Marching along....

From the serious to the mundane...

March for our lives - London, Ontario

 Wow - that crowd in Washington D.C. was HUGE...might I say even bigger than someone's "inauguration" last year?!? I was proud to join with fellow members of "People for Peace" and the "Council of Canadians" here in London, ON. on Saturday, March 24th in support of proposed new gun legislation driven by the youth of America, especially those who have experienced gun violence first hand in their schools and communities. I couldn't be any prouder of those kids than if they were my own.

Here, in Canada, we are faced with rather less serious issues but issues that still relate to the leader of our country - Justin Trudeau. We are floundering with the issue (and I do mean FLOUNDERING!!) of gender language, yes, that's right - our headlines and political cartoons provide some comic relief which I suppose is dearly needed these days...

Perhaps you heard about this one...Justin ending "mankind" as we know it...interrupting a woman who used the word "mankind" during one of his cross country town hall meetings...

...and my personal favourite...Service Canada employees told not to use the terms "father" and "mother" anymore but the more gender neutral (and CONFUSING) terms "Parent 1" and "Parent 2"... I guess in my case as a single parent my Service Canada rep should call me "Parent 1 AND Parent 2!"

Or people can choose a term they feel most comfortable with.....

Not satisfied with the neutralization of our language Justin is well on his way to permanent ridicule by some of his outfit choices...causing his constituents great embarrassment!

During a failed trip to India... no government officials showed up to formally greet him and his poor family...no one except a soberly dressed Bollywood star!

A future trip to Germany?

It's not all bad however; Justin is very sincere in his fight for equality - for women, for people of all ethnic groups, religions and sexual orientations...just reign in the ridiculousness a notch or two...PLEASE!!

He does enjoy a good party...seen here at a PRIDE parade...and I admire him for that - no other Prime Minister has gotten past the awkwardness so joyfully as Justin has...(just put away that Miley Cyrus tongue!!)

And no other Prime Minister has done THIS!!

So, as always with our leaders, we have to accept the bad with the good....or do we??? I think the next generation of voters is going to have a BIG SAY about that!!

Gut Wrenching Week

Most of us have gay friends or family members. I'm lucky enough to have 3 gay family members. As far as I know none have been beaten up or shot at. Well, that's not quite true.

I have gay friends who live openly as a couple in the little village where I grew up. I always thought of them as a huge success story as they've been together for almost 50 years (they fell in love as very young teenagers.) High school sweethearts you might say. They have a thriving business, and many friends and family members who love them. I have even felt proud of my little village who have supported their business and were accepting of their relationship. My village of 1800 people wasn't exactly known for its inclusiveness but nevertheless my two male friends have flourished.

Today one of them wrote a Facebook post relating an incident that happened when he was 15 and walking to his boyfriend's house. A car full of teenage boys pulled over and beat the heck out of him, leaving him in a ditch. He never told anyone (other than his partner) about what happened all of those years ago until today. Imagine carrying that around with you for 50 years. And yet he is the kindest, sweetest most gentle person.

There is nothing wrong with being gay, there is nothing wrong with being black, there is nothing wrong with being disabled, old, fat, Iraqi, Jewish or a woman.

But some days it sure is hard.

There's not much I can do about the victims and their families in Orlando. But I am going to go now and watch "Pride"; one of my favourite movies of all time (it's on Netflix). If a bunch of surly, rigid and intolerant Welsh miners and their families could learn to love "the gays" then everyone can! If you haven't seen this movie yet I urge you to - it's based on a true story and shows that if you dig deeply enough you can find the heart in everyone.

My love to you all: ONE Love.

PRIDE Parade

I had so much fun interactively watching the annual PRIDE parade here in London last weekend. First of all it was really LOOOOOONG!, well attended and COLOURFUL! There were so many floats, so many people participating and thousands of folks lined up along the parade route. How times have changed...FOR THE BETTER!!

I can remember a time when it was considered dangerous/risky to attend a PRIDE parade or to even be supportive of and friends of LGBTQ people. I can remember riots occurring, people getting into fights and getting injured, even killed. I am so glad this wasn't the case at this year's parade. I saw only one anti-Pride demonstrator and he was dealt with in a kind and humorous way.

London's Chief of Police was the Grand Marshall - a huge step forward from a not so long ago time when police turned a blind eye except when things turned vicious. Now the police force and dozens and dozens of organizations and businesses turn out in force to support and celebrate everyone's uniqueness.

I took almost 200 photos - YIKES - but will share just a few:

While I watched the parade and saw all the children with their parents and grandparents I thought to myself:
"PRIDE has become all about families - isn't that wonderful?"