Torontoist’s Johnnie Walker has a great piece on the Canadian Club campaign and its obvious homophobic overtones:

It’s also hard not to view the campaign as somewhat homophobic. The “YOUR DAD WAS NOT A METROSEXUAL” ad seems to basically say, “your Dad wasn’t a gay, but you probably are if you don’t buy Canadian Club.” Guess what, Canadian Club? Most of our Dads aren’t gay. This is not news. One would hope that our Dads’ likely heterosexuality is not the most interesting thing about them.

The comments section is packed with your usual “calm down” and “relax, it’s only an ad” offerings, but also some fantastic spoofs, like this one.

For Shameless discussions on Canadian Club, click here and here.

Thoughts?

Julia Serano has some great ones. Via Feministing.

Hello out there all you Shameless people! I am excited to be blogging on this brazen space and giving it to you straight up.

I am writing in the Vancouver airport on my way back to Toronto from being part of ’Nał’namwiyut: We Are All One, Transforming Understanding Into Action. It was the First National Aboriginal Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgendered, Queer, Questioning, and Two-Spirited Summit!

It was a phenomenal opportunity to get together in solidarity with folks from around the country to discuss, strategize, and action plan what we need to do for some of our most marginalized brothers and sisters. It was hosted by the BC Assembly of First Nations, the Urban Native Youth Association and a committee of incredible, passionate community partners. I strongly encourage all of you to check them out and support the amazing work that is going on.

WE NEED ALLIES!

I saw so much power in the strength of family and community united for acceptance and acknowledgement these past three days, with the beautiful profusion of tradition and culture. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the mindset of the place we live in and miss out on the chance to look across the country and see how we can really connect and make great things happen!

So this is how I’m going to be dishing it out; notes from the field, rants on racialized issues, notions of Indigenous feminism, recognition of the incredible youth out there, and operations of anti-oppressive activism. I encourage you to think outside the box with me and challenge what you think you already know.

I want to hear your voices and I look forward to rocking each other’s worlds!

Me and the beautiful new generation of activists!

The Lesbians on Ecstasy want you to dance. Not only that, they want you to dance to classic lezzie tunes revamped into club hits - discerning ears can pick out references to Melissa Etheridge, Tracy Chapman, the Indigo Girls, and other members of the queer canon in their songs. Nevertheless, they are 100% original, and one of my favorite bands to shake it to (and also interview). This video is very much in the spirit of 1970s lesbian feminist activism, but it’s not satirical or ironic - a reminder that feminism isn’t/wasn’t (only) about wearing ponchos and brandishing the lady-symbol but also about “yo, look around you, it’s awesome we’ve found each other.”

In celebration of spring (fingers crossed), enjoy this video. Who knows, it may inspire you to go for a walk in the forest and check out some tree vulvas too.

Thomas Beatie, a 34 year-old Trans Man from Oregon who is carrying a child for his wife Nancy and himself, will be on Oprah today. I’m very interested to see how this story will be handled in the mainstream media. I hate to be a cynic, but my prediction is that it won’t be handled well (if the trailer is any indication,) but here’s to hopin’.

If you’re unfamiliar with Beatie’s story, The Advocate features a touching first person account here.

Our situation sparks legal, political, and social unknowns. We have only begun experiencing opposition from people who are upset by our situation. Doctors have discriminated against us, turning us away due to their religious beliefs. Health care professionals have refused to call me by a male pronoun or recognize Nancy as my wife. Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy’s family doesn’t even know I’m transgender.

I sadly will have to miss the show (but I’m going to get my Mom to tape it for me.) If anyone catches it, please post your reaction in the comments section.

Via Feministing.

I was lucky enough to be involved in Converge last year and loved every minute of it, so I couldn’t stay away - I’m back on a writing panel again this year.

I certainly recommend it for high school students in the GTA! Here’s the info:

Ursula Franklin Academy’s S.A.S.S (Students Against Stereotyping Sexuality) presents the 4th annual CONVERGE, Creativity + Sexual Identity + Freedom.

Converge is a gathering of high school students from across Toronto to explore the relationships between creativity and sexual identity, with a concentration on gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans identities. The theme for this year is: Identity without Boundaries

Registration is easy. Simply send an email to: registerforconverge@gmail.com with the following information:

Your full name
Your age on May 7th 2008.
Name of the School you are currently attending
Name of your staff sponsor
School phone and fax #
Your personal email address(more inside…)

Queering Film: A celebration of award-winning films for, with and by
Black Lesbians

FRIDAY MARCH 28
Medical Sciences Building Auditorium, University of Toronto
1 King’s College Circle

Tickets are $12 at the door, and $10.00 in advance at Toronto Women’s
Bookstore, Good For Her, A Different Booklist, and This Ain’t the Rosedale Library. The festival is wheelchair accessible.

MPENZI: Black Women’s International Film and Video Festival will
showcase 5 award-winning national and internationally renowned films by 5 Black Lesbians as part of their 4th annual festival.

This year’s line-up includes:
· the Toronto Premiere of Rape For Who I Am, directed by Ugandan-born
British filmmaker Lovinsa Kavuma
· Pariah, written and directed by 2007 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and
2008 Rockefeller Grant Nominee Dee Rees
· the Toronto Premiere of Legacy by British director Campbell Blackman
· the Toronto Premiere of local director Hana Abdul’s Before Nine; and
· named one of Toronto’s Top 10 Best Filmmakers by Cameron Bailey in NOW
Magazine, director/producer/writer Michèle Clarke’s Black Men and Me

This years programming will include the popular Caribbean food and
beverage reception at 5:30p.m.; films, panel discussion and Q&A from
6:30-9:00p.m.; and a silent auction. Brand new Mpenzi T-shirts and other merchandise will be for sale.

For more information, please visit www.mpenzi.ca.

I do love a good romantic comedy. And there are so few fluffy romance movies with queer couples – on the big screen, nearly every lesbian love story ends in murder or suicide. Until recently, my mental list of happy queer romance movies included (1) D.E.B.S., (2) The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, and… well, that was it.

I’m adding another film to my list. Show Me Love is about two girls in love in small-town Sweden. (It’s from 1998 – I’m always behind the curve on this stuff.) I like that it’s a movie about teenagers played by teenagers, not 25-year-olds. It is funny and awkward and believable, and I promise, it will win you over. Go on, buy some chocolate and curl up in bed.

I found Show Me Love at my local video store, West Side Stories. You can’t throw a DVD in the west end of Toronto lately without hitting an indie rental joint, but West Side Stories is special. For one thing, they’re super friendly. Just west of Dundas and Dufferin, they are also Toronto’s first DVD merchants “specializing in women and the LGBT community.”

Besides the usual new releases and a solid collection of hipster favourites, Dawn and Tanya have a good selection of queer flicks and section for “women in film.” They have also been hosting small film screenings. The next one is next Saturday, 29 March at 10pm. The movie is Mai’s America and I really wish that I could go, so you should go for me. (Note that according to Facebook, the event is “women only safespace.”)

In a climate where the prevailing motto of sex-ed policy sometimes seems to be “The Less You Know…”, nothing is more radical than a youth-oriented, queer-friendly, holistic approach to sexual health. Stacey May listed a few good places for information online; now I’d like you to meet Head & Hands, a Montreal-based centre for youth advocacy, and its badass sex-ed program The Sense Project.

From the website:

The Sense Project is a two year pilot project that aims to provide community-based sex education support for youth aged 13 to 16 at Montreal-area schools. It was conceived in light of the Quebec educational reform, which has essentially cut sex education from the curriculum at a time when the rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) are alarmingly high in Canadian youth. The project aim is to support young people’s healthy sexual development by giving them the information and emotional tools to make sensible choices. We aim to do this by helping participants acquire the information, motivation and behavioural skills necessary to reduce their risk of STI’s/HIV and unintended pregnancy.

Exciting, right? You want to get involved now, don’t you? Well, Head & Hands is always looking for volunteers and members. Or, alternately, if you live in Montreal and are of the booty-shakin’ persuation, the Main Hall (5390 St. Laurent) hosts a weekly dance party called Faggity Ass Fridays.

All the proceeds go to The Sense Project, and it is a guaranteed off-the-hook insane-o time. This week the lineup includes DJs Lynne T (of Lesbians on Ecstacy), Tommy T (longtime faggityass makepartyhappener who will mix Kate Bush with Metallica and make you love it) and, uh, moi (you knew there was going to be some shameless self-promotion somewhere, didn’t you?). Plus, this week V-Day Montreal will be performing their radical queer take on The Vagina Monologues before the music starts. Doors at 10, $5 or pay-what-you-can. Work it out like your momma taught you.