thelastword1

The first edition of ONE VOICE is dedicated to Joseph Rose Jr., who had the idea of starting an Anglophone newsletter before he was ruthlessly murdered one late spring night last year. As the community is well aware, Joe wanted a newsletter titled THE OUTCASTS: we hope that he will agree with the banner we have chosen for this project.

Joseph Rose died from discrimination because of the original way he expressed his personality and sexuality. The gay community was quick to realize that he was murdered by people in the 'straight community' and his murder was an action against gays. What the gay community is slow to realize is the discrimination that takes place within its own community. 'Fems' and 'butches' are frowned upon by 'sags' (straight acting gays), average size males are frowned upon by 'size queens', and lesbians are not allowed into most gay-male bars unless it is women's night.

But even in our society, we have to ask ourselves where this discrimination starts. Being raised in a 'straight world', we are conditioned to 'grow up', to raise 3.2 children, to have a house, to own 2.1 cars per family and, if we detour from this, we are OUTCASTS in society.

Montrealers were shocked at events that took place over the last two years. First, the media jumpedon the history of Geatan, the airline steward from Québec, who was identified by doctors as 'Victim Number One' (And The Band Played On, by Randy Shiltz; Penguin Publications, 1987) and the first carrier of the virus throughout the United States and Canada. AIDS was labelled the 'gay disease' after that and AIDS became synonymous to being gay.

Second, the murder of Joseph Rose, Jr. brought the media to unite together and portray him as a 'victim', not a victim of prejudice, but a victim of AIDS that he was courageously living with.

And lastly, just recently, the death of fourteen women being singled out at the École Polytéchnique by Marc Lépine because they were women entering a man's world. The media tried to make Lépine look like a sexually frustrated male, who shared an apartment with another male one month before he went on his unforgiveable rampage throughout the school. By using this aspect of Lépine's personal life, the media insinuated that homosexuality could have been the reason for this crime and ignored the fact that his victims could just as well be fourteen blacks, fourteen gays, or even, fourtenn HIV+ people. They proved, once more, that discrimination can come from any parts of society, even the ones we least expect it from.

Each example above was a case of discrimination. If we all had followed these cases carefully, we would have noticed the discrimination from all parts involved. Especially now, since we are all trying to fight the AIDS battle, we must unite together and listen to everyone. Each of us has his/her story in life and before we make a statement about someone, may it be in words or in action, we must place ourselves in his/her shoes. Only then, we will have the right to say something, and then, maybe it will be the right thing.
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