What Do Lesbian Comics Know About Homophobia?

Dawn Whitwell is a Canadian comedian. I know, sounds like an oxymoron to me, too, but I digress.

Dawn was invited by a teacher at the Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School to do her routine, in which she addresses the issue of homophobia, at the school's anti-homophobia event.

Let's digest that for a moment. A Catholic school hosting an anti-homophobia day? Talk about your oxymoron.

But the school was having it, and Whitwell was asked to attend and perform, until......Dawn Whitwell is a lesbian. Invitation rescinded.

The teacher told her not to come. Apparently, one of the members of the school board Googled Whitwell, and not in the way lesbians google themselves, and discovered that she is ::::gasp:::: married to a ::::bigger gasp:::: woman!

Holy Mother Of God!

Whitwell was then told that she would not be allowed to perform because she has an "affiliation to gay marriage." Whitwell, a recovering Catholic schoolgirl, herself, found the phrase hysterical.

"I was telling people about it, because it was funny," she said. "Then I was getting angry that they can still do this kind of thing. Not so much for me performing there, but you've got to be kidding me — I thought the tide was turning in '87."

Emmy Szekeres Milne, a spokesbigot for the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said the school was planning an event to focus on anti-bullying strategies, not anti-homophobia, and that Whitwell had been considered as a possible speaker, but was never officially slated to attend. She added that "[s]taff who were organizing the event reviewed the individual's online information, and felt that because of the serious nature of the topics being discussed, this person would not be a good fit for their program."

Hmmm, let me get this queer. The school is having an anti-bullying event, which may, or may not, focus on homophobia, and they invited a comedian, a lesbian comedian, who talks about homophobia in her act, then asked her not to come because she's married to a woman.

Oooooooh, so they were using her as an example of homophobia and bullying. You know, invite the dyke to perform then tell her she can't because she married another dyke.

Lesson learned.

Whitwell, who likes to keep the funny, does not take the snub personally, and thinks she might actually use the experience in her act; you know, the one where she talks about homophobia. One thing she does not plan to do is pursue any legal action against the school board.

"What action could I take?" She asked. "To make them let me perform there to a captive audience? There's nothing for me to do other than to support the larger issue at hand."

Go get 'em, Dawn. And keep it funny!

source

He Was A Great Teacher, But Was Fired Anyway

Jan Buterman is a transgendered person. And a teacher.

In 2008, he received a letter from the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools that praised him for his teaching abilities.

Then he was fired for not being aligned with the values of the Catholic Church.

In other words, for being transgendered.

The Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools offered up a settlement of sorts: Buterman would receive a cash payout of $78,000 or or a one-year teaching job as long as he shut his transgendered yap about being fired, and dropped his human rights complaint.

Jan Buterman gave a big F-U to the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, because, as he says, “I don’t want to be muzzled. They don’t want me to talk about the fact that they, as an employer, claiming authority from the Catholic Church, have discriminated against me because of my medical status as a transsexual person.”

But he knows that his human rights complaint might be dismissed, as the Catholic school board is expected to ask the Alberta Human Rights Commission to drop the complaint since a “fair and reasonable settlement” was offered.

But is it fair? To pay him off with cash or a one-year job just so he won't file a complaint? Is that fair and reasonable?

Hardly. It's a payoff. They've taken his job, for which the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools praised him, and asked him to simply keep quiet.

What's fair about that? Or even reasonable?

David Keohane, superintendent of the Catholic school district, says the board has been working with the human rights commission to try to ensure the offer is seen as fair and reasonable: “It is about how the commission is being satisfied with how we are dealing with the issue and the appearance of being reasonable. Everything is completely reasonable ... given the absolute nature of how the issue represented itself, and we believe that we have been abundantly fair.”

Buying silence is fair, I guess, to the Catholic Church. I mean, haven't they tried this with victims of pedophile priests? Offering those innocent children and their families a little cash to keep quiet.

Fair. Reasonable.

And, apparently, the Alberta Teachers’ Association also thinks the cash payoff, er, payout, is fair. The union will no longer pay for Buterman’s lawyers, calling the bribe, er, payout, “substantial”. They also advised Buterman that rejecting the settlement because of its confidentiality clause could make Buterman look bad.

I don't think he looks bad. I think he looks like a teacher, lauded for his teaching skills, who was fired without cause simply for being transgendered. I think, if anything, it makes the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools look bad.

Buying silence. But, as I've said, this is nothing new to the Catholic Church. They've been buying silence for decades in order to save face.

source

Stay Away From Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, Once Again That's Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers

Up there in Canada, you know, with their marriage equality and health care and stuff, a florist in Riverview, New Brunswick is in a bit of a thorny situation. It seems that she is refusing to provide wedding flowers to a same-sex couple, according to the event's planner. 

See, the florist, Kim Evans of Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, that's Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, agreed to provide the flowers for a wedding, but after finding out that the marriage was for a :::gasp::: same-sex couple, Kim Evans of Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers sent out the following email:

"I am choosing to decline your business. As a born-again Christian, I must respect my conscience before God and have no part in this matter."

Well, good for you, Kim Evans of Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers; good for you.

You go ahead and discriminate against gay couples because, in your head, that's what god wants. But keep in mind that it's illegal in New Brunswick to do so. And keep in mind, Kim Evans of Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, that now that the word is out that you are a bigot and a homophobe, you won't be getting many gay customers--which I'm sure is just fine by you and your stony little heart--but you also won't be getting any business from straight couples who don't like discrimination, from straight couples who can still remember when, in certain parts of the world, just a few decades back, there were signs on windows and doors, and drinking fountains, making sure the "colored" people didn't use the same things as the white folks did.

And that's what you're doing.

So, Kim Evans of Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, again, that's Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers, hang a sign in your window that says Straights Only and see how long you stay in business.

source

Just For Giggles

source