Canada: Vancouver Pride 2012

Around 500,000 people attended. 

Vancouver Foreskin Pride: May The Foreskin Be With You

Vancouver: Celebrity Chef Anthony Sedlak Dies At 29

Details.

I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times around some of the most unexpected places you migth think you could find such a talented chef. He was talented and really nice. It’s shocking he’s gone at such an early age.

R.I.P.

Canada: Luka “Montreal’s Butcher” Magnotta’s Investigation Shifts To Vancouver After Hand, Foot Sent To Schools

The National Post reports:

The hunt for body parts in the Luka Rocca Magnotta case has taken a strange turn after two packages — one containing a foot and another containing a hand — were delivered to two Vancouver-area schools.
Vancouver police deputy chief Warren Lemcke said one package was delivered to False Creek Elementary School at about 1 p.m. Tuesday local time, containing a human hand. An hour later, another package with a human foot inside arrived at St. George’s School, a private boys school in the city’s west side.
Both the Vancouver Police and B.C. Coroner’s office are investigating, and there was no indication yet of the identity of the victim, he told a news conference.
“The focus of our investigation is to identify the victim and from where the packages were mailed,” the Deputy Chief said.
The discoveries came several days after two similar packages were mailed to Ottawa containing another hand and foot. Police have said those body parts belonged to Chinese student Jun Lin, whose torso was found in a back alley in Montreal with the hands, feet and head removed.

According to The National Post, Magnotta is awaiting for a ruling by a Judge in Berlin. He’s expected to be extradited to Canada.

RELATED: The owner of the Canadian website, Best Gore, which hosted the video of the alleged murder, may also face charges, Montreal police said Tuesday.

RELATED II: Police said to be invetigating whether Magnotta is involved in other cold cases, including the murder of Valerie Lebranc, an 19 year-old college student killed, mutilated and burnt in Gatineau, Quebec. 

Canada: Vancouver Kids Against Bullying

Beautiful British Columbia, indeed!

Song Of The Day: Matthew Presidente - 4U2BM9

Gosh, if only those walls at Numbers could talk.

VANCOUVER: Transgender Activists Glitter-Bomb Dan Savage Again

Joe.My.God. reports:

Ho hum. More misdirected anger from the Trans Mafia.

Dan Savage was glitter-bombed before his appearance at The Vogue theatre in Vancouver Jan 21, the third such action against the high-profile sex columnist and political commentator in recent months. A group of six activists, who named themselves The Homomilitia for the event, said they confronted Savage as he entered the theatre through a back-alley entrance. In an interview with Xtra after the confrontation, activist Fister Limp Wrist accused Savage of “ableist, racist, transphobic, fat-phobic, sero-phobic and rape-apologist attitudes and views.” Activists handed audience members bright pink pamphlets outlining their accusations as they entered the theatre.

How did the usual “gay white male cisgender privilege” phrase not make it into that asinine statement? So disappointing. Savage told the audience: “If you have a disagreement with your allies, you discuss it. You don’t attack them.” Hello.

Wow. How far are this douchebags are willing to go to take his image down? Can’t believe these so called “Trans Activist” are keeping on this stupid effort to attack one of our most valuable Activists. Got a problem with him? Try to do a better job on fighting for our rights than him, bitches! Then, and only then you may have a point. Until then, save up all your glitter for our Real Enemies.

Canada: HIV/AIDS Plummets In British Columbia

Joe.My.God. reports:

AIDS deaths and new HIV infections are plummeting in British Columbia. Experts say the decline is due to an aggressive policy of placing the newly infected immediately on a drug regimen and thus reducing their infectiousness.

• “We’re particularly pleased to see that our treatment-as-prevention strategy has taken off big-time,” said Dr. Julio S. G. Montaner, director of the British Columbia Center for Excellence in H.I.V./AIDS. His center was a pioneer in the strategy, which involves searching aggressively for people at risk of H.I.V. infection, talking them into being tested and putting those who are infected on antiretroviral drugs immediately, which lowers by 96 percent the chances that they will infect others.

Credit is also being given to Vancouver’s “safe-injection” center where IV drug users can get and use clean needles on the premises.

San Francisco and New York City have also adopted“treatment as prevention” policies, but some HIV activists have denounced the idea due to questions about the long-term side effects of taking the medications for decades. Reknowned HIV/AIDS activist Sean Strub:

• This is, in essence, a chemical quarantine. People should be given the option to take drugs to reduce their chance of transmitting to others, but to recommend treatment for people in the absence of conclusive science that it will, on average, provide a greater net benefit than harm, is unethical. Why haven’t the NYC DOH—and the other promoters of “treat everyone with HIV, no matter their medical need”—been out advocating for the clinical trials to definitively answer the question as to when is the optimal time for a person with HIV to commence treatment? We know that some people with high CD4 counts can go years and years, some even decades, without going on treatment and suffering the cumulative toxicities of treatment. But now NYC DOH, as well as San Francisco’s DOH, are advocating putting those people on treatment. This is not healthcare, it is a chemical quarantine.

CANADA: Supreme Court Rules Drug Injectors Clinic Is Constitutional

Joe.My.God. reports:

Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that a Vancouver health clinic for intravenous drug users is an allowable exception to the nation’s drug laws. Even though the clinic’s clean needles and HIV testing services are credited with reducing the incidence of AIDS, conservative groups opposed its operation because local police overlooked drug possession and usage laws within.

“Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation,” the ruling said, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. If Insite wasn’t allowed to operate it would prevent injection drug users from accessing the health services offered at the facility, threatening their health and their lives, the ruling said. Withdrawing the exemption would even undermine the purpose of the federal drug law, which includes public health and safety, the court said. The Supreme Court said that if the health minister, currently Leona Aglukkaq, receives applications for more exemptions, she must continue to exercise her discretion and aim to strike a balance between Charter rights and protecting public health and safety.

HIV/AIDS activists in British Columbia are celebrating the ruling.

Vancouver Rioter Turns Himself In

And thanks to the Social Networks.

Photo Of The Week: Romance At The Vancouver Riots

Yahoo Sports Canada reports:

In the age of Facebook and Twitter, it was only a matter of time before the world learned the identities of the kissing couple from that now-iconic photo of the Vancouver riots.
About 24 hours after photos of the smooch was passed on through emails, IMs and blog posts, the Toronto Star and the CBC are reporting that the boyfriend and girlfriend in the photograph are Aussie bartender Scott Jones and Canadian college student Alex Thomas, who was injured just before the picture was taken.
The papers report that Jones and Thomas have been dating since Jones arrived in Vancouver on a “working holiday.” They attended Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, which the hometown Canucks lost 4-0 to the Boston Bruins, and then somehow found themselves between the angry rioters and charging riot police later that night in downtown Vancouver.
The famous aftermath, as captured by Getty Images photographer Rich Lam.
So how were Jones and Thomas ultimately identified as the unlikely “make love, not war” couple of Vancouver’s embarrassing night of injury and destruction?
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Facebook was involved.
Though Scott’s sister Hannah first identified her brother to an Australian news network, things really started taking off when  Brett Jones, Scott’s father, posted the following update on his Facebook profile on Friday morning from the family’s home in Perth, Australia.
Brett Jones now says the couple is being besieged by media requests from outlets around the world. All, of course, are interested in knowing the circumstances that found the couple smooching as cars were burned and windows were smashed around them.
But despite some of our initial assumptions, the kiss seen ‘round the world wasn’t the product of a riot-fueled, uncontrollable passion. Brett Jones instead notes that Thomas was injured and his son was coming to her aid. An alternate angle taken from above shows other bystanders later attempting to help Thomas and Jones.
Combine that different angle with Brett Jones’ story and it certainly dispels the rumors that the couple had intentionally staged the photo.

• “They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground,” Brett Jones told CBC News. “[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, ‘It’s going to be OK,’ and the photographer just took the shot at that moment.”

Jones’ mother Marie said she immediately knew it was her son in the picture because “he doesn’t have a lot of clothes with him and he always puts on the same thing.”
So where do they go from here? The good news is that Jones escaped the incident unhurt and Thomas only suffered a bruised leg. The bad news is that Jones is scheduled to leave Canada soon and head home for Australia after a trip to California. The Jones family says that Thomas plans to visit California with their son but that the couple’s future after that is uncertain.
UPDATE: Jones and Thomas spoke with the Toronto Star:

• Thomas said this morning that everything happened so fast that there was just massive confusion all around. “I was trying to understand what was going on. The photo was definitely not something we expected to happen,” said Thomas.
• The couple is leaving in three days on a trip to California, before Scott heads back to Australia. Thomas said the response from her friends and family has been overwhelming.
• “When I saw that picture I couldn’t believe it and then I looked at it more and realize it’s quite artistic and really something beautiful.”

The full Toronto Star story is here.

Vancouver Riots Over Hockey Loss

This so white trash. And I can tell ya that most of those people aren’t from downtown Vancouver. They must be from the suburbs. I’d say the city should block the entrance downtown by Skytrain and buses each time there’s playoffs.

Vancouver: Congratulating Bingo for Life

Via Joan-E.

Friends For Life Society, at Bingo For Life is where I’ve been volunteering in Vancouver for over a year now, but it’s been fifteen years since Joan-E started it. If you’re in town this next Wednesday 18th, don’t miss this. 

Liberal Party Of Canada: Justin Trudeau in Papineau

In Vancouver Centre, BC, The Honourable Hedy Fry, who’s been a great supporter of the LGBT Community (she was indeed a key character in the Marriage Equality legislation in British Columbia back in 2003 way before it was legalized nationwide) and a big supporter of local charities such as the Vancouver Friends For Life Society (of which I volunteer for) is running for office once again, as Canada is holding elections across the country today. 

 Fry has been re-elected in every subsequent election (1997, 2000,2004, 2006 and 2008). In 2006, she beat high profile NDP activist and former MP Svend Robinson and in 2008 she defeated high profile Conservative Lorne Mayencourt.

The Liberal Party Leader, Michael Ignatieff is currently running for office against the current Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Watch the English Debate Closing Statements here.

UPDATE: Both Dr. Hedy Fry and Justin Trudeau kept their seats as Members of Parliament, however, the Liberal Party of Canada had a tremendous meltdown. Michael Ignatieff not only lost against Harper, but also lost his seat as MP. According to Michael Moore, when you add up all the votes for any left-wing party in Canada, you get more than 60% of the votes. So it’s clear that Canada needs a united Left-Liberal Party quite soon. 

Comic Fined for Lesbian Insults

The Advocate reports:

A Canadian comic has to pay nearly $16,000 to a lesbian he heckled during a stand-up act at a Vancouver restaurant three years ago, according to  The Vancouver Sun.

Guy Earl was ordered to pay the money to Lorna Pardy for harassing her and her girlfriend during his act. The restaurant owner was ordered to pay Pardy $7,500.
Earle says he plans to appeal the ruling, saying all he did was insult audience members who insulted him first. He said Pardy threw a drink in his face before he insulted her, and he denied much of what he was accused of saying.

I don’t think comics should apologized for their work. I agree their work could suck but it ain’t enough to make them responsible for anything. Comedy is what it is: Just entertainment. But first of all, you gotta know what kind of act you’re going to see. Guy Earl ain’t a good comedian, so I don’t know why people would ever go to see his shows but nonetheless, If you don’t like what you see/hear just leave the damn room. I’m not saying that what he did was ok, but Hate Speech/Bad Speech can only be fought with More Speech, not by suing each other cause if people like the Westboro Baptist Church (Cult) can get away with what they say, comedians shouldn’t be in trouble. You can’t take literally what they say: Cause it’s a joke.