CUMPLETELY QUEER

A totally cute alternative to the gaystream!

On this 25th Anniversary of Capital(ist) Pride it is time we act out against the assimilationist agenda of "Ottawa's most colourful festival"! Cumpletely Queer aims to create an accessible alternative to Ottawa's Pride Week, while building coalitions amongst queers, radicals, and radical queers. In so doing, Cumpletely Queer hopes to revive the radical roots of Pride.

Join us as we re...ject gentrification, corporate sponsors, apartheid, assimilation and celebrate gender-bendin, sex positivity, queer histories, and much more!

Note to Allies: Straight-identified allies are welcome to join us, but please recognize that "Pride" is a queer space. Furthermore you should expect to be perceived as queer at these events.

***

Tentative Schedule of Events:

Saturday August 21st:
QUEERS IN RADICAL STRUGGLES: Panel Discussion
Organized by No One Is Illegal Ottawa
Ottawa Public Library Auditorium
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151333401546904&index=1

Friday August 27th:
CUMPLETLEY TRASHED: Queer Dance Party
SAW Gallery
Doors 9PM
PWYC// $7 Suggested Donation

Saturday August 28th:
CUMPLETELY INFORMATIONAL: Day of Workshops

TELL ME HOW YOU WANT TO FUCK: Learn how to ask for what you want in a fun and safe environment
@ 3PM

HIV CRIMINALIZATION
@ 5PM

University of Ottawa Campus
UCU 301
3PM- 7PM
PWYC
With Snacks!

Saturday August 28th:
DYKE MARCH
Elgin and Lisgar @12 PM
Followed by performance and lunch in Minto Park (2PM-4PM)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116770895041453&ref=nf

Sunday August 29th:
CUMPLETELY POLITICALl: Queers Against Apartheid Contingent in Capital(ist) Pride
Departing from Wellington St.
1PM-3PM
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149489425061959&ref=ts

**If you would like to help organize, have other ideas to bring to the table, or have an event organized anytime from August 20-29th that you wanna incorporate, give us a shout at queer.faction@gmail.com or just write on the wall**

CBC News - Ottawa - Ottawa barbershop to serve all after complaint

CBC News - Ottawa - Ottawa barbershop to serve all after complaint

Imperial Barber Shop announced Friday evening that it will offer its services to everyone at its Glebe location after an Ottawa woman complained she was refused a haircut there.

Co-owner Nancee Hunter said in a release that the barbershop on Bank Street has received an amendment to its lease that her business partner said forbid the shop from cutting women's hair. It will now offer services to all customers at the location as it has been doing at all its other Ottawa locations.

Hunter says the shop "regrets the circumstances leading to CBC's report."

Last month, Jayda Kelsall said she was riding her bike along Bank Street when a sign promising a cheap haircut caught her eye.

She said she went inside the Imperial Barber Shop and was told to go somewhere else.

"I was pretty shocked," she told CBC News. "I have really short hair. I have a mohawk. I was just looking for the sides to be shaved a little bit and trimmed up, and they flat out said no."

Imperial co-owner Gilles Lemenoise said his staff turned women away all the time.

Pointing to the hair salon above his barbershop, he said Thursday that to avoid competition his landlord bans him from cutting women's hair.

But the landlord, Minto Group, said Imperial misinterpreted the agreement.

"However, exactly it's written in the lease I don't know," said Greg Rogers, executive vice-president. "But the spirit of the agreement is that he deliver men's-style haircuts."

It doesn't matter whether a man or woman gets the cut, but it has to be a men's style, Rogers said.

Ottawa human rights lawyer Nigel McCready said it is a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code to deny someone service based on gender, whether or not the landlord has a contract with a business owner.

"The rights that are enshrined there are important enough that you shouldn't be able to make a private agreement that you're going to disregard someone's human rights," said McCready.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/07/15/ottawa-imperial-hair.html#ixzz0txm0QF4S

HAIRFIGHT! Free Haircuts to Fight Gender Oppression

FREE HAIRCUTS, FIGHT GENDER OPPRESSION
Show some solidarity for your family and
CUM GET YOUR HAIR DID! : D


Recently a friend and active (not to mention, loved) member of our queer and radical community was denied service at a barbershop because of hir biological sex. You may have heard that Jayda tried to get hir haircut- not a complicated hair cut, a simple, sophisticated although traditionally considered men’s haircut- no great task for a barbershop that only does men’s haircuts.

“WOAH! And she was denied because she had boobs!?”

No, Jayda was not asking for a beard trim on a beard glued on with spirit gum- sie wanted a very simple haircut- the kind of haircut I as a male-bodied person have gotten from the same establishment in under ten minutes.

But for Imperial Barbershop on 275 Slater Street, Ottawa, that was too long. Heavens to BETSY- why, our friend’s very BEING in their fine, traditional establishment offended their intentions! From their website:

“For generations fathers and sons have visited neighbourhood barbershops not only forthe distinctively male haircuts and shaves, but also for the casual atmosphere in which they were able to relax and discuss the day's sports events and political topics. Many of these cultural icons have disappeared and have been replaced by trendy salons catering primarily to women.”

Those pesky women, always butting their heads in to ask what I want with my roast when I’m TRYING to talk about sports and politics! Am I right, guys?

I think that’s enough forced sarcasm.

In response to Imperial Barbershop’s discrimination, the TENTH OF JULY, a Saturday, Queer Faction intends to host a cut-in where our friend was cut-out because of hir biology. Show up to Imperial and ask for a men’s hair cut if you’re female-bodied, show up in drag (doesn’t have to be full drag) for a haircut if you’re male and SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY!


What’s with charging female bodied people more for the same haircut, anyways? Every woman with simple hair knows a fag with a complicated cut getting in for a fraction of what she pays for her trim every month or two. Forget this gender disparity!

WE’LL DO IT FOR FREE IF THEY WON’T DO IT FOR WHAT IT’S ACTUALLY WORTH.
Two ‘X’ chromosomes do not a sixty dollar haircut make, when your hair is a couple inches long!

We will be offering FREE HAIRCUTS outside of Imperial Barbershop (at the colloquially ‘anti-imperialism’ cutters) on the curb. EVEN IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GO INSIDE, OR COME IN DRAG- CUM GET YOUR HAIR DID! YEEEAH!

Check out the Facebook event here!

The Lady Gaga Debate…Can we just fuck to her songs and be done with arguing about her?

Originally posed on Fierce and Fabulous on May 20, 2010

The Lady Gaga Debate

DISCLAIMER: So we thought that we’d lighten up this site with some light reading/humour, i’d love to continue this pointless debate with anyone who wants to challenge the points i make here….

by: justin timberdick

So yeah, its obvious…Lady Gaga is clearly not an anarchist, and not queer positive, well she’s not rad. queer positive at least. She’s a fucking celebrity who makes millions and millions of dollars, she’s an assimilationist asshole just like every other celebrity, but even still i have a hard time even calling her assimilationist at all…im tempted to say that she’s the exact opposite but i know better.

The question that i think is important to ask is whether or not she fucks with/challenges the gender binary, societal norms, and what it means to be obscene/perverse. Whether or not she does these things intentionally or not doesn’t really matter. Its also interesting how much she has been coming up in conversation/debates within the anarchist community. In my experience the only folks that i’ve gotten into debates about her with is cis-gendered, straight, male, anarchists. Thats also something thats really interesting (but not surprising at all) to me. Most queer/trans identified anarchists i know love her! All the cissy straight anarcho boys seem pretty upset, furious and just generally disgruntled over the fact that queers could like her. Ya know.. usually when i start pissing off straight cis boy anarchists i know i’ve been doing something right…. i mean really the fact that she’s getting this sort of  repulsed response from anarchists is hilarious! Lady Gaga pisses off cissy anarchist straight boys like she pisses off Fred Phelps and any conservative, just for different reasons. Ya sure she’s a sell out and has marketed herself to make millions, but seriously guys im sure you never listen to any artist that has sold out….right? Only crust and D.I.Y folk punk….mmm hmm sure.

There’s also another question that comes into play now that we’re talking about marketing yerself for money. I feel like having a job is the equivalent to this, you create a resume, you go to the interview and try to market yerself to a potential employer. Then you hope to get the job and make some cash by selling a service, sure its on a smaller scale, and ya there are some differences, but in the end its all the same. The way im feeling more and more of the time is that lady gaga is more queer positive, and is fucking with gender norms way more than most cis straight boys i know. Whether or not she’s a rich snob isn’t relevant to me, what is is that id still probably feel more comfortable sitting in a room with 10 Lady Gaga’s than 10 insurrectionary rhetoric spewing macho cissy straight anarchist boys. Maybe thats a problem?

TD Bank sends letter to Pride Toronto

FUCK corporate sponsors!

 

From: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1398780607937#!/group.php?gid=352762041138

Flag Wars [film screening and discussion]

Cum join Queer fAction for a screening of the documentary Flag Wars and a discussion about gentrification afterwards!

Thursday March 11th 4-6PM
Pride Centre [UCU 215-C]
University of Ottawa



Check out the website at: http://www.pbs.org/pov/flagwars/

Ottawa Israeli Apartheid Week 2010

Students Against Israeli Apartheid Carleton and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights uOttawa are very excited and proud to announce the confirmed speakers for Ottawa's Israeli Apartheid Week 2010:

Week Overview:

Monday (Carleton): Student-to-Student Solidarity in the Fight Against Apartheid
Featuring: Nada Elia, Haya Zaidan, Andrew Stachiw, Yafa Jarrar
Azrieli Theatre 301
7 pm

Tuesday (Carleton): Queer-Friendly, Multicultural, Green: Debunking Israel's Myths
Featuring: Natalie Kouri-Towe, Saron Ghebressellassie and Ilaria Giglioli
Mackenzie Engineering Building 3235
7 pm

Mercredi (Université d'Ottawa): La lutte pour l'autodetermination en Palestine
Sabrien Amrov et Denis Lemelin
Pavillon Colonel By B012
7:30 pm

Wednesday (Carleton): Cinema Politica presents Films Against Apartheid.
Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
Carleton University, Tory Building 360
7 pm

Thursday (University of Ottawa): Fighting Racism, Fighting Apartheid
Featuring Naeem Jeenah, Gabriel Ash, and Nahla Abdo.
University of Ottawa, Fauteux Hall 147
7:30 pm

Friday (Carleton): Indigenous Sovereignty from Turtle Island to Palestine
Featuring: Dr. Jamal Zahalka, and Dr. Paula Sherman
Carleton University, Fenn Lounge, Residence Commons Building
7pm

To see a detailed schedule with bios Click Here

Sponsored by:
Agitate! Queer People of Colour
Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians
Books 2 Prisoners
Canadian Arab Federation
Canadian Friends of Sabeel
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Carleton University Aboriginal Service Centre
Carleton University Womyn's Centre
Common Cause Ottawa
Faculty for Palestine-Carleton
Human Rights Program of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton University
Canada Palestine Support Network-Ottawa
Collectif du chat noir
EXILE Infoshop
Independent Jewish Voices (Canada)
Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa
No One Is Illegal-Ottawa
Not In Our Name: Jews Opposing Zionism - Ottawa
NOWAR-PAIX
Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Carleton
Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Ottawa/Groupe de recherche
d'intérêt public de l'Ontario-Ottawa
Queer fAction
Socialist Project
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-Ottawa
Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Carleton
Under Pressure//Sous Pression Coalition Against Poverty

http://ottawa.apartheidweek.org/