Born On This Day- February 7th... Olympian Mark Tewksbury

2012... Leap Year, Republican & Democratic conventions & the Presidential Election, The End Of The World, & the London Summer Olympics!

Johnny Weissmuller, Ian Thorpe, Matt Biondi, Michael Phelpes, & of course Mark Spitz... I am zany for Olympic swimmers! Olympic medalist Mark Tewksbury was closeted throughout his competitive swimming career, but since coming out has become an advocate for GLTB rights. Going into Barcelona, Tewksbury was ranked 4th in the world & most experts picked one of the powerful American swimmers to win gold. Tewksbury's gold medal was Canada's first at the Barcelona games and the first Canadian gold in swimming since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, which Russia boycotted. Tewksbury also won a bronze medal in the relay event in Barcelona. He made the cover of Time magazine. He was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, & the International Swimming Hall of Fame & was named Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year.

In December 1998, Tewksbury announced that he was gay. He was the first Canadian athlete to voluntarily state his homosexuality & his announcement drew great public attention. In 1998, he lost a 6-figure contract as a motivational speaker because he was "too openly gay."

Like many gay athletes, Tewksbury competed for years while in the closet. Tewksbury: "The only gay swimmer I knew of was Greg Louganis & he was spoken of terribly behind the scenes because of his sexuality. So in that regard, it pushed me further back into the closet."

In 2006, Tewksbury wrote an book: Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock, in which he speaks of the infighting among organizers of the Olympics, as well as the Gay Games & newly formed Out Games. He resigned from the International Olympic Committee over the lack of accountability, accusing the IOC of rampant corruption. He was also part of a group of former Olympic athletes who pushed for the resignation of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. Only months after the scandal surrounding the Salt Lake City Games broke, Tewksbury became known as a critic of the IOC & demanded reforms to the system.

Tewksbury: “I gazed around the room slowly. The best swimmers from Russia, Cuba, the United States, Spain, Germany and France were in front of me. & I was different. I was the fag. & in that moment I owned my truth completely. I thought, ‘If these guys knew how hard it was for me to get here, they wouldn't believe it. They have no bloody clue what I have been through. Or how strong I am.’ ”

Tewksbury is candid about embarrassing, humorous & unflattering things about his personal life, including his involvement in a serious 3way relationship with a gay couple & his persistent pursuit of a professional male escort.
 In December 2008 Tewksbury was invited by the government of France to speak at the United Nations in NYC on the day that a declaration was introduced that affirms gay rights & seeks to decriminalize homosexuality around the globe.

In 2009 Tewksbury was inducted into Canada's LGBT Human Rights Hall of Fame, the Q Hall of Fame Canada, in honor of his outstanding achievements & efforts to end discrimination in the sports world. he has been named the chef de mission of the 2012 Canadian Summer Olympic team.

Tewksbury lives on Canada with his husband- Benjamin Kiss, a Swiss figure skater. He turns 43 years old today.

Born On This Day- December 31st... Canadian Polymath Douglas Coupland

I certainly love our neighbors to the north. Margaret Atwood, Kurt Browning, Michael Bublé, Raymond Burr, Kim Cattrall, John Candy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, k d lang, who would want a world without Canadians? The Husband & I were married in Vancouver BC on our 25th anniversary of couplehood.

I first came upon Vancouver B.C.’s Douglas Coupland when the vacation home he shares with his husband was featured in the NY Times. The article revealed that the couple’s second home was directly behind their primary residence. In Seattle, The Husband & I had a second home, a 150 square foot barge on Lake Union, that was within walking distance of our 700 square foot cottage in the Wallingford neighborhood. I knew that I would dig around & get to know this Coupland fellow.

Coupland’s first novel- Generation X was published in 1991. I guess the title had some impact on our culture, giving a name to the post-Boomers & the term McJobs. In the next 2 decades, he wrote 13 novels, a collection of short stories, 8 volumes of nonfiction, the official guide to the Vancouver Olympics, stage plays, & screenplays.

It isn’t enough that he has created books & scripts, Coupland is a visual artist. Recently he designed the Monument to the War of 1812 in Toronto, iconic sculptures in Canoe Landing Park in downtown Toronto. His tribute to Canada's fallen firefighters in Ottawa is unveiled in March, 2012. Coupland, in collaboration with Roots, designed a popular collection of summer streetwear.

Hornet Nest 1 & 2

Downy Bottle #1

Blocks

Coupland claims to work 7 days a week & to never have taken a vacation.

Coupland has written a series of suggestions for surviving the future. Here are a few that I have taken to heart:

“It's going to get worse .No silver linings & no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.”

“The middle class is over. It's not coming back. Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day? That's where all the other jobs that once made us middle-class are going – to that same, magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel-agency jobs vanished, never to return. However, this won't stop people from self-identifying as middle-class, & as the years pass we'll be entering a replay of the antebellum South, when people defined themselves by the social status of their ancestors 3 generations back. Enjoy the new monoclass!”

“North America can easily fragment quickly as did the Eastern Bloc in 1989. Quebec will decide to quietly & quite pleasantly leave Canada. California contemplates splitting into 2 states, fiscal & non-fiscal. Cuba becomes a Club Med with weapons. The Hate States will form a coalition.”

“Your sense of time will continue to shred. Years will feel like hours.

“It is going to become much easier to explain why you are the way you are. Much of what we now consider “personality” will be explained away as structural & chemical functions of the brain.”

“You're going to miss the 1990s more than you ever thought.”

“Stupid people will be in charge, only to be replaced by ever-stupider people. You will live in a world without kings, only princes in whom our faith is shattered.”

“IKEA will become an ever-more-spiritual sanctuary.”

“Dreams will get better”

“Being alone will become easier”

“Expect less… Not zero, just less.”

Born On This Day- November 7th... Joni Mitchell

Today is my last full day off until the 28th of this month. I start a work-athon as my assistant takes 2 weeks of vacation & I will be putting in time at The Husband’s Pop-Up shop- Boys’ Fort.

I spent the grey autumn afternoon with the music of Roberta Joan Anderson of Canada. Joni Mitchell's haunting, humorous, hectoring songs have been a major force in my musical listening life for more than 4 decades. In 1968 I heard her singing The Circle Game:

& the seasons they go round & round
& the painted ponies go up & down
We're captive on the carousel of time.

Mitchell's roots are in folk-rock but have evolved into jazz & pop, ever inventive & inclusive. I saw her live only once, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1974. The tickets were from an acquaintance- Eric Douglas, son of Kirk. Our perfect seats, 5th row center, gave me a clear view of Mitchell, alone on stage but for a baby grand & her guitar using her non-standard, tuning; she has written songs in some 50 different tunings, which she has referred to as "Joni's weird chords."

Naming a favorite album is too tough, but today I got stuck on, 1998’s Taming the Tiger, with its lyrical magic & instrumental beauty in her inimitable style. Mitchell is ever maturing, ever youthful.

From this album is a favorite of the Husband & mine, a cover from 1942 actually- My Best to You. Mitchell wished upon my life, better gifts. She suggests that each new day is a kiss. I love her for that,

Mitchell likes to paint as much as she likes to write music. The cover & the CD's insert, have a tiny gallery of her work. On a self-portrait appear the words: Idle, Ideal, Idyll, & Idol.

Mitchell lives in L.A. She currently receiving treatment for a condition called Morgellons syndrome. Mitchell: "I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it's from outer space, but my health's the best it's been in a while. I have a tremendous will to live: I've been through another pandemic – I'm a polio survivor, so I know how conservative the medical body can be." Morgellons is often misdiagnosed as "delusion of parasites," & sufferers of the disease are often offered psychiatric treatment.  The symptoms including crawling, biting & stinging sensations under the skin. Mitchell plans to leave the music industry to work toward giving people diagnosed with Morgellons more credibility. Mitchell turns 68 years old today. I nominate Joni Mitchell as a gay idol.

So here's to you

May your dreams come true

May old father time

Never be unkind

& through the years

Save your smiles & your tears

They're just souvenirs

They'll make music in your heart

Remember this

 Each new day is a kiss

Sent from up above

With an angel's love

So here's to you

May your skies be blue

& your love blessed

That's my best to you

Remember this

Each new day is a kiss

 Sent from up above

With an angel's love

So here's to you

May your skies be blue

& your love blessed

That's my very best to you

Isham Jones/ Gene Willaden

 (1942)

On This Day In Gay History

"U.S. Customs officials at Pearson International Airport in Canada were able to stop the latest pair of 'domestic terrorists.' Kevin Bourassa & Joe Varnell attempted to enter the United States Thursday as a married couple ..." Concerned Women of America, January 15th, 2001 


Kevin Bourassa & Joe Varnell are reluctant human rights heroes.

10 years ago today, they were the first same-sex couple to be legally married in North America. The couple married in Toronto at Riverdale’s Metropolitan Community Church on Jan. 14, 2001. The couples will renew their vows in a 10th anniversary celebration today.


While neither marriage was officially recognized by the Ontario government until the courts deemed them legal in 2003, the 2001 ceremony still represents a major milestone in gay civil rights.


The ceremony was a mix of terror and love. It took place under heavy police guard and Reverend Brent Hawkes performed the service wearing a bulletproof vest. The day before their marriage, fearing their lives could be in danger for the vows they were about to exchange, the couple said farewell to their families & to each other.


Bourassa: “Our constitution made the marriage possible, Pierre Trudeau is a hero still to us & we were married with red roses. We said goodbye to people, we told them we loved them. We were told we were under threat. The last words police officers said to us as we went down the aisle was, ‘If you hear a shot don’t move, somebody will move you, just stand still.’ We were told if a shot was going to come it would most likely be when we signed the papers because they’d try to stop us from signing.”


The couple were driven to the service by bodyguards who used a different route to get to the church. Dozens of police officers attended.


Bourassa: “Marriage is the ultimate right. With marriage comes everything else: the right to work, to adopt children, to visit people in hospital. This really has changed things & it has shifted the conversation away from just who you can have sex with to who you can love. The public responds to that.”


Bourassa gave up a successful banking career to work full time on Marriage Equality & has become an advocate & in demand public speaker on the issue: “If I knew then what I know now, I would have said, ‘No, are you crazy? No bloody way,’ Joe would have. He would have done this. He is my better half. But this changed me to become a better person… involuntarily. For this, I am glad, but it came at great personal cost.”


To this day, Varnell & Bourassa still can’t fly into the USA. Homeland Security won’t let them in because they declare themselves a family.


Immediately following the ceremony came the court challenges after Ontario refused to acknowledge the nuptials.


The first win came from the Ontario divisional court in 2002. The court said the law denying same-sex couples the right to marry was unconstitutional but the court did give the government 2 years to consider alternatives.


The government appealed the ruling but in June 2003, the Court of Appeal refused the delay & Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said he would not challenge it. Federal Attorney General Martin Cauchon went a step further & extend same-sex marriage across Canada.


More than 7,000 same-sex couples have married in Canada since, changing social norms along the way. Before Canadian law was changed, gay couples wanting to marry were often the target of vicious attacks.


Compared to the stress of the wedding, Bourassa & Varnell claim that renewing their vows is a lot less stressful.


My partner of 25 years became my Husband on our 25th anniversary of being a couple- October 9th, 2004, in Vancouver British Columbia, one of the most beautiful planet on the planet. Our marriage is not recognized in the USA.


We love Canada: Loonies, Catherine O’Hara, Kim Cattrall, Matthew Perry, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Scott Thompson, k.d.lang, Rick Moranis, Norma Shearer, Ryan Gossling, Victor Garber, Holly Cole, Leonard Cohen, Martin Short, Jim Carrey, Raymond Burr, Kurt Browning, David Cronenberg, John Candy, Crash Test Dummies, Yvonne DeCarlo, Colleen Dewhurst, Deanna Durbin, Vanouver, Brendan Frasier, Michael J. Fox, Glenn Ford, Glenn Gould, Robert Goulet, Phil Hartman, Norman Jewison, Peter Jennings, Montreal, Jack Kerouak, Margot Kidder, Gordon Lightfoot, Toronto, Quebec City, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Daniel Lanois, Anne Murray, Leslie Nielson, Michael Ontkean, Anna Paquin, Banff, Mary Pickford, Jason Priestly, Christopher Plummer, Keifer Sutherland, Paul Schaffer, Jennifer Tilly, Alex Trebek, my good close friend- Fay Wray… & Canada’s National Treasure- Celine Dion.