"CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1211252"@en . "University Publications"@en . "2015-08-27"@en . "1991-02-14"@en . "Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issue."@en . ""@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/Ubysseynews/items/1.0127126/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " Founded in 1918\nVancouver, B.C., Thursday, February 14,1991\nVol 73, No 37 Classifieds 228-3977\nRATES: AMS Card Holders - 3 lines, $3.00, additional lines, 60 cents, commercial - 3 lines, $5.00, additional\nlines 75 cents. (10% discount on 25 issues or more) Classified ads payable in advance. Deadline 4:00p.m., two\ndays before publication. Room 266, SUB, UBC, Van., B.c. V6T2A7, 228-3977.\n05 - COMING EVENTS\nCANOE THE NAHANNI RIVER!!! Experience the beauty in a slide presentation.\nMon. Feb. 18 7:30pm Robson Square Conference Centre 9 Robson & Howe. $2.00.\nINTERNATIONAL DAYS Feb. 19 & 20.\nEthnic food & entertainment in the SUB\nplus a bzzr garden on the 20th at 3:30 at\nInternational House - don't miss it!\nTHE AFRICAN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION presents a benefit dance on Friday\nFebruary 15 at SUB 207-209. Tim 7:30 -\n12:00 midnight. Gate: $3.00.\n30 - JOBS\nTHE VANCOUVER INSTITUTE\nFree Public Lecture\nSaturday, Feb. 16\nProfessor Jane Coop\nSchool of Music\nUniversity of B.C.\non\nMOZART'S GENIUS:\nA PIANIST'S PERSPECTIVE\nLecture Hall 2, Woodward IRC\nat 8:15 p.m.\n11 - FOR SALE - PRIVATE\nNEED HELP BUYING OR SELLING a\ncar. Leta professional with your interests in\nmind go to work for you. Phone me, well talk\nabout it. 325-5331 or 735-0055, Dave.\nGREAT BUY! GREAT CAR! 4 dr hatchback Chevette, only 60,000 km. New tires,\nbrakes & clutch. $2000 obo. 324-7277.\n1980 CHEVETTE, 4 Dr. HB grey, auto,\nnew brakes. $950 OBO. 263-4019.\n15 - FOUND\nCROSS PEN FOUNDon campus Feb. 11th,\n662-8082 or 669-9229.\n20 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 HOUSING\nTO SHARE HOUSE AT DUNBAR 1 br.\n$400. Util incl. Laundry fee. Want N/S\nstudent. Contact 731-2797.\n25 - INSTRUCTION\nGUITAR LESSONS, qualified teacher. All\nstyles and levels. Will travel. Call David,\n736-6816.\nBetween\nDeadline for submissions: for\nTuesday's paper is Friday at\n3:30pm. NO LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.\nNote: \"Noon\" = 12:30 pm.\nFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15th\nUBC Chaplain. Brad Newcombe,\nUBC Chaplain, will be at the desk\nevery week to answer any questions.\nCome find out more! 11:30-1230,\nSpeakeasy Outreach Desk - SUB\n100B.\nGays & Lesbians UBC. Representatives will be at the desk to answer any\nquestions. Noon - 1:30, Speakeasy\nOutreach Desk, SUB 100B.\ninternational House. Come and dis-\ncoverthe variety ofservicesandevents\nthatthelnternationalHousehas. 1:30\n- 2:30, Speakeasy Outreach Desk -\nSUB 100B.\nEnglish Students' Society. BzzrGar-\nden.4:30-7:30pm, Buchanan Lounge.\nSchool of Music. UBC Percussion\nEnsemble. John Rudolph, director.\nNcon-12:30pm. ADMISSION FREE.\nRecital Hall, Music Building.\nFirst Year Student Program. Frosh-\nco-ordinator information meeting -\nanyoneinterestedinhelpdngtheFrosh\nmake it through first year. 12:30-\n1:30pm. SUB 207/209.\nWANTED:\nSAILING INSTRUCTORS.\nSea Wing Sailing School\nis looking for candidates for our\n1991 Spring CYA., Instructors\nClinic.\nSuccessful candidates will be\noffered employment with\nSea Wing.\nPhone: 669-0840.\nLOOKING FOR SUMMER EMPLOYMENT??? THe UBC Catering Dept. is looking for people to work part-time during the\nsummer. IfyouareinterestedpleasedropofT\nyour resume at the Graduate Centre.\nLOOKING FOR RELIABLE, wellgroomed\nfront end attendants for busy downtown\nservice station. P/T positions avail able. 684-\n6021, John.\nWANTED Dbase IV PROGRAMMER.\nMusthaveSQLexperience. Salary plus copy\nof developer's edition. Small project.\nCompletion by March 15. 263-1614 or 228-\n7665 \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Scott.\nMAKE SERIOUS MONEY P/T, F/T. Call\n24 hours, 731-0434.\nATTENTION STUDENTS, need a summer\njob? $6 - $9/hr., outdoors (Shaughnessy,\nKerrisdale area). Contact Mandy at 298-\n7429, lv. message.\nJEWELRY STORE seeks P.T. artistic draft\nperson capable of drawing 3-D jewelry pictures. Color finish. Call Patra 688-8528.\nSUPER BLUE-GREEN ALGAE. Perfect\nproduct for students. More energy, concentration, clarity naturally! Corner the market. Call Cell Biology grad forinfo, 732-9988.\n70 - SERVICES\nLECTURES/INTERVIEWS etc. tapes on\ncassettes transcribed. Pickupoftapes, Lower\nMainland and fast, efficient, very experienced. Reft supplied. 224-2310.\n85 - TYPING\nPROFESSIONAL TYPIST, 30 years exp.,\nword procesBing/typing. Student rates. Dorothy Martinson 228-8346.\nInternationalHouse. Lunar New Year\nParty. Everyone Welcome. $2 for\nInternational House members, $3 for\nnon-International House members.\nTickets available February 1 at IH.\nFirst come, first served. 6:30-12:00.\nEUS Rights & Freedoms Forum.\nModerated panel discussion. Noon.\nSUB Auditorium.\nUBC Students of Objectivism. Meet-\ning/discussion - The Objectivist Ethics:\nEgoism. 12:30pm. Scarfe 204.\nUBCGreens. Meeting on animal rights\nissues. Noon. SUB 215.\nInternational House. Information\nsession on historical, geographical,\ncultural and economic background of\nthe Middle East with emphasis on the\nPersian Gulf area. Led by academically qualified person who have been a\nfrequent traveler in the area. 12:30 -\n1:30 pm. Upper Lounge, International\nHouse.\nMONDAY, FEBRUARY 18th\nInternationalHouse. Information session on historical, geographical, cultural and economic background ofthe\nMiddle East with emphasis on the Persian Gulf area. Led by academically\nqualified person who have been a frequent traveler in the area. 12:30-1:30\npm. Upper Lounge, International\nHouse.\nStudent Health. Student Health will\nbe at the desk to answer any questions\nor concerns. Come and find out the\nservicesefferedtostudents. 11:30-1:30\npm, Speakeasy Outreach Desk - SUB\nON CAMPUS\nWORD PROCESSING\nNeed the professional touch? ...\nHave it done for you - you can\neven book ahead. $27/hr.,\n6-8 double spaced pages of\nnormal text per hour,\nlaser printer.\nSUB lower level, across\nfrom Tortellini's Restaurant;\n228-5640.\nTYPING QUICK right by UBC all kinds\nexperienced $1.50/pg Db. Sp. call Rob 228-\n8989. Anytime.\nDR. ESSAY - Improve your mark. Experienced editing and discount typing honours\nEng. Lit. Grad. 985-4209.\nJUDITH FILTNESS, superior typist, APA\nspec. 3206 West 38th Ave. 263-0351.\nJB WORD PROCESSING... 224-2678\nFast, Accurate, reliable. Also featuring customer operated WP (WP & MS Word on PC).\nFIRST CHOICE WORD PROCESSING -\nFast prof, quality French & Eng. Svce. -\nLaser Printing - Student Rates ($14/hr.) -\nOpen 7 days/wk. & eves. 274-7750.\nA & Y MANUSCRIPT Masters. Standard\n& Scientific texts. Style polishing. Free\ngrammar correction 253-0899.\nTERM PAPER BLUES? Professionally\nprepared. Your hard work deserves to look\nits best. 272-4995. West-side drop-off avail.\nPAPERWORKS, Quality Lazer Printing,\nprofessional presentation, Fast, accurate\ntyping. Bring us your term papers, theses,\nresumes. Call Carmen or Karen at 298-\n3309.\nRESUMES TYPED same day service.\nPickup/Delivery. Papers, essays typed.\nEditing, proofing optional. Call 224-2310.\nCOMPUTERSMITHS\n2.50 dbl. sp. page\nResume service\nNO GST!\n3726 W. Broadway at Alma\n224-5242\n100B (Across from Blue Chip).\nTUESDAY, FEB. 21st\t\nInter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.\nPrayerMeeting&Breakfast. 7:30am.\nSUB 211.\nJewish Students' Association/Hillel.\nFamous Hot Lunch. 12:30pm. Hillel\nHouse.\nAssociation for Bahai Studies. Symposium on Unity in Diversity. 7:30pm.\nSUB Theatre.\nWEDNESDAY, FEB. 20th\t\nInternational House. Information\nsession on historical, geographical,\ncultural and economic background of\nthe Middle East with emphasis on the\nPersian Gulf area. Led by academically qualified person who have been a\nfrequent traveler in the area. 12:30 -\n1:30 pm. Upper Lounge, International\nHouse.\nWEDNESDAY, APR. 3rd\t\nSchool ofMusic. UBC String Chamber\nEnsembles. Noon 12:30 pm. ADMISSION FREE. Recital Hall. Music\nBuilding.\nSchool ofMusic. UBCSymphonic Wind\nEnsemble. Martin Berinbaum, Director. 8:00pm. ADMISSION FREE.\nRecital Hall. Music Building.\nFRIDAY, APR. 5th\t\nSchool ofMusic. UBC Symphonic Wind\nEnsemble. Martin Berinbaum, director. Noon-I2:30pm. ADMISSION\nFREE. Recital Hall. Music Building.\nconsider shared\naccommodations\ncall...\nROOM\nFINDERS\nfor professional\nassistance.\n736-1733\nTHE\nCAPTAIN\nBuys/Sells\nGood*Used*Inexpensive\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Antiques \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Electronics\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2Furniture \u00E2\u0080\u00A2TV's \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Stereos\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Musical Instruments\n(CLOSE TO CAMPUS)\nyPftA Dunbar 222-2775\n^ Tree Planters S\n4*\n**\n^ *\nSPECIAL\nBuy Direct\nLowest Prices Guaranteed\nCamping Equipment\n* Winter Underwear\n* Army Surplus Clothing\n* Rain Clothing\n* Rubber Caulk Boots $39.99\n'O*\n*\"?*,\n'%*\n* Planting Bags...Spades\nO*\nrt*\u00C2\u00B0\n*S&\n175 W. Hastings\n685-9925\n177 E. Broadway\n872-7537\nAre You Experiencing\nSexual Difficulties?\nThe Department of Psychology at the University of\nBritish Columbia is conducting a study directed\ntowards understanding female sexual response and\ndeveloping new methods of treatment for women\nwith sexual dysfunction. If you are a heterosexual\nwoman, 22 years or older, and are experiencing low\nor decreased sexual desire, decreased sexual\narousal, orothersexual difficulties, please call 228-\n2998, Mon.-Fri. between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. for more\ninformation. An honorarium will be paid for participation. All inquiries will remain strictly confidential.\nJOIN THE FLOCK\nYUMYUMS\nIn The Old Auditorium\nFebruary 15 to 20, 1991\nTO CELEBRATE\nTHE YEAR OF THE SHEEP\n.SPECIAL NEW YEAQ COMBO $3.25 (include* GST)\nServed 11a.m. to 150 p.m.\nGUNG MY FAT OIOYI\n*\nAMS ART GALLERY COMMITTEE\nApplications are now being accepted by the\nAMS Art Gallery Committee for Exhibitions in\nthe 1991/92 school season in the AMS Art Gallery\nin SUB. Shows range a week in length and applicants\nmust submit ten slides of current work work, a small\nexplanation of their work and a $50.00 deposit with\ntheir application. Applications are available from\nthe AMS Executive Secretary in SUB room 238 and\nmust be returned by 4 p.m., Friday, March 8,1991.\nUBC students are given priority but all applications\nare considered.\n2/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14,1991 LESBIAN, GAY ANI> BiSEXUAt ISSUE\nLesbian filmmakers produce\nerotica, lesbian images\nby Rebecca Bishop\nWomen filmmakers in\nVancouver are creating erotic\nimages for lesbian audiences\nthat break the patriarchal norms\nof the industry.\nWomen workingin both film\nand video are operating independently to challenge the heterosexual, male viewpoint represented in most film, whether\nfrom the Hollywood mainstream\nor the erotic filmmaking industry.\nCarla Wolf is a filmmaker\nwho made the film Standing\nUnder Your Understanding\nwhen she was a student at Simon\nFraser University. \"I wanted to\nbreak down that heterosexual\nmode of viewing, and clearly that\nwas to be done through a lesbian\nrelationship. The film is two\nwomen making love, so it is\nclearly lesbian erotic.\"\nWolfs initial inspiration for\nthe work was the lesbian love\nscene in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. \"The love scene is\nbetween two women, but the\ncamera is from a male perspective.\n\"The initial look ofthe camera is the traditional male gaze\non a woman's body. But it eventually changes to a woman's view\nof a woman's body. I was identifying the camera as female. So\nthe focus represents what the\ntwo women were really seeing,\nnot the external viewer's gaze,\"\nshe said.\nThe film is purely sexual,\nwith the shots very closely set to\nthe bodies of the two women.\nThey make love with the\nvoice over of two\nwomen reciting\na poem. Wolf\ndoes not\nworking out of Vancouver, was\nthe camera operator, director,\nand editor of Butch Femme in\nParadise, which she describes\nas a \"lesbian sex comedy.\" She\nalso produced the work as a\nWhen asked if an industry\nexists in Vancouver, Boschman\nsaid \"I wouldn't call it an industry if you mean people getting\npaid for the work they do.\" Most\nfilmmakers work out of their own\npockets or try to find support\nfrom Canada Council\nfunding. Film\nand video\nco-ops\n-* \ i n\nconsider the\nwork as\npurely erotic\nhowever.\n\"I have not given it to a\ndistributor for personal reasons.\nIt is shown almost entirely\nwithin controlled screenings. It\nis shown with lectures and is\ncontextualized,\" she said. She is\nalways present at screenings,\nwhich are primarily at gay and\nlesbian film festivals.\nLorna Boschman, also\nstudent.working\nat Emily Carr. Boschman said\nshe \"felt there was not really\nenough work being done about\nsex by lesbians.\"\nBoschman's film was entirely self-funded, and like\nWolfs, her film was produced\nentirely by women.\nVancouver\nare also a\nsource of support.\nThey offer cheap access to equipment and\ntraining in all aspects of film\nand video production. Both\nBoschman and Wolf, however,\nagreed that women have to create their own support.\n\"Women making film and\nvideo have to do it entirely on\ntheir own and find their own\nsupport networks. There are a\nlot of films out there that are not\nbreaking past the community,\"\nsaid Wolf.\nBoth women worked with\nthe help of friends, and both felt\nthat while the schools they were\nattending gave them technical\nsupport, there was some ambivalence to their lesbian subject matter.\n\"I really felt self-conscious\nof my work around the other\nstudents. And when at the end\nof the year I had my critique of\nthe film and the male instructor\nquestioned whether one of the\nwomen would be that energetic\nafter havingjust had an orgasm,\na female instructor said thatyes\nit was accurate,\" said Boschman.\nBoschman's work is available through Women in Focus, a\nwomen's feminist cultural centre in Vancouver that supports\nwomen working in the visual\nart, video, and film disciplines.\nDistribution of lesbian images\nis limited, both women describing their greatest exposure\nthrough film festivals.\nVancouver Videomatica is very\ngay-positive, and Pacific\nCinemateque is one of the venues that screens alternative material, and will be screening\nworks by one of the earliest\nwomen creating lesbian images,\nBarbara Hammer, in early\nMarch.\nSymbol from concentration camp horrors comes to represent self worth for gays\nTriangle haunts past, gives pride for future\nby Paul Dayson\nThough once a stigma, the\nPink Triangle has come to symbolize much ofthe aspirations of\nthe gay liberation movement and\nis now worn with pride by gays\nand lesbians.\nIts roots go back to the concentration camps of Hitler's nazi\nGermany, where, like the Yellow\nStar of David that marked out\nJews, the Pink Triangle was\nused to identify homosexual\nprisoners.\nThe fight against persecution, however, began longbefore.\nIn the early 1920s Germany\nwas the scene of a budding gay\nrights movement, with the formation of homosexual associations in several cities.\nMost of their attention focused on fighting Paragraph 175\nof German law, created in 1871\nwith the inception ofthe German\nstate.\nParagraph 175 stated that\n\"A male who indulges in criminally indecent activities with\nanother male or who allows\nhimself to participate in such\nactivities will be punished with\njail.\"\nThough the movement's efforts for legislative change met\nwith no success, they gained\nwider acceptance, especially in\nBerlin, a centre of gay culture.\nThe rise of nazism in the 1930s,\nhowever, put an end to this.\nThe nazis viewed homosexuals as effeminate and\nwoman-like, qualities they\ndeemed unsuitable for their\nwarrior ideal. To them homosexuals were a sub-class of\ncriminals who threatened the\nreproductive vitality of German\nsociety.\nOn February 23, 1933, just\n24 days after Hitler was appointed Chancellor, all homosexual associations were\nbanned. Among those first interned at the new concentration\ncamps, like Dachau, were the\ndirectors of these associations.\nIn 1935 gay bars, which were\nraided continually in the preceding two years, were made illegal.\nAnd homosexuals were labelled\n\"sexual vagrants.\"\nParagraph 175 was expanded and criminal acts now\nincluded kissing, touching, and\nmutual masturbation as well as\nsexual acts resembling coitus.\nThe invisibility of homosexuals in society-at-large often\nhelped them to hide. As well,\nlesbians for the most part went\nuntouched because the nazis'\nThe pink triangle was used to identify thousands of gay people who\ndied in concentration camps in Nazi Germany.\npatriarchal view excluded their\nexistence. Some lesbians, however, were interned in the camps.\nGays, meanwhile, were\nfound by the authorities from\nlists of those arrested at gay\nbars, from diaries, letters and\naddress books as well as confessions under torture of the\narrested. Others were turned in\nby acquaintances.\nThe practice of direct transfer to camps\u00E2\u0080\u0094sending those in\nprisons to camps after they\nserved sentences\u00E2\u0080\u0094began in\n1938.\nHere they donned the Pink\nTriangle which denoted them as\nhomosexuals.\nUnlike ethnic or political\nprisoners, homosexuals came\nfrom a diverse background. This\nmade it difficult for them to act\ntogether and protect themselves.\nNor did they gain support\nfrom other interned groups.\nHomophobia meant that those\nwho wore the Pink Triangle were\nthe lowest caste in the camp.\nThey were excluded from the\nalliances of camp committees\nand the political undergrounds.\nAs well, homosexuals made\nup one ofthe smaller minorities\nin the camps\u00E2\u0080\u0094approximately\n25,000 are believed to have been\ninterned.\nThe p risoners with the Pink\nTriangles never lived for long\u00E2\u0080\u0094\napproximately 60 per cent of homosexuals imprisoned under the\nnazis died. They were subject to\nsome ofthe harshest conditions\nin the camps and even pseudo-\nmedical experiments designed\nto 'cure' homosexuality were\nperformed on some of them.\nYet the liberation of the\ncamps by advancing allied forces\ndid not end the persecution and\nimprisonment for the homosexuals. They were still branded\nas criminals.\nThey were forced to finish\ntheir prison sentences that had\nbeen interrupted' by their time\nin the camps. None of them was\ngranted compensation from the\nWest German government, as\nwere other groups. Often they\ndid not even have sympathetic\nfamilies to return to.\nWhen released Pink Triangle survivors had to re-enter\na hostile world. Many concocted\nstories, such as being arrested\nand interned as political anti-\nNazi resistors.\nThe Pink Triangle was buried and forgotten; a haunting\nreminder.\nIn the late 1960s, however,\nthe movement for gay liberation\nsuddenly emerged.\nIt began with a riot that\nstarted when police raided the\nStonewall, a New York gay bar.\nThe riots lasted days and soon a\nwave of gay awareness swept\nthe western world. Gays came\nforward to be counted.\nMost prominent among the\nsymbols selected to represent\nthem was the Pink Triangle.\nThey choose to reclaim it, taking\nits haunting image and creating\na powerful symbol of pride and\nself-worth.\nFebruary 14,1991\nTHE UBYSSEY/3 r^CE-X-C\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2E- L-L-E-N-T)\nY\nThe\nEAT E R\nLESBIAN, SAY AND BISEXUAL ISSUE\nFREE\nGOURMET BURGER\n(Beef or Tofu)\nOR ENTREE\nThe good deal is, your least expensive meal is Free when two or more of the\nabove items are ordered. Not valid with any other coupons. Dining in only,\nplease. Valid only when this ad is presented prior to placement of order.\n3431 WEST BROADWAY 738-5298\nu\n\u00C2\u00BB\u00C2\u00BB\nMaking Choices that Matter\nA Retreat with KAREN RIDD.\nNoted dramatist, peacemaker,\nauthor and human rights advocate.\nFriday evening, February 22 to Sunday noon, February 24\nin scenic Deep Cove, North Vancouver\nCost: $25 per person or\n$40 for two (includes food & ace.)\nSponsored by: Student Christian Movement\n(Anglican, Lutheran, United Church)\nInfo: 224-3722\nALL WELCOME\n<\nI\nAll Welcome\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Lunch\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Dinner\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Cappuccino\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Espresso\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Muffins\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Snacks\nand\nDown Home\nFoot Stompin' Fun\nwith Peter Huron \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Feb 15\nand\nthe Wingnuts \u00E2\u0080\u0094 Feb 22\nSEVEN VARIETIES ON TAP\nwatch for more details in the\nUBYSSEY's 'tween classes listings\nHours:\n11 am -11 pm (Mon. - Thurs.)\n11 am - Midnight (Friday)\nGraduate Student Centre\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Private Parties\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Grad Cruises\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Daytrips\nWeddings\nLuncheons\nDining & Dancing\nLicenced Bar Available \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\nBook a Cruise Today\n682-3074\nWhat do gays want?\nby Clark Antonich and Chris Bitten\nHomosexuals are after your\nchildren.\nAfter your children's minds,\nhearts and souls. They're after you\ntoo: your concept of your own\nsexuality.\nThey want homosexuality\ntaught in your schools and want to\nbe portrayed as \"positive\" role\nmodels. They want to be able to\n\"marry,\" be eligible for family\nbenefits and be allowed to adopt\nyour children, raisingthem as their\nown.\nHold it. What is this really\nabout: privacy? morality? sexual\nfreedom of expression? Or is it\nmerely the strident and\nhumourless complaining of an oversensitive, privileged group who\nhave lost all sense of perspective\nabout their place in society?\nHomosexual acts have only\nbeen decriminalized in most\nwestern countries comparatively\nrecently. Is this yet another social\nexperiment gone dangerously\nawry? Is it smart to throw away\nthe \"wisdom ofthe ages\" baby out\nwith the \"let's get liberal\"\nbathwater?\nWe present ourselves as a\nChristian society. Total confusion\nreigns here too. Conservative\nChristians have believed gays\nshouldbe quarantined, imprisoned\nfor life, even put to death if they act\non their desires. The more liberal\nChristians of today say homosexuals are people deserving of respect\nandlove, even when they have sex.\nThe most radical Christians even\ncondone the ordination of gays.\nSo is Homosexuality an\nabomination or not?\nHomosexuality appears to be\nwidely tolerated today. \"Just as\nlong as they stay away from me,\" is\nthe often heard declaration of tolerance. Two consenting adults can\ndo whatever they want behind\nclosed doors these days. Sure, that's\nno problem, but that's not where it\nstops, is it? Homosexuals keep\nwanting more, the moral aspects\nof the problem can no longer be\nglossed over.\nPeople often become aware of\ntheir sexual orientation when they\nare children or during the years of\npuberty. Children and teens who\nawaken to their homosexual attractions are usually then abused\nand alienated by their peers.\nWorse, they may be invalidated or\nbetrayed by their parents, teachers,\ncounsellors\u00E2\u0080\u0094people who should\nhave the information, education or\nplain guts to affirm the child who\nhas an atypical sexuality. This is\nan abuse of authority. It is immoral.\nIt is from this traumatizing\ncrucible that most homosexuals\nhave to struggle if they are to develop a positive sense of themselves\nand be capable of functional relationships as adults. For some, this\nstruggle endsin suicide. For many,\nit understandably ends in addiction. These outcomes reflect the\ndesperation ofthe struggle to adapt\nto an alien and hostile world.\nThe survivors, though hardier\nfor the struggle perhaps, will as\nadults face daily prejudice and\noppression. When homosexuals\ncome out of the closets they were\nherded into as children\u00E2\u0080\u0094declare\nthemselves\u00E2\u0080\u0094it is hard to overestimate the gravity ofthe event. It is\na one-way trip that can be met\nwith assault, stubborn invalidation, willful ignorance, or outright\nrejection by family and friends.\nThe worst response, though, is stereotyping\u00E2\u0080\u0094the theft of one's identity. Yes, coming out is about sex,\nbut it's also about refusal to be\noppressed by misguided morality\nand about determination to be\nother than a creature of \"traditional\nvalues\". To those who haven't experienced it, coming out may seem\ntrivial, over-indulgent or grandiose\nbut it is really a triumph of the\nhuman spirit over fear.\nThe core issue is education and\nfreedom of information. For example, when homosexuals demand\nthe right to adopt children they are\nnot out to corrupt perfectly normal\nchildren into their \"perverse\"\nlifestyle. There is no movement to\nconvert heterosexuals, nor does\nsuch conversion appear to be possible.\nThe discussion and acceptance\nof homosexuality should not be dismissed as an attempt to force heterosexuals to think about practices\nthey may find unsavory, but rather\nas a moral challenge to oppression\nand regimentation. Nobody loses\nwhen oppression is stopped.\nNo matter what our sexual\norientation, we are all enriched by\ndiversity, choice and self-realization.\nGay subculture and\nthe role of the disco\nThe rise of modern dance music with its distinctive bass beat is\nsomething inextricably tied to the\nadvent of an urban, post-industrial\nand post-literate culture. Two\ngroups with a \"heritage\" in its\nevolution include the black community, which promulgated it, and\nthe gay community, which borrowed it.\nSince the rise of disco inevitably coincided with the inception of\nthe modern gay movement, its role\nis not only symptomatic of some of\nthe most underlying social changes\nofthe last two decades, including,\nthe formation of gay sensibility.\nAs a homosexual committed\nto the advancement ofthe lot ofthe\nhomosexual, it is obviously in my\nbest interests to dispel much ofthe\npervasive mythology of the exotic\nand androgynous horrors of gay\ndiscodom. I also consider it necessary to tabulate its relevance which\neven my smirking friends fail to\nrealize. What has now spawned\ninto club, house, hip-hop, acid, hi-\nI Hot\nI Flash\nInternational Lesbian Week:\nFebruary 16-24\nLESBIANS AND AIDS:\nLets talk about safer sex.\nTueday Feb 19\n7:30-9:30\nSTRATEGIZING FOR CONFRONTING HOMOPHOBIA IN\nTHE WORKPLACE\nWednedsay Feb. 20\n7:30-9:30\nSEXPLORATIONS\nThursday Feb. 21\n7:30-9:30\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2\"or info contact Vancouver Lesbian Centre\nenergy dance, acid-house, hip-hop\nhouse, etc., etc. was originally a\nmarriage of R&B and soul in the\nblack nightclubs ofthe sixties. Gay\ndisk jockeys quickly picked up\nsome of these underground hits\nand played them because of their\ninnate danceability and such songs\nas \"Honeybee\" gained a certain\nlimited status as a \"classic.\"\nThe rise of gay activism, taken\nfor granted today, stemmed from a\nviolent reaction to the repeated\nharassment by New York police in\na Christopher Street bar in 1969.\nThe resulting riots took days to\nquell.\nIn search of better economic\nprospects and a more tolerant environment, leagues of strapping\nand not-so-strapping gay men migrated to the coastal meccas of New\nYork, San Francisco, Los Angeles,\nand even Montreal, Toronto and\nVancouver from the heart and\nhinter-land ofthe continent in the\ndepressed seventies. It was a\ncommunity at ground zero and\ndiscos performed in a needed capacity as \"town halls\" in the first\nstages of the community's construction.\nThe social relevance of this\nfirst generation of active and \"out\"\nhomosexuals cannot be underestimated. Among a plethora of new\nbars (and bath-houses), gay restaurants, law offices, laundromats,\ngymnasiums, travel agencies and\naccounting firms were opened. At\nthe clubs, the exuberances of this\n\"brave new world\" were voiced by\nopenly gay musicians\u00E2\u0080\u0094such as the\nVillage People\u00E2\u0080\u0094after John\nTravolta made the much-\nghettoized disco music popular in\nmainstream culture.\nThe rise ofthe gay community\noccurred at the most liberal epoch\nsince the Renaissance and perhaps\nthe potential transience of this\nmodicum of acceptance should have\nbeen more regarded while the gay\ncommunity debaucheditself to the\nhigh-energy disco of Sylvester's\n\"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).\"\nThe Seventies opened with the\nJanus head of Reagan conservatism and AIDs. Times had changed\nand as the homosexuals died by\nthe thousands, they were\nsodomized by government inaction\ntowards such an \"expendable\" minority and by the spectre of such\nanti-gay violence as beatings with\na crowbar.\nIt soon became quite obvious\nthat if anything were to be done to\nalleviate the crisis, it would have\nto come from within the gay community itself. Gay clubs held fund-\nraising benefits for such agencies\nas the Gay Men's Health Crisis to\nthe sad grooves of the\nCommunards' \"Smalltown Boy.\"\nPerhaps it is fitting that disco had\nbecome a four-letter word and John\nTravolta's career spiralled downwards.\nGays' anger at their treatment\nled to the formation of such confrontational groups as ACT-UP and\nQueer Nation as surely as the gay\nmovement was started by anger at\npolice brutality almost a decade\nearlier.\nA new decade is dawning and\nthe gay community can claim\nlimited success in its AIDS prevention campaigns (the same remains to be seen in the straight\ncommunity). Once ignited, the\npassionate flames of the new gay\nmilitancy will show little signs of\nabating until the Essau's hair of\nthe holier-than-thou straight\ncomplacency is burnt away.\n\"Groove Is In The Heart\" is at\nthe top of the charts.\n4/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14,1991 LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL ISSUE\nGovernment wimps out\nby Laurie Newell\nThe Canadian government has\nfailed to follow through on a five\nyear old commitment to include\nsexual orientation in the Charter\nof Rights as a prohibited ground of\ndiscrimination, according to\nBurnaby-Kingsway member of\nparliament Svend Robinson.\nAfter receiving recommendations from a special all party parliamentary committee, the government stated in March 1986 that\nit would \"take whatever measures\nthat are necessary to ensure that\nsexual orientation is a prohibited\nground of discrimination.\"\nNow, justice minister Kim\nCampbell has announced that she\nwill introduce a package of\namendments to the Canadian\nHuman Rights Act. The amendments, the first to the bill since\n1978, will likely be introduced this\nspring and could include the addition of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for discrimination.\nWhile speaking in the SUB\nAuditorium on Wednesday,\nRobinson said the issue was not of\nprotecting special rights, but rather\nof the protection of human rights\nuniversally. He said the legislation\nwould be an important step towards ensuring basic dignity for\nlesbian, gay and bisexual people,\nand enabling them to live without\nfear of losing their jobs or being\ndenied employment, housing, and\ncustody of their children among\nother things.\nCurrently, Quebec, Ontario,\nManitoba and the Yukon territory\nare the only provinces to have enacted provincial legislation prohibiting discrimination on the\ngrounds of sexual orientation.\nDangers of silence\n\"Silence and invisibility are\nthe two greatest obstacles for\njustice for the lesbian and gay\ncommunity,\" according to member of parliament for Burnaby-\nKingsway Svend Robinson\nAddressing an audience of\nabout 50 people in the SUB\nAuditorium on Wednesday,\nRobinson spoke often of the\ndangers of silence for the\nlesbian and gay community.\nHe quoted Martin Luther\nKing who said \"history will\nnot judge us by the vicious-\nness ofour enemies but by the\nsilence of our friends.\"\nRobinson cited examples of\ndiscrimination against gays and\nlesbians by the Canadian Armed\nForces, and challenged UBC students and faculty to oppose mili\ntary recruitment on campus for\nthis reason./\"\nRobinson said there was a\nworld-wide network of about 70\nopenly gay and lesbian politicians,\nand that none of them had been\ndefeated in an election after having openly declared their sexual-\nity.\n\"We can openly speak out for\nequality and still do well politically,\" he said.\nRobinson said openly confirming his own sexuality has\ngained him \"extraordinary support\" among his parliamentary\ncolleagues, and has almost eliminated explicit homophobia in\nparliament.\n\"The single most powerful\nthing a gay person can do is to\ncome out,\" he said.\nFederally, lesbians, gays and\nbisexuals may be able to count on\nsome legal protection against discrimination under Section 15 of\nthe Charter of Rights. However,\nRobinson maintains that discrimination against lesbians, bisexuals and gays continues to be\nwidespread.\nExamples of such discrimination include an employer who terminated the contract of a woman\nwho had received awards of merit,\nwhen it was learned the woman\nwas a lesbiam; a gay man who was\nfired by the new manager of a\nbranch of a major bank was explicitly told it was because he was\ngay; and the destruction by arson\nof a private club for lesbians and\ngay men in a small Canadian town.\nAccording to Robinson, there\nhas been considerable opposition\nto the move towards including\nsexual orientation in the Charter\nof Rights. As well as opposition\nfrom groups like REAL Women,\nhundreds of letters have been sent\nto the prime minister opposing the\nprotection of lesbians, bisexuals\nand gays under the Charter.\n\u00C2\u00AB***,.\nll\" ;: \u00E2\u0096\u00A0 *\n1 M\nt'':;;;\n%L. 1 :''\nWk I\nSvend Robinson in SUB\nRobinson said there is a need\nfor fundamental changes in the way\nlesbian and gay lives are portrayed\nin the media, as well as in school\ntexts and curricula. Until lesbian\nand gay lives are more positively\nand visibly portrayed, members of\nthe lesbian and gay community will\ncontinue to \"suffer the perfect death\nDON MAH PHOTO\nof invisibility,\" he said.\nIn light ofthe opposition, and\nthe historical silencing of the lesbian and gay community, Robinson\nconcluded that a continuing campaign in favour of protecting lesbians, bisexuals and gays in the\ncharter is essential.\nNeither, nor: bisexuality\nI am not homosexual, yet the\nlesbian and gay liberation move-\nmentis of crucial importance tome.\nI am bisexual. I love women; I\nalso love men. Because of this I am\nalso \"queer\".\nFor this reason, lesbian and\ngay liberation is of the utmost\nimport to the way I live. Their\nliberation means my right to exist\nwithout fear and with affirmation\nof my right to love those of my sex.\nHomophobia is a fear of me, as\nit is a fear of homosexuals. I suffer\nfrom it also. It prevents me from\nexpressing my sexuality, as it does\nlesbians and gays.\nHetrosexism insults me, as it\ninsults homosexuals. The constant\nbarrage ofheterosexual images, role\nmodelsand assumptions enrage me,\nas they do gays. They are a denial\nof who I am by the world around\nme.\nAs a bisexual, it can feel like\nbeing trapped in a void between\ntwo communities and belonging to\nneither. Which community I find\nmyself in at any one time is often\ndefined by the sex of my partner.\nOne \"side\" of my sexuality is,\nhowever, definitely more accept\nable in the eyes of society as it\nstands. Being with a person ofthe\n\"opposite' sex is often easier\u00E2\u0080\u0094 that\nI will admit. Sometimes it is not\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nas with rejection or alienation, denial can never be easy.\nI need an environment where I\nholding the hand of whom I choose,\nand kiss them in public; where it is\nnot automatically assumed that I\nam heterosexual; where my sexuality is affirmed. These are essential to my being a whole person. I\nam not of myself.complete acceptance is my own.\nHeterosexuals are nothing but ignorant pigs\nby Gerald Williams\nIt appears that most heterosexuals seem like ignorant pigs\n(no offence to pigs).\nBut hey, what type of image do\nthey get of homosexuals\u00E2\u0080\u0094the same\ntype of Hollywood and media stereotyping that homosexuals often complain about as not being representative of us. Heterosexualsare notgoing\nto change their views until they can\nstop saying that they have never met\na homosexual. Well, you know they\nhave, but the lie continues.\nWe all know that heterosexuals\nare not stupid (no offence to the stupi d\nones), and life would be easier if they\ndid not look like they were going to be\nsick when you mention you were out\nwith a same sex date last night, but\nthey won't change for a while. And\nthey will never change until they have\nhad some exposure to real homosexuals, not just images.\nAll you have to lose by not\nspeaking up about yourself is your\nself-respect. Oh, I have heard that\nthere is a time and a place for everything, and that situations exist where\nthe fact that you are homosexual is\nnot an issue. Most people would say\ntheir jobs are such situations\nWell, I have certainly heard a\nlot of professors mention their\nspouses while lecturing, and no\none registers complaints because\nthe prof is talking about a sexual\npartner. If the students get uncomfortable with the fact that their\nprof is homosexual then the students should seek counselling, because an unrealistic fear of something is not healthy.\nThere are an awful lot of nice\nheterosexuals who attend classes\nhere on campus, and some of them\nbelong to clubs which throw some\nfun parties and events. There are\nalso an awful lot of nice homosexuals who belong to all these\norganizations who would never\ndare show up with a same sex\ndate.\nHey, come on. By not showing\nup with a date of your choice you\nare saying that these heterosexuals you socialize with are insensitive and impolite. Nice friends you\nhave.\nYou are also saying that you\nwould rather lie to these people.\nNice friend you are.\nMost heterosexuals are afrai d to\ntalk to homosexuals because they\ndon't know what to say. They are\nafraid of saying something to offend\nyou, or that you will hit on them.\nWell, in a classroom saying\nsomething wrong when trying to\nlearn is acceptable to most professors, but there is certainly\nenough evidence ofthe \"politically\ncorrect\" people of the world\nshowing hostility and cruelty to\npeople who make slips of the\ntongue while trying to learn. So\nuse a little more tact and understanding with heterosexuals who\nare trying.\nThe heterosexuals will calm\ndown in a while. As far as being\nafraid that you are going to hit on\nthem, be comforted\u00E2\u0080\u0094it is usually\nthe most unattractive of the heterosexuals who believe this.\nThe cynical might say it is\nbecause they want to be able to\nturn down at least one person before they die, but this is cruel.\nFebruary 14,1991\nTHE UBYSSEY/5 LESBIAN, \u00C2\u00A9AY AND BISEXUAL ISSUE\nGay and AIDS activists\ntake on new militancy\nby Paul Dayson\nA new generation of lesbians\nand gays are out demanding their\nrights. No longer content to stay\nleft alone in their closets or their\nbedrooms, they are out in the\nstreets.\nIn recent years there has been\na growth of new lesbian and gay\nliberation groups demanding an\nequal, recognized and accepted\nplace in society. Their tactics, aims\nand composition are radically dif-\nferentfromthe gaymovementthat\nevolved out ofthe late sixties.\nNotable amongst these are\nthe AIDS Coalition To Unleash\nPower (ACT-UP) and Queer Nation, groups in the forefront of\nAIDS and gay rights activism.\nVancouver has only recently\nbegun to experience ACT-UP. A\nchapter was only formed here last\nspring. Since then it has gone on\nto make splashes in the news\nmedia.\nVancouverites can also expect\nto start seeing \"Queer-ins.\" This\nweek a meeting is being held to\nform a Vancouver Chapter of\nQueer Nation.\nThe members of these groups\nare youthful. Having \"come out\"\nat a younger age, they have become aware earlier of the injustices of our culture towards gays.\n\"ACT-UP; fight back\" and \"We're\nhere and we're queer\" are their\ncries.\nLesbians have become a vocal\nand visible force, first as health\ncare workers looking after AIDS\npatients, then as outspoken activists. They have brought their visions of radical and lesbian-femi\nnism to these groups resulting in\ncollaborative styles decision making.\nBisexuals have also begun to\nenter the Lesbian and Gay movement. New groups are adopting\nthe phrase \"gay, lesbian and bisexual\" rather than the term \"lesbian and gay\" that has become\nstandard.\nGroups like ACT-UP, Queer\nNation and others, use militant\nactions that assert their rights\nrather than negotiating for them.\nIn many ways, the AIDS crisis has made this a necessity.\nAIDS COALITION TO\nUNLEASH POWER\n(ACT-UP)\nThe epitome of AIDS activist\ngroups, ACT-UP, has made the\nslogan \"Silence = Death\" popular\nand set the tone of militant AIDS\nand gay activism.\nACT-UP began in New York\nin the mid-eighties where the\nAIDS crisis had been the most\ndisastrous. It provided an outlet\nfor the constructive energies of at\nfirst a few dozen and then hundreds of concerned individuals,\nlater growing to thousands. ACT-\nUP New York now has affiliated\ngroups across North America and\nin Europe. In Canada, chapters\nexistisMontreal, Toronto andnow\nVancouver.\nAt first, the Vancouver chapter was criticized for not matching its namesakes when it conducted a die-in at Robson Square\nin August. Later, it gained the ire\nof many for its protests.\nIt has most noticeably targeted the Social Credit government of premier Bill Vander Zalm\nfor its AIDS policies.\n\"British Columbia is the only\nprovince in Canada that bills those\ninfected with the HIV virus for\ntheir treatments,\" according to\nACT-UP literature.\nNor will it allow the distribution of condoms in prisons or institute a program of sex education\nclasses which teach about safer\nsex and homosexuality. Vander\nZalm himself vetoed an AIDS\nvideo for schools calling it \"a\ncondom ad.\"\nThis has made Vander Zalm\ntheir target for two demonstrations. Both resulted in shoving\nmatches and arrests of ACT-UP\nmembers by police.\nDescribing ACT-UP's methods, Vancouver chapter spokesperson Kevin Robb said, \"It's one\nofthe ways. Every method is be-\ningtriedto get the message across.\n\"People are throwing themselves in front of automobiles to\nget people to pay attention,\" he\nsaid.\nACT-UP targets the medical\nestablishment and municipal,\nstate, provincial and federal governments, as well as public opinion for their passive attitude towards the AIDS epidemic. They\naim to make the public comprehend the serious consequences of\ntheir ignorance about the disease.\nACT-UP has become infamous for their disruption of the\n1989 conference on AIDS held in\nMontreal. ACT-UP members\ngained entrance into the conference hall and took over the stage\nto make its criticisms ofthe scientific community's handling ofthe\nAIDS crisis.\nThey were critical of the\nprofiteering from the AIDS epidemic\u00E2\u0080\u0094the high cost of the patented drugs marketed by pharmaceutical companies with a monopoly. Many AIDS patients, they\nsaid, cannot afford them.\nThey also noted that AIDS\npatients were not present at the\nproceedings while the scientific\ncommunity decided their fate.\nIn San Francisco, a year later,\nACT-UP again tried to disrupt\nthe conference on AIDS held there.\nThey held that the US policy barring those with AIDS from entering the country prevented adequate discussion.\nACT-UP did not gain entry to\nthe conference but sit down demonstrations resulted in many arrests.\nThese are classic examples of\nACT-UPs tactics: forms of civil\ndisobedience which combine passive resistance and the creative\ndisruption of everyday business.\nACT-UP has traditionally\naimed at achieving recognition for\nthe state ofthe AIDS crisis. \"AIDS\ndeaths every hour; blood on the\nhands of those in power\" has become one of their slogans. The\ngovernments, they say, are not\ndoing enough to combat the disease.\nACT-UP members have levelled criticism at governments for\navoiding dealing with the AIDS\ncrisis. Homophobia on the part\npoliticians, they allege, is the root\ncause ofthe inaction.\nAs proof they cite the overall\nlack of concern about AIDS until\n\"Free AZT.\" British Columbia is the only\nprovince that does not fully fund AZT.\nREBECCA BISHOP PHOTO\nit began to affect the heterosexual\npopulation.\nACT-UP's demands have\nranged from condoms for prisoners in jail and needle exchange\nprograms to sex education that\nincludes homosexuality.\nRecently, ACT-UP begun to\nvoice criticism of injustices not, at\nfirst, apparently related to AIDS.\nStances on issues like racism,\nsexism and economic injustice\nhave been included in some chapters' mandates. Injustices such as\nthese, some ACT-UP chapters argue, prevent the disadvantaged\nfrom receiving even the poor AIDS\ntreatment available.\nIn New York, ACT-UP's\nfounding and most influential\nchapter adopted this stance. Its\nnew priority is national health\ncare.\nThis has some older AIDS activists and gays concerned about\nthe new perspective of these ACT-\nUP chapters being seen as a divergence from the AIDS issue.\nIn San Francisco, ACT-UP\nhas split into two chapters\u00E2\u0080\u0094\"San\nFrancisco\" and \"Golden Gate\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nwhich cooperate but have different priorities.\nQUEER NATION\nQueer Nation is a new lesbian and gay liberation group that\nis rapidly spreading across North\nAmerica. Chapters have almost\ninstantaneously sprung up all\nacross the continent. Focusing on\nhomophobia and heterosexism, it\naims on achieving acceptability\nfor homosexuality.\nIn response to charges of\npromoting homosexuality, in\nthe past the gay movement's\nspokespeople have denied this\nis what their movement is\nabout. \"Promote homosexuality\" is a Queer Nation slogan.\nThey seek to promote homosexuality as an alternative that\nis both acceptable and viable.\n\"Queer-ins,\" as Queer Nation\nhas dubbed them, are one of its\nmeans of doing this. The first was\nthis summer in New York, where\ngays and lesbians gathered in\nCentral Park to express their\nsexuality.\nSince then, Queer Nation has\norganized the \"Queer Shopping\nNetwork\" for weekend trips to\nsuburban malls to hand out gay\nrights brochures and \"Nights Out\"\nin which they enter heterosexual\nestablishments and begin kissing\nand holding hands.\nThese in-your-face demonstrations of sexuality by Queer\nNation are not aimed at a piece\nof gay rights legislation but at\nstopping bigotry and\nhomophobic harassment of\nlesbian and gay people.\nGays' communities\nmean not fighting alone\nby Harley Morrow\nOne cannot come back from\nSan Francisco without being impressed by the sense of community amongst the gays and lesbians.\nFacing the AIDS crisis has\ngiven the men and women a sense\nof family. No person is alone in\ntheir fight for life because their\ngay brothers and sisters are there\nwhen their biological family\nabandon them.\nThe struggle is not over because of an ever increasing need\nand so many people would like to\nsee their work fail. I cannot believe that those people who have\nhelped their neighbour in need\nhave not grown spiritually.\nIn Vancouver, the Gay Games\nwas an incredibly powerful event,\nbringing people from all over the\nworld to our city. The normally\ninvisible gay population, swelled\nin numbers and visibility, felt the\npower of numbers. But to see\nVancouver now, one would hardly\nknow that the largest Gay Games\nwas just held here.\nHomosexuality may have its\norigins in sex, but it grows from\nthere to form a community\u00E2\u0080\u0094just\nas an individual who comes out\nfirst discovers his/her sexuality\nand then goes on to discover that\nthere are other human beings who\nfeel as he/she does. The rights and\nopportunities we as a community\nenjoy today were fought for by\nfellow gays and lesbians. Those of\nus who take advantage of those\nopportunities by going to a gay\nbar or reading a gay paper like\nthis edition of The Ubyssey have a\nresponsibility to continue their\nfight.\nThe community in San Francisco would never have been able\nto face the AIDS crises without\nthe participation and support of\nthe men and women of the gay\ncommunity. The gay organizations\nin this city and on this campus\nneed your support if they are to\ncontinue the fight against hate\nand ignorance.\nWe as a community will be\nstronger with you.\n6/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14. 1991 GL ISSUE\nOn love, tolerance, and the pink triangle\nby Mark Livesey\nOurmorbidcuriosityaboutthe\ngenocidal horrors of the Nazi regime has always been one that I\nhave never been able to reconcile\nmyself to.\nThe only satisfying explanation I can devise is that it hit too\nclose to home\u00E2\u0080\u0094it represents a potential in our society. That such\natrocities could occur in one ofthe\nmost modernized, powerful, western and, seemingly, \"civilized\"\nnations on the face ofthe planet is\nthe real horror ofthe holocaust. In\nour staid, morally vain self-assumptions, the gaping visage of\nthe death-camp victim screams for\nrecognition.\nIn the vein of our superior\n\"situational morality\", as we try to\nponder the gravity of the mecha-\nni zed sacrifices ofthe Jewish people\nto the ideological trinity of\nhomogenity, war and nationalism,\nthe thousands of other victims of\nHitler are, for reasons either innocent or deliberate, ignored. Any\nchild over six will be aware that\ninnumerable Jews were consumed\nin the flames of Nazi hatred in\nhuman incinerators or work camps,\nbut are unaware ofthe multitude\nof Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses,\n\"Race Defilers\", political enemies\nand homosexuals that died at their\nsides under the stomp of the SS's\nboots.\nThe tragedy ofthe Jews in the\nSecond World War was a major\nfactor in the establishment of a\nJewish homeland in the post-war\nperiod, as well as some measure of\nfinancial restitution by t>> e German\ngovernment.\nClearly, the thousands of homosexuals who wore the pink triangle in the concentration camps\nwere viewed as just as disposable\nby the allied victors as the Jews\nwere to the Nazis. In fact, many of\nthe camps actually stayed open\nafter the war to house the homosexuals who had \"not completed\ntheir sentences\" as homosexuality\nwas not legalized by the West\nGerman government until 1969.\nThe Orwellian overtones do\nnot stop there. The historical\nomission of the homosexual concentration camp experience (shown\nby what accounts there are to be\njust as bad as the situation for the\nJews\u00E2\u0080\u0094if not worse), amounts to\nthe rewriting of history and seems\nto indicate that the value of one life\nis not necessarily regarded as\nequivalent to the next. But then\ntimes have changed.\nNow there are court cases to\ndetermine whether life insurance\ncompanies should cover heterosexuals and homosexuals for equal\namounts as the homosexuals might\nhave AIDS. In a study in the United\nStates, 95 per cent of all homosexuals surveyed were found to\nhave been assaulted (physically or\nverbally) at one time and, in the\ncrime records, it was determined\nthat the homosexual was seven\ntimes more likely than the heterosexual counterpart to be a victim of crime.\nMeanwhile, the gay scene in\n\"thirtysomething\" will never occur\nin reruns because ofthe millions of\ndoll ars in lost adverti sing re venue s\nthat scene incurred thanks to\nmassive cancellations of contracts.\nIn England, the scene of two men\nlying in bed together would have\nbeen illegal because it amounted\nto a \"promotion of homosexuality\"\n(anti-homosexual public expression is still quite legal, though).\nGay stars and athletes are advised\nnot to \"go public\" with their homosexuality as it would mean lost\nmoney in product endorsement and\nadvertising and/or \"ruin\" their careers. This, in turn, deprives the\ngay community of badly needed\nrole models and perpetuates the\nmyths of the non-existent homosexual andthatsportsissomething\nincongruous with a gay identity.\nAll of this contributes to the\nmaligning ofthe homosexual and is a\nfactor inmuch oftheanti-gay violence.\nGovernment, certainly, is not unaware\nof such facts and statistics (the Conservative government has promised\nto include of \"homosexuals\" in the\nminorities protected under the Charter ofRighte and Freedoms for almost\na decade now).\nGovernment and social inaction in the face of these damning\ntruths is tantamount to a sin of\nomission and lays bare the bones\nof our situational morality. The\npink triangle remains the sym bol\nof gay pride and oppression.\nWhy do people tell me they are lesbian/gay?\nThis is a question that gay\npeople have been asked countless\ntimes by their heterosexual friends\nand, no doubt, a question that\nheterosexual people ask each other.\nAs a gay person I am always surprised and a bit angered by this\nquestion. Imagine that you have\nmet a person in one of your classes\nand you hit it off very well. After\nfew days, this person approaches\nyou and says:\n\"There is something that I\nwould like to tell you: I am deaf.\nPeople do not notice because I lip-\nread very well.\"\nYou would never think of\nasking this person why he/she is\ntelling you this. You would be glad\nto have earned this person's trust\nand have started building a\nstronger friendship. This shouldbe\nthe way in which you accept and\nacknowledge the fact that someone is lesbian/gay as well.\nWhen a lesbian/gay friend\n\"comes out\" to you, you can, for a\nmoment, glimpse the hostility and\nfoolishness that is our conditioned\ncultural response to lesbians and\ngays. You can see the contradiction\nbetween the negative ideas that\nwe are taught about lesbian and\ngay people and the .person standing before you whom you consider\na friend. It is as if you, as a heterosexual person, suddenly become\naware that you are standing in a\nminefield and are wondering how\ntheygotthere. In reality, the mines\nwere being planted for many years\nby you with the encouragement\nand approval of our society.\nThis is, perhaps, what makes\nthis question so difficult to answer.\nIt is a question that hides and\nprovokes many unstated fears and\nfeelings. It demands much thought\nand questioning for the person who\nposes it\u00E2\u0080\u0094Am I afraid that some of\nthe \"truths\" I hold are wrong? Am\nI afraid of trying to search for my\nown answers to difficult questions?\nAm I afraid that this person is\nattracted to me? The best that I\ncan do to answer this question in\nsuch a small piece is to list a few of\nthe answers that other lesbian/gay\npeople that I have talked to have\ngiven me.\nWhy do people tell me that\nthey are lesbian/gay? Because I am\nnot ashamed of myself; because\nbeing gay is different from being\nheterosexual; because I would not\nhave been asked; because you assume that I am not lesbian/gay;\nbecause I don't like having to perform linguistic gymnastics when I\ntalk to you about my lover; becau se\nmy lover and I cannotreceive many\nofthe rights and benefits that you\ntake for granted; because we live\nin a society that ignores lesbian\nand gay people; because you/we\nare taught that we are intrinsically bad; because people would\nnot think of degrading another\nperson by calling them \"nigger\" or\n\"chink\" while dyke, fag, lezzie, and\nqueer are somehow acceptable;\nbecause queer-bashing is real; because many religions condemn us,\ngiving tacitrnoral support to people\nwho hate us; because all too often\nfriends and family abandon us;\nbecause I want you to see that your\nstereotypes are wrong; because I\nwant to be open with you; because\nI want you to ask me about being\ngay-\nBut most of all, because I trust\nyou and I value you and I want to\ncall you my friend.\nBy asking, \"Why do people tell\nme that they are lesbian/gay?\" you\nare communicating the unspoken\nand usually unconscious attitude\nthat it is \"okay\" to be lesbian/gay\nbut I don't want to know about it.\nThis person\u00E2\u0080\u0094your friend\u00E2\u0080\u0094is\nsharing with you a very important\npart of themselves. If you are surprised or uncomfortable, stop for a\nmoment and try to understand your\nown feelings. If you have questions,\nask them in a considerate way.\nExpress your ideas, feelings, and\nconcerns and listen to the other\nperson. This is, of course, exactly\nhow strong and lasting friendships\nare formed.\nOh yeah, I almost forgot....\nbecause I would like to sign this\nbut I know that if I do it will hurt\nREBECCA BISHOP PHOTO\nmy career...and I hope that someday, with your help, I won't have to\nworry anymore.\nSeizures stifle gay/lesbian literature\nby Graham Cameron\nCiting a long history of unwarranted discrimination against\nimporting gay and lesbian literature, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Little Sisters bookstore have filed a co-action lawsuit\nagainst Canada Customs.\nLabelling the restriction of\nwritten material as the \"purest\nform of the censorship,\" BCCLA\npresident Philip Bryden said\nCanada Customs regularly seizes\nbooks destined for Little Sisters.\nBryden, who teaches law at\nUBC, e'.ognizes that under Canadian custom tariff laws, books\nthat are obscene may be seized.\nBut he argues that the way the\nlaws are applied violates a person's\nright to free expression under the\nCanadian Charter of Rights.\nThe present system, he said,\nis based on an unacceptable \"reverse onus procedure.\" In most\ncases the onus is on the Crown to\nprove guilt, but in these actions it\nthe materials are not obscene.\nChallenging this \"assumption\nof guilt\" bias of the Canada Customs regulations will be a central\nelement of the BCCLA and Little\nSisters' case, according to Bryden.\n\"In the way that they're applied, there is a discrimination\nagainst those who want to read\ngay and lesbian literature and this\nis a violation of the equality provisions of the Charter,\" Bryden\nsaid.\nBryden also said that some\nbooks which have been banned\nfrom Little Sisters can be found in\nmore mainstream bookstores.\n\"Custom officials are looking\nat these books, and because it's\ngay and lesbian literature and\nbecause it's going to a gay and\nlesbian bookstore, they target it,\"\nhe said.\nThe accusation that Canada\nCustoms discriminates against\nimporting gay and lesbian literature is a charge that has been\noutside ofthe gay communities for\nmany years.\nIn December 1986, Canada\nCustoms seized two shipments of\nliterature worth more than $20,000\nheadedfor Little Sisters bookstore,\naccording to an article in The\nVancouver Sun.\nMoreover, Jim Deva, co-owner\nof Little Sisters, said the timing of\nthe seizures was not a coincidence.\nTogether they accounted for about\n60 per cent of the store's stock for\nChristmas\u00E2\u0080\u0094often the peak sales\nperiod in a year.\nAs a result of this and similar\nincidents dealing with Glad Day\nBookstore in Toronto (which recently went out of business after\n20 years), many believe Canada\nCustoms is trying to put gay and\nlesbian bookstores out of business.\nAccording to The Vancouver\nSun article, \"Canada Customs cited\npossible violations of regulations\nbanning the importation of obscene\nmaterial.\"\non, \"among the books seized are\nworks of fiction by respected authors that are available at the\nVancouver Public Library and can\nbe bought at other bookstores in\nthe city.\"\nDavid Kerfoot, an employee at\nDuthie's, said at the time: \"If these\nbooks were classified as obscene,\nso would a substantial portion of\nbooks sold by Duthie's.\n\"It's obvious that some customs officer has decided he doesn't\nlike gay folks and somebody should\nblow the whistle on them for doing\nthis,\" he said.\nOn July 14, 1990, Globe and\nMail journalist H.J. Kirchhoff reported blatant discrepancies over\nhow Canada's anti-obscenity laws\napply to heterosexual and gay and\nlesbian erotica.\nCasual perusal of any bookstore, video shop, or convenience\nstore, he wrote, wouldreveal many\nviolations ofboth the Canada Tariff\nAct (the laws which determine\nand Canada Customs internal\nMemorandum D9-1-1 which details how the Tariff Act is to be\ninterpreted by customs officials.\nAccording to Kirchhoff, one\nwould find many \"depictions or\ndescriptions of anal penetration,\nincluding depictions or descriptions\ninvolvingimplements of all kinds,\"\nas well as material \"depicting or\ndescribing sex with violence, sexual\nassault, bondage, incest, bestiality\nand the whole of range of practices\nproscribed by Memorandum D9-1-\n1.\"\n\"In fact,\" he added, \"heterosexual books and magazines are\noften far more explicit than gay\nbooks that are routinely detained.\"\nIn the opinion ofthe BCCLA,\nLittle Sisters, the now defunct Glad\nDay, and many other advocates of\ngay/lesbian rights, homophobia\nbiases Customs' application ofthe\nanti-pornography laws.\nThese people argue that such\nsubtle discrimination must be\nFebruary 14,1991\nTHE UBYSSEY/7 lesbianTgayanIBISEXUAUSSUE\nDr. Peter: patient and professional on AIDS\nby Rebecca Bishop\n\"I think that in\ngeneral, whether it's\nAIDS or any other\ngay issue, we have to\nget the information\nout that AIDS is not a\ngay disease. But you\ncan't talk about AIDS\nin the 1990's without\ntalking about\nhomosexuality, and\nvice versa.\"\nSo said Dr. Peter, both a doctor and a patient. He was diag\u00C2\u00AB\nnosed with HIV four years ago\nand within the last year has lost\nhis vision as a result of an AIDS\nrelated virus. Dr. Peter has since\nbeen doing educational talks to\nvarious groups, and most notably.\nhas started a series of interviews\non CBC television about his experiences as a doctor dealing with\nAIDS patients, and his personal\nexperiences as a patient himself.\n\"What has become evident\nquite recently is that for the most\npart, university students have\nsome basic information about\nAIDS but they don't seem to realize, or feel, that it is applicable to\nthemselves, that it is not a threat.\nTherefore it is not necessary for\nthem to be practicing safe sex. I\nguess its not a matter of giving\npeople an AIDS 101 course, as\nmuch as to stress the reality of\nthe situation and get across to\nstudents that this is a threat to\nanyone who is sexually active regardless of their sexuality.\nUbyssey: How does being a\ndoctor affect your ability to\nreach people?\n\"Well, I think that it has given\nme a degree of credibility to talk\nabout the issues, both health and\npsycho-social, because I can speak\nboth as a patient who has been\naffected directly but also as a\nphysician who has looked after\nhis patients.\nUbyssey: What has been the\nresponse from the program on\nCBC?\n\"It's received a very good response from a real variety of\nsources, and it seems to have hit\na much broader audience than I\nexpected. To a certain degree I\nthought that it would be preach-1\ning to the converted. And to soma\ndegree that's true, but on the oth<$r\nhand the feedback that CBC and\nI have been getting is that a lot of\npeople who I would not have expected have become very interested and involved in following\nthe series. It's really rewarjhng\ngetting feedback from people because it's obviously touching them\non a level that reading aboutit in\nthe newspaper or whatever way\nthat just does not reach people in\nthe same way.\nUbyssey: Is it a big part ofthe\neducational process to personalize AIDS?\n\"I really believe it is. The\nthings that convinced me that this\nmight have some effect on cllsSf-\npeople was just looking at what\naffected me and as you can well\nimagine I have read everything\nin the popular press and otherwise\nabout AIDS certainly since I was\ndiagnosed. Just seeing lists of\nstats or projections have never\ndone much for me. About two and\na half years ago there was an\narticle in Time magazine titled\nAIDS: Putting A Face To the Disease, and there were over 400\nphotograph* of people who had\ndied of AIDS. Its just page after\n. page of drivers-licence-size photos, with Joe Blow, butcher, Louisville Kentucky, something like\nthatjustaname, occupation, and\nwhere they were from. You realize that these are just Joe average\npeople out there, and when you\nlook at papers and pages of these\npeople who were affected by this\nand were killed by this, that's\nincredibly powerful.\nUbyssey: How has your life\nchanged?\n\"I would say in general my\nlife continued on the same path\nthat I wanted it to in a lot of ways\nafter my diagnosis, but in the\nsame respect I think that I have\naltered my focuses in some way.\nWhat I deem to be important or\nvaluable has changed, and I\ndefinitely think for the better.\nCertainly the raostrecent changes\nhave been brought aboutby being\nblind. Instead of practicing in the\nway I was taught to think in\nworking as a CrP, I am doing it in\na slightly altered way, hopefully\nbeing able to educate people with\nsome of that same information. I\nhave saidbefore that the last four\nyears have been the best four\nyears, and I believe that very\nmuch. You value it a lotmore.you\ntend to squeeze out the very most\nyou can ou t of every day when you\nknow that you may not be around\nmuch longer. That is not to say\nthat I am pessimistic about what\nis going to happen. I still remain\nvery optimistic. AIDS is becoming\nmore a chronic affliction than a\nfatal diagnosis, and people will\nsurvive for longer periods of time\nand be able to have fulfilling lives\nwith just paying closer attention\nto their health and being on\nmedications.\nUbyssey: What about your\npersonal life? There is the assumption that as soon as you\nare diagnosed HIV positive\nyou become celibate. Are you?\n\"I think that a lot of people\nfeel that, if not by choice on your\nown part, who the hell is going to\nwafit to sleep with you? As a matter of fact I have had three significant relationships since I was\ndiagnosed with AIDS. The last\none that began almost four\nmonths ago has been the most\nmeaningful of all the relationships\nI have had before. The interesting\nthing about this is I met this person after I went blind. I have\nnever seen this person. It puts a\nwhole different perspective on\nwhat it's like to meet a prospective new love interest because all\nofthe superficial crap that we are\ntaught to think is important does\nnot exist. What I get is the true\nperson, and I think it is a much\nhealthier foundation for falling\nin love with someone. Its too bad,\nbut its the reality of the situation.\nUbyssey: How did you lose\nyour sight?\n\"It's something that most\npeople don't associate with AIDS\nbut .that has to do with his tori-\nca|h/ people have not lived long\neftqjjm to develop this problem.\nIt's cM^t^totrieg^lo virus, or\nCMV retinwift. Itis a very common virus that at worst, in a\nhealthy individual, may'eaJftsea\nmono-like syndrome, with generally flu-like symptoms. The vast\nmajority of people have been exposed to it at some, time^Jr^^gme-\nonewriiaiuormalMmliisylfem\nthe virus stays in the system but\nremains inactive and does not\ncause a problem. But in someone\nwith a damaged immune system,\nthe virus can reactivate and cause\na variety of problems, one of which\nis an infection ofthe retina which\ncan lead to partial or total blindness. It is becoming more of a\ncommon problem with PWA's as\nthey start living longer. At this\npoint we have two medications\nwhich are both fairly toxic, both\nwhich have to be given intravenously on a daily basis. They slow\nviral growth but they don't get rid\nof the infection. So they may buy\nyou some time as far as keeping\nyour vision, but they don't prevent it from progressing in a\nlonger term sense. Once the retina\nis infected, it is an irreversible\nthing.\n\"It was hard to imagine losing my vision completely. Once I\nknew, that it was going to be gone,\nthe reality hit home and I started\nto prepare for being without it. I\ndid things like get in touch with\nthe CNIB (CanadianNational Institute for the Blind), anj registered with them, and started arranging things around the house.\nBecause the more I lost my vision,\nthe harder it became to do things\naround the house. Because even\nwhen I had a bit of vision, and I.\nput something down, I would have\nto spend half an hour looking for\nit. I realized that things were going to have to go in this certain\nspot and bereturned to that same\nspot: I figured that as much as it\nwas against my nature I was really going td have to become obsessive-compulsive. And it has\nmade my life easier.\n\"The one thing I may have\nbecome obsessed with is the im-\nportanceof stayingfitand strong\nbecause when I got oUtof hospital\nafter my diagnosis, and Ihad been\nflat on my back for three weeks, I\nwas really frightened and really\nhorrified at how weak I had become and how much my body had\nwasted away. I became really determined that I was going to become really physically strong.\nBecau se if I ever had another bout\nlike that it might be necessary to\nfor me to pull through.\n\"I think there are some people\nwho could not cope with the situation [Trill in, so how could I be\npossibly coping with the situation? Because they don't think\nthey can cope, they run screaming\nin the other direction. That's too\nbad and oftfen I wonder what can\nI do to help these people, and at\nthe same-time have sometimes\ngotten frustrated with their inabilities to cope. Which may not\nentirely be fair, but you can't just\ntell them *how much am I jollying\nthem through this?'And that does\nhappen often. I think one reason\nwhy in a broader sense the \"public\", if you want, has difficulty\ndealing with handicapped people,\nis a lot of people don't see how\nthey can cope getting around in a\nwheelchair, or getting around being completely blind or whatever.\nSo they don't want to see those\npeople doing that kind of thing.\nThaf s happened a bit, and I know\nthat thaf shappened to patients I\nhave looked after.\"\nUbyssey: How important has\nfamily support been to you?\n\"Oh I think it has been extremely important, particularly\nwhen I was in the hospital at a\ntime when I was not certain that\nI was going to survive. And I had\nfriends and family come to visit\nand renew how much it meant to\nthem that I got out of the hospital. As much as it meant to me to\nknow, I was also pulling for a lot\nof other people as well. It made\nthe fight all that much more worth\nwhile and subsequently, in a less\ntraumatic sense, the continuous\nbattle. It's given me a lot of\nstrength emotionally, but from a\npractical sense, now someone has\nto help me go buy groceries or\nsomething.\nUbyssey: AIDS has been a\nlarge exercise in coming out.\nWere you out to family and\nfriends?\n\"I was out to the vast majority of my friends and my sister\nand brother in law, but I was not\nout to my parents. So for them it\nwas finding out that I was gay\nand that I had AIDS all at the\nsame time. So then, when I de-\ncided to go on television, that was\ncomingout in a major way.\n\"This was a coming out for\nmy parents too, because in a lot of\nways they had not really dealt\nWith my situation and they had\nnot really talked with anyone,\nwith any of their close friends,\nwith one exception, or even with\nsome family members. It put them\nin the situation that these people\nwere going to find out, so they\ndetermined that they would like\nto let these people know in advance rather than them tuning in\nand seeing Peter on television. I\nthink they were afraid that they\nwere going to be j udged more th an\nI was going to be judged, and none\nof that came to pass.\nI guess it's not a\nmatter of giving\npeople an AIDS 101\ncourse, as much as to\nstress the reality of\nthe situation and get\nacross to students\nthat this is a threat\nto anyone who is\nsexually active\nregardless of their\nsexuality.\n\"For patients I have dealt\nwith, again there are the two issues to deal with, and in many\ncases they are not'that out with\ntheir families andfoey are reluctant to discuss the Issue. Not so\nmuch that they are afraid of the\nAIDS issue but they are afraid of\nthe being gay issue. And in some\ncases I guess it has forced their\nhands particularly if their health\nis really bad, and they feel they\nhave to tell their friends. Some\npeople just choose net to. I think\nthis has happened a lot with this\nillness particularly in large urban centres where people, having\ngrown up in Creston, BC or the\nlike, wondering 'can I live my life\nhere?' Not thinking it possible,\nthey strike out for the nearest\nurban centre where they can on\nthe one hand become anonymous\nin alarge crunch of people, and on\nthe other hand meet people with\nlike interests andassume another\nlife*; Bat if-JSjwddenly you find\nyourself sMS|>you have enough to\ndeal wftfcf \"^without having to go\nhome and explain to your parents\nthe situation. I think many people\nhave gotten sick and died without\ntheir family having any idea what\nhas been going on. I think that's\nreally sad, because my experience\nwith patients has been that often\nfaced with both fates, instead of\nbeing rejected they have been very\nmuch supported.\n\"So for many people it is a\ncoming out process. Strangely\nenough, I think there is also a comingout process within the gay community, and sadly enough the social stigma surrounding AIDS does\nnot just exist within the straight\ncommunity. There is still, I think,\na stigma within the gay community\nthat if you are HIV positive, then\nyou must have been a real tramp.\nAnd people are very frightened of\nwho finds out. I don't think it's true\nof some cities like San Francisco\nwhere so many people have been\naffected that there is virtually no\none in the gay community in those\ncities that doesn't know someone\nwho has been affected. And their\nattitudes are much more understanding and I don't think there is\nthat fear of rejection from your\nown community as there is in\nVancouver.\nUbyssey: How is this going to\nchange? Will it as more people\ncontract AIDS?\n\"Well that's what I'm afraid is\ngoing to have to happen, and I\nmean not just to have effect on the\ngay community but on the straight\ncommunity as well. You look at\nSan Francisco. Over 7,000 people\nhave died\u00E2\u0080\u0094that's one per cent of\nthe population in that city. So anyone gay or straight is going to know\nsomeone who has died. It's really\nsad that the numbers have to get to\nthat point before people start\nshowing awareness or concern or\ninvolvement or whatever. I think\nVancouver's community has shown\nthat it can achieve something by\nCelebration '90, which was a fantastic success. But I don't know\nwhere all that enthusiasm is when\nit comes to this issue. Younger gay\nmen just do not see this as an issue\nfor themselves. A recent article\ncited a trend that HIV infection is\non the increase in a sub set of the\npopulation, in younger men in the\n18-30 range. The attitude in that\nparticular group had been that if\nthey didn't sleep with people who\nwere say 30 or older who were\naround when the plague started,\nthen they would be safe. And that's\nnot in fact the case.\nUbyssey: You said that lesbians are the lowest of risk\ngroups. Has this created division between gay men and\nwomen?\n\"No, I think. I know that in New\nYork, as horrible as it is, AIDS has\npulled together the gay community politically, emotionally, and\nso on, not just the male gay community but gay men and women,\nand gay women have really become\ninvolved. For many of them it's an\nissue to help and be supportive, be\npolitically active and getting things\ndone about AIDS, even though it's\nnot really for most gay women a\nconcern. I think for gay women the\nbiggest risk would be from sharing\nneedles. The only other way it\nwould be a concern woul d be I think\nif they shared a dildo or something\nlike that, some sort of insertive\ndevice, or bisexual women who\nhave had male partners who were\nin a higher risk group. I often\nwonder if gay men would get as\ninvolved if this were an issue for\ngay women. Gay men seem to have\ntrouble getting involved even\nthough it's an issue for themselves.\"\n8/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14,1991 LGB ISSUE\nGay is\n(not) just sex\nHow many times have you\nread or heard somebody mutter\nthe words that homosexuality is\nnot just sex? Every time I hear this\nphrase being espoused by so called\nliberal mi nded i ndivi dual s who are\neither very gay positive or are gay\nthemselves, I personally feel like\nsaying, \"Who the hell are you trying to kid?\"\nIf being gay is not just sex,\nthen what is it JUST? I understand why they say this phrase\nover and over again\u00E2\u0080\u0094because they\nare tired of being emotionally and\nintellectually bashed around by\nintolerant or uninformed people\nwho see homosexuality as a sexual\ndeviation. Those misinformed\nmasses do not see homosexuality\nas an emotional and intellectual\norientation that mirrors\nhetrosexuality.\nJust as straight people fall in\nand out of love, care for each other\nin a mutually comforting manner,\nand shed tears of'happiness when\nin the midst of a joyful occasion,\nGay and Bisexual people experience the same emotions. When one\nloves or cares for another, it is\nirrelevant whether they are your\nsister or brother, boyfriend or\ngirlfriend, or just a female human\nbeing or male human being. The\nfeeli ngs one experiences are unique\nto those two people involved.\nI may care for my one sister in a\ncertain way, and for my other sister in a totally different manner.\nThus, love and caring can be seen\nas gender neutral or inconsequential. The only time that gender\ndoes not become relevant, tends to\nbe when one falls \"In Love.\"\nFalling \"In Love\" couples both\nthe emotional attraction one feels\nfor another person (gender neutral) and the physical. It is only\nnow that people seem to focus on\nthe differences between gay people\nand straight. They too often ignore\nthe emotional similarities and\nconcentrate on who is doing what\nto whom. Sexual attraction\u00E2\u0080\u0094the\nterm I will use for physical attraction one experinces for someone\nelse\u00E2\u0080\u0094is not wrong. Sexual attraction is but one factor of many that\ncreates a strong and healthy relationship.\nGay men can often love\nwomen, just as straight men love\nwomen. Similarly, gay women can\noften love men emotior ' \"dy, just as\ndo straight women. However, and\nthis is where the only difference\nexists, gay men are predominatly\nattracted to other men, and gay\nwomen are predominatly attracted\nto other women. One could then\nsay that \"gay is JUST sex.\" But as\nI stated before, sex is not bad or\nwrong.\nIf sexual attraction with another consenting adult is bad, then\nwouldn't all forms of sexual attraction be equally wrong? I do not:\nrefer to a moral or religious sense\nof right or wrong, but to a sense of\nequity and humanity with which\neach of us are born. It is my wish to\nhelp germinate and foster these\nseeds of humanity, tolerance, and\nunderstanding.\nIt is for this very reason that 1\nwrite this letter, in hope that a\nclearer understanding of the\nphrase \"gay is not just sex\" will\noccur. It is also the reason that I do\nnot sign my name\u00E2\u0080\u0094because it is\nirrelevant whether I be male or\nfemale, straight or gay, or any other\nin correct label one might use to\ncategorize me.\nBeing gay\ntranscends politics\nby Gerald Williams\nFor most people, being a homosexual does not mean a life of\nanti-war or pro-peace rallies; or\nfighting to end discrimination\nagainst people of colour; or fighting sexism; or helping to keep our\nplanet green. Let's face it, most of\nthe heterosexual people who uphold these noble ideals still get\nuncomfortable when they see you\nkiss your same sex partner.\nOh sure they can \"understand\nand accept\" homosexuality, but\nthey still hope that their kid isn't\none, or that you don't come onto\nthem. Neither would most of these\nhighly \"enlightened\" friends like\nto be labelled homosexual by their\nenlightened friends.\nBeinghomosexual has nothing\nto do with your politics unless you\nwant it to. Activism for homosexual s i s social, whether you want\nit to be or not.\nNo, you don't have to wear a\npink triangle to be an activist or\neven conform to either the heterosexual or homosexual stereotype\nof a \"lifestyle.\" All you have to do is\nbe yourself.\nThis is very easy to say, but if\nyou do it, all your worst fears\nprobably won't come true. Being\nyourself means nothing more than\nnot compromi sing the fact that you\nare homosexual when someone\nasks if you are dating anyone or, if\nsomeone remarks about the attractiveness of a member of the\nopposite sex, remark back about\nwho you think is attractive.\nIt is very easy to let others\ndictate what the norms of society\nare. Speak out. If you do it in a\nmanner that isn't the \"hey look at\nme I'm a homosexual\" sort of way,\n(which so many heterosexuals find\nspooky), but in a way that is natural and that is you, the results will\nbe astounding.\nCome out to GLUBC\nThe feeling of isolation can\nquite often be an intense experience.\nYet this isolation can be lifted\nif one just takes a small step. By\ncoming out to the Gays and Lesbians discussion group every\nWednesday night from 5 p.m. to 7\np.m., in room 215 SUB, you can\nmeet other individuals who have\nfelt different, out of place, and isolated.\nHere we discuss a variety of\ndifferent topics, from graffiti and\nwhat it means, to national politics\nand their effect on homosexual and\nbisexual people. By participating\nin the discussion group, even if you\nhave come to grips with your own\nsexuality (whether it be bi. straight,\nor gay), you can help to spread understanding to many inquisitive\nminds, as well as learn a bout the\nperspectives of others.\nNext week, the group will be\nmeeting to share how, when, and\nwhy gay andbisexual people COME\nOUT to their friends and family. If\nyou're unsure about yourself or\nabout your friends and family who\nhave just opened up to you, feel free\nto drop in and participate in the\ndiscussion.\nM4^ CELEBRATE YOUR CLASS\nGRAD PORTRAITS\nON CAMPUS\nWho:\nWhen:\nWhere:\nHow:\nany 1991 graduating student\nMonday, March 4 to Wednesday, March 6, 9:(X) a.m. to t>:00 p.m.\nStudent Union Building, Room 111\nTo make an appointment please phone 430-2674 between the hours\nof 8:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.\nSpecial\nIf you have had a Grad. portrait taken this year and are unhappy,\nbring .3 proof of photography and receive a free sitting.\nJOSTEN'S GRADUATE PORTRAIT PROGRAM\nFEATURES\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Five backgrounds to choose from \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Traditional and contemporary poses\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Design your own sitting \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Proofs mailed directly to your residence\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Proofs are yours to keep \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 No order deadline\nThrough our Graduation photography program we strive to\ncreate portraits that express the pride of achievement and reflect the\nchallenges, goals, and good times of your graduating year. ^L Ts^C'TIJATC\n\"We make the good memories last.\" ^^JLJjlCl\_D\nGet Your Summer Job Now!\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Experienced Tree Planters \u00E2\u0080\u00A2\nApril 15 to July 31, 1991\nOliver &. Giltrap Reforestation\n2208 W. 45th,\nVancouver, B.C.\nV6M 2J3\nPHONE: 266-9167\n885-5363\nFor a limited time!\nkinko\ncopy center\n8.5\" x 11\" ONLY\nSbt-up charge may apply for slides, books, artboards, and editing\n5706 University Blvd. Vancouver, B.C. \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 V6T 1K6\nTel. 222-1688 \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 FAX 222-0025\nWith this ad only\nHappy Colour Valentines Day\nFebruary 14,1991\nTHE UBYSSEY/9 A\nQuerida Qremlina,\nComo dsolque ce da vida crfdiay como la\n[una aiumBra di nocht, siempre estate a\ntu lado!\nTu querido gremlino.\nDearest Nipper, Happiest V-Day!!!.\nI love you!! Saving my sweetiest\nokole for you!! Love universally\nyours, honiest bunniest\nXXXLLOOO.\nDan W.:\nThe \"Loveshack\" Isa little of place\nwhere we can get together.\n\"Mae\"\nSEAN,\nHey my little cumquat! You hot,\nsexy man with the awesome ass\n(and I do stress AWESOME!), and\nfantastic smile. Here is to another\ngreatyear. Happy Valentine's Day,\nSexy!\n- Kissy, Kissy, Smooth -\nLove C.B.\nDear Fluff Puff,\nElephant Shoes!\nLove Snaggler\nWes & Misch,\nHappy Valentine's Day!\nHa-man.\n\"Salad' Charlotte,\nHappy Valentine's Day!\n\"He-man\" Ha-man.\nSweetcheeks,\nFll always love you!\nCutie\nP.S. You've got a sexy body.\nRagamuffin\nIt could only be this way w/u. Cuddly\nAccorn, 4FR keep us true, 4 I M\nyours and U R mine, & this is my 2nd\nBest Valentine with you...\nSnugglebunch\nM. U-Roo\nEver Joyful, thankful, too that\nI have met someone like you\n(could this be true? I don't\nknow.)\nforever, Pom-pom.\nAHEAN\nA name\nAn Island\nA Boy\nAERAN\nHis Name\nHis Smile\nMy Joy.\nVJIL'E9^TI9^E'S iM'ESS.ylG'1\n'^^\nTo my little squeeker.\nThe love we share is like no other\nWe laugh, we cry, we trust each\nother.\nEvery now and then the brightness\ncatches my eye,\nAs I look down and smile at the\nsymbol of our commitment\nAnd the dreams that come to life.\nAs my thoughts continuously wander\nTo the day I become your wife.\nYours little Hugwamp.\nThe computer says it's\ncuddle time! Happy\nValentine's Day Natasha.\nLove your Robbie-Bears.\nPaul, would-be lawyer from the\nEast: I'm a singin' Xian too.\nCome by... may be we could go\nfor coffee?\nAries Cancer Virgo Libra Pisces\nyou guys are great. Frostbite &\nflowers... go Italy! - Thanks for\nyour support. L. P.S. Fred called.\nPom-Pom\nAs they say in Maori, I don't\nknow. So here's to many more\nyears to come\nLove U-Roo.\nHappy Valentine's Day, Dude!!\nMy search for you was a trivial\npursuit, but I finally got my pie!\nKees me, you fool! I love U. Love,\nfunny face.\n'Dearest Ghuza,\nJe t 'aime beucoup.\nLove, Zaitza\nAlice Jenne: When I wander the\nhalls of the2nd floor, I amreminded\nof the work you've done to make\nmy day. Thank you for speaking\nwhat I needed to hear.\nLove Chung.\nDear Silly Bunny,\nI love you to minced bits!\nLet's go hang some\nshelves...\nYour Old Bean\nDearest M.,\nYou know I love you so,\nTogether we'll always\nbe.\nBut one thing I must\nknow,\nWill you marry me?\nLove A.\nP.S. Happy Valentine's\nDay\nTo Cutie-Pie\nRoses are red\nViolets are blue\nI'11 always love you\nA*?d Teddy will too!\nHappy Valentine's Day!\nLove, Sweetcheeks\nJohn-ooh, you're passionate.\nYou can light my fire anytime.\nHappy Valentines Love San\n\"Eskimo, Butterfly!\"\nHello Sally-Ann (the original\nSally-Mander)\nIs it long-term? I hope so since\nwe need time to \"practice\"....\nJust remember, the eyes are\nwatching! Thanks for saying\nyes! Love Mr. Potato Head '83.\nMGT (aka the most beautiful girl\nin the world): Warm Valentine\ngreetings to you who makes me\nsmile every time I see you -\nwhether it's eight or late makes\nno difference - thanks for being a\nfriends, eh? DLMB\nWanda,\nLike the sunrise of a new day\nYOU excite ME in every way\nI can't believe Its true\nI'm in LOVE with YOU!\nHugs & Kisses, #6\nChere P.\nSur la plage de cette\npetitie isle sous la lune\npleine yai tombe\nprofondement en amour.\nGateusement je cache\ndans mon coeur la\nmemoire de toi dans mes\nbras et la regarde dans\ntes yeux. Je t'aime\ncomme un fou et je\nfaimerais pour toute\nl'eternite. Ma chere P,\nsans toi, le monde de ce\nsot romanesque-ci est un\nmonde sans couleur... T.\nSue,\nskate with me to a place\nwhere we can waltz face to\nface.\nSoft turf will tie us every\nrace and our left handed flick\nwill float with grace.\n(Don't forget the magic fridge\nwith a never empty case). J.B\nJzaneen, I love you.\nMu princess at Queen's\nHappy Valentine's\n'Miss you lots\nLove 'Kreamy\nTo Swan\nThe distant romance will begin\nto look more promising.\n- The Mute Swan -\nDubie\nMy little vagabond\nCome with me on a trip\nAround your room?\nHappy V-Day.\nAll my love, Dubi\u00C2\u00AE\nHAPPY VALENTINES WATSON!\nThere are many great things in this\nworld\nThat I enjoy to do\nThe one which I treasure the most\nIs hangin' out with you.\nLove from the Big Guy.\nJust wrote 3 exams\nCreativity's not at its peak\nBut I'm compelled to write\nA poem to my lovin sweet-cheeks\nTo beat the publisher's deadline\nTried rhyming peanut, sweet-pea\n& cheese\nWith no luck at all\nI gave up with a wheeze\nThe point is I love you\nOf that I am sure\nIf you feel the same\nThen it's amour (toujours)\nJonathan - I'm looking forward\nto a very special day in July and\nour best year together yet. Let's\nbuy those matching rocking\nchairs because my love for you is\nstronger than ever!\nDanishka\nAnti-Valentine\nYour take your heart, you walk\naway -\nyou think that I won't tough it?\nYou keep your heart, your walk\naway -\nyou take your love, and stuff it!\nAmore, Brianus\nR.L. (My T.M.N.T.)\nI love you more each day.\nHappy Valentine's, Dear.\nLove, L.M.\nCelebrate our first V's Day\nWith all my love\nSugar Free\nMiaF.\nI love you more than words can\never begin to describe. Please be\nmin\nRobert K.\nTo Amanda \"Did my heart love till\nnow? Foreswear it sight, for i Ne'er\nsaw true beauty till this night\" 8/11/\n90 Love Keith\nDearest Connie:\nWihheonpie'imgweittthoysoeue\nEyvoeuriyndyaoyuirs\nVbailkeinntiisnoeosn\nLove always\nCircle F.\nLana Banana, darn tooting, Happy\nValentine's Day, love you, don't go\nchanging... darn tooting, love L.\nColin. Its been a long time since\nanyone made me smile til my face\nhurt. You do much for my spirits.\nHow can a cynic believe in love?!\nBeck.\nKristine\nI don't have much to say that you\nhaven't heard before angel. Just\nkeep remembering that you are\nand always will be, the girl of my\ndreams. I still love you as passionately today as I did the first day we\n\"hugged\".\n-Brad\nY.C.W.\nNo matter, what happen in the\nfuture, I will always be there for\nyou. Love you forever.\nLove C.C.W.\nTart,\nMy love for you boils over more and\nmore everyday I spend with you, I\nlove you, ya big tart. I always will!\nWill you be my Valentine and\nkaboodle with me all night long?\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 Geek\nToTJ^/Bucki this lastyearandahalf\nhas Bun the greatest. I love you\nforever! Love Leonard\nGilldermeister!\nThis coupon entitles you to 5 consecutive \"sports page\" - free days!\nYou're the best. A.B.\nCheesebuns\nI would like to give you a\nsqueeze, under some weeping\nwillow trees.\nCover you with kisses rub\nyour knees, and shower you\nwith tons of cheese. Can I?\nLove you forever\nPunkinhead\nSome girls think flowers are fine\nFor some chocolates are dandy\nAs for us, on valentines\nWe just want cake and candy!\n(Read Jake and Andy)\nWe hope you boys deliver!\nSP and CM\nJosefina\n'Dos Talabras\n9duy JaciC\nTeAmo\nGordito\nTo M: Happiness is a bottle of\nOkanagan wine, a gas fireplace\n& you. Be mine 4ever. Love S.\nCatherine and Maria\nMy two crutches who have\nproppedmeup time and time\nagain. Love you, your\nfriendship means everything.\nXO Jacqueline\nJeff/Conan\nThe warmth and laughter\nthat you have given me\nleaves me in an intoxicated stupor. Forgive\nme if I stagger. Love\nyour buddy!!\nBo-fish\nI loue your carrot!\nBugs\nTo all my loved one(s):\nYou're so lovely & Loveable!!!\nHappy Valentine's Day!\nDerek T.\nDear Ivy,\nI love you with all my heart and soul.\nPlease forgive me this message, but it\nwas the best way I could think of to let\nyou know how I feel.\nLove, Chris\nJJC:\nYou can't dress but I love\nyou. Here's to togetherness\nat the CSL.\nWitty\nSweet Tooth,\nThere's sugar on my lips\nA sway in my hips\n\"Honey in my thighs\n%.nd love in my eyes.\nLove main squeeze #54\nDear Mable,\nRoses are red\nViolets are blue\nValentine's Day is \"sappy\"\nBut I love you.\nLove, Dean L.\nTo: Beautiful strength\nHappy Valentine's Day! Be my\nValentine! One condition:\nNO BITING!\nLove, Thumper\nAfy Dearest Be-Bee Darling:\nI need you and I miss your kisses!!\nI will be back soon! So we can...\nagain andagain!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!\nYour beloved Bo Bo\nA mon petite chou chou.\nMon ctieux! Quelle\nfemme. C'est etteonant\nque tu es encore mon amie\n- moi - un babouin! Mais\nje ne peux pas me plaindre.\nTu f ais tous mes jours plus\ninteressant et passionnant\n- Ton esclare d'amou\nTo my Rockman\nFoo-Foo!\nOnions\nTo Ranjit:\nI Love you.\nYour sweet baboo.\nE.H.\nWanting needing waiting\nFor you to justify my love\nHoping, praying\nFor you to justify my love\nA hopeful admirer\nNomis\nI daily perceive\nYour masculine form,\nMy wishful gaze\nHolding and loving you\nAs Alexandre loved Antinous\nTo Mr. Tickle\nHappy 6th Valentine together.\nLotsa love, Not-ticklish\nJ.SAJI. (Berio devotee):\nHere's to that evening a year\nago when snow and malt beverages conspired in our favor.\nThank you for many hours of\ndelicious lolling and\nCoquihalla adventures. Happy\nValentine's Day.\nLove, M.L.M. XXXOOO\nSarbear,\nIn blissful ignorance I succumb to\nsenseless realization. I am falling -\ncatch me and be mine. Mf\nDear Boopsie\nWe' 11 stick together; forever!\nLove, Whoopsie\n10/THE UBYSSEY\nAn unexpected song\nJLH\nGillian\nSo, you think that I am\ndum.\nOh, I know that that is\ntrue\nNothing but you can make\nme colorfully smile!\nI doubt you'll euer see me\nas I see you\nRnd yet, I do hope to\nglimpse you once in a\nwhile.\nFebruary 14, 1991 To Timmy;\nOver thousands of miles\nOver the test of time\nI ask of your love\nI hope you will be mine.\nLove Tippy\nBullet\u00E2\u0080\u0094Strong as a cowboy? Nay,\nweak, weak am I from thy SCUDS\nof love that pierce my heart.\n\u00E2\u0080\u0094 Thrasher XOXO\nHokus Pick!\n23 months of making \"wonderful\nmusic together\"! I'm excited to see\nwhat else our father has planned!\nYour love, wisdom, joy, passion\nand craziness make me complete.\nI hate this day, but you make it lots\nbetter. Thanks, Pook. You're cool.\nLove, your Princess.\nBruce C.\nYou got me hotter than Georgia\nAsphalt!!!!\nProm your\nWild at Heart Pug\nBunkins. I miss you. I love you.\nI'm always swimming when I'm\nwith you. All my love, Muffin.\n2 YEARS, FUZZ\nMeows and Frugs from Duck\nYashmin Nanji,\nWill you be my Valentine?\nLuv S.A.\nG.Kitten\n***MWA***\nLove Keychain\nTo my little wifey\nHappy Valentine's Day Babe\nYou always have and always\nWill make my heart whine\nLookin forward to living in\nThe fort with you.\nLuv ya lots\nKaren, only 313 shopping days till\nChristmas! Have a happy\nValentine's Day.\nDearest Amazing Schmoo!!\nWanna touch tongues??\nLove, your little marsupial\nJill H.\nYou've shined in my eyes\nEvery day since we met\nYou glow in my heart\n0, baby, lets christen your vette\nLove M.\nTo my Bambi Eyes,\nHave you watched any Dick\nClark Live lately?\nBe my Valentine!\nLuv, Thumper\np.s. Yes I know where Regina is.\nHart baby, if you've got the log I've\ngot the flame!\nLets do lunch, Margo K.\nTo my Hunka Hunka Bumin' Luv!\nOh Baby Oh Baby Oh Baby Oh!\nDo me Valentine! Love Dish.\nTo my Darling Sugarplum Pumpkin:\nDeep in my heart lies a...\nwiggly-squirmy for you! Remember?\nBe mine! Your loving Burbo.\nToKGP\nIt never ceases to amaze me that\nyou are willing to commit, to make\nit work, with a rather convoluted\nperson like me.\nI just adore you!\n33 hugs and kisses\nM.\nPatsy,\nSimple said, I love you.\nYour Studmuffin\nLaur, I look forward to having the\ntime to bake you cookies and just\nspend time doing nothing. Hugs,\nves. Lots and lots. Bee.\nDear Dave,\nMou ichinen ni narukedo\nboku no kimie no ai\nwa masu bakari desu.\nLove, Gerald\nDenie,\nYour spirit syrengthens me\nYour independence inspires\nme\nYours,\nA. Care Bear\nCHRIS\nYou aMUSE me\nHoping you'll read this.\nLooking forward to talking\nacross the board\nPaul\nBecca\nthanks for all the support\nlife has changed so much in the\nlast year.\nGlad you were there to share\nit,\nPaul (the kid)\nYeena:\nI know things have been less\nthan ideal this year but\nUbyssey drudgery can't last\nmuch longer (nor can I). It is\ndefinitely daylight at the end\nofthe tunnel, not the headlight\nof an oncoming train. Things\nwill be getting \"more better\"\nsoon. Thanks for putting up\nwith all of this.\ngnaw-oy-nay, beaucoup\n29\np.s. It's been an amazing three\nyears.\nDon't shimmy on my body.\nPowbella's heart is warm.\nEffervescence.\nBubble on oh POWerful\nwoman.\nLove and a smooch or two,\nBee.\nTo the best fuck in town.\nYou are no gentleman.\nLust,\nHot Lips.\nNancy-with-a-bang,\nOn Valentine's day the neurotic\ntake solice with each other.\nLove,\nEffie.\nBek:\nmy tongue on the top of your prickly\nhead, long hugs bring odd comfort.\nthanks,\n-L.\nFrankie Lo Dinosaur,\nGet well damn it.\nMartin\n'DearestSteven, SWM, 28, ns, seeks politically\nyou remember how to whistle don't correct SF, to discuss intimate\nyou? Just put your dps together and housing issues and basketball.\nblow. Must live inillegal basement suite.\nfabulous getting to know you - Contact \"Suites', 228-2301.\n\"Heady Like,\nJohanna\nchoice\nTo the best looking, smartest,\nkindest, most lovable person in the\nwhole wide world. Myself. My &\nmyself 4-ever. I love me!\nElizabeth B,\nJust for being you.\nLets get together sometime.\nDon\nKisses with many lips,\nThree fish lips and more love to go\nplease.\nSleeps with nosnore.\nLaurie, love:\nI'm so discouraged about it. About\nlifting belly. I question.\nWhat did you say about accepting.\nYes.\nLifting belly, another lifting belly.\nLifting belly articulately. It is not a\nproblem.\nKissing and singing,\nKrishna.\nSch wester,\nYou are the only valentine I'll\never need.\nLove Nadene.\nPookie,\nHug, hug,\nSchnuggle, sigh\nAhhh, blisss, bliss,\nI dream it a lot.\nY.B.\nDespite it being a\nHallmark holiday.\nHiBarb,\nWanna be my Valentine or what?\nLove Rick\n(the bureau)\nDear Inspector Clouseau,\nI'm hot for your body, Homeboy!\nSigned,\nYour ever faithful manservant\n(the little yellowman),\nKato.\n'Pookie, again\nget those damn teeth out of my y/Bs\nLoveJ.'B\nBecka,\nThanks for covering those phone\nbills.\nM.C\nCookie,\nO skirio kjmi ti.\njust making up for the lack_ojone Cast year.\nyrs.\nKrish:\nIf you were here I'd buy you\nBrussels chocolates and take\nyou to a lousy movie. Good food,\ngood friends and good music\nare contentment.\nPeace,\n-your former lust cookie\nLyanne, my love, my life, my\nmentor. I will never wipe my\nmuchrooms with a damp cloth\nhowever.\nYou deserve more than a kiss. Hell,\nso do I... Love baldy.\nTo two Daves, today\nWe send you our love\nFrom the blond haired gals\nWho are usuaHly above.\nYou're both thoughtful and\nkind\nWith receding hairlines,\nWon't you come out to play\nThis St. Valentine's Day?\nHugs and kisses to the Engineers.\nWhere would we be without you?\nThe Ubyssey.\nPaul, You know I wouldn't be where I\nam today without you. Damn you! I\nmiss the wrestling matches. But I think\nwe are both too exhausted to consider\nbeating the shit out of each other. Ah\nwell, such is life. Lots of love kiddo,\nRebecca.\nTo the mostAussem puterman the world\nhas ever known,.. Wait. What about\nPeter?Nah, we gave him a beer garden.\nSo Ted, hope those bright and sunny\npastures are filled with buttercups and\nsquishy cowpies. You need surprises in\nyou life. No, we are not smiling. But thats\nbecause its seven in the morning and it\naint in sight yet. Yeah, laugh, but just you\nwait...\nLuv luv luv tHE uBYSSEY.\nYes Peter, we love you too.\nCome by for beer. By the way,\nGladys is having some\ntroubles... (tee hee)\nDear Alex\nIn the evolution\nour resolutions\nTo love each other\nMore each passing day,\nI must comment on your perfection\nIn natural selection\nOf me are you love\nFor always\nLove forever, Susan\nSchnoomevviimps\nTo\noogiewu]\nAliza.T T T\n\"Pookiedoo\"\nFrank.\nCarol forsythe\nThis University does not deserve\nyou. you deserve to be worshipped\nand adored. 0% maybe just ap-\npredatedalittle more. The llbyssey\negresses its thanks for your help\nand commitment. (Perhaps we have\njust cursed you with these words,\nbut hey, life has to be fun somehow...\nGerald, if you slober on my neck\nonce more you are going to blow my\ncover. Not that I mind the attentions you chower over me. But hey,\nwe dont want to get your stud\nmuffin jealous... %.\nSiftyTuttu, thankssweetieforBeing the affectionate, bright, caring, disciplined, environmental,\nfrankj,generous, healthy, innovative, just, kind, lovable, mathematical, nifty-compatible, open-\nminded, peace-loving, quiet, radical, sensitive, true-to-yourself,\nupbeat, vegetarian, weird, 7{p}{p,\nyoung, zealous individualthatyou\nare and for \"belonging\" to me!\nLove, Silly 'J$lly Mbatross (oka\nCDisaster Zone).\nFebruary 14, 1991\nTHE UBYSSEY/11 LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL ARTS\nThe Flirtations:\n(from left to right)\nJohn Arterton, Cliff Townsend,\nMichael Callen, Jimmy Rutland,\nand Aurelio Font.\nW)\ M-\n<\u00E2\u0080\u00A2'\nThe Flirtations tantalize\nby Effie Pow\nTHERE is an art to flirting.\nIt is not simply coy blinks of\nthe eye or slow fingers through\nthe hair. A flirt is often someone\nwho creates a rapport with\nsexual tension. But if you are a\nFlirt from the Flirtations\nsometimes music is the medium\nto entice with.\nA unique musical group from\nNew York is in Vancouver for\ntheir Canadian premiere. The\nFlirtations, a gay a capella\nquintet, is making their way into\nour hearts with their cheeky\nrenditions. Just as the group\nmembers are diverse in backgrounds, their covers range from\n50's to salsa to the Beach Boys.\nThe twist is the reclaiming of\nlyrics to suit their gay personalities. The personalities in the\nFlirtations include: Jon Arterton,\nAurelio Font, Jimmy Rutland,\nCliff Townsend and Michael\nCallen.\nMUSIC\nThe Flirtations\nVancouver East Cultural\nCentre\nFebruary 12-16\nAfter spending four hours at\nthe Canadian border on Monday,\nthe Flirtations were tired, and\nhad a few amusing stories to tell.\nI spoke with the founder ofthe\ngroup Jon Arterton, as well as\nthe other Flirts, later that\nevening in their hotel.\nArterton founded the\noriginal ensemble in January\n1988, but he did not expect the\nwidespread popularity. The\nFlirtations' original intention\nwas to perform for rallies, but\nsoon there were demands for\nmore appearances.\n\"In the fall of'87 about\n600,000 queers gathered for a\nmarch at the nation's capital\n(Washington, DC). I was overcome with gay pride and influenced by a number of vocal\ngroups who played there.\"\nTheir poster provocatively\nsays \"openly gay and damn\nproud of it,\" but the consequences of that claim were\ninitially ambiguous. \"We didn't\nknow what it really meant when\nwe said we were openly gay,\nwhether we would wear dresses\nor whatever. We just wanted to\nsing at rallies and the response\nwe got just gathered steam.\"\nArterton smiles warmly\nwhen he maps out his personal\ndevelopment according to the\nFlirtations' career. \"I was 38\nwhen I came out with abandon.\nThe group was an ideal opportunity to combine my performing\ninterests, my creative interests\nand my political interests.\n\"Forming the group has\ngiven me a focus, like a calling\nand not an amorphous thing like\nit was before. Now it's just\naround the corner,\" Arterton\nsays with optimism.\nThrough familiar songs like\nSurfin' USA and the B-52's\nHousework and the humour of\ntheir lyric changes, the Flirtations share the political aspects\nof their messages with ease,\nespecially for those uncomfortable with homosexuality. The\nFlirtations want to break down\nbarriers with their style of\nmusic, but it is challenging to\nreach out to the people that\nreally need to listen. \"We do play\nfor a heterosexual audience but\noften they're converted. But\nthere are times when they're\ninitially reticent and then slowly\nthey warm up. I mean, everyone\nlikes music from the 50's\u00E2\u0080\u0094we\nwin them over so they'll listen;\nwe don't beat them over the\nheads with it.\n\"When we first started, we\nsang on the streets a lot. It's the\nonly way to test new stuff out.\nPeople would stop and gather\naround us and start clapping\naway\u00E2\u0080\u0094then slowly they would\nrealize we had a few special\ntwists,\" Arterton says mischievously.\nArterton recognizes that\nbeing gay is an integral part of\nthe Flirtations and knows the\nweight it carries commercially.\n\"In some ways being gay has\nhurt us\u00E2\u0080\u0094if we weren't so open,\nwe could've got onto this television show or that radio show.\nBut it's so much about what we\ndo, it's no longer an issue.\"\nSmugly he adds: \"Being gay\nmakes us unique and we have a\n\"ready-made' audience.\"\nThe Flirtations establish a\ngay context in each song they\nchoose.\n\"That gay twist makes the\naudience stay on their toes. They\nhave to catch the changes in the\nwords\u00E2\u0080\u0094we're not beyond making\nsexual innuendo.\" Arterton says\nthis with some indication that in\nfact they take great pleasure in\nthe sexual innuendo. Tantalizing\nthe listener this way, is what\nflirting is all about.\nThe group takes prevalent\nheterosexual lyrics and adjusts\nthem to show the rest ofthe\nstory. And gay communities can\nsing along and cheer loudly\nbecause they hear themselves\nbeing sung about for a change.\nTo Know Him Is to Love Him is\njust a regular 50's song, but\nwhen men are singing it\u00E2\u0080\u0094you\nknow it just tilts it a little bit.\n\"It also adds a layer of\nmeaning. When we sing about\napartheid in South Africa or a\nwoman in a misogynist society,\nthere's another context that we\nidentify with.\"\nThe Flirtations are looking\nforward to an even brighter\nfuture but they are still in a\ntransitional stage of success. \"It's\nat that annoying point where it's\nhalf way between part-time and\nfull-time. It's just enough to\nprevent us from doing anything\nconstructive in our lives, but not\nenough to pay the bills. I think\nwithin a year, we'll get enough\nbookings to keep us at it full-\ntime.\"\nMichael Callen, co-founder\nofthe Persons With AIDS\nCoalition among other inspiring\nachievements, is also the\nFlirtations' flamboyant diva. As\nwell he has his own solo album\ncalled Purple Heart, and a pair\nof nasty high heels. Diagnosed\nwith AIDS in 1982 he has been\nscheduling his life tightly so he\nhas no time for death. Callen is\nrealizing that he wants to devote\nmore time to his music.\n\"I'm trying to dramatically\nreinvent myself. I'm retiring\nfrom public AIDS activism. I use\nthe gerund because it's an\nongoing process. I'd say 90 per\ncent of my time is spent on\nactivism, five per cent on music\nand five per cent on being a\nhousewife. I'm trying to divide\nup that 90 per cent\u00E2\u0080\u0094like sleep\nfor a change.\"\n\"This is our fashion plate,\"\nCallen says of Jimmy Rutland,\nthe newest Flirt who grins shyly.\n\"If you give him a chance hell\nchange a couple of times during\nthe interview.\" Rutland joined t\nafter TJ Meyers, a former\nmember, died of AIDS; Rutland\nhas been with the Flirtations for\nsix months.\nWhen the Flirtations\nrevealed that they had their\nrecords with them, with the\nintention of selling them in\nVancouver, the customs officer\ndetained them at the border.\nTrying to make light of the\nsituation Callen said, \"Well that\nteaches us to tell the truth.\"\nThe customs officer reprimanded Callen adding, \"No\nCanadian would say that,\" and\nwent through every bag.\nIn addition to musical\nparaphernalia, the customs\nofficer found Cliff Townsend's\nsex toys. \"Cliff carries sex toys\nwherever he goes, for those slow\nnights.\"\n\"Do you realize, being here\nmakes us officially international?\" Aurelio Font says this\nwith a mixture of wonder and\namusement.\nWhile photographs are being\ntaken, the group gathers informally around the hotel's fake\nfireplace and sings Blue Moon\nbecause it's a piece they \"need to\npractise.\" The singing is sweet\nand I open the window so that\nsome lucky person walking by\nmight share the sounds of pure\nhuman voices. Of course anyone\nfrom the sidewalk would miss\nthe hugging and comic gestures\nthat accompany the piece.\nThe Flirtations will be\nperforming in the SUB Auditorium on Thursday. I hope I don't\nhave to remind you that this is\nValentine's Day. Bring some\nchocolate and listen carefully.\n12/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14, 1991 I LESBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL ARTS\nLesbian folk musicians\nalive and flourishing\nby Laurie Newell\ns~>* INGER-songwriter and\n^^ activist Holly Near has\nI^J sai d that she has never\nknown a social change movement in\nwhich music has not played a\nsignificant part. The women's\nmovement, and the closely affiliated\nlesbian liberation movement, are no\nexception.\nAccording to Connie Kuhns,\nhost of Co-op Radio's Rubymusic for\nthe past 15 years, women's music\nwas born during the \"urgent times\"\nofthe early women's movement of\nthe 1970's. In an article adapted\nfrom her forthcoming book Rise Up!\nA History of Women's Music in\nCanada, Kuhns describes women's\nmusic as a \"reaction to that\nnameless emptiness many of us felt\nwhile listening to the radio,\" noting\nthat it \"was rare to hear music\nwhich accurately described our\nlives.\"\nOn the cover of her 1974 album\nI Know You Know, well-known\nAmerican lesbian musician, Meg\nChristian describes women's music\nas that which \"speaks honestly and\nrealistically to women about our\nlives\u00E2\u0080\u0094our needs, our strengths, our\nrelationships with each other, our\nanger, our love.\" For many in the\nwomen's movement, this music has\nbeen a source of strength and a\nvehicle by which to unite, both\npolitically and more personally.\nStylistically, much of the early\nwomen's music had close affiliations\nwith the folk music ofthe time\u00E2\u0080\u0094\noften overtly political lyrics with\nminimal accompaniment on guitar\nor piano. Indeed, Ellen Schwartz, in\nthe introduction to her book Born a\nWoman, describes women's music\nas \"the intersection of folk music\nand the women's movement.\"\nIn Canada, women's music has\nflourished at many folk music\nfestivals across the country, while in\nthe United States, women's music\ntends to appear more in the context\nof autonomous women's festivals.\nSuch festivals now include the\nSouthern Women's Music and\nComedy Festival, a West Coast\nWomen's Music and Comedy\nFestival, Rhythm Fest and the more\nthan 10 year old Michigan Womyn's\nMusic Festival.\nWhile one may argue that in\nearly times, women's music was\nlinked to a particular musical style,\nit is more clearly the lyrics which\nhave made the genre distinct.\nCanadian women like Ferron\nand Heather Bishop, and American\nwomen like Meg Christian, Alix\nDobkin, Chris Williamson and\nHolly Near have been writing and\nsinging the reality of lesbians and\nother women since the 1970's.\nAccording to Kuhns, it is the\nwork of women such as these that\nhas \"paved the way for the freedom\nof expression that newer female\nartists now enjoy.\" A few of these\nnewer artists include Canadians\nFaith Nolan, Lucie Blue Tremblay,\nand Vancouver's Aya!, Americans\nJennifer Berezan, Dierdre McCalla,\nTwo Nice Girls and Phranc as well\nas Aiistralia's Judy Small.\nThe degree to which these\nwomen put out explicitly lesbian\nmusic varies\u00E2\u0080\u0094to some it is more\nintegral to their lyrics than others.\nAll of them, however, also address\nwider axial and political issues in\ntheir work. They are women who\nmake music with, in Kuhns' words,\na commitment to \"confronting\noppressive behaviour and bigotry.\"\nIn Mountain Song, Holly Near\nsings defiantly, \"I have dreamed on\nthis mountain since first I was my\nmother's daughter...You may drive\na big machine, but I was born a\ngreat big woman, and you can't just\ntake my dreams away.\"\nIn I Black Woman, Faith\nNolan asserts, \"Dont call me your\nmama, your sister, your girl; Don't\ncall me anything in your fantasy\nworld. I ain't voodoo queen, an\nAfrican dream, I'm my own woman\nwith my own damn scene. I black\nwoman will not be used.\"\nIn Kitchen Revolution, Jennifer\nBerezan sings, There are men on\nmountains...sending out their\narmies all across this land, Trading\nlives for profits with their demolition plans. But at the end of a hot\ncity day, or the edge of a campfire\nglow, Look, see the vision in a rising\nwoman's soul.\"\nAs well, much of this music\nwomen, including between lesbians.\nJudy Small's No Tears for the\nWidow illustrates the pain a lesbian\nfriend suffers when her partner dies\nand she fails to get the social\nacknowledgement with which\nheterosexual women who lose their\nhusbands are privileged.\nLaura Irene Wayne\nThis is music: that affirms\nlesbian and women's realities,\nchallenges the status quo, and\nasserts women's fewer to change\nthe world.\nWith the ongoing evolution of\nmusic made by lesbians and other\nwomen, the term \"women's music\"\nhas become somewhat nebulous, as\nthe diversity of musical styles\ngrows. The term 'women's music\"\nhas also been seen as problematic in\nthat some would ssay it is simply a\neuphemism for 'lesbian music\"\nAccording to Kuhns, this is an\nongoing topic of debate within the\nwomen's music community in the\nUnited States.\nSchwartz sees the question\ndifferently, saving the music put out\nby such women is \"women's music,\nyes, but more than that, if s people's\nmusic. It is not only for feminists,\nnot only for lesbians, not only for\npeople of a particular political\npersuasion. It is for men, women\nand children\u00E2\u0080\u0094anyone who wants to\nlisten to music that cares.\"\nPerhaps Ferron says it best in\nStand Up (Love in the Corners), a\nsong encouraging all women and\nmen to embrace their entire selves.\nShe sings, Tm gonna stand up and\nlet myself be accounted for, stand\nup now. Fve got tliis one life and\nwhat's it to amount to if I don't\nleam how to love you and love\nmyself beside you, if s the gentle\nand proud. I want to love life, the\nvision in the window told me 'Stand\nup.\"\naffirms relationships between\nLoud disco causes homosexuality\nby Anthony Berno\n/hope that caught your eye.\nThis is totally untrue, but\nis in fact a theory that was\nonce proposed to account for\nhomosexuality. A researcher put a\nbunch of rats in a cage, played\nextremely loud disco music, and\nobserved that the male rats showed\nan increased tendency to mate with\neach other as a result. (And you\nthought that the Kaon factory was\na waste of research dollars!)\nAnyway, it's a good example of\nwhy you should be skeptical of\nscientific research in general, and\nresearch into homosexuality in\nparticular. For one thing, a lot of\nthis research is motivated by raw,\nundisguised homophobia - lef s face\nit, if you can link homosexuality\nwith some \"unnatural\" condition\nlike exposure to loud music, you can\nthen declare homosexuality to be a\ndisorder requiring treatment. In\nother words, it's a great way to\nmake the \"Love That Dare Not\nSpeak Its Name\" go home and Shut\nUp.\nOther research is a product of\nthe Grovelling For Dollars game\nthat all academics get to play. It\ndoesn't matter what your research is\nin this game; the guy with the most\npublications wins. (Some journals\nwill print ANYTHING.) And, of\ncourse, some ofthe most wonderful\ntheories in this area are just plain\nfiction. If s always struck me as very\nstrange, but despite the wealth of\nwonderfully nasty things you could\nsay about the gay community, the\nenemies of gay liberation ignore\nthem all and make up the most\noutrageous things they can imagine,\nall in the name of making gays and\nlesbians look bad. Did you know, for\nexample, that gay people go out and\nrecruit young children, making\nthem homosexual in order to\nstrengthen their ranks? After all,\ngay people can't reproduce, so they\nhave to come from somewhere, don't\nthey? And what about how gay\npeople can't be RCMP officers? I\nquote: \"Could you imagine - a fairy\nconstable arresting a lumber jack\nwith a powder puff?\" Well, I don't\nremember who said that, bu': he'd\nbetter watch out, because my lover\nis a six foot, 220 pound slab of beefy,\nhairy, sweaty, leather-clad muscle\nand would be more than happy to\ndemonstrate his powder puff\ntechnique on any lumberjack that\ncrossed his path.\nSo what is this really all about?\nThis article is actually a crass,\nsensationalistic advertisement for\nthe Cross Your Heart dance, which\nis happening in the SUB Ballroom\non Saturday, February 16 at 8 PM.\nTickets are $4 in advance or $5 the\nday ofthe dance. You can get them\nat Little Sister's buokstore, or the\nGLUBC office in SUB 237b. This is\nthe largest gay and lesbian event of\nthe year on campus, and everyone is\nwelcome regardless of gender,\nsexual orientation or anything else.\nSo come on out, and have a great\nGay and Lesbian Week!\nTREE PLANTERS!!\nWhere do you find EVERYTHING YOU\nNEED FOR EQUIPMENT to go TREE\nPLANTING, at a REASONABLE COST?\n1 Boots\n1 Planting Bags\n1 Planting Gloves\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 First Aid Kits\n1 Flagging Tape\n1 Packs\n' Etc.... Etc.\nRaingear\nPlanting Spades\nCooler Tarps\nSleeping Bags\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Tents & Shelters\n> Hard Hats\nVISIT OUR SHOWROOM\nVISA\nCFE-CROSBY SUPPLIES LTD.\n#108-8828 Heather St.\nVancouver, B.C.\nV6P 3S8\n321-1534\nDANNY SUGERMAN\ntat-niling author, forme' monoger of The Door, i !gjy Pop\nDanny Snowman hod rt OH: a gorgeous bouse *i Laurel Canyon, ol\nthe money, drugs, fast cars, old pretty girls a young mon could\nwont. He wos o success in ihe record business and he hod been os\nclose to Jim Morrison end die Don's cs you redd gar wmaut being\no member of the bond.\nOftver Stone is wonting on PrVO movie: about rne Dooi, trie second\nof which is based directly on Sonny's life and the book\nWONDERLAND AVENUE. Sonny also wro'e the bes> soiling Doors\nbooks -N0 ONE HERE 3EIS CUT MIVE1 ond '1\u00C2\u00BBE SCGRS: AN\nItlUSTRfltO HISTORi\".\nDANNY SUGERMArl w9! show rare, never before seen film lootDge\nof Doors' reheond sessions, bock sroge ortics, ond r>ome movies.\nCANNY SUGfRMAN Will St Al WESTEX\nSHOULDN'T YOU BE THERE TOO?\nFor further inforrr.clion about Wester ;rj 1604) 654-9338,\nFM 684-9337, or write Westei/Tfa Coast Music. Exposhott,\n#506-402 W. Pendei St., Vancouver, B.C. V65 'T6\n99*\nMraMunrt\n99*\ntxnmxn\n99*\nMTMWtfr*\n99*\nMffiWoiKn\n99*\nMTOWVBf*\n99*\nMltMfiiKVt\n99*\nMIWIIWW\n99*\nuruftMrt\n99*\n99*\nMfHMftW\n99*\ni SPOTTED\nOWL NEVTTRLEE.\")\nWALKMAN. &C TRADES\nLUMBER POR WALKMANS MAOE\nIN JAPAN. (CCWSUMER.S V-UlT\nWrUK MAN'S.)\nSupporting Canada'^ ho^t\nPAPER (k&c>e reoMTRee'O\n^ow^MiM&BUREAUCRACY\nLEATHER, ^h'^l\nC&L,'T THAT'S ftNOTHEft l^e.\")\n.NEWSPAPER.. coNtE\u00C2\u00AB,iifr\nUSUALLY &FTS DISTRIBUTED TC\nPEOPlf S t>OOf?4TEP VJHQ DON'T\nASK FOR IT\nONLY TRUE\nENVIRONMENTALISTS DON'T\nUSE THIS ^TUFF BECAUSE IT'S\nM.Ate FftcM TREe<;.\nNO TREES ?\nWHOSE FAULT? ff$Ual t\n3rd Year Forestry\nThe African Students'\nAssociation (UBC)\npresents\n\"The African Awareness\nWeek '91\"\nDay 2: Thursday, Feb. 14\nEvent: Free Video Show\nTitled \"things fall apart\"\nVenue: International House\nTime: 6 - 8 PM\nDay 3: Friday, Feb. 15\nEvent: Benefit Dance/\nCultural Presentation\nVenue: SUB 207/209\nTime: 7:30- Midnight\nAll Welcome\n\"Ecumenical\nWorship\nFor\nAsh Wednesday\"\nWed., Feb. 13,12:30 PM\nLUTHERAN CAMPUS CENTRE\nSponsored by:\nAnglican, Lutheran &\nUnited Churches\nInformation: 224-3722\nllliiiilllll\ninstead of acting as an\nunimpressive echo of Iraq's own\npropaganda machine. I believe\nthat Iraq was solely responsible\nfor its invasion of Kuwait and regardless of whether or not it believed that the US condoned such\naction, the fact remains that Iraq\ni s guilty of unprovoked aggTessi on.\nIt is Iraq, and not Israel, who has\nshown that it is not interested in\npeace with its neighbours.\nPhillip IMaerov\nScience 4\nNDP also useless\nAh, yes. To be so virtuous.\nWhat a delight to see our white\nknights of democracy greeting M.\nChretien with their hard earned\nwaffles last Monday. Those ingenuous NDPers not only have the\nanswers to international peace and\ngoodwill, they ca.n stage a nifty five\nsecond media bite. Rather than\nexplain M. Chretien's position\n(which was well understood by\neveryone else at the crampacked\nSUB Ballroom), perhaps we should\nlook at Audrey McLaughlin's claim\nto an Eggo Special on other fronts.\nOne critical questioner voiced\nconcerns over M. Chretien's popularity in Quebec. Yes, he is having\nan uphill battle. Because he is\nalone!\nThe NDP are shamefully silent on national unity. Where was\nthe NDP during the Belanger-\nCampeau Commission? Last August, both the NDP and the Tories\nran a pro-sovereigntist in a\nMontreal byelection. Only the Libs\nran a federalist. At least the voters voted for the real thing when\nthey elected a Bloc Quebecois candidate. And the NDPs lone Quebec MP is also a pro sovereigntist\nkind of guy.\nNow, whether the NDP is\nsupportive of sovereignty for Quebec is one thing. But you never\nhearanNDPer in English Canada\nsay that. Heck, if Quebec split, the\nNDP woul d have a better chance of\nforming government (conspiracy\ntheory). The bottom line is that\nthey are silent while the future of\nCanada is being debated. And 800\nstudents didn't jam SUB Ballroom\nto hear Jean Chretien say that\nfederalism was dead. They were\nthere to hear the only leader in\nCanadian politics who still believes\nthat there is hope.\nSo, be consistent you waffling\nNDPers. Gee, Ihaven'tevenbegun\nto talk about Mike Harcourt yet.\nMike McDonald\nArts 4\np.s. Why hasn't Audrey bothered\nto stop by this year?\nThank you, Geers\nWe are writing to you on behalf of Amnesty International\nmembers at UBC. Amnesty UBC\nis concerned with human rights\nviolations. Our members spend\nmuch of their time writing letters\non behalf of people around the\nworld who are being detained\nwithout charge or trial, are being\ntortured or unfairly punished, or\n\u00C2\u00A3_=\t\n6*\nSELF SERVE COPIES\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 RECYCLED PAPER\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 AUTO FEED\n\u00E2\u0096\u00A0 REDUCTIONS\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 ENLARGEMENTS\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 + A LOT MORE\nUNIVERSITY VILLAGE\n2nd FLOOR\n2174 WESTERN PARKWAY\nVANCOUVER, B.C.\n224-6225\nFAX 224-4492\nOPEN EVERY DAY M-TH 8-9\nFRI 8-6 SAT SUN 11-6\nwho have been sentenced to death.\nOften, all we can do is hope that\nour letters will make a difference\nor that we will receive a reply from\nthe governments in question.\nSpecifically, we would like to\nextend our thanks to the Engineering students of UBC for their\nefforts on behalf of our adopted\nprisoner of conscience, Nidal Ilo.\nNidal is a Syrian engineering student in his twenties who was arrested on April 12, 1987 by the\nDepartment of Political Security\nfor his membership in the Communist Party Political Bureau. Amnesty International has taken action because Nidal was never\ncharged and no date has been set\nfor his trial. Given that he is being\ndetained solely for his political affiliation and has never advocated\nor committed violence, Nidal Ilo\nconstitutes a prisoner of conscience.\nHis arrestis a violation of both the\nUniversal Declaration of Human\nRights and Article 38 ofthe Syrian\nConstitution which states that\n\"Every citizen has the right to freely\nand openly express his view in\nwords, in writing and through all\nmeans of expression...\"\nSince Nidal is an engineer we\npresented his case at a few ofthe\nrecent engineering meetings in the\nCheeze Factory and received a response different from the one that\nwe were told to expect. We distributed petitions and many have\nbeen sent to Syria in hopes of securing Nidal's unconditional release.\nAgain, our thanks to the engineers.\nTrina Moulin\nRandy Hansen\nAmnesty UBC\nI and others spent several\nhours in the cold and dark putting\nthose posters up on campus. It\nalso cost us something to get them\nprinted in the first place. All that\nfor what? Three days, at most, on\nthe campus walls\u00E2\u0080\u0094not nearly\nenough time to attract the attention of anyone who may have been\ninterested. Iamshockedthatsorne\nperson or persons would do this for\nno apparent reason.\nWhoever you are\u00E2\u0080\u0094GROW UP!\nWe're not adolescents anymore (I\nwould hope). Try to think about\nmore than just your petty opinions\nfor a change.\nJenni Mott\nAlpha Phi\nSo join The Ubyssey\nRe: February 5 Ubyssey article on\nthe forum on the Native view ofthe\nenvironment movement\nWas Ms. Zimmerman mute\nthroughout the entire proceedings?\nOr perhaps the opinions expressed\nby Mr. Merkel, Mr. Atleo and Mr.\nCollett were so incredibly superior\nas to render her comments unnecessary to report?\nJ. Shelbourn\nArts 4\nWho dun it?\nIt has come to my attention\ntoday (Feb 1, 1991) that many of\nthe posters put up for my sorority's\nspring membership recruitment\ndrive have been taken down. At\nfirst I thought that it was my bad\nluck that physical plant (or some\nsuch)hadremovedthem. Butthen\nI noticed that many posters which\nwere still up were much older\u00E2\u0080\u0094\nseveral with dates in mid January.\nErgo my conclusion: SOMEONE\ndeliberately removed OUR posters. Since I have no way of finding\nout who did it (or why) I am hoping\nthey will read the following:\nTo whom it may concern (and even\nif it doesn't):\nWest End\nTravel\nOpen 6 days\na week\n1120 Davie St., Van.\n(across from\nShoppers)\n683-7828\nmn*\nTHE\nTHUNDERBIRD\nSHOP AT UBC\nYOU KNOW THAT VALENTINE'S DAY IS\nFEBRUARY 14th. YOU PROBABLY KNOW\nTHAT WE HAVE EVERYTHING YOU\nNEED . . . CARDS, BALLOONS, PLUSH,\nAND GIFTS. YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT\nWE CARRY A BROAD SELECTION OF\nRECYCLED PAPER PRODUCTS . . .\nWRITING PADS, COIL NOTEBOOKS,\nLOOSELEAF REFILL, CARDS,\nGIFTWRAP, AND MORE.\nAT THE THUNDERBIRD\nSHOP ... WE CARE!\nLOWER LEVEL\nSTUDENT UNION\nBUILDING\n224-1911\nHOURS: MON. TO FRI. 8 AM-6 PM\nSATURDAY 10 AM - 5 PM\nSUNDAY 12 - 5 PM\nFebruary 14,1990\nTHE UBYSSEY/19 0& *fp\nlift.'1\nm\nrj*;*..5\u00C2\u00BBi.\n'^MsS;\nkJfe\nlit\ny jUStak\u00C2\u00AB\u00C2\u00AB?\nAT CAMPUS\nCOMPUTERS WE\nOUR HOMEWORK\n'<*\n386DX-25MHZ\nCache /40MB\nwith monitor\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 1MB RAM \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 64K cache\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 25MHz clock speed\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 expandable to 8*/B\n$1599\n386DX 33MHz-Cache/40MB \u00C2\u00AB1788\nill\nAll Models Feature: \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 12\" Monochrome Monitor \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Hercules Compatible Mono/Graphics Card\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 101-Key Enhanced Keyboard \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 1024K RAM / 0 Wait State \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 1.2MB Floppy Drive\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 40MB Hard Drive (28ms) \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Combined Hard / Floppy Controller* Serial/Parallel' Ports\n\u00E2\u0080\u00A2 User's/Technical Manuals \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 1 Year Parts & Labour Warranty\n20/THE UBYSSEY\nFebruary 14,1991"@en . "Newspapers"@en . "Vancouver (B.C.)"@en . "LH3.B7 U4"@en . "LH3_B7_U4_1991_02_14"@en . "10.14288/1.0127126"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Vancouver : Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from The Ubyssey: http://ubyssey.ca/"@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Archives"@en . "University of British Columbia"@en . "The Ubyssey"@en . "Text"@en .