Fire him now!: Barrie judge's ignorance of AIDS draws fire

In 2008, this is beyond offensive. That someone as supposedly learned and intelligent as Barrie Justice Jon-Jo Douglas would have allowed himself to remain so utterly ignorant of AIDS and HIV is appalling.

Appointed 10 years ago by Tory Premier Mike Harris, Douglas is now at the centre of a misconduct investigation after insisting during a November trial that a witness who is HIV-positive and has Hepatitis C don a mask while testifying in his courtroom. He later moved the case to a bigger courtroom in order to create more distance between the witness and himself.

As Star reporter Tracey Tyler writes in the article, three groups have complained to the Ontario Judicial Council. Their complaints target not only Douglas, but two courts – his own and the Superior Court of Justice, for failing to clearly condemn the behaviour.

"The HIV virus will live in a dried state for year after year after year and only needs moisture to reactivate itself," Douglas insisted, according to a transcript of the Nov. 23 trial proceedings.

In their Jan. 17 letter of complaint, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic (Ontario) say Douglas's response to the witness, a complainant in a sexual assault case, reveals "shockingly discriminatory thinking" and is a "particularly extreme example of unacceptable conduct by a judicial officer."

"This is outlandish," Bluma Brenner, an assistant professor at the McGill AIDS Clinic at McGill University in Montreal, told the Toronto Star yesterday. A drop of human immunodeficiency virus drying on the floor "would be inactivated within 20 minutes," Brenner said in an interview. After this, the virus in the drop is dead forever.

The Star article discusses the issue of judge education and training around issues like HIV.

But as far as I'm concerned, no judge sitting on any bench anywhere in Canada should have any excuse for this kind of ignorance. They shouldn't have to receive special training to dispel their irrational fears and prejudices around HIV. They should be intelligent and sophisticated enough to have received this education on their own long ago. That's what we're paying them for.

With his comments and actions, Justice Jon-Jo Douglas has proven himself unfit for the bench. He should be fired immediately.

So funny because it's true...

I found this video posted on Red Tory today and thought I'd re-post it here. This is my answer to those who say that homosexuality is the biggest threat to the modern family and humanity in general. Enjoy.

Proud Best GLBT Blog Nominee in 2007 Canadian Blog Awards

I'm very proud to have been nominated for this. Voting in the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards ends Wed at midnight, so if you've liked what you've read on this blog this past year, please feel free to send a vote my way here.

All the best to the other great blogs also nominated. Here's to many more great years of dialoguing.

Daniel Day-Lewis Dedicates Best Actor to Heath Ledger at SAG Awards

Classy. A lovely tribute by a great actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) to another great actor (Heath Ledger) at tonight's Screen Actors Guild Awards.

What a great speech as well from Julie Christie, who won for Away from Her. Sarah Polley must still be blushing.

Looks like No Country For Old Men is the current frontrunner for Best Pic at the Oscars.

Catholic School Boards ignore queer students, reject participating in groundbreaking homophobia student survey...

When I was a closeted, Catholic high school student in Guelph in the 1980s, I would've liked to know that those running my school system cared. It's hard enough getting through high school, as we know. But for gay youth, it can be excruciatingly painful. As an invisible minority, we suffer in complete silence, trying desperately to appear normal and average, when inside we're going through intense turmoil.

When we should be discovering ourselves and exploring what it means to be a human being without having to live with the responsibility of adulthood, it's awful so many queer youth find themselves hiding and lying. I used to calculate my every gesture, my every word, in order to make sure no one could detect my gay side. I was an expert in denial. I often look back now and wish things had been different.

Homophobia was a terrible problem in my high school. Anti-gay jokes and vitriol were widespread. Staying closeted was the safest way to survive the experience, although I was harassed from time to time for seeming a little queer. I suspect most queer youth still remain in the closet for the duration of their high school years, although we do know of many brave souls who tell their fellow students the truth. Still, those who come out in high school take huge risks, possibly subjecting themselves to violence and harassment.

Recently, EGALE Canada (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) announced it would conduct a major student survey of homophobia in Canadian schools, partnering with the University of Winnipeg. Education Professor Catherine Taylor is heading a research team that hopes to hear from 10,000 Canadian high school students by June of this year.

"It's a huge issue in education. People have been dragging their heels, because it's a hot-button issue," Taylor said.

"We're trying to get a really good snapshot of the environment in schools right now," Taylor said. "There has been a lack of good data on the situation in Canadian schools."

Sadly, not all school boards are interested in exploring and alleviating the personal hells their queer students are experiencing under their watch. The CBC ran this story yesterday detailing how two Ontario Catholic school boards (plus one in Alberta) rejected allowing their students to participate in the groundbreaking survey.

One rejection letter came from the chair of the Wellington Catholic District School Board in Guelph, my hometown. Rev. Dennis Noon wrote in capital letters "Not interested thank you," and later told CBC News that homophobia is not a big issue for his board.

Really, Reverend Noon? You don't know what's happening in your schools, I must say.

This brings up yet again the touchy question of mixing religion and public education. This kind of knee-jerk rejection by Catholic school trustees reminds me of how the Catholic school board in Oshawa handled the case of Marc Hall in 2002. Openly gay, Hall wanted to take his then-boyfriend with him to their school prom, but his principal and then the board's trustees told him no, worried giving him this freedom would violate the precepts of the Catholic faith. Hall won in the end when a court injunction forced the board to allow Hall to bring his boyfriend to the prom.

Although the Hall case never made it to trial (as Hall dropped the case a few years later), the court injunction provided some insight into how our courts view the rights of students versus the rights of Catholic school boards, at least in Ontario. Catholic school boards in Ontario are publicly-funded, after all. Thus they should have a responsibility to adhere to Ontario's human rights laws, not just Catholic doctrine.

By allowing homophobia to go unchallenged in their schools, to the point where they won't even let students participate in a survey like this, these Catholic school trustees have once again let their queer students down. Shame.

If Catholic boards keep this up, support for abolishing these separate boards in Ontario will only continue to grow. As we know, the status quo in Ontario - whereby the public funds one public system alongside one Catholic system - is discriminatory and unfair to other faiths. As most Ontarians reject the John Tory notion of expanding religious education, the only other acceptable option is to abolish the Catholic system in Ontario in favour of one public system for all.

Al Gore endorses equal marriage for LGBT citizens

Former U.S. Vice-President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore gives us yet another reason to wish he'd become President in 2000 with this recent internet video in which he endorses equal marriage rights for gay and lesbians.

Gore hits the nail on the head when he asks, "Shouldn't we be promoting faithfulness and loyalty to one's partner regardless of sexual orientation?"

If only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama had his courage. I suspect both current Democratic candidates, deep down, believe in full equality for LGBT Americans. They're just playing it safe this election year.

But statements like this from Gore will go a long way to encouraging more Americans to consider the folly of continued inequality under the law in their country. At least, I hope so.

It's been a joy watching this great man transform from a tightly scripted Presidential candidate in 2000 to the true leader he is today.

For more on Gore, read this.

Fred Phelps: evil incarnate

Want further proof that the extreme Christian right is really a front for Satan worshippers, pushing an agenda of pure hatred and evil, in the name of their God? Look no further than the latest outrage peddled by Fred Phelps and his beyond-insane Westboro Baptist Church, based in Kansas, on the tragic death of Heath Ledger.

This follows this hate group's long-standing tradition of picketing the funerals of gay men and even U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

Christianity will be dead in the United States and elsewhere in a few decades if these guys keep this up. For those of us on the progressive left working to promote a more secular, free and just society, where all human beings are loved and respected, you're making our jobs easier, Fred.

I learned in Catholic school a long time ago that Jesus wants us to love our fellow men and women and not to judge. I've never been able to decipher anything remotely Christian in Phelps' words and actions and I'm sure I never will.

********** UPDATE **************

Canuck Attitude posted about this as well. He pointed out a great comment by Marina Hyde at the Guardian on the same subject:

"Further comment feels unnecessary, other than perhaps to wonder whether the "church" will ever realise that their continued existence is the most eloquent argument against the existence of any deity. And then to accept the answer would be a no."

Very sad news: Actor Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC at Age 28

This was shocking news this afternoon.

"Australian-born actor Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan apartment, naked in bed with sleeping pills nearby, police said. The Australian-born actor was 28. It wasn't immediately clear if Ledger had committed suicide. He had an appointment for a massage at a residence in the tony neighborhood of SoHo, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. A housekeeper who went to let him know the massage therapist had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m...

"While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was a respected, award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on his heartthrob looks. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, where he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year."

Like many gay men, Ledger's break-out film Brokeback Mountain continues to hold a very special place in my heart. No gay-themed film reached as wide an audience as that 2005 flick, won as much world-wide acclaim, winning eight Oscar nods including Best Picture and Best Actor for Ledger. I still think it was robbed of the Best Pic win by Paul Haggis' decent but average Crash.

Much of Brokeback's success was due to Ledger's note perfect lead performance. He played the tortured closet case Ennis del Mar in love with Jake Gyllenhaal's Jack Twist. As a gay man, Ledger's portrayal resonated with me greatly and brought me to tears by the end of the film. In many ways, the character represented the embodiment of shame and self-hate, a product of his traditional, American, cowboy culture.

Although the beautiful actor starred in many feature films over the last 10 years, I continue to believe Ledger's achievement in Brokeback will be watched and admired for years to come as a landmark in acting.

Very, very tragic.

Sarah Polley, Ellen Page, Julie Christie nominated for Academy Awards!

What a sweet nod this morning for Sarah Polley (pictured, looking glamorous) in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for her debut film, Away from Her, which she also directed. Polley's nomination in the script category will only boost Julie Christie, now nominated in the Lead Actress category for her performance in that film.

Halifax actress Ellen Page is another young Canadian nominated for an Oscar this year; she's up for Lead Actress for her performance in Juno.

Juno's Montreal-born director Jason Reitman is also up for Best Director.

Viggo Mortensen nabbed a Best Actor nomination for his great performance in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises.

Other Canadian or Canadian-related nominations include two animated shorts: I Met the Walrus by producer Josh Raskin, and Madame Tutli-Putli by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (produced with the National Film Board of Canada.)

The full list of nominations can be found on the Oscar website. Please expect my predictions on winners prior to Feb 24...

Sun Media's Michael Den Tandt lies to make flawed point about Afghan mission

Shame on Sun Media columnist Michael Den Stadt for his misleading column today.

He uses the following falsehood to bolster his argument that continued Canadian combat operations in the most dangerous region of Afghanistan are necessary: "Most of our casualties in Kandahar have been suffered in (improvised explosive device) attacks."

This is simply not the case, according to this breakdown of Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since 2001. Sixty-nine of the 78 deaths (77 soldiers, one diplomat) have taken place since the Canadians were rotated into Kandahar in early 2006. Of those, 32 have been caused either by roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Perhaps I'm quibbling with numbers, but surely anyone familiar with basic mathematics can tell that 32 out of 69 cannot constitute "most of (the) casualties in Kandahar." That's less than half of the casualties. Of course, not all of those 32 were killed by improvised explosive devices. By my count, only 11 were the result of IEDs, four less than the 15 killed in combat operations in Kandahar.

Here's the full breakdown since 2001 of Canadian deaths in Afghanistan (as of today, Jan 20, 2008):

FRIENDLY FIRE
6

SUICIDE ATTACKS
12

KILLED IN EXPLOSION
1

LANDMINE EXPLOSION
2

LAV III ROLLOVER/CRASH
3

ROADSIDE BOMB/IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
32

COMBAT/FIRE FIGHT/ROCKET ATTACK/AIR & GROUND OFFENSIVE AGAINST TALIBAN/HELICOPTER SHOT DOWN
15

TRAFFIC ACCIDENT
3

SHOOTING INCIDENTS, STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
2

FELL FROM TOWER
1

SUICIDE
1

Den Tandt argues that Canada's combat operations in Kandahar are actually undermining the Taliban's ability to use more IEDs or roadside bombs. He may or may not be right. But if the Canadian mission is rotated out of the danger zone, one can only assume this would likely lessen Canadian casualties.

I guess he assumes that Canadians would remain in Kandahar once we are no longer engaging in combatting the Taliban directly, and therefore would be sitting ducks to their attacks.

Why are the Taliban targeting Canadians with roadside bombs and IEDs? Because we are in their home region for the purposes of hunting down and killing them. They are fighting back. It's war.

By February 2009, we will have been engaged in direct combat with the Taliban in Kandahar for three years. That is quite the contribution. This is a NATO mission, not a Canadian mission. Our allies must also do their part and face up to their responsibilities as well. I know many Canadian conservatives agree with that. I don't think we should cut and run, we should share the heavy burden with our allies who are letting us down.

Canadian parties should hold primaries to elect local candidates

Barbara Yaffe's column today, "The dirty little undemocratic secret of political parties," makes some good points. The power of party leaders like Stephane Dion to appoint good candidates in local ridings, or to simply manipulate the process to produce the kinds of winners leaders seek, is now common practise.

At the heart of the issue is our flawed process for nominating candidates: the only voters who get to decide who runs locally for a political party are local party members. Theoretically, any one, no matter how extreme or inexperienced, can run for a nomination, sign up thousands of friends or instant party members, get them to a nominating meeting and win a local party nomination. This is not democracy by any stretch of the imagination, it is the perverting of democracy, the manipulation of the local voting pool in favour of one candidate or candidates. That's why all this talk coming out of Saskatchewan of late is so annoying, like the signing up of hundreds of instant Liberals is democratic. Sure, it's more democratic than appointing someone, but the power to appoint was put in place to counteract the irresponsible abilities of bad local candidates from taking over a riding association and hoisting themselves on the nation and party.

We need a new way of nominating local candidates, one that mimics the American process. Instead of only paid-up party members voting in nominating races, why not expand the party electorate to include all voters who publicly identify as "Liberal" voters, or "Conservative" voters, or "NDP" voters, etc? The pool of voters to nominate a local candidate would be all voters in the riding who identify with that party. Throw in "independent" voters who choose not to identify with any party, hold a big, riding-wide vote with several polling locations just like a by-election, all voters who chose to take part could take part. Soon thereafter, the local nominating process wouldn't be so easily manipulatable. And more than likely, the best candidate would win.

It would be fair, it would be open and it would be far more democratic than our pathetic, instant-party-member process long since discredited. And it would avoid the kind of controversy we're seeing in northern Saskatchewan today.

Excellent New Documentary: "For The Bible Tells Me So"

I attended a special screening last week of director Daniel G. Karslake's "For The Bible Tells Me So," at Toronto's Bloor Cinema.

For every Christian who believes their Holy Book condemns homosexuality as a sin against God or nature, you'd do very well to see this amazing movie to set the record straight (er, no pun intended...lol.)

As Variety's Justin Chang puts it so well in this review, "Filmmaker Daniel Karslake lobs a grenade into the culture wars with his heartfelt, provocative and unabashedly polemical "For the Bible Tells Me So," which examines the intersection of homosexuality and religion and finds the latter wanting."

Many Christian homophobes have long pointed to the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament as proof that God condemns homosexuality. As we know, Leviticus was simply an ancient, Jewish rule book which dictated various living standards for all Jews at the time. The same book also states that eating shellfish is an "abomination", among other rules long since forgotten by modern, Evangelical Christians and most Jews.

In fact, the word "abomination" continues to be taken out of context, the film asserts. While many today consider that word to mean a "sin against God or nature", the word "abomination," at the time of Leviticus simply referred to something that went against the mainstream cultural norms of the time.

Because the survival of Jewish tribes was then very much in doubt, specific condemnations of same sex relations seem reasonable, even from a modern perspective. Of course, such condemnations have no place in our over-populated modern reality.

Karslake's film exposes many other misinterpretations of Scripture which have formed the basis of much homophobia in the modern era.

But "For The Bible Tells Me So" isn't just a theological deconstruction of modern-day homophobia. The bulk of this great film, which has been shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature award at this year's Oscars, focuses on the lives of ordinary Christian families with gay or lesbian children who have struggled and suffered greatly due to those misinterpretations of Scripture. Profiles include former American presidential candidate Richard Gephardt, whose daughter came out as a lesbian before he chose to seek the highest office in the U.S. in 2004.

Well-deserved scorn is levelled against Dr. James Dobson and his bigoted U.S.-based organization, Focus on the Family, for its actions in fanning the flames of hatred. One particularly poignant segment of the film chronicles a mother and member of Focus of the Family who followed Dobson's teachings and rejected her daughter after she came out as a lesbian. Their relationship completely disintegrated and months later her daughter took her own life. Today, the same mother has since rejected Focus on the Family's bigotry and taken up the cause of LGBT rights.

For anyone looking for ways to challenge the mindless, kneejerk homophobia of some Christians who use the Bible to justify their hatred, this film is essential viewing.