The Diana Matheson MS Liberation Treatment Project

Inside Facebook's meltdown: Enveloped by crises, executives covered up problems and waged war against critics, a Times investigation found.

As the Georgia Straight says the NPA is falling apart. There are 4 candidates on the right, so it's now a 2-way race between Shauna Sylvester and K. Stewart. ...Shauna Marie Sylvester is way more skilled than he is and this article explains why. Please read it and share. Thanks in advance. See more

BREAKING My article in the National Observer on the Vancouver election. Let's make history. Please read, comment and share. Thank you.

Last night I attended the Rainbow Roundtable on our municipal election, a gathering for LGBTQ2+ residents in Vancouver. It was one of 9 events I attended yester...day but it was the one I couldn't forget. In the 1980s I worked in the HIV/AIDS community. Some of my dearest friends were gay men who had the courage to come out when it wasn't safe to do so. It's hard for people today to imagine what they went through. Sometimes they were vilified, sometimes they were shunned, but the thing I remember the most, is that they lived every day with the threat of violence. These men were leaders in our community. One of my friends, Jon Gates, helped to build the first LGBTQ2+ community centre (now Qmunity), was the Executive Director of the United Nations Association, co-founded the World AIDS Group and the BC Human Rights Coalition and worked on anti-poverty initiatives. Today many of those men are seniors. One of the hardest realities to accept is that many of the gay pioneers, the ACT UP activists, the men who would not accept being shut up in a closet and challenged our system by just being seen for who they were, are poor now. Many lost their jobs early in their careers and when families could not accept their sexual orientation or gender identity, they lost the support network. How many of our city builders are now isolated and alone, trying to find accommodation that will accept their much loved pet? How many are excluded from so much of what Vancouver has to offer because they just don't have the money to go out? How many don't feel comfortable going out, because they feel like their age is a barrier to participation? By focusing on gay men, I don't want to diminish the hardships, contributions and current situations of any other groups who also suffered (and continue to suffer) at the hands of systemic discrimination. I just want to pay tribute to a group of men, who were visionaries and a role model for me. If I am Mayor, I will never forget your role in this city and you will always have my support and gratitude for the community you have built for all of us. Rob McDowell, while you are younger than some of these men, I include you among this group and Brandon Yan, you are the next generation of this group. THANK YOU both for standing for public office.