Gay Life in Canadian Cities

[Chadillaccc]

The 23rd annual Alberta Rockies International Gay Rodeo was a resounding success. So much so that other towns are now trying to steal us away from Strathmore. Awesome!





20150627_222010 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

20150627_200116 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

DSC_6541 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

20150627_213635 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

20150627_215339 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

DSC_6523 by Chadillaccc, on Flickr

[SignalHillHiker]

Looks like fun! :-)

Eastern Health has raised the pride flag outside its largest long term care facility.

That's another frontier (for us) were working to address now.

[Dr Nevergold]

Do you listen to country music Chad?

[SignalHillHiker]

Finally.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...-ids-1.3162941

[SignalHillHiker]

They've had what I assume is their first Pride parade in Marystown, a little town of about 5,000ish on the Burin Peninsula.



It's not the first flag raising, though. They joined in the Sochi Olympic protest that jeddy1989 started here in town.

[Johnny Aussie]

Never noticed this thread before.... but it reminded me of when I used to live in Vancouver.

Thought I would add my two cents.

I lived in the West End of Vancouver (west of Denman) for about five years back in the late 90s / early 2000s. Loved the neighbourhood... Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall... Always something to do and full of great people... I would say the most diversified cross-section group of people anywhere. Truly a unique place. I miss it a lot. Loved being able to walk the 15-20 mins to/from my office everyday. If I ever moved back to Canada that is where I would want to live again.

[SignalHillHiker]

They held a separate trans march, but will participate in the Pride parade as well.

“Hey ho! Hey ho! Transphobia has got to go!” was the cry resounding through downtown St. John’s as the Trans March wound along Duckworth and Water Streets to a chorus of supportive car horns.

Roughly 75 members of the trans community and supporters gathered at the foot of the War Memorial across from Harbourside Park early Saturday afternoon for the largest stand-alone Trans March in the province’s history.

While smaller trans marches have occurred before—local trans activist Jennifer McCreath organized one last year with a handful of other activists—this year’s differed in scale and scope. In early July, a public meeting was organized at Memorial University by community activists to debate the idea of formally organizing a separate Trans March.

“A couple weeks ago a public meeting was held where over 20 trans people from the community democratically voted in favour of having a Trans March separate from the Pride Parade,” said Alex Noel, one of the organizers, in a speech to the loud and energetic crowd.

“Why, you might ask? Because we deserve it and it’s time to shine the light on issues that are facing trans people in Newfoundland and Labrador. I believe this march is a demonstration of what Pride Week could and should be — community organizing and political action, without asking permission.”

The march was not an officially sanctioned St. John’s Pride event and was held without applying for a permit, a characteristic commensurate with trans marches in other Canadian cities and one that is sometimes considered a symbolic statement about the right of trans people to use public space without asking special permissions, in a country where legal protections for trans persons have lagged far behind protections for cisgendered members of the queer community. In the City of Toronto, trans activists organized ‘rogue parades’ down large thoroughfares such as Yonge Street for several successive years despite being denied official permits.

“This march is happening at an incredibly politically crucial time,” Noel said to the cheering crowd. “We have both a federal election and a provincial election coming up. Now, more than ever, trans people in this province need to be vocal. We need to hold the politicians’ feet to the flames and demand that the needs of our community be met.

“But this is not just a campaign for an election year. What we are doing today is building a movement. I hope to see the Trans March become a staple of Pride Week for years to come, and—much like the Pride Parade—grow in size over time.”

Asked why the decision was made to hold a march separate from the annual Pride Parade, Noel emphasized the unique issues facing the trans community.

“Trans issues need to be brought into the spotlight. They’re often overshadowed by other issues that other folks within the LGBTQ spectrum are facing, such as gay marriage or inclusionary practices in military hiring, and we’re often the most vulnerable group within that spectrum. So it’s important that we shine a spotlight on those issues.”

The participants were a diverse group ranging from seniors to youth. Alix Snow is a high school student at Holy Heart, who’s going into Grade 12 this year.

“Trans rights are a very hot topic in Newfoundland and are something that need to be discussed.”

Snow named “washroom safety—and just open washrooms in general—homelessness, discrimination in education and workplaces” as some of the issues discussed in Holy Heart’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA). “Our school actually does have a gender neutral washroom. Actually there’s multiple.”

Kasey, another high school student from Holy Heart, said trans rights “are definitely a hot topic,” and agreed with Snow that the problems facing members of the trans community need to be openly discussed with an eye to solutions.

“As someone who’s trans feminine there’s a lot of violence that could happen against me and it’s something that we really need to work toward not happening,” Kasey said. “So the rally will hopefully help with that as well.

“It’s something we discuss a lot in our school, but from what I’ve heard there’s a lot of other schools in town that aren’t as good as Holy Heart tends to be.”

The steps leading toward the War Memorial were lined with brightly coloured toilet plungers, a symbolic reminder of the ongoing struggle to ensure the provision of gender inclusive washrooms.

Daze Jefferies, a Memorial University student, activist and musician/poet, also participated in the march. Jefferies spoke at both the City of St. John’s flag-raising ceremony to open Pride Week, and at a Pride Week public panel held at Memorial University Thursday evening.

When she speaks, Jefferies opens her talks by listing the names of transwomen who have been murdered in 2015.

“I’m here to stand in solidarity but also to advocate on behalf of everyone in the trans community,” she said. “It was yesterday morning that the eleventh trans woman was murdered in the States. So that marks two this week, during Pride Week. You know, it’s always on my mind that these things are going to happen, but during the week that’s so important to all of us it’s important that we recognize that our sisters above all are losing their lives and it’s frightening.”

The march comes on the heels of an announcement earlier this week that the provincial government intends to revise the Vital Statistics Act to make it easier for people to change the gender denotation on government-issued identification.

It also comes nearly two years after the provincial Human Rights Act was amended to include ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ as prohibited grounds of discrimination. But there remains a range of issues that pose barriers to the equality rights of the trans community in this province, Jefferies said.

“Health care’s a big one, even safety is a big one. Walking down the street sometimes is tough…the act of being visible in this province is always fraught with tension.”

Jefferies says a separate march is an important symbolic gesture by and for the trans community.

“We have to claim our own space. It’s no new thing that the trans movement has always kind of fought on their own, in part with a larger gay and lesbian liberation movement, but you know there’s always been some kind of distinction,” she said.

“We need to work beyond that, but at the same time we have to acknowledge our relations of difference and connection. And I think just coming together and showing support as a whole community is an important radical act.”

http://theindependent.ca/2015/07/26/...t-radical-act/

[SignalHillHiker]

A few pictures fom today's St. John's Pride Parade. In July. At around 9C.

• Video Link

[someone123]

They had pretty bad weather for the pride parade in Halifax yesterday but it looks like there were still some decent crowds:

[SignalHillHiker]

Nice! We had hardly anyone watching this year - at least, not in the usual stretch where they generally gather (second-last pic).

The trees in HFX are so tall. The baby ones are the same size as our big ones.

I had to Google Justice for Janitors from that pic.

[someone123]

I was surprised that both parades were held on the same weekend. The West Coast pride parades tend to be space out in the summer so you can attend all of them if you want.

The baby trees in that second picture are actually pear trees. They're pretty nice street trees; they flower early in the spring (https://alongthegardenspath.files.wo...-in-spring.jpg) and keep their leaves through most of November.

[SignalHillHiker]

Labrador City and Wabush had their Pride.


FB

[mcminsen]

I generally avoid crowds and lineups and don't have the stamina to do the Pride Parade in Vancouver anymore but hubby and I usually go for a walk down to the post parade rally at Sunset Beach and hang out for a bit. Here are a few pics from today.




Aug.2 '15, my pics

[SignalHillHiker]

Very, very beautiful Mc.

[SignalHillHiker]

Pride Week in Labrador coverage:

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/NL/ID/2673474092/

I love watching Labrador. It's like... our far north. Fascinates me learning about them, etc.

****

And The Labradorian newspaper's coverage:

"We have come a long way, but there is still more work to do,” Cole said. “All of us together — strength and beauty of Labrador unity.”

Cole said while the younger generation today is generally accepting of the LGBTQ community, she feels the older generation needs to follow suit.

“People need to know love and acceptance and be non-judgmental; everyone needs to feel safe in their own community,” she said.

Cole said she is happy that this is the first year that there will be a full week of Pride celebrations in the community (see full list at end of the story).

“It’s awesome,” she said. “We have a great community, with lots of volunteers who came out to help this year.”

Cole said she they also have a full lineup of guest speakers taking part at the “PRIDE in the Park” event on Saturday.

“We have many leaders who have stepped forward to speak, including Grand Chief Anastasia Qupee, MHA Keith Russell, NunatuKavut president Todd Russell and others,” said Cole.

“It’s a great show of support and shows a shift in the societal way of thinking.”

http://www.thelabradorian.ca/living/...dor-unity.html

[Chadillaccc]

Despite the horrid weather, Calgary Pride Weekend turned out awesome

[YannickTO]

There's absolutely no gay life in my little town (Magog QC), but we do have a gay bar/tavern in Sherbrooke, 30 minutes away, and it's boring as hell.

We have to go to Montreal to find anything decent. But being in my mid-30s, hanging out in gay places isn't as important as it was when I was 20.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by YannickTO

There's absolutely no gay life in my little town (Magog QC), but we do have a gay bar/tavern in Sherbrooke, 30 minutes away, and it's boring as hell.

We have to go to Montreal to find anything decent. But being in my mid-30s, hanging out in gay places isn't as important as it was when I was 20.

How times change. In my day, the search wasn't for anything decent, but for as disreputable as possible!

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

How times change. In my day, the search wasn't for anything decent, but for as disreputable as possible!

I think I would have loved living in the 60's and 70's, there was a level of sexual liberation that doesn't exist today. Today people are often more up tight than needed. I'm quite in the middle on monogamy, I think a committed relationship is a great thing. Yet, I've never met a guy that has offered that to me. So, I'm content having fun until that time presents itself, if it does. But I'm not holding my breath and have zero shame in doing so.

Actually, the first responses I hear when I post some good news about HIV research and/or the new developing PREP medication/treatment plan to prevent HIV (usually on facebook, or whatever), the FIRST thing people talk about is how terrible bad unprotected sex is.

I think it'd be a great day if you can get to the point of not needing to worry with condoms. That's something everyone should hope for, regardless whether you're monogamous or not, regardless if you're straight or gay. Before HIV came on the scene, condoms were used primarily for birth control and little else. There is no shame in going back to that mentality.

Being a gay kid who grew up in the 90's just as cocktails were coming onto the scene, we got the life scared out of us. From the sex education in schools to everything the non-gay community would tell us, you'd think you'd be dead the moment you whipped your private area out in front of anyone, let alone touch them.

Its time to lighten up, just a little. HIV is now a manageable disease much like diabetes, not something you WANT, living with it is an ongoing battle, but it is something that can be managed. And besides that, PREP is showing promise for 100% prevention in the first place.

Early studies on the actual use of PREP is more than promising:
http://www.newnownext.com/zero-gay-m..._facebook_logo

[kwoldtimer]

Things went too far in the '70s and first half of the '80s but everything seemed simpler and more fabulous as fresh air swept into the closet and a 10-day course of antibiotics took care of all your social foibles. I seem to recall that in Toronto you could put your details on a "rain check" if you met Mr Right Now while you were out of commission. I don't know whether as many of the younger generation embrace their inner slut the way we did back in the day. Of course there were lots of monogamous (or at least committed) couples around as well, but they tended to lead quieter lives. I still remember the first long term gay couple I ever met - a couple of former RCMP officers who met in 1967 while they were both participating in the Musical Ride!

Not that I'd ever recommend a return to those excesses - that pesky virus has changed the culture forever, and probably for the better.