4 5 a 4 i e E i E é & e is ' ed i 2A ER CN re ep eRe er Caan TL SEPM RAEN ae AUTSITNT eBay et Gay life explained Trevor, Stan and Svend THE GAY Games Iast month in Vancouver are supposed to have come off as a model of good clean fun, without any of the dire consequences predicted by the games’ op- ponents. Well, I'd say they did more than that. They have made me laugh. A delayed laugh, but all the richer for that. The laugh comes from two arti- cies in supplements published by Angels, the gay/lesbian newspa- per, coinciding with the games. One is by gay MP Svend Robinson. And it is vintage Robinson, whose stiff-necked PR about gayness, dripping with unc- tuous respectability, always sounds as if he’s speaking with, as my old mother used to say, a pole up his backside. | trust that inno- cent phrase wil! cause no erotic thoughts. Trevor Lautens GARDEN OF BIASES The other is by Stan Persky, Trotskyite campus radical of the 1960s, who in his academic career has diligently worked his way up from instructor at Malaspina Col- lege to instructor at Capilano Col- lege. He too is gay. And he is a col- league of mine at The Vancouver Sun, where, since May, he’s writ- ten a media column. And you can’t say old Stan isn’t barefaced. Three of his 20-odd columns have respectively pro- moted the Gay Games, lavishly praised (whether they like it or not) Sun writers who reported favorably on them, and castigated a freelance writer who didn’t have the politically correct attitude toward the suicide of AIDS ac- tivist and sufferer David Lewis. But I said we were — though you may not share my sense of humor, reader — to have fun, and touching on the career of Stan (Looks Like Hardy — Thinks Like Laurel) Persky has not been amusing. Hmmm? The fun is comparing Robin- son’s toga thetoric — a kind of jingoistic sexual patriotism — with Persky’s porno prose in two gay paper articles. They form a wonderful picture of the vast gulf between the rights homosexual leaders claim and just what those are right to. Interjection: until a year or two ago I couldn't care less what men chose to do with their wee-wees, except as gay practices led to AIDS. But I quickly found that even citing expert opinion and publicly available figures on the subject brought out the gay bully-boys. Ino more dislike all gay people than J like all heterosexual people. t merely despise their builies and heterophobes. But, you must be saying by now, are we having fun yet? No. Let’s just get right into juxtapos- ing Svend’s noble sentiments (in, appropriately, Roman type) under the heading Celebrating With Pride and Dignity with Stan’s sanitized (out of deference to News readers’ proper sensitivites) prose in an apparently fictional story called 1's What's Inside That Counts, in italic type. The supplement it appears in, by the way, is candidly named The Sodomite Invasion Review. But here it is, at last — first, Svend: “Pride, dignity, freedom... these are some of the words which come to mind in thinking about Celebration 90: Gay Games IIE and Cultural Festival *’ “The plot is pretty basic. Terry. a 21-year-old... doesn’t really want to get f----- in the a-- because (a) it hurts and makes him feel like he’s got to take a s-- “1 feel a tremendous sense of pride as a member of a community which has a history of breaking down barriers of intolerance, hatred and fear which too often confront us..."" ‘*. Terry — naked, coltish, all Jegs, smallish c---, feit up, fondl- ed, sucked, by both me and Greg (the latter a tremendously per- Suasive ¢--------- . by the way) is gradually and reluctantly... cajol- ed into being f----- in the a--..."" ‘«.. Pride in a community which must confront the denial of our loving relationships...’” ‘(.. To date, Greg’s resisted my efforts to entice him into a menage-a-trois, either with Mel, on the grounds of the humungous size of Mel's c---., . Most of all, in this past de- cade “of death and suffering from AIDS, compounded .countless times over by the homophobia and negligence of governments, | celebrate the extraordinary care, compassion and love that we have demonstrated as a community...” “,,.‘He’s hot,’ I report to Greg, who wears a satisfied s----eating grin on his pretty mug. ‘You want it, don’t you?’ I demand of Terry..."" ‘|. Finally, I celebrate the sense of freedom and celebration by al} of us who have come out of the closet...”” *.,, as Greg shoves his c--- up Terry that extra millimetre...°’ ‘«,.bonds of international friendship and understanding..." «|, Sust ask Stan,’ Greg pipes up. ‘Did I f---’m good or not?’...”” Well, I'll stop there, readers. Hope you aren’t upset. The fact is that unless you get a pretty plain taste of what goes on between the (mythical, presumably) Stan and Greg and Terry, you don’t really know what the gay culture is all about. And most people don’t have a clue. (Ask a gay friend to S/O ey Z2O2) tare HOW MANY G wh G CANADIANS ARE eee ‘S explain “‘rimming"*.) And maybe | shouldn't be amused by the contrast between the public, acceptance-seeking face of gayness and its private one. For all 1 know, readers, you will say: ‘‘To think we've got a marvellous literary talent like Stan Persky, right here in the North Shore’s li’! ole Capilano Coliege!”’ And cf Svend Robinson, MP, New Democratic Party justice crit- ic, and author of a private bill to lower the age of consent: *‘This was the noblest Roman of them all."* Trevor Lautens is a Vancouver Sun columnist. in CASEY & FINNEGAN appearing at: NORTH VANCOUVER CENTENNIAL THEATER Thursday, October 11 & Friday, October 12 MASSEY THEATRE, NEW WESTMINSTER Saturday, October 13 & Sunday, October 14 ON SALE NOW at all Ticketmaster Outlets Friday, September 14. 1990 - North Shore News ~ 83 THE CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF WEST VANCOUVER #223) EXTENSION OF SPRINKLING RESTRICTIONS Untii October 15, lawn sprinkling or other irriga- tian of gardens and lawns is prohibited except between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and then only as follows.: Even numbered premises on even calendar days Odd numbered premises on odd calendar days This is necessary due to low levels in storage reservoirs. B. Lambert, PEng Director of Operations 4 By FACTORY DISCOUNTS WIPE-OUT SALE trexta *500 to *1,000 on 1990 Tercels & Camry’s VANCOUVER’S #1 Customer Satisfaction Dealership “MOBODU’ Beats Our Prices!!! DOWNTOWN TOYOTA 1290 BURRARD 682-8881 (Near Davie) VanCity offers the advantage of on-site mortgage arrangements and approvals. Our mobile Mortgage Development Managers are as close as a phone call. Point is, buying a home these days means looking for every advantage you can find. Contact: Ashley Morgan Mortgage Development Manager 290-1245 And VanCity offers a lot of them: « 80% Conventional Mortgages - No Fees ¢ Bi-weekly Mortgage Payments ¢ Same Day Approval « Pre-Approved Mortgages © Open and Fixed Term © 20/20 Payment Option City af, you Van tong wath us An city