Slap Upside The Head » New Brunswick http://www.slapupsidethehead.com Combatting bigotry the gayest way I know how Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:26:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Girls’ Hockey Team Wins Award Over Equality Button http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2009/09/girls-hockey-team-wins-award-over-equality-button/ http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2009/09/girls-hockey-team-wins-award-over-equality-button/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:00:09 +0000 Mark http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/?p=2855 Slap(tm) Shot.

The world of sports is notoriously homophobic, but one girls’ high school hockey team in New Brunswick has come up with a novel way to counter it. After experiencing negativity and discrimination first-hand over having two lesbian teammates, the Woodstock High School Lady Thunder hockey team distributed tons of rainbow buttons for supporters to wear at their games. Eventually, teammates, coaches, parents—and even rival teams—began wearing the buttons.

Sporting the unique buttons has now netted the team a human rights award from the provincial commission. Score!

]]> http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2009/09/girls-hockey-team-wins-award-over-equality-button/feed/ 0 New Brunswick Finally Recognizes Same-Sex Common Law Partners http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2008/12/new-brunswick-finally-recognizes-same-sex-common-law-partners/ http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2008/12/new-brunswick-finally-recognizes-same-sex-common-law-partners/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:00:58 +0000 Mark http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/?p=1431

Nearly a decade after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that same-sex common law partners must be given the same rights and priveleges as opposite-sex partners, New Brunswick has introduced a bill called the modernization of benefits and obligations act. If passed, the act will update more than 30 other acts and regulations to extend equal status to same-sex common law relationships.

While same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada for some time now, unmarried, same-sex, common-law partners are still, formally, on unequal ground compared to their heterosexual counterparts in New Brunswick.

Bizarrely enough, even though New Brunswick’s bill is the result of a 1999 Supreme Court ruling, the provincial Conservatives have not indicated that they will support it. Conservative leader David Alward said that the hundred-page document is “very large” and they need time to review it carefully before committing to a “yes” vote.

You take your time there, David. Stuff like this only comes around once a decade.

]]> http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2008/12/new-brunswick-finally-recognizes-same-sex-common-law-partners/feed/ 0 School District Yanks Gay Motivational Speaker http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2008/10/school-district-yanks-gay-motivational-speaker/ http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/2008/10/school-district-yanks-gay-motivational-speaker/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:00:54 +0000 Mark http://www.slapupsidethehead.com/?p=1263

Alex Sanchez, a celebrated gay author was uninvited from speaking at several New Brunswick schools after a handful of parents complained. Sanchez was supposed to speak about tolerance, as many gay youth find themselves isolated and struggling to find acceptance.

Keith Pierce, the District 10 superintendent who made the decision to uninvite Sanchez, said that “a few parents” had complained. Because, as you know, preventing kids from learning about tolerance is the surefire way to ensure everyone turns or stays heterosexual.

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