What are you doing tonight? You better be coming down to Celebrities because Terry Costa (Mirateca Management) and Dean Nelson (Alpenglow Productions/WinterPRIDE) have cooked up something fierce:
Opening Night: Thursday, Sept. 18
Mr. Gay Canada event kicks off Thursday, Sept. 18 @ Celebrities Nightclub.
Award-winning performer Berend McKenzie will host the event and DJ Zach Shore will spin the night away.
Meet all Mr. Gay Canada delegates on stage.
Armstrong Jr. and Kim Kuzma are the special guest performers (see below).
Doors open at 9pm. 10:30pm Show. $10 tickets available at the door.
Join us at Vancouver’s largest gay venue www.celebritiesnightclub.com
Now if you’re one of those homos who feel that pagents are for heteros, think again. This isn’t really a pagent. At the end of this contest on Saturday Sept 21, Canada will have elected a gay advocate to argue for queer rights on the global stage. There has been a lot of coverage in Xtra! West and on xtra.ca over the past two weeks about where the gay movement is heading (see here and here for articles that every queer should be reading). And if you think the fight against discrimination is over, check out the following Province article (http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=8fe574b2-d4bb-41d6-9179-a260f99d6f21) on the Mr. Gay Canada contest and then view the reader comments at the bottom of the article. Sounds like hate to me…which is why I left my own comment under “Sean” though was so angry, that I didn’t really articulate my thoughts particularly well.
This comment really spoke to me:
Melissa
Mon, Sep 15, 08 at 12:09 PM
Whether
or not you agree with the merits of a beauty pageant (for homo/hetero
men/women) homophobic remarks only showcase your discrimination and
ignorance. Shame on you. How dare you call yourself a Canadian when you
put down the very thing our country stands for – respect and freedom.
Gay people are our friends, our family members, our neighbours, our
co-workers and, maybe one day, our children. Shame on you.
I’ve been invited as a guest judge tomorrow night. So if you come down, make sure to say hi and let me know your thoughts on the night.
Here’s a release and some more background on the contest:
Mr. Gay Canada – the fight to abolish homophobia –
Vancouver, BC, September 16, 2008. Canada
needs to do its part as a world leader towards equality of all human
nature. The producers of Mr Gay Canada will insure the winner of this
competition will become an ambassador to speak on the world stage for
respect, equal rights, safe sex, and the global decriminalization of
homosexuality.
Rama Yade, France’s Junior Minister of State for
Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, announced that her country intends to
submit a draft “declaration” calling for the global decriminalization
of “homosexuality” at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly this
December. She made the statement at the Paris headquarters of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or
UNESCO, which is hosting the 61st annual conference of non-governmental
organizations.
Where does Canada come in place with these world
leaders? The Declaration of Montreal on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Human Rights, a document adopted by the International
Conference on LGBT Human Rights which formed part of the first World
Outgames, was brought forward to an agenda at the House of Commons.
What happened to it? As we prepare for a federal election we need to
ask our potential leaders what they are doing at home and abroad to
insure all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
A
recent article published in The Province (Vancouver’s daily newspaper)
has sparked enormous interest by the public from homophobic to
supportive individuals. When in a country like Canada that abides to
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that include sexuality we continue
to fight mediocrity, uneducated and homophobia, one can only imagine
the rest of the planet where 70 countries it is illegal to be gay and 7
countries homosexuality is punishable by death.
An individual, by
the name of Brian, answered The Province forum with a great
statement/response to the many negative comments, and we quote: “I’ve
always had a dream for true equality and I’ll continue to live that
dream, to share it, explain it, and educate others. I encourage those
who feel such hatred and hardness in their hearts to LGBT people to
reach out and actually meet one, have a discussion – the likelihood is
that we are all around you. We are your brothers and sisters, your
parents, your sons and daughters, your teachers, police people and yup
– we even have pageants – just like you.”
Mr Gay Canada team is
proud to welcome young men representing various areas of Canada to the
Vancouver-Whistler setting of the competition, for the weekend of
September 18-21st. For details visit www.mrgaycanada.com
Why you can trust Xtra
