Pride Day in Vancouver

The Canadian government has been keeping its nose out of people’s bedrooms since 1969. Since then, any consenting adults could have any sex they like, provided the participants were of legal age, not dead, and not an animal. Basically.
From the Canadian Encyclopedia:

From Confederation to 1969, under Canada’s criminal law, homosexuality was punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In 1969 the law was amended by exempting from prosecution 2 consenting adults of at least 21 years of age who engaged in these “indecent acts” in private. Since then, the speed of social change in attitudes toward homosexuality has accelerated because of general tolerance (eg, for common-law couples and single parents) and organized gay liberation campaigns.
Many Canadians no longer consider homosexual acts “indecent.” At the time of the 1985 edition of this encyclopedia, one province and several cities had enacted laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. By 1996 the majority of Canadian provinces had legislated against discrimination, as is also the case in the internal rules of numerous public and private institutions ranging from churches to universities to Canada Post to major banks. The Canadian military have gone much further than the American military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy by banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. When the age of consent for vaginal and oral sex was lowered to 14 in the criminal code, consent for anal sex remained at 18, until a high court decided in 1995 that this distinction unlawfully discriminated against homosexuals.

Gay rights have taken a long time to evolve, despite that forward-thinking law. Vancouver, however, has been considered a very “pro-gay” city for a long, long time.
Some could argue there are aspects of the “noses out” policy that are lip-service more than reality, and cite examples like Little Sisters’ Bookstore’s epic legal battles to get materials across the border without being tapped with some vague obscenity legalities.
They’d be right, too.
But today we celebrate how far we’ve come, and we’ve come a long way, baby.
My best friend’s been out for 10 years now. Mostly out, anyhow. Mostly’s pretty good, when it involves his career and community services. The only people who don’t know would seem to be choosing ignorance, at this point.
And that still happens.
Tomorrow, we worry about that.
Tomorrow, we remember that there are places gays don’t marry, don’t get accepted, can’t live out loud, and have to fear repercussions for being themselves.
Tomorrow, we acknowledge the idiocy that is religious sanctimony that believes “gay” can be doctrined out of ungodly homosexuals.
Tomorrow, we remind ourselves that even in forward-living towns like Vancouver, gay-bashings happen, discrimination continues, and education needs improving.
Today’s about it being today. It’s about the fact a gay female judge can flirt with the girl contestants on a mainstream show like American Idol and it not won’t be a controversy. It’s about gay marriages gaining steam in America. It’s about men holding hands in the streets without being worried about the average person attacking or slandering them.
Today, it’s about the change we’ve seen, so that, tomorrow, when we’re daunted by how far is left to go, we can know it’s less a journey than it once was, and that’s something to take pride in.
Today, it’s also about being proud to be a Canadian, and living in a country that said, 41 years ago, that governments had no right to tell anyone who they could love.
That’s what today’s about.
Pride, baby.
Happy 10th, M, and anyone else who’s come out at work, with friends, or with family. Way to represent.

13 thoughts on “Pride Day in Vancouver

  1. Sarah Lendreth

    Those rehearsed platitudes sound great, Steff! But when are *you* going to come out? You’ve gone so deep into the closet that you’ve got one foot in Narnia! 8)
    #kdlangish #24/7trousers #swearsalot #bicurious #butchhair

    1. A Scribe Called Steff Post author

      I have NEVER wanted to be with a woman. I’m so hetero it hurts. Why the fuck do I have to be gay because I’m not some feminine girlie-girl and I believe in gay rights? Kinda asshatted. And it frustrates me that anyone who’s sexual is automatically assumed to be “bi” at least, or bi-curious. I’ve never been. But my best friend is gay and a lot of friends are.
      Thanks for all the stereotyping hash tags. It’s still all bullshit and makes me feel like a cunt for asserting that I’m completely straight, but there you have it.
      Your comment pisses me off, to be honest. So irritating that I can be so “rah-rah” gay rights and be so open about my own sexuality and yet still have to deal with bullshit “but you’re not a Barbie girl, so you can’t be straight” comments. What the fuck’s that about?
      Same old prejudices, just a different flavour. Believe what you like, but I know who I am.

    2. Zoeyjane

      Sarah, I have to interject some points, here, to counteract your quite literally 1960s based view of bi- and homo-sexuality…
      For disclosure, I’m bi. I’ve had relationships with an equal amount of women as men, though the ones with women tend to be considerably shorter, given that about 80% of the ones I’ve known are unbalanced (at best).
      I have long hair. I rarely wear pants. In fact, I’m nearly always in something extremely feminine, with lots of leg showing. I swear all the damn time – just not in front of my kid (much).
      I’m the antithesis of all of those hashtags you just decided to throw out on a post about ending mistreatment of gay people. And my kid and I were right at the front of the action in the parade.
      My question to you is this: Why would Steff write an entire post about the movement and need for more progression, yet remain closeted? Why would her best friend be gay, and several other friends gay or bi, yet she remain closeted? What’s she going to lose, writing a blog that has traditionally been largely sex-based, if she ‘comes out’? Besides cheap hosting, as she needs to amp up her package to combat the extra traffic.
      Get some fucking logic, before you hit that ‘Post Comment’ button, okies?

  2. Kevin

    Though there have been many legal victories for gays, especially here in Canada, there is still a lack of social equality. I really liked how you summed up what Pride means – it’s a celebration of how far we’ve come but also recognition of how far we must still go to achieve full equality.

  3. NerveHit?

    Curious though, genuinely so: your closeted bisexuality might explain why you haven’t been laid in ages, and are drowning your sorrows in the solitude of cheap wine on a Friday night, alone. Again. Hmmm? Might explain.
    Anyway, this is just my way of saying “Fuck you” from Bangkok. And with that I can blow this little SteffyPuff out of my soul. The ‘See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya’ applies in ample regard in this situation.

    1. A Scribe Called Steff Post author

      I was going to delete this, mostly because you’re just a stupid fuck who doesn’t deserve the effort of my response, but then someone said my READERS would enjoy seeing the reply.
      So, okay, fine.
      Your points are: I enjoy alcohol, I’m at home on Friday (even though every night is Friday for me these days), and I haven’t been laid in “ages”.
      All of these are pretty much true.
      Oh, no.
      Get me a hole so I can bury my head in it, I’M SUCH A LOSER.
      Yeah. Right. Actually, I’m more like the typical late-30s chick. Comfortable, apathetic about dating, watching my money, tired of “the scene”, and a fan of wine.
      And, sure, “cheap wine” is SUCH an attack. Oh, you horrible person, how could you say that about me? CHEAP wine? For shame! HOW DARE YOU IMPLY THAT I HAVE NO TRUST FUND?
      It’s a fucking recession, you nimrod. “Cheap” is as sexy as something gets these days, but cheap and GOOD? Holy shit, call the cops, it’s a steal. I might drink cheap wine, but I’ll never drink swill, fucko.
      As for the fact that, because I’m not dating men actively THIS VERY SECOND, this CLEARLY means I’m a closeted bi-sexual butch freak, well, you’re continuing to prove you’re a fucking idiot, that’s for sure.
      Uh-huh. Because a man would validate everything about me.
      I don’t LIKE dating for kicks. I don’t LIKE testing my way through men. I don’t LIKE casual sex. I don’t LIKE taking unnecessary risks. I don’t LIKE dating when I feel life’s going through arduous times.
      I do LIKE penis. I do NOT LIKE muff.
      And I *love* a good relationship. Dating? I hate it.
      I do keep checking online profiles, I make an attempt to meet new men at events, but I’m not interested in dating my way through Twitter, as many penissy opportunities as it might hold — I’ve way too much to lose to just dally my way through the local “scene.”
      I’m in on a Friday night, as I am most Friday nights, because I can’t afford this city and the people I know like to go out as opposed to stay in. I can’t be a party to that anymore, haven’t been able to for a long time. Plus, I hate crowds and busy places.
      I’m also home because I have a live comedy gig to prepare for in FOUR DAYS, my first EVER, and I’m enjoying some Seinfeld stand-up on DVD while I organize my other DVDs into shiny new binders, and think about my own laugh-worthy writing, pausing the flick occasionally to write jokes.
      Because this is how creativity works: IN SOLITUDE.
      Look, I GET IT: People don’t understand how I can enjoy being as anti-social as I am, even though I seem so social when I meet them. NOT MY PROBLEM. It’s who I am. I know you think anti-social people are defective, and I know you’re a fucking idiot for thinking it. NOT MY PROBLEM.
      You don’t understand who I am? Fine, fuck off. You just don’t get me.
      Think you’re gonna tear me down a few pegs and squelch me, send me running in tears to hide in my closet you claim I make such good use of, and END my desire to EVER, EVER write again for my TEENY blog audience?
      Yeah. Good luck with that. Bigger, better people have tried.
      And, hey, if this is some elaborate scheme to reverse-psychology me into sucking your cock, again: Good luck with that… you’d need to have a dick first, there, fuckles.
      But thanks for letting me get my rant on. We should do this again sometime.
      Or maybe I’m just egging you on so you leave big meandering hatefest comments here to moderate, so I can delete them and just have fun fucking with you, wasting your time even more than you choose to do it yourself.
      It’s kinda hard to tell at this point.
      Hugs!

  4. steven schwartz

    Good for you steff!! Fucking coward commenter. Cheap wine is good, being selective in dating and not serial dating better. Not being the town bicycle even better. You can be a sexual being and be home on a friday night.
    .-= steven schwartz´s last blog ..Chemical Fail Whales =-.

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