Age of Arousal

My preview of Age of Arousal appears online at Xtra West.

LESBIAN FEMINISTS IN VICTORIAN TIMES.

In 2007, at the Alberta Playwrights Festival, six Vancouver theatre companies vied for the rights to produce Linda Griffith’s new play, Age of Arousal, a remarkable feat for any script, let alone one that tackles pioneering lesbian feminists in the Victorian era.

Katrina Dunn, artistic director of Touchstone Theatre, had heard about Arousal months earlier and was one of the bidders.

“I got a call when it was still in the very early stages of development from someone who runs a play development company,” Dunn recalls. “She called me because the play had feminist subject matter and I used to run a feminist theatre company. It’s the way [Arousal] portrays women, and the women’s issues it talks about in an interesting and provocative way.”

Dunn recalls the fervour around Arousal from the beginning of the festival.

“There was a lot of excitement,” she says. “[To be] one of six companies eager to produce it in Vancouver —that’s not a common occurrence. That happens very rarely.”

The Arts Club ended up winning the rights, and invited Touchstone to co-produce, with Dunn ultimately taking the reins as director.

A mad scramble to launch a witty drama with queer women characters at its core signifies three things: a need for great writing, a dearth of material representing strong women, and an even bigger black hole for gay female characters on the stage.

Set in 1885, Arousal seems to fill this void. The play centres on Mary, a 60-year-old ex-suffragette who runs a secretarial school for women with her young lover, Rhoda. When three sisters join the school and Mary’s charming cousin Everard, the cad-like playboy, crashes into their lives, Rhoda’s forced to face her political and sexual identity, all under the watchful eye of Victorian-era mores.

On the phone from her home in Toronto, Griffiths acknowledges that it was actually an old copy of George Gissing’s The Odd Women that inspired her to write Arousal. When she set about creating a cast of female characters, she felt drawn to exploring the tangled web of sexuality.

“Everyone in the play is very different sexually, and that was interesting to me,” Griffiths says. “On one-hand, in the play, you have a highly sexed heterosexual woman, and a woman who does not see sexuality as central to who she is. Then you have a bisexual, or somebody who’d had an affair when she was younger, but in our world would have gotten married and had kids and not done it again. There’s a character who’s gay, and a character who is ambiguous. She doesn’t know and will never know, and that is one of the choices she makes in the play. There are many different kinds of sexuality.”

Mary and Rhoda’s sexual relationship is heavily disguised to outsiders as that of mentor and protégé, a typically heterosexual paradigm that Griffiths wanted to turn on its head.

“I was always interested in that relationship anyways,” Griffiths says. “I think there’s always an element of sexuality in that. The buzz often includes a sexual attraction, whether it’s acted on or not. You think of those powerful, intelligent and charismatic men having lovers many years younger than them, but to make this work with women is a harder thing [for some people].”

Laara Sadiq plays Rhoda, perhaps Arousal’s most complicated character, a woman struggling for equality, both with men and in her relationship with Mary.

“Rhoda is conflicted,” Sadiq says. “She has a lot of commitment to her political ideals, and commitment to this woman, Mary, who has been her lover and mentor in many ways, and sort-of business partner. And she wants more, she’s yearning for something. What’s appealing about her is she doesn’t know what that ‘more’ is, what those pieces are that are missing.”

Mary isn’t in any position to reach out and help Rhoda figure it out. Burned by the suffragette movement, she’s determined to make her own way in the world and create financial independence for herself and the women who attend her school.

Susan Hogan, who plays Mary, was encouraged to pursue the role when the play was still in its infancy. Griffiths’ decision to liberally use thought-speak throughout, a device where the characters voice their inner thoughts verbally, caught Hogan’s attention.

Arousal is “not an easy read,” Hogan says. “It’s cluttered and it’s dirty, but that’s the way we are as human beings. We’re not clean and straight-forward and obvious in our choices.”

The feminist theme that originally attracted Dunn engaged Hogan as well, who was struck by the curious echoes that continue to surface now, more than 120 years after the play is set.

“I have a daughter and a granddaughter,” Hogan says. “These issues [feminism, gay rights, equality] continue to be so vitally important, and must continue to be — whether it’s the abortion issue or the right to vote or the right to marry.”

Arousal’s timeliness may be the driving force behind its success, but its Vancouver debut signifies something greater: lesbian stories, women’s stories, are finally being welcomed out of the closet.

“Touchstone has been producing work by a number of gay playwrights over the years,” Dunn says. “Usually that’s male content, and that’s great, there’s a huge audience for that and it’s great to tell those stories. But the lesbian stories come up way less often, so I was very excited to look into that subject matter and try to reach that audience.

“I don’t think they see their stories told hardly at all. This is a large production in a very established theatre, which isn’t how we’ve presented this subject matter in the past, but it’s great to bring the gay audience into that fold and show them their stories are being told on the big stage now.”

Gay Magic Wand and Xtra West

My streeter is the cover story of Xtra West this week. Check it out if you can!

	Sara Kendall I would hold the wand and help liberate political prisoners currently jailed for their sexualities and sex work. I would wave in safe spaces for all queers in exile from their countries, their classrooms, and their family homes. I would shake the wand to the sky and we'd have bumpin' queers-of-colour-centric parties, and all over the whole mother-lovin' planet we'd rock sexy to pro-homo and pro-woman lyrical content! And we'd all share the magic gay wand!!
	Shelley Moore I would make a new statutory holiday called Gay Day.
	Andrew Parker My one wish would be that Davie St be returned back to the community and that everyone feels safe and welcome. Bring it back to a destination again as opposed to a street to avoid. And for someone to play with my magic wand!
	Chad Wilkinson Who would believe that the Conservative Party had the only openly gay MP candidate for Vancouver Centre in the 2008 election? Or that California, the world's seventh largest economy, democratically voted in Prop 8 weeks before Gus van Sant's film about Harvey Milk was released to theatres across the world? Above all this — an infectious, profit-motivated mentality has managed to jeopardize the natural systems that sustain and regulate our planet as we begin a global descent into economic and ecological catastrophe. Homosexuals have a role in society just like everyone else, and I think we need to be clearer on our values.
	Nelson Wong I'd make it so that every straight person had more gay coworkers, relatives, or better still, friends in their lives. I'd also like to see stronger, more multi-faceted gay characters in TV and film.
	Shazad Shah I'd make the entire world carbon neutral. Then I would change the current political system. And after that I'd get rid of terrible reality TV shows!
	Joanne Ursino My personal one: I would like to get a pair of sparkly, blood-red Fluevogs that would even inspire Dorothy to ditch the bows. My more serious one: Generous funding for Pride In Art so that it may continue to flourish and advocate its goals of celebrating queer artists and challenging homophobia. As an adjunct to that one, I would love that the show Gender Twist be shown at the National Gallery of Canada.
	Gwen Haworth I'd make more event spaces on Vancouver's Eastside wheelchair accessible. This is a constant challenge when organizing low-cost, inclusive, queer events, but one I'm sure the LGBT community could creatively address if more of us put our heads together.
	Bob Yates Happiness for everybody. Not just gay people, but everybody should be happy.
	Symone First, I would stabilize Oprah's weight at 160 pounds. Secondly, I would keep Davie St gay, gay, gay and fabulous. Lastly, I would want to educate the ignorant Neanderthals that feel that it's all right to come downtown and verbally and/or physically attack my gay brothers and sisters. I mean, enough already!
	Ross Johnstone I would change that our political leaders would recognize the positive impact that arts and culture have on stimulating our economy and representing our identities. And I would make LGBT issues a priority for educators so that sexual minorities feel safe in their schools and community.
	Brent Wildefyre The first change I would make is who our Prime Minister is.
	Irenusz Nowicki I'd be with my boy Bryn. I came to Canada just for him.
	Alain Vermette No gaybashing whatsoever.
	Vanessa Kwan Stephen Harper will be trounced and roundly humiliated by a viable, exciting, charismatic, progressive SOMEBODY. And that Amber Dawn will become the new Director of Programming for Out On Screen. (At least one of these things has come true...)
	Michael Hogan I would make people care more. About themselves, others, friends, and strangers. Care about the earth 'cause it's the only one we've got, about how they treat others and how others treat them, and about humanity and the direction we're headed. I would make them care for those that have nothing and not about what you (we) don't have, and to not let hate, fear and ignorance rule us.
	James Chamberlain That all school districts had anti-homophobia policies in place that protected queer students and straight students, and that all school boards would enforce them.
	Joan-E I would, à la Dorothy, offer Stephen Harper a heart, George W Bush a brain, and every little gay or lesbian child in the world, courage. I would wish everyone a home and a safe journey to it. Oh, and a sparkly pair of red high heels for whoever wants them! I would take my magic wand and I would say "poof" to AIDS, cancer, and heart attacks. I would make The Laramie Project mandatory curriculum. I would permanently secure my waistline at a glorious 32 inches, triple my dress collection, and have at least one great date with a nice guy who wants into my pants and not my gowns.
	Buster Cherry I've been thinking about what's going on with a lot of hate crimes and gaybashing and the fact that the last one was not labelled a hate crime. I think my gay wand has to touch that one. And it would be nice to make all of that obsolete. We need to teach more tolerance in high schools, in kindergarten even. We need to go back that far and let them know that holding hands, two women or two men, showing any kind of affection in public is just as normal as someone breastfeeding in public. It's a human condition and we should be able to feel proud and not that someone's going to chase us down the street with a baseball bat.

Pride scam story

My story about a possible "Pride" scam appears online at Xtra!

Possible Pride scam
Imperial Cruise Vacations allegedly misrepresenting itself as Vancouver Pride

By Andrea Warner

People who signed up to win a free vacation at the Vancouver Pride Festival Aug 3 received phone calls Aug 12 from a group that identified itself at least once as "Vancouver Pride."

Representatives of Imperial Cruise Vacations then asked Pride goers for their credit card numbers to charge a $299-per-person promotional fee to secure a luxury trip to the Bahamas.

A google search on the company's telephone number uncovered hundreds of complaints from other people who had received similar calls from Imperial Cruise Vacations, including people who had attended Toronto Pride in July.

When contacted by Xtra West, representatives from the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) launched an immediate investigation.

Within a few hours, the VPS received three additional reports from people who received similar calls, and posted the following advisory on its website:

"It has come to our attention that 'Vacation and Cruise' or 'Imperial Cruise Vacations,' one of the Pride Festival Vendors, offered a chance to win a free vacation by filling out a form. This information is now being used as part of a telemarketing program to offer a trip at a reduced cost and are asking for credit card information," the VPS website states.

"We have been told that this group is representing themselves as being from Vancouver Pride but the Vancouver Pride Society has no affiliation with this group known as 'Vacation and Cruise' or 'Imperial Cruise Vacations.'

"For your protection and security, the VPS highly recommends that you do not give out your credit card information to this organization," the advisory concludes.

Despite repeated calls, no one from Imperial Cruise Vacations could be reached for comment.

Mark Fernandes, a communications person with the Better Business Bureau in Vancouver, confirmed that Imperial Cruise Vacations, also known as Imperial Majesty Cruiselines and Ramada Plaza Resorts, has received 1150 consumer complaints in the last three years. The BBB in Florida, where the company is based, has given it a failing grade of F.

"Sometimes what seems like a great free promotion isn't necessarily free at all," Fernandes says. "If you're supposedly winning something for free, why would you have to provide your credit card information or any kind of billing information?"

Fernandes encourages the public to take the time to read the fine print, even at something fun like Pride.

VPS treasurer Ken Coolen contacted Imperial and says the company maintains it's running a legitimate business and that there is nothing criminal about making phone calls. Const Jana McGuinness of the Vancouver Police Department warns that the police department's hands are often tied in these situations where a company has secured private information from willing participants.

"If a person gives their number out voluntarily then it becomes much harder to prove a fraud," McGuinness says. "Best advice is to not give your credit card number out online or over the phone unless you can be absolutely sure that the organization you are dealing with is reputable."

As for Imperial Cruise Vacations allegedly misrepresenting itself as Vancouver Pride, Coolen admits, "It becomes a situation we can't really control."

Out on Screen Turns 20

My interview with the founders and current Out On Screen staff appears in this week's Xtra! West.

LOOKING FORWARD TO 20 MORE YEARS. Out on Screen's programming director Vanessa Kwan (right, with executive director Drew Dennis) says she's thrilled with the growth of The festival. (ANDREA WARNER PHOTO) Originally just three days long and managed by a half-dozen volunteers without any funding, Vancouver's Queer Film Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this year when it opens Aug 14. Though it scarcely resembles its humble origins, the festival has continued to thrive by staying true to its film fest roots while expanding its role within the queer community. Out on Screen (OOS), the society that produces the annual festival, now boasts paid staff, year-round programming, and over 250 volunteers. Even its modest headquarters on Hastings St are a long way from the West End living room where the original board members gathered to hash out everything from the festival lineup to gender politics. Conceived as a cultural component for the 1990 Gay Games, OOS held its first film festival in 1989 as a trial run and is now the second oldest festival of its kind in Canada. Louise Pohl, one of OOS' founding board members, recalls some of the initial challenges. "I hadn't done anything like this before, and then before I knew it I was president of the board," she laughs. "We had no money. In the first year we did a 24-hour Worst Movie Marathon and used the money from that for the first festival." Chris Adkins, also part of the founding festival board, recalls the challenge of finding films for the first festival. "There were a lot fewer outlets then," Adkins says. "It was tough finding out about films and where to get them. Now there's a huge circuit of queer film festivals." That first festival showed just four features and a couple of short films; the first film the festival screened, Salut Victor, offered a rare glimpse of two men falling in love in a nursing home. This year, there are 110 features and shorts in the festival lineup. Pohl says she was particularly drawn to volunteer with Out on Screen as it offered her a chance to work with both gays and lesbians towards a common goal: finding films to reflect as many queer realities as possible. "It was lesbians and gay men working together for the first time, and I think there's a lot of polarizing that goes on in the community," she says. "I wanted to do something that would cross that divide." Another founding member, Graham Peat, recalls the difficulty in uniting these voices under one festival. "It was a challenge because there were never as many films made back then for women or by women about lesbian issues as there were about gay men, who had more power, more cameras, and everything else," Peat says. As the community became more united in its efforts to promote the arts, there was also an internal shift towards stabilizing the administration, taking OOS to the next level by providing more opportunities for community involvement and engagement. Having survived its first five years without funding, OOS received its first grant in 1993, beginning its gradual evolution into a multi-faceted arts and culture organization. Vanessa Kwan, OOS' current director of programming, says she's thrilled by the festival's expansion into workshops, master classes, performances, parties, visual arts shows and musical events. "Film is a really great medium, and we kind of treat it as a gateway to all the other things that artists are doing in tandem with their film practices," Kwan says. "In terms of pushing the medium forward, we're really interested in seeing all those other art forms that intersect with film in a meaningful way." In 2004, OOS launched the Out in Schools project, bringing independent queer film into high schools. The Queer History Project started in 2007, commissioning works that will help document local queer voices and their stories. On Aug 14, the history project's online component will launch as an interactive website where queer people will be invited to share videos, audio, photos, and other art forms. "It's the idea that the community will be able to recreate, recapture, re-imagine, and explore queer histories," says Drew Dennis, OOS' executive director. "[The community] doesn't really have an oral history that's passed down from generation to generation. Very rarely are we born into queer families." Pohl too is grateful to see OOS continued expansion. "It just makes my heart warm getting the program every year," she says. " It was all so grassroots compared with how it is now. It was a lot of hard work and a very steep learning curve. We were there because we really wanted this to happen." Dennis and Kwan are equally committed to making it happen, and neither wants to dwell too long basking in the glory of OOS' 20th anniversary. It's "important to think about the next 20 years now," says Dennis.

VANCOUVER QUEER FILM FESTIVAL. Aug 14-24. www.queerfilmfestival.ca.

What does the rainbow mean to you?

My streeter at Pride appears in this edition of Xtra! West.

Interviews and photos by Andrea Warner

ABBY, VANCOUVER

What does the rainbow mean to you?

It makes me crave Skittles... No, it's a symbol of Pride worldwide, and a symbol of diversity.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

I wouldn't like that. I like that we have a section where everyone knows that's the gay area of Vancouver, but where everyone is welcome.


BING, CHINA

What does the rainbow mean to you?

Diversity. I used to live in the West End, and I think it's a very good community here. Lots of possibility.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

It's a little bit of a shame.

We came over here, and it's the best feature of Davie St.


SIENA AND KALEIGH, MAPLE RIDGE

What does the rainbow mean to you?

Sienna: It means Kaleigh!

Kaleigh: She's my straight supporter.

Sienna: I have a lot of gay friends, and I just support them all.

Kaleigh: The rainbow —it's such a bright, not easily unnoticed symbol. It's almost like the symbol itself is refusing to stay in the closet.

It's out there, it's a proud colour, it's there! The flag means being out there with who you are, not caring what anyone else says.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

Sienna: I'd be very upset, I'd be confused. Why would they bring them down? Would they not want to support it?

Kaleigh: Why don't you just rename the street and change all the stores? It wouldn't be Davie. Come on.


GEORGE, VANCOUVER

What does the rainbow mean to you?

It's a lively sign of integrating people. When I see it, I know it expresses fairness.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

It really doesn't worry me too much, just as long as we know what Davie St's about.


JOCELYNN, VICTORIA

What does the rainbow mean to you?

By the end of Pride season, if I see another rainbow flag, I want to scream. That being said, if they were to come down from Davie and all the other streets across Canada, it would be like taking away our sense of belonging. It says this is our place, this is our space.

It's hopefully a safe, open, accepting community.


ZIAD (LEFT) WITH STEINI, VANCOUVER

What does the rainbow mean to you?

Ziad: Multiculturalism. Everybody getting together, literally all the colours.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

Ziad: That would be a bad thing. It really tells people, when they're walking up the road, that they're in the Village as opposed to any other part of town. It would be no different than having BC Place remove all the sports stuff, same with Chinatown, same with Main St. Get rid of one sign, get rid of them all, otherwise there's no distinction. It's just greater Vancouver.


MARLAS AND SHANNON, VANCOUVER

What does the rainbow mean to you?

Marlas: Diversity, different flavours, different cultures, different colours. Not just straight or gay but all different types of people.

Shannon: It means unity, diversity and harmony for all people, all colours.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

Marlas: I love them up there.

I think it's great for when you walk into a new city it tells you right away that it's a gay-friendly community, and I would find that very welcome if I wasn't from here.

Shannon: I would be really sorry if the rainbows came down. I like that they create an identity for the community as a gay-friendly and distinct neighbourhood. I also think that this makes a city culturally rich.


JOHN, VANCOUVER

What does the rainbow mean to you?

It means all queer people together in solidarity.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

I like that they're there, but I don't mind if they're represented in a slightly different way. I think they should be there frequently, but I don't think we own the neighbourhood. I think we need to live along with everyone who lives there.


TANYA, NORTH BURNABY

What does the rainbow mean to you?

To be proud, and it actually makes me smile every day.

How would you feel if the rainbows came down on Davie St?

I think it symbolizes the community, so I think it would detrimental to the community. I feel that if people come down here, they know that they're in somewhat of a safer environment than travelling in Burnaby for instance, where there is no rainbow flag.

A Jihad for Love-Parvez Sharma interview

My interview with A Jihad for Love's director, Parvez Sharma appears in Xtra! West this week. Pick up a copy if you can!

Making A Jihad for Love
By Andrea Warner

A Jihad for Love is a film over five years in the making, spanning 12 countries, and nine languages, but director Parvez Sharma feels all the hard work was worth it, if only to give a voice to the Muslim world's most unlikely storytellers: Queer people.

Sharma arrived in New York just as the city experienced the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre that sent shockwaves throughout the planet—ones that can still be felt today. Sharma's existence was fraught with duality and he began to experience a wholly different kind of intolerance: it was one thing to be gay in America in 2001, but to be Muslim? That was just asking for trouble.

"No one was speaking about the kind of Islam I knew when I was growing up and I felt that I needed to come out as a Muslim," Sharma says, over the phone from his home in New York. "[The film's] not just about being gay or lesbian. You are claiming your faith and that was the primary imperative for me--to take some of the discourse about Islam away from the violent fringe."

For starters, he named the film A Jihad for Love. In the Western world, the word jihad has come to be associated with terrorist attacks, CNN stories, and has fueled a tremendous amount of Christian fundamentalist propaganda. In actuality, Sharma says, the term means a deep, personal struggle, and this struggle for love is what he documents as the film's subjects reconcile sexuality with religious beliefs.

Sharma acknowledges that homosexuality is not a very visible part of current Islam, but insists that this is a relatively recent development (the last 30-40 years, documented in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis), and that there is still space for gays in the Muslim world, even if those spaces flout conventional ideals.

"Very often we adopt an arrogant Western perspective towards analyzing life in Muslim countries," Sharma says. "Islam has a tradition of homosexuality being celebrated in the arts and the culture for hundreds of years. And it has existed even as a part of the mainstream."

According to Sharma, it's sometimes even a rite of passage for people to have same-sex relationships before they enter into marriage, and that due to its patriarchal structure; this actually creates a uniquely double-edged sword regarding lesbianism in Muslim society.

"Women's sexuality is often denied, it's simply not discussed, and sometimes in that realm of invisibility, [lesbianism] can exist in a much more fluid way than male homosexuality, which would be seen as threatening," Sharma says.

The question of coming out takes on an entirely different scope when committing one's story to film for the entire world to see. Sharma spent many years carefully crafting relationships with his subjects, building friendships between people who had often struggled alone, insular in their religious and sexual identity. Though prepared for the obvious obstacles of secretly filming a gay documentary in Muslim countries, Sharma found some unexpected opposition from the gay Muslim community.

"Anytime when a community is repressed and silenced, and when someone steps out of that silence, dares to do something, then people react to that." Sharma says. "People didn't want to trust me. But, being a Muslim, I was filming with that Muslim lens; I was very critical of how much of myself I had to give. Many of the really remarkable people in this film were breaking a tremendous silence, sharing what is deeply personal."

Despite the initial wariness from the community, the film has resonated with audiences of all varieties: queer, straight, Muslim, Christian, even atheists have been fascinated at Love's intimate examination of faith and sexuality, but the real challenge is getting the film shown in Muslim countries.

"I showed the film in Turkey and the response was amazing, and in my home country, India," Sharma says. "But I really hope I can take the film to Arab countries one day, that I can show the film in Iran. A few people have been smuggling tapes into Pakistan, for example, where they've organized screenings already in the last few months, so I hope efforts like that will continue so that people who really need to see the film are able to."

This is where Love works on multiple levels: aspects of the movie are meant to lift the veil of silence on homosexuality for Muslims and people in Arab countries, while other parts of the film serve to expand the Western idea of what it really means to be gay and Muslim. Sharma, for one, is wary of the North American tendency to impose its Western ideals.

"The question really, is who gets to define freedom, and on whose terms?" Sharma says. "Are we going to dictate freedoms based on our concepts of what it means to be gay in the west to more traditional ancient cultures? Or, are we going to allow them to develop their own concepts of sexual freedom? I very much lean towards the latter."

Ultimately, Love is also meant to reach out to gays who feel an affinity for a higher power, but may have felt the need to sacrifice their religious beliefs when they claimed their sexual identity. Sharma himself comes from a relatively secular background (he did not attend religious school like many young Muslims) and had already dealt with coming out during his late teens, but he says he developed a great respect for Islam through his film's subjects. He hopes Love will assist other queer people to reconcile their spiritual beliefs.

"I realized through the most trying times, these people (the film subjects) drew sustenance from Islam and what they believed to be their Islam. And that, for me, was very empowering," Sharma says. "I think the film is expanding the consciousness of the audience who is watching it. Not just expanding the understanding of Islam, but faith, which many queer people abandon because they don't find spaces for themselves within faith."

Honouring Our Elders

I covered the Honouring Our Elders tea party on June 29th for Xtra! West. It was a great afternoon of meeting amazing people in Vancouver's queer community.

Honouring Our Elders
By Andrea Warner

Many of Vancouver's queer elders have been pioneers in the fight to live openly and honestly, despite facing years of hostility, discrimination and just plain ignorance. On Jun 29, The Centre dedicated an afternoon to honouring our community's trailblazers at its fifth annual Honouring Our Elders high tea, held at the Coast Plaza Hotel. With over 90 people in attendance, there were plenty of amazing memories to share and struggles to celebrate. Here are a few of their stories.

Basil Hunter and Frank Allison

Hunter and Allison, now both in their 90s, celebrated their 50th anniversary on Valentine's Day earlier this year.Both musicians, the couple played together for nine years at the Press Club in the 1960s, entertaining Vancouver's elite and visiting entertainers.Hunter wrote "Pacific Rhapsody and Brideship Ballet," which became part of BC's centennial celebrations.They count Phyllis Diller amongst their close friends, and they didn't let little things like a bum hip or knee keep them away from busting out a duet on the piano to everyone's delight.

Hunter: "When I saw her [Diller] in the dressing room [at the Cave], she was a mess and she said, 'What do you think of my hairdo, Basil?'"And I said, 'What did you do it with, Phyllis? An electric toothbrush?'"She said, 'Can I use that?' And I said 'That's a line you can have.'"And you can still hear her today using that on TV."

Gayle Roberts

After wrestling for years with her desire to transition to female, Roberts finally took the plunge in her early 50s, risking a lengthy career as a high school teacher and her personal relationships. Now she's finding a new voice as a writer.

Roberts: "This is a celebration that things are getting better all the time. When I made that decision to transition, all that pain I'd been feeling all of my life suddenly just ended, and I've never looked back. One student told me she thought I was brave and an inspiration, and I think in that sense you're a pioneer because by your example you're making it easier for other people."

Chris Morrissey and Bridget Coll

Together for over 30 years, thorny immigration issues became the thrust of an ultimately successful federal legal challenge as Morrissey (Canadian) fought to have Coll (Irish with US citizenship) recognized as her spouse so they could settle together here.Morrissey is now the program manager of The Centre's Generations Project, which hosted the high tea.

Morrissey: "There isn't much visibility with older queers, and it's really important to acknowledge their lives.

"I'm the first Canadian to file a suit in federal court to be able to sponsor my partner. We came back from Latin America and we decided to settle in Canada. We tried every normal way, so we had to file a suit with federal court. We didn't have to go to court because immigration stepped in and [granted Coll residency]. But we've worked getting the legislation changed to include same-sex partners in family class for immigration."

Ellen Woodsworth

Woodsworth came out in 1972 and has spent her life advocating for gay and lesbian rights and other equality issues. She also served as Vancouver's first openly lesbian city councilor from 2002-2005.She revealed at the high tea that she'll be seeking a seat on city council again in this fall's municipal election.

Woodsworth: "I was one of the early people in this country out and working for gay and lesbian rights in the late '60s, early '70s. I know the world is way, way better than we ever thought it could be because we organized together, we stood up, and we fought back, but it's not good enough yet and we have to keep working together."

Christine Waymark and Robin Rennie

Together since 1981, the couple has fought plenty of uphill battles. Rennie says she brought gay and lesbian rights into the programming at Family Services in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Waymark says she was a candidate for ministry in the United Church when she was outed by a committee member and dismissed from the remaining finalists.

Rennie: "When I first came out [in 1972] it was a very hard thing to come out. There was nothing to come out to. I felt very alone..."I applied for the [Family Services] job not knowing that they were actually looking for somebody who was out. It turned out they wanted me to go out into the community and solicit people who would become involved with Family Services programs. I think it went very slowly, but it was wonderful."

Waymark: "When I was outed, I decided to become active and become honest. I got dropped as a candidate and I went on to be in AFFIRM, the United Church organization of gays and lesbians. I was the only lesbian to write the report that eventually led to the ordination of gays and lesbians in the United Church in '88."

It's really important to me that I have places where I can just be me. And "me" is definitely queer."

Jerusalem is Proud to Present

My interview with Jerusalem director, Nitzan Gilady, appears in the current issue of Xtra! West.

By Andrea Warner

When organizers announced the 2006 World Pride march would be held in Jerusalem, Nitzan Gilady intended to capture this historic first in gay culture. He quickly realized his documentary, Jerusalem is Proud to Present, was actually a witness to a fight for human rights as organizers came up against formidable opposition, all in the name of the Holy Land.

“At the beginning, I was one of those who questioned why we need to have a parade at all?” Gilady admits, but as he began shooting, he experienced the homophobia and hatred firsthand.

“At that time it was very scary. You would never know where it would come from—
someone would lose his mind and think he should react towards the community,” he says, reflecting on his own frightening encounter, depicted in the film as he and Jerusalem’s only out gay council member visit the Orthodox community.

Gilady, who lives in Tel Aviv and came out to his family in 2005, was unprepared for one strong alliance that arose from the World Pride March proposal. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders banded together against their common enemy: homosexuality.

“It was really weird to see that people really think like that. They said all these things, like ‘Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,’ and ‘This is the Holy Land, not the Homo Land.’ I couldn’t actually hold the camera because I was laughing,” Gilady says. “But also for me it was standing almost in front of my father, because these are things my father still thinks.”

While 4000 people ended up attending the march, 7000 police officers were required to protect participants, a further testament to the courage of Jerusalem’s gay community. The film debuted on a major cable channel in Israel, and was broadcast throughout the country, making it difficult for religious leaders to keep the word “gay” under wraps. It has also made the festival rounds and picked up several awards so far.

Kris Anderson, the festival director of DOXA, Vancouver’s upcoming documentary film festival, saw Jerusalem at a festival in Amsterdam and felt it was an important message Canadians needed to hear.

“I think it’s a universal story, and probably a story that is getting more and more important. Fundamentalist religion is growing, and people who are oppressed are at risk, and these kind of battles—people need to know about them all over the world.”

8 x 10 Glossy

My story on the Leaping Thespians' newest production, 8 x 10 Glossy is in the latest edition of Xtra West!

8 x 10 Glossy preview
By Andrea Warner

Leaping Thespians director Karen White read over 50 scripts before 8 x 10 Glossy caught her eye.

To her, the play's myriad themes — sexuality, political activism, and family dysfunction — felt particularly relevant for a 2008 audience, even one steeped in modern liberations.

Written by Sarah Dreher, 8 x 10 Glossy is set in 1984. At its centre is Carter, a lesbian activist and photojournalist, who returns home on the one-year anniversary of her father's death to face her sister, Julie, a repressed and unhappy housewife, and her mother, Kettie, finally free after years of abuse. Julie's attractive new friend, Lisa, and the unseen nosy neighbour round out the cast.

Having come out herself in 1978, White strongly identifies with the sexual themes the play explores, and recalls the struggles facing the lesbian community during that pivotal time.

"The majority of people were against gays at the time," White explains. "I knew many women on the fringe of the lesbian-feminist community who didn't call themselves lesbian; they 'just happened to be in love with a women.' It was still very much the love that dare not speak its name, except in the safe enclaves of lesbian culture: the bars, softball teams, and many feminist organizations."

Times have changed but modern audiences will likely be able to draw many comparisons between then and now, White suggests.

"Every young woman coming out now, even though she's coming out in a different world, wants the approval of her family. Lots of women now, even though they know it's okay to be a lesbian, still don't think they are. They're surprised by feelings for a woman."

In 8 x 10 Glossy, Carter may be out and proud, but she's still desperate for Julie's approval. Julie, afraid of her own feelings for Lisa, can't help but lash out at Carter.

The sisters' relationship is complicated, fraught with expectation and disappointment, but the underlying love between the siblings fuels every scene.

Taylor Stutchbury plays Julie and is empathetic to the struggles her character faces in confronting her sexuality.

"I was closer to Carter in realizing my orientation, yet sexuality is something which has evolved for me over time and it is there where I can understand Julie's struggle," Stutchbury says. "Sexuality for me has to do with acceptance of yourself. Julie's internalized homophobia is something I struggled with when I was younger and it still pokes out its head as I age."

"Women who proclaimed their lesbianism often lost custody of their children, a theme only alluded to in this story but a strong undercurrent," White points out, noting the potential costs of coming out for Julie are not the same as for her sister.

"For Julie, being a favoured young mom in the town, getting her identity from others, doing what is expected of her is second nature," White explains. "So many women lost close connections with family after coming out, there was a lot to lose. A lot to lose especially if you are not sure, and how can you be sure until you try?"

Eroca Zales, who plays Kettie, sees an ugly similarity between 8 x 10's 1984 politics and the current political condition. She recounts a pivotal scene where Carter likens the persecution of gays to the holocaust, and asks, "It's happening again, isn't it?"

"Of course that is happening now in the States with the Christian right," Zales says. "It's a very dangerous political movement. Very repressive to many people — women's right to choose, gays, Muslims, on and on."

Like many plays that prove timeless, 8 x 10's gift is Dreher's dialogue: honest and unpretentious, with plenty of moments of dark wit, tense confrontation, and cute flirting.

We're introduced to Carter and Lisa within minutes of the curtain rising. Lisa is obviously at home in Kettie's backyard, and Carter is intrigued by the stranger who seems so close to her sister. The two women who are competing for Julie's affections circle each other with caution, friendship, and a spark of attraction.

Great dialogue also propels the rise and fall of the heated exchanges between Carter and Julie as they butt heads and then back down, only to keep the pattern on repeat.

Leigh Burrows plays Carter, and while she acknowledges the play touches on important issues about sexuality, she feels the main focus is family.

"What makes the story universal is the way the family interacts, the way we keep up appearances," Burrows says. "Even though there is all this stuff that goes on behind the scenes and behind all the closed doors."

"When I first told one of my sisters that I was a lesbian, it was in a public place in Fredericton, New Brunswick. At the time she worried about [what] people would think when she gave me a hug," Stutchbury recalls. "Years later she came out as a lesbian and it gave me better understanding about what had been going on for her."

Queer + Asian = ?

My story appears in today's Xtra West!

Caught Between Two Sets of Expectations
By Andrea Warner

A panel discussion at the University of British Columbia (UBC) raised more questions than it answered when it brought together an assortment of participants to talk about what it means to be queer and Asian.

Hosted by UBC's Asian Canadian Cultural Organization, the Mar 7 discussion capped off two days of workshops regarding Asian experiences.

Titled Queer + Asian = ? it was touted as a safe haven for people to share their own stories about being queer, racism in the gay community, struggles with coming out, and the cultural give and take between Asian family values and more Western norms.

The most wide-ranging discussion stemmed from the concept of coming out.

"Western culture advocates the individual, whereas Asian culture is more about the collective," says Allen Chen, a 21-year-old UBC student, who says being Asian-Canadian and queer means being caught between two sets of expectations.

For many of the panelists, being gay is only one facet of their identity — and not the dominant facet at that. In contrast, many felt the norm in Vancouver's gay community is to identify first by sexual orientation, then by ethnicity, cultural association, or career.

Being gay isn't a topic generally discussed with family members, panelists noted.

"In Chinese culture, straight or gay, we all hide our relationships," says Lydia Luk, who works at The Centre on Bute St.

Luk has been in a relationship with a woman for over four years but has never told her family. But, she points out, several of her straight friends are also in long-term relationships and haven't told their families either. It's not so much a secret, she says, as a culture founded on respect and privacy.

"There's the idea of a Confucian duty to carry on the family line," Chen says. "As long as you fulfill the public duty, you can live your private life." It's not uncommon for men to marry, have children, and continue to have sex with men on the side.

Asian communities can be incredibly small and close knit, notes Luk, so word gets around very quickly if someone comes out. That's why, she explains, "sometimes we're out in certain communities and sometimes we're not."

Coming out to family also means finding the right words, something that can be difficult in some languages.

"I haven't been able to say I'm gay in Chinese," Chen says. "It's a bad word. It's immediately connoted as negative."

Several people echoed having similar difficulties. For instance, there is no equivalent to "coming out" in Cantonese, as the terms are all very technical. Even if some people wanted to have the conversation, it could prove almost impossible.

For Asian Canadians who do decide to come out, many have difficulty finding resources that reflect their own cultural realities. The majority of resources target English speakers, and while translations are available, language barriers may muddle the meaning and intention of the words.

Additionally, many Asian cultures don't seek support networks outside the family. There are currently no Asian members of PFLAG, a statistic the organization is desperately hoping will change in coming years.

Asian Canadians may also face discrimination within the gay community, an idea that's referred to as a "pecking order" of idealized looks, cultures, and experiences. One of the questions raised by the panel was: is racial preference simply preference or is it racism? And, just because you're attracted to people of the same sex, does that mean you're automatically accepted into the gay community?

Several people in the room pointed to gay personal ads that tell Asians not to bother responding.

"We're supposed to be a community that is oppressed, so we should be aware but I just as quickly realized, no, it doesn't necessarily work that way," says Luk. "And that's too bad."