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The End Result Projects – home renos, furniture, exterior, interior – Janet Weigelt 604-649-9121 (I’ve hired her for renos on my house, and she’s excellent. -editor)
Note: All events are in Vancouver, Canada unless noted
Tuesdays: Surrey Coffee Group 7PM @ Java Hut @ 64th Ave & 152
1st Wednesday of the Month: Vancouver Outdoor Club Monthly Meetings 7:30 pm, common room of the Sitka Women’s Housing Coop at 1550 Woodland St. Lesbian outdoor activities. Event planning, presentations, socializing & meeting new members. http://www.outdoorwomen.ca/
Wednesdays—Mildred Women’s Volleyball League Women’s volleyball league running from October to February. Games are played on Wed nights in Burnaby. Register in August. 604-684-9872 x2002
Last Thursday of the Month Valley Girls Dinner at Frogstone Grill in Maple Ridge Connect via yahoogroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/valleygrrls
Last Friday of the Month: Queer Women on the Drive 7-9 pm Seniors Lounge of Britannia Community Centre. All ages, including children if supervised by an adult. 604-684-5307
Friday Nights: Fruity Flick Fridays 103-1033 Davie St. for LGTB folks aged 45+. Free movie night hosted by the Centre’s Generations Project.
Some Saturdays—Women’s Dance @ Waldorf— dates vary so check http://flygirlproductions.com/ $5 B4-10 $10 after
Saturdays & Mondays—Not So Strictly Ballroom same-sex dance classes
http://www.gayvancouver.net/nssb
Saturdays—Country Dancing—quarterly hoe-down for same sex dancers who like country music. Get on the mailing list at cnwdance@telus.net
First 3 Sundays of the Month - W-Group – Social group for LBTQ women in the West End info at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/whangdoodle/
First Wednesday of every month – Vancouver Front Runners Women’s Run once a month Women’s Run. Meeting place is the lobby of the Roundhouse Community Centre at the corner of Davie and Pacific Boulevard at 6:30 p.m. http://www.vancouverfrontrunners.org/
The following pdf files are the e-versions of Lesbian Quarterly, from before it became web based. It was distributed in print in black and white in Vancouver and as a colour pdf via email to subscribers for the first few years. The email version is identical in format except for the colour, and the fact that the print version was printed landscape, doublesided on ledger-sized paper, folded and usually stapled at the spine.
The print copy was supported by advertizers and was distributed at Vancouver area queer locations, and at women’s dances in the Fraser Valley, Vancouver and Kelowna. The stacks of papers left at coed queer settings such as the Centre and Little Sisters were vandalized on at least two occasions in these locations (ostensibly by persons who were anti-lesbian or mysogynist, rather than anti-queer, as neighbouring queer publications were untouched) by being reversed so that the title was not visible or hidden under stacks of papers. Papers in the one straight location it was distributed in, CCEC credit union, were unaffected.
The print version was discontinued as of LQ 13 for reasons discussed in that issue.
Proud to be part of the solution… What’s your approach to making the world a better place?
Pat Hogan and Clare Robson make a difference by organizing a conference for older lesbians and Annuska van der Pol seeks to understand the landscape of her new country, this time through a trip to a botanical garden. Yours truly looks at the options for response to street violence and where to go when planning a fabulous lesbian wedding. The lesbian agenda section overflows onto a second page and includes lots of events from outside the lower mainland. Happy Pride!
In this issue:
Note: this is an archived edition orginally published in print. Please see ‘printable versions’ for the full version in its original format
Planning a wedding? Wondering where to go that will treat you like the blushing bride you are? After a year and a half long engagement, my partner Jeanette and I are getting married this fall and we’re in the midst of planning everything. Here’s my pick list (by no means exhaustive) of the best of the bridal we’ve found in Vancouver so far. For other services the Gay & Lesbian Business Association (http://www.glba.org) is a safe bet. Not all GLBA members are LGTB but all agree to behave respectfully towards us.
Wedding Planners—Our budget being on the skinny side, we opted not to go with a wedding planner. However, there is a (reportedly) lesbian-owned planning company for those who can afford this service, which typically takes up 20% of your budget for the entire wedding. You have to search hard on the Belles and Balls website to find their information on same sex weddings. Once I found the page, I realized why. The belles offer a special discreet service for couples who may not be out to work or family (www.bellesandballs.com/weddings.same.cfm). They also work with gay and lesbian vendors.
Venues—The Greater Vancouver Regional District has inexpensive, private and beautiful heritage buildings in regional parks for rent. Unlike halls owned by religious organizations, they are not allowed to discriminate against us. We rented Inverholme Schoolhouse, a hall that holds 65 people, for $400 for an entire day and evening (add $100 for liquor permit). http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/parks/facility-reservations.htm
Attire—After a day of hearing skinny straight gals in bridal and formal clothing stores tell me and my mom I’d have to get something custom made to fit my tall curvy frame, it was a great relief to enter Tiffany Plus NY Bridal. I was zipped into my gowns by Chelsea, a friendly and slightly punk looking gal with a lip piercing. Goddess bless East Vancouver. They had lots of dresses in my size, and I’m told this is the only plus sized bridal store in the lower mainland.
Watch out, wedding and bridesmaid dresses are about two sizes up from your normal size. Most of us won’t be wearing the white dress with the big train & veil (you go girl if you want to!), but for fancy formal dresses in a wide choice of colour, the bridesmaid dresses gave me some swank options for the occasion for $250-400. It’s apparently not unusual even for het brides to opt for a simpler and non-white bridesmaid dress. I also learned that these stores only stock dresses in one size and colour, so you may be trying on something way too big or small (they use pins and panels to make it fit you when you try it on) and then ordering it in the size and colour you need. Once it comes in, they alter it to fit close to your wedding date. Tiffany has a standard-size store a couple of doors west as well with the same good staff.
For a renaissance look, (but definitely not plus or tall size), the House Gallery had dresses, capes, beautiful accessories and some lovely and butch friendly handmade shirts, brocade vests and coats that can be made in coordinating fabrics. She was willing to make something for me in my size (most bridal is custom anyways), but I would have liked to have been able to try on at least one dress in each style before committing to that. This woman-owned business was pagan friendly and lesbian friendly. She was respectful to Jeanette and I when we were there, and had pictures of lesbian couples in her change room.
Caterers—Potluck Catering is a social enterprise benefiting a café that serves low-cost meals and trains and employs residents of the downtown eastside of Vancouver. They are members of the GLBA and have done the food at the lesbian ball league tournaments. They also were the only catering site found that specifically mentioned they catered same-sex weddings. Typical cost for a fully catered reception is $25 a person, plus rental of dishes and servers. Too steep? If your venue has a kitchen try catering only a main course and asking guests to bring a potluck item.
Officiants—For the religious, the Unitarian Church (a blend of Christianity, secular humanism Buddhism and earth-based spirituality), Metropolitan Community Church (gay evangelical Christian) and United Church (liberal Christian) will happily perform same sex weddings. Unitarian officiants are also happy to marry interfaith couples. The Unity Church in North Vancouver (liberal Christian) has a lesbian minister who will also perform same-sex weddings. Selected Anglican priests in the Diocese of New Westminster (lower mainland) will perform same-sex blessings but not marriages. This Diocese and it’s Bishop are known world-wide for taking a stand in favour of performing these blessings, and have suffered a lot of censure within it’s own church and broader conservative Christianity for doing so. Quaker meetings are largely self-governing and some unstructured meetings will also perform same-sex weddings. Wiccans can have legally recognized handfastings/weddings performed by priests and priestesses of the Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC in Vancouver and the Okanagan, and the Aquarian Tabernacle Church on the island. Reform Jewish Rabbis are permitted to bless same-sex Jewish couples and some, like Rabbi Justin Lewis in Kingston, will perform marriages. Some Buddhist priests will perform same-sex marriages as well, and Thich Nhat Hanh, a noted Buddhist monk and author has written a Buddhist wedding ceremony designed to be adapted for same sex couples.All BC Marriage Commissioners are required to perform secular same-sex weddings, and like Unitarians, will let you design most of your own ceremony. Unfortunately, there’s no listing of which ones are lesbian or truly supportive so it’s best to do your own screening. Information on getting married in BC and contact info for marriage commissioners is at: http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html
In September 200 older lesbians will be converging on Vancouver to frolic high atop the Coast Plaza Hotel in the West End. They’ve taken over the 35th floor for four days to hold singles events, workshops on finances, sex & menopause, community, oral herstory, yoga and spirituality. They’ll be abreast in a dragon boat, cruising the harbour and dancing the night away. Brainchild of Vancouver’s lesbian event organizing grand dame, Pat Hogan, this year the conference is organized by Pat and co-organizer Clare Robson.
Is it just for over 50’s? Yes and no. “Women in their 30’s and 40’s came last year because they’re lesbians. A lot of the content is about growing older but a lot of is about hanging out with lesbians.” says Pat. Younger women are welcome. There’s a wide range of women who attend, mostly from the US and Canada but some from other parts of the world. The conference is inspired by the American conference ‘Golden Threads’. While the last year had mostly Canadian presenters, this years conference features American presenters and content where relevant, so that American guests can have access to financial and legal information that applies to them as well. Last year’s event had about 185 participants, and Pat and Clare are expecting a full 200 this year, after last year’s blazing success. “For some women, they’d never been to an event where there’s been lesbians before and it’s like a second coming out for them. But for others it was about building community,” notes Pat.
The conference will coincide with the Vancouver tour date of over-50 lesbian musician Cris Williamson, happening on Sunday September 10th, also organized by Pat’s company Sounds and Furies. Musicians who will be performing at the conference include “first lady of folk” Penny Lang on Saturday night and funny feminist folkie Kate Reid on Friday night.
In addition to the featured workshops, this year’s conference includes meeting space and encouragement for registrants to create their own workshops or discussions.
In fine lesbian tradition, the conference is sliding scale and some subsidies are available. Pat and Clare are holding an open-mic fundraiser for the scholarship fund on June 11th. Information for all of these events is available on the Sounds and Furies website at www.soundsandfuries.com. Women who don’t use the internet can get a brochure by contacting Pat at 604-253-7189.
New lesbian-owned café at 317 East Broadway in Vancouver. After two years of planning, consultation and looking for just the right space, Lisa and Vinetta of Rhizome Café are set to open their doors mid June. The couple plans to open the café to progressive community groups and organizations as a place to meet and to hold fundraisers, and to provide a diverse, welcoming and accessible space with good food & ethical coffee. Let’s support this new lesbian-owned business. http://www.rhizomecafe.ca/
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.