Just a quick note to mark in your calendar that Shameless magazine will be hosting an all ages event at the Gladstone Melody Bar in Toronto on December 10. We’re doing so in partnership with the fabulous Granny Boots.

More details to follow, but for now jot it down!

Wed Dec 10th from 7:30-10pmish
Gladstone Melody Bar
1214 Queen St West

(Brought to you by the Gladstone Hotel and Chelsey Licht-a-Womyn, Granny Boots is FREE weekly entertainment for queers. If you love to be home by 11pm or like to party hard till midnight, this night’s for you. Every Week is Different! Email chelsey.lichtman@gmail.com if you wanna host a Granny Boots!)

Since we’ve spoken today about how important media accountability is, I thought I’d post something positive and frankly, quite beautiful, that came from the very mainstream media this week.

I had an inspiring conversation this week with someone about how part of unpacking and recognizing (white, heterosexual) privilege is using that privilege constructively to effect positive change. I think this is a wonderful example of that, and I have to give MSNBC credit.

Also, I got a bit teary.

This weekend Shameless magazine will be setting up shop at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair. Come by for a visit, say hello, and grab some magazines at some great prices!

The Small Press Action Network - Ottawa Presents:

The Ottawa Small Press Book Fair Fall Edition
Saturday, November 15, 2008
in room 203 of the Jack Purcell Community Centre (on Elgin, at 320 Jack Purcell Lane).

Noon to 5 p.m. Free

From now until the end of November, all new online subscriptions are eligible to win a three book Invisible Publishing prize pack, worth over $50 and featuring the writing of three Shameless Magazine contributors:

The Same Woman, by Thea Lim
(978-0-9782185-2-2)

Fear of Fighting, by Stacey May Fowles
(978-0-9782185-5-3)

The Art of Trespassing, by Anna Leventhal
(978-0-9782185-4-6)

Subscribe today to win, and don’t forget to check out all of Invisible’s fantastic titles.

In light of the fact that many Americans think it’s totally okay to amend the constitution to repeal or prevent the marriage and family (and human) rights their neighbours, I really needed to revisit Julie Goldman. Do we really need to do this all over again? Really?

Margaret Cho had this to say about Prop 8 passing:

…I am totally disgusted and furious that now there is a ban on gay marriage in California. So my happiness about Obama is tempered by my anger about Prop 8. Still, we cannot give up on the struggle. This is just a reason to fight harder to make gay marriage legal again. We can overturn the ban. We lost this by such a narrow margin. It was only a few votes. We could take it back.

These ‘yes on 8′ idiots really think they have God on their side, but they don’t. Trust me, Jesus is totally bummed right now because He is not registered to vote in California because he is technically dead, although he has everlasting life.

This is just a momentary setback, something that will make our ultimate victory just that much sweeter. And with a new President, someone who will finally listen to us, we can do anything.

Feministing’s got a convenient breakdown of the ballot initiatives that passed and failed as a result of yesterday’s election. While much of what’s been reported is good news for women’s reproductive rights (abortion bans and the idea of “granting fertilized eggs full rights” were widely rejected), it’s a sad day for the rights of our gay neighbours.

Word is now out that California’s hotly contested Proposition 8 narrowly passed, which eliminates the rights of gays to marry in California. Along with Prop 8 a number of gay marriage bans and a ban on gay adoption were accepted.

I have lots to say on how completely mindblowing it is that citizens would vote to repeal the marriage and family rights of their neighbours, but in the interest of not delivering a ranting, emotional cry-fest of a speech, I’ll open the floor to you. What do you think about the victory of these pro-choice decisions and the tragedy of these anti-gay decisions?

Also, special congratulations go to Shameless’ Jessica Yee, who I know has been working very hard for a very long time for women’s rights in South Dakota.

If you’re staying in tonight to watch the election, why not treat yourself to Obama’s Family Chilli Recipe?

1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Several cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground turkey or beef
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground basil
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped
1 can red kidney beans

Saute onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft.

Add ground meat and brown.

Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat.

Add red wine vinegar.

Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down.

Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes.

Serve over white or brown rice. Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream.

So it’s finally the big day. In ten hours the first polls close.

So, what are you doing today? (You know, besides voting if you can.) Let us know in the comments.

I realize that Shameless is Canadian and very, very few of us (cough) can vote in Tuesday’s election. Having said that, that doesn’t mean that some of us (um, me?) aren’t completely and totally obsessed with it, much like our American friends. Yesterday I broke down and cried like a baby in the final ten minutes of Obama’s Closing Argument speech (he said the word “Gay” in a positive way), laughed my ass off during Obama’s Jon Stewart appearance last night (he made a joke about how sharing toys in kindergarten made him socialist), and am frantically putting together an election party (the Obama family chilli recipe!)

I’ve been tear-jerkingly, curse-word swearingly, irrationally emotionally invested in this election for well over a year now, and in the final week I’m really starting to panic. It’s foolish to believe that this election just effects Americans and not the entire world, and I think so many of us outside of the US watch in fear that, despite how well everything is going, something might go terribly wrong.

(more inside…)