100 (or is it 101 or is it 55 or is 34?) Years of Fun

Today, April 1, 2011 marks the beginning of my 35^th year working part-time for the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE)and I always have a good laugh about my starting date because after all isn’t April Fool’s day a great anniversary. I think would be an appropriate time to write about how these 170 or so acres have intertwined with my life.

Growing up in East Vancouver in a area historically know as Hastings Townsite, the PNE site was always part of my life. The park area was basically our playground as we grew up. We would ride our bikes all over the grounds, explore all the nooks and crannies of the facilities and basically being a nuisance to the security staff. (How ironic!)

All our pickup games of baseball, football, soccer and hockey were played on a small patch of green adjoining Callister Park, or on the BC Lions practice field in the northeast corner of the grounds. The home rink for my brief hockey career was played at the PNE Forum home of the Western Hockey League Vancouver Canucks where I scored an amazing total of two goals in my best year thus the reason for my “brief career”. My peewee football team was sponsored by Playland the company that operated the amusement park on the grounds. Although my athletic abilities could at best be described a somewhat suspect, I take pride in the fact that during these organized and not so organized games I had the honour of playing with and against several local, national and international sports heroes.

In addition to my youthful athletic adventures, the sports connection continued into my adulthood, the Nightowls Softball Club that I played on, coached, managed and babysat for twenty-five years was originally formed as departmental team challenging other PNE departments.

The annual fair was always the highlight of the year taking place the last two weeks of summer vacation. From the time we were allowed out on our own, we would spend every day on the fairgrounds causing havoc. Last spring, I was invited to an affair marking the 100^th anniversary of the PNE and it dawned on me that I had attended more than half those fairs and worked at over a third. (Crap! I’m old!)

As teenagers, the PNE became an even more important part of our lives. We would attend sporting events both amateur and professional (Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions) and most importantly rock concerts at the Pacific Coliseum. My first concert was Led Zeppelin in 1970 but the most outstanding was the 1972 Rolling Stones show that cost a whopping $6.00 per ticket. I was also very lucky to be dating Version 1.0 during Grade 12 and college and her mother was the switchboard operator at the PNE so we managed to get a lot of free concert tickets. (More about Version 1.0 later)

The memories of the PNE during my early life are so vast. One of the most vivid was sitting on the front porch of the mansion on Dundas Street listening to the screaming coming from Empire Stadium while the Beatles played their 22 minute set. (The concert itself was broadcast live on the radio.)

 I also remember watching two major fires from the fourth floor of our old rooming house. The most spectacular was when the main hill of the wooden roller burned down. The sadder one was when the stables at the race track caught fire and several horses perished. Years later, while working on the grounds during one fair another fire broke out on the docks of a nearby grain elevator and blanketed the park in noxious smoke. The area had to be evacuated of all guests and we were held on site on standby because the overnight shift could not get near the park. The horrible part of this ordeal is my beer garden security staff got stuck in one of the bars with nothing to amuse us but a pool table, two televisions and an open beer tap.

The PNE has always been a source of employment for youth and others living in East Vancouver and North Vancouver. Most people I grew up with worked on the grounds at one time or the other either directly for the PNE or one of the many exhibitors. My grandfather, dad, mom, brother, sister and nephew all worked on the grounds at one time or another. When The Crown Prince signed on to work in the parking department in 2005, he became the fourth generation of Donnelly’s to work on site. My first paying job was during the annual fair was in the Food Building for Principe’s Roma Café run by one of Vancouver’s more colourful characters, barber, boxing promoter and restauranteur, Al Principe. After two weeks of straining soup bones out of  Al’s secret family recipe spaghetti sauce your skin was so saturated the orange glow it didn’t fade until October.  The skin tone it produced made John Boehner and the clowns from “The Jersey Shore” look pasty faced. (Side note: Thankfully, Al’s secret family recipe went with him to the grave; the taste was reminiscent of tomato flavoured dish soap.)

My marriage to Version 1.0 ties in closely to the PNE. Our wedding reception was held on site at the PNE Board Room, now known as the Hastings Room. After we got married and while I was still seeking a full time career my mother-in-law arranged for me to be hired as a part-time usher. So if any of my co-workers or managers are looking for someone to blame, there you go. (Co-incidentally the last time I ran into Version 1.0 was a few years ago at the fair while I was heading for lunch at the Hastings Room.)

For me to go into the many work related stories of my time at the PNE would take forever. However the most vivid memory was in August of 1984 when I was recruited to be one of the VIP drivers in the annual PNE Parade through downtown Vancouver. The guests of honour that year were medal winners from the Los Angeles Olympics. I was lucky enough to draw the lead vehicle with Lori Fung, gold medalist in Rhythmic Gymnastics and Hugh Fisher, gold medalist in Canoeing. It was then that I got to hold an Olympic gold medal in my hands. The funniest part of event was stopping the entire parade so Lori could buy a balloon. The TV people just about had a fit! I got to repeat the driving performance the following year when we saluted the 75^th anniversary of the Canadian Navy; my passenger was a World War 1 veteran who shared some salty tales of downtown Vancouver as we passed through.

The best memories of any workplace come from the people we meet and I have made so many friends working at the PNE. The co-worker I miss most is my dear friend Barb (BJ). BJ and I were as thick as thieves and would do all kinds of silly things together including several road trips. One of our favourite PNE related activities was, along with a small group of friends, on Friday nights in the summer walk down to the racetrack and place a wager or two on the ponies then win or lose we would walk back through Playland and ride the Roller Coaster. (Yes, the same one that burned down previously.) The best thing that BJ ever did from me is introduce me to Version 2.0, Lorraine.

Although Lorraine didn’t ever work at the PNE, the picture at the bottom of the page does bring it back full circle. This was her being crowned Queen for the Day at the fair in 1967. More than likely I was in attendance that day seeing as I was always there as a kid.

The picture at the top of the page is really cool. In a bit of serendipity, in the midst of planning out this article, I took a trip out to Hope to visit my cousin, Colleen, and sift through a pile of photos that once belonged to my grandmother. Amongst all, “who the heck are these people?” shots, I found a few gems including this one of my mom and dad outside the main gate taken sometime in the early to mid-fifties by the famous Vancouver street photographer, Foncie Pulice.

If you would like to read more about the PNE, may I suggest ordering "100 Years of Fun". It's a great coffee table book full of photos and personal anecdotes.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park! ;-)

No Power Greater

Solidarity Forever - The events of the past month in Wisconsin and several other states in the US have compelled me to write a few thoughts about unions and collective bargaining.

I grew up in a working class neighborhood in Vancouver where the majority of families were connected to trade unions. Most members of my family have been proud members of a union at one time or another in their lives. This tradition has extended at least four generations from my grandfather being active in the Seaman’s Union to the Crown Prince who was a member of CUPE while he worked part time going to school.  I have been a member of CUPE for almost 34 years and have served in the thankless position of shop steward for a brief period and will now become more active again as a representative on our bargaining committee.

There are several misunderstandings and outright falsehoods about unions here are a few:

“I pay dues to the union but it’s never done anything for me” – For starters, the union is not some separate foreign entity; it is you and co-workers on your right and your left.  When was the last time you attended a union meeting? Have you ever asked for assistance from the union? The living wages and decent benefits were attained by collective bargaining not by the generosity of your employer.

“Union wages are too high and create unemployment” – This exactly the opposite. Employment only increases when the demand for goods and services increases and production of these goods and service requires more manpower. When an employer pays a decent living wage the employees will have more disposable income to purchase their and other employers products. This causes a multiplier effect in which rather than each party taking either a bigger or smaller slice of the pie; the pie becomes bigger for everyone. The idea of trickle-down economics has been proven time and time again to be a failure. No employer ever created a job magnanimously; the demand for his product created the jobs so he could keep up with the demand.

“Union employees are lazy and you can’t fire them” – Workers, both union and non-union, as a rule take pride in their efforts. There are lazy workers and employers. People do not want to work alongside or for slackers. As for firing, every collective agreement contains to very important sections; the management rights section that allows the employer to operate his business in a productive fashion and to lay off employees for economic reasons and a disciplinary section which includes all steps required both for discipline including dismissal for cause. What the contract does is protect the employee from being unreasonable or vindictive disciplinary action.

“I don’t need a union. I make more than a union worker gets for my job” – Yes, maybe this is true but the reason you are getting that wage is because your employer is trying to stay competitive with similar union shops. Also, more than likely when you include benefits such as extended health, dental and pensions at best you are getting equal compensation. If similar skill set positions were not unionized, your wages would be lower. Again an employer is not going to just pay high wages because he is a generous person, he is going to pay the market price for labour just as he is going to pay market prices for raw materials.

“Unions are too politically powerful” – It is the political influence of unions that has brought about changes that we have all become accustomed to. It was labour’s influence that brought about universal healthcare, pensions, workers’ safety, paid vacation, overtime compensation and a reasonable work week. However, the actions of the Wisconsin governor and other governors throughout the US have proven that a lot of what has been fought for is fragile when large corporate donors  attempt to distort the balance of power.

“I will lose everything I gained from belonging to a union when we go on strike.” Over ninety percent of contracts are settled each year without even the threat of a strike vote being invoked and an even greater percentage of unionized workers will retire without ever spending one day on the picket line.

“We should have ‘Right to Work’ laws here” – Jurisdictions with “Right To Work” laws have the lowest mean average incomes, highest poverty rates and lowest literacy rates in the United States. Right to Work really means the right to work for less. A good dramatic example of this can be seen in the movie “Norma Rae” which is based on the Garment  Workers’ Union  fights against the J P Stevens Textile Company in the southern United States.

To continue to protect your hard earned rights as a worker, I urge everyone to become politically active and seek out and support candidates that are friendly to workers’ rights and to defeat candidates like Scott Walker in Wisconsin that take their marching orders from anonymous corporate donors.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park! ;-)

What?... Me Wear Pink? ;-)

February 23 – Today is "Pink Shirt Anti-Bullying Day" and yes, I will be wearing pink today. Okay, I know for all of you that know me or have read a few any of my long boring submissions, you realize it’s not a big stretch for me.

Today, I would like to share a few random thoughts about bullying.

On occasion throughout my life I too have been a victim of bullying. Yes, I was always been the one of the tallest kids in my classes during both elementary school but I would describe myself even now as a gentle giant. Because I was a bit more sensitive and caring than most boys my age, more aggressive boys tended to pick on me usually by incessant teasing and sometimes physical intimidation. However because of my caring nature I also tended to befriend more of the “different” kids in school.

During my adult life, I worked for several companies whose owners could be described best as bullies. Rather than encourage good results, they tended to berate you , and chastise you in front of others for your mistakes.

I was lucky enough to have a strong enough resolve to overcome the schoolyard bullying and in fact befriended some of the offenders later in my high school days as they mellowed and I became stronger mentally and emotionally. As far as those bullying bosses go, they can all burn in hell especially my first full time employer. He was the most despicable person I ever met and believe me, I have met some evil characters in my life.

Some schoolyard bullying can be attributed to our pack/herd mentality where competition for the alpha position. Where a would be contender cannot rise to the head of the pack using his or her legitimate leadership skills, he/she will resort to physical, mental and emotional threats and actions to gain status. A more diabolical form of bullying could be more equated with sadism where the bully truly enjoys inflicting pain on the victim.

Through friends’ children, I have been witness to both types of the above. One of my neighbour’s granddaughters was harassed so much by other girls in her high school she was forced to transfer to a school a considerable distance from home. Luckily, this was for the most part the end of the harassment and she is happily working and in a loving relationship.

The second occurrence involved the 12 year old daughter (“M”)of the woman who lived across from me. I was a bit puzzled when they moved from a three bedroom townhouse in North Vancouver into a basement suite 30 kilometers away. I originally assume it was to reduce the mother’s commute to work from 45 minutes to 5 minutes. I was still puzzled why “M” would be so happy to move away from the area in which she grew up. This would not be the normal reaction of an adolescent girl. I later found out that the real reason was “M” was being constantly picked on by a group of neighbourhood girls and moving was the only solution. The bullying became sadistic when these same girls continued to harass “M” online long after she had moved and was no longer a threat to their pecking. I know my young friend is a strong person and she will eventually persevere. Unfortunately there are way too many children and young adults who are not that strong and they will be scarred for live or face much worse consequences.

We all have these stories about either being bullied or witnessing bullying but what we never admit to is our own transgressions. Can anyone truly claim they have never made anyone do something by using intimidation or threats be it physically, emotionally or mentally? Have you ever teased anyone for your own or others amusement? It is only when we look inward at ourselves and rectify our own behavior will we begin to clean our own homes of this disease. Once we do that we need to help others clean their houses.

Will wearing pink bring an end to bullying? No, of course not! But if seeing your pink T-shirt makes one person aware of the harm they may be doing  we are on our way towards winning the war.

So today I will be wearing my pink golf shirt, my pink flamingo socks, pink shoelaces and as you can see I painted my nail pink.  And to stay in the colour scheme guess what 80s teen classic I plan on watching this afternoon? Hey, just call me Molly! (Make that Andie if you’re a John Hughes fan!)

Note: However I am sorry to report that the pink cupcake fell victim to a bully. But she died for a good cause.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park!

Ch-Ch-Changes



For over thirty-five years I have adorned facial hair in one form or the other with the exclusion of one or two brief periods being clean shaven. Some of these changes in style were for the better while others... Well you be the judge. BTW – Don’t judge the fashions, you all wore polyester at one time. ;-P

The first picture was from my pre-‘stache life at the beginning of my senior year in high school. We then progress to end of the year where I first donned a moustache. Not a great one but good enough to get me served at the LCB.

We then progress into the late seventies with my Vegas – Sonny Bono look. (The photo with Version 1.0 was actually taken in a Las Vegas showroom) Not bad especially when you see the consensus worst look I ever had, the Fu Manchu. Eww! Luckily I listened to my all my distaff friends and lost this ‘stache.

In the early eighties, I decided  to try a full beard and the next photo is the start of this plan where it all began camping at Lightning Lake with my friend BJ and the rest of the Four Mousekateers. BJ wasn’t a fan of beards but for some reason she really liked the look on me and even chastised me for briefly shaving it off until she found out I was starting a new job hunt. That search failed so next chance I got grew it back and that brings us to the next phase where it was at its thickest and darkest. Shortly thereafter I wore it lot shorter and thinner.

As I grew older the hair on my head remained its mouse turd brown colour (no gray) but as you can see in the photo with Lorraine my beard had begun to show my age turning a telltale white. Lorraine was the other big fan of my beard although her main reason she thought I should keep it was to hide all my extra chins. :-(

This brings us down to the big shock I warned you about. This was a decision that took me several months to make and it finally came down to wanting to expose parts of my body that have rarely seen daylight to the topical sunshine. SURPRISE!!!

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park!

Yes, Virginia...!

I still believe in Santa Claus. You will never hear me uttering the phrase “Bah, humbug”. Also you could never call me a Grinch although I have appeared a little green on the occasional Christmas morning. Hee hee!I have always loved the Christmas season. There really is something in the air that always makes me feel good during the month of December or maybe it’s just my olfactory glands overreacting to the smells of fresh cut fir trees and gingerbread. And before you snap at me I too also feel the stress the season brings. I just have my own way of dealing with it in a positive manner.

As we progress through our ever changing life, we also go through different phases of our Christmas experience. As children, the days leading up to Christmas were always filled with excitement including visits to the department store Santa. I defy anyone to tell me that the longest day of the year occurs at the Summer Solstice; any kid can tell you the longest day of the year is Christmas Eve. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games, as a good Catholic school boy I did have to go to Christmas Mass.  Even then it was a lot more festive than regular Sunday Mass. Also, it seemed that I would always come up with lovely illnesses during the Christmas break from school including measles and pneumonia. What fun is it being sick if you can’t miss any school?

As a teenager, I never lost the Christmas spirit but it tended to wane a little. The one tradition I miss because no else seems to like plum pudding was Dad soaking it in brandy and setting it aflame and then heaping hand whipped cream on it. By the end of the family Christmas dinner, I couldn’t wait to head out the door and hang out with my friends.

My real enthusiasm for the holiday was brought about by the lovely Version 1.0. She was the real Christmas freak and it became infectious.  We adhered to several old seasonal traditions which evolved in traditions of our own. One of my favourite things about this short period in my life was our Christmas tree. We started with the usual coloured glass balls but worked on replacing them slowly with specially selected individual ornaments. Unfortunately, she ended up with all the Christmas decorations. Hopefully, she still has a few of the good ones especially my Kermit the Frog and Gonzo ones.

Then came the in-between time; for the first time in my life, I was living on my own. Not a lot of Christmas spirit is expected of a single man in his mid-twenties but I still managed to keep my love for the holiday alive. I didn’t go overboard with adornments for my tiny apartment but did have a few holiday trinkets spread around. I always found some friends to share a cup or two of cheer on the Night Before. The best of these events were several at the McIlroy Sisters annual Christmas Eve Party. Hey, nothing says Yuletide more than imbibing mulled wine with five tall gorgeous blondes!

When Lorraine and I got married I began to indoctrinate her on the joys of Christmas beginning a new set of traditions and special Christmas superstitions. The three biggest being the orange at the toe of the stocking, no presents are allowed under the tree until Christmas Eve and I have to buy at least one present on Christmas Eve. I did keep one of my old habits and continued to add at least one new dated ornament to the tree each year. As much as possible these ornaments had to have some special significance. We would look for these ornaments whenever we travelled and would quite often find just the right one.  The rest of tree was filled with Disney character decorations including a Mickey Mouse tree topper. This is no surprise to anyone that knows me.

When the Crown Prince was born it brought a completely new aspect to Christmas. Being an only child, he was definitely well looked after under the tree. One of the new traditions that developed was reading “The Night Before Christmas” to Bryan every Christmas Eve. This carried long after most childhood traditions would have thought to have expired by demand of the Prince.

In 1995, we moved down the hill a bit from our condominium and moved into a townhouse. It was then my obsession with lights was born. Because of constraints due to size and restrictions I can’t compete with Clark Griswold but I do have the brightest place in the whole complex. Along with the tree and the lights I started work on the rest of the interior and yes it includes more Disney stuff. (Oh, did I mention the Crown Prince and I are shareholders in the Walt Disney Corporation?)

Every year, I would spend at least two days in the kitchen baking dozens of cookies both for consumption and to re-distribute.

                From about the 18^th until the big day we would make a point of watching a least one of the Christmas movies from our collection each night. Lorraine’s favourite was “The Santa Clause” mine was more of a classic “Miracle on 34^th Street”. For some reason my eyes would always seem to water near the end of each film. I suspect it was due to some sort of allergy to gingerbread or holly.

I am definitely a bit old fashioned, I still mail out Christmas Cards. For you younger ones out there these are folded pieces of paper with pictures on them that you place inside another folded piece of paper. They arrive magically through a hole in your front door; and if it came from your grandmother you could shake it really hard and a dollar bill would fall out.

Because of my city dwelling life the Christmas song I’ve always related to is “Silver Bells”. One of the things I have always loved doing during the holiday season is going downtown at least once. Downtown Vancouver seems to change at this time from a sterile valley to a vibrant colourful wonderland. As I kid I remember taking the bus to see the amazing window displays at Woodward’s and Eaton’s. As adult, we would visit the Four Seasons to see all the trees and the Hyatt Regency to see the fantastic gingerbread houses or more correctly, gingerbread sculptures. Until recently, Robson Square was a great place to visit with all its lit up deciduous trees. Now it resembles a war zone.

My favourite memory of going downtown was in 1995. I had taken the Crown Prince over to Canada Place for the lighting of the sails and the sail past of the Carol Ships. (Lorraine had opted to go to an office party at a mediocre Chinese restaurant.) The two main corporate sponsors of the  event happened to be Signature Vacations, promoting new packages to Disneyland and the new Ford Centre for the Performing Arts, promoting their opening production , Showboat. (Hmm! Does anyone out there know somebody that loves Disney and musical theatre? Hee hee!) We happened to get there early and were practically alone viewing the newly refurbished Woodward’s windows that were on display when Mickey Mouse walked out of the backroom to do some pre-show media stuff. We were able to get a picture of Bryan in his Santa hat and Mickey all to ourselves. Later on as part of the lighting ceremonies the entire cast of Showboat including Cloris Leachman appeared on stage and pulled a bunch of children including Bryan up and read “The Night Before Christmas”. Bryan still has the book they gave him. (Lorraine never forgave me for her missing this because guys as you know no matter what it is “all your fault!” lol!)

Coincidently, although Vancouver has been called a cultural void by many it has also been the originating point for several North American urban holiday traditions.  The decorating of the tall construction cranes first became popular in downtown Vancouver. The Carol Ships were first introduced in our harbour to serenade the sailors on the ships waiting to load their cargoes and stuck an ocean away from their loved ones on Christmas. One of the arriving cargoes that was always welcomed every year was the arrival of the Mandarin oranges (The ones in the wooden crates). There was always a big ceremony on the docks with women in kimonos greeting the ship. Vancouver got the oranges first adn the rest of the continent had to wait.  Of course, nowadays, they are on the shelf all year round and come from every so the novelty is missing.  The New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim was started by the Pantages family here in English Bay. Note: As crazy as I am the swim was one tradition I never participated in. I almost did once but I was running a fever of 102 that day so I ended up holding the blanket while my silly pals waded in. Yes, you’re right there’s still time and I may just do it one year.

Now that Lorraine is gone, I try even harder to maintain all the traditions. I still go nuts putting up my lights, decorating the living room and adding a new ornament each year. This year it’s one I purchased on my most recent trip to San Francisco. By coincidence, the only remaining ornament I have from the Version 1.0 days is an ornament we bought in San Francisco and originally gave to my mom. Unlike a lot of people my lights and decorations stay up until January 6, the Feast of Epiphany when the three wise men supposedly arrived in Bethlehem. This is actually the twelth day of Christmas. (BTW – I find “The Twelve Days” and its novelty derivatives to be the most tedious of all Christmas songs even if I can do a mean “Five Golden Rings” with my deep bass voice.)  

The only tradition I have discontinued is the cookie baking; at least for the time being. For several different reasons it ended up the last two times with me consuming most of them over a period of several weeks. At least by then I had something I was more than willing to give up for Lent.

You will not have a problem catching me wearing a furry Santa hat and as well quite often one of my several Christmas ties. However despite rumours to the contrary,I do not own a gaudy holiday sweater.

Despite being somewhat sceptical of organized religion, I do not take a totally secular approach to the holiday. I believe it is important that we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth even if we actually celebrate it at the wrong time of year. All indications according to other historical events of the time point to him being born in the spring but obviously this would have conflicted with Easter celebrations. The early Christians decided it was best to separate the two most important holidays of their faith so they came to celebrate Christmas in winter so it could easily be hidden amongst other festivals in particular the Roman Saturnalia Feast. Rather than go into to any theological arguments of who exactly Jesus was, I believe what is important was the message he and other “ancient prophets” such as Buddha and Mohammed and “modern prophets” like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were trying to convey. After you peel away all the layers of dogma that have been piled on throughout the years, all of their teachings can be summed up in the one phrase “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  If everyone lived by this one simple rule there would be “Peace on Earth and goodwill towards man”.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park!

Some Of My Best Friends Aren’t

"If a bullet should enter my brain,
let that bullet destroy every
 closet door." ~ Harvey Milk

November 27, 2010 – Thirty-two years today in San Francisco, Mayor George Moscone and County Supervisor, Harvey Milk were assassinated in their offices at City Hall so this seems to be appropriate day to share my views on human rights and gay rights in particular.

You may ask yourself, why would a middle-aged straight white man have any interest in gay rights? Truth be told in all, I am the target market for all human rights issues. The middle-aged white male still controls most of the political power in North America and Europe. (Note: Moscone and Milk both fell into this category.) Legislative change can only come by convincing this group to share what rights they already enjoy with  others. Although African-American leaders like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson led the fight outside the houses of power it was actually a much maligned Texan, Lyndon Johnson that convinced, cajoled and arm-twisted his colleagues in the Senate to pass historic civil rights laws. It was a white middle-aged straight, Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, that spearheaded legislation in the late 60s to take homosexuality out of the Criminal Code of Canada stating that “the government has no place in the bedroom and what goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults is their own business". There are several states in the US that have only recently had laws geared specifically against homosexuals struck down by the Supreme Court. I cannot even begin to address the vile laws less advanced countries in Africa and Asia where the crime of homosexuality warrants penalties up and including death.

This brings us back to why am I proponent of gay rights? As long as I can remember I have been a believer in equality for all members of the human race. Even in my early youth, I supported equal rights for people of colour and was disgusted when I heard about the Jim Crow laws in the southern United States and even more when I later learned about apartheid in South Africa. I was lucky to have several liberal minded teachers, most of which were white males that guided me on my journey of enlightenment. In the early seventies, the women’s rights movement began to gain momentum and I again took pride in calling myself a feminist. As you can surmise from my photo I am not a member of a visible minority and not likely female. I say this because I am also not gay although I firmly believe that no one is totally 100% one way or another.

Along with not being gay, I do not have any openly gay family members or even openly gay close friends. If you asked me why I don’t have gay friends my honest answer would be “I don’t know, I just don’t.” It is for this reason you will not likely hear me utter that cocktail-party liberal statement “Some of my best friends are (insert downtrodden group du jour)”. I have found out later that friends from the past who I had long lost contact with did eventually “come out” and one friend I was very close with in high school is now transgendered. During my long boring life I have worked with several gay men and women, I belonged to political groups with gay members and yes, I know it sounds stereotypical but being involved in with adult mixed softball played with and coached a disproportionate number of lesbians. My conclusion after meeting and dealing with all these gays is that some are extremely n*** people (regular followers know that word is not allowed on my blog) and some are absolute assholes. Believe it or not most of them like everyone else fall somewhere in between.

In the US, the two most significant issues pertaining to gay rights at this time are the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (DADT) and gay marriage. Ironically, when DADT was introduced by Clinton administration in the nineties, it was considered to be a victory for the gay community particularly those wishing to serve in the military. Previous to the introduction, if the military hierarchy even suspected you of being gay you would have been investigated and likely given a at best a less than honourable discharge and if they discovered you were indeed gay you were automatically court-martialled and subject to dishonourable discharge and possibly imprisonment. In military organizations in most democracies, homosexuality is a non-issue however the US is a quasi-theocracy. The move is  now afoot to repeal DADT in two houses of congress but this is very unlikely with the Republicans having control of the lower house and there not being enough solid support in the senate to even clear that house. (Note: there is an outside chance this may be introduced on the senate floor next week but don’t hold your breath) A lower court has already ruled that DADT is unconstitutional but is now under appeal by the Department of Justice. The Religious Wrong, and other conservative groups claim that allowing openly gay people serve will destroy morale and put the services in disarray. The US military has been a total clusterfuck and lacked any sense of morale since the early fifties and this had nothing to do with homosexuals, bisexuals, or even heterosexuals. The worst excuse I heard was it may affect recruiting. Has anyone analyzed the quality of recruits the US Military has been getting since the draft was abolished over thirty years ago? Does the US Army really need the guy that’s only criteria is “I’ll join if I don’t got to bunk next to no faggot”? Rachel Maddow of MSNBC has been following this story closely so keep an eye on the MaddowBlog.

If two consenting adults, regardless of their gender love each other enough to commit themselves to each for life they should the right to be married and receive all the same legal benefits. Several states have passed laws allowing same sex marriage but even more have passed laws that specifically restrict marriage to one woman and one man. Several other states, including California, have had same sex marriage recognized by the order of the courts. Unfortunately, in 2008 the Religious Wrong garnered enough support to get Proposition 8 restricting marriage on ballot and managed to get it passed at the ballot box. Proposition 8 has also been struck down by the lower courts and is now going through the appeal process. If the Religious Wrong truly believes in the sanctity of marriage why have they not pushed for the concept of making divorce illegal? The truth is the Religious Wrong doesn’t like you being different. They didn’t like the uppity Negroes in the mid-twentieth century, they didn’t like the free thinking women in the late twentieth century and now all they have is the homosexuals not to like. Watch Keith Olbermann’s view on this subject.

Oddly, the outcome of both these cases will ultimately be decided by one moderately conservative middle-aged white man, Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy has been the thorn in the side of the Religious Wrong since he was appointed by President Reagan because everyone assumed he would toe the conservative line and vote along with Chief Justice Roberts and the other Supreme Court sheep, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Here in Canada the legislative fight is almost accomplished. Sexual orientation is recognized in most of our statutes and two adults who love each other regardless of their gender are allowed to wed. This does not mean the battle is over.

As a socially conscious person who believes that no one is truly free until everyone is equal, I feel it my duty to speak out on these issues. I have even found myself chastising co-workers for describing something as “totally gay”. I would like to thank all my friends out there who support the concept of equal rights for the LBGT community and continue to encourage me to speak my mind on the subject.

We must continue to fight the backlash from the social conservative movement and we must continue to educate our children about acceptance. A beautiful example of this acceptance comes from The Crown Prince. One day while we were discussing the topic of gay rights he said to me “Remember ‘S’ the big guy from my high school, he came out of the closet”. I asked him “How do you feel about that?” The Prince replied “I’m cool with it but he’s still a dickhead!”

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park! ;-)

Post Note: December 18, 2010 - The US Senate voted 65-31 to repeal DADT.

Post Note: June 24, 2011 - The New York State Senate has passed the Same Sex Marriage Bill. I am so happy for Christine and Ericka from Albany pictured above. I met them in Costa Rica and they were so much in love and wanted to so much get married now they can! And yes, that's the Pink Hat Ericka is wearing. :-D

Just Because We Can...Does Not Mean We Must

A perfect Example of "Just Because"

Now don’t get me wrong, I embrace technology as much as any other old fart. I am not a Luddite and in fact just last week I had some of them fancy electric tail light thingies installed on the back of my buggy. Truthfully, I embrace new technology and walk through places like Best Buy with those glazed over “Oooh, look shiny things” eyes at all the new gadgets but I believe technology is there to help me not run my life.

My latest rant about the abuse technology is derived from a video posted by a friend on Facebook showing a “live” concert at arena in Japan that featured an anime hologram performing her latest hit. I thought the fact that people were flocking to see “The Gorillaz” live was insane until I saw this. At least there were live musicians on stage for the Gorillaz. You just paid a hundred bucks to see a freaking cartoon character dudes! Yes, in the sixties and seventies there  were television pop groups like “The Partridge Family” as well as animated groups like “The Archies” and “Josie and the Pussycats” but guess what? We knew they were cartoons!!

The other thing the advancements in technology have done to the music industry is erroneously elevate the DJ to talent status. No, these people are technicians not artists. Some of them are fantastic technicians but do were refer to a great plumber as an artist? No all they do is remix someone else’s music and play it on their laptop. Those musicians are the talent and the artists.

I recently moved into the 21^st century and purchased a 3G Smartphone. I find it convenient that I can now check my email and update my Facebook page on the go and I have even caught myself texting. You may think this is nothing but if you saw my bratwurst-like fingers and thumbs you would understand how difficult it is for me. If you couple that with my total lack of coordination and the fact that I learned to touch type properly on a QWERTY keyboard it becomes an endeavour to hunt and peck with my thumbs. Texting has its place but if time is a factor try actually phoning someone. You will get all your answers quicker. While travelling I have seen tourists in particular, younger women walking along busily typing on their phones rather than enjoying the sights. I can only imagine the text “This place is so boring all I’ve seen so far are sidewalks and my pretty new shoes.” There are multiple functions on my phone that I haven't even bothered to figure out and at this point I have no intention of adding any of the thousands of available apps. Why? I am too busy living!

My first big realization that a lot of technology comes under the category of “just because we can” was long ago when fax machines were first starting to become the norm in business communications. I was just balancing the till and getting ready lock up the store when the owner asked “Have all the girls gone home?” (To him any woman under 60 was a girl) I told him yes and his face dropped. “But I need to fax this letter to my lawyer tonight”. “No problem, I can do it.” I chirped. “You can” he said with a doubt in his voice. He followed me to the copy room and watched as I punched in the phone number, inserted the paper and hit the “Send” button. “That’s it?” he asked “but what are all these other buttons for?” My answer was “I don’t know and I don’t care.” I later asked the manufacturers rep the same question and his answer was a vague “It’s all in the manual.” Apparently there was all kinds of programming and memory functions available but in all the offices I ever worked in I never saw anyone use them since.

My new phone also has a camera but I have never bothered to use it. I own three very good digital cameras with much better resolution and proper lenses to take photographs. This again brings to mind the good and the bad of digital photography. The good thing is we can now take as many pictures of as many things as we like. The bad thing is we do! There is a delete function, people! This ties in well with people posting their vacation photos online in particular on Facebook. A few hints please: 1) do not post every photo you take, we only need one shot of the family on the beach at sunset. 2) identify who, where and when in the photo 3) rotate the photos so our necks don’t get twisted. 4) unless it’s the only shot you have of the Loch Ness Monster leave out the out of focus ones. Us old folks keep thinking our glass prescription needs upgrading.

My final suggestion to everyone is move out of the virtual world on occasion and have a look out in the real world. Believe it or not, if you go outside you can see a rose instead of looking it up on Wikapaedia. Let technology help you live not become your life.

Now that I’ve insulted everyone, I will take full advantage of the current technology and carefully watch the Caller ID on my phone to make sure I avoid your irate calls and keep my finger close to the “delete” button in anticipation of your nasty emails. ;-P

Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day here in the Magic Kingdom. Oh crap, wrong theme park!