Activist Peter Bochove Gets No Face Time
Tue, 15 Mar 2005
From:
Peter Bochove
I seem to have caused the committee a fair amount of grief. I was told I would have the possibility of speaking today if I registered with the clerk of the committee. I replied that my time is valuable and I don't appear anywhere on a possibility.
[Gay Toronto City Councillor] Kyle Rae was added to the speakers list and he is scheduled between 8:30 to 10:30 for a short presentation. I also got a call from [Vancouver member of Parliament and committee vice chair] Libby Davies last night. That will be it for representation from Toronto's gay community. Having said that, the politicians in Ottawa now know, from the Justice Minister right down to Ms. Davies, that you cannot cut the gay community out of the loop when dealing with these laws.
I am to believe that all of this was accidental. That genuine efforts were made to have the gay community well represented. That's horseshit of course. This sub-committee is focused on solicitation and sex trade workers. They can, however, deal with bawdy house laws as they are related. They would rather not, I think.
I don't believe you can separate the issues. If the bawdy house laws are not dealt with prostitution will be possible, but only outdoors. I don't really see the sense in that approach. I think that the sub-committee is afraid the gay community will cloud the waters although Libby tells me that this is not so. They are like the fags who tell me we shouldn't be dealing with the laws governing the sex trade. They are wrong too. The whole section of the criminal code dealing with all this stuff is wrong. Not a little wrong, horribly wrong and it all has to go.
In any event, I am not going to attack the committee anymore for two reasons. The first is that this is the only group of politicians willing to go near these laws and they should be encouraged to try to do what their gutless counterparts will not do. The second, this is a sub-committee of Parliament. I don't think that any of their recommendations are really going anywhere. The stage has also been set for a howl of protest if, by some bizarre set of circumstances, solicitation is dealt with and indecent acts are not.
We will be doing a written submission to the sub-committee and I have not ruled out going to Ottawa. I will keep you posted.