Outgames: human rights conference
2011 OUTGAMES / From circumcision to homophobia in sports and more
Darren Fleet / Vancouver / Thursday, July 28, 2011
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Wearing only a black “I love my foreskin” T-shirt, Glen Callender pulled ecstatically on his foreskin-draped penis a few feet from the front row.

“I am gong to blow your mind, believe me,” he smiled. “I am about to undermine one of the great sexual myths of our time. The shock of what I am about to do may cause you to pass out.”

He then went on to demonstrate the washing of his penis in an imaginary shower. If you weren’t there, you really missed out.

Glen Callender's packed seminar, The Revolution Will Not Be Circumcised, was one of many sessions at the Outgames' human rights conference this week.
(Darren Fleet photo)
Callender’s adults-only Thursday morning workshop on the dangers of male circumcision (and the purportedly non-existent science behind it) was one of the many highlights of the Vancouver 2011 Outgames Human Rights conference. In addition to the visual enlightenment, attendees of his packed session were given a condensed rundown on the drawbacks of male circumcision that left the doubters convinced and the bashful a giddy shade of red (the pants never were put back on).

For the past three days, dozens of speakers and hundreds of delegates have assembled at the Sheraton Wall Centre in downtown Vancouver to celebrate and recognize the social struggles behind the idea of the Outgames. Speakers covered a wide range of issues, including youth sexuality, homophobia in schools, hate crimes, seniors' issues, discrimination in sport and the need for more professional and college athletes to come out.

“It’s really important for people in our community to come to these gatherings to get current on what’s happening in the community,” said Terry Syvenky, who came from Alberta for the week’s events.

“Coming to the Outgames is a way for people to reclaim their space on the field of play where maybe they weren’t made to feel welcome when they were younger.”

Event organizers say approximately 200 people have passed through the human rights conference since it opened on Tuesday.

“Attendance has been good,” says John Boychuk, chair of the Vancouver Outgames.

“We’ve got two and half days to go, and there is still a lot of great things going on out there. If people have the opportunity to come on out and play or support or spectate, please do because these people have come a long way,” he adds.





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Reader Comments


 
AND????
"Speakers covered a wide range of issues, including youth sexuality, homophobia in schools, hate crimes, seniors issues, discrimination in sport and the need for more professional and college athletes to come out." --- OK, so tell those of us who couldn't make it what was discussed. Isn't a newspaper supposed to do this? Half your column is about some dude's dick. Who cares?
Wayne, Vancouver BC
07/28/11 9:42 PM EST
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CAN-FAP FTW
Outgames is dealing with some of the most important issues of our times, so thank you for sharing some of that insight with us. Unlike the previous commenter, Wayne, I thought that you chose a good example to highlight the importance of the conference. Wayne might feel that issues like homophobia deserve more attention than infant circumcision - but I would argue that it is just as valid and important for people to learn about the harms of circumcision as it is to learn the harms of other forms of fear-based abuse. Thanks again for the excellent article, Mr. Fleet. I hope people will find it easier and easier to see why we should stop performing this unnecessary, painful and permanent genital cutting practice on our healthy children.
Joel, Vancouver BC
07/30/11 4:55 PM EST
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Male circumcision to prevent HIV
Do Xtra reporters even bother to read articles on their own website? Another article on Xtra.ca states that male circumcision works to prevent HIV in men. See http://www.xtra.ca/blog/national/post/2011/07/22/New-HIV-prevention-methods-a-daily-pill-and-male-circumcision.aspx The article states that the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS announced that a study in South Africa confirmed scaling-up adult male circumcision works to prevent HIV in men. During the study, free circumcision services were offered to heterosexual men over 15 years of age. Between 2007 and 2010, approximately 20,000 circumcisions were performed. Results showed a 55-percent reduction in HIV prevalence and a 76-percent reduction in HIV incidence in circumcised men.
Matt, Toronto Ontario
07/30/11 5:39 PM EST
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Selling sex for the Outgames
I would agree that there are important issues in our community. However having a "live" demonstration of someone washing their penis is not one of them. But then it appeaqrs that the GLISA/Van board has used sex to sell the event from one poster that shows a male on a massage table, to another one showing a woman's bare breasts. An it seems there was more hpye about the parties than any of the events. Entities of the Cdn govt. provided nearly $250,000 to GLISA/Van with perhaps 1,000 participants in the sports and conference that is $2,500 per attendee. I hope that the people and businesses of Canada got their monies worth with naked breasts and someone washing his penis. I wonder how many visitors came from the USA, since promotion here was non existent.
Franki, Chicago USA
08/01/11 11:11 PM EST
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This was a highlight?
ps; If this was a highlight of the conference for the writer, then the writer needs to get out more, or the rest of the conference was pretty boring, and truly a waste of the taxpayers money!
Frankie, Chicago USA
08/01/11 11:14 PM EST
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No More Outgames !!
My high school had better attended "activity weeks" than these so-called "North America" Outgames. How many of the 1,000 attendees at the "North America" Outgames reside in Metro Vancouver... 400? 500? How many came from outside Canada? 200? 250? Since North America extends from Alaska to Panama, and includes the 310 million population of the United States, what was the percentage of attendees from Canada? 80%?
No more Outgames, Vancouver Bc
08/02/11 2:57 AM EST
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comment trolls be damned
the rest of us see an inclusive and tolerant future. bravo to the Outgames for including the human rights conference!
barry william teske, vancouver bc
08/02/11 4:12 AM EST
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Yes, BUT...
Intactivism is all well and good - but what about those of us who made the decisions to circumcise our sons (GASP!!) based on ACTUAL MEDICAL ADVICE from our physicians, which was the result of documented family history of medical issues that can be directly reduced by male circumcision? I don't really like this whole "intactivism" movement, because it doesn't really seem to take into account the basic fact that every person's anatomy is DIFFERENT. And sometimes, circumcision IS actually a valid choice. (I asked my nephew, who HAD to be circ'd due to a serious medical problem at the age of 8, whether he would have preferred to have it done as a baby and thus bypass the problem - and he said one hundred percent absolutely positively YES.)
Person, Magrath Alberta
08/13/11 2:19 PM EST
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