like last year.. yesterdays awareness breakfast was very inspiring..and again i felt blessed to be part of such an overwhelming sense of community and support/ there were many brave stories told and i came away feeling much love for my community and fellow queers/ each of the speakers were asked to talk about how far they think we have come within our community specifically queers in the workplace... this proved to be a very interesting question.. and i for one never know how to answer it.. because on one hand we have come so far and on the other...??/ one speaker, a teacher who taught at my highschool and transitioned on the job talked about how she can remember talking with her staff regarding whether or not female students should be allowed to wear pants to school/ that was in the late sixties/ and/ in 1996 she approached the VSB and came out as a transexual and told them that she was going to have to transition, it was either that or "jump off a bridge"/ this was after living for over 50 years thinking, "if they only knew my secret".../ Gayle Roberts took a few months off from teaching and worked in the offices at the VSB while she got used to presenting as a woman and after about one year she returned to the same position teaching physics at Lord Byng Secondary School/ she said yesterday, that in all her years teaching for the VSB she didn't hear ONE transphobic comment, not ONE. so, has there been movement with queers in the workplace..... yes, there has.../ another speaker (who was a visitor to vancouver) was walking down Davie street holding hands with his partner... when, they were approached by a group of men who said "oh, my god...!! what's wrong with you? are you holding his hand??"... this was Mark Tweksbury who was in town to launch his new book... luckily, he's a true gentleman and understands that homophobia is not solved by any sort of backlash... so, responded..."what's wrong with YOU? im holding HIS hand, i don't WANT to hold yours."
Its no wonder he won the Olympic Gold. this is in Vancouver on DAVIE STREET in 2006.
soooo... how far have we really come??


little by little, hand in hand, bit by bit.....