Dykes Against Harper

2008-08-01T10:44:00.000-04:00

Hiatus

2008-07-03T09:09:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't noticed, the blog is more or less on hiatus, perhaps to be launched under a new name some time in the future. It has become a repository for my columns, which you can read over at xtra.ca ...

Policing pregnancy

2008-04-02T15:31:00.004-04:00

Why gays should worry about policing pregnancy
PERSONAL POLITICAL / Our mantra has always been: our bodies, our choices

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Wednesday, April 02, 2008

My friend Pam, who is pregnant with twins, delights in making strangers squirm when she's out at a bar. She orders alcohol-free beer and drinks it out of the bottle, eliciting glares from other patrons who are convinced that she's harming her future children.

No one has dared to confront her yet, but if they do, Pam plans to tell them where to go. Because since she's become pregnant, she's noticed that random strangers seem to feel entitled to give her advice on everything from fashion to nutrition. Her body has become a source of public debate — one in which she never consented to participate.

If a private member's bill called the Unborn Victims of Crime Act makes it into law, pregnant women like Pam could find all of their choices scrutinized — and possibly criminalized. Because the bill, sponsored by Conservative MP Ken Epp, would grant legal "personhood" to fetuses, setting a precedent that could significantly chip away at women's reproductive freedom.

In the United States, similar laws also criminalize pregnant women for activities that could be deemed harmful to the fetuses they're carrying. And this should make all queers quake in their boots — even those who have no intention of procreating.

Visit xtra.ca to read the rest.

Also, here are some resources to help you fight Bill C-484:

1. Sign this online petition.
2. Write a letter to your MP, using the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada's Talking Points
3. Make a donation to ARCC. This is the fight of their lives. They are broke and doing awesome work.
4. If you live in Ottawa, join pro-choice activists on Parliament Hill on Saturday, May 3rd, for a Rally to Oppose Bill C-484. Here are the details:

For immediate release:

Contact: opposebillc484@gmail.com

Headline: “Moving backwards in fight for abortion rights”

On May 3rd, 2008 from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM a protest opposing Bill C-484 will take place at the Peace Tower.

Bill C-484, “The Unborn Victims of Crime Act,” has passed its second reading in Parliament as of March 5th, 2008. The bill creates a separate offence for killing a fetus when a pregnant woman is murdered. It gives an unborn foetus some human rights in these cases, which is a cause for concern in the pro-choice community. Under current Canadian Law, human fetuses are not considered persons(s) until they are born alive. If Bill C-484 should pass, the laws would be in conflict because the foetus would be considered a person and therefore the right to a legal abortion would come into question, as well as the rights of pregnant women in general. The law is clearly not concerned with the roots of violence against women and thus this bill would be a detriment to women’s rights. Similar laws have been passed in the U.S. resulting in dozens of women being punished for trying to “harm their child”. Let’s not let this happen in Canada.

We believe that the government should look to pass laws that increase the sentencing upon those who commit violent acts against women, instead of passing laws just for fetuses that give women no ounce of protection and infringe on their rights.

Women and men are encouraged to come join us and the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada at the Peace Tower on May 3rd, 2008 to show their solidarity. We are encouraging supporters across Canada to hold similar protests as a sign of nationwide solidarity against Bill C-484.

Fetus rights part of SoCon chess game

2008-03-15T22:52:00.000-04:00

PERSONAL POLITICAL / Trends in women's political issues not looking good

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Wednesday, March 12, 2008

If I hear another "socially progressive, economically Conservative" homo defend Stephen Harper again, I'm going to lose it.

You might remember the refrain from after the last federal election in 2006: He's not so bad. This is a minority government. The free vote on re-opening the same sex marriage was only about pandering to the Western base and was meant to fail. Harper's committed to right-wing economics, but he's no religious zealot.

We all know Harper's been careful to micromanage all government communications, in an effort to paint himself as a middle of the road, fatherly kind of guy. But just last week, even the propaganda department at the PMO couldn't keep a lid on Charles McVety, president of the ultra-right Canada Family Action Coalition.

McVety couldn't contain his excitement over a controversial few sentences buried deep within Bill C-10, a broad ranging piece of income-tax legislation. The Bill allows self-appointed censors from the Departments of Heritage and Justice to yank tax credits away from film and television productions deemed to be "contrary to public policy."

All three opposition parties missed this stealth manoeuvre, until the bill hit third reading in the Senate, and McVety gloated to the Globe and Mail about how this bill represents the government's — and Canadians' — true "conservative values."

This came in the same week as a private members' bill from Conservative MP Ken Epps that puts a significant dent in women's reproductive freedom by establishing legal "personhood" for fetuses passed second reading.

The so-called "Unborn Victims of Crimes Act" will now go to committee hearings, where you can bet every religious whackjob will testify about the "rights" of the unborn. Shamefully, neither the Liberals or the NDP whipped their caucus to vote against the bill.

If anything, it's been a banner year for religious wingnuts, and with Harper approaching majority territory in the polls, we can only imagine what actions he would take if he didn't have to rely on the Liberals nor the NDP to get laws passed.

It's useful to take a close look at some strategic initiatives that the Harper government has pushed through over the last two years. When you line them up, you see the escalation in tactics and the rather brazen moves by the Conservatives to silence queer and women's rights activists.

Read the rest over at xtra.ca.

2-minute action for reproductive freedom

2008-03-04T09:35:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, the House of Commons will vote on Conservative MP Ken Epps “Unborn Victims of Crime Act." The bill is problematic to say the least … it would effectively confer legal status on fetuses, violating pregnant women’s rights in the process. It’s the kind of legislation that the religious right has successfully passed in the U.S., leading to arrests of pregnant women for actions that are not considered criminal for anyone else. It also does nothing to address the real pressing concern for pregnant women: domestic violence.

For an excellent analysis of why the bill is problematic, check out Joyce Arthur's recent editorial in the National Post.

I think this tidbit really sums it up:

Under state "fetal homicide" laws pregnant women are more likely to be punished for behaviours and conditions that are not criminalized for other people, such as drug or alcohol abuse. Women have also been charged or jailed for murder for experiencing a stillbirth after refusing a Caesarean section. Some states have proposed punishing pregnant women in abusive relationships who are unable to leave their batterers, and desperate women who resort to unsafe self-abortions. The worst offender is South Carolina, where dozens of pregnant women with drug abuse problems have been arrested under fetal protection laws, even though they had virtually no access to drug treatment programs.

Usually private members’ bills have no chance of passing, but apparently only the NDP and the Bloc have agreed to whip their caucuses to vote against this measure.

You can click here to send a message to Stephane Dion, urging him to impose some party discipline, and make sure that this frightening initiative fails.

For more analysis on why this bill is terrifying, check out what Vicky Smallman and Andrea Zanin have to say.

And also, check out the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada's talking points on Bill C-484.

Take action now!

Sex workers are us

2008-02-21T12:57:00.000-05:00

Why we fight alongside hookers
PERSONAL POLITICAL / The state has no place in our bedrooms

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Thursday, February 21, 2008

Maybe it was her blue dreadlocks that caught my attention. Standing in a park in Montreal's Plateau district in 1998, I was struck by how my first Take Back the Night march had veered off in a direction I had never expected. On a damp night in November, I had run to catch up with a group of 100 women who tromped around the streets of Montreal that night, pointing out the dark corners where women had been raped or assaulted.

It filled me with a sense of foreboding, but also a feeling of incredible power and sisterhood. And then we reached the park where the speeches took place and Anna-Louise Crago took the stage. Decked out in leggings and combat boots, her long hair a mess of the afore-mentioned dreadlocks, she looked like many of the activist kids I'd met in my first few weeks of school. But as soon as she opened her mouth, I was hooked.

She spit fire at the assembled group of women, railing against them for having jeered at the strip clubs on St Catherine St in the midst of their march. A member of the Coalition for the Rights of Sex Workers, Anna was the first self-acknowledged sex worker I ever met, and she forever changed my view of women in the trade.

Since then I have met lots of sex workers, and count several among my closest friends. So that's why it's been so infuriating to see the misinformation being spread in the media by Ottawa city councillors and the chief of police.

Dozens of arrests have been made since November as part of a city-wide crackdown on street level prostitution and drug use. Police have begun sending letters to the owners of vehicles suspected of idling in areas populated by sex workers. The letters make false statements about sex workers, claiming that they are all drug users responsible for spreading HIV/AIDS. And this is not to mention the obvious civil liberties violations associated with this type of surveillance tactic.

The struggle for sex workers' rights is our struggle. Here's why. (Read the rest over at xtra.ca)

Bio family can embrace chosen family

2008-01-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

PERSONAL POLITICAL / How my family has grown by having two gay kids

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sometimes worlds collide in the strangest ways, especially when birth families and chosen families interact.

A few weeks ago, my tattooed femme friend brought her lover, a leather-clad bootblack, to dinner at my parents' house in North York. The two of them had met at Mr Leather Ottawa a couple of months earlier, when the bootblack asked the femme to hike up her skirt so she could polish the femme's boots. A hot affair has ensued ever since.

When I was recently back in Toronto visiting family, my mother decided to throw a giant dinner party, and announced that she wanted to meet some of my friends. So the femme and the bootblack joined me, my partner, my parents, grandmother and other assorted relatives for a gourmet kosher feast.

My grandmother, who is the most stylish clothes horse I've ever met in my life, oohed and ahhed over the femme's houndstooth kitten-heeled shoes. The bootblack displayed impeccable manners, clad in a tie and a smart leather vest. When my Mom asked the couple how they met, the femme declared, "she polishes boots for charity events!" It certainly made for an entertaining meal.

You see, my brother and I have raised our parents just as they have raised us. We grew up in a liberal, open-minded household. My mother, a lawyer, was always interested in human rights cases, so we followed the Supreme Court like other families follow the hockey game. I wrote my first editorial on abortion rights when I was 12, and when I turned 18 and was allowed to vote for the first time, I stubbornly insisted on placing an NDP lawn sign beside my parents' long-standing Liberal sign. They didn't remove it.

Still, I don't think anything prepared them for the experience of having two gay kids. My brother came out when he was 13. I followed three years later at 19, after having moved to Montreal. My father barely lifted an eyebrow, and Mom blurted out, "maybe we were a bit too open-minded?"

Read more about my open-minded family over at xtra.ca.

Lessons learned in campus activism

2008-01-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

Lessons learned in campus activism
PERSONAL POLITICAL / Don't turn off critical thinking after the classroom

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Wednesday, January 09, 2008

I'll never forget the first time someone called me racist. I was 20 years old, and the editor of the student newspaper at Concordia University in Montreal. A self-proclaimed activist, I had joined every leftwing group that I could when I first set foot on campus in 1998. My answering machine was routinely choked with messages from various collectives seeking my volunteer labour — including one group that spent months constructing giant chicken puppets to be used at a demonstration against genetic engineering.

So you can imagine the shock on this Jewish girl's face, when a six-foot tall white dude with green hair stormed into the newspaper office and angrily informed me that I was in need of an anti-oppression workshop.

This was after I'd run an ill-informed editorial about the Palestinian solidarity group on campus, and managed to upset hundreds of people. But as a budding journalist, I was still invested in the questionable notion of journalistic objectivity, and was seriously miffed at being challenged on my story-gathering prowess.

Within a few weeks, the situation got out of hand. After a very public campaign under the mantle of "accountability and democracy," a group of students delivered a petition to me, with over 1,000 signatures, demanding that I resign from my position. I refused. That led to months of heated arguments about who was censoring who. And believe it or not, the student radicals on campus accused me of being, well, not radical enough. After a very public turf war, I was happy to spend my last year of university quietly buried in the library stacks, swearing I would never again go to another demonstration or write another column.

So, what's changed? I graduated from university and got involved with a local neighbourhood association that ran a food bank and organized tenants to fight back against slum landlords. I read whatever books I could get my hands on about the successes and failures of various activist movements. But more importantly, I finally left campus, and realized that there was a wide spectrum of activism and community involvement out there that hadn't been apparent to me from my ivory tower perch.

I thought about this when I heard that students at McGill University students had successfully booted Hema Quebec off campus, protesting against their donation policies, which explicitly ban gay men. When I was a student, I would have celebrated this as a major victory, but now I'm not so sure.

Read the rest over at xtra.ca.

Living in a queer community -- intentionally

2007-12-20T09:24:00.000-05:00

How having three roomies proved a good move
PERSONAL POLITICAL / Lessons learned on the intentional community front

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Thursday, December 20, 2007

There's no such thing as too much information at Queer Nation. That's the moniker that my roommates and I have given to our eclectic household, composed of an AIDS outreach worker, a government computer analyst, a police officer and a writer. Recent dinner-table conversation topics have included the joys of prostate orgasm, the fact that kale is the new vegetable du jour, and which $10 bottle of wine should become the house red.

We also muse about when we're finally going to get off our butts to take over the local community association and reverse its long-standing policy of targeting the sex workers who work down the street from us. Every few days, we haggle over who's going to do the grocery shopping and clean the bathroom — you know, family stuff. Because that's what we are to each other.

If you had told me two years ago that I would be sharing my home with three people, one bathroom and two cats, I would have laughed at you. I never thought I was one for communal living. The concept always conjured up images of white kids with dreadlocks, vegan slop, and seemingly endless consensus-building sessions. None of these things are bad per se, I'm just not the "back to the land" type. I like privacy and some degree of individual space. I spend so much of my time focussing on politics and activism, the last thing I want to do when I get home is join an impromptu committee meeting.

But at this time last year, I faced a dilemma. I had just split with my partner, and found myself in possession of a big house, an even bigger mortgage, and only the vaguest idea of how to care for it. My ex and I had already taken on two roommates in an effort to pay the bills, so when she moved out, I added one more. I decided that as a single woman, I couldn't afford the financial or emotional burden of running a large household on my own. So I asked my housemates to pitch in. Before I knew it, I had unintentionally created an "intentional community." And the transformation that took place in the last 12 months has left an indelible mark both on my domestic life and on my activism.

Read more about life at Queer Nation over at xtra.ca.

Riot, don't diet!

2007-11-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

Queers have a stake in the war against fat people
PERSONAL POLITICAL / Riot, don't diet

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Thursday, November 29, 2007

My ass has never been so politically unpopular. The fashion industry has despised my rounded belly and curvy thighs for at least 40 years, but it's only recently that politicians have been weighing in, so to say.

If you read the news, you've no doubt heard about the obesity "epidemic" that's been gripping the Western world. The hysteria alone could be enough to convince you that chubby girls like me will be single-handedly responsible for destroying Canada's health care system, creating a future backlog of medical ailments triggered by my inability to resist the urge to eat that second cupcake.

Chubby kids have always had it hard, but the vitriol being directed at fat people these days seems unprecedented. The US Surgeon General has called obesity "a greater threat than weapons of mass destruction," and the British Health Secretary called it a "potential crisis on the scale of climate change."

After a plus-sized model won a recent season of American Idol, pundits lined up on network TV to debate whether or not size-12 Jordin Sparks was too fat to serve as a role model for young women.

Nothing makes me want to dive into a bathtub of pad thai more than the way this debate seems to be placing the blame for a whole series of societal problems — including poverty and lack of food security — squarely on the shoulders of curvy kids. And as queers, we have a stake in the war on fat people, whether or not we wear jeans with elasticized waists.

If you look closely at how discussions of obesity have been framed in the media, you'll notice a faint echo of the way the HIV/AIDS debate played out in the 1980s. Fat people are painted as lazy slobs who are placing an undue burden on the medical system, due to their "unhealthy" choices.

This sounds awfully like the way HIV-positive people were castigated in the media several years ago for sexual promiscuity and drug use — suggesting that they somehow deserved to be sick.

Read the rest over at Xtra.ca.

Gay squared!

2007-11-08T09:16:00.001-05:00

The new theme of my column for Xtra.ca and Capital Xtra is "Personal Political" -- uncovering the ways our lives intersect with our politics and the world around us. My editor asked me to focus on sexual rights issues, so this column takes a look at the sometimes prescribed categories we assign within the queer community.

You're gay - now experiment
PERSONAL POLITICAL / When dykes and fags get together, it's gay squared

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Thursday, November 08, 2007

You are who you fuck.

That's been the mantra of the gay rights movement for the last 30 years. And even in the age of metrosexuals and bi-curious women making out in straight bars, many of us have continued to encourage people to come out as gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans. Because those of us who work for political change know that by naming ourselves, we create communities for us to live in and organize around.

Coming out is an important milestone in the evolution of our sexual orientation and gender identity. It's a fearless act that creates space for younger queers to discover themselves. And it helps remind us that even though we have very much in common with our straight friends and family members, we also have something different to offer the world — a unique take on love and relationships. I'm talking about sexual freedom.

Despite its buttoned-down reputation, the Ottawa queer community is quite diverse. The circle I hang out with, for example, includes at least two queer-identified women whose primary partners are men, but who also maintain passionate relationships with other women.

A few months ago, I attended a "pre-loved" sex toy party, where we all brought the silicone implements that had fallen out of our favour to trade with each other. At least two straight men in attendance extolled the virtue of being pegged by their female partners, as they traded in their less ambitious dildos that had fallen by the wayside. And all of us — gay and straight alike — engaged in a considerable amount of flirting that evening.

When I first came out as a lesbian almost 10 years ago, the scene I just described would have been unthinkable. Lesbian women partnering with men? Straight men buying phallic sex toys? The queer world seemed very black and white to me at the time. If someone slept with a member of the opposite sex, I reasoned, they must be straight — or bisexual at least. But after a few years, I came to understand that sometimes what — and who — we do, doesn't always fully describe who we are. And in some cases, the gay and lesbian community might be guilty of enforcing the same kind of restrictive norms that make many heterosexual people unhappy.

Read the rest over at xtra.ca.

Two film reviews

2007-10-23T12:57:00.000-04:00

Xtra.ca just posted two reviews that I wrote of films that will be screened at this weekend's Inside Out (LGBT film fest) in Ottawa -- Red Without Blue and The Chinese Botanist's Daughter.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the fest, as I will be in Kelowna for the Council of Canadians' annual general meeting.

But I recommend that folks in Ottawa check out the film fest. Since the demise of Making Scenes a few years ago, Ottawa, has been left without a queer film fest. Still, Divergence Movie Night has been filling the void, with monthly screenings of underground queer documentaries. DMN is co-sponsoring the screening of Red Without Blue this weekend.

Leave no one behind

2007-10-18T14:01:00.000-04:00

Wait your turn. I’m sure we all heard those words as children, as we stood in line for rides at amusement parks, or impatiently allowed siblings to play with coveted new toys. But in the fight for human rights, should we be telling anyone to wait their turn when it comes to such urgent matters as hate speech protections and workplace anti-discrimination laws?

This is a question that the queer rights movement in the United States is grappling with right now, in regard to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a piece of legislation that has been on the books in one form or another for over 30 years. Because believe it or not, it is absolutely legal to fire someone for being gay under U.S. federal law, and in 31 states. And this is the first time in U.S. history that the ENDA has enough Democrat votes to make it through the House of Representatives relatively unscathed.

The most recent version of the bill, which has been floating around for several months, included language that would protect people based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. This version of the ENDA had wide support from hundreds of queer and trans organizations in the U.S. But on September 28, Congressman Barney Frank announced his intention to split the ENDA into two bills – one that would protect sexual orientation (and would likely pass), and another to protect gender identity (that would surely fail).

Frank’s argument is that it’s better to pass the partial legislation and protect millions of gay and lesbian people in the workplace, than to sacrifice the ENDA at the alter of trans rights. He argues that the American public hasn’t had enough time to absorb and understand trans issues, and that if the gender provisions were to be struck down at this stage, it could force politicians into a corner. Because if they were to vote against trans rights due to a lack of understanding or constituent support, they could be forced to stick to that position in the future, due to intense scrutiny of perceived "flip flopping" on issues that are brought to the House for a vote.

"Antidiscrimination legislation is always partial," Frank writes. "It improves coverage either to some group or some subject matter, but never achieves everything at once. And insistence on achieving everything at once would be a prescription for achieving nothing ever."

Frank’s decision has ignited what several writers have referred to as a "family feud" within the U.S. queer community. Hundreds of bloggers are grappling with the question of what’s more important – pragmatism or principle – in regard to the ENDA. But after an absolutely deafening outpouring from hundreds of queer advocates, the consensus that seems to have emerged (even belatedly supported by the squarely mainstream Human Rights Campaign), is that people want to see a united ENDA, and will not stand for gender protections being parsed off into an un-passable bill.

The arguments in support of a united ENDA vary. Many people simply refuse to leave their trans friends to fight another decades-long battle for employment protection on their own. They argue that the trans community has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with gay activists since Stonewall and have been instrumental in the fight against AIDS and in support of same sex marriage. They recognize that the political climate in the U.S. is so hostile to gays and lesbians, that it’s virtually impossible to conceive of a stand-alone trans rights bill passing during their lifetimes.

Others argue that the gender protections in the ENDA don’t just protect trans people – they protect everyone. Lambda Legal recently released an analysis of the stripped-down ENDA, arguing that it is riddled with loopholes that would erode any protection of gays and lesbians in the workplace, specifically "lesbians, gay men and bisexuals who may not conform to their employer's idea of how a man or woman should look and act." In other words, "straight-acting" queers might be offered come level of protection under the split bill, but butch women and effeminate men could easily be fired, if their employer claimed that "their conduct was actually based on gender expression, a type of discrimination that the new bill does not prohibit."

In Canada, employment rights for gays and lesbians have been on the books for more than 20 years, and some argue that the provisions in the Charter of Rights and in provincial human rights codes based on "sex" provide sufficient protection against gender-based persecution. But trans activists are working hard – particularly in Ontario – to see gender identity explicitly protected in provincial and federal laws. Their campaign is gaining momentum, and it seems likely that unlike our allies in the U.S., we will see this legislation passed within the next decade.

Unfortunately, the deep soul-searching over the ENDA in the U.S. really boils down to a matter of semantics. Because the bill probably doesn’t have enough votes to pass through the Senate, and if it does, President Bush will veto it. Given that the decks are so stacked against U.S. queers, doesn’t it make more sense for the community to stand together and let no one be left behind?

-- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

Resisting war, escaping homophobia

2007-10-17T15:44:00.000-04:00

Check out my latest article for xtra.ca, an exclusive interview with Bethany "Skyler" James, a 19-year old woman who recently fled the U.S. Army to protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to escape homophobic treatment in the military.

Here's a snippet:

But unlike some of the other US war resisters, Skyler had another factor motivating her decision to come to Canada: she is an out lesbian, which directly contradicts the military's infamous "don't ask, don't tell" policy. And Skyler, with her close-cropped hair and penchant for slim-fitting shirts and skinny ties, refused to hide her sexual orientation. In fact she flaunted it — even hanging a rainbow flag in her room at the military base, despite a rule which prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the US Army.

"I didn't want to hide," says Skyler, who knew she was gay when she signed up for the military, but said she figured she could keep it under the radar. "In the end it didn't work out that way. I was ridiculed daily by the other soldiers and even received hate letters."

Visit xtra.ca for the full story. And to learn more about how you can help Skyler and the other war resisters living in Canada, visit www.resisters.ca.

Femme and femininity

2007-09-27T13:12:00.000-04:00

Femme and femininity
WORLD WITHIN / Changing radiators - wearing heels

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Thursday, September 27, 2007

When I first came out as a lesbian, I wore "the uniform": khaki pants, short boy-cut hair, button-down shirts and combat boots. Like every dyke in Montreal, I tried to walk with a little bit more swagger, and desperately wished I was thinner through the hips, so men's clothes would hang out my curvy body with more panache. But after a few years, there was no hiding who I really was: a femme in disguise.

I came out as a feminist before I came out as a dyke. And it took almost 10 years to embrace the label of "femme." Because what's the first thing a thinking teenage girl does to rebel against societal expectations of beauty? She ditches the lipstick and the skirts, shoves her hair under a hat, and demands to be recognized for what she has to say, rather than how attractive she may be to men.

For some women, this represents their most comfortable state of being. But for those of us who covet the mascara and low-cut tops, it can also represent a different form of oppression — this one from our chosen community.

The lesbian feminist movement has a long history of valuing androgynous gender expressions over feminine ones. The demise of butch-femme culture in North America came at a time when feminism was burgeoning in the 1960s. In an effort to free women from sexism and the drudgery of housework, feminists ignored the women who wanted to smash the patriarchy without burning their bras. They assumed that women who wore lipstick were simply complying with the patriarchy, and hadn't been liberated yet. This trend continued for many years, and still touches women today.

As writer Julia Serano argues, "While femininity is in many ways influenced, shaped, and enforced by society, to say that it's entirely 'artificial' or merely a 'performance' is patronizing toward those for whom femininity simply feels right."

Read the rest over at xtra.ca

Queer activism through the generations

2007-09-27T08:43:00.001-04:00

Nicholas Little is one of the sweetest men I've ever met ... he's one of the gay mens' outreach workers at the AIDS Committee Ottawa. He works with my roommate Adam, the other sweetest man I've ever met.

He just wrote the most wonderful article for Capital Xtra, and he had some really touching things to say about me. You can read it here.

Nicholas really captured something I've been thinking about for a while now: the need for more intergenerational activist exchange.

Anyway, this is the photo he refers to in the article -- Me and Marie Robertson, and her daughter Ana at the Ottawa Dyke March this summer. It makes me really happy.

Like clockwork ...

2007-09-10T16:24:00.001-04:00

We knew that when Harper cut Status of Women Canada and the Court Challenges program, it would lead to the further disintegration of women's groups across Canada. Here's another example:

Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that I must inform you that, because of the Conservative government’s changes in funding policies to women’s groups, the National Association of Women and the Law is forced to lay off all staff and shut down its national office. NAWL’s Board will keep the organization alive on a volunteer basis, but our capacity to consult with women’s groups and advocate for feminist law reform will be greatly diminished.

We will be holding a Press Conference on September 20th at 11:00AM on Parliament Hill to denounce the silencing of NAWL and other advocacy and research organizations by the Harper government.

The press conference will be followed by a Solidarity Lunch hosted by NAWL. If you are in the Ottawa region, please join us to celebrate 33 years of feminist engagement with the law, and to mark this new phase in the life of NAWL. There is no cost for the lunch. Donations are welcome.

Please RSVP by Tuesday September 18 to Jackie Steele at:

communications@nawl.ca

We will be sending you more information on the NAWL transition in the next few days. As I will be leaving NAWL soon, communications will be coming from the NAWL Board members.

We will also be posting more information on our website at www.nawl.ca

In solidarity,

Andrée Côté

What I learned on summer vacation

2007-09-06T16:10:00.000-04:00

What I learned on summer vacation
WORLD WITHIN / The lessons of Camp Trans

Ariel Troster / Xtra.ca / Wednesday, September 05, 2007
"Hello, my name is Ariel, and I use feminine pronouns." That's how I introduced myself to a circle of more than 100 people, at my first community meeting deep in the woods of Hart, Michigan in August. I had just arrived at Camp Trans, the activist gathering set up a few paces down a gravel road from the Michigan Women's Festival. The camp was originally created in 1991, after an out trans woman was evicted from the festival for violating its "women-born-women" policy.

Within a few years, legendary activists including Leslie Feinberg and Riki Wilchins helped turn it into an annual pilgrimage for trans people and their allies to organize, socialize, and for a few days each year, create a space where a plethora of pronouns and gender identities are respected and celebrated.

I attended Camp Trans as an ally. I wanted to learn more about how to incorporate trans issues into my queer activism. I prepared myself for the experience of feeling like "the other." I imagined that as a non-trans women, I would somehow feel out of place. I was wrong. What I discovered was a gender- and body-accepting utopia, where I felt more comfortable expressing my identity as a femme dyke than anywhere else I've been.

The diversity of gender expression at Camp Trans was as vast as any gay pride march, nightclub, or supermarket in a cosmopolitan neighbourhood. If your only image of trans people comes from films like Transamerica and Boys Don't Cry, you would have been in for a shock. I met one woman who preferred female pronouns, but insisted on masculine forms of address. Another person identified as a "femme-identified trans boy." Others preferred gender-neutral or plural pronouns.

It made for a bit of a linguistic mud pile, but it was actually more difficult for me to adjust to living without running water, than it was to respect people's gender identities. I screwed up a few times, tripped over terminology and pronouns. Thankfully, there was no language policing at Camp Trans.

But like any ally, I had a few things to learn. While I still pine for the sun-dappled woods, I have tried to carry the spirit of the place with me in the last few weeks by applying some of the lessons I learned.

Read the rest of the article over at xtra.ca.

And if you want to know more about what you can do to support trans rights in Canada, check out this recent article on a campaign that's being launched in Ontario to have gender identity enshrined in the provincial human rights code.

Also, if you want to know what Riki Wilchins is doing these days, take a look at the website for Gender PAC -- an amazing U.S. organization that is tackling gender issues on so many levels -- sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism. It's a real inspiration to see such an accessible, intersectional approach to gender-based activism.

SPP Protest: Union Leader diffuses suspected provacateur

2007-08-21T10:11:00.001-04:00

Some of you might have heard that yesterday in Montebello, the president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union helped diffuse a situation where a rock-throwing protester attempted to breech the "green zone," by pushing through a line of riot cops.

Dave Coles from CEP did in fact break-up a potential incident, but we're pretty convinced that the "protestor" was actually a cop ... Although we can't confirm this for sure, we happened to have Paul Manly (a filmmaker) with us ... he caught the whole thing and put it up on YouTube this morning. You'll notice at the end of the scuffle that the cops just let him through, and the arrest appears to be staged ... the other black-clad protesters in the crowd were convinced he was a cop. We suspect that he was a provocateur working for one of the security forces who was instructed to shake things up to justify the police response.

Dave Coles and Joel Harden from the CLC were AMAZING in diffusing the situation, saving families and grannies from getting tear-gassed:

Sometimes activism is just about taking up space

2007-08-16T09:48:00.000-04:00

Kiss-in commentary
WORLD WITHIN / Sometimes activism is just about taking up space

Ariel Troster / Capital Xtra / Thursday, August 16, 2007

Let's just say it felt like an odd place for a radical action. It kind of felt like a wedding. There were people applauding and clinking their drinking glasses. Every time they clinked, we kissed harder. The setting was Mexicali Rosa's restaurant near Dow's Lake in Ottawa. After Adam Graham and Phillip Banks were told to "cool it" for kissing softly on the restaurant's patio in July, a few of us decided to organize a queer kiss-in to demonstrate that we won't tolerate homophobia — even at a relatively benign family restaurant.

It was empowering to feel so visible — even if only for a few moments. My usual low-maintenance femme attire generally means that strangers don't recognize that I'm queer — unless I'm holding hands or sucking face with my lover in a public place. The kiss-in was a conscious attempt to draw attention to our queer identity and sexuality.

In the end, we were able to extract an apology from the restaurant's management, but the real success was that we organized more than 30 people on a moment's notice. We took over a hetero-normative space, and turned it into a queer and sex-positive one. And it was so much fun.

For me, the kiss-in confirmed the fact that fighting discrimination and injustice isn't always about changing people's minds through carefully worded education campaigns. Sometimes it's about staking claim to physical spaces — without asking permission.

People in the environmental community have known this for years. The Reclaim The Streets movement was born in London in the mid-1990s, and has since spread to cities all over Europe, Australia, North America, and Africa. The premise is simple: ignoring traffic regulations and permits, activists invade major intersections and throw spontaneous street parties, transforming car thoroughfares into vibrant community gatherings. The parties help people imagine what their cities could look like if the streets weren't ruled by cars and commercialism.

At a now-legendary Reclaim The Streets party in Toronto in 2000, late activist and mayoral candidate Tooker Gomberg rolled out a flatbed truck full of sod onto York St. Within minutes, people were dancing barefoot on the grass in front of the Toronto Stock Exchange. Activists are now advocating that the city create a new network of bike lanes called "The Tooker" in his honour.

Toronto is rife with other inspiring examples of reclamation of public space. The group Streets Are For People has been sponsoring car-free Pedestrian Sundays in various neighbourhoods all over the city. They've also been throwing "parking metre parties," where people throw some money into a parking metre, then set up a tea party or picnic in the space they're just rented. The action is good for a laugh, but it also demonstrates just what you can do with a tiny space and allows people to imagine what their city could look like if parking lots were replaced with public squares.

I think there's an analogy to be made between the inadequacy of physical urban spaces, and the difficulty in finding truly queer-positive social spaces. Right now, gay and lesbian community members and business are working with the city to designate a stretch of Bank St as a Rainbow Village. This is a good first step.

In the same week as the kiss-in, I was hassled three times by creepy dudes while holding hands with my girlfriend on the street. One man muttered, "This whole city is turning gay," prompting me to yell back, "Yes, and we love it."

It makes me happy that the local Business Improvement Association understands that a gay village will make Ottawa a more welcoming and celebratory destination for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. But I have to wonder if the need for a Rainbow Village only got the attention it deserved a few years ago, when activists painted a pink line down the middle of Bank St as part of Pride. There was no denying who owned the street that day — or for the weeks afterwards that it took for the paint to fade.

The enthusiastic reception to the kiss-in at Mexicali Rosa's proves that there's an appetite for direct action in Ottawa's queer community. We've already got a local branch of Critical Mass — the group of bicyclists who flood the streets during rush hour once a month. Perhaps it's time we imported an idea like Guerrilla Gay Bar, which has taken off in Los Angeles and New York. A bunch of queers get together every month to take over a straight bar, "planting a gay flag wherever they fancy," according to a recent article in the New York Times. Instead of confining their affection to the village, they spread the love — and the gay — wherever they choose to.

We've conquered Mexican cuisine and we soon may lay claim to part of Bank St. Where should we plant the flag next?

Get off the internet ... I'll meet you in the streets

2007-07-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

Okay, I also meant get out of the boardrooms, the back-rooms where lobbying happens, out of the press scrums and cocktails parties. Get off the BBQ circuit. Make an old-fashioned placard and take up some space in the streets. For once. Once again.

Here's my latest column for Capital Xtra. Enjoy!

Take it to the boardrooms
WORLD WITHIN / But what about street protests?

Ariel Troster / Capital Xtra / Thursday, July 19, 2007

Is street protest dead? That's a question I often ask myself, as my placard-making supplies languish in the back of my bedroom closet.

Pride season is in full-swing across Canada, and though I love to see queers and their families filling the streets, there is rarely a political slogan to be found. And while it's valuable to be visible and build community through festivals, parades and social events, I can't help but wonder whether or not our community has lost its edge.

In fact, as I write this column, I am wracking my brain to remember if I've ever participated in a large-scale demonstration for queer rights. In the last few years, I have marched against George Bush's visit to Canada, in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in support of public health care, and against trade agreements like the Free Trade Area Of The Americas.

But when the Harper government introduced a motion to re-open the same sex marriage debate last year, there was nary a whimper, much less a street demonstration. And when the Conservatives gutted Status Of Women Canada and cut the Court Challenges program in September, it was a small group of feminists who took to the streets. Queers were noticeably absent, and national lobby group Egale Canada took several days to decide whether or not to sign on to a statement opposing the loss of program. Even though queers have undoubtedly benefited the most from Charter cases funded by Court Challenges, some members of the Egale's board were reportedly leery of alienating potential allies within the Harper cabinet.

Still, the gay and lesbian community isn't the only group of people who have traded street protests for more "reasonable" negotiations in recent years. Since 9/11, the North American anti-globalization movement has shied away from some of the massive "summit-hopping" street fights that characterized the "Battle in Seattle" in 1999 and the tear-gas fueled protest against the FTAA in Quebec City in 2001. Now, many are pushing for concrete positive solutions, like fair trade coffee, forest-friendly paper and local, organic produce.

A recent article by Joseph in Hart in Utne Reader suggests that the age of protest is over, and tells activists to "dump your signs and slogans — it's time to make change." He uses the example of the environmental movement, pointing to the blockades and boycotts that led to over 1,000 arrests and helped to save old growth trees in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. Some of the same activists who chained themselves to trees in the 1990s, are now sitting across the boardroom table with logging company CEOs, working together to find common ground in an effort to preserve Canada's forests. Does this mean they're selling out or getting real? It depends who you ask. But it's fair for people to try changing things from the inside.

What's problematic is when the activists who have moved to "the inside" — whether that means joining a political party or joining the board of a more established NGO — deride protestors as being obstructive or counter-productive. We saw that dynamic at play in Ottawa last month, when certain members of the Police Liaison Committee scuttled a demonstration that was planned in support of drag personality Dixie Landers. Instead of channeling the rage that was about to hit the streets, they told people that what they should really be doing is attending a meeting. They seem surprised when the meeting almost exploded due to the queer community's frustration at the lack of information provided at that meeting.

So, while it's good to have people working on the inside, it's equally important for others to organize protests and follow outsider strategies, such as civil disobedience. The whole point of civil disobedience is that when you are not getting the response you need and deserve from the people in power, you willingly take personal risks, in an effort to highlight the cause you care about.

During last month's First Nations' Day of Action, media commentators were quick to complement the people who marched on Parliament Hill, while simultaneously condemning protestor Shawn Brant for daring to blockade a highway and some railway tracks. Some characterized his actions as "violent." But were any of Brant's actions violent, or did they simply cause inconvenience and economic disruption? There's a big difference. By forcing CN Rail to cancel its trains on June 29, Brant and the more radical protestors helped fuel the Assembly Of First Nations' peaceful march on the Hill. Together, the two sets of actions signalled that First Nations' people won't stand for poverty and mistreatment. And they demonstrated the fact that a diversity of tactics can lead to potent political and social change.

With George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderon set to meet Stephen Harper in Ottawa from Aug 20-21, we can expect to see thousands of people protesting against the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Plans are already underway for a giant demonstration and a bike caravan from Ottawa to Montebello, Quebec, where the leaders will be meeting. It's exciting, because it feels like the spirit of Seattle may be making a comeback.

In the queer community, I wonder what issue will be powerful enough to propel us out of our boardrooms and bedroom communities and back onto the street.

Ottawa City Council chooses NIMBYism over public health

2007-07-12T13:31:00.000-04:00

I can only describe my mood today as "infuriated, but not surprised." Yesterday, Ottawa City Council voted to shut down a crack pipe exchange program, despite the strenuous objections of city health officials and local community workers. This came on the heels of an anti-drug demonstration staged by the Sandy Hill Business Improvement Association, who argued that the program led to increased drug use in Ottawa's touristy Byward Market.

The business owners arrived to a sympathetic audience at city hall. Mayor Larry O'Brien had promised to end the program as part of his municipal election campaign, and yesterday, he teamed up with councillor Rick Chiarelli (and 13 others) to cancel a program that cost a mere $8,000 a year, and had the potential to save a significant number of lives.

Local bloggers are going apeshit about this. Vicky Smallman points out the fact that "Ottawa has an alarmingly high rate of HIV and Hepatitis C infection among Intravenous Drug users - at 21%, it is 9 times greater than Toronto’s infection rate." Yep, you heard her right. Nine times higher.

And even through city councillors claimed that there was no evidence to suggest that the program was working, they simply chose to ignore a study that the city itself commissioned last year from epidemiologist Lynne Leonard. The study demonstrates that while the program did lead to an increase in crack smoking, it also radically reduced users' sharing of drug paraphernalia, providing "significant scientific evidence" that the program reduced the harm associated with crack smoking.

As Adam Graham from the AIDS Committee of Ottawa explains, pipe and needle exchange programs also act as a first point of contact between users and health professionals, allowing them to access health services, therefore increasing the likelihood that they'll also seek out addiction counselling. In the case of crack smoking, a program like this prevents people from using burning metal pipes and cans, which cause open sores, and lead to HIV and hepatitis transmission.

But of course, these rational, health-based, scientifically-proven arguments mean nothing to bunch of city councillors who are more concerned about the "messaging" associated with handing out crack pipes. They've chosen to protect knee-jerk sensibilities over people's lives. It's simply shameful.

Still, local activists haven't given up the fight. The AIDS Committee of Ottawa announced that it would continue the program, even without city funding. And the new Ottawa Police chief has urged the city to conduct another study before burying the program for good.

Let's hope that city council smartens up, and chooses to listen to the facts. I'm not holding my breath.

-- Cross posted to BlogThis!

RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

2007-07-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2007

RCMP, U.S. Army block public forum on the Security and Prosperity Partnership

The Council of Canadians has been told it will not be allowed to rent a municipal community centre for a public forum it had planned to coincide with the next Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec on August 20 and 21.

The Municipality of Papineauville, which is about six kilometres from Montebello, has informed the Council of Canadians that the RCMP, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the U.S. Army will not allow the municipality to rent the Centre Communautaire de Papineauville for a public forum on Sunday August 19, on the eve of the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit.

“It is deplorable that we are being prevented from bringing together a panel of writers, academics and parliamentarians to share their concerns about the Security and Prosperity Partnership with Canadians,” said Brent Patterson, director of organizing with the Council of Canadians. “Meanwhile, six kilometres away, corporate leaders from the United States, Mexico and Canada will have unimpeded access to our political leaders.”

As well as being shut out of Papineauville, the Council of Canadians has been told that the RCMP and the SQ will be enforcing a 25-kilometre security perimeter around the Chateau Montebello, where Stephen Harper will meet with George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón on August 20 and 21. According to officials in Montebello, there will be checkpoints at Thurso and Hawkesbury, and vehicles carrying more than five people will be turned back.

Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The organization works to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.

For more information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, visit IntegrateThis.ca.

YGA Mag responds

2007-07-06T10:22:00.000-04:00

Young Gay America Magazine has posted a response to Michael Glatze's statements on their site. They are soliciting feedback, and have also published an open letter to Michael from Daniel DeRitto from ThoughtTheater.com.

The journalists formerly known as gay

2007-07-05T13:20:00.000-04:00

When I read the news a couple of days ago the Michael Glatze, former editor of Young Gay America Magazine, and one of the filmmakers behind the incredible queer youth documentary Jim In Bold, had come out as "ex-gay," I was flabbergasted. That makes two editors of queer magazines in the last several months that have "found Jesus" and become poster children for the lunatic right. The other "journalist formerly known as gay" is Charlene Cothran, publisher of Venus Magazine, which used to be aimed at queer women of colour. After being miraculously cured of "the gay," Cothran has now re-focused the magazine to speak to women who want to escape "the life."

As a lesbian writer, I'm not sure what part of this story makes my skin crawl more. The idea that even journalists are susceptible to propaganda? The thought that that Glatze and Cothran's previous good work is now tainted by their own self-hatred and denial? The fact that queer teens are now being condemned by a couple of their former most trusted allies?

I also don't want to condemn Glatze and Cothran simply because they had a religious awakening. Lots of radicals (or former radicals) have discovered some sort of spiritual side -- most famously, American feminist Naomi Wolf, who recently described seeing a vision of herself as a 13-year-old boy confronting Jesus (I kid you not). Still, to my knowledge, Wolf hasn't sworn off feminism or told young girls that they should now ascribe to the "beauty myth." In fact, she seems a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, and has skillfully steered the rest of her public statements to focus on her work, rather than her private hallucinations.

I've been stumbling to find some way to analyze this, other than saying that's it's sad, upsetting, and puzzling. I especially feel bad for Benjie Nycum, who was co-editor of YGA Magazine, and co-producer of Jim In Bold. I used to sit on the board of directors of an LGBT rights organization with him, and once profiled him for Capital Xtra. I can only imagine what it feels like to wake up one morning, and see someone that you worked so closely with denounce everything that you strove to do together.

Wayne Besen has an interesting comment about this fiasco on 365gay.com. He maintains that both Glatze and Cothran went looking for God, after their long-term relationships failed. "In a sense," he writes, "it seems like these break-ups caused nervous breakdowns where the embittered party tried to punish an 'ex' by becoming ex-gay."

Still, it's never too late to say you're sorry. Last week, three former leaders of Exodus International (the most prominent "ex-gay" group in the U.S.) apologized for "the isolation, shame, fear and loss of faith that [the anti-gay] message creates."

The press conference featured Michael Bussee, the co-founder of Exodus, Jeremy Marks, former president of Exodus International Europe, and Darlene Bogle, the founder and former director of Paraklete Ministries, an Exodus referral agency based in California. Also present was Rev. Mel White, founder and president of the faith-based gay rights group Soulforce. White was the ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell's autobiography and later came out as gay.

Perhaps Bussee's approach holds out hope for a reconciliation between the newly converted and "formerly" gay:

"God's love and forgiveness does indeed change people," said Bussee. "It changed me. It just didn't make me straight."

-- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

No justice, no peace ...

2007-06-28T10:58:00.000-04:00

.... f$#k the police. At least, that's the slogan they used to chant at all of the anti-police brutality demos in Montreal.

I would say that my analysis is a bit more nuanced than that. I do think that it's important for the queer community to keep an open line of communication with the cops. That's how we help scuttle bathhouse raids and arbitrary arrests. But how close is too close? Where's the fine line between sharing our issues with the police, and allowing them to co-opt our concerns and tell us how to react?

I touch on these questions in my latest column for Capital Xtra. There's also a really interesting piece in the Toronto edition of the paper, about a proposal in Toronto that all queer community reps to the liaison committee be subject to police checks. Predictably, this proposal is getting a universal thumbs down from the LGBT community.

But now for some late-breaking good news on the Dixie Landers case. The Ottawa Police have made two arrests ...keep checking xtra.ca for updates as more info becomes available.

CALL TO ACTION AGAINST THE SPP!

2007-06-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

Council of Canadians to mobilize in Ottawa, Montebello and across the country from August 20-21

From August 20-21, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be meeting in Montebello, Quebec with U.S. President George Bush and Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The Council of Canadians will be there to tell them what Canadians really think about the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

Ottawa-based activists are already planning a giant weekend demonstration and possibly a bike caravan from Ottawa to Montebello.

We’ll be posting information about actions in Ottawa, Montebello and across Canada at IntegrateThis.ca, as details emerge. So drop by often for up-to-the-minute information.

But in the meantime, here’s plans are shaping up:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 7:00 p.m. — PUBLIC FORUM
The Council of Canadians is working with a other labour and social justice groups to organize a public forum near Montebello. This event will feature Canadian, U.S. and Mexican speakers, focusing on how the SPP affects energy security, water, the environment, security policy, and other key issues. More details to come.

MONDAY, AUGUST 20 — NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
The Council of Canadians will be organizing a National Day of Action Against the SPP on August 20. This will allow people across Canada to “plug in” to the resistance at the Montebello summit. Council of Canadians’ chapters will be organizing public forums and community picnics, lobbying of Members of Parliament, distributing handbills, and speaking to the media. We will be posting information about events across the country at IntegrateThis.ca, as details develop.

MONDAY, AUGUST 20 — PROTEST IN MONTEBELLO
The Council of Canadians will be joining with other groups from across Ontario and Quebec to protest at the summit site in Montebello. More details to come.

For more information about the Security and Prosperity Partnership, visit IntegrateThis.ca. We’ll post new information about the Montebello summit as it becomes available. Visit often for up-to-the-minute updates.

I heart feminist graffiti!

2007-06-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

There's this awful anti-choice poster on Bank Street in Ottawa. One of my favourite morning activities is to see what wonderful feminist graffiti has arrived to "re-decorate" the sign.

I took the first photo this morning. The sprayed-on text says, "[Abortion] is so fun! I get one every day. I heart abortion."

My girlfriend took the second photo last week. It says "MISOGYNY SUCKS. Keep abortion safe and legal."

'Nuff said.

Making sex work safe

2007-06-25T17:02:00.000-04:00

I just returned from Toronto's gay pride celebrations, and I was so thrilled to spend a few hours on Friday night at Goodhandy's, Toronto's "pansexual playground." The bar is only one year old, but in that short period of time has established itself as a gathering place for trans people and their allies, alternative burlesque performers, feminist activists, queer musicians, and sex workers. It's rare to find a space that serves so many functions, and proves that diverse communities can co-exist in harmony.

The bar, which hosts more mainstream musical events and dance nights, also features a members-only Diamond Room, where sex workers (largely trans women) can entertain clients in a safe space -- one that is protected by a security guard and, thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, shielded from raids by the cops.

In December 2005, the Court overturned the conviction of Montrealer Jean-Paul Lebaye for running a "common bawdy house" for the "practice of acts of indecency" after police busted his club, L'Orage, in 2000.

"Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society," wrote Justice Beverly McLachlin at the time, opening the door for the establishment of businesses like Goodhandys.

But the refreshing thing about Goodhandy's is that the owners don't try to hide the fact that the space is used as a meeting place for sex workers and their johns. In fact, they celebrate this fact, and recently started opening at 4pm on Thursdays, "to develop an after-work crowd of businessmen who want a discreet chance to meet t-girls," according to co-owner Todd Klink.

As it is, it's quite difficult for sex workers to find clean, safe spaces to work in, where they aren't likely to be harassed by bad dates or by the cops. The Sex Professionals of Canada are currently launching a constitutional challenge to Canada's solicitation laws, which they say are discriminatory and expose sex workers to danger. They recently held a fundraiser to support their cause at -- where else -- Goodhandy's.

After spending some time in a space that represents a real jewel in the crown of the sex workers' rights movement, I was disturbed to read this police bulletin about a recent "prostitute/john sweep" in my neighbourhood (Hintonburg, an inner city community to the west of downtown). My 'hood has a history of anti-sex worker vigilantism, which I took to task in a recent column for Capital Xtra.

How long will it take for the Ottawa police and city officials to realize that criminalization of sex workers only exposes them to further abuse and mistreatment?

Hooray for Goodhandy's for supporting Toronto sex workers. Is anyone in Ottawa willing to make a similar statement?

-- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

Fatspiration!

2007-06-17T17:38:00.000-04:00

Whenever I hear media commentators bemoaning the scourge of childhood obesity, I always wince a little bit. Even though I understand how important it is for kids to get active (and for parents to help them eat nutritious, unprocessed food), the reality is that there are many factors that affect a person's weight and girth. In many cases, poverty and food insecurity are an issue. In other cases, it's a simple matter of genes. There are many of us who work hard to stay fit and healthy, but will never ever fit into a size 8 -- which is the biggest size in Kate Moss' new clothing line for Top Shop in the UK.

Still, I am so happy to see so many foxy and fierce women bucking the body-hating trend. Beth Ditto, the uber-cool lead singer of the indie band The Gossip recently posed in all her naked, curvy glory for NME Magazine. Feminist icon Germaine Greer praised Ditto for her courage, saying, "Her intention is to force acceptance of her body type, 5ft tall and 15 stone, and by this strategy to challenge the conventional imagery of women."

Lilly Allen, the British pop star who achieved fame after posting her songs and writing on MySpace, has spoken out repeatedly about her desire to maintain her sanity in the face of celebrity body-obsession. She sings, "I want to eat spaghetti bolognese and not worry about it for days and days."

But like many of us, Lilly had a "bad body day" a few weeks ago, and posted an entry on her MySpace page claiming that industry pressure had led her to emotional collapse, and that she'd spent a day researching gastric bypass surgery. Her fans responded in droves with words of encouragement.

When I'm having a "fat day," I take my inspiration from the amazing Leslie Hall, fearless gold pants-wearing hip hop artist and keeper of the biggest Gem Sweater collection ever.

Or I watch this:

-- Cross posted to Blog This!

Let's give 'em something to talk about

2007-06-07T09:17:00.000-04:00

Tell it all - to everybody
WORLD WITHIN / Let's give 'em something to talk about

Ariel Troster / Capital Xtra / Thursday, June 07, 2007

Pierre Trudeau's famous comment about the state having no place in the bedrooms of the nation seems rather antiquated these days, given that so many of us are sharing information on the Internet that earlier generations of queers saw as private.

It seems I can't go to a party or get on a bus or grab a cup of coffee, without hearing the word "Facebook" anymore. Embraced for a couple of years by university students primarily in the US, the highly sophisticated (and extremely addictive) social networking website has been grabbing hold in Canada, especially among the tech-savvy arts and activist sets. Within Ottawa's queer community, it only reinforces the one-degree of separation between most of the people we cruise on dating sites, meet at community events, and march in demonstrations with.

There's no denying that this kind of "over-sharing" fosters community. In the last few days, I've received invitations to barbecues and block parties, been informed of protests being planned for George Bush's August visit to Canada, and stayed up-to-date on a friend's bathroom renovations. This is not to mention the daily updates of who's been hooking up and breaking up. And sites like Facebook have become impromptu gathering places after communities experience tragedies, like the Virginia Tech massacre, the recent high school shooting in Toronto, and closer to home, the beating of Ottawa drag queen Dixie Landers.

But like many people over the age of 25, I initially found the tell-all nature of these websites a little scary. I mean, did I really want to be contacted by the person I sat beside in high school band? And do people really care what I'm eating for lunch or the fact that my cat just puked in the hallway?

Read the rest of my latest column for Capital Xtra here.

And feel free to leave comments here or on xtra.ca. Do you think we're sharing too much information on the internet? Does this help or harm the queer rights movement? Does it bring us closer together or does too-much-information drive us apart?

When tragedy strikes, community media steps in

2007-05-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

If you aren't from Ottawa, you might not have heard of Dixie Landers. And if you don't read the queer press, you probably haven't heard that the popular and well-loved drag personality has been in a coma for the last three days, after being severely injured in a bar fight. The story hasn't hit the mainstream press, but Ottawa's queer community is getting up-to-the minute information on Dixie's condition from Capital Xtra, where readers are also posting comments to debate a case where there have been allegations of police inaction and possible mistreatment by emergency personnel.

Meanwhile, friends and supporters have set up a "Get Well Dixie Landers" group on Facebook, which now has almost 350 members. And people posting on Egale Canada's e-list are talking about the case, wondering aloud why more people didn't come to Dixie's defence, whether or not this was a gay-bashing, and what the community can do to prevent further violence.

Not a single word about this story has appeared in print or in any mainstream media outlet. But hundreds of people are staying updated on Dixie's condition, discussing the case, and organizing a community response to anti-queer violence.

A very sad case, but a truly inspiring moment for community media and online networking.

Get well soon, Dixie. Ottawa's pulling for you.

-- cross-posted to BlogThis!

Gay rights are children's rights

2007-05-17T09:09:00.000-04:00

Gay rights are children's rights
WORLD WITHIN / Uncovering the family first rhetoric

Ariel Troster / Capital Xtra / Thursday, May 17, 2007

The cat's out of the bag. Lesbian mothers are just as good, if not better for children, than heterosexual parents, according to a study commissioned by the federal justice department in 2003. The report only surfaced last week, after its author, Paul Hastings from Concordia University, obtained it under the Access to Information Act.

You see, it's no surprise that Stephen Harper's Conservative government wanted to suppress the report, which references about 100 studies on parenting and demonstrates that children living with two mothers are no worse off than kids living with a mom and a dad. In fact, they may even have marginally better social skills.

But this kind of information really pisses of the fundamentalists and so-called ethicists like Margaret Somerville who choose to ignore any empirical data that contradicts their bunk argument that gay and trans rights ignore "children's rights."

Keep reading here.

Speaking ill of the dead

2007-05-16T13:06:00.000-04:00

I know I'm not the only one who started singing "ding-dong the witch is dead" when I heard yesterday that gay-hating televangelist Jerry Falwell had kicked the bucket. I felt not a second of hesitation before letting out a little cheer, imagining an afterlife for Mr. Falwell filled with teletubbies, feminists and sodomites.

Does this make me a mean, terrible person? Should I be filled with grief for his family, and do the charitable thing and forgive Falwell for his transgressions against black people, women, queers and anyone else he judged to be immoral?

Well, let's look at the evidence. To quote Maisonneuve MediaScout's analysis:

Falwell "was known to call the civil rights movement 'the civil wrongs movement;
He supported South African apartheid;
He said that the prophet Mohamed was a terrorist and the Antichrist was a Jewish man;
He warned of the deleterious moral effects of watching the children's program Teletubbies, as one of the characters seemed to him to be a gay role model;
And, in a move that finally alienated him from mainstream America, he laid part of the blame for the 9/11 attacks on '...the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians ... all of them who have tried to secularize America' - all this, and much more of the same, while wielding considerable influence in Washington."

GLAAD in the U.S. is urging the mainstream media to avoid glossing over Falwell's legacy of discrimination against queer people, and had posted a series of video clips of him making some of his more outrageous statements.

And today in the Globe and Mail, John Ibbitson has no qualms about speaking truth to Falwell's legacy, calling him a "big, booming, bigoted man."

Michelangelo Signorile also doesn't mince words about Falwell, saying,:

I don't really buy the "don't speak ill of the dead" argument, not with 24-hour news cycles that throw out pre-fabricated obituaries and are done with the story by the end of the cycle. And no, I don't have any sympathy for his family nor care about respecting them: They didn't respect me, nor the many others who lost loved ones to AIDS, suicide or gay-bashing, enough to stand up and speak out against their monster of a relative. Let's never forget that this man is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands due to AIDS because of the stranglehold he and his "mobilized" Christians had on our government as the health crisis emerged in the 80s within the gay community. The grotesque negligence of the Reagan administration was dictated by Jerry Falwell, who would then go on to hatch many dozens of little Falwells over the past several decades who inspire the hatred against gays -- and the violent gay-bashing and teen suicides -- that we still live with today.

And blogger sabotabby dismisses the notion that Falwell's critics are being uncharitable during his family's time of mourning, writing:

I suppose what I'm saying here is that I don't think it's wrong to speak ill of the dead. I mean, it's wrong to denounce them to their grieving friends and families, but it's not inherently wrong. And what I'm also saying is that it's okay to be intolerant .. Gloves off, kids. Reagan wanted most of you dead. Falwell wanted even more of you dead. These men consider you, your friends, your families, and most of the world, subhuman. It's fine to hate them - they hated you too -if your personal moral code allows for hate. It's fine to be relieved that they're gone.

What do you think? Do we have a responsibility to express remorse when a truly hateful person dies? Does it detract from our cause when we speak ill of the dead?

- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

Fundie newsflash

2007-05-02T11:54:00.000-04:00

According to last week's edition of the Hill Times, Darrel Reid, former director of Focus on the Family Canada, is now the deputy director of policy and research in the Prime Minister's Office. Reid was most recently chief of staff to Rona Ambrose (when she was Environment Minister).

Just FYI, FOTF maintains that homosexual people can be "converted" through therapy, and its U.S. leader James Dobson has referred to abortion as a "baby holocaust." Reid was (and still is) a vocal anti-gay marriage and anti-choice spokesperson. He was instrumental in setting up the FOTF-funded Institute for Marriage and Family Canada, which disguises itself as a neutral research organization, but its studies so far have attacked the usual Conservative annoyances -- universal daycare, non-hetero families, etc.

If you are curious about Reid, and just how far the Christian Right has infiltrated Parliament Hill, check out this article by Marci Macdonald from a back issue of the Walrus.

-- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

Union could learn meaning of true solidarity

2007-04-26T09:40:00.000-04:00

Buzz Hargrove is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore. Is the head of the Canadian Auto Workers' Union pissed at the Conservative government for selling out Canadian workers in global trade talks? Or for cutting millions of dollars from the Court Challenges program and Status Of Women Canada? Or for axing what promised to be Canada's first attempt at creating a universal child care program?

No, you guessed wrong. Buzz is mad at those pesky environmentalists for daring to suggest that climate change is enough of a threat that people should think twice before using their gas-guzzling SUVs to drive to the corner store.

You can read more of my rant against Buzz and other observations about the true nature of "solidarity" here.

A Little Matter of Consent

2007-04-19T22:40:00.000-04:00

Well, it looks like the federal justice committee has just cleared the way for the passage of Bill C-22, which will raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16. The Conservatives are calling it the "age of protection," and are falling all over themselves, claiming to be protecting children from exploitation.

I've made my opinions on this issue known in Capital Xtra, and for a short while, I was Egale Canada's spokesperson on the issue.

In a nutshell, this law is bad news because it will only serve to repress young people's sexuality, put them in more danger of contracting STIs while also giving a nod to the religious right who would prefer if parents could keep their teenagers locked up until they turn 21. The law is also as superfluous as it is dangerous. Canada already has strict laws that criminalize any sexual relationship with a young person when there is any evidence of a power imbalance or any form of abuse or exploitation.

To add icing to the cake, the justice committee has also held up one of the last vestiges of Canada's anti-sodomy laws, by refusing to strike down section 159 of the Criminal Code, which criminalizes anal sex unless it's being performed by two people over the age of 18 (unless they're married).

Yep, you heard me right. There is a separate age of consent for anal sex. And it's still on the books.

So in tribute to to all of the young people from the Age of Consent coalition that faced insurmountable odds when they presented in front of the justice committee, I offer you this video from Vancouver's The Wet Spots (WARNING: not suitable for work):

-- Cross-posted to BlogThis!

60 reasons to dump Harper

2007-04-13T14:24:00.000-04:00

Hello dear readers,

This blog has become a bit of a static archive as of late. I've been posting more over at BlogThis, so I suggest you check it out. I assume that this blog will heat up if an election is called any time soon.

In the meantime, check out Xtra.ca's 60 reasons to dump Harper. And keep going back, as they'll be posting a new reason every day.

Let's choose not to be pitied

2007-04-08T21:22:00.000-04:00

Cross-posted to BlogThis

Okay, take a look at the image for yourself. This is the photo that Fondation Emergence has chosen to illustrate this year's National Day Against Homophobia on May 17th. In my latest column for Capital Xtra, I argue that this kind of imagery elicits pity rather than celebration, and treats the queer community like we're something that should be tolerated, rather than celebrated. It also denies the reality of most queer and trans people's experiences, in an attempt to gain mainstream acceptance. It takes the sex out of homosexuality, and it harkens back to the days when gayness was considered to be a medical condition that could be cured.

What do you think?

Bottling profit, not altruism

2007-03-20T10:46:00.000-04:00

I just posted over at BlogThis about Starbucks' ridiculous new campaign to save the world's water by selling more bottled water. I kid you not. Check it out here.

Camping on inclusive ground ...

2007-03-15T09:40:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone -- I'm back on the column-writing train, and I'm actually very excited about the one that came out today in Capital Xtra (check it). It's where my brain has been at lately -- thinking about how to incorporate feminism into a queer perspective, and how to move queer activism into a more feminist space. I feel like mainstream feminism has a lot of sins to atone for -- especially against the trans community.

So read, enjoy, discuss. And really, no offence is meant toward all of you lovely women who do attend Michfest -- I value and support the concept of women-only spaces, and I am especially encouraged by the yellow armband movement to support the inclusion of trans women at the fest.

Oh, and to read more about Deep Lez, click here.

The Supremes give Harper the finger

2007-02-23T13:27:00.001-05:00

While today's unanimous decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down Canada's controversial security certificates was not a direct attack on Stephen Harper, given his latest antics, I like to close my eyes and conjure up the image of the nine Supremes lining up to give Harper the finger. Actually, it's the Charter of Rights giving Harper the finger, because once again, the Court has acknowledged that arbitrary discrimination is completely unacceptable.

In this case, the Court ruled that it's unconstitutional to detain non-citizens indefinitely without giving them access to the evidence (or even the charges!) against them. And yeah, yeah, I know, this law way pre-dated Harper, but I like to think of this judgment as a little love letter to "Canada's new government."

I almost puked during the federal election, when Harper staged convenient photo ops with various cultural communities, spreading the message that gay marriage would threaten their religious rights. He used oppression of the queer community as leverage to try to attract immigrant voters.

And now he's at it again, surrounding himself with the families of the Air India victims, trying to bolster his bid to maintain some of the most egregious aspects of Canada's anti-terror legislation (preventative arrests and investigative hearings) ... claiming that he is somehow protecting minority communities by severely restricting their human rights. Because who is suffering the brunt of the anti-terror madness? People of colour, particularly of Arab descent, who are subject to racial profiling and discrimination based on their immigration status.

To read more about the experiences of minority communities under Canada's new anti-terror regime, check out the final report of the People's Commission on Immigration "Security" Measures.

I imagine that the Anti-Terrorism Act will land on the Supremes' desk some time soon ... no wonder "Steve" hates the courts so much.

- Cross posted to BlogThis!

Top court rules against security certificates

2007-02-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

No time to write about this in detail right now, but YIPPPEEE. The Supreme Court just struck down Security Certificates, saying that they violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court gave the government one year to fix the problem, though, which means that the 5 detainees are still in jeopardy.

Still, this is a very, very exciting day.

-- Ariel (toes still frozen from protesting against Condi Rice in the blistering, sunny cold)

Top court rules against security certificates
Last Updated: Friday, February 23, 2007 | 7:51 AM ET
The Canadian Press

The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down the security certificate system used by the federal government to detain and deport foreign-born terrorist suspects.

In a 9-0 judgment, the court found that the system, described by government officials as a key tool for safeguarding national security, violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But the court suspended the judgment from taking legal effect for a year, giving Parliament time to write a new law complying with constitutional principles.

Critics have long denounced the certificates, which can lead to deportation of non-citizens on the basis of secret intelligence presented to a Federal Court judge at closed-door hearings.

Those who fight the allegations can spend years in jail while the case works its way through the legal system. In the end, they can sometimes face removal to countries with a track record of torture.

The system was challenged on constitutional grounds by three men from Morocco, Syria and Algeria — all alleged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to have ties to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. All deny any such ties.

More to come

Find out what Rice and Chertoff aren't telling you

2007-02-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

A message from the Council of Canadians ...

Rice and Chertoff visit Canada

Find out what they won’t be telling you about North American integration!

On Friday February 23, U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff will be in Ottawa to discuss North American integration with their Canadian and Mexican counterparts. This is part of a series of meetings aimed at bringing Canadian and Mexican policies in line with U.S. demands through an agreement called the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

The SPP is bad for public interest and bad for the environment. So far, only the CEOs of North America’s biggest corporations have been invited to the table. There has been no parliamentary debate and the public has been left out completely.

The Council of Canadians will be setting up an SPP information station outside the meeting to expose the facts about this corporate-led plan for North America. Join us on the 23rd to find out more and to let our leaders know that we will not let them shut us out any longer!

WHEN:

9:00 am – 11:00 am

and

3:00pm – 4:30 pm

WHERE:

In front of DFAIT -- 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa

This will be a family-friendly event.

Visit www.canadians.org for a citizens' perspective on the SPP.

New blogging gig!

2007-02-18T10:25:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

I have just joined the team of web-savvy writers over at BlogThis, This Magazine's group blog. For those you that don't know This, it's a progressive news and culture magazine with a 40-year history. I was a ThisMag intern in 1999, and have been a faithful reader for over 10 years ....

So add BlogThis to your RSS feed. And check out my first entry here.

Gay refugee wins reprieve!

2007-02-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

This is only one example of how the immigration/refugee system is unjust and rather arbitrary ... but in this case, people's phone calls, faxes and emails MADE A DIFFERENCE. This is a very good day for Alvaro Orozco, and for citizen action.

Nicaraguan wins reprieve in bid to remain in Canada

MARINA JIMÉNEZ

Alvaro Orozco, a gay Nicaraguan teen runaway who faced imminent removal from Canada after his asylum bid was rejected, has won a last-minute reprieve.

The Justice Department agreed yesterday to defer his removal for two months, giving him time to file an application to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, his lawyer El-Farouk Khaki said late yesterday.

Mr. Orozco, now 21, says he ran away from home before his 13th birthday after being beaten by his alcoholic father, who was angry about his sexual orientation.

Mr. Orozco's refugee claim was rejected because Immigration and Refugee Board member Deborah Lamont didn't believe he was homosexual.

Full story.

Burnett on Age of Consent

2007-02-09T13:29:00.000-05:00

I have written pretty extensively about the Conservative government's legislation to raise the age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 -- not to mention the fact that the age of consent for anal sex is still 18 years old (hello, dinosaur-era laws) .... anyway, Richard Burnett picked up the same argument in his latest Three Dollar Bill column for Hour in Montreal. Check it out.

Act NOW to stop deportation of gay refugee

2007-02-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

A quick update on the Alvaro Orozco story. His supporters have set up a website where you can send letters to the Immigration Minister and to his MP. I just did it -- it only took 5 minutes.

Click here, and ACT NOW!

Can't prove he's gay, teen is denied asylum

2007-02-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

When I wrote the column about the Safe Third Country Agreement, I didn't dwell on the Canadian immigration system, because I was trying to make a point about the integration of Canada-U.S. immigration policy ... but clearly the Canadian system is still extremely flawed. I'd really like to know what Alvaro would have to do to prove that he's gay enough. And it's astouding that the immigration judge faulted him for not being sexually active at 12 YEARS OLD.

The article mentions that Alvaro has been recieving help from the Supporting Our Youth (SOY) group in Toronto. At least someone's in his corner. Click here to find out more about SOY, and to make a donation.

Refugee agreement hurts queers

2007-02-01T13:23:00.000-05:00

Well, the Safe Third Country Agreement doesn't just hurt queers -- it hurts potential refugee claimants from all over the world. But I wrote this column with a GLBT audience in mind. It's part of my campaign to "get gay people to care about something other than themselves." Actually, Paul Gallant has some lovely things to say about that in the Toronto edition of Xtra.

For more information about the harmful impact of the Safe Third Country Agreement, visit the wonderful folks at the Canadian Council for Refugees. Their website is sadly lacking in functionality, but their reports are excellent ...

Stephen Harper on Kyoto

2007-01-31T12:44:00.001-05:00

"Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations."

Check it.

"We are slowly dying in here"

2007-01-31T10:46:00.000-05:00

A few months back, I wrote about the absolutely unconscionable treatment of Security Certificate detainees at Canada's "Guantanamo North." If case you didn't catch that column, here it is.

The short story is that Canada is holding people WITHOUT CHARGES and with NO ACCESS TO THE EVIDENCE AGAINST THEM. Sorry for the screaming caps, but they are definitely merited in this situation.

Anyway, the latest update is that two of the detainees are on a hunger strike to highlight the horrific way they are being treated. And the Canadian government still doesn't give a crap about them ... so please read the press release below and take action.

I will be so ashamed to tell my children about this chapter in Canada's history. I hope it ends soon.

Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in Canada(416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca

January 30, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"We are slowly dying in here..."
Weekend Scare Underscores Very Real Danger of Sudden Death for Hunger Striking Detainees at Canada's Guantanamo North. Still No Medical Monitoring After Two Months Without Food

JANUARY 30, 2007 -- "We are slowly dying in here," Mohammad Mahjoub says over the phone on day 67 of his hunger strike, day 56 for Mahmoud Jaballahand Hassan Almrei. "Our situation is very bad."

The three men, held indefinitely under the much-criticized security certificate regime of secret evidence and deportation to torture, are kept at the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC), dubbed Guantanamo North.

Despite last Thursday's visit by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who did not meet with the detainees, there has been no negotiation with the men, and no effort to end a critical situation that could turn deadly at any time.

NO MEDICAL MONITORING

Indeed, the detainees' lives are on the line as staff at the facility play a dangerous game of roulette: despite considerable medical literature spelling out the need for daily medical checks of hunger strikers who have passed day 10 without food, medical staff have NOT conducted a single physical check on any of the detainees, who are subsisting on water and juice.

... Stockwell Day did not get a full picture when he visited Guantanamo North. He was unable to taste the daily humiliation the men face at the hands of guards, nor to hear what it is like to be denied medical treatment for things like Hepatitis C, blood in the urine, or a double hernia.

Full press release and action alert here.

STOP THE SURGE!!!

2007-01-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

Call-out from NOWAR-PAIX

STOP THE SURGE!!!

All over the world, people will demonstrate on Jan. 27 in solidarity with the US Peace Movement to call on the US government to stop the Bush administration from sending more troops to Iraq. The newly elected Democratic Congress, now in power because of the unpopularity of the war in Iraq, is reluctant to refuse funds for Bush's escalation.

THE WORLD MUST LET THEM KNOW THEY HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO ACT!

1PM, Saturday, 27 January
Sussex and York (US Embassy)
Ottawa

Bring your signs, banners and noise makers. Gather near the US Embassy, corner of Sussex and York. We will march through the Market, distributing fliers, ending at the US Embassy, Sussex and Clarence where we will have an open mike for your statements, songs and poems. (Keep in mind that children are welcome!)

NOWAR-PAIX
For more information,
info@nowar-paix.ca
www.nowar-paix.ca later today

Hasn't he suffered enough?!?

2007-01-22T16:42:00.000-05:00

As part of my day job, I monitor and write about the integration of Canada's economic/military/security policies with the United States. Sometimes it feels like those issues are far-removed from peoples' every day lives, and I find it challenging to try to make that connection clear for my audience. But this is like a sucker punch in the gut. Last year, I had the privilege of hearing Maher Arar speak about his experiences battling the Canadian government to clear his name. And now this. Unbelievable. Unconscionable.

Maher Arar to stay on U.S. no-fly list: letter
from CTV.ca

The United States will keep Canadian Maher Arar on its security watch list.

Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have written a letter to Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

The letter says the two have reviewed the U.S. government's secret file on Arar. They think he should still be on the list.

The two said their decision is based on information obtained by U.S. authorities, independent of anything supplied by Canada.

"We want to ensure that this U.S.-derived information has been shared with Canada, and that both countries have an understanding of the facts. To this end, we welcome an opportunity to participate in a confidential meeting with appropriate Canadian officials at their earliest convenience," the letter said.

Day had raised the Arar issue during a visit to Washington last week. Day's position is that Canadian officials see no reason why Arar shouldn't be able to visit the United States.

Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian, was detained in New York while returning from a holiday in Tunisia. U.S. officials sent him to Syria, where he spent 10 months in prison.

His Syrian jailers tortured him into making a false confession about terrorism links.

Justic Dennis O'Connor conducted an inquiry into the Arar case. His first report, issued Sept. 18, cleared Arar. He found the RCMP supplied wrong information about Arar to U.S. authorities.
More to come ...

Supreme Court rules against Little Sister's

2007-01-19T15:03:00.000-05:00

This is really too bad. With the Court Challenges program gone, it will now be virtually impossible for people or small businesses to take these kinds of human rights complaints to court.

In a 7-2 ruling, the Court refused to order advance funding to a Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore, saying the challenge to Canada Customs is too narrow and insignificant to the broad public interest to justify such an unusual move. [...]

In the broader picture, however, a wide spectrum of groups had seen the decision as potentially reaching far beyond the issue of censorship. They saw it as potentially offering a vital leg up to any litigant who was attempting to take an important issue to court yet lacked the financial backing.

Making policing work for our values

2007-01-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

Gareth Kirkby from Capital Xtra has been circulating this message. We need more queer folks in Ottawa to get involved with community policing issues!

Making policing work for our values

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

We all know that policing in Ottawa has come a long way from two decades ago when members of the force were harassing gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people. And it’s made major leaps from the days when violence against us was ignored by the force, and there was no dialogue between our communities and the force. The Hate Crimes Unit takes anti-queer crime very seriously. There is an ongoing two-way dialogue through the liaison committee to the queer community. Individual officers are almost always respectful now in their interactions with our community.

But of course, there’s always room for progress and you have a perfect opportunity to speak up for even better community policing at an open-mic meeting with the police and liaison committee.

It’s being held this coming Mon, Jan 15 at city hall, in the Colonel By Room, 2nd floor (110 Laurier Ave) from 5:30pm-8:30pm. Here are just a few of the issues I’ve heard people speak out about. Perhaps they’re the kind of issues you want to raise. Perhaps you have other issues.

The list below is intended to provoke you to think about what you believe Ottawa’s police service should or should not be doing, and how our community should relate to the force.

Could the liaison committee be made more representative of the diverse cultures within our community?

Today, there is strong trans representation on the liaison committee (a major advance over the past few years), but little representation of gay men, of sexual minorities (leather, SM, kink, park sex aficionados, etc) no representation from the bathhouse or bar operators for example. Perhaps you could volunteer to join?

Why did the liaison committee create a sub-committee to address public-sex issues? How can we shut it down? Our community has a long and proud tradition of transgressive expressions of sexuality; shouldn’t we be able to expect our liaison committee to speak up in support of sexual minorities within our community?

Cameras are being put throughout the park system. How do we guarantee that they won’t be used to harass people enjoying consensual sex?

How do we educate the city’s bylaw enforcement officers to not harass members of our community when they hold hands while walking in the park? And how do we stop them from more strictly enforcing the law against groups putting up queer-themed and punk-themed posters on poles?

How can the gay community help stop police harassment of sex trade workers? Now that police are more respectful of our community, should we not be demanding the same for other sexual minority communities, especially prostitutes?

How can we help lend support to a four-pillar approach to drug addiction, along the lines of the successful experiment in Vancouver? How can our community, our liaison, work to support and expand harm-reduction approaches like crack pipe programs, needle exchanges, safe-injection sites and so on?

How can the police force be made a comfortable enough place that gay men come out? So far, few if any gay officers have come out. Police culture can be a hostile place for a gay cop, though lesbians are coming out.

There are so many other possible topics for a good townhall meeting. Please come out and voice your opinion.

Sex workers are our neighbours

2007-01-11T09:43:00.000-05:00

Hello dear readers,

I back now after a couple of weeks of much-needed rest. I might be slow to re-start the blog engine, but here's a taste of what I've been thinking about lately. My latest column for Capital Xtra focuses on how sex workers are treated in my neighbourhood and by the arm of the law.

To read the full report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights' solicitation subcommittee, click here.

And check out the website of two amazing sex workers' rights groups -- Stella (Montreal) and the Sex Professionals of Canada.

Censorship scares me more than anti-choice nuts

2006-12-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

At least, that's the title I would have chose for this column. But instead, my dear friend/editor made it sound like I'm terrified of student activists. Sigh ...

But I do expect some letters from the pro-choice activists from Carleton who sponsored the anti-anti-choice motion on campus. In fact, I would love to debate this issue with y'all.

The key point that I was trying to make in this column is that censorship is an idea that always comes back to bite our community in the ass. While the Carleton activists' hearts were in the right place, I believe that the action they took was the wrong one.

Okay, discuss.

Rebick withdraws any support for May

2006-12-20T10:48:00.000-05:00

Judy Rebick just posted this statement on rabble.ca, withdrawing any support for Elizabeth May, based on her recent statements on abortion.

Thanks Judy. Your book Ten Thousand Roses helped remind me of the battles that you and your sisters won, so my generation could have the right to choose. We have been lulled into complacency and so many of us haven't had to take the personal risks that you took when fighting hard on this issue. We might have to start chaining ourselves to things again ... expect phone calls asking for tactical advice!

Keeping the Liberals honest

2006-12-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

A lot of people have asked me what I think of Stephane Dion, and I've kind of been at a loss for words. I loved the underdog nature of the Liberal leadership vote. I'll admit that Dion's backpack and stated support for environmentalism and social justice are very appealing. And all of my favourite men are of the nerdy variety.

But Dion's charm doesn't give the Liberals a pass for all of the boneheaded decisions they've made over the years. And Dion certainly has some past decisions to account for (including his inaction on the environment, despite the fact that he named his dog Kyoto). I'll throw to my friend Stu for his take on Dion's record. Also check out his column on Smart Regulation, and the stealth takeover of Environment Canada (from Nov. 2005).

But once again, Murray Dobbin has proved to be one of the most astute political writers in Canada. He argues here that the only way that Dion will be able to push a truly left-wing agenda through Parliament is if the NDP holds the balance of power in a minority government. According to Dobbin, "If Dion wins a majority, the full weight of the corporate media, Bay Street, the right wing bureaucracy and the conservatives in his caucus will grind down whatever is good in Stephane Dion."

Still, Dobbin reserves some of his harshest criticism for the NDP, which doesn't seem to understand that vilifying Dion as a "corrupt backroom Liberal" is just not going to work for them. My friends and I were doubled over laughing at the email that the NDP sent out after Dion was elected. It read like total sour grapes, and just the WRONG way to woo back potential NDP voters. Audra Williams excerpts it here. And this is what Dobbin has to say:

The party's delusional notion that the Liberals are going to voluntarily disappear can now, thankfully, be put to rest. The NDP needs to engage the public by campaigning on keeping the Liberals honest. They will give Dion the support -- critical, to be sure -- he needs to fight off the reactionary forces that will naturally align against him.

Can I please have the NDP that used to stand for something back? Please?!?

Elizabeth May responds

2006-12-13T10:05:00.000-05:00

For those who have been following the story about Elizabeth May's recent ridiculous comments about abortion, here's a link to where she responds to some of the criticism of her position. While I am relieved to hear her clarify that she is in fact pro-choice, I think that her new statement belies the same kind of paternalism as her previous ones. She says, "Obviously, no woman facing an unwanted pregnancy takes the issue of a possible abortion lightly. It is always a very difficult, emotionally charged choice."

I don't agree. By suggesting that abortion is always a horrible decision, she is playing into the Christian Right's notion that abortion leads to emotional trauma and regret. That's why I find the "I had an abortion" movement so powerful. It's all about women speaking the truth about their experiences with abortion -- whether they were traumatic or -- gasp -- joyful.

Dispatch from New York

2006-12-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

I just got an amazing email from my cousin Rachel, who is attending the Conservative Jewish seminary in New York, and has been fighting hard from the inside to stand up for gay and lesbian rights. I am so proud of her I could burst. Here's her perspective on this week's ruling:

This has been quite a week in New York. The Conservative Movement finally passed a positive ruling on being gay or lesbian (and,because pluralism is our hallmark, also managed to pass a contradictory ruling affirming the status quo at the same time. sigh).

The ruling we passed was not ideal---I would never lie and say it is (I was hoping for a much more open and more intellectually honest one that got sidelined on politically motivated procedural grounds, which was by Rabbi Gordon Tucker and which was just brilliant and honest and daring).

However, given that even this ruling allows friends of mine to attend rabbinical school without having to go into the closet and will allow those rabbis who waiting for a ruling to do commitment ceremonies/same sex weddings (some of us have been doing them already) to do them, it is a big step. And in 5-10 years, we'll just have to pass a better ruling.

I've spent the last week in an activist flurry. The student group I have been active in (Keshet) did a media training last week, and so we were prepared with a press conference of our own. I'm excited--disappointed in some ways--but feeling like some steps towards doing God's work were done. It's about time. Some people are predicting this will cause the world to come to an end, but I really just don't think the actions of a million Conservative Jews matter that much to the apocalypse I don't believe in :)

I do think our actions are important to mainline Protestant groups, who are dealing with the same issues.

Note to activists: the fight has just begun ...

2006-12-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

Oh good, at least the marriage thing should be over with for now. But the Harper government is still up to some really scary stuff, so please don't retreat behind white picket fences in the suburbs ...

Conservative Jews Allow Gay Rabbis and Unions

2006-12-07T09:25:00.000-05:00

This is such an exciting victory for the progressive Jews who have been fighting for the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis, and the celebration of Jewish queer unions. I am proud to say that my Uncle, Rabbi Lawrence Troster, was heavily involved in the fight to ordain women in the 1970s, and his daughter Rachel Kahn Troster (now a rabbinical student) has been involved in the fight to embrace gay and lesbian rights within Conservative Judaism.

This totally flies in the face of right-wing fundamentalists that want to paint all religious groups with the same homophobic brush. Just FYI, "Conservative Judaism is considered the centrist movement in Judaism, wedged between the liberal Reform and Reconstructionist movements, which have accepted an openly gay clergy for more than 10 years, and the more traditional Orthodox, which rejects it."

Same Sex Thursday

2006-12-06T15:48:00.000-05:00

The MPs are debating Harper's idiotic motion to "re-open the definition of marriage" right now on CPAC (here).

And I think that Rick Mercer is my CBC crush for today. He published this fabulous thing on his blog. My favourite quote:

Sure the Charter looks nice hanging on a wall but the fact is it grants far too many rights that are contrary to the deeply held personal views of many chubby white guys.

Remember, mourn, fight for change

2006-12-06T13:41:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a really long and reflective post about today, Dec. 6, the anniversary of the Polytechnique Massacre. But Gina Whitfield did such a stellar job in the Tyee.

I was 10 years old when this horrific event occurred, but I remember it strongly. I was already a self-identified feminist by that age, and it shook me to the core that a killer would single out women like that ... sadly, male violence against women still hasn't gone away. This makes me even more furious that the Conservative government actually removed the word "equality" from the mandate of Status of Women Canada.

The amazing women at Status Report are tracking this government's actions against women, and providing an information source/meeting place for people who want to join the fight.

Take that Fraser Institute!

2006-12-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

People in highly taxed countries better off: report
Last Updated: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 12:44 PM ET
CBC News

People who live in countries with higher taxes enjoy lower rates of poverty, have more equal income distribution, more economic security for workers and can expect to live longer, suggests a new study from a left-leaning think tank.

Check it.

Big oil and big ass

2006-12-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

This made my morning ... although it would be nice if discussion about "big ass" focused on repealing the discriminatory age of consent law that governs anal sex -- which I wrote about here.

Layton rose in the Commons today to attack the government over subsidies to big oil companies. But he tripped over his tongue and instead asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper if he would finally cancel subsidies to "big oil and big ass." Layton meant to say "big gas."

The slip of the tongue brought laughter from all sides of the House. Harper jokingly answered that he would "get to the bottom of it."

Fight Harper's anti-woman policies

2006-12-04T13:34:00.000-05:00

A call-out from some amazing feminist groups:

CALL THE EQUALITY HOTLINE
613-941-6888

“If women in Canada feel their rights have been violated, they can pick up the phone and call”
-- Conservative Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Bev Oda.

Stephen Harper believes equality is no longer a concern for women in Canada. Harper’s Government has cut funding for women’s equality, cut access to justice, even cut “equality” as an official goal of the government. The Harper government is denying reality.

In 2003, women with post-secondary degrees earned 68.9% of what their male counterparts earned for full-time, full-year work.
Half of women will experience criminal violence by men in their homes, communities,
workplaces and schools in their lifetime.

CALL THE EQUALITY HOTLINE
613-941-6888

Tell Stephen Harper why equality still matters:

If you are a parent, do you have access to affordable, quality child-care?
Have you, or someone you love, been physically or sexually abused or harassed? Did
you/they get the support needed?
If your rights were violated in your workplace, is there a process in place for you to address your concerns?
Are there barriers to advancing your career or getting ahead in your workplace because you’re a woman?

Tell the Prime Minister: “the government must invest in equality rights for ALL women
in Canada”

ATTEND THE DECEMBER 10TH RALLY ON PARLIAMENT HILL 1:30-3:00

For more information on the December 10th campaign, click here.

How much do I love Heather Mallick?

2006-12-04T09:47:00.000-05:00

We've all been paralyzed in the presence of a racist before ... check out Heather Mallick's advice on what do to in these situations ...

I think she's my new CBC crush.

More from Elizabeth May on abortion

2006-12-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm going to throw it to Audra Williams for this one ...

But allow me to quote Ms. May directly, from a candidates' debate held during the London by election:

So if one group of people say, "A woman has a right to choose", I get queasy, because I'm against abortion. I don't think a woman has a frivolous right to choose. What I don't want is a desperate woman to die in an illegal abortion. But I also don't think it's right to say - Well, you see, you end up
having this conflict.

What I'd like to do in politics - and I've talked about this in some other settings besides here today, because this is the first time it's come up in London North Centre - what I'd like to do in politics is to be able to create the space to say, "Abortions are legal because they must be to avoid women dying. But nobody in their right mind is for abortions."

No, Elizabeth. Abortions need to be legal, because a woman should have the right to make choices about her body for ANY reason. There are lots of people "in their right minds" who are for abortion. I'm one of them. Sometimes women are in grave medical distress, and need an abortion for that reason. Other women simply don't want to go through with a pregnancy. Some of them have been raped, and others participated in joyful, consensual sex. Either way, we get to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. That's the point.

Plow that furrow straight ...

2006-11-30T10:18:00.000-05:00

I don't usually write about municipal politics, but I was so saddened by the results of the recent Ottawa mayoral election. For those not from Ottawa -- we just elected an extreme right-winger, with absolutely no municipal government (or any government) experience.

Here's my assessment of Larry O'Brien.

Since the election, O'Brien has appointed Walter Robinson, the former director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to be his chief of staff (this is one of the groups that promotes "Tax Freedom Day" -- I won't link to them, but I will link to the CCPA's criticism of their narrow perspective). And today, he just approved big pay increases for himself and the other city councillors.

Meanwhile, he's promising a property tax freeze, and has made the absurd claim that this won't affect city services.

It's going to be a long four years in Ottawa ...

Sigh ... I guess I shouldn't be surprised

2006-11-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

Status of Women offices to be closed
MARTIN O'HANLON
Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Conservative government is taking an axe to Status of Women Canada, closing three-quarters of its regional offices and outraging critics in the process.

Heritage Minister Bev Oda revealed Wednesday that 12 of the federal agency's 16 regional offices will be shut down by April 1.

The blow is part of a cost-cutting program announced in September that will see the agency lose $5-million from it's $23-million annual budget over two years.

Status of Women Canada works to advance women's economic equality and human rights and eliminate violence against women.

Full story here.

And check out the fabulous Status Report website, if you want to take action to try and save (or salvage) Status of Women Canada.

Elizabeth May's fishy stance on abortion

2006-11-29T16:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, when a friend brought this to my attention, I couldn't resist posting it. While Elizabeth May, the new leader of the Green Party of Canada is a long-time (and tireless) environmental activist, some comments she made during the recent by election in London, Ontario should have women worried.

May recently submitted answers to voter's guide questionnaire distributed by Citizen Impact Canada, a right-wing Christian group whose stated purpose is "equipping Canadians for the effective expression of a biblical worldview in the public square. "

These question and answers are taken verbatim from the voter's guide, which can be found here. Candidates were asked to answer questions using numbers (5 is Strongly Agree, 4 is Agree, 3 is Undecided, 2 is Disagree, and 1 is Strongly Disagree):

When asked if she supports the introduction of legal restrictions on abortion, May marked #2 (Disagree), but then said "I respect the concerns for the sanctity of life -- removing access to legal abortions will lead to suffering and death of desperate pregnant women."
But then when asked if she supports a mandatory waiting time before abortions are to be performed, May said this: "Women considering abortion should have time to consider their options and should be encouraged to carry the baby to term."
The final whammy, is that when asked if she supports legislation that would "acknowledge the right of health care workers to refuse to participate in procedures which are in violation of their religious or conscientious beliefs," she said: "Conscience is critical and no on in a field should be forced to ignore personal moral choice."

So let me get this straight ... May believes in "the sanctity of life," but doesn't want to repeal the abortion laws. But she does think that women should be encouraged to keep their babies, and that doctors should have the right to refuse to perform abortions, if they are "morally opposed" to the idea. And in fact, if you take her statement a step further, does she also believe that government officials should be allowed to refuse to perform same sex marriages because of their "personal moral choice?"

Last time, I checked, the Charter of Rights prevents doctors and governments officials from making medical decisions on women's behalf, or refusing to perform a government function, simply because they find it morally distasteful. As it is, it's extremely difficult to get an abortion in Canada. You can't get one on Prince Edward Island. Many public hospitals don't perform them. And fewer and fewer doctors are willing to take the risk that they'll become the target of some crazy anti-choice nutbar. The last thing Canadian women need is a law that would restrict our freedom to choose anymore.

If Elizabeth May wants to paint herself and the Green Party as a new progressive force in this country, she needs to clarify her position on the abortion issue.

Save Court Challenges ...

2006-11-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

When I wrote a couple of months ago about the Conservative government's axing of the Court Challenges program, I was trying to remember all of the cases I knew of that had been fought or won thanks to Court Challenges funding.

A new coalition of groups, including the Law Union of Ontario, the Canadian Health Coalition, the B.C. Human Rights Coalition, Egale Canada, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the CAW and CUPE has set up a new Save Court Challenges website.

You can find a comprehensive (and mighty impressive) list of Court Challenges cases here.

ACTION ALERT: DECEMBER MARRIAGE VOTE!!

2006-11-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

Say what you will about the benefits of marriage, but we can't let Harper and his cronies undo a victory we've already won ... and click here to read Ivan E. Coyote's chronicle of a lesbian dream wedding. Then tell me how love like this somehow dismantles and institution that is already in serious disrepair ...

ACTION ALERT: DECEMBER MARRIAGE VOTE!!

After almost a year of waiting, it's now virtually certain that a vote on Mr. Harper's motion to re-open the divisive equal marriage debate will take place in December, likely the week of December 4. Last week, following a CEM press conference urging the Prime Minister not to break his promise of a fall vote, Justice Minister Vic Toews told reporters the vote would take place before Parliament breaks for the holidays on December 15. He said "The prime minister has made a commitment and he will honour that commitment."

Meanwhile, on November 9, over 40 religious leaders signed the "Declaration on Marriage" and sent it to all MPs and Senators (see it at http://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/social/marriage.asp). They have been mobilizing their congregations, especially focusing on 50 MPs who are most likely to change their votes.

We're hearing from some MPs that in the last few weeks they've seen a huge increase in correspondence from equal marriage opponents and are not hearing from those of us who are against re-opening. It's important that they hear from us too!!Our task now is to shore up our support and ensure that Mr. Harper's regressive motion is defeated by the widest possible margin. That's because following the defeat of his motion we want Mr. Harper to publicly state that the issue is settled. The wider the margin, the greater the chance of getting him to admit that this issue is settled, not just in this Parliament, but for good! If he doesn't admit that it's settled, then it's an election issue. AGAIN!!

It's time to take re-opening off the political agenda, so that equality opponents will lose any ability to de-legitimize our marriages. It's simply unfair for this to continue, and for LGBT people to have to go on defending our marriages, our families and our sexual orientation and gender identity.Please go to www.equal-marriage.ca/election.php and contact your MP. In these final days, the best way to do that is to call their constituency office, which is a local call.

You can find your MP's phone number on our website or at http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Language=E.

Phone calls really get noticed, they take only a minute or two, and all you have to say is something like "I support equal marriage and urge [MP's name] to vote against re-opening this divisive debate. Over 12,000 same-gender couples have been married in Canada and that hasn't hurt anyone. It's time to move on."

We know a strong majority of MP's currently intend to vote against re-opening, but if all they hear in the lead-up to the vote are calls to "restore traditional marriage" some of them may get scared and change their mind. Memories are short, so even if you've already contacted your MP, it's important to contact them again, and to do so immediately.Please visit www.equal-marriage.ca/election.php today to contact your MP.

Of course, please don't stop there. Please take all four of our action steps, including making a donation to Canadians for Equal Marriage. Our strength depends on you, and every donation counts!Please take action today, so that we don't lose any MPs to the huge mobilization now being put on by groups like the Evangelical Fellowship, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Defend Marriage and many others.

We want this issue settled once and for all, and a decisive defeat of Mr. Harper's motion to re-open will do just that. Let's give it all we can!!

Yours truly,

Laurie Arron
National Coordinator, Canadians for Equal Marriage
www.equal-marriage.ca
laurie@equal-marriage.ca

I'm Jewish & angry with Harper

2006-11-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, this column feels like another coming out of sorts ... I often write about my queer identity, but not my Jewish one ... the collusion between the Christian right and the mainstream Jewish establishment has forced me out of the closet, so to say. I don't imagine that B'nai Brith or the Canadian Jewish News will like this column much. But they don't speak for all Jews. They don't speak for me.

I love Stitch and Bitchers, I swear!

2006-10-19T16:48:00.000-04:00

To all the crafty dykes out there -- I didn't write the headline for my latest column in Capital Xtra! I think you are all marvelous. You actually have useful skills -- you can build and make things. I can write and think about things. Maybe we could form a global movement of crafty and un-crafty feminists banding together to kick this Conservative government's ass.

And speaking of ass, I just above threw my alarm clock clear across my bedroom at 7:00 this morning, when I woke up to a sound bite from Stephen Harper's speech at a B'nai Brith event. In introducing the PM, Frank Diamant said something like "the Prime Minister is like a gift from the almighty."

To my wonderful Jewish reliatives and friends. DON'T FALL FOR IT. I know that Harper is professing a love of Israel, but that doesn't exonerate him from trampling over all sorts of minority groups in Canada. And besides, the end-day fundamentalists are convinced that we are all going to hell anyway -- Jews, queers, pretty much anyone who hasn't been "saved."

But more on that later ...

Targets, not talks, vital on emissions

2006-10-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

A shout-out to my brother Charles, who has this letter published in the Toronto Star yesterday.

Targets, not talks, vital on emissions
Re: Editorial, Oct. 11.

This editorial discusses Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plans to "reduce emissions of both greenhouse gases and smog-producing pollutants." While it is heartening to hear Harper's government even acknowledge the environment, we have to be careful not to conflate smog and global warming. The same vehicles may contribute to both, but when it comes to improving the technology, these are two entirely different beasts.

Most smog-causing emissions are accidental by-products of burning fossil fuels. These emissions can be reduced by making comparatively minor changes in a vehicle's design, and this can have a noticeable effect on local air quality. However, greenhouse emissions are fundamentally required for a combustion engine to function, and their effects can only be seen on a global scale. Reducing CO2 emissions from a vehicle means redesigning the entire technology to burn less fuel in the first place — a much more expensive feat — or doing away with fossil fuels altogether.

The latter case might bring up fanciful dreams of electric or hydrogen-powered cars that produce no greenhouse emissions at all. Unfortunately, all the energy used to power the car or create the hydrogen fuel will have to come from somewhere, and it won't be stored very efficiently. What's the use in cutting tailpipe CO2 emissions when the same amount (or more) is emitted at a power plant nearby? The atmosphere doesn't particularly care where greenhouse gases are coming from — the whole world inherits the consequences.

Effective global warming strategies must take a "life-cycle" approach that tracks which actions produce real global emission reductions.

For all its flaws, the Kyoto accord was meant as a way to agree on co-ordinated action that would ensure greenhouse reductions actually happen.

Independent regulations on separate industries in individual countries will never be able to guarantee greenhouse gas reductions — they may only give the fiddlers a tune to play while the planet burns.

Charles Troster, Vancouver, B.C.

Oda and Harper to get a REAL-ity check

2006-10-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

ODA AND HARPER TO GET A REAL-ITY CHECK:

Website to combat inaccuracies and indifference towards Status Of Women Canada

HALIFAX/OTTAWA, October 11, 2006 – A new website launches today to rally support for Status of Women Canada (SWC) and related issues.Statusreport.ca will house objective information about the federal agency, along with tools and motivation for people to lobby the federal government to revisit changes made to the agency's funding and objectives. Nine months after committing to take concrete and immediate steps to increase women's equality in Canada, the Harper administration has slashed 40 per cent of SWC’s administrative budget, removed all references to “equality” from SWC’s mandate, and changed rules in order to disallow groups from doing advocacy or lobbying with federal funds.

"The Harper Conservatives are clearly out of touch with reality,” stated site co-founder Audra Williams, "Oda and Harper have 16 million female constituents whose equality and rights they are obligated to ensure."

“They try to paint women’s groups who speak out on this issue as victimized or partisan,” said Pam Kapoor, site co-founder, “To counter that kind of ludicrous spin, we’ve set up this independent space where anyone who cares about women’s equality can participate in the project to protect SWC.”

Williams and Kapoor condemn Conservative messaging labeling advocates of women’s equality as focused on women’s weaknesses: “Enough with their convenient dismissals,” said Williams, “Sustained commitment to women’s equality requires tremendous strength – especially nowadays, given the onslaught of inaccurate rhetoric from the right.”

Statusreport.ca is non-partisan, unaffiliated with any women’s organization or political party. Williams and Kapoor, with an ad-hoc group of creative women, are dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of SWC and the role it should continue to play in the struggle for women’s full equality in Canada.

Audra Williams and Pam Kapoor arecommunications consultants based in Halifax and Gatineau, respectively.For information: contact@statusreport.ca

Actions against Conservative cuts

2006-10-02T11:59:00.000-04:00

When I posted last week about the loss of the Court Challenges program, I neglected to include a complete list of all of the things that were slashed. Here it is. Other programs that were either slashed or eliminated, include the Law Commission of Canada, Status of Women Canada, funding for adult literacy, and for aboriginal health programs.

The Disabled Women's Network has posted an online action demanding the return of Court Challenges. You can find it here.

One of the organizations that will be the most affected by the loss of Court Challenges is Egale Canada. Click here to donate to Egale -- the organization is going to have to scrape together a lot of cash to fight Harper's government in court over the next while.

And a breath of sanity from the amazing Linda McQuaig, who has always been able to put debt hysteria into perspective and remind us about what governments are supposed to do: use our tax dollars to fund programs that improve people's lives.

Zero Tolerance nightmares

2006-09-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to my latest column for Capital Xtra, a plea for sanity in the face of the horrific violence at Dawson College. The Zero Tolerance Nightmares website that I refer to can be found here.

I would like to give a shout-out to Susan Cole at Now Magazine for naming the shooting for what it is: another example of male violence against women.

And for those in Ottawa, tonight is the annual Take Back the Night march:

6:30 pm: Rally at the Women’s Monument at Minto Park (Elgin and Gilmour) (Speakers Mreama Abdul, Soheila Dalvand, Françoise Roy and Senator Nancy Ruth)

7:00 pm: The March Up Elgin, down Rideau, around the market, and back to City Hall.

8:00-9:30: Info Fair at Ottawa City Hall (Foyer), 110 Laurier Ave West (Information tables, Counselling, Entertainment and Refreshments) Don’t Forget to bring your own light (flashlights, lantern, glowstick etc.)

Feel free to bring Noise Maker (Pots and Pans, whistle, drum, horn, tambourine, etc.

Come with a small item or image symbolizing gender stereotypes to be discarded.

Men are welcome to join the march under the lead of women.

Made-in-Canada lunacy

2006-09-27T13:49:00.000-04:00

It it weren't for the trusty Hill Times, I would have missed this frightening tidbit.

Guess who Rona Ambrose just hired as her chief of staff? Darrel Reid, former president of Focus on the Family.

All you need to do is spend 5 minutes on the organization's website, and you can get the drift. The group maintains that homosexual people can be "converted" through therapy, and its American leader, James Dobson, has referred to abortion as a "baby holocaust."

The link between right-wing evangelicals and the fight against climate change recently solidified in the U.S., when 86 religious leaders (including Dobson) signed a letter demanding action on global warning.

This actually represents an about-face, because for many years, some in the more loony fringes of the fire-and-brimstone community had actually welcomed global warming, hoping to hasten Earth's destruction and make room for the re-birth of Christ. I kid you not. Maude Barlow provides more specific background on the connection between End Day Fundamentalists and opposition to environmental laws in the U.S., in her book Too Close for Comfort: Canada's Future within Fortress North America.

It seems that the hiring of Reid must be a strategic move, aimed at shoring up support for Ambrose's "made in Canada" solution to climate change (otherwise known as the destruction of the Kyoto Accord, and the introduction of "voluntary" emissions targets that no one will actually have to follow). This month's issue of This Magazine has an excellent article about how industry-sponsored big PR companies manufactured doubt about the science behind climate change, leading to the erosion of support for solutions (like Kyoto) that could have cut into corporate profits.

And now for a quote from the man himself ...

In several Focus on the Family publications Reid refers to gay marriage advocates as "anti-family," yet in a 2002 press release he applauded the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision that parents should be allowed to spank their parents as "resounding victory for families." Hmmm, so equality is not a family value, but spanking is?

Yes folks, this is the person who will be running the Office of the Minister of the Environment.

Save Gay Marriage Action Centre

2006-09-26T16:53:00.000-04:00

The wonderful folks at Xtra have just launched a fab new website, containing lots of information about the equal marriage issue, including a detailed chronology, competing viewpoints, and a link to where you can contact your MP.

Check it out!

The sound of the axe falling on minority rights in Canada

2006-09-26T08:05:00.000-04:00

Do you hear that sound? That wheezing noise in the background is the sound of our rights being pulled out from under us. On the surface, the Conservative government's announcement of $1 billion in cuts may seem benign. If you were half asleep while watching the news last night, the gravity of the situation may not have hit you. But I know that I sat up in bed and couldn't sleep all night.

Why, you may ask? Budget announcements generally don't provoke fear in the hearts of writers like me. Since Paul Martin's devastating slash-fest in the mid-90s, we've become used to seeing social programs axed. And since Harper's thin victory, we've seen entire government departments completely enviserated (remember Climate Change Canada? The One Tonne Challenge? Sigh ...)

But as of yesterday afternoon, Canadians just lost a gem of a program called Court Challenges. Many people in the queer community may not know it, but this program has had a direct impact on all of our lives, and without it, our rights will be under serious and well-calculated attack.

I've linked to the Court Challenges website here, although I wouldn't be surprised if the PMO took it down by day's end. For those who don't know about the program, the logic does seem a bit absurd. Since 1994, Court Challenges has provided funding to equality-seeking groups to pay for the legal costs associated with suing the government.

I know that this very idea sends the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation into a frothy rage. But there's a reason why this program has benefited all Canadians. The theory was that Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms had yet to be tested. We all had all sorts of human rights in theory, but the only way to test and ensure those rights is by taking cases to court, and asking judges to clarify the interpretation of the Charter. But that placed the onus on individual citizens and cash-strapped advocacy groups to pay tens of thousands of dollars (sometimes hundreds of thousands) to take cases to court. While some of these groups were able to find lawyers to take their cases for free, there are still some very high fixed costs associated with going to court. Basic stuff like ordering transcripts, paying for travel for witnesses, etc. That's where Court Challenges filled in the gap.

There is no arguing against the fact that no other group in Canada has benefited from the Court Challenges program more than the gay and lesbian community. That's why the program has always been a thorn in the side of the Conservatives (especially the religious nuts). I will post a more extensive list of court cases that were successful because of Court Challenges, but here's quick sampling:

1. Egan case (1995) Gay men Jim Egan and Jack Nesbit sued Ottawa for the right to claim a spousal pension under the Old Age Security Act. The Court ruled against Egan and Nesbit, but all nine judges agreed that sexual orientation is a protected ground and that protection extends to partnerships of lesbians and gay men.

2. Gay adoption case (1995) -- An Ontario court judged ruled that is was contrary to section 15 of the Charter of Rights to deny gay and lesbian people the right to adopt their partners' children.

3. M v. H (1999)-- the groundbreaking case where one lesbian sued her partner for spousal asupport after their relationship broke down. The Supreme Court ruled that Canada's Family Law Act was unconsititutional, and ordered all of the provinces to "read in" same sex equality rights into their provincial laws. This was the case that established legal recognition of same sex common law relationships.

4. The Marc Hall case (2002) -- Later made into a cheesy TV movie called Prom Queen, in this case, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled that a gay student had the right to take his male partner as a date to the prom at his Catholic High School.

And of course, there have been all of the court battles over equal marriage for same sex couples -- all funded in part by Court Challenges.

It was good while it lasted. But don't believe for a minute that this program was cut for anything other than ideological reasons. I would also argue that there was a more strategic agenda at play here. First of all, the Conservatives announced these cuts during a time of unprededented economic security (Canada had a $13.2 billion surplus last year!!!). And second, it seems that they took their marching orders directly from the whackos over at Focus on the Family and the R.E.A.L. Women of Canada (look here for more background on those groups). Anti-feminist and anti-gay groups have been lobbying for years to get rid of Court Challenges. And while it may take them a few more years to get rid of those pesky abortion and gay rights laws, the government has just given them a big nod, validating their intolerant and extremist views.

And just one more thought ....

If Harper decides to pull a fast one and use the Notwithstanding Clause to change the definition of marriage back to "one man, one woman," the queer community will have to go it alone in the courts. Even though dozens of constitutional lawyers recently rendered a legal opinion that there is no constitional way that Harper could possibly overturn gay marriage without using the Clause, he might decide to move forward anyway, and dare us to sacre up the resources to fight him in court -- on our own dime.

Welcome to the Harper revolution, folks.

What are you going to do about it?

A rare victory -- and Zucchinis for Peace!

2006-09-08T11:01:00.000-04:00

Wow, we have to celebrate the small victories when we see them. Apparently, the federal government has bowed to public pressure, and will let the INSITE safe injection site continue in Vancouver for another 18 months. Here's Libby Davies' take on the story.

And here's a link to a hilarious and fun anti-war action from Homes not Bombs. Send zucchinis, not missiles, to Afghanistan. A snippet from their call-out:

CANADA SHOULD SEND FOOD, NOT BOMBS, TO AFGHANISTAN We are most often told that the main reason the Canadian military is in Afghanistan is to help the
Afghan people. Many Afghan people are starving. It is time to send massive amounts of food aid, not massive amounts of bullets and bombs.

WHY ZUCCHINIS, WHY NOW?
The Power of A Symbol
Politicians are often unable to grasp the meaning of words, and require symbols to help them out. We have seen in the past few years stunning examples of Homes not Bombs campaigns that have succeeded in employing the noble zucchini in the cause of peace. We have argued that successive war ministers' confused sexual desires to launch phallic-shaped missiles would be more safely directed if phallic-shaped zucchinis were sent instead.

Consider me flattered -- and puzzled

2006-09-08T09:16:00.000-04:00

Wow, thanks to Capital Xtra for running such a gushing profile of me. Although I find it hilarious that the reporter found me to be "demure" and "bookish." I don't think I've ever hear those two words used together -- or to describe me. But seriously, I feel very humbled. Thanks Kacie and Gareth.

And here is my latest column -- a special letter to Vic Toews, our esteemed Minister of Justice. Bleh.

Later this week I'll post some links to the various sources I quote in my column. If you're also scared about the extreme makeover of our criminal justice system that's underway, send a letter to your MP. Please.

Shameless plug

2006-08-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

Some of you might have heard all sorts of contradictory things coming out of the recent annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Charlottetown.

The organization that I work for was really involved in "on the ground" actions to convince doctors that privatization of health care is a very bad idea. We aren't thrilled with the results of the meeting (rabble.ca posted a good analysis here), but we did make amazing connections with pro-medicare doctors.

Here's a link to a blog from Charlottetown, so give you a sense of what went down.

And here is a link to a website with lots of materials that you can read and distribute to your doctors and friends.

This announcement was brought to you by Dykes Against Harper and the letter C.

Happy Pride!

2006-08-25T09:47:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Pride celebrations have finished in most of Canada, but Ottawa Pride heats up this weekend.

Click here for a list of fun events this weekend.

And just because Harper and his ilk are so anti-sex, I though I'd share this delightful video with all of you. I just saw a great comedy show with Vancouver's The Wet Spots. If only high school sex ed class was this much fun!

In pride and solidarity,

Ariel

An ode to booing -- and fighting back

2006-08-17T20:01:00.000-04:00

I know, I know ... long time no blog. But the days are getting shorter (gasp), and Parliament will rise soon -- and so will this blog.

In the meantime, here are three recent articles I wrote for Capital Xtra, after returning from the incredible Outgames LGBT Human Rights Conference in Montreal:

1) Building a worldwide gay rights movement
2) Queer youth lead the way; and
3) Putting up a fight (this would be my rumination on "l'affaire Fortier")

Now, the irony is not lost on me that after Harper's predictable absence from the human rights conference, that he's now a no-show at the biggest AIDS conference ever staged. But what's even better is that the Conservatives are now holding back on any announcement regarding AIDS funding, and the future of an innovative safe injection site in Vancouver which just happens to be SAVING LIVES.

Shame shame shame.

But at least they now know that queers and our allies will not take their bullshit sitting down. I love how the CBC reported that Harper wants to wait for the 30,000 delegates at the AIDS conference to return to their respective countries, before making any sort of announcement. Because god forbid another government official could get booed. That would be twice in the same month. And get this ... he is rumoured to has said that it's because the issue (AIDS, I presume) has become TOO POLITICIZED.

Uh, too politicized for a bunch of career politicians?

Shame shame shame shame.

It's time to give Pride an edge again

2006-07-20T13:29:00.000-04:00

Hello dear readers,

Here's my latest column for Capital Xtra. It's an ode to my favourite wacky protestors, and all the brave folks from ACT UP.

Ariel

Birthday Bash for Bush

2006-06-30T15:31:00.000-04:00

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in Washington Thursday, July 6th, which coincides with George W. Bush’s birthday. Join Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians at a birthday bash for George Bush in front of the PMO, where we'll ask Stephen Harper to limit his generosity to a card and good wishes.

Our government has already handed Bush our troops for use in his "war on terror." We signed away our right to energy security in NAFTA. Harper’s letting Bush keep $1-billion worth of the lumber tariffs the U.S. government took from us illegally. And Bush knows he need only ask before we hand over our fresh water, too.

The Council of Canadians fears that Harper will further compromise Canadian sovereignty in areas of foreign policy, trade and security, and we hope to raise awareness about how much the Prime Minister has sacrificed without public consent during his short reign.
Show Harper you can be a good neighbour without giving it all away.

What: A birthday party for Dubya (free cake and loot bags!)
Where: Outside the PMO, in front of the NCC Info Centre at Wellington and Metcalfe
When: Thursday, July 6, noon to 1 p.m. (bring sunscreen, noisemakers and a party hat!)
Why: Because we can, because it’s fun, and because we’re sick of giving pieces of Canada away
Who: Come one, come all. This is a Council of Canadians party and everyone’s invited!

When the government becomes a spy

2006-06-29T14:53:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone,

I hope you'll forgive me for my infrequent postings. With the media speculating about another possible election some time in the fall, I suspect that this blog will heat up again soon.

But here is my latest column for Cap X -- focusing on the government's proposal to tap people's phones without their knowledge or permission. Scary stuff. The article is directed to a gay audience, but the issues that I touch on should be chilling to anyone, if I do say so myself.

You also might be interested in reading Matthew Behrens' reflections on his experiences travelling with Camp Hope. As I mention in my column, it was truly inspiring to hear him speak about his experiences as an activist on the security certificates issue.

And on a completely different issue, I was thrilled to find out that a youth-run grassroots coalition has sprung up, to fight the Tories' regressive age of consent legislation (actually they're calling it the "age of protection" now). You can find the coalition's website here.

Oh, and the new issue of This Magazine (which just hit the stands and is not online yet), features an excellent cover story about how Harper's mandatory minimum sentencing proposal would lead to growth of private prisons in Canada. And if you want to know why this is a very, very bad thing, check out this article from Mother Jones magazine written in 2000.

And despite all of this troubling news, I hope you are able to have some fun this long weekend.

Supreme Court 9-5 all this week ... be there

2006-06-12T13:15:00.000-04:00

For those of you in Ottawa ...

The participants from the Caravan of Hope -- the people who travelled from Toronto to Ottawa to protest against security certificates -- will be holding demonstrations and vigils on the lawn of the Supreme Court of Canada, all of this week, from 9 am to 5 pm. I had the pleasure of hearing an impassioned speech by Matthew Behrens, one of the organizers of the Campaign to End Security Certificates. I also got to meet Sophie Harkat, who has cause for celebration today, because her husband has just been released on bail after over 3 years in prison. He still doesn't have access to the charges or evidence being used against him. Neither do the other members of the Secret Trial Five.

If you can drop by any time between 9 and 5 from Tuesday to Friday this week, the demonstrators would appreciate your support (address is 301 Wellington St.).

Also, the organizers are looking for volunteers to provide child care:

We are trying to line up some on-site childcare for the Jaballah and Mahjoub children on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this in Ottawa. The families will be in town to attend the Supreme Court hearings of the constitutionality of security certificates (security certificates on trial!). Childcare would involve taking a shift of four hours, between 9am and 1pm or 1 and 5pm, on any of the days and remaining with the children on the lawn of the Supreme Court building with the vigil. There are four kids: Ali, Osama, Ibrahim and Yusef, all between 8 and 10. Also Afnan, Ali and Osama's older sister, about 13, who can help look after them as well. Their mothers and older brothers will be there as well, but the childcare would allow their moms the freedom to do other stuff, as they will be busy with media and may want to go into the court. The lawn is a big open space, so lots of place for games! It might be necessary, if it is raining, to bring them back to the hotel or to the nearby Bronson centre.

Contact Mary Foster at mfoster@web.net, if you are willing/able to provide child care.

Don't panic -- injustice will not make you any safer

2006-06-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

I wrote this column for Capital Xtra before this week's arrests of 17 people for supposedly planning to bomb federal buildings and behead the Prime Minister.

Now, I would never defend the actions of people who would resort to horrific violence, but I think we should all heed this warning from the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War -- don't panic. Take a deep breath, and remember that the suspects involved are to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Remember that many of those charged are young teenagers who may have been swayed by one charismatic leader. Their comments, posted on blogs, could be interpreted as little more than teenage frustration at the state of the world. The Globe and Mail reported this morning that the RCMP was careful to contact the media about the arrests before the suspects were arraigned so the media could have a field day, sans publication ban. And they are certainly winning the Propaganda War. If you've been reading the Globe and Mail, you'd think that we should be all be preparing for the apocalypse by stocking up on canned food and hiding under our desks "duck and cover" style.

Let's not forget the last time authorities trotted out dozens of young male Arab "terrorism" suspects (in Project Thread in 2003, later dubbed "Project Threadbare"), they later released every single one of them, due to a lack of evidence. And today, the Ottawa Citizen is reporting that RCMP civilian agents (all of whom have diplomatic immunity, therefore can't be charged with any crimes) "covertly committed a range of crimes, including firearms offences, counterfeiting and the theft over $5,000..." in 2004-05. Hmmm ... shouldn't we be as concerned about state-sponsored criminals in positions of authority as we are about supposed civilian terrorists?

We should also be worried when U.S. authorities use this string of arrests as an excuse to push Canada to further integrate our security policies to join Bush's War on Terror. I mean, if the RCMP did manage to scuttle a terrorism plot, we should applaud their success as proof that our homegrown system works. Why would we screw it up by joining forces with a government that started an illegal war in Iraq based on false intelligence about weapons of mass destruction?

And let's not forget the real scourge on our society -- domestic violence. While supposed terrorism plots have so far killed zero people in Canada, between 1994 and 2003, 630 women were murdered by a spouse. According to StatsCan, causes of death included shooting stabbing, strangulation and beating. Now that's a reason to duck and cover ....

I don't know whether to laugh or cry ...

2006-06-07T13:26:00.000-04:00

Federal budget passes unopposed on mix-up
Last updated Jun 7 2006 07:47 AM EDT
CBC News

Even though two federal parties had promised to vote against the Conservative government's budget, it passed Tuesday without opposition because of an apparent mix-up.

When the May 2 budget came up for its third and final reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday morning, no one stood to speak. Because there were no apparent speakers, the budget was declared passed by unanimous consent with no recorded vote.

NDP MP Libby Davies told CBC News the mix-up happened because a Conservative MP who had been scheduled to speak first was not in the chamber.

In the ensuing confusion, Davies said the opposition legislators were waiting for the Tory MP to show up and speak before they stood up. They later learned that the budget had been dealt with, at least as far as the House of Commons was concerned.

At one point, the Liberal finance critic, John McCallum, stood up to debate the budget but was told it was too late and the budget had already been passed.McCallum later admitted to feeling a little sheepish. "I think it was an honest error all around. It just got through without parliamentarians realizing quite what had happened until it had happened."

CBC Radio reporter Chris Hall said none of the two dozen or so MPs in the House of Commons at the time - and that included government members - appeared to realize that the budget had just been passed.

Finance Minister jokes about 'popular' budgetFinance Minister Jim Flaherty, who wasn't even in the House when the budget was passed, seemed to be enjoying the appearance of "unanimity" for his budget.

In the afternoon question period, he thanked the opposition for supporting the government during the budget's third reading. Earlier, he joked to reporters that the budget was "even more popular than I thought.

"The Liberals and the NDP had said their members were going to vote against the budget, which cuts the GST by one percentage point as of July 1 and brings in a child-care allowance of $1,200 a year for the parents of each child under age six.But the Bloc Québécois had indicated it would support the Conservatives. So even if the NDP and Liberals had voted against it, the budget still would have passed.

Some opposition members had spoken against the budget in earlier parliamentary debates.

The budget bill now goes to the Senate a week ahead of schedule and then will go to the Governor General for royal assent.

Fighting for your right to party

2006-06-04T21:33:00.001-04:00

Okay, I have a good excuse for staying away from the blog for so long. I just polished off my new column for Capital Xtra, which will be published this Tuesday. I will post the link as soon as it's online, along with information about the upcoming Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of security certificates. For those in Ottawa, there will be a bunch of people camped out on the lawn of the Supreme Court, many of whom travelled to Ottawa in an activist caravan ... more on that later this week. But in the meantime, here's the link to the folks who are organizing the demonstrations.

But the real reason why I've been so busy this week, is that I have been acting as the spokesperson for Egale Canada, opposing the age of consent legislation that the Conservatives are about to introduce. Now, I've written about this issue before - namely why I think that this legislation is a very bad idea. But this week, I was challenged to defend Egale's position in the face of some pretty heady opposition. As many of you may have heard, Vic Toews is about to introduce a law that would change the age of consent from 14 to 16. Early indications are that the law would include a 5-year close-in-age exemption (so for example, a 20 year-old sleeping with a 15 year-old wouldn't be punished). We think that this is a good thing, but we still have serious concerns about the proposed law.

Now boys -- this is where fighting for your right to party comes in. Did you know that anal sex is still an offense in the criminal code? Yes, what used to be referred to "buggery" is illegal under section 159 of the Criminal Code, unless it takes place between a man and a woman who are married to each other, or if both partners are over 18. Oh, and it must take place "in private," and only 2 people can participate.

Did you know this? Isn't it a terrifying remnant of the age when homosexuality was illegal? And doesn't it seem INSANE that the government is prepared to introduce age of consent legislation that doesn't fix the unconstitutional and discriminatory anal sex law?

So I became the poster gal for anal sex this week. I did interviews with CTV National News, a radio station in Kitchener (that was surprisingly progressive, I must say), Canadian Press, CanWest News Service, and -- my favourite -- a live one-hour call-in show on CPAC.

When I did the CPAC gig this morning, I got to debate representatives from my two favourite religious right groups -- the REAL Women of Canada, and the Focus on the Family-funded Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. I think that I was able to get the message across that the law should be applied equally, regardless of the sexual activity that folks are engaging in. And I also stressed that fact that the arbitrary criminalization of teen sex will do little to prevent predators, and will actually put youth more at risk by driving their relationships underground.

But I will be the first to admit that this is not an easy issue to debate, and that there are many people who would disagree with Egale's position. But I shudder to image a future when people in their early 20s could end up on sex offender registries for participating in consensual sexual relationships with younger teenagers.

None of us like to think about 14 year-olds having sex. But don't we owe young people the opportunity to make good choices, to access the best possible sex education, and to discuss their relationships with trusted adults, without the fear that their partners could get thrown in jail?

PMO gag order over Mountie wedding

2006-05-26T09:34:00.000-04:00

I haven't been blogging much lately, because the latest spat between Harper and the Parliamentary press gallery has ensured that Harper looks like a jerk every day in the mainstream press. I can't quite believe that he's accusing the media outlets that crowned him King of being biased against him. Unbelievable.

Anyway, this article says it all ...

PMO gag order over Mountie wedding; Tory MPs have been told to zip their lips if asked about constables' same-sex marriage next month

By Bruce Cheadle, The Canadian Press

The Prime Minister's Office has warned Conservative MPs not to comment on the marriage next month of two gay RCMP constables. The gag order went to all MPs but was aimed at "the small minority who might say something stupid," said one caucus member.

It's just the latest in a concerted effort by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to control and limit his new government's public message track. And it follows party strategists' successful suppression during the election campaign of outspoken social conservatives whose opinions might have harmed the party's climb to power.

Now the marriage of RCMP constables Jason Tree and David Connors in Yarmouth, N.S., appears to be causing some unease in the PMO. Sandra Buckler, Harper's director of communications, was not available for comment yesterday. But several Conservative MPs quietly confirmed they had received the PMO gag order about the Mountie wedding.

Conservatives will likely insist this is simply a matter of sticking to the government's core priorities."It's always the role of a government to communicate its own message," said Harper in Vancouver, responding in French to a question about his picayune standoff with the parliamentary press gallery over who gets to decide who asks questions at news conferences.

"It is the government that has the right to communicate with the population." Ian Brodie, Harper's chief of staff, has warned cabinet ministers that if they stray off message they face an escalating scale of sanctions, ranging from public humiliation to removal from cabinet. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and Industry Minister Maxime Bernier have already felt the sting.

But Harper's preoccupation with message control extends far beyond his frontbench. Maverick MP Garth Turner went public early in February with accounts of being sternly dressed down by Harper for speaking out on David Emerson's Liberal defection. Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz, a party stalwart and longtime leading advocate of scrapping the federal long-gun registry, was ordered not to talk with reporters about federal gun legislation in advance of last week's amnesty announcement by Public Security Minister Stockwell Day.

General Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, went so far as to publicly deny published reports last month that he'd been muzzled, although the blunt-spoken Newfoundlander has avoided public comment ever since.

On Wednesday night in Calgary, Justice Minister Vic Toews insisted all questions be screened in advance during a town hall discussion on the government's get-tough-on-crime bill.

Big Daddy Harper

2006-05-14T15:11:00.000-04:00

I love Ian Brown from the Globe & Mail. He manages to write these long feature articles that are actually quite subversive. A couple of years ago, he travelled through the U.S. and documented the rise of evangelical fundamentalism. He took a special trip to Colorado, where he interviewed James Dobson, the King Poobah of Focus on the Family, a multi-billion dollar a year industry/religious movement (that has declared "war" on same sex marriage, abortion, etc. -- the usual suspects).

Anyway, his latest feature for the Globe sounds like it was taken straight from the words of George Lakoff, a communications guru in the U.S. who has studied the way that Republicans communicate. (Those who know me are aware of my current obsession with Lakoff's book Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate). Brown argues that if Stephen Harper should have any nickname, it should be Big Daddy -- referring to the obsessive control he has over government communications and policy planning.

I make a similar point about Harper's communications strategy in my latest column for Capital Xtra. I love George Lakoff. 'Nuff said.

Don't boycott the census, or spill coffee on it ...

2006-05-10T12:34:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

So sorry to have been absent for the last few weeks. I promise that I'm back on the blog wagon. It's been a busy time, and the sunshine has been way more appealing than the glow of the computer screen. But a few recent events have brought me out of blog hibernation, and I'm back now. I promise. This entry's going to be a bit long, so bear with me .....

The Census

Okay, I have spent most of this week responding to people who have been forwarding me emails about the census from Vivelecanada.ca and Countmeout.ca. Now I've linked to them, so you can read what they have to say, and decide for yourselves. But I maintain that boycotting or sabotaging the Canadian census is a stupid idea. I won't go into all of the reasons, because Ed Finn and Murray Dobbin have already done such a good job. But the gist of it is that Lockheed Martin (evil weapons manufacturer that it is) will have no access to census data. They just designed the software that the government will be using -- just like evil Microsoft designed the software that most of us use on our computers.

Am I happy that the Canadian government gave a big cheque to Lockheed? No. But as Dobbin points out, there is actually an activist VICTORY embedded in this story. When Stats Can originally contracted with Lockheed, the company would have had access to the data. Civil society groups complained, and Stats Can changed the contract, bringing ALL of the data collection in-house.

As many anti-poverty and social programs advocates will tell you, the census is one of the only ways that we can gain unbiased data about all sorts of social issues -- including poverty, wealth and demographics in Canada. Encouraging people to corrupt the census data is a waste of time, and all it will do is harm our efforts to fight inequality.

Now, if you really want to fight deep integration with the U.S., there are lots of more productive things you can do.

Here are three examples:

1. Join citizens' advocacy groups that are working on this issue, and get involved with their campaigns. Groups like the Council of Canadians (and yes, I work for them, but I'm also lucky enough to have a day job at an organization that I really believe in).

2. Visit ceasefire.ca, and find out how you can work toward peace and disarmament. Ceasefire is currently providing much-needed criticism of the war in Afghanistan, and this is the group that led the successful campaign against ballistic missile defence.

3. Support the Secret Trial Five (who are being held in jail with no access to the charges against them), and fight draconian security measures like Security Certificates.

Conspiracy theories sap our movement of much-needed energy and credibility. Fill out your census form, pop it in the mail, and then roll up your sleeves and get down to the real work of creating social and political change.