In California a recent appeal by the federal court has ruled that the ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional, saying that its sole objective is to “lessen the status and human dignity of gays”.

THANK YOU! I shake my head in wonder that we keep circling this same tree over and over, but in reality, there is still so far to go when it comes to equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Marriage is a right that every human being should have – and I just want to pause in happy celebration that California is making steps to get on the right path again.

The ban known as Prop 8 in Cali was approved by voters in 2008, much to the sadness of the world that was watching vigilantly. I remember shedding some tears that day – it felt like a huge blow even though I am a Canadian and enjoy the right to be able to marry the woman that I love.

So this makes me think of my dear friend Alexander, who is marrying the love of his life in March (guess who is standing in at his wedding.. this girl!).

Finding a church to get married in has proven to be quite difficult. The only ‘traditional’ church in Fredericton, NB that appears to be willing to wed a gay couple requires that you first attend the church for 6 months before they will wed you.

I wonder if that standard applies to heterosexual couples as well. And even if it does not, there are a plethora of churches that will rent their buildings to the man and woman with the highest dollar to tie the knot in, but for the same sex couples… we receive a slammed door or a polite but cold ‘sorry, no thank you’.

I am not an extremely religious woman, but I do have friends that are. And it makes me so frustrated that this beautiful couple whom I love will have to travel to another city to find a church that will allow them in.

So here’s what I have to say.

Church’s, you have heard these arguements before. I realize you may feel we are going around the same tree again and again as well. But I still have to urge to consider that you are denying people the very thing that you claim to offer them when they walk through your doors.

Quoting the Old Testament and hanging on to the scriptures in Leviticus is not a valid excuse for inequality and discrimination. If you think that Lev 20:13 is the basis of your bias against lesbian and homosexual couples

(Leviticus 20:13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them.

then you also must consider the entire Old Testament to be a blueprint for your life. Leviticus also states that no priest can serve the Lord unless he is physically perfect. This means if you wear glasses, you’re out. And I certainly don’t see you checking your pastors for blemishes, eye defects, physical disabilities or inspecting a potential pastor’s testicles to ensure they are perfect before he is hired (check out Leviticus 21:16 to 21). How about burning your bull sacrifices on Sunday? Lev. 1:9 Sending your wives and daughters out of the city when their Lady Time is upon them? 15:19-24 Stoning the members of your congregation if they happen to take the Lord’s name in vain? Lev.24:10-16 What about when they wear mixed fabrics? Lev 19:19

I didn’t think so.

I think perhaps you are trying to adhere to the words of Jesus Christ, since you refer to yourself as a ‘Christian’. And if I’m not mistaken, Jesus never once mentioned homosexuals or stated that you were to discriminate against them.

I realize this is a debate that rages on (especially in regards to the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 1:26-27). But I also strongly believe that this issue is very much the same as the race discrimination problem that was so prevalent in the past and that continues to rage on in some Southern areas in the US. Many people use the words of the Bible to support bigotry, and if you truly do ‘love one another’, and ‘have ears to hear’, you may find yourself surprised at the revelation. Much the same way that it took a blinding light and formless voice to show Paul the error of his ways regarding his beliefs about the Hebrew texts, maybe you should allow God to do the same for you. If you have a knee jerk reaction of disgust when you hear about segregation in the schools, then try to expand your mind and realize that your inability to see everyone as equal has placed you into that category.

I think that it doesn’t take very much for you to open your doors and your hearts to the people in the community who want to commit their lives to each other with faith, love and honesty.

And let’s face it, you would be lucky to have this beautiful couple in your church.

Love is a blessing – every form of it.

Kahlil Gibran
1923

Story by Jessica LaPointe.

‘Tokyo Hotel Story’ is a show of photographs by world renowned photographer Nathalie Daoust and is in a word, provocative. The exhibition currently running at Gallery Connexion has attracted a large and diverse crowd, from art and photography lovers to members of the local kink community. The Rick Burns gallery is filled with dozens of large format colour photographs of beautiful Japanese women in full regalia, and surrounded by the tools of their trade as BDSM Dominatrix, including some in 3D.

Daoust spent several months living in a ‘love hotel’ in the middle of Tokyo in the city’s most famous S&M hotel, the Alpha Inn. While there, she photographed 39 women in their professional trade of Dominatrix, in full costume, in their private rooms. Love hotels as a phenomena became popular in Japan in the 1960s. Hotels offer elaborately themed rooms available for a 3 hour ‘rest’ or an overnight stay mainly for the purpose of having sex. Some hotels simply offer a private space for couples to fulfill their fantasies. The Alpha In, one of the most famous hotels in Tokyo, specializes in providing BDSM services. For a fee, a customer can hire a Mistress who specializes in Bondage and Domination or Sado/Masochism. In Japan, Mistress is a recognized trade and the women who work the hotel have undergone formal training in skills such as rope bondage, whipping techniques that leave no mark (or the opposite should the customer desire) and the cleaning and maintenance of their tools and equipment.

Every day for 4 months Daoust shot 2-3 rolls of 35mm film for each girl she interviewed. It took her nearly a year to develop and print her images in a specialty Kodak colour processing lab in Australia.  She has a long history of photographing both prostitutes and hotels, with over 50 solo shows and many group shows to her name. In her 1997 solo debut she photographed the Carleton Arms Hotel in New York City in ‘New York Hotel Story’, which was developed into a full colour coffee table book documenting the rooms of the hotel which are decorated by famous artists such as Banksy. She also spent time in a brothel in Brazil taking portraits of aging prostitutes who were fighting for recognition from the government for their right to social security, health care benefits and access to pension money.

Daoust says the 2-3 hours she spent with a Mistress was primarily to learn and talk with them about their hopes, dreams, family and living situation. Conversation was punctuated with her camera and the girls mostly posed themselves. Using long and double, even triple exposures and taking advantage of available light, Nathalie successfully conveys the atmosphere surrounding the Mistress and her work room. Special dark room and printing techniques further enhance the sense of fantasy and beauty, highlighting the hotel’s purpose of escapism via sexual adventure. The 3D portion of the show is much less ethereal and far more practical.  Here she shows the dungeons and cells available for a session with a Dominatrix.  In these rooms padded chairs with shackles, chains, rope and torture tools are freely used. No people populate these photos and the sense is that the 3D portion of the show is documentary, whereas the large colour photos of the Doms in costume is all about fantasy.

She says the reason behind this project was to satisfy her own curiosity, to debunk her prejudice toward sex workers in the BDSM trade and to continue her “exploration into female sexuality and the subversion of gender stereotypes.” When asked if she was attempting to present her subjects as empowered women breaking free of the “passive beauty” that dictates Japanese culture, she responded that the viewer must decide for themselves how to interpret the images – as passive or powerful. She says, “There’s a fine line between discriminating and empowering, but this is what I saw, this is what I lived – I just want to show this moment in time. You can see it however you wish I just wanted to document it.”

‘Tokyo Hotel Story’ runs until March 2. You can find images from the show, as well as her past projects, at http://www.daoustnathalie.com/ Gallery Connexion is located at 440 York St. and can be contacted at galleryconnexion.ca

Performances will presented live daily in the Owl’s Nest Bookstore storefront windows, from 10am-1pm and from 1-4pm, featuring a roster of eight different performance artists enacting a wide variety of provocative scenes, all on the theme of sexuality studies.

The Hoot & Peep Mini Performance Festival intends to not only shake up the snowy downtown streets of Fredericton, but also to raise awareness about the upcoming Salon Connex, a partnership project between the Charlotte Street Arts Centre and Gallery Connexion, to inspire critical dialogue about the content of the exhibitions hosted at Gallery Connexion.

Hoot & Peep performers include:
Jo Griffith
WhiteFeather
Megan MacKay
Amanda Jardine
Candace Mooers
Joe Blades
Shaun Bartone
Cynthia Ryder

Come indulge your inner voyeur, and take advantage of this rare opportunity to witness edgy performance art in Fredericton!

****The performances:

Decolumnization by Amanda Jardine will explore the expected disconnect between theory and sexuality in the academic community by using live creative nonfiction writing (in column form) to bridge this gap.

Blue Brains by Joe Blades will be a word association performance based on the idea of academic intellectual congestion and notions of attraction and the uncomfortable.

Tempest in a Teapot, an exploration of sexual repression: Under a picture of the Queen, Cynthia Ryder and Shaun Bartone will sip tea while reading passages from banned books.

Simultaneously screened in the adjacent window will be the video, Slut: A Drama in One Word, alternating with found films of tea services from around the world.

Foot Worship by Cynthia Ryder: A study of our obsession with brand, style and the appeal of the shoe. Cynthia will be crafting an altar from her 60+ pairs of shoes and boots.

ArteFacts/x-Colonel Williams by Jo Griffith: The police interrogation of Colonel Williams plays continuously while endless nonsensical flow charts are made to document the absence of reason for the crimes.

Lessons in Loyalty/Confessions by Candace Mooers will be the reading of an S&M script without following any of the emotional cues for audio performance, using a voice mixer and homemade radio transmitter.

Inverse Erotica by Megan MacKay points out the absurdity of assigning roles to costume through fantasy. MacKay adopts the moves of an erotic dancer who puts on clothing until she has become a sexless, amorphous blob of fabric.

Fixation Station by WhiteFeather explores obsessive bodily engagement in the form of oral fixation. WhiteFeather’s performance involves lipstick, watercolour paper and sunflower seeds in the shell.

***HUGE THANKS TO THE OWL’S NEST BOOKSTORE FOR HOSTING THIS EVENT***

For more information, call WhiteFeather at 454-6952.

Details have not yet emerged as to how much money was raised for Pride with this event.

For more information, see the Fredericton Pride website:

http://www.frederictonpride.org/

Shaun Bartone, Editor

One of the funnest parts of my job has to be talking about safer sex. I keep saying it, and I am sure that there are those who are tired of me doing do so, but being able to speak candidly about sex is so much fun. There is nothing quite like the look on someones face when I interrupt their valiant, yet unmistakably uncomfortable attempt to say “vagina”, and I tell them to say “twat” or whatever euphemism they are comfortable using to describe female genitalia. You see, I am not subject to the Appropriate Police the way others can be. I am required to ensure that the people I speak with know the biological or textbook terms, but so long as they can properly define the euphemism they are using so that we are on the same page, that’s all I require.

The reason I am afforded the privilege of using euphemisms is because, for the most part, that’s how people talk. Whether or not it’s okay that people use euphemisms is up for debate, but it’s not my battle. My battle is preventing and reducing the spread of HIV, HCV and STI’s in the province of New Brunswick. As you may have read/watched in my last blog post, I also coordinate the Fredericton Needle Exchange Programme. It is in this capacity that I work to reduce the spread of these viruses and infections among Injection Drug Users (IDU’s),  Sex Trade Workers, and everyone else. Not to over generalize, but many of my clients have no fixed address, so you can imagine that using “Appropriate” terms to describe oral sex or intercourse, pails in comparison to where their next meal is coming from, or where/if they will get to sleep tonight.

Having said all that, I am conscious that euphemisms can be, and many are, offensive. This is why I let my clients set the tone of the conversation. I follow their lead, and make a point to inform them that while I may not find certain terms or colloquialisms offensive, other might, and they need to be aware of that. Of course, there are a few that I find offensive and I make a point to mention it if they come up. For the most part I object to phrases that demean someone based on their gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, etc.  I cannot pretend to know the origin of every euphemism, nor who finds it offensive or why, but I am always on the search for knowledge, and welcome it.

Yes, as you might imagine, I can make people uncomfortable. Well, it’s not so much me as it is the topics I speak so openly about. I am the person who talks about; tea, cars, oral sex, Nurse Jackie (my new favourite show), jeans, injection drug use, road trips, feminism, and condoms, all in the same tone of voice, with little or no hesitation, regardless of my audience. The photos strewn about this post are taken from my office, a most overtly sexualizes place. The photo above, is of postcards from a campaign I fell in love with known as the One Life Campaign. If you take a second look you will notice that there are more arms than there ought to be, making the photos quite creepy. The Slogan at the bottom reads “Each Time You Sleep With Someone, You Also Sleep With His Past.”. A brilliant piece of marketing as far as I am concerned. For those of you who have not been to my office, these photos sit on a shelf above my head, and over my shoulder to anyone sitting at my desk facing me. They’re quite the conversation starter I assure you. The photo to the left is of condom roses, a fundraising initiative that use around Valentines day, and they sit just above the photo array.

The idea is simple, lets talk about sex. Talking about sex is important. Not necessarily because people don’t know about the mechanics sex. In fact, in my experience, the general populations knowledge about the mechanics of sex is quite good. Even information about STI’s, HIV, HEP C, HPV, and how to protect ones self from those things is fair, but for many it is theoretical, and they may not know how to properly incorporate that knowledge into sex acts. This is where talking about sex is important. It may be easy to talk hypothetically about sex, and the risks associated with it, but talking first person about it gets a little more difficult. There can be shame around sex, or squeamishness, I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it’s fair to say that it exists.

This is why I talk so normally about sex, why my office is hyper-sexualized (For those of you who may have studied psychology, this would probably be considered a Flooding Approach), and why I get to use euphemisms, because for me, it’s just sex. It’s important, deeply meaningful for some, not so much for others, but the mechanics are the same. The risks are the same. I need people to talk about THEIR sex lives the same way they talk about their vacations, or their homes. I need them to take ownership of sex so that they will believe me when I tell them that THEY can contract these infections, even if it’s their first time, even if they pull out, even if it’s “only oral sex”, and therefore their options for protecting themselves are: Abstinence or Using a Condom. Because teaching people these things, and having them put them into practice are two very different things. And the latter is like pulling teeth!

for more information or assistance, contact AIDS NB:

http://www.aidsnb.com/

Phone (toll free & anonymous) : 1 800-561-4009 (New Brunswick only)

Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday 8:30am – 12:30pm & 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Fredericton Office
phone: (506) 459-7518
fax: 506 459-5782
e-mail : info@aidsnb.com

Bathurst Office
phone: (506) 549-1215
e-mail : north@aidsnb.com

Address:
AIDS New Brunswick (Head Office)
65 Brunswick St
Fredericton,NB
E3B 1G5

Article 1: How to Eat Pussy.

Hey FQrs: I have asked no less than three people to write a monthly (or more) sex column for FQ. Each one thought about it but eventually failed to produce a single article. (I hope they change their minds after this inaugural effort). So once again, it comes down to Moi. I don’t consider myself to be any sort of expert on sex. And the needle flicks into the “failure” zone on relationships, so don’t ever take my advice on those issues; you have been warned. The authors I asked all were sexperts in their own right, each one having written extensively on sex and relationship issues. Maybe they wanted to get paid; I don’t know. So I’m going at myself. Here’s my first column, and guess what? It doesn’t involve much writing. Because in the world of blogging, the best way to produce an article that will really get some traffic is to “borrow” someone else’s stuff. (Kudos to the Anarcho-Feminist for posting this wonderful sex ed video.) It’s the quick and dirty method, but it works every time. So let’s get right down to it—with a fabulous instructional video, “How to Eat Pussy.” This Sex Ed session with Nina Hartley and Sunny Lane  is so beautiful, so “tasteful”, and so incredibly informative, you will come away knowing how to give a girl the most fabulous oral orgasms you or she have ever experienced. You will be proud of your technique and your girlfriend will follow you around the house with stars in her eyes for days afterwards.

http://anarchofeminist.tumblr.com/post/14971041186/how-to-eat-pussy-sex-ed-session-with-nina

In future columns, I will intrepidly take your queer sex and relationship questions and do my level best to provide my readers with answers and advice. Articles on trans sexuality, BDSM, and safer sex are especially welcome. Send your questions, topic ideas or articles to frederictonqueery@gmail.com.  Good luck out there, FQrs, have fun and play safe.

On August 28, 1971 queer activists hosted the first large scale gay rights protest on Parliament Hill. 100 to 200 women and men stood in the pouring rain to listen to speeches from Toronto Gay Action, The Homophile Movement of Toronto and Front de Libération Homosexual. The demonstration was to follow up to a list sent to the federal government, later printed as”We Demand” in the queer magazine The Body Politic.

Build up

In 1969 homosexuality was decriminalized as long as it was between two consenting parties that were at least 21 years old. This was the beginning of the mainstream queer movement in Canada. Though the Homophile Movement had existed since the 1950s, their goal was to prove queers as ‘respectable’ citizens. However, in the early 1970s activists started to reject this white middle class queer ideal, placing the emphasis on having pride in queer culture, art, and practices instead.

Demands

There were ten demands published, all aimed towards the legal advancement of mostly gay men. They ranged from being as broad as all rights for homosexuals that straight people have, to stopping the fruit machine.

from Wikipedia:

“Fruit machine” is a joking9 term for a device developed in Canada that was supposed to be able to identify homosexual people, or “fruits“. The subjects were made to view pornography, and the device measured the diameter of the pupils of the eyes (pupillary response test), perspiration, and pulse for a supposed erotic response.

The fruit machine was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs. Although funding for the “fruit machine” project was cut off in the late 1960s, the investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on over 9,000 suspected homosexuals.^[1]

The chair was like one from a dentist’s office. It had a pulley with a camera going towards the pupils. There was a black box in front of it that showed pictures. The pictures ranged from the mundane to sexually explicit photos of men and women. It had previously been determined that the pupils would dilate in relation to the amount of interest in the picture. This was called the pupillary response test.^[2]

People were told the machine was to rate stress. After knowledge of its real purpose became widespread, few people volunteered for it.