Want to see who the other nine are? Go here 

As you may recall from a recent post of mine, I've been quite surprised by the strength and resilience among our community to challenge homophobia. After delivering a series of workshops on homophobia to youth, I was shocked at how willing these youth were to engage with issues surrounding homophobia and how able they were to understand the connections between experiencing homophobia and HIV risk.

At AIDS Service Organizations like ours, we are now seeing this connection more and more in our line of work and we're really beginning to understand the consequences that experiencing homophobia can have on LGBTQ individuals' health. Particularly, experiencing homophobia can significantly increase one’s risk of HIV infection, as well as increase the burden of disease for those living with HIV. Research is now showing that those who experience homophobia in forms such as isolation, bullying, exclusion, and violence, may have a lessened sense of self-worth or self-esteem, which can lead to an increase in the likeliness of partaking in “risky behaviours”, which in turn can lead to an increased risk of HIV transmission.

Realizing this connection, the agency I work for, AIDS Committee of Guelph (ACG) wanted to develop a resource targeting youth that would help prevent HIV transmission by increasing capacity to address homophobia, help resolve internalized homophobia, and increase knowledge on HIV transmission. But how could we do this in a way that would be fun and accessible?

Knowing that something like 90% of youth use cell phones, 60% of which use smart phones, what better way to disseminate this info but through an iPhone app? I have to hand it both to my predecessor and Executive Director - what a fabulous way to allow youth to access information in a confidential and fast way, using a tool that they spend the majority of their day on anyway!

This app functions to provide witty comebacks to homophobic slurs or phrases, as well as to answer questions and help dispel myths about HIV transmission that you may be too shy to ask your teacher, parent, or health care provider. It even has a quiz that rates your homophobia. Our aim is to provide accurate information that youth may feel too uncomfortable to find elsewhere, as well as to open up discussion and help build capacity to challenge homophobia.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Guelph is a relatively progressive town and may be more accepting of people’s sexual orientation in general than other regions. But that's not to say that people here don’t still experience homophobia. It’s also important to remember that homophobia can take on more subtle forms like the derogatory use of the word “gay”, or even as constant heteronormative images that infiltrate our daily lives. That's why it is important to recognize the effect all these different forms of homophobia can have on our lives and to be able to challenge them together, regardless of sexual orientation.

We hope this is precisely what our app, and the launch party we are having for it, will begin to do. Our app launch party takes place this Thursday January 31^st, 2013 upstairs at the Albion Hotel (49 Norfolk, Guelph, ON) at 8:30 pm and is a chance to try out the FREE app if you haven’t downloaded it already, to mingle, dance, maybe win some prizes, and to simply open up much needed discussion around homophobia and HIV. It's our hope that this app is another step toward challenging homophobia, increasing knowledge, and decreasing stigma and HIV transmission.

Come celebrate the release of this great app with us. See you at the party!

Last June I wrote about some photographic opportunities that were about to come my way and how I was looking forward to them. The truth is that since then photography has been taking up a lot of my time. 

I participated in the art show I mentioned but no sales or inquiries came from it. I did get a paying assignment though. A company hired me to submit photos for their new website, some that would rotate at the top of the webpage. From that job I found out about a workshop called "'Good Stories Need Great Photography" facilitated by a husband and wife, an editor and photographer from National Geographic. (The editor was responsible for the Titanic issue last April.) The purpose of the workshop was to link photographers with non-profits to show how a collection of photos can be put together in a video format that can speak better than a page of written words. I especially liked the message I got from it about doing unpaid work: "the photographer is not the person who doesn't get paid." 

Another project I was involved in last June was at my local ASO (AIDS Committee of Guelph and Wellington County). We were trying to find graffiti that contained homophobic messages. I had a two year head start on others as I had been taking photos of graffiti around town for about two and a half years. It was enlightening and encouraging that we failed to find as much homophobic graffiti as we thought we might. We ended up photographing the positive messages as well which produced a broader range of material. On November 22nd we had the wrap-up meeting where the slideshow and the resulting book were unveiled. My work was on the covers. Most of the shots from the book can be found on flickr.com here.

I have made it known to my ASO that I will take pictures at all events and activities as my donation to the agency. 

World AIDS Day activities constituted a busy time for me. An eatery/bakery here in Guelph made Red Ribbon Cookies that we handed out around the city to promote HIV awareness. I was able to take pictures on three of those occasions. Some of them may find their way into our local newspaper as its is doing a story about World AIDS Day and were interested in using our photos. 

The other ASO I am associated with, ACCKWA (AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area) had an Art Show and Auction as part of their World AIDS Day Gala, where some of my photos were shown. I also donated some photos to their WAD wrap-up dance and silent auction to be held on the 8th of December. 

I was finally able to show my friend who has shown his work years ago some of what I was doing. He hated much of my nature shots and graffiti, but I have some that are a bit more abstract which he liked. He told me I need to put together a collection, have them professionally framed and that I need to join a gallery to show them. The problem I'm having with doing it is the cost. It isn't a cheap venture, so it will take time because it has to be done right. 

I don't think I'm going to get filthy rich any time soon but I am having fun – and it keeps me busy. I know what I need to do to find work, how to approach non-profits and work with them to create something that illustrates what they do to help people. I must remember that they do sometimes have budgets for this kind of thing. I would never want to drain them but I'm sure I could work with them to make it affordable for them. 

I have started to put together a portfolio and a resume. It surprised me how much work is recorded there, most volunteer but that can work to my advantage. I have two knowledgeable people willing to help me along too -  my friend Richard and my PositiveLite.com editor, Bob Leahy. Both have many years between them in the art world. Bob, I discovered, judges several photography contests each year, I have been asking him for feedback and he has been brutally honest and I appreciate it. He has suggested that I enter some photography contests and pit my work against others, to get better feedback. So if anyone hears of any, let me know! 

Accompanying this post are some of the pictures I contributed to the book, “Challenging Homophobia & Building Resilience Through Graffiti Photography”. The one that says “Screw Gender, Go Love” became the cover for the book. 

“I’m feeling a little queer today” said Lillian, patting my arm while I drank my coffee at the local family diner. Lillian, in her 80’s is entirely not queer in the modern sense, so I seized the opportunity to have a chat about how the meaning of some words change over the years.  When I mentioned “gay” was another such word, she understood immediately - and promptly gave me a hug, leaned down and gave me a kiss on the brow.

Lillian knows  I’m gay, knows I’m poz and it doesn’t seem to faze her one bit.  She’s very supportive, in fact. When our local MP succumbed to the wishes of some constituents and voted in the House of Commons to reopen the same-sex marriage debate a few years ago, Lillian would have none of it. She wrote a strident letter to the press supporting gay and lesbian equality and whereas we were mere acquaintances prior to the same sex marriage issue rearing its head, we are much closer now.

Funny how attacks on LGBT rights draw us together and create love instead, eh?

It’s an accepting community, this one, but that doesn’t mean that some don’t struggle with the changes in larger societal values  that have occurred in the past couple of decades. True, our riding is represented by a conservative in Ottawa (this is rural Canada after all) , but the village itself is more left leaning. That’s in part due to an influx of city folks moving here, so what was once an ailing farming community is now borderline artsy and sports a trendy shopper-friendly main street.  You can buy twenty kinds of gourmet mustard here, the work of local artists, beeswax candles, 50’s nostalgia, artfully spun glass and artisan breads.  If a backwater can also be a destination, we are it.

But we are still a farming community at heart, and as with most farm-based  communities, church life remains an important part of the rural diaspora.  One church, the United, is actually quite progressive, so much so that this year it became an “affirming congregation” This means welcoming the LGBT population in to its midst and allowing same-sex marriages to be performed in the chancel.  Although not the least bit religious, I took part in a panel discussion at the church to discuss LGBT issues, prior to their voting on going “affirming”. (The vote passed with a 97% majority in favour, by the way.)

But there have been setbacks.

Previously in a cordial relationship with the other churches in the community (there are four in total and three of them engage in joint ecumenical services from time to time), the United Church congregation received a letter from the pastor of the local Free Methodist Church, which sent shockwaves through the newly affirming United congregation. Here are some excerpts. . . 

”Due to your recent affirmation of homosexuality there can be no ecumenical endeavours (between your church and ours). .. What you have led your church to do contravenes the Word of God”. To call “loving and acceptable” what Almighty God clearly calls “sin” is wrong..”

The letter goes on “Homosexuality is clearly defined as a sin in both the Old and New Testaments.  Therefore an “affirmations of the homosexual lifestyle and  calling acceptable what God calls “:sins” , this decision to reject the authority of the Scriptures must end the association between our churches.”

This of course created more than a ripple, and not just in our little gay household.  But reason and strategizing took the place of anger.  The end result?  A decision to let things blow over, to live and let live, to turn the other cheek. That doesn’t sound like the activist in me speaking, but it was a decision tempered by a desire by myself and others to see strained relations mended.  I’d like to think it was a christian response, whether I’m a believer or not.

How typical is this incident though?  Do undercurrents of religion-fuelled  intolerance exist under the surface of other/many/most seemingly accepting communities?  Probably.  Is rural Canada a little bit behind the rest of us? Probably also.  But we shouldn’t ignore also that in those very same places, and I include my village in the list, there are also incredibly supportive environments for gays, lesbian and transgendered people, and for social justice issues too in general.  And people living with HIV in rural communities like mine can in fact sometimes be made very welcome indeed.

My experience may not be typical.  One hears horror stories from other communities. But on the HIV front, I have to say I’ve received nothing but support here from this little farming community, not one instance of AIDS-phobia, ever.

Other measures of support?  My partner and I collect A LOT of money here for our local AIDS Service organization from local contacts we’ve made. In fact we’ve been the agency’s top fundraisers for some years, surpassing the efforts of any from the urban centre in which our agency is based. People are generous here, and easily approached. Meanwhile, Grannies for Africa has an  intensely committed local branch here and have been highly effective in raising funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.  Those grannies really care – and not just about orphaned children. Ask  them about the progress of Bill C398  (to help get lower-cost, generic medicines to people in developing countries) and they are both knowledgeable and passionate.

I’m scheduled to talk at the United Church service here in the village on Sunday December 2, the day after World Aids Day.  I’ve done this at other churches but never in my own community.  It kind of means a lot to me that I’ve been asked.

I’m a firm non-believer of course, but I do nevertheless identify with the basic christian values I learned at Sunday School, before deciding it wasn’t for me and going around splashing in puddles each Sunday morning instead. And so I think that will be my theme – how those basic values have served me OK. But I’ll also want to acknowledge the caring and passion in my community,  and the good that I think exists in all individuals and how we can utilize that to fight things live HIV stigma or it’s only slightly less evil twin, indifference. Does that sound too preachy?

It’s not unlike what I’ve spoken about before in other times and in other places. Never one to be scaremongering, or worse (“don’t be like me” is a public speaking message which drives me up the wall) or even suggesting everyone use condoms   I’ll often ramble on about HIV stigma and in fact all stigmas – what causes them and how we process them in communities large and small. People here know I have a social justice agenda, and I think they respect that. These people are my friends.

So it will be back to church for me next month, albeit as a visitor. And probably later that month too, for their church supper.  Did I mention this non-believer in all things holy loves church suppers?  But that’s  another story.