Toronto Football Players Say a Gay Teammate Would Present Challenges, But They Would Welcome One: VIDEO

Canada's Xtra caught up with Toronto Argonauts offensive lineman Joe Eppele and wide receiver Mike Bradwell at a practice last Friday ahead of their Canadian Football League playoff game, and spoke with the two players about homophobia in the sport..

Said Eppele: "Unfortunately I think it is still something that is a reality with teams and there are issues stemming from the stubborn jock mentality that some of the guys still hold on to, but I definitely think more people are becoming more open-minded....There are gay and lesbian athletes out there, they probably just don't feel comfortable at the moment to come out."

Added Bradwell, of having a gay teammate: "I can't lie and say it would be easy. But I think it would be accepted. I think we're growing as a society."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

'Gay-Centric' School Proposed in Toronto: VIDEO

Fan Wu, 20, a university student who said he experienced a kind of "covert bullying" in school because he could not speak about his sexuality, has proposed a 'gay-centric' high school in Toronto, and a public meeting (though closed to media) was held about it Wednesday, the CBC reports:

Irene Miller, president of the Toronto chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), says separating kids because of their sexual orientation won't help encourage acceptance. "What you're doing is saying: 'If we take away all the kids who are being bullied, then the bullying stops,'" Miller said. "What we should be doing is take away all the bullies and the bullying will stop. It's the wrong end of the stick."

Wu maintains this conceptual school is "not a segregation project" but would simply be another alternative school focusing on diversity and acceptance. "This is not an ostracism project," Wu said. "As with most alternative schools, every student will have a choice to apply to this school, regardless of their academic standing, regardless of their financial background, regardless of their sexuality in particular.

"So we would welcome allies, straight people, lesbian, gay, bi, trans, people of all sorts into this school. There is no ghettoization going on here."

Watch the CBC's report and interview with Wu, AFTER THE JUMP...

Together, Stories of LGBT Pride: VIDEO

Pride Toronto has teamed up with Google+ to share a series of short films by award-winning director Jeff Feuerzeig, with music performed by Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields that tell the stories of LGBT people in Toronto's community.

Watch the first three excellent pieces, AFTER THE JUMP...

Toronto Archbishop Fights 'Gay' School Bullying Mandate

On Friday I posted about an amendment to an anti-bullying bill likely to pass in Ontario, Canada that would require all schools, including Catholic ones, to accept the name "gay-straight alliance" for anti-homophobia clubs.

Not surprisingly, Catholic leaders are fighting it, the National Post reports:

Cardinal Collins said the Church was taken aback by Friday’s decision because it believed it was on the way to negotiating a compromise. He said he is puzzled as to “why a piece of provincial legislation is being used to micromanage the naming of student clubs” and “why Catholics are not free to design their own methods to fight bullying?”

Cardinal Collins said he would not speculate as to the government’s motives, and was unclear about the role teachers might play in steering a club, regardless of its name, in keeping the club’s agenda in line with Catholic teaching.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says homosexual behaviour is “intrinsically disordered” and “under no circumstance can it be approved.” However, the Catechism also teaches that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

Earlier Monday, Marino Gazzola, president of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association, struggled to express what the practical difference would be between a GSA or a “respecting difference” club, something his group has proposed.

“GSAs are externally developed and they don’t reflect the unique values our Catholic schools are based on,” he said.

But Education Minister Laurel Broten said it well in the Star article on Friday:

...proponents argue that allowing a principal, for example, to refuse to allow an anti-homophobia club to be called a “gay-straight alliance” is in itself a form of oppression that is inappropriate under the spirit of the bill. Broten has said gay students have been more prone to bullying, which is why they get specific mention in the bill.

“If we can’t name it, we can’t address it and we must address it,” she said.

Previously...
Ontario Poised to Pass Bill Mandating 'Gay-Straight Alliances' be Allowed in All Schools, Including Catholic Ones [tlrd]

Gay Wedding Video of the Day: Jason and Paul

Our reader Jason writes:

My husband and I had quite an original wedding as we got married on the stage of the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto.  This theatre looks like it's right out of a Midsummer Night's Dream, with leaves and lanterns hanging from the ceiling and tree trunk pillars.  We each walked down the aisle with our mother's to 'Somebody to Love' by Queen and then met up on the stage for the ceremony. Afterward, at our reception, we performed a Flash Mob with the wedding party and some guests.

Check it out and congrats, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Anglican Priests Reconcile 20 Years After 'Outing' Shook the Church

Terence Finlay and James Ferry are reconciling after a landmark 'outing' incident that shook the Anglican church two decades ago, the Toronto Star reports:

Twenty years ago, Finlay was Anglican Archbishop of the Diocese of Toronto. Ferry was a priest at St. Philip’s Church in Unionville.

Ferry is gay. In 1988, he’d met Ahmad, a refugee from Lebanon. “It was love at first sight,” Ferry has said. “I did not believe in love at first sight. But when it happens, well, it happens.”

The two men became involved in a committed relationship. This became known in the parish. When it became apparent that some in the community were aghast at what resided in their clergyman’s heart, Ferry went to see Archbishop Finlay.

That was a mistake, it turned out:

When Ferry informed Finlay of his circumstances, Finlay ordered him to end the relationship. Ferry refused. (The church accepted homosexual clergy, but only if they abstained from giving expression to that fact. In effect, if they lived a lie.)

Finlay then issued a letter to be read at all Anglican parishes, outing Ferry and “inhibiting” him from performing pastoral duties. Effectively, the priest was fired, becoming, he said, “an outcast . . . and a ‘labelled’ outcast.”

Finlay and Ferry are participating in a public service of reconciliation on Sunday, the paper adds, and Finlay says he has evolved:

“I’ve moved in different directions,” he told the Star. “And I have been very supportive of the gay and lesbian community, and also the whole question of gay marriage.”

Toronto priests reconcile 20 years after gay ‘outing’ [toronto star]