Why it’s still not safe for same-sex couples in Montreal
The streets were filled with people from all walks of life as they waved their rainbow flags on a balmy Sunday afternoon. The city of Montreal had gathered along a long stretch of the downtown core to celebrate the annual Pride parade.
The environment felt safe and welcoming, with politicians, companies, and LGBT+ organizations marching to commemorate the struggles the community has endured over the last fifty years. It was a rare opportunity to see many couples from the community embracing one another in broad daylight. Although we live in Montreal, one of the most accepting and diverse cities in North America, there are still instances of homophobia that occur every year.
I find it extremely rare to see same-sex couples showing signs of affection in public in Montreal. I think this is because many couples still encounter homophobia on a daily basis, and are thus afraid to express their love publicly.
This past spring, a same-sex couple reported to the police that they had been physically assaulted at Chez Francoise, a bar in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, according to the CBC. There were multiple assailants and the couple was also subjected to a volley of cruel and derogatory insults. A kiss-in—a symbolic act of protest where LGBT+ couples gathered to embrace and display affection out in the open—took place a few days later in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It was extremely symbolic in itself because it was seen as a radical sign of protest that challenged the lack of PDA seen on our streets. The event shed light on the fact these incidents still do, in fact, occur.
A few months ago, I was on the metro travelling with my partner at the time. As he reached out to hold my hand, I immediately felt the atmosphere in the metro car become hostile and uncomfortable. People began to stare and analyze, as if we were a rarely-seen species that they’ve never encountered. Perhaps I was overanalyzing the situation, but I can’t deny that in that moment, I definitely felt more vulnerable to an attack.
I decided to discuss this issue with one of my closest friends, Danielle—who’s in a long-term, same-sex relationship. To my horror, she told me that she often encounters homophobia and vicious catcalling by men on the street. It happened just the other day when she was holding hands with her girlfriend in the old port, and men constantly invaded their personal space and attempted to probe them with inappropriate questions and comments about the nature of their relationship.
Thankfully, there are safe spaces in many establishments and communities where same-sex couples feel comfortable enough to express their love for one another. It deeply saddens me that homophobia still exists in this day and age, and as a society, we definitely have our work cut out for us. Love is love, and the general population needs to become desensitized to this completely normal expression of it.
Day of remembrance gives public a glimpse past suffering and injustice
A chilly Thursday night of Nov. 20 saw two dozen individuals gather at Norman Bethune Square and call out the continual discrimination and violence against the transgender community for the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The vigil was held as organizer Ché Blaines read out the names of victims of transgender discrimination as people from all walks of life—friends, lovers, relatives—solemnly braved the cold with hushed tones and respectful silence and marked the names of those remembered across paper bags holding candles. Members of the transgender community often face higher chances of violence, including murder, as well as a much higher degree of depression, social isolation, and suicide. One recent study by the Williams Institute, dedicated to independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, found that over 40 per cent of transgender or non-gender conforming respondents had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
Afterwards, the vigil broke up into smaller groups and dispersed to warmer spaces to discuss, process, and interact with anybody curious to come along. What followed was an intimate and informal chance to hear their stories and become more familiar not just with the individuals but with the various groups—transgender, queer, transitioning, transitioned, local and international—represented by the terms.
Participant Jade Hart considered events such as these important in bringing visibility to the challenges transgender individuals like her face in everyday situations like finding and maintaining employment and lodging and fighting for their rights. The South Shore where she lives is, compared to the island of Montreal, decades behind in awareness to the concept that gender may be in opposition to sexual organs—or may be beyond the binary itself.
“Unfortunately for us our solution to protect ourselves against discrimination is a big part of the problem. Public information about the trans community is scarce and sometimes not so accurate and this usually makes society confused [about] who we are,” she said of the one-dimensionality and stereotypes that account for the majority of interaction most society has with the transgender community.
She also considers the personal hurdle to be the only real barrier to acceptance. “A person’s will to either be open to accept/respect trans is wholly up to that individual.”
“A protester carries a sign at the 2013 Rally for Transgender Equality in Washington, DC. Transgender issues are becoming more and more public, for better and for worse. (Ted Eytan / Flickr”
The Sunday comic strips are goofy, but making fun of marginalized groups isn’t making us laugh
There was good news and bad news for trans people recently:
The good news is that there was not one, but two comic strips dealing with trans issues published. The bad news is that the more popular comic comic dealt with the issue in such poor taste that it raises into question what should (or shouldn’t) be protected by free speech.
The comic in question, Mallard Fillmore, was published in many major newspapers between Oct. 2 and 4. These strips were based on the news that Mount Holyoke College, a women’s institute, would begin admitting transgendered individuals who identify as women. Instead of treating the issue with the respect it deserves, as a milestone event in human rights, author Bruce Tinsley decided to make things ‘funny.’
Humour was derived through comparing individuals who “identify as women” with admitting people based on their identification as “really smart”, men who commit violence against men, and men who identify as a toaster oven.
A protester carries a sign at the 2013 Rally for Transgender Equality in Washington, DC. Transgender issues are becoming more and more public, for better and for worse. (Ted Eytan / Flickr)
Gabrielle Bouchard, peer support and trans advocacy coordinator with the Centre for Gender Advocacy, explains the danger of such material. “We like to laugh … at most bullying — it hides bigotry behind ‘humour.’”
Not only does this appeal to our funny bone, but humour in our society is something intended to be shared, communicated, and reproduced. Comedy then allows the opinion being presented to spread through the population in the most incongruous of ways.
This is not the first time that such off-colour humour is implemented in the media. Bouchard notes that this is the latest in a long line of bigotry and marginalization masquerading as comedy. She points out that its lineage runs through the portrayal of African Americans in the nineteenth century, the stereotype of the Indian corner store owner, and the overly effeminate homosexual man.
Conversations around controversial issues often implement the author’s use of free speech. Bouchard advises that in such issues “it’s so easy to use freedom of speech against minorities” as it “takes away from [the] responsibility as human beings to be nice to others.”
Eventually, this humour will be driven away by greater awareness and sensibility towards trans people. As in the above examples listed, humour surrounding these stereotypes are now considered in extremely poor taste.
Although examples like Mallard Fillmore exist, they do so alongside web comics such as Questionable Content who deal with transgendered subject matter with more tact. In a strip which ran on Oct. 8, two main characters, a man and a woman, discuss their possible romantic relationship in light of her being trans. He states meekly that he doesn’t know what to say, all of their interactions together feel natural, and that they should figure things out as they need to.
As summarized by Bouchard it “talks about care, self-determination, consent, and love.” The result is a very honest, genuine, and tender look at real life and at love.
How then can we move towards more comics like Questionable Content in our popular media? Contact your newspaper of choice and demand changes. Newspapers periodically review the comics they are printing for audience appeal. If strips such as Mallard Fillmore are receiving negative reviews, they will be dropped and replaced with other, more market-friendly content.
Like with groups who were marginalized before, making fun of trans issues will fall out of fashion. In the meantime, maybe we should speed the process along.
The cream of the crop in the field of LGBTQ studies united for the first time Monday for the Trudeau Foundation’s Imagining the Future of LGBTQ Human Rights conference at Concordia.
This two-day international seminar is bringing together notable experts in the fields of law, psychology, anthropology, and sociology to discuss the global LGBTQ human rights movement and the successes and challenges it faces.
Photo by Keith Race.
“The Trudeau foundation supports research in four broad areas of public policy,” said president and chief Executive Officer of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, Morris Rosenberg, during the introduction. “Human rights and dignity, Canada’s place in the world, responsible citizenship, and people and the national environment.”
Rosenberg introduced Concordia President Alan Shepard, who spoke briefly about the importance of this topic and his personal connection to it.
“This is a critical moment to be holding such a conference,” said Shepard. “While even as LGBTQ rights expand in some regions of the world, in other regions anti-gay sentiment and punitive action is shaping up to be even more intense that it has historically been. On these issues, the globe remains a patchwork.”
The Internationalization of LGBTQ Human Rights
The first lecture of the day was from Joke Swiebel. As a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, former vice-chairperson of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and award winner for contributions to the national and international LGBT movement, Swiebel’s lecture focused on the importance of framing LGBTQ concerns as human rights issues.
“What it means to be lesbian and gay and etcetera is totally different in different cultures and times and places,” she said. “Therefore, I think the main goal of the movement should be not in the first place to safeguard the right of LGBTQ people or respecting sexual minorities as such, but safeguarding the rights of all people to decide truly about their sexuality and their intimate relations.”
Swiebel also warned against sweeping generalizations in regards to the improvement or worsening of the rights of LGBTQ society globally. “It very much depends on what you look at and where. It depends on your values, on your priorities.”
Colonial Legacies and Global LGBTQ Human Rights
Next came a discussion featuring four panellists debating the influence of the LGBTQ human rights movement and whether the movement was beneficial to the LGBTQ population or if it’s a new form of colonialism derived from this Western-lead ideological movement.
Fernando Chang-Muy, a Harvard Law School graduate and professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, holds strong beliefs on the spread of the movement and its homophobic counterpart.
“Homophobia is a western import,” he said. “When the United Kingdom [left its former] colonies in Africa, they left behind sodomy laws which previously did not exist.”
Bangladeshi anthropologist and Trudeau Scholar Nehraz Mahmud agreed, citing dated British laws as the root of the homophobia problem in Bangladesh.
“The penal code is the most disturbing part that prohibits any kind of movement for the LGBTQ rallies,” she said. Mahmud also said that foreign governments and organizations should put more pressure on places like Bangladesh – both economically and politically.
However, David Paternotte, sociology professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles, warned about the risks that boycotts and economic action can have saying that sometimes these actions can “do more harm than good.”
Other Sessions
There was further discussion from other experts ranging from law school students to youth activists and even a former Canadian Supreme Court justice. Topics covered that afternoon included the Criminalization of LGBTQ Communities, LGBTQ Activists, and LGBTQ Rights in Western Democracies.
The conference will also feature more talks Tuesday on issues such as Trans* Realities and Human Rights Activism, Intersectional Approaches to LGBTQ Activism, and Imagining the Future of LGBTQ Rights.
The Imagining the Future of LGBTQ Human Rights conference continues this Tuesday, starting at 9:00 a.m. in room H-763.
The Porn Event discusses real vs commercialized sex
by Sara Baron-Goodman
Last Monday, Concordia welcomed guest speakers Sarah Beall and Ignacio Rivera (AKA Papi Coxxx), to the much-anticipated Porn Event as part of the Another Word for Gender series.
The talk covered just about everything from prostate massages, to fetish parties, to working in the sex industry in general.
Beall is the curator of content for MakeLoveNotPorn.tv, a new generation porn site that focuses on real sex and user-generated content to show the world that porn isn’t all bad pink-tinted fluorescent lighting and women getting cum facials. As Beall said, in real life, if you want to come on a woman’s face, you damn well better ask first.
Photo by Lucas Charlie Rose.
“We want to see everything… that part where you elbow your partner in the chin while reaching for the lube, we want to keep that in,” said Beall of the kind of content she looks for in selecting videos for the site.
MakeLoveNotPorn aims to de-fetishize certain minority groups, and represent an all-encompassing picture of real-life sex between real-life people. It puts a strong emphasis on showing safe, consensual sex.
“When I think about feminist porn, it’s about fair pay, safe environment, there’s a transparency,” said Rivera. “There’s fantasy there but there’s a backdrop to it. We get to see bodies we don’t see in mainstream porn, outside of fetish markets.”
Rivera is an activist, filmmaker, sex educator, performance artist, sex worker, and a trans gender-queer, self-proclaimed lover of kink, who seems to have done and seen it all.
For them both, the key to a more empowered future of porn is breaking down the sterilized picture, and showing the nitty-gritty reality of sex, with a strong emphasis on consent and setting visible boundaries between both partners.
“In the real world we know you have prep your ass to get rammed,” said Rivera. “In porn, you don’t see that somebody had to wear a butt plug for three hours first.”
The most important takeaway is that real life sex and the kind of sex usually shown in traditional porn, are two very different things. A lack of formal sex education in schools has made it so that many young people are getting the bulk of their formative knowledge about sex from porn—and it’s a flawed image to be sure. This is why the movement towards indie porn and feminist porn is so important.
Exploring Another Word for Gender, Janet Mock talks trans rights and feminist freedom
by Guenevere Neufeld
Janet Mock, prominent TV host, speaker and advocate for trans and women’s rights, spoke about her life as a trans woman for the keynote address of the Another Word for Gender Series last Friday.
Mock was first brought into the limelight as a trans woman in a 2011 Marie Claire article. Despite the many problems Mock has with the article, the attention drawn to her by it gave Mock the platform to speak up on behalf of trans women and women of colour.
Over 600 audience members filled the Hall building’s H-110 auditorium beyond capacity to hear about Mock’s philosophy on feminism and gender issues. Paying homage to mentors and colleagues such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Laverne Cox, Mock described her mission to defend the image of trans women of colour and dissect cultural stigmas surrounding these people.
“Writing is a source to freedom,” she said, highlighting the importance of telling stories and listening to the stories of others. She says her activism “started at the kitchen table,” referencing Barbara Smith’s feminist essay Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.
Mock acknowledges she has been granted “conditional privilege.” She is given access to platforms to spread her message because she makes certain choices to fit into society. Yet rather than uphold power structures as they are, Mock also wants to “go into these spaces like a Trojan horse and blow stuff up” in order to “push that space.”
“I’m a big proponent of creating your own space,” she said. “For me I’m a big proponent of knowing that there’s other people who feel as alienated as me, and I’d rather organize with them, become more powerful with them in the community, and then go into those spaces as a group.”
She spoke of creating clear definitions of “community” and “allies” and how important it is, especially for young trans people, to have a strong support network.
The evening ended with a book signing of her 2014 memoir Redefining Realness, in which she tells her own story.
“It’s all about language,” she says. “I should be as authentic as I feel I’m safe enough to be.”
Reproductive Justice has no borders
by Olivia Ranger-Enns
Reproductive justice. People will either be nodding or scratching their heads at these two simple words. What exactly is reproductive justice? According to The Pro-Choice Public Education Project, reproductive justice is “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, social, and economic well-being of women and girls, based on the full achievement and protection of women’s human rights.”
A panel held at Concordia University on Oct. 2 shed some light on this complicated, multi-faceted issue.
Jessica Danforth, executive director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, opened the floor. She spun forth an exhaustive link between race and gender issues. “We speak in terms of bodies and spaces,” said Danforth. “Aboriginal women have been colonized both in terms of their culture and in terms of their bodies. We don’t ask about the assault, we ask the more important question: why does it happen?”
Danforth went on to share some background on reproductive justice. The term was coined back in 1994 when black women wanted to shift away from pro-choice advances. “We are constantly laid back by barriers such as poverty, discrimination, immigration status and incarceration,” said Danforth.
The issue of reproductive justice got up close and personal when an Aboriginal woman came to the mic to talk about living on the Kahnawake reserve.
“There are so many issues with reproductive justice when it comes to Aboriginals,” she said. “I live on this reserve, and it’s not even possible to give birth here. On top of it, there are so many teen pregnancies. I have taught a 13-year-old girl theatre, only to learn that she herself was already pregnant. The stigma of getting pregnant doesn’t make any sense. It even happened to my little sister!”
Danforth stressed the fact that her story was not one of apathy but of action. “This is not a sob-story, a story asking people to feel sorry for Aboriginal women, or women in general,” said Danforth. “We were colonized and manipulated, and that’s the story. We knew about sex beforehand. After all, we didn’t wait for Christopher Columbus to teach us about sex,” she said, as the audience chuckled.
Danforth went on to make another connection between gender and environmental issues. “We all know that the Canadian government is ruining Aboriginal land through logging and mining. The contaminated water and mercury levels are corrupting breast milk, causing major diseases like ovarian cancer and neurological problems for young children,” said Danforth. “This has to stop.”
All in all, Danforth led a strong and well-balanced talk, weaving between theory and anecdotes, which provided some much-needed comic relief.
“We are constantly isolating, demonizing and shaming young women. That is not the issue,” said Danforth, stabbing the air with her finger. “The issue is how we are going to get over this problem.”
