Canine sex shocker

I was appalled to read last week’s advice column by Sasha in which she responds to a request for advice by a writer who desires to have sex with a dog [“Doing the dog,” June 30]. Rather than explaining to the writer, and readers of her column in general, that the practice of having sex with animals is tantamount to rape, she instead provides helpful advice to readers on how better to prepare themselves for this unlawful act. She even admits to being “disconcertingly” aroused by images of bestiality, as if to make the practice acceptable.

Bestiality is illegal, and at the very least Sasha mentions this (albeit in parentheses, as a mere sidebar). She states, however, that she can understand the desire to have sex with animals, summing it up as the desire for, “a partner who can’t say no.”

Rather than accepting this fact—that animals cannot issue consent—as a reason for desiring them, Sasha should have more responsibly acknowledged that this lack of consent is precisely why it is illegal to have sex with an animal!

The candor with which Sasha answered this question disturbs me. Would she provide similar support and assistance to other similar crimes? What if a writer had fantasies of fucking a comatose woman? Would Sasha similarly find a support network geared towards such fantasies, all the while understanding the desire to have “a partner who can’t say no?” What about pedophiles?

Animals are not sex toys. They are living, breathing creatures—creatures with no ability to consent to sexual intercourse, just as a comatose individual, a severely mentally retarded person or a child has no ability to consent to sex! I really find it despicable actually that this “sex reporter” would condone such behaviour, and I can only urge her and the Mirror to re-consider the statements made in this article.

I have forwarded my complaint on to the SPCA in Montreal as well. Crimes against animals should not be treated with this kind of levity.

» Christopher M.

Pride parade night questioned

I was shocked to learn that the biggest single event of the Divers/Cité gay pride festival—the pride parade—has been moved from its traditional final-day place on Sunday afternoon to a Monday-night slot to open this year’s festival.

The idea of converting the pride parade to a nighttime event is an excellent one—Providence, Rhode Island’s pride parade has been a nighttime happening for several years—but on a Monday night? What have the Divers/Cité organizers been smoking?

Monday, July 25, is a normal business day. Holding the parade on Monday night, instead of on either Friday night, July 29, or Saturday night, July 30, is, in my opinion, a massive snub to working people that will result in a dramatic reduction in turnout. Have the Divers/Cité committee members forgotten that most of us have jobs to go to on Tuesday morning? Or that there are many of us who work second or third shift on Monday night? School’s out for the summer, but we grown-ups who aren’t lucky enough to be on vacation during Divers/Cité week can’t play hooky from work. This is especially unfair to the thousands of visitors from all across North America who travel to Montreal expecting to enjoy a weekend parade. This has upset my vacation plans, and I know I’m not alone in this.

Moreover, by holding the pride parade on the first day of the Divers/Cité festival, rather than on its last day, all the other events scheduled during the festival week have been effectively rendered anti-climactic. Who’s going to stay in Montreal for La Nuit des Drags on Saturday night, July 30, if there’s no parade the following day? Contrary to what some members of the Divers/Cité organization may have been thinking, it’s the parade that’s the Big Kahuna, the one event of the festival that draws the biggest crowds (over 750,000 last year).

With Montreal a year away from hosting the first World OutGames, it is imperative that the 2006 parade be moved back to its traditional Sunday-afternoon slot on Aug. 6—particularly since the OutGames’ closing ceremonies will be on Saturday, Aug. 5.

» Skeeter Sanders, Burlington, Vermont

Montreal: magical

If H.G. had true balls, he wouldn’t write these personal comments of his to independent papers anonymously [“Montreal: deviant and lazy,” Letters, June 23]. If he feels isolated or alienated here, there are plenty of right-wing, white, Anglo-Saxon-dominated cities in this country for him to choose from. Most people who live here or visit love the fact that Montreal is multi-cultural, sexually deviant and rebellious. Every city has its homeless and prostitutes and underground—though I hear that Toronto is trying to push their lower-class out from their downtown core where they can wither away so the white élite can shop and ride their SUVs.

Immigrants bring a lot of wealth to this country, they help the economy, and they work their asses off. They add to our culture and bring a fountain of knowledge for us to explore artistically and in all kinds of other ways.

It sickens me to think that there are ignorant people like H.G. lurking in our city. This place is magical, exotic and beautiful. Open your eyes, H.G. Peace be with you and I hope your heart opens up to Montreal.

» Mel Roach

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