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Pride centre gives a home to people of all orientations
By Roszan Holmen - Saanich News
SAANICH NEWS
Published: September 24, 2009 2:00 PM
Updated: September 24, 2009 2:32 PM
Whenever a man makes a belligerent comment about her surgery, Jennifer Tennant relishes in giving him more than he asked for.
A no-holds-barred account of her sex change always leaves him squirming, she laughs.
It’s the kind of confidence she wants to share with others.
You have to be willing to give up your friends, your family and your job, Tennant said. Otherwise, your option is suicide, a route
an estimated 50 per cent of transgendered people take.
Tennant can relate.
“I was going to gas myself in my truck,” she recounted with the ease of someone who’s old the story many times before.
“I set up all the stuff, and I’m sitting in the truck with it running and the hose in the cabin – it’s a horrible
smell, yuck! – but I heard this voice in the back of my head say, ‘You know, this is what you wanted all your life, why not give
yourself a chance?’”
That was before her surgery, back in 2003, when Tennant, who’d grown up as a man, realized it was time to be honest with herself and the
world. While she lost her wife of 23 years, the once introverted man who “couldn’t speak more than three words in a row”
turned into a woman with a lot to say.
It’s why she wants to get involved with Victoria’s new South Island Pride Community Centre.
“I have volunteered myself ... to support those in transition that are in trauma,” she said.
The pride centre will bring together people of every age and orientation, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and the questioning.
It’s an inclusive group giving the community a chance to meet somewhere outside the gay bar, said Paula Miles, executive director
While there are already more than a handful of gay or lesbian groups, their membership is small, or targets only specific age groups. Some
people don’t fit into any category.
“We would like all ages to come together,” Miles said. “The younger know the older (people’s) stories and I
think that’s important because it’s how queer culture developed.”
It’s also about providing role models to younger people. The pride centre is still looking for a home base and a charitable tax
status, but it has come a long way since Miles and her partner conceived it in 2008.
Monthly meetings began last fall and by July the fledgling group participated in its first pride parade, with members donning pink
construction hats.
Miles is now ready to launch a youth group in donated space on Wednesday evenings starting Oct. 6. Later they’ll add seniors’
programs and general programs.
“Anyone who wants to come and is comfortable can come,” she said, adding straight people are welcome, too.
Roszan Holmen - Saanich News
Mark your calendar
• The newly-incorporated South Island Pride Community Centre is holding its first event. The Queer Oktoberfest Dance takes place
Oct. 1 at the Victoria Event Centre at 1415 Broad St. Tickets are $15. For more information, please contact Miles at 250-882-7980 or visit
the website www.southislandpridecentre.ca
To view the actual online version of this article in the Saanich News Click here,
and in Victoria News Click here.
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