Many of us are aware of a very warped perception that exists out there in the straight community. I first encountered it several years ago in a line scrawled on the wall in a public restroom: “AIDS kills fags dead” (a chilling adaptation of the slogan “RAID kills bugs dead”). It’s also a common theme in the obscene, late night voicemail messages left to us by drunks who want to go on a rant and who figure gay people to be an acceptable scapegoat. Of course I now know that this sentiment stems from members of the religious right, who tout HIV/AIDS a “gay disease” which God put on the earth to wipe out homosexuals. Hmmm…bathroom stalls and drunken calls…such credible company the religious right keeps..
At the risk of pissing people off on both sides of the argument, I’m going to plough into it head-on. I’m not an expert on the topic of HIV/AIDS by any means, but even I can see gaping holes in the arguments by those religious extremists, and their self-serving interpretation of the bible. For that reason I remain light on the details, and concentrate on contradicting what I’ve seen to be the “usual arguments”.
The kicker for those who like to wallow in such ignorance is this. A quick internet search revealed to me that there are 1,415 infectious diseases currently known to man. If HIV and AIDS are gay diseases, that means that the other 1,413 (we’ll be generous and count HIV/AIDS as 2) were “put on this earth by god” to kill THEM.
Of course it is ridiculous to look at it as us-and-them. A gay person is susceptible to all of the same diseases as a straight person, and vice versa, because diseases discriminate by SPECIES - more rarely by gender within a species, simply because of the physical and chemical differences. As much as they hate to admit it, gay people are just not biologically distinct enough from their heterosexual counterparts to really make a difference in susceptibility to HIV.
So if they can’t find moral high ground through immunity to HIV/AIDS, then they have to find fault in circumstance. This is the argument that AIDS is the result of the corrupt “gay lifestyle”, where their definition of our lifestyle usually includes the term “promiscuity”. ALL human beings (not just gay people) are designed to enjoy having sex – it is a basic physical need that cannot be ignored, even with the help of a bible and a trusty flog.
Yes, it’s no secret that the bible thumpers hold a dim view on any kind of sex – even if they can’t help doing it, they sure as heck aren’t allowed to enjoy it because God says so! Nevermind that the bible was written at a time when STDs weren’t well understood, so when Mr. Apostle’s genitals started to itch and welt after bedding the skanky town prostitute, he probably thought God was trying to tell him something: hey doofus, avoid skanky prostitutes, not sex is evil!! Damnit, he went with sex is evil.
Bacteria and viruses are nasty, selfish little opportunists that misuse their hosts often with little regard for the damage that they cause – their survival depends on it. They can and will find any possible way to exploit our vulnerabilities, be it an untrained immune system or a more general flaw in the design of our species. If, according to bible thumpers, sex is evil and we’re supposed to be good, then the need for sex (and the enjoyment thereof) is a major flaw in the design of a human being.
HIV/AIDS is indeed transmitted through sexual contact (among other means), and bible thumpers love to rub our faces in this fact because it supports their assertion that sex is evil – and even better, that promiscuous homosexual sex is evil. But AIDS is virtually a non-issue for lesbians, so it must only mean promiscuous homosexual MALE sex is evil. It’s all so confusing, so to save the day, here is kicker #2: most other diseases, many very deadly, are spread by particles expelled by the carrier and inhaled or ingested by the next victim. Believing that sex is evil because it spreads disease also implies that breathing must be evil too…and eating…and drinking…and hugging, kissing, scratching, flossing, bleeding, laughing, sneezing, coughing, urinating, defecating - you get the picture. Any interaction between the outside of the body and the inside of the body is a chance for disease to slip in and out. But I don’t know of any life forms yet that are completely self-sustaining, able to survive without input and output from their environment and fellow beings. If spreading disease is a sign of evil, you might as well blame the human race for being alive!
When unable to contort their minds to invent divine reasoning, the only thing left to do for bible thumpers (and their less mystical redneck counterparts) in their quest to prove themselves more virtuous than homosexuals, is point out what they perceive to be the case: that HIV/AIDS is more prevalent in the gay community than in the straight community. This may be true in a purely North America-centric view, but statistics worldwide show that more heterosexuals are contracting HIV/AIDS than homosexuals. This is of course due in part to the prominent African epidemic, which I’ve disgustingly seen used by racists as an opportunity to put in their two cents about how evil black people are. Even more disgustingly, the same breed of bible thumper is over in Africa discouraging condom use and leaving the people to act out superstitions that make the disease spread faster (sex with a virgin as a cure for HIV).
In fact, one might argue that a climate of religious oppression is the common factor between Africa and the gay community – where the necessary education, openness, and communication needed to prevent the disease from spreading are hampered by unreasonable biblical expectations. How’s that for a right-back-at-you?
Now I can’t say that people who contract HIV/AIDS are completely innocent in the matter. The reality is we all have to take measures to protect ourselves and others from the dangers we face in life. Still, HIV/AIDS is a harsh consequence for sex, and even more tragic in rape cases where sex is uninvited. Hate the disease, don’t hate the victim – they suffer enough as it is.
HIV/AIDS is a HUMAN disease, and any person who cheers on something that kills their own species is a deplorable traitor, no better than an accessory to murder.
September 21st is the date of the AIDS Walk for Life in both Calgary and Edmonton, and a chance to help raise funds to provide support programs for those living with HIV/AIDS, and programs to prevent others from contracting it.

The Busiest Dead Month Ever
I have to say, this press cycle was a douzie for us. It’s not that anything was particularly different about this month, just that Steve and I have been feeling a bit out of steam. I thought maybe we were on the verge of catching yet another press-time cold and that’s why we were feeling drained. But by how sluggish responses have been from the people across the board that we contact each month around this time, it seems that we’re not alone. Even the mainstream news commented – Calgarians in general are working overly hard to make ends meet, and starting to feel burned out.
Early in August I had a surge of productive energy - no doubt thanks to the fun and relaxing weekend we had at the Western Canadian Pride Campout. I felt unstoppable, easily knocking tasks off my to-do list. But now, burned out is pretty much the feeling. In the close to 5 years that we’ve been running the magazine, August has historically been stagnant with very little happening in the GLBT community - it had been a month where we had a break, whether we wanted it or not. It sure didn’t seem that way this year. Economy wise, it was still down in the gutter for just about every business we talked to, and in our case the work didn’t slow down to match. Of course, the work I’m talking about is what has made this September edition nice and full, which we’re happy about of course. It was the lurch, stretching our efforts beyond our energy, that was the arduous part.
But most depressing was not seeing as many of the faces that we’re used to, as we were out photographing this month. It may be that so many people were away on holiday, or they didn’t bother going out because they too were missing their friends… or they were just too plain lazy to get off the couch. We can’t blame anyone, as we too kept a fairly low profile when we had a choice in the matter. It’s all a vicious cycle of apathy, but it’s time to start lifting ourselves out of this summer funk and get back to the usual routine.

At the Campout
Last month was probably the most snappy wrap up to our press cycle that we’ve ever done. It can sometimes take me up to a week to update the GayCalgary website with the event information from the new magazine, but this time I did it within the same day of the online edition going live.
The rush, of course, was The Western Canadian Pride Campout. In order to properly enjoy ourselves, we made sure there was no pressing work waiting for us at home that might nag at the back of our minds. So no sooner did we finish that work, we zipped together our supplies for the weekend and left early the next morning.
As I mentioned last month, this was our first time attending the event - in previous years, our friend Don has taken photos on our behalf while we were in press, or at home sick as dogs. This year Don helped with transportation, much like he did during ARGRA, and had fun introducing us to the many quirks and traditions of the campout.
The surprise I hinted at last month turned out to be that Leon had borrowed a small RV for us to stay in comfortably. He of course had to give us advance warning that we did not need to bring a tent, which tipped us off. Nevertheless, it was VERY much appreciated!
There was a lot to do while at the Campout – day activities like laughing yoga, breakfast and dinner get-togethers, fun competitions and nighttime dances. It was refreshing to have such a relaxed schedule with these happenings, where Leon would zip around camp to gauge how ready people were, and then the “town crier” would announce when times were confirmed.
I had resolved this year that I would let loose and enter the mud wrestling competition that I had seen in the photos from previous years. But with how cold the weather was, I chickened out completely. Instead I enjoyed myself taking pictures of other people getting dirty – including Leon who was accosted and dunked in the mud pit.
Another ongoing source of entertainment for us were our next door neighbours, a clique from the Edmonton bears group that called themselves “The Heathers” – we would chuckle to ourselves every time one of the burly men would put on a queeny voice and call each other by the name. I later found out that it was a movie reference, but I already got the point.
Though I’m somewhat used to roughing it from past holidays in Mexico, I have to say this weekend I learned Steve is definitely not. I may be a wimp at every other thing on the face of the planet, but this time I had him beat. The showers were the decisive factor in this assessment. When I told him that I’ve seen much much worse, he simply said “If we ever go to Mexico, we’re staying in a hotel.” He wasn’t alone in his aversion however – hello, we are talking gay men here! After showering, I made my best effort to withstand the cold water in the large inflatable swimming pool, only to find out many of the campers ended up here instead of braving the facilities. I was later assured that there was a filtration system in place for the pools. Thank god.
When it was time to pack up and head home, I have to say we were a little sad. Time had flown by much too fast.

August 2008
Last month in summary:
• Steve celebrated his birthday, and our 7th anniversary on the Wednesday after we got back from the campout. We did our usual trick of buying flowers from the same store, while the shop owners pretended to be oblivious. This year I took it upon myself to plan the evening for him, so that he could go with the flow for once. We had a quiet dinner, and afterward went to see Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 3D, which was an amazing experience! For us, finding the time even to go out to a movie is a treat.
• Village People performed at the Deerfoot Inn Casino, and we had the opportunity to meet them backstage. They were in a rush, but managed to squeeze us in for a photo. It’s not every day you get to meet gay icons in person.
• The B-Girls, a well known Toronto drag trio, brought their performance to Calgary as part of the Fringe Festival. Steve bumped into them again later in the month at the Edmonton Fringe Festival.
• Bowling for Beswick was a hit on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The funds that were raised went to benefit the SHARP Foundation.
• The Texas Lounge hosted “Karaoke in your PJs” and raised $1675 for the Children’s Wish Foundation.
• The Girlsgroove White Party was hosted in the Artists of the World building – an absolutely stunning 3-level venue that they filled quite well!
• Steve attended a handful of shows at the Edmonton Fringe, including “2 Queens & A Joker”, “Our Roots are Showing”, and “Coffee Dad, Chicken Mom, and the Fabulous Buddha Boy” – three productions by Guys in Disguise. It was fabulous to see Twiggy, Justine Tyme and Devon Mills together for “Our Roots are Showing”. He also quite enjoyed “Meat Farce”, which he hasn’t stopped talking about since he got back from Edmonton.
• Fairytales Film Festival held a special advance screening of “Another Gay Sequel” at the Plaza Theatre. It was cheesy, raunchy, and even a little gory – the crowd loved it, and our faces hurt from laughing so much. Funny enough, the merman also starred in one of the pornos we reviewed this month.
• The Calgary Eagle held their 2nd Annual Great Chili Cook-off in support of the SHARP Foundation. 7 contestants put their best recipes forward for the judges, and then shared them with crowds of hungry bar patrons. An authentic autographed hockey jersey from Sydney Crosby was auctioned off to the highest bidder. The final tally on funds raised was announced to be the stunning amount of $3400.
• AFQOL held their 5th Annual Donnie Peters Memorial Cut-a-thon on Labour Day Monday, to raise funds for the Positive Living Lunch Program at AIDS Calgary. Despite the day being mostly overcast, organizers say the turnout was fantastic, and the funds raised this year shattered previous records. We’ll find out how much next month.

GayCalgary Online
In between our mad running around to cover events, we also found time to do more with the website.
We managed to sort, categorize, and publish two months worth of photographs (April 2008 and May 2008), which brought photos for close to 50 events online - most notable are the Calgary and Edmonton Coronation week events.
After the Men for Men BBS was taken offline, the GayCalgary discussion forums were created using Webboard, pricey third party software which we continued to use over the years. Though it’s gone through a number of upgrades, we felt that it had finally reached the end of the line, so it was time to retire Webboard in favor of our own custom made forums that are now live on the website. Part of this upgrade included the migration of old messages, and culling inactive users. It was like going back in time, sorting through messages dated all the way back to 2000. I even found a post I made when I was first coming out, looking for friends on campus.
The cool part with the new forum system is that comments are not just limited to the discussion area. Chat topics are integrated with magazine articles, directory listings, photographs, and opinion polls! Other new interactive features allow you to rate items as 1 to 5 stars, or easily E-mail them to a friend. Though it’s our occupation to push information out to the community, we definitely want to encourage the community to start talking back!
Turning Five
This November will be a major milestone for us – it will mark the 5 year anniversary of us publishing GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine (even though GayCalgary has been around for over 16 years). I’m saving up all the things that I want to say for that publisher’s column, so in the meantime consider this fair notice of the upcoming anniversary edition!
Until next month!
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in our magazine. Visit the chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may publish or respond to it in the magazine!