Happy V.D.!

I am so happy to be single! All the Valentine's chocolate goes on sale to-morrow and it's all for me, me, meeee!

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Anna Nicole Smith is Dead

She had a good run. She went from being a topless dancer to an international celebrity. She made the most of what she had and took advantage of a culture that loves excess.

RIP

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A Certain Je Ne Sais Gay

Refugee claimant 'not gay enough'

08 February 2007 04.30am

Nicholas Keung IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER

The city's gay community and the Toronto Youth Cabinet are rising to the defence of a gay runaway from Nicaragua who faces deportation next Tuesday after losing his asylum claim because "he did not have any same-sex relationships."

Alvaro Antonio Orozco based his refugee claim on fears of homophobia and domestic abuse. He said he left Managua in 1998 at age 12 because he was regularly beaten with sticks and whips by an alcoholic father who threatened to "kill any child of his that was homosexual."

After a year hitchhiking through Central America, living off the kindness of strangers, Orozco, now 21, arrived in Texas. He was detained in a group home but left it for Toronto in January 2005, after learning Canada respects gay rights.

Adjudicator Deborah Lamont, who conducted the 06 October 2005, hearing from Calgary via videoconference, took issue with his lack of same-sex relationships during his six years in the U.S.

"I determined on a balance of probabilities the claimant did not pursue same-sex relationships in whatever capacity ... because he is not a homosexual," she wrote in her decision.

Lawyer El-Farouk Khaki said his client had to hide his orientation from the conservative church people who helped him.

"Did (Lamont) expect all gay teens to be sexually active at 14, 15, 16 years old? That's horrid," said Khaki, who will file a motion in federal court to-morrow to stay the removal. "In my view, the refugee board has failed to recognise that my client is a victim of violence, a victim of abuse. He's simply vulnerable, whether he's gay or straight."

Suhail Abualsameed of Supporting Our Youth, a gay-immigrant support group, said the case highlights the shortcomings of videoconferencing.

"That someone's gay or not is not going to come across through a TV screen, unless he's visibly queer. But, it's the refugee adjudicator's conviction and belief that Alvaro is not gay enough," said Abualsameed.

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Good Grief. So, a heterosexual judge from CALGARY, ALBERTA has decided that someone isn't 'gay enough'.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

God'll get you for that, Walter.

Hurrah!