I realize that I'm a little bit late on this piece of news, but I thought it was worthy of a bit of criticism. The basic outline of the story is, in May 2007, a lesbian couple in Vancouver are in a comedy club on Commercial Drive and end up being heckled by a comedian named Guy Earle.
The reason? Well, it gets a bit muddled at this point. Some said that the two women were being "distracting" and "making out" at the front of the club. Others, including patrons of the club and the women themselves, said that one of the women simply gave the other a peck on the cheek.
The result, however, hasn't been disputed by either side. The comedian began to hurl insults at the women, calling them "dykes" and "bitches", and said that "dykes ruin everything". Another comedian who was also there that night compared him to the Michael Richards, the comedian who went off on a group of black men who were heckling him.
One of the women stated that she's suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from that night; not only did Earle shout insults at her, he also walked up to her after the show, screamed at her, then grabbed her sunglasses off of her face and snapped them.
My opinion on this? Charge this asshole with hate speech. Not only is he a bastard for discriminating against gay people, he's an idiot for doing something like this on Commercial Drive. That's pretty much like going to Davie Street and calling two gay men "faggots" if they kiss at your show. Come on. (For those of you unfamiliar with Vancouver, Davie St. is the gay mecca of Vancouver, and Commercial Dr. is the same for lesbians.)
Earle not only called these women what I said above, but he said things that I don't even want to repeat here. You'll have to read the article to understand the extent of my rage towards this man. He said some really fucked-up things and I personally take umbrage to them. It really hurts me to know that things like this still happen; I realize this happened back in 2007, but it's only a difference of three years. I certainly never experienced discrimination like this when I lived in Vancouver, or even living in my hometown, and I only now have realized how truly lucky I was.
Of course, living here in my hometown, I've never been explicit about my sexuality. I've told people that I'm gay, and it's a fairly commonly-known fact around town, but I still don't go throwing it in people's faces like straight people seem wont to do.
But, that opens up a whole new avenue of discussion, doesn't it? Even if these two women were making out at the front of the club, what if it had been a heterosexual couple? They would've gotten a few good-natured laughs from the comedian and everything would've proceeded smoothly. Could you imagine Earle saying that "breeders ruin everything"? I doubt it highly.
I know that while Western society as a whole is beginning to open its collective mind to differences between people, it's really discouraging to read about this and news like it. If I were still in the closet, I'd probably want to stay there after reading something like this.
Anyway, that's my update for the day. Comments are always appreciated, and I apologize for not updating last night; I was far too tired to do anything.
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