Well, 2014 started off with a bang! Last Friday's Gay Gala will be followed with this weekend's Lahti Pride. And today I found out that one of those great things I expected to happen this year, happened. I got an e-mail from the secretary general of Seta today telling me I was one of the chosen ones for Seta's international Affairs committee. We have our first meeting of the year next Wednesday in Helsinki. So yay! Thanks for trusting me.
To go back to my last post, I realize that it might have sounded a little like I expected to be nominated and to win, which was not what I meant at all. It was more in regards to the TV and movie categories and the fact that Finnish TV doesn't have other shows or characters than the gay couple on Salatut Elämät, and that from the 4 nominated in the movie category, 2 of them were by LGBT people and about LGBT issues. I hadn't seen any of them, but I don't think the 2 Peter Franzen led movies were LGBT? I might be wrong though, I rarely watch Finnish TV or movies so I don't really know much about them.
There are plenty of LGBT people working in TV and movies and other arts related industries in Finland, and I felt like they should be celebrated instead of nominating all those straight made shows/movies. But, if we don't know about them, or their projects, it's difficult to nominate them. And there are plenty of locally important projects and people working in LGBT advocacy, but they are not as seen or heard as much as for example Tahdon 2013 campaign, which has succeeded really well in getting into people's hearts and heads and homes. Last year was clearly Tahdon 2013 campaigns, there's no doubt about it.
As an introvert I'm really out of my comfort zone in going to events by myself. I need someone to go with me and if these events weren't important places to be seen and to network in the LGBT community, and if I didn't know that there are going to be friendly faces there, I probably would have stayed at home last Friday and I wouldn't be going to Lahti Pride by myself! And the city of Lahti is totally foreign to me so this is doubly scary! I was gonna drive, but if the snow storm is gonna be bad on Saturday, I might just take the bus, even if it's super expensive. But this is FIRST. EVER. Lahti Pride and it's organized by a friend of mine, so it's important to participate. Hopefully I'll see you there!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Qx Gay Gaala 2014: Otherness and us vs. them
For the first time ever, a gay gala was held in Finland to celebrate last year's top queer happenings, people and allies in Finland. I'm not going to lie, in the back of my mind I was hoping to get a nomination for the things I'm doing in Forssa. Had I been nominated, I would have gone, no doubt. Since I wasn't, I didn't make any plans, until 2 weeks ago when I got a personal invitation for me +one to attend. I was shocked. I was ecstatic. And I was proud. A lot of the celebrity lgbt-people I know from Finland weren't, so this was an honor.
I spent the night with Seta folks and we had fun. I spoke with some of them about the gala, the nominees, the winners and overall experience. I spoke with Seta chairperson, J-P and watched him talk with a lot of different people during the night. He's well-spoken, knowledgable, very gracious, poltically correct and really good with people (and his good looks don't hurt). Truly a wonderful spokesperson for Seta and the LGBT community in Finland. I aspire to be more like him with my pc'ness.
Now don't get me wrong, I really like Krista Kosonen. I think she's funny and she's obviously gorgeous, but I wish they had had somebody from the community to host the gala. Overall, there was too much straightness being celebrated. Since there really isn't a queer TV or movie industry in Finland, I don't think those categories need to be present at this time, or they should only include tv shows and movies with an LGBT representation or which are made by LGBT people. I think Krista Siegfried was nominated in almost every category except gay of the year, or so it seemed. And she has done a lot for the gay visibility in Finland and in the world as a straight ally kissing girls on stage, but still, there are more deserving gay people out there doing things that aren't necessarily as visible, but make a difference nonetheless.
As a night celebrating the gay community, there was way too much otherness and words such as "weird" and "different" and "normal" being thrown around. Can't we all just be people, unique in our own way, without bringing the straight vs. gay, us vs. them into the conversation? The one night where we can just be us, be fabulous and celebrate it, had to turn political as well. We have pride parades for political statements, we have Seta advocating for our rights, we have Tahdon 2013 citizen's initiative for marriage equality, do we need to bring pope and religion and Päivi Räsänen and laws into the discussion? There was no need for comparisons, and no need for the straight folks to emphasize their straightness. We should have enough celesbians and gays and bi's and trans* people in Finland to occupy this event. Even the most aware and open straight allies cannot really grasp the concept of being lgbt and that was painfully obvious with some of them yesterday.
I think Krista K. over-empasized her straightness and saying that she tried being bi was in a way an insult to the bisexuals. They get a lot of hate and questions about their sexuality and hear how they are just confused and media does a lot of bi-erasure as well, so having someone basically confirm that you can choose your sexuality can do a lot of harm. Acceptance of bisexuality as a valid sexual orientation has a long way to go still and this was not helping the cause.
And then there were the few occasions where the drag queens gave speeches that was subpar. Cristal Snow singled out a drag queen who had told her back in the day that she'd never make it in the business and look at her now…No need to be mean, just thank everyone, celebrate your win and move on, or if you have to say something, do it privately.
It's ok to be you and I like you, but I'm not like you. That was the feeling I left with and that's why I don't think the evening was 100% a success.
I spent the night with Seta folks and we had fun. I spoke with some of them about the gala, the nominees, the winners and overall experience. I spoke with Seta chairperson, J-P and watched him talk with a lot of different people during the night. He's well-spoken, knowledgable, very gracious, poltically correct and really good with people (and his good looks don't hurt). Truly a wonderful spokesperson for Seta and the LGBT community in Finland. I aspire to be more like him with my pc'ness.
Now don't get me wrong, I really like Krista Kosonen. I think she's funny and she's obviously gorgeous, but I wish they had had somebody from the community to host the gala. Overall, there was too much straightness being celebrated. Since there really isn't a queer TV or movie industry in Finland, I don't think those categories need to be present at this time, or they should only include tv shows and movies with an LGBT representation or which are made by LGBT people. I think Krista Siegfried was nominated in almost every category except gay of the year, or so it seemed. And she has done a lot for the gay visibility in Finland and in the world as a straight ally kissing girls on stage, but still, there are more deserving gay people out there doing things that aren't necessarily as visible, but make a difference nonetheless.
As a night celebrating the gay community, there was way too much otherness and words such as "weird" and "different" and "normal" being thrown around. Can't we all just be people, unique in our own way, without bringing the straight vs. gay, us vs. them into the conversation? The one night where we can just be us, be fabulous and celebrate it, had to turn political as well. We have pride parades for political statements, we have Seta advocating for our rights, we have Tahdon 2013 citizen's initiative for marriage equality, do we need to bring pope and religion and Päivi Räsänen and laws into the discussion? There was no need for comparisons, and no need for the straight folks to emphasize their straightness. We should have enough celesbians and gays and bi's and trans* people in Finland to occupy this event. Even the most aware and open straight allies cannot really grasp the concept of being lgbt and that was painfully obvious with some of them yesterday.
I think Krista K. over-empasized her straightness and saying that she tried being bi was in a way an insult to the bisexuals. They get a lot of hate and questions about their sexuality and hear how they are just confused and media does a lot of bi-erasure as well, so having someone basically confirm that you can choose your sexuality can do a lot of harm. Acceptance of bisexuality as a valid sexual orientation has a long way to go still and this was not helping the cause.
And then there were the few occasions where the drag queens gave speeches that was subpar. Cristal Snow singled out a drag queen who had told her back in the day that she'd never make it in the business and look at her now…No need to be mean, just thank everyone, celebrate your win and move on, or if you have to say something, do it privately.
It's ok to be you and I like you, but I'm not like you. That was the feeling I left with and that's why I don't think the evening was 100% a success.
Monday, January 13, 2014
It's been 84 years
You know, as a single entity, last year was probably the best of my life so far. And it includes not getting the things I really wanted, not being voted for positions I really wanted, remaining single and not winning the lottery, but still an amazing year and I'm pretty sure this new one is going to top it.
In my last post I talked about putting myself out there for the board member position at Seta. As you can see from my lack of "yeah, I got it"-posts, I wasn't chosen. I was one vote short of a re-vote for the alternate position and 4 short from a direct place in the board. After that I nominated myself for a board member position at Pirkanmaan Seta and was turned down again! But, the weekend at the annual general meeting for Seta was truly amazing and I was able to network with people and made some great connections. I'm sure that many of them and the ideas we talked about during and after will materialize somehow. And the best part is, I now know all the board members so I can complain directly to them when I see something Seta needs to address.
Being the only lesbian in the village can be rough sometimes. It's so energizing when you can bounce your ideas off from someone and that's what that weekend gave me. Being a humans right advocate can be really stressful and tiring sometimes, but being able to share your experiences and getting ideas from others who might be going through the same thing is great. It was like a one giant peer support group and in between we made some decisions about the direction where Seta is taking its human rights advocacy for the next few years.
What's best is the recognition I got from my peers for the job I've done and am doing in Forssa right now. I've talked about feedback before and there really isn't anything better as far as validation goes than when your application to something important is answered with "YES! I was wondering if you'd apply for this". Having people believe in you, especially when the environment surrounding you isn't really showing it in so many words is what makes this worth it. Having new people coming in for Gay Cafe is great too. Building this community isn't gonna happen overnight and it takes a lot of patience which I don't always have, but I believe in what I'm doing so as long as people keep showing up for Gay Cafe and Forssa Pride, I'll keep doing it.
Speaking of Forssa Pride, we have a date for Forssa Pride 4! March 14th, 2014! It'll be in partnership with Qruiser, which is sending us those naughty stickers again and gave us gold memberships to raffle. Come alone or bring friends, it should be fun! I'm also one of the people updating this blog, so Forssa Pride is really going places!
Gay Cafe is participating in Lahti Pride! I'm so excited about this! I know some of the organizers and I'm sure it's going to be fabulous! Gay Cafe is doing the parade as well as after party. I really wanted to see the movie and hear the panel discussions on Friday as well, but financial situations are such that it's only going to be Saturday for us.
I have a really exciting project coming up, or it was tentatively proposed to me. If it's going to happen, watch out! Can't say anything yet, because nothing's for certain, but I'm really excited about it and I hope I'll be able to participate!
Come say hi if you're at Lahti Pride!
In my last post I talked about putting myself out there for the board member position at Seta. As you can see from my lack of "yeah, I got it"-posts, I wasn't chosen. I was one vote short of a re-vote for the alternate position and 4 short from a direct place in the board. After that I nominated myself for a board member position at Pirkanmaan Seta and was turned down again! But, the weekend at the annual general meeting for Seta was truly amazing and I was able to network with people and made some great connections. I'm sure that many of them and the ideas we talked about during and after will materialize somehow. And the best part is, I now know all the board members so I can complain directly to them when I see something Seta needs to address.
Being the only lesbian in the village can be rough sometimes. It's so energizing when you can bounce your ideas off from someone and that's what that weekend gave me. Being a humans right advocate can be really stressful and tiring sometimes, but being able to share your experiences and getting ideas from others who might be going through the same thing is great. It was like a one giant peer support group and in between we made some decisions about the direction where Seta is taking its human rights advocacy for the next few years.
What's best is the recognition I got from my peers for the job I've done and am doing in Forssa right now. I've talked about feedback before and there really isn't anything better as far as validation goes than when your application to something important is answered with "YES! I was wondering if you'd apply for this". Having people believe in you, especially when the environment surrounding you isn't really showing it in so many words is what makes this worth it. Having new people coming in for Gay Cafe is great too. Building this community isn't gonna happen overnight and it takes a lot of patience which I don't always have, but I believe in what I'm doing so as long as people keep showing up for Gay Cafe and Forssa Pride, I'll keep doing it.
Speaking of Forssa Pride, we have a date for Forssa Pride 4! March 14th, 2014! It'll be in partnership with Qruiser, which is sending us those naughty stickers again and gave us gold memberships to raffle. Come alone or bring friends, it should be fun! I'm also one of the people updating this blog, so Forssa Pride is really going places!
Gay Cafe is participating in Lahti Pride! I'm so excited about this! I know some of the organizers and I'm sure it's going to be fabulous! Gay Cafe is doing the parade as well as after party. I really wanted to see the movie and hear the panel discussions on Friday as well, but financial situations are such that it's only going to be Saturday for us.
I have a really exciting project coming up, or it was tentatively proposed to me. If it's going to happen, watch out! Can't say anything yet, because nothing's for certain, but I'm really excited about it and I hope I'll be able to participate!
Come say hi if you're at Lahti Pride!
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