Same-sex proposal a bad deal

What a delight to read in last week's Mirror that "Same-sex couples legislation is currently in the works" [The Front, April 30]. It was especially gratifying to hear that the homosexual community is now so influential we can decide what we want, present a "projet de loi" to the Parti Québécois, and they will pass it into law! Really!

Then I read the fine print.

1. Unlike British Columbia queers, Quebec queers will not have the same rights as heterosexuals since our de facto relationships will not be recognized and injustices will be perpetrated (after 20 years, R dumps Q and Q has nothing to show for two decades of life partnership).

2. Unlike heterosexual couples, our legal status will be "confidential" (like income tax?) because the Quebec Charter of Rights apparently doesn't protect us. Instead of asking for enforcement of the law, we are asking the government to design a new "closet for two."

3. Instead of demanding simple equality and full citizenship as in B.C., we are asking for an education program--for the government to pay somebody to inform the population that we are equal citizens even if, in law, we are not.

4. Most tragically, we are putting the rights of homosexual parents, and the right to parenting, on the back burner because of a public opinion poll. What an original way to define human rights.

--Michael Hendricks

In defence of Ciné-Express

Being both a longtime Mirror reader and, in recent years, a manager/waiter at Café Ciné-Express, I was disturbed to see Ciné-Express listed among the major local price-gougers during the ice storm ["Worst ice storm gouger," Best of Montreal, April 30]. One wonders on what basis the Mirror established and corroborated the chief gougers in town before spreading slanderous misinformation to its readers.

I worked at Ciné-Express throughout much of the ice storm and witnessed first-hand all the mayhem that resulted when ours was the only local business with heat, power and running water. Accusing Ciné-Express of jacking up prices during this period is simply a lie. With hundreds of people pouring into the café for respite from the cold and darkness, there may have been the odd disgruntled client, and surely tempers flared at times as people jostled in long lines. I consider that Ciné-Express provided a service to the community, bending over backwards to accommodate the hungry throngs. For those same people to turn around and make false accusations is a shameful display of ingratitude.

Ciné-Express is a fine and honourable establishment where customers get a great bang for their buck every day. I am saddened that the Mirror would take such a cheap potshot at anyone.

--Christopher Gore
Manager, Café Ciné-Express

(Editor's note: The city's "Worst ice storm gougers" were chosen through our Best of Montreal reader's poll; furthermore, Ciné-Express was given space to respond.)

Groove narrow-minded?

"Eric," the owner of Groove Society, says he's not a racist ["Groove defends!", 3am Eternal, April 30]. But his comment, "We don't want 500 black people in the club," sounds pretty racist to me. What's wrong with having 500 black people in his club? Why is it okay to have 500 white people there? I thought I had left that narrow-mindedness behind in the United States.

--Qassim Murph

To each his own licentiousness

Anne McDonald ["To hell with Satan," (e)Mail, April 23] seems angry that the Mirror published "such a fucked-up article" on the Electric Hellfire Club, was disgusted at the article's description of Christians making the sign of the cross, and even accused the Mirror of publishing "crap" and "stupid articles" on her time.

First off, Satan was a Christian Roman fabrication to make pagans feel guilty about their lifestyle. The Devil was an overlay on many varied pagan male gods (including Pan), and was meant to convert pagans to a more church-and-state run society. It's the same tactic which gave us Easter (Eostre, goddess of fertility), Christmas (from the pagan Yule), and many other supposedly Christian holidays.

Perhaps Anne McDonald should study the history of her own religion, the brutal campaigns and fishy practices of the conversions, before criticizing the views of others.

If she has such a problem with what is printed in this free newspaper, perhaps she can just not pick it up and leave the rest of us to our licentiousness, whether it be Satanic or just Nashville Pussy, because in bitching about it, she's wasting my time.

--Jonathan Sprung