Small City Pride: Peterborough, ON

Why have I been absent from my blog for a month, you ask? Well, I have moved to CANADA!

Yep, I've only been here for two weeks and already it feels like home. Take a look:

That's right, I've got myself a little Canadian family already. (When I say Canadian, I mean international. Some of the people in that photograph are from places like South Africa, Australia, Trinidad, Norway, The Netherlands... I could go on.) 

Alas, I am only here for one year, but I can say that this crazy shit has already happened:

I am forever embarrassing myself to make people laugh, don't judge.

But why am I telling you all this, you ask?

Well, I also have myself a little GAY Canadian family forming too!

This weekend it was Peterborough Pride day in Ontario, so I thought I'd give you the low down.

Although its probably the smallest pride I've ever been to (the English prides in Manchester, London, Birmingham and Nottingham that I've been to are always on the large side), there was a great sense of community and, uh... pride.

My friends and I ended up in the parade by accident, but it ended up being the highlight of the day.

Although we have absolutely no affiliation with Peterborough Youth Services, we thought that marching amongst their people was most appropriate - I'm actually classed as an adult, but as a student I feel that 'youth' applies to me too.

So yeah, we partied down the streets and ended up in a field with a few gay stalls and a beer tent. Canadian alcohol regulations are pretty weird though, so we had to stay in the tent to drink. (This would never happen in England - pride = drinking in the streets).

For me, that was a downfall, but I still got to spend some time with some awesome people, including my main man, Dale, who I soberly danced with for the entire duration of the day.

Was it the best pride I've ever been to? No. But would I go again? For sure.

...as long as I have these people with me:

Do you have any small town pride experiences? What about tales of city prides? Tell me about them below!

VOTE NO ON PROP 8!

The votes are almost in! The election ends on November 4th! (God forbid anyone who votes for John McCain and Sarah Palin!)

For those of you who don't know, proposition 8 is the law that, if approved, will deny the right of same sex marriage in the state of California.


I'm hoping that all of those reading this (if you live in California, of course) are voting 'no' on this preposterous proposition, and if not, then why?! Seriously. I have a few ideas why you may be voting for prop 8, but I also have some ideas why your reasons are utter bullsh*t.

1) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay.
What?! Are you stupid?! This is basically the same as saying 'Hanging with tall people will make you tall' or 'Working with white people will make you white.'

2) Straight marriage would be less meaningful if gay people could marry too.
Hmm yeah, and straight people such as Britney Spears who get married for 55 hours just for fun don't take the sanctity out of straight marriage.

3) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children.
Wait a sec, didn't we already over-populate the Earth and fill up orphanages to the brim?

4) Gay parents will raise gay children, obviously.
And straight parents only raise straight children...

5) Religion does not support gay marriage.
And everyone in the world has the same religion, who's values are imposed on the entire continent of Northern America.

6) Children can't succeed without a male and female role model in the home.
So how come we don't forbid single parents from raising children?


I'm sure you see where I'm getting at. I could go on, as there are many reasons why I oppose Proposition 8.

So if you're not already, I encourage you to vote NO ON PROP 8. Not allowing gay marriage is making a hole in the American way of life: everyone is equal.