The Laramie Project Protest

Going to Commercial Drive tonight to counter-protest the Westboro Baptist Church. They're coming up from the States to protest a production of The Laramie Project.

If you'll recall, in 1998 Matthew Shepard was a university student who was lured from a gay bar in Laramie Wyoming by two men, driven outside of town, stripped & tied to a fence, beaten and left for dead. He eventually did die of a heart attack before he was discovered. The Laramie Project is a play that focuses on the aftermath of Matthew's murder and the effect on the community.

So, in their typical hateful fashion the Westboro Baptist Church intends to come up to Canada and protest the play. This "church" regularly protested the funerals of soldiers from Afghanistan and Iraq until the government legislated against that type of action. However, they continue to protest the funerals of known gays & lesbians and they're trying to spread their hate in Canada now. In a nutshell (emphasis on nut), they believe that the western world has turned away from God and that we all deserve violent deaths and disease as a result of our wickedness. Nice bunch, non?

Anyway, I'll be there tonight, with Jason and friends to let these hateful, despicable, people know that they and their ideology are not welcome here. While I disagree with them, they are entitled to their beliefs under a democracy, but don't bring your beliefs to my doorstep and expect me to refrain from expressing mine.

Milk...Wow

Went and saw Milk at the Festival Cinemas last night. Wow. What a great movie. Sean Penn was friggin' amazing.

I was riveted by the movie. It has original film footage from the 1970's interspersed with the storyline and it works really well. I found myself wanting to turn away from the screen when the ending was coming because I knew what was going to happen and I didn't want to accept it.

Wow. Thank you Gus Van Sant for bringing this important story to the screen.

Go see this movie.

Cinemark's Dirty Secret

Cinemark is releasing "Milk" this week. It tells the story of a lesser known gay and lesbian rights hero who was murdered in 1978 along with the Mayor of San Fransico. I was eager to go to see this movie at a cinema across the street from where I live (Tinsletown Theatres) until I was recently disappointed to discover that Alan Stock (CEO of Cinemark) donated $9,999.00 for Proposition 8 (to repeal same sex marriage rights in California). It really angers me to think that Mr. Stock and his company feel that it is OK to take the money of gays and lesbians on one hand and actively pursue a course of action that would deny those very same people equality in society. I mean, let's be honest here, Milk is not likely to have mass appeal to the heterosexual majority and will probably draw the largest portion of its revenues from gays, lesbians, and transgendered people.

There are a few campaigns to boycott Cinemark, Century, CineArts, and Tinsletown theatres over this action. The Facebook campaign now has over 17,000 people on it and is growing.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=38921980657

I have joined this group and have encouraged my friends to do the same. I have also found another theatre in Vancouver (Festival Theatre) that will be showing this film.

http://www.festivalcinemas.ca/

Maybe I'll see you there?

Boo Hoo Canadian Blood Services

So, Canadian Blood Services has been crying about the dangerously low stockpile of blood as of late. Well, boo fucking hoo! Don't publicly lament the dearth of donors on one hand and then uphold a discriminatory ban against accepting the blood of gay and bisexual men. I personally tried to donate blood twice when I was in university and I was twice denied because I was sexually active with other men. Never mind that I practised safe sex. The issue was that I had sex at all. Don't get me wrong, I believe that Canadian Blood Services does good work and saves lives. But they will never get my sympathy as long as they prevent people like me and Jason from donating our blood.