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If you would like to make a suggestion to add to the directory send and email to solutions @ gayokanagan.net
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Egale Canada Action Alert! Wednesday, September 10, 2008 On s'excuse, ce document n'est pas disponible en français. A federal election is on our doorsteps and LGBT equality in Canada has never been so threatened. According to recent polls, the Harper Conservatives have 43% of the popular vote. That's typically enough to form a majority government. The Tory record shows they not only dropped the writ this past weekend, but they have also dropped the ball on LGBT human rights issues! For the first time in decades, Parliament failed to pass any measures dedicated to giving Our Community, Our Families any advancement towards equality. In fact, the opposite happened! Legislation and regulations which began to address LGBT human rights were abandoned and other homophobic and transphobic conditions materialized under Harper's government:
With a Stephen Harper majority, what was a subtle, slow slide backwards in the areas of LGBT human rights will accelerate and once again our families will be the target! With your help over the next 35 days, Egale Canada will highlight what our families want and identify those changes that will move us forward, not backwards. Egale Canada has mobilized to expose the record of the Harper Conservatives and help Canadians make a progressive decision on October 14th that strengthens LGBT equality. But we can't do it without your help! DONATE Now...and help us get the message OUT! Go to www.egale.ca regularly for updates and information about how you can make a difference in Election 2008! Sincerely, Helen Kennedy Nigel Flear |
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| Violent Victimization in Canada - expectation of violence 2 times greater for gays and lesbians, 4.5 times greater for bisexuals. |
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| Coming Out Can Reduce Sexual Prejudice Heterosexuals With Personal Contact Have More Positive Feelings toward Lesbians and Gay Men. | |
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Anti-homosexuality brochure held up at Canada Post - Oct. 26, 2006
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Lesbian and gay seniors in Canada are at risk in the health-care system - March, 2006 Lesbian and gay seniors in Canada are at risk in the health-care system because of marginalization and discrimination ( online story )
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| BC MAN SENTENCED TO 6
YEARS FOR GAY BASHING
-- CTV Feb. 8, 2005
The man convicted of manslaughter in the beating death of a gay man has been sentenced to six years in prison for his part in the attack. |
In protest of the Crown's decision, dozens of Webster's supporters stood up in court during Cran's sentencing hearing. One man booed the lawyer, and another man yelled out, "This was a hate crime. |
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| JUSTICE MINISTER SAYS NO
REFERENDUM ON
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE -- CBC Feb. 2, 2005
Cotler says if a referendum had been held to decide whether women were entitled to vote when the franchise was extended to them, women would have likely lost. He says a national vote won't protect minority rights. |
Conservative Gerald Keddy, Jim Prentice and James Moore will join with Belinda Stronach, who has already made her position clear, in voting with the Liberals. |
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| GAY MARRIAGE OPPONENTS
SET UP CAMPAIGN
IN CANADA -- Reuters Feb. 2, 2005
Opponents of Canada's plan to legalize gay marriage stepped up their protest campaign on Wednesday by arranging a mass rally and printing half a million leaflets in a bid to persuade legislators to reject the idea. |
Charles McVety, president
of the Canada
Family Action Coalition, told Reuters his group was readying a campaign
bus to help drive home opposition to the same sex bill.
(Full Story - Reuters) |
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| CHRONOLOGY OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE WORLD WIDE | (Full Story - Reuters) |
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| NO REFERENDUM - BILL
SHOULD PASS HOUSE
OF COMMONS
Mon. Dec. 13, 2004 Ottawa — The proposal for a national referendum on same-sex marriage hit a wall of opposition yesterday as Prime Minister Paul Martin and the three other federal party leaders dismissed the idea, even as confidential Liberal vote counts indicate the bill to legalize gay unions will pass the House of Commons. |
The move comes as sources said that internal Liberal Party vote counts indicate that the bill to legalize same-sex marriage will pass through the Commons by 25 votes or more, and that opponents could not muster more than 141 or 142 members of the 308-seat Commons. |
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| DENYING THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS
Toronto Star — I have to laugh at the antics of many of the more visible opponents of the legalization of gay marriage. I just do not understand how the marriage of a gay or lesbian couple somewhere in Canada somehow diminishes the marriage of any heterosexual couple anywhere else in Canada. |
The battle over this issue does diminish us all. It allows the self-righteous to do what they do best, which is simple arithmetic. They divide. Heterosexual marriage good, gay and lesbian marriage bad. |
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| CHRONOLOGY OF SAME SEX MARRIAGE IN CANADA | CTV - A timeline of
events leading to the
Supreme Court of Canada's opinion on questions concerning same-sex
marriage.
(Full Story) |
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| AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
LESBIAN, GAY , BISEXUAL
AND TRANSGENDERED NETWORK
Latest World News -- Sept 10, 2004 |
(www.ai-lgbt.org) (News) |
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| ANOTHER REASON TO
CELEBRATE No law on homos:
Nepali Home Ministry
-- Nepal, Aug. 31, 2004 "There is no legal provision to ban or punish homosexual activities," |
Interior Minister Ananta
Ram Pandey told
the Supreme Court in a written reply relating to a show cause notice.
(Full Story ILGA) |
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| PORTUGAL BANS SEXUAL ORIENTATION
DISCRIMINATION
11/08/2004 Portugal is the first country in Europe and (after Ecuador, Fiji and South Africa) |
the fourth worldwide to
explicitly ban
sexual orientation discrimination by constitutional legislation.
(Full Story) |
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| WASHINGTON WOMAN THRUST
INTO GAY MARRIAGE
BATTLE
August 21, 2004 -- Associated Press
Judge Paul Snyder's Tuesday ruling marks the first time
a federal court
has upheld the constitutionality of the federal Defense
of Marriage Act.
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Her case thrust her into
the national debate
when a federal judge in Tacoma ruled that Lee and Ann Kandu, a
lesbian
couple, can not file jointly for bankruptcy protection as a married
couple.
Federal law, the judge ruled, defines marriage as a "legal union
between
one man and one woman."
(Full
Story - Daily Camera)
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| COMING OUT AT 76
Associated Press At an age when people take time to assess their lives, Austin Rogers began to live again, with a clear sense of purpose. |
He disclosed to his family and friends that he is gay. |
| I'm not deleting the election stories as it will have relevance for the next election which could come at any time with a minority government! | |
| TORY SECRET AGENDA TO
ROLE BACK GAY RIGHTS
UNVEILED
June 26, 2004 (Toronto, Ontario) As Canadians prepare to go to the polls Monday in the tightest race in modern history new details are emerging about Conservative Party plans to roll back hard fought gay rights. |
Conservative MP Randy White is shown telling a documentary filmmaker that a Conservative government would redefine the Charter of Rights and use the notwithstanding clause to overrule court rulings it doesn't agree with,such as same-sex marriage. |
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| HARPER JEERED IN KELOWNA
June 26, 2004 |
* CNews (Canoe)( Harper
Jeered)
* CBC News (Midway thru article) * CHBC News (hmmm none?) * Yahoo News (100 demonstrators!) * CTV News (Screaming Protesters!) |
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| CONSERVATIVE'S APPEAL TO
ETHNIC MINORITIES
IS DIVISIVE
The Ottawa Citizen Wed 23 Jun 2004 Overlooked in last week's furor over child porn was a release from the Conservative party listing 27 ethno-cultural organizations that "support (Stephen Harper's) position on same-sex marriage." |
At first glance, it looks
like evidence
of an alliance Harper wrote about a year ago -- between "family values"
Conservatives and new immigrants with disapproving views of
Homosexuality,
abortion and feminist ideas. Harper hoped to lure some of these new
Canadians
from their usual home with the Liberals, to expand a new conservative
party
centred on protecting "traditional" religious and social values.
(Full Story) |
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| IMPORTANT MESSAGE - Questions
for Conservative Candidates - Please forward broadly.
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 11:52:12 -0400 From: "Cicely McWilliam" equal-marriage.ca To: <cicely> Hi Folks, The Hidden Agenda of the Conservative Party is unlikely to be revealed by Stephen Harper. Harper's achilles heal is his candidates. We need to get folks out to their local all-candidates meetings to ask one or all of the following questions of their local MPs. 1. Will you use the not withstanding clause to take away civil marriage from lesbian and gay Canadians? |
2. The Charter provides a
general guarantee
of equality. This has been unanimously confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Do you think that the Charter protects gay and lesbian Canadians for
discrimination?
3. The Charter is widely supported by Canadians because
it requires
government to live up to minimum
Please be sure to forward this email to all your friends, family and co-workers who support equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Thanks Everyone! Cicely |
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| IS HARPER SAYING GAYS AND LESBIANS
HAVE NO HUMAN RIGHTS
UNDER THE CHARTER?
June 11, 2004 |
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| OKANAGAN RIDING CANDIDATES RATINGS REGARDING GAY AND LESBIAN ISSUES (Rated by the Canadians for Equal Marriage Campaign) |
Central Okanagan Candidates Okanagan Coquihalla Candidates South Okanagan Candidates (Links to the Canadians for Equal Marriage (CEM) Website) CEM News Resources |
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NEW YORK -- The United Nations on Thursday took a small step towards recognition of gay and straight unmarried partnerships among their employees, announcing their decision to grant couples health coverage and other benefits if their home country allows it. |
"It is a step towards acknowledgment that there is great diversity in the staff of the United Nations," said Allee, an American expert on Lebanon in the world body's peacekeeping department. |
| Hate Crime Bill
Passed in Canada
Sept. 19, 2003 OTTAWA -- Overcoming the strong objections of religious conservatives, the Canadian Parliament voted 143-110 on Wednesday to extend hate-crimes protection to gay men and lesbians. |
The bill, a
longtime goal of gay
civil rights campaigners in Canada, amends the hate propaganda section
of the Criminal Code to list sexual orientation along side color, race,
religion and ethnic origin that were part of the original law when it
passed
in 1970.
[Full Story] |
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