Thanks for Speaking Up

i came upon your column titled "Where are the Lesbians?" when doing a search of other things and it really made me stop to think. At times, i have found it incredibly difficult to express an opinion that differed from some of the "powers-that-be".

i get asked with great frequency why i have done what i have done with the Leather Girl Movement, why a movement, why did i think girls needed a visible, viable voice, etc. And, i think you touch on it some in your column. When "we", whoever "we" are, look out into the greater community and see few who look like us, or act like us, it is easy to presume we do not have a place there. It is my perception what then happens is what happens with any who have been marginalized, while we may fade from the larger more visible community we do not cease to exist. We form little pockets of sub-community, we create safety and security wherever we can find it. i think this has been true with many in the gay and lesbian leather community who do not fit the Tom-of-Finland mould.

i think that is some of what has happened with the LeatherDykes. We are certainly here. Everywhere i go i discover that there are more and more women who come. i get "thanked" quite a bit for being a visible, feminine LeatherDyke (of course i have not yet quite figured out exactly how to respond to being thanked for being me, but i think you know what i mean).

i do not know exactly how to go about inviting more women to join the larger community other than showing up, time and time again and letting them see that this is a safe place for women. It is also important to acknowledge that it is not always safe. i do get many snide comments, there are very frequently men who are obviously not happy to have me in "their" space. But i do it anyway because it is the right thing to do. i look forward to the day when it is no longer odd to see a feminine woman in a leather bar.

Anyway, hopefully this has made some sense. It was so nice to come across your column and hear an encouraging voice. Thank you for taking the time to both notice the lack of women and say something about it.

Stockwell Day:

It would appear that you are one of the very few Canadian citizens, and for that matter member of the human race, who does not know someone suffering from AIDS.  If you did, you couldn’t possibly have made the insensitive and callous comments concerning the disease that you recently made when attempting to explain why you had withheld condolences to Yasir Arafat’s family.  No matter what you might have thought of Mr. Arafat, his family lost a father and husband, and his people lost their leader.  The fact that you feel that you have the right to sit in judgement of Mr. Arafat would indicate that you have placed yourself on a par with God.  That, sir, is beyond arrogance; it is foolish stupidity.

Your actions continue to reassure Canadians that their decision not to elect you as their Prime Minister was correct.  You are not worthy to be the leader of a country a grand as Canada.  We Canadians expect our leaders to reflect us; on the whole, we are compassionate, non-judgemental and generous of spirit.  Obviously the people you appeal to lack those qualities.

If you every wondered why you and your party are considered a ‘regional’ party by the Canadian electorate, it’s because you don’t come near reflecting the nations attributes. With your latest crude blunder, you have now shown publicly what most people always knew, you are incapable of saying or doing what is correct or proper and proved in the process that you are totally irrelevant.