JOAN-E’S RAG – JOAN-E’S HALL OF FAME

Last Saturday, Joan-E was amongst the first group of inductees to the Queer Hall of Fame. She has a few ideas on who should be next!

Last Saturday at the first Vancouver Q-Ball, our GLBT community inducted the first recipients to the Queer Hall of Fame.

I was honoured to be chosen amongst the first group of inductees – but think others are more deserving than I and will be the first to nominate them for next year! My congratulations to Ted Northe, Mark Tewksbury, Janine Fuller and the Trudeau family on their much deserved nominations.

For this article, I thought I might take a moment to honour some of our straight allies, as I believe that no minority can find success without friends. These people, I feel, have a place in the gay community and deserve a place in any Hall of Fame I can think of.

1. Senator Edward Kennedy

The “Lion of the United State’s Senate,” Edward M. Kennedy spent nearly five legislative decades on the side of GLBT human rights. His spotless record of support goes virtually unblemished. He voted against the “Federal Marriage Amendment” and was one of only 14 Senators to vote against the “Defense of Marriage Act.” His hand was on virtually every pro-GLBT motion and act, including the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” and the “Matthew Shepard Act.” The Human Rights Campaign, who gives a grade each year to legislators, gave Sen. Kennedy a grade of 100% for his forty-seven years in office. At his recent Roman Catholic funeral, GLBT rights was mentioned twice.

2. Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s passion, love and compassionate support for the fight against AIDS was unprecedented and still goes unsurpassed. In the mid 1980s, when AIDS was still referred to as the “Gay Cancer,” and when AIDS patients and gay men everywhere were being treated like lepers, there was Elizabeth. Since 1985’s “Commitment to Life” dinner, Elizabeth Taylor has dedicated her life’s work to AIDS. Her appeals to Congress, her work with The Foundation for AIDS Research and the “The Elizabeth Taylor Foundation” have changed the lives of millions. Perhaps though, her greatest contribution to our community is that she was the ONE person of fame or power who stood up for us when almost every other back was turned.

3. Judy Shepard

Since October 12 1998, the day her son Matthew was murdered in Laramie Wyoming, the queer community has gained one of its most powerful voices in Judy Shepard. For a decade now, Mrs. Shepard, through her foundation, her attempts to pass legislation and her thousands of appearances, has changed the face of the fight for equality. Though personally vilified by the “RIGHT,” Mrs. Shepard’s efforts continue to this day. It is believed that the Matthew Shepard act will eventually be signed by President Obama. For tens of thousands of GLBT kids and their elders this will be a great day. It could be said that Judy Shepard is the patron saint of PFLAG moms.

4. Easter Armas.

Twenty years ago Easter Armas saw a friend of hers, who had once been a lawyer, picking food from a dumpster. He had lost his job because he had AIDS. Easter was horrified. In November of 1989, Easter began a series of “Easter Sundays,” a dinner held once a month to feed our friends who needed help the most. Easter’s belief that “no one living with AIDS should live with hunger” caused her to form the Vancouver Meals Society. She and her friends began delivering meals to those suffering the effects of HIV/AIDS. They started with five clients and were the only such organization in Canada. Today, that organization is called “A Loving Spoonful” and serves over 250 people in the Vancouver area alone. Easter Armas was there, on the right day doing the right thing and many consider her an angel on earth.

5. Leslie Diamond

In the early 1990′s, a lady volunteered at the Vancouver Friends for Life Society. She used to come in and volunteer to lick stamps and stuff envelopes or to answer the phones. At the time, everyone just new her as Leslie, a very nice straight Jewish lady who donated her time. In 1994, Friends for Life had an opportunity to move into Weeks house, paying the city of Vancouver a rent of only $1 a year. It all seemed perfect, until it was realized that the start-up costs would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The money was not coming in and many in the community felt that the move was not going to happen and that Friends for Life would stop in its tracks. Then Leslie offered to help. A decade later Leslie Diamond and her family have given the better portion of a million dollars to help one of our most beloved charities. She has remained involved, fostered a strong relationship between the gay and Jewish communities and believed in the dream of Friends for Life. 15 years later Friends for Life is still located in Leslie’s namesake, The Diamond Centre for Living.

Next week? the Hall of Shame!!!