Saskatchewan: The Apartheid Province

Ever since I was a boy newly arrived in Canada, and long after I discovered that sadly there were no bears on Mount Royal, and that building an igloo was harder than I thought, I always wanted to go to Saskatchewan.

To lie in one of those beautiful golden Wizard of Oz fields and stare up at the big blue sky.

But now that dream will never come true because Saskatchewan doesn't want me...or other gay people. It's an apartheid province.

The Saskatchewan Party government is proposing legislation that would allow the province's marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex marriages.

Where to placate its rabid hate mongering Christianist base a Canadian government is prepared to humiliate gay people, deny them equal rights, treat their love as something dirty, and turn them into second class citizens.














Of course, as Dr Dawg, A Creative Revolution, and stageleft point out, this case is about more than just gay rights.

It's about whether public servants have the right to pick and choose which members of the public they will serve. And the only decent thing to do is to ask these public servants whether they are prepared to serve ALL citizens.

And if they say no...... to FIRE their bigot asses. Because Canada isn't Iran and in Canada human rights trump religious rights any old day.

The good news? This apartheid move only reinforces the need for Human Rights Commissions to prevent citizens from being discriminated against by their own governments. And the ReformCons of the Wall government will be shamed in the eyes of the world....and boycotted from every direction.

The bad news? It just struck me that lying in one of those golden fields on a clear night full of stars would be even more awesome.

Oh well. They can destroy my big sky dreams....or put them on hold. But they can never destroy our humanity. Or make me believe that our love isn't as beautiful as any other.

And of course I'll fight them FOREVER.

Those miserable bastard bigots who are ruining my country...

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P.S. I have to admit that when I was a teenager, I also used to dream of driving a convertible at full speed through an endless wheat field. Like Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek did in the classic 70s movie Badlands.

While blasting the music from this scene on the car stereo...



But Sébastien said that wasn't a good dream. So I gave that one up voluntarily.

*Sigh*

When the Bible is a Blunt Weapon

I was looking for any posts on Toronto's Gay Pride Parade that I might have missed while I was away, when I came across this one.

That surprised and disappointed me. Not just because I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to mean:

[Garbage strike you see, streets full of garbage, play on words, get you thinking.]

But also because if you're a progressive blogger, and you want to defend some bible-thumping homophobes, you really should link to the full story.

The Johnsons have hosted a table at the festival for more than a decade, displaying models of aborted fetuses and signs with bible verses. While they don’t have signs criticizing LGBT people, they would often engage festival goers in heated conversations homosexuality. The couple told WCCO on Friday that they “believe homosexuality is a sin and God has sent them to share that message.”

So readers can understand the difference between free speech, and trespassing where you are not wanted.

And while we're at it, also remember that in the United States the Christianist hatemongers wield the Bible like a blunt weapon.
















And the last thing gay people need at THEIR party is a bunch of haters with models of aborted fetuses shoving Bibles in their faces with this kind of crazy bat shite in it:

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."

But why ask me eh?

Why not ask the two gay friends who after leaving the same Pride Festival the Bible thumpers were ejected from, were attacked by a gang of young homophobes.

Who insulted and threw rocks at them.



Ask them if they've had enough of this crazy bigotry. Or who needs freedom more.... Bible-thumping bigots or gay people?

But then...If you have never felt the hate that hurts or kills.

Or imagined your lover with his blood on his head.

How can you really know it ?

When Stephen Harper Plays Napoleon

Uh oh. I knew it. I leave the country for a few days and Stephen Harper tries to pull a fast one. When I Ieft he was pretending to be a Liberal...and a nice guy.

Now I see he's pretending to be the Governor General.

Harper managed to get the military to give him a salute that's normally reserved for the Governor-General. As Heritage Minister James Moore explains in the video, this was something that the Prime Minister apparently wanted.

Caramba. Is this Canada or Honduras?

And where was Bruno when we needed him?















But seriously people..... we have a problem.

Our Parliament is a gong show.

Our government doesn't know what it's doing. The economy is tanking. Our international reputation is shattered.

And now the most sinister and authoritarian Prime Minister in Canadian history is organizing military salutes to HIMSELF?

Golly. Who does Great Strategist ,Economist , Warrior , Ridiculous Nerd Leader think he is....Napoleon or Stalin? And can you IMAGINE what he would do if he ever got a majority?

Oh wait. We don't have to imagine.

Whenever the election does come, Harper has one plan in mind for afterward: the elimination of public funding to political parties. A punishing blow to his opponents. Sure, the idea caused a showdown last autumn, the adviser said. “But in retrospect, we should have stuck to our guns. It was strategically smart. It’s still strategically smart. We’re going to run again on it. And we’re going to do it, if we win the next election. It’s coming.”

We have been warned. Again. For the sake of our democracy. For the sake of our precious Canadian values. Exile this absurd little Napoleon to the Fraser Institute.

Before he destroys our country ....

Big Oil and The Forever War

It was just one of those moments. I'm in this Maine castle, and I'm reading Dexter Hilkins' awesome book on Iraq and Afghanistan The Forever War. Which begins with this quote from Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses:

He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower."

On the TV in the living room Iraqis are cheering the withdrawal of American troops from their ruined cities.

And to make the moment complete I'm wondering whether that big speed boat coming from the direction of the Bush family compound is taking Georgie fishing, and whether the apocalypse he unleashed ever bothers him.

Then I read this.

Iraq is locked in a struggle with the world's largest oil companies over contracts that would see "Big Oil" return to the Iraqi oilfields for the first time in almost 40 years.

And I realized that even in his sober moments the chimp must be smirking. Mission Accomplished. History may vilify him. But they'll be bronzing his hairy ass in Houston and Calgary for the rest of his life.

While Big Oil pumps out the Iraqi oil fields as fast as they can, to keep us hooked on cheap oil, even as the planet burns.

Because of course it was always about that. From day one of the occupation when mobs looted government buildings, stole priceless treasures from the Baghdad Museum, and the only building the Americans guarded was the Ministry of Oil.

Freedom was the vision of a flower they held up to try to justify the slaughter.

But it was just power and greed and the black guck that is killing us all.

The speed boat disappeared into the distance. The moment passed. Sébastien arrived and we went down to the beach for the last time before heading home.















But not before I read the other quote on the opening page of The Forever War...this one from Herman Melville.

Oh, horrible vultureism of earth! from which not the mightiest whale is free.

For that they turned the world upside down.

For that so many people died...

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UPDATE:

Iraqis not surrendering cooperating. Big Oil outraged. Hold the celebrations. Call back the marines...

My Gay Pride Day and the Stonewall Kids

Well I have to admit it was my strangest Gay Pride Day ever. Hanging with some friends on a pile of rocks sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean. Trying not to talk about Michael Jackson.

Or feel guilty about missing the Gay Pride Parade.

Or celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots..... in a seafood joint with the sign "Happy Birthday Mr President (Bush)" over the doorway.















But then as I explained in my last post I desperately needed a break. So did Sébastien. He needed a break from the real world. I needed a break from the blogosphere.

Because I'm tired of having to waste so much time fighting homophobic wingnuts, who have been bombarding me with the most disturbing creepy messages I've ever seen

Like this gem accusing me of being responsible for the Toronto garbage strike:

Toronto, leftie dominated, garbage collectors refuse to bend over to pick up faggots' trash. They are claiming increased risk of getting sodomised and contracting HIV/AIDS while they are doing their jobs.

Raging faggot Montréal Simon still denies his own involvement in leftie movement that is behind this fiasco and tries to blame Conservatives for this latest development.

Yikes. What do you do with stuff like that? It's so easy to demolish their crazed arguments. But the stench of their twisted bigotry lingers, disturbs and distracts me from writing about other things. Which really pisses me off.

But then I read a story about the gay people who started the Stonewall Riots.
















A prominent Stonewall myth holds that the riots were an uprising by the gay community against decades of oppression. This would be true if the “gay community” consisted of Stonewall patrons. The bar’s regulars, though, were mostly teenagers from Queens, Long Island and New Jersey, with a few young drag queens and homeless youths who squatted in abandoned tenements on the Lower East Side.

Although several older activists participated in the riots, most stood on the edges and watched. Many told me they were put off by the way the younger gays were taunting the police.... They believed the younger generation’s behavior would lead to even more oppression.

Which made me laugh and feel better... even a little ashamed. WTF am I complaining about? I should be honoured those crazies are after me. Because when you're gay you only have two choices: fight for or surrender your humanity.

And if those kids could start the gay freedom struggle, then our generation will FINISH it.

Which is a long way of saying I'm back. It was a good break, although I am sorry about missing the Big Parade. Especially since my friends said it was the best one EVER. It actually started and ended on time *gasp* and for once it wasn't too hot. Just my luck eh?

But then for me gay pride day is every day. If my role in the blogosphere is to attract homophobes.... like a light attracts bugs to a zapper.... so be it. The stench of scorched bigotry will be EVERYWHERE.

But I can handle it. As long as you know who covers my back.

And no matter where I go.

I take my rainbow with me...

The Boulevard of My Broken Blogging Dreams

It was so hot in Montreal's Gay Village today they were hanging out the laundry. My friends were getting ready to party all night. Because tomorrow its the Fete Nationale.

But I'm sitting under a tree, sweating like a pig, gasping for another frappuccino, staring at the blistered remains of my dreams to become a famous gay blogger.

Because let's face it this is THE END...

As if it wasn't bad enough that Mark and Gay Person of Color beat me AGAIN. Just because they got talent. Big deal.

But when Uncle Fred of Gay and Right beats you to the Gay Hall of Fame you know it really really is OVER.

Damn. Why didn't I throw in a little climate change denial and Muslim bashing....instead of defending Omar Khadr.

When he isn't even gay. Just a Canadian with an Arab name and a brown skin....who has been tortured for just eight years. What an idiot. Sébastien, Sébastien, I coulda been a CONTENDER !!!

On the other hand I haven't been feeling too much of anything winningly in the blogosphere recently. Just a lot of ugly stuff that doesn't go well with summer. Like crazy Con monkeys hurling their own excrement at you. And other nasty things.

You know some guy called me a drama queer the other day. And he was defending me !!!!
Can The Abyss be far off?

But it wasn't until I saw this guy playing the violin in the hellish heat that I realized how I REALLY feel...

















Because if you do it just because you have to ....or you feel you have to....and it isn't fun anymore. Then you probably should give it up or take a break.

So I am. I didn't want to be famous anyway. And Sébastien is very persuasive. You come with me or ELSE.

See you when I see you eh?

Maybe I'll make it back in time for the parade.

Can't stop. Won't stop.

Bring Omar Khadr home TOMORROW...

When the Fetus Fetishists are Homophobes

If you want to know why I am a feminist as well as a gay activist, it's not just because I love my beautiful sisters....and want need them to save the world.

It's also because we share the same enemies. Like this fetus fetishist and homophobe in Halifax.

I'm not going to comment on drooly Julie's disgusting rant. I've heard it all before. Like this homophobic filth:

Why should any society endorse a movement that tries to recruit members, when the activity promoted actually causes disease?

When everyone knows that it's the crazy Christianist hatemongers who are diseased....riddled with syphilis of the brain and soul. Just like their deranged movement is riddled with TERRORISTS.

Which reminds me.... let's check out what Granny Hate had to say the day Dr George Tiller was murdered.

I just got an email from Operation Rescue that George Tiller, aka Tiller the Killer, was shot and killed while going into his church this morning. Tiller operated an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and was known for his late-term abortions. Now Tiller has met his maker.

One person will be convicted for this crime, but I believe that a large portion of the responsibility for it lies with those who failed to serve justice and continued to allow Tiller to behave as if he was above the law.

Nice eh?

But then let's not be too hard on Julie, because whatever hidden qualities she may possess, intelligence isn't one of them.

Not only doesn't she understand that Jesus is supposed to stand for LOVE not hate. She's too dumb or crazy to know what NOT to steal.

Which shocks me because how dumb can you be eh? And saddens me because Mark is my beautiful gay brother and he'll NEVER live this one down.










I'll make sure of that....heh heh heh. You see he's the good polite brother, I'm the...um...other one.

Which is why I am DELIGHTED that Julie has decided to join the gay pride festivities.

So July 25, let's take a stand - we Christians have been silent for far too long....Let's gather on the steps of St. Mary's Basilica and pray.We need to show this movement that freedom does not exist in surrendering to base sexual behaviour; freedom comes from living in the truth purchased for us by Jesus Christ who loved us to the point of death.

And why I'm hoping she comes dressed for the orgy she's expecting...wearing nothing but a chastity belt, a pacifier in her mouth, and a loud clanging cow bell around her neck. So hopefully some big proud but drunk (she'd have to be) dyke can take pity on her, find the key to her...um...shrivelled heart. And bring her closer to Jesus.

Jesus..Jesus ....JEEEEEEEEESUS !!!!!

And so the gay boys can hear the wingnuts coming. And prepare a 21-Super Soaker salute. Because they deserve it eh?

And the really good news? Mark is still in shock, but his doctor assures me he'll make a full recovery, and be back at his blog today.

And I was born gay eh? So I get to hang out with all the best and coolest gay and straight people. And fight these Christianist Taliban FOREVER.

Jesus...Jesus....JEEEEEEEEEEESUS!!!

What more can a poor boy ask for?

The Blogging Tories and the Homophobes

I don't like a lot of things I read on the Blogging Tories. The racism, the xenophobia, the relentless assault on modernity. And of course the mediocrity of it all.

But I never bother to leave comments because I'm not interested in flame wars. And what's the point ? Why stir up the batty cave? And have them fly out at you... SQUAWK SQUAWK ...FART FART....IT'S THE LIEBERALS AND THE MOOOOOOSLIMS !!!!

But today I HAD to eh? Put on my rubber booties and wade into the pigshit and the insanity. Because this is the LIMIT.

I'm not going to bother explaining to Shane Edwards why the Cons are donating money to the Gay Pride parade. I'll leave that up to brother Mark.

But I do want The Politico.com to explain to me why they would allow the disgusting feminist basher and homophobic hatemonger Karol Karolak to promote hatred against gay people in the comments.

And why they would allow him to slander me.

(Note Karolak's vile comments have since been removed ....see note at the end of the post. But this is the line that concerned me)

BIG HOMO propaganda machine in a full swing again; Montreal Simon calls for confrontation and violence against heterosexuals in Canada.

By accusing me of promoting violence with this post.

Which of course is outrageous because I don't promote violence against ANYONE.

But here's what I don't understand. Karol Karolak is well known as probably the most disgusting homophobe in Canada. When he tried to hijack a thread on the BT Forums recently, Craig Smith had the decency to take it down.

So your Honour ....why won't The Politico.com ? And do you think they'll have the decency to apologize for giving Karol a forum to promote hatred, libel me, channel his crazies my way, and possibly endanger my life?

NOTE: The administrator who deleted Karolak's comments says he was not aware of them for 48 hours. And as soon as he saw them he deleted them. And that furthermore that neither he or his blog condone Karol's views. Not that I said that ...just asked why they were not deleted. See note at the end of the post.

Or at the very least bore me to death, or cause my fingers to hurt from hitting the delete button.

Hmmm...I wonder how much I can get for that? Especially since I play the piano eh?

And what does Stephen Taylor have to say about this? Is he proud of Karol? And will he share the court costs.... or put up his bail ?

I also want to say that I'm not intimidated by any of the death threats I'm receiving...although I recognize the police may think differently. In fact, in a certain way I'm DELIGHTED. Because I started off thinking I needed a new i-phone.... but now I think somebody is going to buy me another big-screen TV !!!!!

But seriously....can you imagine that kind of hatemongering material ever appearing on a progressive site? I can't either.

Which only goes to show what kind of people the ReformCons really are. Why this country has to be cleaned up.

And why we're so much BETTER than they are. Pat yourselves on the back my progressive family.

Have a great weekend.

This one's for you....



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UPDATE: 22/06/09

This afternoon I was informed by the administrator of the Politic.com that all of Karol's offensive and libellous comments have been removed from that blog. And that the delay in deleting them was due to the fact he was unaware of them. And NOT because the Politico.com condoned Karolak's views. And I accept that explanation, although I still cannot understand how such comments should have been left up there so long.

I also want to say that although in my original post I believed the blog's author Shane Edwards was responsible for moderating comments I have been told that only the administrator can do that. So I can't blame Shane, and I'm sorry I did. Although I can't understand that since it was his post, and he was aware of my request he didn't write something or alert and administrator. For the complete exchange read the last few comments...

Gay People and the Hatred that Kills

The scary thing about homophobic violence is that it can happen suddenly and anywhere.

In the crowded streets of Sao Paolo.

Or a quiet street in Toronto.

"They were drunk and had open beer bottles in their hands," says John. "When they approached us they were making remarks as 'faggot,' 'fudge packer' and 'you and your girlfriend.'"

When cowards attack. And even the police are no help.

John says he isn't impressed by 911's handling of his first call, made while he and Majikwa were being hassled but before he was allegedly struck.

"[The 911 operator] insisted that we walk away and hung up the phone," he says. "Could you imagine that?"

Then they wonder why more hate crimes are not reported.

When everybody knows the homophobia that fuels the violence is in the schools, it's in the streets, it's at work, it's EVERYWHERE. You're not even safe in your own home.

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has rebuked a well-heeled family for harassing a gay couple living next door to them in an upscale Vancouver condo.

Court heard the Harrisons played annoyingly loud music, summoned the police with false accusations, tried to instigate fist fights, hurled slurs, let the air out of the couple's car tires and threatened to kill their cat.

So why aren't we doing more to fight homophobia...like they are in the more advanced European countries? Answer: because this is Canada where bad things don't happen.

Except that they do. I've been attacked by drunken homophobes at least a dozen times, and if I didn't know how to fight ...or run.... I probably wouldn't be here today. I'd be dead or lying in some hospital with brain damage. Because they ALWAYS go for the head.

And who will be next? Your brother, your sister, your friend, your neighbour, or you or me and my lover? Hurt or killed just for who we are.

Because that's one thing we all know. One thing we can't escape.

Until this crazy hate is crushed. Until these violent bigots are leashed or jailed.

Tomorrow could be our lucky day.

Or it could be our last one...

Harper, Ignatieff, and Who Really Killed the Coalition?

I see that Gilles Duceppe hasn't wasted any time calling it the Harper-Ignatieff Coalition.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa after Ignatieff and Harper, a fuming Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe suggested Ignatieff had followed in his Liberal predecessor's footsteps by propping up the Tories and entering into a "coalition" that would deliver "nothing for the unemployed.”

"He just choked,” Duceppe said of the Liberal leader. “He looked in the mirror this morning and saw Stéphane Dion.”

But I'm not going to get into the partisan slag fest. There's enough of it out there. All I want to do is to lament the grubby politics.

The decaying state of our political process, that puts cheap machinations before the needs of suffering Canadians.

And point out that if the real coalition was still around, none of this would be necessary. Because we would have been better than that.

Which is why I still want to know who really killed it.














Because something about this story really STINKS.

"They did it at the Canadian Council of (Chief) Executives, there was three presidents of major banks who stood up in the room – and this is not from cabinet so I can talk about it – stood up and said, `Ignatieff, don't you even think about bringing us to an election. We don't need this. We have no interest in this. And we will never fund your party again.'"

Not just because it says something about the Liberal Party...but also because it raises the curtain on how our political system really works.

The taped comments raise questions about what role the banks may have played in nixing the coalition, and also what power they wield over the severely financially strapped Liberal party.

Which is so disgusting and such a tragedy.

Because if the centre left wasn't divided it wouldn't be forced to grub around in the mud with the filthy Cons to try to make a sloppy deal. It would sweep the Cons from power and keep them out FOREVER.

Stephen Harper realizes that, and that's why he was still trying to demonize the Coalition today. Even though it's rotting in the grave, it's ghost still frightens him.

But somehow we don't get it. Don't understand that as long as the Bloc doesn't collapse and the great regional divide remains intact, and four parties of the left fight one party on the right, nothing will ever change. And the chances a centre-left party will ever form a majority government are very very slim. So we have to work with each other.

But still parse each other's policies like wingnuts parse the Bible. Or fight each other like the Communists and the Anarchists fought each other, as the fascists advanced on Madrid. While the Cons torch our country and its values.

Instead of trying to find common ground so that one day we can form a grand coalition, sweep the Cons into the garbage can of history, and make the kind of beautiful, progressive creative Canada most of us want.

Oh well. I know nobody listens to me. Slagging one another is so much more fun. And the more you slag the more popular you are in the blogosphere.

But I don't care because I know I'm right. One day the left WILL unite or be forced to recognize the need to form coalitions. But by then it will probably be in the ruins of what was once Canada. And it will be left to the new generation to ask why the fuck did it take so long ?

And why did you let the Cons destroy our future when you could have wiped them off the electoral map anytime you WANTED?

In the meantime, I'll settle for finding out who really killed the Coalition.

Because the answer is important for the future.

And I still REMEMBER...