Tag Archives: human-rights

F@$%ing Faggot 2014

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

This week’s post is a bit of a departure from the standard queer history snippet. I am not keen on the word “faggot” especially used as an insult. We have not repatriated it like “queer,” and I wonder if in a generation I would feel the same way about “faggot” as many of our elders do about “queer” having a permanent taint.

Until this week, however, I had not heard that insult thrown at me for a good long time – perhaps not since the 90s. Yet I was verbally assaulted with “f@$%ing faggot” TWICE in the last few days: Monday on the C-Train and Tuesday on a downtown street. Both times I stood there in disbelief after the parting verbal blow was delivered. It seemed so unlikely to have happened, that it took me a long moment to process – no witty or angry retorts – just stunned silence.

There is a national congratulatory theme in some of my queer history presentations, when we compare how far Canada has come in 45 years with respect to human rights after the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969. Now I am having a rethink of tone.

In April, I met Scott Jones on an anti-homophobia panel at Knox Presbyterian Church. He suffered a physical homophobic attack last year in Nova Scotia that left him in a wheelchair. He is transforming his tragedy into a public anti-homophobia campaign – called “Don’t Be Afraid” – but the fact of his attack is appalling.

I have no immediate remedy for homophobia and transphobia in Canada – or Calgary for that matter. However, these events have redoubled my commitment to the Calgary Gay History Project. We have an immediate need to get our history recorded and our archives preserved.

To this end, my job at the Alberta Media Arts Alliance (AMAAS) is quickly wrapping up this month. AMAAS is a great organization: I enjoyed the work, the camaraderie, and it was very good to me. But, I am leaving to devote more time to Calgary’s queer history – my new priority. It is my hope that we will be able to incorporate more volunteers into the project, as we aspire to create a history community.

Finally, support your local queer organizations, like Third Street Theatre, whose fundraiser is tomorrow night. Queer non-profits and community groups do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to social change. We obviously have further to go…

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged Calgary, gay, Gay history, homophobia, human-rights, lesbian, queer, Third Street Theatre, trans, transphobia

Russian Gays Time Travelling Backwards

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

During the recent Sochi 2014 Olympics, a lot of the focus was on the countries’ anti-gay laws. The Russian law outlaws pro-gay “propaganda” that could be accessible to minors. Critics say it is so restrictive and vague that it deters almost any public expression of support for gay rights. What was missing from the reports was the historical reasons for this decision. The attitudes and legislation in Russia against Gay and Lesbians is unfortunately not new.

Marchers defy St. Petersburg anti-gay law. Source: 76 Crimes.

An article from the Calgary Herald dated June 1993 proclaimed, “Russia: Anti-gay law wiped from books”. In 1993, Russian legislators had formally lifted the Soviet era law declaring male homosexuality a crime. The law, Article 121, was a holdover from the criminal code and made Russia one of the few countries in Europe that considered male homosexuality a crime punishable up to five years in prison. Ten men were sentenced in 1992 for the crime, while in 1989 some 500 men were sent to jail for being homosexual.

One of the fall-outs from criminalizing gay people is the increase in AIDS and lack of treatment in Russia. Many gay men “were very scared they would be thrown in jail if they went to the doctor for a STD,” said Dima Lychev, editor of the gay newspaper, One In Ten. Such restrictions had cast doubt on official stats on AIDS in Russia at the time, saying 650-700. Activists have said the actual number is at least 10 times higher.

Around 1.4 million people in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV at the end of 2011, representing an HIV prevalence of 1 percent. Around 140,000 became infected in 2011 and 92,000 died from AIDS related illnesses; there was a 21 percent increase in AIDS-related deaths between 2005 and 2011.

The other question is how did Russia make such a political and social about-face from 1993 to today’s sense of intolerance? Many blame it solely on Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President for this change. Actor and playwright, Harvey Fierstein in an Op-Ed in the NY Times writes the whole thing is scapegoating, used by politicians to solidify their bases and draw attention away from failing policies. This is a campaign of distraction, where a minority is attacked and the population is given an outlet for their anger at the system. Firestein likens it to the tactics used by the German Nazis against the Jews pre-1939. And he may be correct: recent moves into the Ukraine as well are part of a smoke screen like anti-gay laws to put the focus away from a poorly performing economy, social injustice, and political corruption in Russia. And the people appear to have fallen for it.

{TM}

Pink Dollars fund Film Fest (ca. 2000)

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

The Calgary Queer History Project is staying with the Fairy Tales Film Fest theme, as you still have two days of Festival offerings to attend!

In the festival’s early years, ticket sales and sponsorships funded the completely volunteer run event. This was done in large part to avoid the drama of homophobia in public arts funding that had been happening throughout Alberta in the 1990s.

Queer cultural programming deserves the access to the same funding sources as every other cultural event – something that seems self-evident now. However, as recently as 14 years ago, there was still a strong censoring aspect in the community. The offended tax-payer argument is a perennial one, if you consider the recent drama about funding public art in Calgary. The basis of which is: if I personally do not like an artwork it should not be funded.

We are happy to report in 2014, Fairy Tales received public support from all three levels of government. The below editorial by Calgary Sun columnist, Rick Bell, on June 16th, 2000 gives one the tenor at the latest fin de siècle.

Thank you everyone who support us in the recent Telus StoryHive competition. Although we did not make it to the final 10 – we were close – we received a lot of positive feedback and regard for the project going forward. Stay tuned.

[KA]