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rfmcdonaldThis morning from 10 am to 11:30, I listened to a special episode of Go, the CBC program normally hosted by out journalist Brent Bambury. This time, Go was hosted by Canadian actress Sandra Oh, who introduced some of the gayest music ever--Erasure, ABBA, Cher, Scissor Sisters, and so on--in celebration of a population that, as Bambury said, invented "disco, Madonna, and Proust." That couldn't have happened--say--back in 1966, when gay sex was illegal and people--in this case, George Everett Klippert--could be sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of their sexual orientation.
Right now, we're fast coming to the end of the Pride Toronto events, the terminal parade scheduled to take place Sunday. A celebration with a long history, Pride Toronto has come from being a minor celebration to a major tourism event receiving an official proclamation of support from the City of Toronto, with the signature of Mayor David Miller. This would have been absolutely inconceivable at the time that Klippert was convicted.
It's safe to say, I think, that GLBT culture and individuals are reasonably prominent in public life in Toronto, with numerous GLBT individuals and couples receiving the same media attention as their straight counterparts, plays and literature and music by GLBT individuals receiving more or less the same respect and attention as the cultural artifacts produced by their straight counterparts, and so on. If anything, with the advent of legal equality, the major problem facing non-heterosexuals is the fact of their assimilation. If Hallowe'en in the gay village is patronized by straight families with small children, and if Pride is nothing more than Carnival, what's left?
This is all taking place in fortunate Toronto. I know--intellectually, not quite so much from first-hand experience--that most of the rest of the world hasn't normalized GLBT individuals and cultural artifacts to the same extent, never mind give them the chance to be out and prominent figures on the local scene. What are things like in your corner of the world? Better, worse, exactly the same, somewhat the same?
Discuss?
Right now, we're fast coming to the end of the Pride Toronto events, the terminal parade scheduled to take place Sunday. A celebration with a long history, Pride Toronto has come from being a minor celebration to a major tourism event receiving an official proclamation of support from the City of Toronto, with the signature of Mayor David Miller. This would have been absolutely inconceivable at the time that Klippert was convicted.
It's safe to say, I think, that GLBT culture and individuals are reasonably prominent in public life in Toronto, with numerous GLBT individuals and couples receiving the same media attention as their straight counterparts, plays and literature and music by GLBT individuals receiving more or less the same respect and attention as the cultural artifacts produced by their straight counterparts, and so on. If anything, with the advent of legal equality, the major problem facing non-heterosexuals is the fact of their assimilation. If Hallowe'en in the gay village is patronized by straight families with small children, and if Pride is nothing more than Carnival, what's left?
This is all taking place in fortunate Toronto. I know--intellectually, not quite so much from first-hand experience--that most of the rest of the world hasn't normalized GLBT individuals and cultural artifacts to the same extent, never mind give them the chance to be out and prominent figures on the local scene. What are things like in your corner of the world? Better, worse, exactly the same, somewhat the same?
Discuss?
