Gay Life in Canadian Cities

[SaskScraper]

Regina's Queen City Pride 2018 was this last week and the legendary Lady Bunny was the star performer at Pride after Dark on Saturday, doing her drag comedy and DJing for the party.

Lady Bunny began drag career with her close friend Ru Paul in Atlanta and in the 1980's she moved to NYC and became one of the outrageously flamboyant Club Kids. She organized Wigstock, a drag queen festival, and appeared in many movies including To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. and guest appeared in the television series Sex and the City.




Regina's Pride Parade was last Saturday and was largest in the city's 3 decade Pride Parade history.

http://leaderpost.com/news/local-new...y-pride-parade

Grand Marshal of Regina's Queen City Pride Parade 2018 was going to be Jon Ryan of NFL's Seattle Seahawks, 2014 Superbowl Champ & first punter in history to ever throw a touchdown pass in a NFL playoff game and is also an alumni of reality TV series American Ninja Warrior season 7.

Jon is from Regina and is brother-in-law of Andrew Scheer, leader of Conservative party of Canada..


NBC Sports ..............................................................................................................Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

But in an unfortunate demonstration of exclusion by a few in the LGBTQ community, Jon Ryan, a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights, withdrew his presence from the parade because some were upset that he, a straight man, was to lead the Pride Parade.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...ride-1.4699713

[zahav]

Nice, Lady Bunny is so good, that's a nice score for Regina Pride!

[mistercorporate]

Happy Pride Week to all our lgbtq friends on SSP Canada!!

[ssiguy]

I hear Ford says he will march in the Pride parade only when uniformed police officers are allowed to do the same...……….good for him!

The Black Lives Matter protest that brought the Toronto Pride to a screeching halt was nothing more than a publicity stunt but Pride capitulated and now police are not welcome due to political expediency. Just when kids who are bullied due to their gender or sexual orientation are starting to tell teachers or police officers for help and seeing them as allies, Pride goes ahead and bans uniformed police sending the dangerous message that police are not ones to go to as they will not be your ally.

Now what happens when Native groups stop the parade because they see the army as against their community aka Oka? Well there goes uniformed army officers and Canada Forces recruiting booth. Of course they will state that the education and social welfare system has a anti-Native bias so there go the teachers and social workers. Of course any minority group can say the justice system works against them and hence so do the people that write the laws so there goes all judges, lawyers, civil servants in that depoartment and of course all politicians as the laws originate from our political institutions. What if anti-abortionists show up under the banner 'All Lives Matter' and stop the parade unless the medical community changes it's policies? Well there go the doctors, nurses, and any one else who has ever worked in a hospital. Off course this also sends the message to young people that being gay and wanting to be a police officer, nurse, doctor, teacher, social worker, lawyer, judge, politician, and serve in The Forces are incompatable because Pride told me so.


Of course you can see where this is going., Everyone has a complaint about something and some of them maybe very valid but by giving into the Black Lives Matter demands, Pride has sent a very dangerous message.............we will select who will be involved and if anybody has any issues with any of the participants then they are disallowed. All of of a sudden an event that promotes inclusion and acceptance become a very exclusionary and discriminatory political parade.

Ford is right on every level and I`m glad he is taking this stand.

[p_xavier]

When a "community" gets bigger as with the LGBTQ+, people don't see or feel adhesion to the group anymore. I find to include 2 spirited, well quite insulting as they didn't suffer the same issues. I also don't have much in common with trans people and would feel a trans pride more approriate. Now you have race issues dissolved into LGBTQ+ (I hate that acronym), but it's not really about their gender or orientation but the stigma of their race.

The community was different kinds of people that stuck together to gain basic rights, now people realize they don't have much in common. The friction and feeling of exclusion will only get worse. I for one will be boycotting Toronto Pride.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Of course you can see where this is going., Everyone has a complaint about something and some of them maybe very valid but by giving into the Black Lives Matter demands, Pride has sent a very dangerous message.............we will select who will be involved and if anybody has any issues with any of the participants then they are disallowed.

But let's imagine the police were still doing bathhouse raids (happened in Calgary circa 2003; not really that long ago). Would it be OK to issue an ultimatum in that type of situation? Maybe.

Two problems with the BLM and Pride dynamic are common features of present-day leftist activism.

The first is that there isn't much constructiveness or reasonableness. There isn't much focus on the path forward, and if you look at the BLM website you'll see a huge list of demands that includes things like apparently completely opening Canada's borders because they see restrictions on refugees as Islamophobic and anti-black. A lot of this stuff has little to do with gay pride.

The core reason for the formation of BLM in the US was the very serious issue of police killing black people in the US. We have BLM here in Vancouver and they have also gotten a lot of airtime but their examples of mistreatment are cases like a girl getting handcuffed in Surrey, presumably because there are 0 recent examples of execution-style murders of black people by police in BC (police in BC killed around half a dozen people total last year and this province is only 0.7% black).

A second big problem is the fixation on subjective experience rather than on objective facts. I have read a bunch of times that the police need to be banned because they will trigger attendees and cause panic attacks. How are we supposed to weigh these subjective experiences of different people? This is inherently outside of the realm of facts and third party observation and as such is unavoidably political. It just comes down to who is most vocal and gets the most attention.

[SignalHillHiker]

The police generally have to be there in uniform as traffic enforcement in any event. If people can't go because the site of the a uniformed police officer will cause trauma, they still can't attend. They probably can't leave the house ever, to be honest.

Of BLM's demands in Toronto, banning police was the only one I cannot support. I realize my opinion doesn't matter in relation to their experiences, but it's too important that all people - minorities, newcomers, bigots - see that not only can LGBT people BE police, but they openly profess to have our backs. That's too valuable to give up as a protest. We banned police from our Pride parade a couple of years ago, and they tried to do it again this year but the whole Pride board resigned in protest of the one person who was pushing for this, who in turn resigned, and we have a new board. One of the directors is a police officer (guy on the right):



We have problems with police, but they're local problems with predominantly white victims (one questionable shooting, one assault of a drunk woman for which the officer was acquitted, etc.). They are working SO HARD for LGBT issues.

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They have EARNED the right to be at Pride. In the absence of perfect choices, we make the one that does the least harm. Allowing police is clearly that, if progress, rather than punishment, is our objective.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

The community was different kinds of people that stuck together to gain basic rights, now people realize they don't have much in common. The friction and feeling of exclusion will only get worse. I for one will be boycotting Toronto Pride.

Well, some people are activists and some aren't. When a cause is won the activists will move on to the next and the rest will stop paying attention when they are no longer personally involved. That is okay.

It gets annoying when the activists resort to guilt tripping and insist that everyone must fight all the time or feel guilty if they party during pride week instead of picking some cause to rally for.

[SignalHillHiker]

A little drag update... so, we're making people in cities like New York and London jealous with how many drag artists Halifax-based Club Couture is bringing here. We're very into drag, as I've made obvious in this thread, and they've recognized that. We regularly get second dates, extended tours, etc. because there is so much demand and they sell out so quickly.

Coming up we have three internationally well-known queens visiting.







Monet is going to be fun. Shangela is a consummate performer. I think she is seriously the best thing that will have performed here until (which will never happen) we get the likes of Gaga. Bendela... amazing. Just hilarious and she slayed Ru Paul's Drag Race All Stars.

I mean, COME ON... (so, heading into this, everyone assumed Aja - the street kid from Brooklyn who raps and is just cool in exactly THAT way - would destroy Bendela, the quirky, intellectual drag queen from white bread Seattle... but...)

• Video Link

[ssiguy]

I can`t wait for the feminists to block the Pride parade because they say that the drag queens set up unreasonable expectations for girls with tons of make-up, huge fake boobs, tiny skirts, and all the while acting like the classic dumb blonde. Wouldn`t it be something if the drag queens were barred from Pride...……..I`d love to be a fly on the wall of that Pride committee hearing.

While all this can be laid at the feet of Black Lives Matter the reality is still that Pride which has 1 million attendees capitulated to a dozen members of BLM demands. Pride should have had some backbone and refuse to let them be intimidated. If they had to promise something and turn around and do the other to clear the road then fine They could very legitimately state that they were forced to negotiate with a gun at their head and 99% of the population would back them up.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I hear Ford says he will march in the Pride parade only when uniformed police officers are allowed to do the same...……….good for him!

The Black Lives Matter protest that brought the Toronto Pride to a screeching halt was nothing more than a publicity stunt but Pride capitulated and now police are not welcome due to political expediency. Just when kids who are bullied due to their gender or sexual orientation are starting to tell teachers or police officers for help and seeing them as allies, Pride goes ahead and bans uniformed police sending the dangerous message that police are not ones to go to as they will not be your ally.

Now what happens when Native groups stop the parade because they see the army as against their community aka Oka? Well there goes uniformed army officers and Canada Forces recruiting booth. Of course they will state that the education and social welfare system has a anti-Native bias so there go the teachers and social workers. Of course any minority group can say the justice system works against them and hence so do the people that write the laws so there goes all judges, lawyers, civil servants in that depoartment and of course all politicians as the laws originate from our political institutions. What if anti-abortionists show up under the banner 'All Lives Matter' and stop the parade unless the medical community changes it's policies? Well there go the doctors, nurses, and any one else who has ever worked in a hospital. Off course this also sends the message to young people that being gay and wanting to be a police officer, nurse, doctor, teacher, social worker, lawyer, judge, politician, and serve in The Forces are incompatable because Pride told me so.


Of course you can see where this is going., Everyone has a complaint about something and some of them maybe very valid but by giving into the Black Lives Matter demands, Pride has sent a very dangerous message.............we will select who will be involved and if anybody has any issues with any of the participants then they are disallowed. All of of a sudden an event that promotes inclusion and acceptance become a very exclusionary and discriminatory political parade.

Ford is right on every level and I`m glad he is taking this stand.

Perhaps not this year, but that could come back to bite him.

[wg_flamip]

It's the uniforms that are banned, not the police themselves FWIW. Given the events of the past year regarding relations between the TPS and the LGBTQ2 community, especially the disaster that was the Bruce McArthur investigation, I believe the community generally feels that the exclusion of cops in uniform this year is a bit less controversial. I certainly know people who were on the fence before who are most definitely not now. This has gotten much bigger than BLMTO.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I can`t wait for the feminists to block the Pride parade because they say that the drag queens set up unreasonable expectations for girls with tons of make-up, huge fake boobs, tiny skirts, and all the while acting like the classic dumb blonde. Wouldn`t it be something if the drag queens were barred from Pride...……..I`d love to be a fly on the wall of that Pride committee hearing.

While all this can be laid at the feet of Black Lives Matter the reality is still that Pride which has 1 million attendees capitulated to a dozen members of BLM demands. Pride should have had some backbone and refuse to let them be intimidated. If they had to promise something and turn around and do the other to clear the road then fine They could very legitimately state that they were forced to negotiate with a gun at their head and 99% of the population would back them up.

I wouldn't describe them as intimidating. All they did was sit and shout. It was a harmless but effective protest. Banning police is the only aspect of the whole thing that bothers me.

[vid]

If it wasn't for police brutality, gay pride wouldn't even exist. Our movement owes its existence to institutional homophobia! Like Black Lives Matter, pride began as a protest against the police.

As long as the police can demonstrate that they fully understand that aspect of our history, and are working to respect it, I don't have a problem with them participating. But they must understand the historic role they played in this.

[ssiguy]

I know that they can`t wear their uniform but can march without it but that is offensive and VERY dangerous. It sends a clear message to kids who are bullied due to their gender/sexual orientation that police are not your allies. If police were to be trusted then they would be allowed to walk in the Pride parade but they are not so be wary of them. If you are being bullied and feeling suicidal, what ever you do DON`T call the police. If even one child dies due to this dangerous message then as far as I`m concerned Pride and BLM have blood on their hands.


As it is, if people are now being openly discriminated against by Pride due to their occupation then all government funding of Pride should be stopped immediately. No other discriminatory organization would get government funding for a social event so what the hell makes Pride so special? That of course would require Pride to put it`s money where it`s industrial size mouth is and we all know the chances of that happening. Let`s not mask this...........this is pure discrimination and it shouldn`t be tolerated.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by vid

If it wasn't for police brutality, gay pride wouldn't even exist. Our movement owes its existence to institutional homophobia! Like Black Lives Matter, pride began as a protest against the police.

As long as the police can demonstrate that they fully understand that aspect of our history, and are working to respect it, I don't have a problem with them participating. But they must understand the historic role they played in this.

Yes but it has gone too far in accusing the police of police brutality. Last year, gay people were caught having sex on a beach where families are, and cops intervened. Gay people were arrested and It was a big deal in Montreal.

Since when sex in a forest is acceptable and how being arrested is police brutality? I was the only one in my social group that actually find it unnaceptable. It's not the 60s where it was the only place to go...

[ciudad_del_norte]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I know that they can`t wear their uniform but can march without it but that is offensive and VERY dangerous. It sends a clear message to kids who are bullied due to their gender/sexual orientation that police are not your allies. If police were to be trusted then they would be allowed to walk in the Pride parade but they are not so be wary of them. If you are being bullied and feeling suicidal, what ever you do DON`T call the police. If even one child dies due to this dangerous message then as far as I`m concerned Pride and BLM have blood on their hands.


As it is, if people are now being openly discriminated against by Pride due to their occupation then all government funding of Pride should be stopped immediately. No other discriminatory organization would get government funding for a social event so what the hell makes Pride so special? That of course would require Pride to put it`s money where it`s industrial size mouth is and we all know the chances of that happening. Let`s not mask this...........this is pure discrimination and it shouldn`t be tolerated.

But for a certain subset of the queer community especially Trans and POC, police still have not behaved as allies despite lip service. Many of these people are already wary of the police for good reason. There are substantial communities that already don't call the police because of distrust and poor experiences. Even in Canada where we like to pretend we don't have these issues.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

...Since when sex in a forest is acceptable and how being arrested is police brutality? I was the only one in my social group that actually find it unnaceptable. It's not the 60s where it was the only place to go...

As long as police forces in Canada such at Toronto's spend more time conducting stings like 'morality raids' in Marie Curtis Park, targeting a certain group & 95% of time gay men being charged, rather than spend resources to find out why gay men where going missing in the Church street community with Bruce McArthur serial killer case, then as a police force you're going to always look like you aren't supportive of the LGBT community.

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...mmunities.html

You never hear of sting operations when straight people have sex in public because it's ubiquitous and happens probably 10x more often than gay sex and can't be identified to a single location. In society, a straight couple leaning against a back alley wall, groping each other & kissing is never going to be viewed with the same disdain as two gay men doing the exact same thing. I think people make it sound like only gay men are having 'inappropriate sex' & it must be policed & that straight people would never do anything inappropriate ever.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

You never hear of sting operations when straight people have sex in public because it's ubiquitous and happens probably 10x more often than gay sex and can't be identified to a single location. In society, a straight couple leaning against a back alley wall, groping each other & kissing is never going to be viewed with the same disdain as two gay men doing the exact same thing. I think people make it sound like only gay men are having 'inappropriate sex' & it must be policed & that straight people would never do anything inappropriate ever.

I would say that this is an interesting perspective, but not one that I saw.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

Since when sex in a forest is acceptable and how being arrested is police brutality? I was the only one in my social group that actually find it unnaceptable. It's not the 60s where it was the only place to go...

I think it's a nuanced situation and more information is required to say if people were doing something bad or not.

Most cities have cruising areas that are isolated where people have sex outdoors. If the police weren't antagonistic they would support these sorts of areas, there could be warnings posted, and people doing stuff elsewhere could be told to take it to the designated area. Instead in many places police arbitrarily raid these areas and then arrest and charge consenting adults who were doing something that, without the raids, no other person would have been exposed to at all. It does not make much sense from a rational perspective. It only makes sense when seen for what it is: police exploiting moral panic.

By the way, it's not true that everyone has a safe and private place where they can go to have sex. I think a lot of people who don't deal with minority issues have an exaggerated sense of how "resolved" the problems are. A lot of Canadians decided that this country is gay friendly when same-sex marriage became legal yet my friends still trade stories about getting yelled at (or even assaulted), who got disowned by their family (homeless teenagers are hugely disproportionately GLBT), etc. The difference is this happens to 20% of gay people now instead of 80% in Canada. It has not completely gone away.