SPOTLIGHT: Open minds and open doors

> DSU Pride Collective promises easier accessibility to room and resources

Aaron Guillen
Staff Reporter

 

Cores is the perfect place to find
yourself, especially when it comes to
being comfortable with your sexuality.
Christen McDonald, Pride Representative,
hopes that students will open their hearts
and minds to people from all walks of
life, including those in the LGBTQ+
community.

McDonald, an international student,
realized she was bisexual during her
adolescent years while moving across the
globe.

“I was born in Jamaica, grew up in
Scotland, then moved back to Jamaica
before heading here to Canada,” she
shared with the Other Press.

“When I went back to Jamaica, I
found it to be more homophobic. As I
realized that I was bisexual, there was no
space to talk about it or find people that
identified like myself. Canada offered a
much more open space to talk. I started
attending Douglas and found the Pride
Collective. At the meetings, I began
opening up and soon became comfortable
with what I identified as after questioning
for a while.”

McDonald credited the Pride
Collective for helping her accept who she
truly was. Years ago, former leaders began
the collective because they saw that the
DSU needed a safe space on campus for
those who wanted to talk about queer

A house of

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor

 

fter BC Legislature being held in

imbo for seven weeks, it seems that
government will finally be proceeding.
But it’s not a government originally
decided by the May g election.

In late May, the BC NDP and BC
Green party formed an alliance, which
would outnumber the seats held by the
BC Liberal minority government. Despite
this, and demands from the public for
her resignation, Premier Christy Clark
would not step down as leader of the
party or concede to the BC NDP.

“They know the math doesn’t
work. They know this house
can’t function without a working
majority,” Clark said to CBC.

Yet Clark’s words would turn
around and spell uncertainty for her
government, as both opposing parties
and the public began to accuse her
of choosing to hold government
hostage rather than concede power.

“They are acting like belligerent
children as they’re going into that
time out,” Green Party leader Andrew
Weaver said to MacLeans.

Upon returning to BC Legislature,
the Liberals attempted to pass a ban
on corporate donations. Despite
it being a platform that both the
NDP and Green party campaigned
for, they defeated it 44-42.

topics. Today, trans individuals and the
rights they ask for—such as bathroom
and name changes—are at the forefront
of societal discussion. According to
McDonald, the Pride Collective at Douglas
aims to provide them with the resources
they need. However, while they are
working to cater to those in the LGBTQ+
community, the Collective is in dire need
of a facelift.

“The Pride Room is really outdated,
with posters and resources from the mid-
‘gos. A majority of items in the room
aren't used often and makes the room a
boring place to be,” said McDonald.

“When I first started going to the
room, I was nervous about going to the
front desk to get the code to open the
door. Making the space into a resource
room, a lounge space, and meeting area is
my goal. We will start to make the room
more accessible with an open door. Right
now, it’s not within the budget to install
an automatic door with a push button, so
we are keeping it open during DSU hours
starting in Fall 2017. We are planning to
move the furniture to one side of the room
so that [people who] aren't able-bodied,
with wheelchairs or crutches, can access
the room with ease.”

Though limitations might be physical
for some, others’ mindsets can be their
own limitation. When dealing with close-
minded people, McDonald begins by
asking what they believe.

“A lot of people are scared of

For more information, search for their
Facebook page, Douglas Pride Collective,
or stop by Christen’s office or the Pride
Collective in the DSU.

 

what they don’t know. Many of these
misconceptions come from fear,’ she said.
“Once I meet an individual who doesn't
see eye to eye with me, I try my best to
understand their upbringing and at the
end of the day, accept the fact that I might
not be able to change their minds. In
society, everyone is seen a certain way,
but are these preconceived notions real?
No. One of the goals is to humanize those
in the LGBTQ+ community. Though we
identify differently, we are all human.”

orange and green

> Lieutenant-governor appoints Horgan as new premier

Only days later, NDP leader John
Horgan put forth a motion of non-
confidence that, if passed, would result
in the existing governing party falling.
The vote took place on June 29, and
it passed 44-42. All of the NDP and
Green Party voted in favour, while the
Liberals voted against the motion. It
was the first passing non-confidence
vote in the history of BC Legislature.

With the passing of the motion, Clark

was required to meet with BC’s lieutenant-
governor Judith Guichon and inform her
of the results of the non-confidence vote.
Guichon would have two options—either
to dissolve government and force BC to
have another election, or to call on the
opposition party to form government.

Guichon didn’t take long to make
her decision, and called on the NDP to
form government. Guichon’s decision
marked the end of the Liberal’s 16
year governance of BC Legislature.

John Horgan has not yet
been sworn in as Premier, but
is now Premier-designate.

The NDP have not governed since
2001, the year only 2 members of their
party were elected after 10 years of
NDP government from 1991-2001.

Yet the upcoming NDP government
will not be able to pass legislature without
the support of the Green party, who
agreed to align with the NDP under the
condition that they were given official
party status (with three members, the
Green party doesn’t meet the current

 

quota of five members required to
form an official party), that corporate
donations in elections be prohibited, and
that electoral reform is passed through
legislature. As it stands, the NDP retains
41 seats in the legislature, and cannot
overcome the 43 seats held by the Liberals
without the Green’s three extra votes.
There is no set date on when the
new Legislature will re-convene, but it
will likely be in the next two to three
weeks. Before that, a new cabinet will
be sworn in, and Premier-designate
Horgan plans to start the NDP’s
governance as soon as possible.

image via wikimedia.org

McDonald encourages those who are
thinking of joining the collective to attend
one of their larger events in the future.
Whether students identify as LGBTQ+
or not, she says that events hosted by the
Pride Collective are for everyone.

Looking towards the future,
McDonald hopes to push for more
events such as Diversify Friday, which
taught students about intersectionality,
feminism, and gender in an engaging
workshop.

Photo of John Horgan via metronews.ca

Some of Horgan’s first actions as
Premier will be to start a commission that
will lead to a $15 minimum wage, speak on
behalf of the softwood lumber industry,
re-evaluate the province's approach
to the fentanyl crisis and the housing
crisis, and start a new review on Site-C.

“We can do that shortly after a cabinet
is sworn in, and get going on making sure
we have people in place to populate those
commitments particularly on electoral
reform. In terms of legislation, we're going
to table legislation to ban big money, and
it appears we'll have unanimous support,”
Horgan said to the Vancouver Sun.