Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean presented Torontonian Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes with the country's highest civilian honour for his long-standing work as a gay rights champion.
"About 27 years ago, I was fasting to protest the police actions around the bathhouse raids," Hawkes, 57, said in a phone interview. "And to see how far we've come, that Canada is the first country in the world to give its highest award to a gay activist."
Ok, Americans. It's time to catch up with the Canada's progressive gay rights movement.
Tuscon, Arizona has made a move in the right direction. This is definitely a good start:
Despite the city's budget crunch, the [Tuscon, AZ] City Council unanimously approved domestic partner benefits for heterosexual couples on Wednesday - matching the benefits for same-sex couples that was approved in 1997.
Several council members said the move was simply the right thing to do to be fair to all employees.
[read more]
I'm sure religious extremists are angry about this move -- especially Catholics! It's a great move in my opinion, because
it makes unmarried heterosexual couples more aware of how anti-gay laws really can affect them.
When states passed laws that made it illegal to recognize/honor any relationship other than legal marriage between heterosexuals, millions of unmarried heterosexual
couples who lived in common-law marriages were affected. Hopefully, other local governments will follow Tuscon's lead.
In the meantime, news like this still ticks me off:
The shooting death of a gay teenage boy who was dressed in women's clothing is being investigated as a possible hate crime, while detectives try to determine whether he was targeted because of his sexual orientation.
[source: Gay teen shot dead while dressed as woman in Fort Lauderdale]
That story touches on so many issues I can't even begin to address them in this post:
hate crimes, transgendered rights and awareness, race, and economics. I'll come back to that story later.
liberal bloggers
