This thread will discuss how human rights can, and should, protect from discrimination based on sexual orientation
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Youth and Sexual Orientation
24. April. 2008.
- Duane Aucoin is a Teslin-Tlingit two-spirited man who has kindly volunteered to share his experiences. Here is what he has to say...
Masaiyati ax xonee.
Gastant’ ka Kushnootl’ yoo xat doowasaakw lingit x’einax.
Duane Aucoin yoo xat doowasaakw Dleit Kaa x’einax.
Lingit xat sitee.
Gooch nax xat sitee, Yanyeidi aya xat.
Dleit Kaa yadee ka Deisheetann Daxank aya xat.
Deileseen Kwaan aya xat.
Hello my friends.
Gastant’ and Kushnootl’ are my Tlingit names.
Duane Aucoin is my White Man name.
I am Tlingit.
I am Wolf Moiety and my clan is Yanyeidi.
I am a White Man Child and a Deisheetaan Grandchild.
I am of the Teslin People.
I am writing you a short blog post on my experience as a Two-Spirited Man growing up in the Yukon.
I always knew…subconsciously & instinctually that I was different than the other boys but did not know how or why. Even when I was 8 years old and asked my mom to make me Wonder Woman for Halloween it never dawned on me that I was “gay”. I just thought it was perfectly normal to want to be my favourite super hero…who cares if she was a girl?!
It wasn’t until I was 15 and in Grade 10 that I finally accepted who I was as a gay teenage boy. I met my first boyfriend in Drama Class…go figure, in 1984. We both were still in the closet as we both came from homophobic families. My Dad was very religious and his Dad was just very ignorant of differences.
The more we hung out the more we fell in love with each other without really knowing it. The first love is always the most confusing. We finally “woke up” to what was going on & admitted to ourselves & to each other that we were gay. We were so happy that we finally found someone to be with but we knew we had to hide our joy from others.
Back in 1984 it was still very dangerous to be “different”…especially to be gay. Even though we weren’t “out” everyone still knew. I guess we never hid it as well as we thought. The more we fell in love with each other the more difficult it became for us as the persecution began to grow from the haters around us.
It was mainly name calling…but it was constant! It first was just at school…but soon we began hearing “FAGGOT” yelled at us all over Whitehorse. We really couldn’t go anywhere without being verbally assaulted. Luckily we were never physically assaulted, but the words left even deeper wounds.
My boyfriend couldn’t take it & attempted suicide as an escape. Luckily he wasn’t successful. We finally both had no choice but to drop out of school just to maintain our safety. We both really had no other recourse as we couldn’t talk to our families as they were homophobic. And we didn’t feel safe talking to any of our teachers as we still felt “abnormal” & therefore should hide our true natures.
Luckily today I think it is a lot better as we have now Human Rights Legislation that protects against discrimination based upon “Sexual Orientation”. Though it is my understanding that this protection is not extended to people who are not adults.
That means that there are many teenagers & children out there who are still not protected against homophobic attacks. I think that this is the time that protection is most needed!
I am an adult now & I still need protection…but I am a fully grown & mature individual who can stand up for himself. Teenagers & children are in the process of growing into a mature individual & require more protection at this delicate stage in their development.
I urge everyone, especially the youth, to make their voices heard & demand that this legislation be extended to protect everyone at all times. Only then will we be able to begin to build a safer…more accepting community where we all belong.
Gunalcheesh ka igooiyaxwaan!
(thank you & take care)
What does the Yukon Human Rights Act say?
25. April. 2008.
- Lillian Nakamura Maguire
Your human rights are supposed to protect you against all forms of discrimination. It is illegal for someone to discriminate against you because of your race, sex, age, and many other things.
But what about your sexual orientation?
In the Yukon, if you are under the age of 19, you cannot make a complaint that you are being discriminated against because of your sexual orientation.
That means that if for example, you are under 19 years and if every day when you go to school people call you “gay”, “faggot”, and they spit on you, or push you around or harass you because you are gay, or think you are gay, you would not be protected because of the definition under the Yukon Human Rights Act. The definition of sexual orientation in the Act is: “sexual orientation means heterosexual, homosexual, or bi-sexual and refers only to consenting adults acting within the law.”
Do you think that this is fair?
Why or why not?
Do you think that the Yukon Human Rights Act should be changed so that a youth who is gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual would be protected from discrimination or harassment?
Why or why not?
Rights Now.
Do human rights protect from discrimination based on sexual orientation? Only if you're 18.
10. March. 2008.
- Lillina Nakamura Macguire
In another of our blog postings (above) we talked about bullying and harassment and protection under the Human Rights Act.
Let me tell you about a true story about a BC student who was verbally and physically assaulted, spit on, had his shirt set on fire, and even had his tent urinated on during a school camping trip.
Azmi Jubran was harassed for five years by other students at Handsworth Secondary School in Vancouver: they repeatedly made fun of him by calling him "homo", "faggot", and chanting "Azmi is gay". Jubran said he was not homosexual. His harassers used these words as insults and put-downs - they were "part of the high school vocabulary" and they used words like "gay" to describe something or someone they did not like.
Although the school did investigate and disciplined the harassers, the school was not able to stop the harassment. As a result of the harassment, Jubran found it difficult to learn and his marks suffered. At one point he even considered suicide.
Eventually he decided to take legal action, and in 2005 the BC Court of Appeals ruled that the school board failed to provide a learning environment free from harassment. This reversed the decision of the BC Supreme Court, which ruled that Jubran's rights had not been violated by this harassment because he was not gay.
If this same case happened in the Yukon, a student under the age of 19, would not be able to bring forward a complaint of harassment based on sexual orientation.
Unfortunately, homophobia does exist in our community. Perhaps the most visible - or should I say audible - evidence is in the use words like "gay," "faggot," or "queer" to describe something negative.
The Yukon Human Rights Commission believes that this current definition of sexual orientation discriminates on the basis of age. There is no where else in Canada that defines sexual orientation in this way.
For more info on homophobia, check out these videos produced by the Human Rights Commission - 1,2,3 (Windows Media Player) 1, 2, 3 (Quicktime).
Have something to say about this issue?
Rights Now.
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