in parades in very homophobic towns, where just showing up is a big deal. In uban areas, if you’re trying to show you care, gay up your image for the day. Reward your homo employees for bringing their partners and kids to walk together hand in hand (it tells us you are a friendly place to work), and spring for a few bunches of rainbow balloons to tie on. Add a big readable sign saying “We love our GLBT customers - mention this float for 30% off” and you’re done. That didn’t hurt, did it? A good (positive) example of this was Air New Zealand, whose float had same sex couples in the graphics and explicitly said they specifically welcomed same sex couples as travellers.
5) Mistake number 5 -Being closeted: Use your words. Lesbian. Gay. Come OUT to all your customers as an ally. It matters. CTV was a pride sponsor and took out an TV ad to indicate their support without once mentioning words that might offend any homophobic viewers. Vancity did something similar a year or so ago. This is cheating, trying to get our support without sticking your neck out, and we know it. Although we know that the wholesome ‘friends’ with arms about one another are really couples and the rainbow flags are there for us, it’s still closeted not to use words that ‘come out’ and make it clear to people who aren’t in on the codes. It’s entirely possible that a straight person viewing the ad might think the ad was supporting self esteem ’Pride’ rather than same-sex relationships.
Straight gals + gay men = ignoring lesbians
6) Mistake number 6 -Focusing only on the Boys: Gay Women exist too. Yes I know the boys have all the money, and two guys making 125% of a woman’s wage each make for desirable customers. However, if you market only to the boys (unless you make jock straps or something) you’re showing you’re only in this pride thing for the money. Having a few straight women on your float with the gay men doesn’t count (see item 3, above). Yes, I know not all lesbians are androgynous looking, but really, we can tell.
We love our Straight Allies - Straight allies are important. 70% of Canadians supported gay marriage, which not only makes Canada look great internationally, it makes Canadian homos the envy of much of the world. We value our straight allies, but need real ones who will take a stand for us, rather than just chasing the mighty gay dollar. I know it’s hard to fit into and appeal to a culture you know nothing about, one that might have a few chips on it’s collective shoulder about folks with hetero privilege. So next year, make the most of your marketing or community outreach budget and get with the true Pride spirit.
Well how’s that for bucking the patriarchy in it’s own backyard. Two women who were forced by their families to be ‘celestially married’ to Bountiful polygamist community leader Winston Blackmore, have chosen to legally marry one another.
The Vancouver Sun reported in June of last year that “One bride is Lorraine Johnson, an American, sent by her family to “marry” Blackmore, who was then the powerful bishop. She was his 18th wife. It’s not clear whether Johnson immigrated legally to Canada or simply came across the border and stayed. The other bride is Shelina Palmer, a Canadian born into a polygamous family in Bountiful and assigned to Blackmore. She is wife number 22.”
With Johnson under a deportation order at the time of the wedding, it is not clear whether the couple chose to marry out of convenience or love. Both will be required to renounce any other relationships in order to establish to immigration that they are an authentic same-sex couple.
Neither have been legally married before. The women have been living together for several years.
Well, ladies, welcome to the team. May you win control of your lives and bodies successfully.
The Vancouver Biodiesel Coop Cardlock Pump at 360 Industrial Ave, Vancouver
This week, the wife and I upgraded from our 50% biodiesel blend to 100%. Our car is now 100% carbon neutral. We bought an old (1983) Mercedes diesel a year ago, specifically to run it on biodiesel.
A lot of people aren’t aware about biodiesel. Here’s the skinny for aspiring biodiesel dykes.
The diesel engine was invented by Rudolph Diesel in 1892. His prototype ran on peanut oil and he envisioned running it on veggie oil or coal dust. The engine was later modified to run on what we now think of as diesel fuel. Diesel fuel is less viscous (thinner) than vegetable oil, so modern strategies to run diesel engines on vegetable fuel involve some way to thin the oil down so modern diesel engines can handle it.
There are two ways to thin vegetable oil for diesel engines. The first is to heat the oil before introducing it to the engine. In hot climates, people often don’t need to do anything to get the diesel oil warm enough to use, if the engine is in good shape. Older Mercedes engines are often used for this purpose. In cooler climes, people who choose this strategy have their diesel engine modified to allow for a second veggie oil tank and a heated fuel line to feed the engine. The conversion costs aproximately $1500. (Here’s some technical information from Agriculture Alberta) Once converted, the car can run on filtered recycled fryer fat from restaurants, which can normally be obtained for free, since restaurants normally have to pay for disposal. This is gradually changing, as biodiesel becomes more popular, with restaurants selling the oil to biodiesel refineries. The less labour-intensive method our family has chosen is to buy biodiesel. Biodiesel can be put into any diesel engine without modifying it, and can be mixed with regular diesel if desired. People commonly run their engines on anywhere to 5-100% biodiesel. If you run out of fuel and there’s no biodiesel available, no problem, you can still use regular diesel any time you need to. Biodiesel costs about the same or slightly less than regular diesel per litre. Biodiesel is normally made from iether virgin vegetable oil or recycled waste vegetable oil. The virgin oil route has justifiably come under criticism as being unsustainable, as has ethanol when it is made from food crops rather than waste. The second criticism is about whether it is possible to grow enough plants to make enough biofuel to completely replace fossil fuels. I say at the very least it’s a good intermediate technology until plug-in electric cars are more widely available.
The process to make biodiesel reduces the thickness of the oil, and produces glycerine as a by-product. Up until recently, we’ve been purchasing a 50% blend (half biodiesel, half regular diesel) from United Petroleum Products, who have a cardlock fueling station in North Vancouver.
The Biodiesel Coop, which sells 100% recycled veggie oil biodiesel, now has a fueling station near Terminal and Main in Vancouver, and we had our first 100% fuel-up earlier this week. The station operates using a keypad where you enter your member number and password, and is available 24 hours. You need to become a member before fueling up, and then the fuel cost is billed to your credit card.
We noticed a few things when we started running 100% biodiesel. Firstly, the motor runs quieter. Biodiesel is a stronger solvent (gunk dissolver) than regular diesel, so it cleans out your engine. Expect to change your fuel filter a few months after you convert to biodiesel, as this gunk will end up there. Secondly, the black smoke created when starting the engine on regular diesel or even 50% blend has disappeared.
Biofuels (when made from recycled or wasted materials) are generally ‘carbon neutral’, which means that even though they produce some CO2 when burned, they ’stored’ C02 when growing as plants, so it all evens out. By fueling your diesel vehicle with biodiesel, you can therefore save 8 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions per year. Biofuels also are more likely to be produced near where they are burned, reducing transportation fuel use and carbon production. Use of locally produced biofuels also avoids fueling the ongoing conflict and conquest in the Middle East and elsewhere, reducing the possibility of wars for control over oil. Biofuels are also more likely to be produced by small, local companies than petroleum multinationals, creating better quality, local jobs.
All in all, Jeanette and I are very happy to now be 100% Biodiesel Dykes.
Here are some links to information on biodiesel and it’s gasoline equivalent, ethanol.
[Editor Note: I received this email from Marlee and Tully of Sugarbeach, who have some great news to announce. Congratulations! - Editor]
Hey Sophia!
Hope you gals are doing well!
We thought we’d send you this as it might interesting to you.
We have just written and recorded this years’ theme song for Vancouver Pride 2008, “Living Out Proud”. Vancouver will be using it for the kick off of events and media liaisons as well as in the parade. So far 7 other major cities around the world have also decided to use it…some have put it on their website already. The cities include, Seattle, Ottawa, Charlotte, North Carolina (where we will be performing at their pride in July), Toronto (it looks like Proud FM may be playing it as well) , Kentucky and Cornwall, UK. We are totally jazzed by the great response we have gotten.
We have given it to them for free to use however they need it and it is also downloadable for free on our myspace page.
“Living Out Proud” is a celebration of Pride as well as an encouragement for LGBT people to come out in every aspect of their lives and we’re hoping it also reaches the ears and the hearts of those in prominent positions whose coming out, we feel, could make such a positive impact on the lives and rights of LGBT people everywhere.
Dykes are debonair, bi’s are beautiful, queer women are quirky and gay women are gorgeous. LQ is unfashionably lesbian–focused, but welcomes readers with other choices. LQ’s use of ‘lesbian’ includes both legally and biologically defined women who label themselves lesbian. LQ is committed to building lesbian pride and visibility by showcasing the knowledge and achievements of BC women who describe themselves as lesbian, and to being 100% lesbian written.
I think I have some insight into the bigotted actions of members of the 
