Still no word from QuAIA on my query about gay Saudi man...

It's been five days since I emailed Queers Against Israeli Apartheid about this tragic story of a gay Saudi man who's been sentenced a man to five years in prison and 500 lashes for having sexual relations with another man.

Perhaps they're short of volunteers at the moment? Despite their focus on the Middle East, perhaps they don't care about injustices outside of Israel's borders? Regardless, I'll continue to wait patiently for this community group, so vocal when it wants to be, to reply to my honest query.

Saudi Man Gets Five-Year Prison Term, 500 Lashes for Gay Sex, Okaz Reports

After reading about this tragic story today, I wondered how those queer activists involved in Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) might react to it. One of the biggest criticisms against the group has been the charge QuAIA only attacks alleged Israeli abuses, failing to condemn injustices committed in Arab countries (leaving the group open to accusations of anti-Semitism.) So I sent this email to the group this afternoon. I'll be sure to publish their response here if I get one...


From: Matt Guerin
To: quaia.toronto@gmail.com
Sent: Mon, November 15, 2010 3:24:12 PM
Subject: Saudi Man Gets Five-Year Prison Term, 500 Lashes for Gay Sex, Okaz Reports

Dear QuAIA --

Will your group be speaking out against this injustice in Saudi Arabia? If so, when and how? It would be great if your organization challenged and spoke against all injustice and human rights abuses in the Middle East, particularly when it's LGBT people being victimized (and not just targetted one country's abuses while ignoring others.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-08/saudi-man-gets-five-year-prison-term-500-lashes-for-gay-sex-okaz-reports.html

Matt Guerin

Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better" www.joelburns.com

A new gay hero!

Blue Valentine Q&A following TIFF 2010 screening (partial)

I recorded this post-screening Q&A for the film 'Blue Valentine' on Sept 15, 2010 at TIFF. Director Derek Cianfrance, actor Ryan Gosling and young actress Faith Wladyka answer questions. Michelle Williams was not present. (I started recording about a third into the Q&A after taking some pics...missed a sweet moment when Ryan led a 'Happy Birthday' song for a swooning audience member, sadly not me.)

Brendan Burke was a hero!

After hearing this tragic news last night, I thought I would come out of my self-imposed hiatus to briefly pay tribute to Brendan Burke, the son of hockey giant and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, who died yesterday after a car accident in Indiana.

According to reports, Brendan Burke was killed as heavy snow was falling on the roads north of Economy, Ind., near the Ohio border. The 2004 Jeep Cherokee in which he was riding reportedly slid into oncoming traffic and crashed into a truck going the other way, killing Burke and a friend. The driver of the truck survived.

Brendan was tremendously brave last November when he told the world he was gay. The story seemed to re-start a conversation about rampant homophobia in the sports world. Although not a professional athlete himself, Brendan's admission did no doubt make a difference. He could've remained quiet like so many closeted athletes do. But instead he chose to speak out and promote the cause of equality and acceptance and, for that, he's a hero to me.

Particularly inspirational was his father Brian Burke's reaction to his son's decision to come out publicly: "I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan," Brian Burke said at the time. "This news didn't alter any of them."

My thoughts are with the Burke family at this tragic time.

ON HIATUS: Taking a blogging break to focus on screenwriting...

This message might be redundant to those who have already noticed my absence from blogging. But I thought I'd make it official: I'm on hiatus from blogging for the foreseeable future.

The main reason: most of my energy, spare time and creativity is currently dedicated toward writing a feature screenplay adaptation of my recent short film, The Golden Pin. Turning a 15-minute short into a full-length feature is proving a tricky exercise, balancing the original story's varied characters and tensions, keeping in mind market expectations (I'm also a producer on the feature) and trying to remain true to our artistic vision. Needless to say, when I have a free evening, I feel guilty if I'm not working on the script. Hence, why blogging has fallen by the wayside.

I do love blogging. I love the immediacy of typing thoughts and feelings and publishing them to the world. I'm even enjoying writing this post right now, it's easy to remember the appeal. So I know I'm not through with blogging for good. But for now, with so much on my plate, it doesn't seem likely I'll have much time for it in the near future.

There are many issues on the queer liberation front that deserve commentary. Just this week, we saw a major victory when the U.S. finally ended its despicable ban on allowing HIV positive people into the country. Gay rights issues continue to simmer around the world. There is much to comment upon. Sadly, I'm going to have to relinquish the stage to other fine bloggers and commentators like Montreal Simon, Slapped Upside the Head, Andrew Sullivan and my friend Scott Dagostino.

With my full time job, plus my writing on the side, I just don't seem to have the same fire in the belly about some issues like I used to. Hearing that Stephen Harper hired another dinosaur to work in his office just doesn't elicit the same reaction in me as it did a year ago. Perhaps I'm becoming jaded, or maybe I just don't know what to think of our chameleon Prime Minister any more. On the one hand, he continues to show Canada's queer community official disdain (demoting ministers who treat us equally, hiring anti-gay speechwriters), but on the other hand, he seems to privately show less hatred (gay John Baird accompanies his wife Laureen often to Ottawa functions with Harper's approval.)

Michael Ignatieff's horrific stumbles this summer and fall have also taken their toll on my political self-esteem. Let me see - I endorsed Stephane Dion in 2006 and look how that turned out. And then I endorsed Michael Ignatieff in 2008, and thus far, while things got much better at first, Iggy has proven less than stellar. Is he still learning? Of course he is. Hiring Peter Donolo might actually make a major difference, I'm truly hoping so. The last thing our country needs is a Harper majority and it may just be that Donolo is the guy to help make Iggy the leader he needs to be to stop it from happening, and hell even get him into 24 Sussex.

I still have much hope for Ignatieff. New leaders always go through hell like this. This is Iggy's baptism by fire and I hope it's as painful for him as it needs to be. How soon we forget how unelectable Jean Chretien seemed between 1990 and 1993. I also described Stephen Harper as unelectable from 2004 to 2006. Things change.

My film heads to San Diego!

My apologies. I've been so busy that blogging has fallen by the way side the last two weeks.

There have been a few issues tempting me to write, but I've had too much going on lately with work, script-writing and Thanksgiving to find the time or the energy. I hope to be back on my blogging feet soon, but that might have to wait for a little while longer.

My short film, The Golden Pin, is heading to San Diego, CA for an official screening in the San Diego Asian Film Festival this Sat Oct 17th. The whole team is going to support it, including myself, and I can't wait.

Perhaps I'll find the time to do a little blogging from down south...

'The Golden Pin' makes its European debut!

'The Golden Pin,' the short dramatic film I co-wrote and helped produce, has its European premiere today at the Oslo Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Norway. Sadly we are not wealthy enough to attend, saving up valuable vacation time and money for later. But it's an honour to have been selected by the festival's programmers. We wish we could be there!

'The Golden Pin' is about a young swimmer torn between the expectations of his family and the demands of his heart. Here are our Facebook pages, which include details of future screenings.

New United Nations president legitimizes homophobic violence and discrimination

Thanks to Bruce for alerting me to this story.

The new President of the United Nations General Assembly, who took office last week for a one-year term, has some 'unacceptable' views on the human rights of LGBT people in the world.

When asked during a press conference this week about last year's U.N. resolution calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality throughout the world, Ali Abdussalam Treki (pictured) called the matter “very sensitive, very touchy.”

"As a Muslim, I am not in favour of it…it is not accepted by the majority of countries. My opinion is not in favour of this matter at all. I think it's not really acceptable by our religion, our tradition...It is not acceptable in the majority of the world. And there are some countries that allow [homosexuality] thinking it is a kind of democracy…I think it is not,” he added.

Individual human dignity and equality is the basis for democratic rights, as we know. It's too bad that fact is lost on the new United Nations president.

His comments are disgusting, especially since they were spoken on the same day Treki also declared, "Dialogue and mutual understanding are the way to resolve our problems."

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, blasted the new president's comments. “The anti-gay bigotry spewed by this Qaddafi shill demonstrates once again that the UN has been hijacked by advocates of hate and intolerance,” she said.

After giving a platform this week to Iran's bigoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, I would tend to agree.

I also heartily agree with the words of Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau, co-Presidents of EveryOne Group, and Roberto Malini as published on this site.

“Ali Abdussalam Treki made a very serious statement which cannot in any way be justified. Like every other Member of the General Assembly, the President has a duty to represent the principles and the aims of the United Nations, according to the Charter adopted on June 26, 1945 in San Francisco with its respect for Human Rights and fundamental freedom for all the human beings (article 1).

"In fact, with such a declaration, the president of the General Assembly has legitimized the violence, the imprisonment and the death penalty for thousands of homosexual people all over the world.

"Malini, Pegoraro and Picciau are appealing to the General Secretary and to the Security Council - whose duty it is to solve controversies in the General Assembly regarding the principles of the United Nations - to immediately remove Ali Abdussalam Treki from his role of President for his non-compliance to the aims and principles of the UN.

"EveryOne Group is also appealing to the associations and LGBT organisations, the EU Commission, the European Parliament and the governments of the democratic countries, particularly France and Holland - who put forward the above-mentioned moratorium - to stigmatize the statements made by the President of the UN General Assembly, and to ask for the immediate removal of Ali Abdussalam Treki from the presidency of the UN General Assembly."

To tolerate Treki's comments is to welcome any and all violence against LGBT people the world over. Sad thing is, I'm sure Canada's government under Stephen Harper probably has nothing to say about this outrage. I look forward to standing corrected on that.

Thunder Bay residents unite to protest anti-gay attack...

Thunder Bay residents are walking and rallying Friday evening to protest the recent attack on Jake Raynard, a local gay man who was left severely injured and in hospital after last weekend's incident. I'll be with them in spirit...

The following press release was sent out today to the Facebook group, 'Unified Community around Jake Raynard'

Press Release
September 10, 2009

Our Community Response to Violence

Friends and family of Jake Raynard are inviting the greater Thunder Bay community to a walk and a rally starting at Waverly Park at 6 pm on Friday, September 11 to positively respond to the targeted violence Jake and some friends experienced a week ago.

On Friday, September 4th, Jake, a 30 year old gay man and some of his friends were attacked by a group of men outside a bar in downtown Port Arthur. The beating left Jake with 15 fractures to his cheekbone, a broken eye socket, a broken jaw and a broken upper palate. This violent hate crime has shocked, devastated and enraged Jake, his family, and the entire Thunder Bay community. This is not the first time this type of attack has taken place and it is time for the community to respond in a positive display of support.

The Unified Community around Jake Raynard is calling on all people in the greater Thunder Bay community to attend this rally to:

1. Welcome Jake back into our community from the hospital, give him support, help him with his desire to put a face to hate crimes of all kinds, and acknowledge his courage in coming forward.

2. To stand united as a community and declare that WE the residents of the greater Thunder Bay area and our response to this hate crime define this community, not the attackers or this terrible crime.

This is a matter that concerns the safety of all groups in our community, the image of our beloved city, and the future we build together.

Stand up for your community as we march through the Port Arthur downtown district, and return to Waverly Park to hear from a diverse group of community leaders.

This is a crucial time for the greater Thunder Bay community-- let’s make Jake’s heroism and our community response be the stepping stone for healing and positive change on our streets and in our homes.

-30-


Here's another link to the Facebook group.

Vicious anti-gay attack in Thunder Bay!

This is shocking and repulsive news. A Thunder Bay gay man is in hospital for reconstructive surgery after being attacked early Saturday morning in what his family calls a hate crime.

John "Jake" Raynard (pictured) reportedly suffered 15 fractures to his cheekbone, a broken eye socket, a broken jaw and a broken upper palate when six to eight men surrounded him and two friends outside a Thunder Bay bar.

I look forward to the police investigation and hope those bigots involved are brought to justice!

Raynard's friends and supporters have set up this Facebook group to keep those concerned informed.

John Greyson's bold stand against TIFF's showcase of Tel Aviv...

I'm not sure if I completely agree with Greyson's reasoning for pulling his film Covered out of this year's Toronto International Film Festival in protest over its inaugural City to City program on Tel Aviv.

Regardless of one's position on Israel's treatment of the Palestinians (and vice versa), no doubt Greyson's move (and those of other filmmakers who are boycotting TIFF this year as well) will create considerable discussion. It already has.

Last night, CBC's The National ran a puff piece by reporter Margaret Evans on rumours of a mermaid off the beautiful coastline of a northern Israeli resort town. It contained many beautiful shots of beaches and people enjoying the sunset, the kinds of images no doubt being promoted by any "Brand Israel" campaign. Perhaps Greyson has a point that we ought not forget about Israel's ongoing treatment of Palestinians.

Here's an excerpt from Xtra's news piece on Greyson's move:

"In a public letter dated Aug 27 Greyson zeroed in on press comments from the Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin describing the Tel Aviv spotlight as the culmination of the Israeli government's "Brand Israel" campaign.

Despite being a supporter of an economic boycott campaign against Israel, Greyson's letter discusses the "specific and strategic" details of when he participates in such a boycott. He criticizes the Tel Aviv spotlight as too one-sided, lacking diverse voices from displaced Palestinians or underground artists.

"What eventually determined my decision to pull out was the subject of Covered itself," Greyson writes. "It's a doc about the 2008 Sarajevo Queer Festival, which was cancelled due to brutal anti-gay violence. The film focuses on the bravery of the organizers and their supporters and, equally, on the ostriches, on those who remained silent, who refused to speak out: most notoriously the Sarajevo International Film Festival and the Canadian ambassador in Sarajevo. To stand in judgment of these ostriches before a TIFF audience, but then say nothing about this Tel Aviv spotlight — finally, I realized that that was a brand I couldn't stomach."

You can view Greyson's Covered on Vimeo until the end of the festival. It's quite stunning.