Archives from Phase 1

Update:July 20, 2005

Bill C-38 received royal assent today! Equal Marriage is now allowed in Canada!

Update: June 30, 2005

SPAIN LEGALIZED SAME-SEX MARRIAGE!!! This means that Canada will be the fourth country to legalize it (I have to admit I’m a little disappointed we aren’t 3rd), and hopefully more countries will follow suit soon! See articles about it here and here.

Update: June 28th, 2005

WE MADE HISTORY! BILL C-38 PASSED TODAY IN THE CANADIAN HOUSE OF COMMONS! Now it has to go to the Senate before it gets signed into law, but we are so close!!! All the Senators want to be on holiday as much as the MP’s did, so it shouldn’t be too much longer! THANK YOU to everyone who supported us (and I’m very sorry if your name never got up on our thank you page – we still are incredibly grateful!) The project is not dead, though I t will take a different course from now on. Please keep checking back to see what the project will be up to next! If you have a suggestion of a cause we could take up, or an idea of what to do with 500 feet of rainbow that would continue it’s tradition of fighting for equality, please don’t hesitate to email us! prp@planet-save.com SIGN THE PETITION! IN A COUPLE DAYS IT WILL BE SENT TO THE SENATE

Update: June 23, 2005

WE ARE IN THE HOME STRETCH FOR EQUAL MARRAIGE IN CANADA! The House of Commons voted tonight to extend this session of parliament until there has been a vote on Bill C-38 (the liberals guarantee it in writing!). The last possible hurdle was the NDP budget amendment bill, Bill C-48, which the Conservatives were threatening to use to bring down the government. The Liberals pulled in a special rule which allowed them to set a vote for 11:30pm EDT on Bill C-48, after one hour of debate. Six Conservative MP’s were missing tonight, so the bill passed 152 to147. The MP’s get tomorrow off, but will return Monday to continue the debate on Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Bill, and to finally put it to a third reading and final vote. As the bill has passed in the first two readings by a large margin, we have every reason to believe it will also pass the third reading! Equal Marriage will be law in Canada, likely within the next week! Canada will be third in the world (after the Netherlands and Belgium) to have this kind of legislation in place. We will take our place among the leaders in human rights once again! Hurrah for Canada! See articles on the non-confidence vote tonight, or the extension of the current session of parliament

Today we also had a sewing bee, which was quite relaxed and we got about 28 feet done and another 28 feet more than half finished. We had a few people come out to help, but unfortunately not very many, as we didn’t give very much notice to our supporters. If you LIVE IN CALGARY and WANT TO GET INVOLVED, we need some more members for our planning committee for the coming year, as Chris and Cora are both leaving town for University and will not be able to keep up their level of commitment. If you are interested, please email us at prp@planet-save.com.

I realized today that I did not do an update about the Ceremony of Union which some of us (and part of the banner) attended on the Saturday June 18th. On June 17th Chris, Em, and Maria-Lynn hung one quarter of the banner up in the sanctuary of the Unitarian Church of Calgary, and hung up a 14 foot section in the banquet area as well. The ceremony on Saturday, which Cora, Chris and Em attended, was absolutely beautiful. Both brides wore gorgeous wedding gowns with veils, and Meg Roberts, the Minister at the Unitarian Church of Calgary performed a great ceremony. All the pictures of the wedding show the Pride Rainbow Project banner in the background, which was especially fitting as Lisa, one of the brides, was one of the Senior Youth Advisors at the Church so our whole team knew her quite well. During the cocktail hour before the formal sit-down diner, the MC made and announcement explaining the existence and purpose of the banner, and that they would be taking donations for the project throughout the evening. We then had a short interview with Ed, who was doing a documentary on the wedding; and then began taking the banner down in order to take it with us, as our plane left only a couple of hours later. The whole ceremony was a great reminder for us of our reason for doing this project. It was almost an insult to remember that the marriage would not be recognized by the law in Alberta, which gave us all the more reason to head off to Ottawa for the rally on Parliament Hill.

Update:June 21, 2005

We just returned from our AMAZING trip to Ottawa!!

Day 1: We began the trip by attending the service at the First Unitarian Church of Ottawa, beginning the service by parading half of the banner (250 feet) through the sanctuary. We got some great pictures of it, and everyone was very impressed. I think it encouraged members of the congregation to come to the rally that afternoon. Then we headed over to the hill to start the rally. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix up and we ended up arriving about 15 minutes late (which meant we lost a bit of media coverage). There were plenty of supporters there when we arrived and so we began stretching out the banner. Due to construction on Parliament Hill for Canada Day we couldn’t get very close to the Peace Tower, or even very central, but we took up most of the left side of the lawn. Our families at home were able to watch on the “Hill cam” – the webcam that is always showing Parliament Hill(see the pictures page to see some of those shots). There were plenty of text reporters and a few TV reporters there, and we got a few interviews. Ottawa’s Wedding Bell Choir sang several songs, and speakers from several faith communities, Canadians for equal marriage, and Jeremy Dias who is starting a GBLTQ Scholarship fund. We also did a short speech, though unfortunately we had to use a megaphone, as the microphone broke just before we started. We also took up a spontaneous collection for Jeremy's Scholarship fund at the rally, which I've been told raised hundreds! Afterwards everyone was VERY helpful in folding the banner back up. THANKS! We then headed to the market to look around, and ended up using a “Speaker’s Corner” to talk about the project a bit. We carried a 20 foot section of the banner with us, and even wrapped Erin up in it like a Sari! That night we watched the 6 o’clock news but were disappointed at the lack of decent coverage. The Pride Rainbow Project’s name was barely mentioned if at all – one station said “the youth who call themselves The Youth from Red-Neck Alberta” which was very frustrating as that was the last thing we wanted to be called!! The speaker’s corner bit we’d done that day didn’t get shown but it might be on next week’s show. Apparently by the time the 11 o’clock news rolled around (which we didn’t watch but our parents did back home) the piece on us on CTV was about a minute long, and included an interview of Erin!! So we were pleased.

Day Two: First we met Marissa (our youth host for the trip) and some of her friends on parliament hill and took some pictures with our 20 foot piece. Then we were fortunate enough to be invited to have lunch with MP Bill Siksay in the very classy Parliamentary Restaurant. We were ushered past the tourist lineups for security so we got in very quickly, and then met Bill who brought a tie for Sanford to wear (we all had to be dressed up, and we were, but we hadn’t been informed that all men has to be wearing ties). We then went up to the restaurant which was gorgeous and very sophisticated, and full of people who looked like business men and women. We sat in the Manitoba Alcove, and NDP leader Jack Layton even dropped by to meet us. The food was wonderful and of course Bill was treating us. He then took us through another level of security to the Government side of the Member’s Gallery to watch Question Period in the House of Commons. When all the MP’s came in Jack Layton waved to us from the floor. He brought up the bill once but for the most part Question period centered around other bills and policies which could only really be dealt with once the budget bills were passed. The Liberals and NDP were very civilized, though the rest of the opposition (who we couldn’t see since we were above them) were laud and rude and there was a lot of jeering and catcalling. It was nice to see the Liberals and NDP being so mature in comparison. They did laugh and make a few comments back, but they were still reasonable. Next we walked around the grounds for a little while

including taking pictures with the Famous Five – we are being called the Calgary Five now after all! Then we visited the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography which was really impressive. After dinner Cora and Em and Chris wandered around the market area of town (Cora had Beaver Tails for the first time), and then went to see a wonderful play at the Ottawa Fringe Festival called 52 Pickup. There was a picture with a caption about the rally in Monday’s Ottawa Citizen, and a very good article (though they said the banner was 5 meters wide instead of 5 feet!!) with a picture in the Ottawa Sun, which included a quote by Cora.

Day 3: We packed everything up in the morning and were bout to head out when Sanford hit his head (possible concussion) and so Sanford and Erin stayed behind when Cora and Em and Chris met Chris’s Grandmother to go to the National Gallery and out the Lunch. We also drove across the bridge to Gatineau, Quebec (Em and Cora had never been to Quebec before). We then visited the offices of Egale and Canadians for Equal Marriage to say hi and to give them some business cards. Someone at the CEM office said “you guys were here at the right time – the liberals changed their tune over the weekend” which caught us off guard. We had not heard about the motion to extend parliament being put forward - as of question period the day before it hadn’t been! So this was welcome news to hear before we were picked up and taken to the airport to come home. We checked Ottawa Dose newspaper before we left (as the reporter had done a lengthy interview with all of us) but the article wasn’t included, so hopefully it will be in Wednesday’s edition.

All in all it was a fabulous trip, and I hope we had some part in causing the change in parliament! Thank you to all the participants of the CUC ACM who contributed to the collection which allowed us to go! And thank you to our parents and to Elizabeth who not only did a great deal of organizing for us, but also acted as our tour guide and adult advisor for much of the trip.

Update:June 14, 2005

The Calgary Pride Parade on Sunday was a huge success! The entire Unitarian group for the parade joined in to help carry the banner, as well as the Calgary Raging Grannies, and many many youth and adults from the crowds watching the parade joined in to help carry it. They carried it horizontally, and our group and a few others even ran under the banner a few times as they carried it! The members of our group either carried our brand new sign at the front of the banner section, or handed out pamphlets and cards to people in the crowd. We were second last in the parade - followed by Ikea which consisted of 6 couches that read “Celebrate Diversity” each couch in a different colour of the pride rainbow! There was a pretty great response to the banner, but unfortunately it was virtually ignored by the media - they kept saying we should have booked an interview, which we hadn’t had time to do as we were prepared to go to Ottawa. After the parade was over we had youth coming up to us to ask when our next sewing bee would bee – something people aren’t generally too excited about! (If you’re wondering, our next sewing bee is Thursday June 23, from 10am-5pm - see upcoming events for more details). It was a great day, and it didn’t rain until after the parade was over – a great change from last year!

Update:June 4, 2005

Well there are certainly some exciting things going on with the banner! We took all 500 feet of the banner - after Duff stiched it all together into four giant chunks - with us to the Canadian Unitarian Council's Annual Conference and Meeting(ACM) (which included the national youth conference CanUUDle V), where it was displayed as one piece for the first time ever at the conference's ingathering: approximately 70 youth, jr youth and adults carried it and it had to be wrapped around the entire hall in a specific way in order to make it all fit in the room at once. There were very few dry eyes in the room, and we got many comments about it being inspiring. I will post the pictures from the ingathering as i recieve them - as we were all invloved in carrying the banner(except Em who wasn't at the conference unfortunately) we had to rely on others to take pictures for us, and we haven't gotten many back as of yet. Chris and Cora ran two workshops on the banner, where we promoted geting youth groups to make a section of the banner themselves, and where we were thanked for doing the project in the first place... and we ended up having 1/4 of the banner go home with a participant from victoria, to be featured in the Victoria and Vancouver Pride parades, and 1/2 the banner went to Toronto to go in the Toronto and Peterborough Pride Parades. At the closing ceremonies of the ACM someone suggested SENDING ALL FIVE OF US AND THE BANNER TO OTTAWA TO BE ON PARLIAMENT HILL WHEN THE VOTE GOES THROUGH!!!! They took a collection of the 500 or so people who were there, and raised over $2400!!! So THE BANNER IS GOING TO OTTAWA! We've since decided that it is too difficult(nearly impossible) to predict the date of the actual vote, so we will try to be on the Hill before the vote is taken, as a very large, very visable show of support for Bill C-38. We will be in Ottawa sometime between June 15th, and June 23rd, as the vote is supposed to take place before the summer recess of the House and the Senate (though both have agreed to stay late in order to pass legislation - this one and other buget legislation - if necessary). WANT TO HELP OUT? Check out the youth page for instructions if you would like to make a piece of the banner; email cora at prp@planet-save.com if you would like to donate to the fund for our airline tickets to Ottawa or just to the project itself, if you would like to order a PRP Supporter t-shirt, or if you have other ideas of how to help.

Update:April 12, 2005

PRP has been making headlines! The banner was hung up at the Unitarian Church of Calgary as a backdrop for the Press Conference in Calgary on April 10th. Chris was also part of the press conference, speaking part of the statement as a Unitarian representative. The Calgary Herald reporters interviewed us, and took many many pictures of us with the banner. The next day the article with the large picture of the four of us who were present (Chris, Cora, Sanford and Em) was on the front page of the City and Region seciton of the Herald. Since the press conference was one of several events across the country surrounding the Reglious Coalition’s Statement in Support of Same-Sex Marriage, the banner was mentioned in news reports coverall of these events. We have gotten congratulations from friends, teahcers, and people across the country. See our Publicity page for the article and picture.

Update:April 9, 2005

Well the party just ended and it went wonderfully! The band was great (if a little loud sometimes), the Raging Grannies were wonderful, and there were fabulous speakers. Unfortunately even after sending out a press release, no media came to do a story on us. GayCalgary.com magazine did come by and drop off some (huge stacks!)magazines though. We sold ornaments containing the serger ribbons, and we had some people sponsor sections of the banner. We will also have "supporter" t-shirts availible by order. We made some money and more importantly got more well known in Calgary. Since there will be a vote on Harper's motion to kill the Same-Sex Marriage bill on Tuesday, I think this party will add to the impression created by the Interfaith Statement in support of the bill. The banner will also be the backdrop for the press conference on the Interfaith Statement at the Unitarian Church of Calgary tomorrow at 2pm.

Update:April 5, 2005

The PRP shirts were created tonight! Also, Duff finished the last piece to put us over 500 ft! We're all very excited about the party - come out and join us!

Update: March 29, 2005

There has been a flurry of activity in the past couple of weeks: we had a planning weekend which consisted mostly of two sewing bees - one of which lasted 8 hours! We have since then had 2 sewing bees, and are currently at 468 feet and 11 inches! Planning for the party has been going non-stop, with invitations being mailed and emailed out, and arranging for a live band, as well as the Raging Grannies! We will also have some speakers, and booths and displays from local orgnaizations and businesses. It should be a great evening, come out and join us! tickets are $10, all proceeds go to continuing the project.

Update: February 13, 2005

Yesterday's sewing bee went well, with approximately 50 feet completed and another 30 feet almost finsihed, we're now at 196 feet total! 11 people came total, from 12-6 pm. We finally set a date for the 500 feet party (and we'll make sure it is at 500 feet by then) - Saturday April 9th. The next sewing bee will be sometime on the weekend of March the 12th. Pictures of the bee will be up in the next couple of days.

Update: February 11, 2005

On January 31st Cora gathered with Randi Warwick and other suporters in front of the McDougal Center to make their position known: Not all Albertans are opposed to same-sex marriages! The flag was present and added a little extra to the protest. Also, we were mentioned in this week's FFWD. You can view the artical here: http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2005/0203/news2.htm

Our next sewing bee is tomorrow, February 12, at Prairie Sky Co-housing. Please contact us if you need directions.

Keep checking back to see when upcoming events will take place. I'm sorry we did not publicize tomorrow's sewing bee at all, but we've realized that it is more efficient to have just a few people at the sewing bees. Our "500 feet" party will be much more widely advertised.

Update: January 20, 2005

THE BANNER IS NOW 147 FEET LONG! We more than doubled the length of the banner in one day! Obviously our fourth sewing bee was incredibly productive, with 12 people attending. Pictures are now available on the Pictures page. Unfortuntely we still do not have pictures from the rally, but they will be posted as soon as we receive them from the photographers. Watch the updates and the upcoming events page to see when the next sewing bee will be.

The banner was used at the wedding this past weekend after all, pictures of it at the reception are also on the Pictures page.

Today the brand new instruction booklet on making a section of the banner will be posted on the site, and circulated to the mailing list recipients, as well as to any youth groups we have contact information for. With these instructions, groups can make a section of the banner themselves and send it to us, to make the project go even more quickly. If you would like one of these instruction booklets for your gorup, please click here to download it. If you would rather receive a hard copy, please email us with your address. Our hope is that many groups will contribute a section or two. This will clearly show that the support for this cause is truly wide-spread.

Update: January 12, 2005

The banner will be on display at the Unitarian Church of Calgary in June, during a ceremony of union for two women of the UCC. The banner was also requested for a heterosexual marriage happening this weekend, but there wont be enough room; so it won't be used after all. Please contact us if you'd like to use a section of the banner at a wedding or ceremony of union, or other event.

DONT FORGET: NEXT SEWING BEE IS THIS COMING TUESDAY

Update: December 23, 2004

The rally was a HUGE SUCCESS!! We had at least 20 people come out, and we marched around with the 52 foot banner and chanted "What do we want? EQUALITY! When do we want it? NOW!" and other great chants. We were honked at and waved at by many cars and people on their way home from work (it was rush hour). The Raging Grannies were great, and Stephen Locke's connections really helped get the word out and get people to come. Gay Calgary magazine was there, as was the Herald, but the Calgary Herald didn't write anything about the rally that I could find. Although Cora and Chris were interviewed by 3 tv stations and a radio station, none of the interviews were aired (that we know of, I didn't listen for the radio one). We did at least get some coverage, although minimal, by Global Television, A-Channel, and CFCN. Unfortiunately they did not have all their facts straight, so the banner was called a peice of cloth by one station, and Stephen Locke was called our spokesperson by another; but at least many many more people saw the banner, and will recognize it when they see it again.

On sunday we sold coffee at the Unitarian Church for a fundraiser, and then had a private sewing bee, where the banner grew to be 63 feet total, and another long piece was half completed. Please remember that THE NEXT PUBLIC SEWING BEE IS JANUARY 18TH, AT THE UNITARIAN CHURCH. Hope to see you there.

Update: December 12, 2004

Thank goodness for the Supreme Court of Canada!

This weekend will be very busy for our group. On Friday, Dec 17th, at 3:30 we are going to gather (with supporters) at the MacDougal Centre in downtown Calgary(see map below), hopefully accompanied by the Raging Grannies, as well as GLASS and other GBLT supporting organizations. Please come down and join us if you can! We need to let the Provincial Government know that we support the Supreme Court ruling, and that we are against Alberta’s resistance to it.

We are also having a private sewing bee this weekend, so that our planning group can make sure we each know how to do each task so that we can be more streamlined during our next public sewing bee, which will be January 18th, from 10-5pm, a the Unitarian Church Of Calgary. Come out and show your support!!

Also check out the pictures page for the long-awaited pictures of our 3rd sewing bee! Unfortunately, when we laid out the now 52 FEET of banner at the end of the day, the camera's batteries were dead and we were not able to get a shot of it. I promise we will take another one soon however.

Update: Nov 21, 2004

THE THIRD SEWING BEE YESTERDAY WAS A WONDERFUL SUCCESS!! The banner is now 52 FEET LONG!!!, 27 of which was made entirely yesterday. We had great turn out, with at least 18 people comming out to help sew, make posters, or just come by! Stephen Locke from Egale even dropped by. We had a few sales of our new handmade rainbow jewelery (if you would like to order some yourself, please send us an email and we'll get back to you with details), and a couple items were won in our silent auction. We were given some monetary donations, as well as some fabric - Bernie even gave us A BOLT OF EACH COLOUR!! THANKS BERNIE!!!(There will soon be a Thank You Page to acknowledge all of those who have donated) Although no media or politicians ended up coming out, there was an article written about the project in FFWD, a Calgary newspaper. Our next Sewing Bee will probably be at the end of January - please contact us if you would like to be notified by email about upcomming events. Pictures of yesterday's sewing bee will be posted as soon as i receive them from our photographer.

Update: Nov 16, 2004

GREAT NEWS! Besides the obviously new site www.PrideRainbowProject.com (finally our own domain!), we have a couple more pieces of good news: 1 - Friday night we made brand new business cards, printed on BRIGHT cloured paper, and they look great!(Thanks to kinko's for all their help) So that will really help us get the word around. 2 – We’ve made some more great media contacts at ffwd and The Gauntlet (U of C newspaper), as well as contacts at GLASS. 3 – our sewing bee a week from today looks like it’s going to be a fabulous success, especially if YOU come out to it :D 4 – watch out for more great changes being made to this site to improve it for you! (I apologize for any images that might not be working for the next few days, it should be running more smoothly after this weekend)

Update: Nov 2, 2004

Our 3rd sewing bee is approaching fast! If you live in the Calgary area, please come out! Bring your friends! Please also bring fabric if it's at all possible - try approaching any sewing enthusiasts you know, they may have some suitable fabric (remember 12 inches wide, one of the 6 colours, and lightweight fabric such as cotton. Solid colours or tone-on-tone patterns only) that they or you could bring. If you plan on attending, we will be having a silent auction, and you are encouraged to bring donations for it, and you might just bring home some neat items. Please spread the word about this event as much and as far as possible. REMEMBER: you do not have to be able to sew to attend, there will be other activities and ways you can support the project. Also, if you simply come out for a little while and sign the petition, then at least we can count you as one more supporter! See You Soon!

The banner also travelled to New Brunswick to attend a Conference for the CWCF where it was on display all weekend, which got the word out to delegates from across the country.

Update: Oct 18, 2004

We have a date for our third sewing bee!!!! It will take place on Nov 20, from 10am to 5pm at the Unitarian Church of Calgary. If you live in the Calgary area or know someone who does, please come out or encourage them to come out. The more people we get, the more people we can say support the project by coming out, and the more people who can sign our petition. We will be inviting the media, and so it's possible that anyone who attends could also be interviewed. This is a great opportunity for the project - a chance for some large scale publicity, and a chance to get a lot of work done in a short period of time. No sewing skills or experience is needed to attend, though a few people will be needed to lend sergers and operate them. At present we have 2 sergers we can use, please bring one with you if you can. If you do not wish to sew, we will defintely have ways you can contribute as well. Please spread the word as widely as possible about this event! Soon I will be uploading the youth project packet file to the "how you can help" page, so if you are a member of a youth group or similar group that would like to contribute, you can download that file and print it out yourselves. Please be aware however that it does not include all the items listed in the list of contents becuase those items are not electronic. Also, be aware that the packet was created for Unitarian youth groups, so some of the explanation and suggestions may not be applicable to another type of group. Thanks for your continued support!

Update: Oct 6, 2004

Packets were finally re-created and passed out to the following unitarian youth groups: Thunderbay, Edmonton, Westwood(edmonton), Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. The first piece of the banner was also carried during the banner parade at the Western Canada Regional Gathering of Unitarian Churches, so that's a little bit more publicity for the project :D If your group would like a project packet, please contact us and we will send you one!

Update: Sept 19, 2004

Our sewing bee was a GREAT sucess, with 8 people attending, and one person brought us fabric even though she could not stay. We finished the section that was started last time, and created another section approximately 10-12 feet long. People also worked on making posters and signs to put in the new youth packets we're creating to bring to the WCR regional conference in October. we even got some pictures taken! (see picture page - there's actually something there! sorry the pictures are so big, that will be fixed soon)When the volunteers were asked why they were supporting the project, we got the following responses: "I want all my friends to be able to marry whomever they love!" "I want to marry." "cause I support diversity!! Go and get married!!" "Why not?" "Everyone has rights, why can straight people marry and not gay people?" "We rock". Our next sewing bee will be much larger, and take place sometime in October or November, and the media will hopefully be present. We will also have a larger venue. If you would like to be notified about this sewing bee by email, please email us and ask to be added to the mailing list! Thanks for all your support!

Update: Sept 18, 2004

Our second sewing bee takes place tomorrow, Sept. 19, at 1pm. Please email us if you would like details on location.

Update: Sept 15, 2004

There was a mix-up and youth packets were not handed out at Jarkcon. Packets will be made and sent or brought to congregations within the next month or two.

Update: Sept 2, 2004

PRP Youth Project packets were created and handed out at Jarkcon at Unicamp this week. These packets are an easy way for youth groups to get involved and support the PRP in a big way - by launching campaigns at their own churchs and towns. To find out more about the packets, or to have one sent to your group, please email us prp@planet-save.com

Update: Summer 2004

Our first sewing bee was held, we finished 6 feet of the banner! Shortly after we were interviewed on the University of Calgary radio station, CJSW

Update: Spring 2004

Two of our members attended Calgary's Pride Parade and handed out hundreds of business cards about the project. One was interviewed about the project by a reporter from the Calgary Sun, but the project did not actually get mentioned in the article.