One of the two new senators announced by Stephen Harper on Dec 20 told Xtra in a 2008 interview he thinks being gay is a choice.

Rev Don Meredith, of the GTA Faith Alliance, and Larry Smith, a former CFL commissioner, will fill two vacancies in the Senate, giving the Conservatives an outright majority in the unelected body.

^{(Jenna Wakani)}

Back in early 2008, Rev Meredith spoke to Xtra during his by-election run for the Toronto-Centre seat vacated by long-time Liberal MP Bill Graham. 

To a question about his personal position on same-sex marriage, the Conservative candidate replied, "It's the right of individuals to choose their orientation," and when asked if he thinks being gay is a choice he answered, "Individuals have chosen."

He also answered questions on the age of consent for anal sex, funding AIDS vaccine research and was asked if he thought homosexuality is a sin. Rev Meredith ducks the sin question, though he concedes, "We do the same physiological things — we need to eat, we need to sleep, we need food, we need shelter, we need good healthcare — that's the crucial thing."

Read the whole interview here.

Rev Meredith lost the by-election with only 12.5 percent of the vote.

AIDS Action Now released a video tonight, on the eve of World AIDS Day, calling for the federal government to recommit to the fight against AIDS and hepatitis C in Canada. In the new video, the group condemns the Harper government for "refusing to address this national healthcare crisis."

 

 

 

 

  

UPDATE 7:30 PM ET: We've posted the new video. 

Tonight AIDS Action Now! is hosting a pre-World AIDS Day get-together at Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto to launch its World AIDS Day advocacy video calling for an end to the federal government's denial of the right to health for Canadians living with and affected by HIV and hepatitis C.

Xtra.ca will be the first to post the video later tonight, so keep an eye on this space.

Tonight's launch will be hosted by the comedic yin/yang duo Graham and Diane (Lex Vaughn).

 

Xtra.ca had a chance recently to talk with Graham and Diane about tonight's show and why they've decided to take a break from comedy.

 

"She's just getting a pap smear."

Graham and Diane talk on their recent shows in Toronto and Montreal and why they're taking a break from comedy:






Diane discusses health issues and being a vegetarian:






Graham and Diane on fellow World AIDS eve performer Fay Slift:






Diane explains why it's important to have a substantive message:






Graham isn't on Twitter yet, but reveals he's been "twatting" for years:






Has Graham seen the AIDS Action Now video yet? He seems to think so:

 

Queer Ontario is calling on the Harper government to reverse its recently enacted anti-sex-work provision.

Last week, the Conservatives quietly announced that operating a bawdyhouse will now be considered a "serious offence."

In a statement released today, Queer Ontario says the new provision puts sex workers' lives at risk:

Indeed, this new regulation highlights the government’s misunderstanding of the nature of sex work, which is based largely on the Conservative Party’s staunch moralism regarding sex and sexuality. Not only does the Conservative government fail to recognize the legitimacy of the consensual, self-determined work of sex professionals — not to be confused with the exploitative practices of human trafficking, a true breach of fundamental human rights! — It also flies in the face of growing evidence suggesting that centralized workplaces like bawdy houses are much more beneficial to sex workers than the street or private residences most professionals are forced to seek out as a result of these puritanical laws. That is: bawdy houses, when properly operated, have been proven to provide sex workers with clean, safe, and accessible work environments that make sex work less dangerous for professionals and their clients.

By criminalizing bawdy houses and the people who operate them, the government is only serving to endanger the bodies and lives of our nation’s sex workers, effectively working against a protection of their rights. Rights which should be granted and protected unconditionally, given the fact that the government has no legitimate reason to regulate what consenting adults choose to do with their own bodies in private.

The queer activist group calls on the government to move towards the decriminalization of sex work. 

Last week, NDP MP Libby Davies told Xtra that it's "outrageous" that the Conservatives changed the bawdyhouse law while Parliament is on summer break. 

"If their intent is to put a tighter grip around bawdyhouses, then that will affect sex workers, and it will affect their safety and their rights," Davies told Xtra. "We should be very concerned about what they're up to here." 

Read more:

• Conservatives find back door for anti-sex work provision

 

There was word from Vienna today that a group of about 50 activists staged a die-in and shut down the Canadian booth in the exhibition hall at the International AIDS Conference yesterday.

The protest came in response to the Harper government's ongoing refusal to support safe injection sites and other harm reduction measures adopted by the Vienna Declaration. Harper's delegates refused to sign the declaration on Monday.

"Given that some of the recommendations outlined in the Vienna Declaration are inconsistent with Canada's National Anti-Drug Strategy and current federal drug policy, Canada will not support the document," Charlene Wiles, of the Public Health Agency of Canada, wrote in an email, according to the CBC.

Chanting, "The war on drugs is a war on us! Support harm reduction now," the activists wrapped the Canadian booth in tape and covered it in signs and copies of the Vienna Declaration. 

"Canada has missed an important opportunity to show leadership in the struggle against HIV and AIDS," Canadian harm reduction activist Zoe Dodd said in a press release. "There is overwhelming evidence that harm reduction strategies are effective in combatting HIV transmission. Canadian criminalization of drug use is fanning the flames of the AIDS epidemic."

Xtra's correspondent at the conference, Phillip Banks, says a gay activist from Toronto was expelled from the conference for destroying the Canadian booth's banners.

(Photo by Daniel Grace)