A guest post by a local Ottawa escort

A little less than a month ago, POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist) organized Whores Hustle, Ottawa's first sex worker pride party. While there were definitely some bumps along the way and some backlash from folks who get upset when sex workers try to speak for themselves, there was also a lot of feedback from local workers that the event had a positive impact on how they view themselves, their work, and others' responses to it.

One local worker emailed me afterward to say, "I have an afterglow today about the evening and have never felt more proud in my own skin about anything. Thank you for making last night happen." That's some real encouragement to keep moving forward with POWER and demanding more safe space for sex workers in the city.

That same worker posted a review of the Whores Hustle party on a local website where clients and workers chat together about the industry and the relationships they share. She gave me permission to re-post her review below, which she titled, "Ottawa: an upwards battle (bit of a rant but more of a THANK YOU to POWER)":

I took today off to go to dinner and then to a sex-workers' pride event at a local club thrown by the group POWER that I'm a member of. The event was a huge success and we generated a lot of support, I was beaming with pride at the cheers generated by the hosts to the plight of realizing what it means to have safety and independence and honour brought to our profession.....and that it should be deemed as such: a noble profession. Supporters were cheered on too....everyone was appreciated.

However the night was not without its batch of naysayers and judgmental ignorants at the end of the evening....i actually lost some "friends" tonight (notice I use the term "friends" loosely) getting caught in debate as to what our world really was about and truly deserved. It leaves me a bit saddened...actually VERY heavy hearted.. but gives me hope in that this was a huge step for Ottawa. A difficult upwards battle is definitely in our future though.

I was basically outed to everyone that I happened to know outside of work tonight who happened to be there (perhaps the shirt that said "I LOVE my job" played a part in this, lol)...but I don't care anymore. This is my life, I've chosen it and those who don't care to see past their own stereotypes yet still attend a night like POWER threw tonight wishing to scoff and cast stones....well I wonder why they showed up in the first place. (??) I for one know a few blokes who showed up seeing if they could meet some "hookers" and "peelers" first hand and were surprised and turned off that there was a homosexual market in Ottawa and were disgusted that "queers" were even mentioned tonight. One (no longer) "friend" came up to me at one point and asked me to point out all the "hot whores" that were present. I said (in less polite words) that I regretted ever handing him a flyer.

Many people worked long and hard and planned this event thoroughly and delivered an amazing show...full of shout-outs and respectful cheers and amazing music and live performances.

I personally would like to applaud POWER (Prostitutes of Ottawa-Gatineau Work Educate & Resist) for bringing the community together tonight. I for one am not going to let tonight's naysayers affect my pride for my work...if anything I feel sorry for some who judge before they even try to understand.

I hope that everyone in support of tonight or in organization of tonight sees the contribution over the judgment and recognizes what a big step they have made for our industry in Ottawa. I for one (no matter what I may have lost tonight...that didn't matter in the first place now that I think of it) have gained more strength from coming to terms with who I am tonight....

....and I have POWER to thank for it.

Divergence Movie Night: Last Call at Maud's

Divergence Movie Night presents...
"Last Call at Maud's" (77 minutes)
Tuesday, July 14
Doors 7pm, movie 7:30pm
Club SAW, 67 Nicholas Street
Free admission, $5 suggested donation




"Last Call at Maud's" chronicles the history of the longest-running lesbian bar in the United States. This venerable San Francisco establishment opened in 1966, when lesbians were still very much in the closet. Maud's flourished throughout the 70s and 80s, enjoying an international reputation as a meeting place for lesbians and their friends, only to be shut down in 1989. Provocative personal stories of coming out in the 50s and 60s, sexual politics and softball are mixed with flashbacks to the Hollywood gay bars of the 40s and the vice raids of the 50s. The vintage photos and personal interviews are an invaluable window into lesbian history.

The massage parlour mistake

At the end of May, Ottawa police arrested two women for running a bawdy house. Bawdy house is basically a fancy word for brothel. Brothel is basically a fancy word for indoor place where adults consent to have sex in exchange for money. The cops put several months' work into the investigation after they found a classified ad in a local newspaper advertising the purported spa. Several months. This is the main reason they don't have the time or resources to either find your stolen bike or take seriously rumours of serial killers targeting women in impoverished Vancouver neighbourhoods.




The "sprothel" was on Parkdale Avenue, in the heart of quickly gentrifying Hintonburg. Hintonburg is also the site of Ottawa police's john letter campaign, in which they target drivers suspected of looking for street hookers by sending a warning letter to the address where the vehicle is registered. I co-wrote an article with Chris Bruckert of the University of Ottawa about all the ways in which the john letter campaign is misguided at best and dangerous for the well-being of both street workers and Hintonburg residents at worst. You can read it here.

But does anyone wonder, "Why Hintonburg? Why Parkdale Ave? Why there now?"

A very similar process of simultaneously targeting street-based workers, indoor work sites like massage parlours as well as the johns that frequent them is currently underway in San Francisco (as well as many other cities). There, too, it is focused on neighbourhoods in which wealthier people are seeking to displace the original occupants of traditionally poor neighbourhoods.

Rachel West, who works with the U.S. PROStitutes Collective has written a great opinion piece about San Francisco's mix of mayors, cops, developers and ho's. It's worth reading for what it can teach us about targeting of the poor and unpopular in our own city.

The massage parlor mistake

Fearing arrest and/or deportation will mean fewer women will report rape or other violence and exploitation when they occur

By Rachel West

Taking advantage of the recent turmoil over the huge city budget cuts, Mayor Gavin Newsom and Sup. Carmen Chu, have pushed though malicious legislation imposing criminal charges and restrictions on massage parlors. Many are outraged that this costly legislation was prioritized — we want to know why it was, and how much it will cost to implement. Lawyers are questioning its legality.

Under the guise of concern for women's safety, Chu and Newsom falsely claimed that the law would stop sex trafficking. We've heard these lies before. Politicians who want to increase the criminalization of sex workers confuse prostitution, which is consensual sex for money, with trafficking, which is forced and coerced labor, sexual or otherwise. The reality is that most parlor employees work consensually and often collectively, without force or coercion. In Rhode Island, where indoor prostitution is legal, similar legislative maneuvers are in the works, also using the pretext of trafficking to make criminals of women working indoors.

Chu and Newsom claim they are targeting parlor owners, but by pushing the industry further underground, their legislation makes workers, many of whom are immigrant women, more vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Workers will suffer most from the increased raids, arrests, and criminalization. Fearing arrest and/or deportation will mean fewer women will report rape or other violence and exploitation when they occur.

What is the real political agenda here? Chu and Newsom have said that the proposals "could make it easier to close the 50 or so city-licensed parlors suspected of selling sex." If and where sex is being sold, parlor closures would force women onto the streets — where it is 10 times more dangerous to work. Those who are arrested are likely to end up in prison — to the devastation of their children — or deported. What good reason is there to endanger women's safety and break up families this way, especially during hard economic times?

San Franciscans question why, when most trafficking cases occur in the agricultural, construction, clothing, and domestic industries, anti-trafficking measures target immigrant sex workers working of their own free will. We suspect racist gentrification policies are behind this legislation. Developers will be allowed to seize land in the Tenderloin and downtown areas if massage parlors are forced to close. This deceitful, profiteering law imposes huge fines, criminal charges, and has a punitive clause making the parlors pay for unspecified enforcement charges against them.

Considering that not long ago, police were exposed for taking thousands of dollars from massage parlor workers, involving them in the licensing process creates fertile ground for increased corruption.

What is wrong with selling or buying sex if both parties consent? After all, 42 percent of San Franciscans voted last November for Proposition K, which would have decriminalized sex work, despite a campaign of fear mongering and misinformation by the mayor and district attorney. New Zealand successfully decriminalized prostitution six years ago to "promote occupational health and safety" and "protect from exploitation." There has been no increase in prostitution, pimps, or traffickers, and women are more able to report violence and insist on their rights. It's time for San Francisco to do the right thing and stop criminalizing sex workers.

[via San Francisco Bay Guardian, thanks to Adele for the tip]

How to tell people they sound racist

Is this good advice?

Or you could just do this:

I have the hots for Aziz Ansari something real bad...

[via Ill Doctrine via The New Gay]

Ultimate Sub / Ultimate Dom: Maria Von Trapp & Mary Poppins

Dayna McLeod is this unhinged video and performance artist from Montreal we invited up to Ottawa last year for Get Real Queer, the AIDS Committee of Ottawa / Venus Envy joint Pride party. She completely delivered by coming on stage in this beaver costume where the beaver had a beaver you could reach right inside of. Backstage she had stuffed the beaver's beaver full of prizes we got for her including free egg vibrators supplied by Venus Envy (that was real nice of them). We didn't really know how it would go over in a club full of queer hipsters but it turned out the answer was REAL WELL. Folks seriously lined up and waited ten minutes each just to get a turn humping Dayna the beaver and to reach into Dayna the beaver's beaver to get their prize. At some points Dayna the beaver had three different homos on her fucking her face butt and vag, but when she'd come up for air and we'd ask, "Do you want to shut it down? Have you had enough?" she was a total trooper and went in for more. Anyway, long story short: Dayna McLeod is crazy and awesome.

One of the lots of things Dayna does is head up this project called 52 pick-up, where artists are challenged to get their creativity pumping by creating one video per week for 52 weeks. I haven't had enough time to explore it in depth but one of Dayna's recent videos caught my attention right away...

"Ultimate Sub / Ultimate Dom: Maria Von Trapp & Mary Poppins" is pretty self explanatory. I don't know how to embed the video here on my blog but you can catch it by clicking the photo below and, seriously though, I think you'll be glad that you did.

God hates fags and Michael Jackson

Yesterday morning I got up at 5:20am and did my usual routine: I showered, I put on Old Spice cologne, I followed the cat downstairs and filled his food bowl and gave him an Ocean Explosion cat treat, I had a bowl of Mini Wheats with soy milk, I took it outside to eat in the backyard and watch the sun rise, I made the cat go inside because I am afraid the neighbour is putting out poison to stop the neighbourhood strays from pooing under his porch, I got on my bike and rode to work, I stopped at Tim Horton's to get an everything bagel with cream cheese, I rode the elevator to my office on the 7th floor with gorgeous views of Centretown and, finally, I sat myself down to read the online schedule of Westboro Baptist Church, the group who pickets AIDS and homo funerals with signs that say GOD HATES FAGS.

As many of you may already know - particularly those of you who own either a television or radio, have access to the internet, grocery shop and browse magazine headlines while waiting in line or are sentient beings within listening range of pretty much any other sentient beings engaged in conversation- Michael Jackson is dead. For those of you who weren't yet in the know, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

And if you didn't already know Michael Jackson is dead, that would also mean you are less in the know than good old Fred Phelps and the gaggle of evangelical children who follow him around the U.S. protesting the same-sex-attracted and/or immunity-compromised deceased.

But much more to the point: today Westboro Baptist Church will bring their GOD HATES FAG carnival to the Los Angeles Staples Center so they can -- wait for it -- protest Michael Jackson's funeral. OMG it's too insane. Here's the text from their online schedule:

Michael Wacko Jacko Jackson is in hell! WBC will be there to remind you to stop worshiping the dead. We will be there to tell you to Thank God for the death of this filthy, adulterous, idolatrous, gender-confused, nationality-confused, unthankful brute beast. We will be there to remind you that God Killed Wacko Jacko. There is a God, and a Day of Judgment. For you to wallow and murmur against God for his righteous Judgments is sin and will cause YOU to join Michael in hell. Stop that!

OK. This story has pretty much everything I have ever loved and hated about pop culture and the U.S. and gay identity politics and just everything everything everything. I think it could basically only get better if it somehow involved Pee Wee Herman. But wait, it does get better. The very next day, Phelps and his entourage will haul ass across the country to Gary, Indiana, place of Michael Jackson's birth and admittedly short childhood. (Who covers all their travel costs?? I mean seriously!) They'll set up at Gary's Steel Yard Baseball Stadium where they'll bring a new angle to their God Hates Michael Jackson protest. Check out this message to the residents of Gary:

You killed Michael Jackson! ...Gary, Indiana and the inhabitants are to blame for the death of this freak-show of a man. The Mayor has lied even up to this very day referring to this human, adulterer, filthy beast with a name preserved exclusively for the Lord Jesus Christ (The Prince of Peace), and will be punished by God for these words of blasphemy. You did that. You had a duty to love and help him, and that started when he was a very small lad. Whoever wrote that little television movie "The Jackson Five" knew some things about that family. The father is to blame, of course, but what about all you who knew these things were happening under that roof and kept your mouths shut so you could gossip and mock them, then smile in their faces? How about you teachers, and leaders who knew this little boy and let him wallow in his selfishness and sorrow and not one of you open your mouths and speak right words of truth? How about you Music and Hollywood movers and shakers to took and sucked every bit of life out of the little stupid?! On and on, you consumed this self-absorbed, confused, ignorant little kid! His death and blood is on all of your hands! Now you have the nerve to pretend (as you mock and scoff about him being an acquitted child molester) you loved and adored him. With friends/love like you/yours who needs enemies/hate from you. It is all the same! Leviticus 19:17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. How simple is that? How wrong are you each one for not doing this duty to Michael Jackson? I will tell you - blood guilty! Ezekiel 33:7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. 8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Finally, be happy Jacko did not live to see the days (shortly coming) when you will all be devoured by Antichrist Obama, he's bringing your trauma, you will be eating your cute chubby little babies because you will have no jobs, no prospects, no hope, no money, no food because of the destruction of this land. AMEN!

I have really nothing more to add to that. I am just going to sit here in silent awe that the same country that produced the singular, twisted passion of Michael Jackson also produced the singular, twisted passion of Fred Phelps - it's awesome. This has truly made my week.

(Though, if I may, I'll simply add that crazy Phelps and his ilk better not, at any point, pull any of these pranks on Dolly Parton - whether she be living or dead. Ever. Seriously. It's not a joke.)




[via Pink News]

PhotoPositive wants to pay you to photograph your life

Click on image for a larger version

Marney McDiarmid emailed me to ask if I could help spread the word about the PhotoPositive project for Toronto gay and bi HIV+ men happening July 20 to August 18.

If you're a poz queer man, the project coordinators will lend you a digital camera and give you basic training in photography techniques. You'll then be asked to take photos that explore your experiences of HIV-related stigma.

At the end of the project, you can decide whether you want to show your photos in a public exhibit or just keep them private. Some of the photos will also be used as the basis for interviews with men who are HIV-.

You have complete control about how you are represented. You can use your own name or remain completely anonymous.

PLUS -- you'll be given $40 for each workshop you attend.

If you're HIV+, identify as a gay or bi man and are available to attend workshops in Toronto, you can sign up by contacting Marney at marneymcdiarmid@gmail.com or (613) 549-6850.

A hopeless cry of infinite darkness

A Hopeless Cry of Infinite Darkness (subtitled: "Sadies lame blog") is written by Sadie Tucker, who describes herself as "a MTF transgender, who's spent more than 2 decades committed to sex and drugs and rock n roll. I'm currently trying to get clean and it sucks. So instead of smoking crack I'm writing crap on the computer."

Sadie's storytelling is un-self-conscious and straight-up and she uses great phrases like "today I got the pissiest news since pissy news was invented". Check out this wicked account of how she first met her lover. Or what it's like to try and fill your day with a whole lot of not buying crack:

Once again a day of wasted time and wasted opportunities. Thematically this is a perfect fit since, barring a couple of rare and isolated times, my life in its entirety has been a shocking and saddening waste.

And so it's on that cheery note that I begin yet another meandering and utterly pointless entry on this the lamest of the lame blog elite.

I've been getting re-acquainted with the internet these past few weeks - in fact since I'm not doing drugs, and need to occupy my time somehow, I've been spending a simply ridiculous amount of time online. Right now I'm trying my hand at being an internet DJ courtesy of a site called blip.fm. I've got - as of this particular juncture - a grand total of 15 listeners. Not the start of a revolution, but it's fun knowing other people are listening.

I've also been obsessed with a social networking site called Facebook and that's been fun. Mainly it's given me a great deal of fun catching up with scads of people I haven't seen for over a decade, and in some cases longer. It's cornball, and a little pointless, but nonetheless it is genuinely fun to connect with so many people I had lost track of while developing my drug addiction.

Another one of these social networks that I've gotten involved with is called Fetlife and it's a similar concept, but is geared towards the kinkster/fetish crowd. All of this is helping to keep me from thinking about smoking crack, which is a good thing. In fact that might be the best thing about it. It's hardly a substitute but I'll take every bit of help I can get. It's Sunday morning as I type this out, and that means that I'm just over 24 hours away from getting my welfare cheque. This will be the first time in about a month that I'll have the money to get some crack if that's what I wanted to do. and it most certainly isn't. I'm grateful though and thank Goddess that my dearest sister will be with me when I cash it. So that means my chances of caving in and buying dope are virtually nil.

Sadie does end up slipping with a bag of coke she finds, but gets things back on track, only to get busted by the Toronto cops for Section 213 of the Canadian Criminal Code - communicating for the purpose of prostitution. She tells a harrowing tale of what it's like to spend a few days at the Don Jail as a trans woman.

But me telling her story on her behalf really kind of sucks. It's her story and she tells it with ample wit and self-determination. You're better off going to her blog and reading her story and cheering for her through the Intertubes yourself.

Ontario judge tells REAL Women to zip it!

A couple weeks ago I wrote about an appeal by REAL Women of Canada, a conservative women's group, and two religious groups - the Catholic Civil Rights League and Christian Legal Fellowship - to be allowed to participate in the Ontario constitutional challenge of the criminal prostitution laws set to begin this fall. The three groups argued that if Canada's prostitution laws are to be decided by the courts, the courts should account for moral as well as legal arguments.

Well, yesterday Mr. Justice Ted Matlow of the Ontario Superior Court made his decision:

• He said that the participation of the three groups could disrupt and prolong the hearing.
• He said they would be liable to turn the trial into a soapbox for spiritual views, which would be out of place in a strictly legal proceeding.
• He said he was reluctant to convey an erroneous impression that the groups have a "special relationship" with the court that permits them to present contentious moral opinions that "would reflect the views of only small segments of Canadian society."
• And he said that the groups struck him as being unaware that the challenge "does not provide a political platform where interested persons are permitted to speak in order to advance their personal views, beliefs, policies and interests at large."

In other words, he said NO. That's pretty much the best decision we could have asked for. A small victory on a long, long road ahead, but a victory nonetheless!


[via The Globe & Mail]

India decriminalizes gay sex

Section 377, the law that criminalized consensual homosexual sex in India and which was a holdover from the British colonial administration, was struck down by the New Delhi High Court on Thursday. It is no longer a crime for anyone over the age of 18 to have consensual gay sex.

Justice S. Muralidhar's judgment states:

This Court believes that Indian Constitution reflects this value deeply ingrained in Indian society. Those perceived by the majority as deviants or ‘different' are not on that score excluded or ostracized. Where society can display inclusiveness and understanding, such persons can be assured of a life of dignity and nondiscrimination.

The Globe & Mail reports that Section 377 was rarely used for prosecutions, but rather was a favourite tool of police to threaten and extort gay men and transgender people in particular.

“The threat of exposure is enough to extort gay men for sex and money in India on a daily basis,” said Leslie Estefeves, a leader with a collective of activists called Voices Against 377, who shed anxious tears before the judge even began to speak.

The case apparently bounced between courts for more than eight years and may still not be over if the government chooses to appeal. Behind the exciting news headline, then, are years and years of exhausting work on the part of Indian activists and gay and trans people throughout the country willing to take a risk to demand equality under the law. It's sad to think of the price people have to pay to win this kind of victory, but I guess that's how our current systems allocate rights: we'll eventually grant you the same entitlements that we currently enjoy because to not do so would invalidate our claims of being a democratic and egalitarian society -- yet we'll do everything we can to make your fight more difficult and when it finally happens, we'll take centre stage to congratulate ourselves on being progressive and tolerant.

I keep thinking of the friend who, on the 40th anniversary of the decriminalization of gay sex in Canada, changed her Facebook status to a message of gratitude to then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau for making it happen. Trudeau didn't grant equal rights to queer Canadians -- queer Canadians won equal rights for themselves!