February 18, 1997

her Prints

Gay in Charlottetown: Two People Speak out

Lesbian in Prince Edward Island

Iam a lesbian. | live on P.E.I. | take alot of pride in both yet cannot do so simultaneously. I’ve lived on P.E.I. since I was a year old and am only now realizing the extent of closemindedness I’ve been brought up around. Fortu- nately I have not succumbed to the ignorance but that of others greatly affects my life. It gets very frustrating at times but eventually I will venture off to a big city like so many others where the anonymity will let me be open about my sexuality. Itis not only the attitudes of islanders that drive gays and lesbians off island though. Gay and lesbian life

sons for the island’s closedmindedness. Perhaps the most prevalent, in my case at least, is the obliviousness people have to homo- sexuality. They have no idea what goes on and how many there are of us around. There are no gay bars, establishments, or organizations, that would make the public aware that there is somewhat of a gay commu- nity. I’ve been to other cities in the Maritimes as well as Montreal and Toronto, all of which have bars, stores, clubs, groups, bookstores, etc. The bigger cities often have a sec-

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ys Uy ; —_——_ : (or lack thereof) can get very dreary at _ tion of town that is predominantly . Y y beucscape mi times. The sad part of the whole issue gay. This openness shows that there Yj A is that it doesn’t seem to be improving. is not a thing different about being y It’s been around six months since gay, nothing to keep hidden from

I came out to myself and my close friends(who are homosexual and het- erosexual). Coming out has been ex- tremely positive for me thus far. My friends are very accepting and support- ive which means the world to me. That is as far as I’ve gone though.

The next step would be to tell my

those leading a heterosexual life- style.

Sometimes I am lead to think that we are caught up in a vicious circle on P.E.J. People are very closedminded therefore making it hard for homosexuals to be open. On the other hand the ignorance of

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family. This many is where I heterosexuals run into is due to problems. them not be- My family ing exposed are from to homo- here and sexuals. many of Where will it them are end.

very igno- Re - rant. I’ve gardless of realized alot 1 the covering of this up and the seems to CUP GRAPHIC James Mejia, The Link —_ lack of les- come down bian lifel am

happy being whol am. Keep in mind

to religion. The island has a strong that notall islanders are homophobic.

religious background and it is evident

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when it comes to homosexuality. The Bible describes it as an abomination. Does the Bible not also teach us to love and acceptall? The hypocrisy sickens me. Because of these beliefs gays and lesbians are discriminated and hatred circulated. I have met so many won- derful people in the gay community, I don’t understand how they could be unaccepted because of their sexuality. Of course there are other rea-

I’ve met alot of great people who are gay friendly, it’s just too bad every- one couldn’t be comfortable. It cer- tainly would make life for us homo- sexuals. There really is nothing to be afraid of, we don’t bite. I once came across this quote on the net: “Hetero- sexuality is not normal, just com- mon.” Think About It.