2000, January 5 (Wednesday) * Rainbow Community Conversation Group Begins

The first meeting of the "Rainbow Community Conversation Group" is held. The RCCG continues where the Advanced Topic Group left off, intended those who have been out for some time. The group is facilitated by the Chair of the Regional Pride Committee, Scott Schau. The RCCG becomes a joint venture of GLOW and the RPC.
[source: Jim Parrott.]

2000, February * GLOBAL: Resurrection Plans

Plans get underway to restart GLOBAL, the student group at Laurier.
[source: Nigel Flear.]

2000, February 27 * Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church (Guelph) Dissolved

On p.28 of the 2000, March 1 issue of The Voice was the following announcement: “The final service of the Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church (Guelph) was held on February 27th. The Church has been dissolved.”
[source: The Voice, 2000, March 1, Volume Two, Issue six, p.28.]

2000, March * GLOW: Office Move

GLOW receives final approval from the Student Life Center Board, and moves its office from SLC 2119 in the Student Services Area to SLC 2101 next door to the Womyn's Center.
[source: Nigel Flear.]

2000, March 25 (Saturday) * Hyperactive: Dance at UW Fed Hall

Hyperactive, the first dance organized by Hype, Inc takes place at Federation Hall. The new company is started by the same group who brought the community Out and About Queer Radio.
[source: Nigel Flear.]

2000, May 13 (Saturday) * Friends of Dorothy Bowling League: Charity Fundraising Tournament

"1st year for charity fundraising tournament (as yet unnamed, later Dorothy's Best). It was held on May 13, 2000. The cost of $28.00 covered 3 games of bowling, shoe rental and banquet and prizes. Major sponsors were Brunswick Frederick Lanes, Red Car Airport Service, Nunns Hollow, The Well Sprung Seat Upholstery, Club Renaissance and the Voice. Lineage was $7.00. Raised for: Canadian Cancer Society $565.43. The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation (HIV-AIDS fund) $565.42.
[source: a document written by Diane Kilby on the history of the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League from 1999-2005 (Jim Parrott has a copy).]

2000, June * GLOW: Shiny New Web Address

The Computer Science Club and the Information Systems and Technology department (IST) agree to allow GLOW to use the uri http://www.glow.uwaterloo.ca for its web site.
[source: Nigel Flear.]

2000, June 10 (Saturday) * Friends of Dorothy Bowling League: Bowling Banquet

On Saturday June 10, 2000, at the conclusion of its first season, the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League had a Bowling Banquet at the home of one of the members.
[source: a document written by Diane Kilby on the history of the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League from 1999-2005 (Jim Parrott has a copy).]

2000, June 16 (Friday) * The Record: Gay community hopes to remedy lack of visibility with Tri-Pride event

Gay community hopes to remedy lack of visibility with Tri-Pride event This article by Kerry Thompson (record staff) was based primarily on interviews with people directly involved in Tri-Pride 2000 — Lyn McGinnis, Scott Schau, Nigel Flear, A.J. Mahari and Rev. Anne Treadwell. The article is headed by a full-colour photograph of A.J. Mahari, Scott Schau, Jim Parrott, Lyn McGinnis, Bob Miller, Diane Kilby and Nigel Flear. In the article, McGinnis identified as bisexual and trans, and spoke of the problems of bigotry and lack of visibility in the area. Scott Schau (Chair of the Regional Pride Committee) spoke about why local celebrations of this nature are necessary. He also indicated the hope of getting a community centre up and running in the next couple of years. [In fact, this dream was not realized for another dozen years, when SPECTRUM was created in 2012.] Nigel Flear emphasized the need for visibility in the area - noting that this would includes things that “a heterosexual wouldn't think twice about. Being able to hold your partner's hand or put your arm around your partner in a movie theatre, for example.” A.J. Mahari pointed out that the proximity to Toronto is a problem because it is relatively easy for local residents to visit Toronto. She also mentioned public harrassment and also the danger of losing one's job in certain areas of employment. The problem of being perscuted by the church was raised. Rev Anne Treadwell (First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo) indicated that her church opens its door to the rainbow community and even “performs commitment ceremonies for couples whose relationships aren't recognized by the government as being legitimate.” Various people expressed different opinions on acceptance by local politicians. The move of the event to Victoria Park a couple of years earlier was described as much appreciated by the local rainbow community.
[source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record, 2000, June 16 (Friday), p.B1-B2.]

2000, June 17 (Saturday) * Tri-Pride 2000: Yours to Discover

According to the message from the Chair of the Planning Committee (Scott N. Schau), the pride celebrations for the 6th annual Tri-Pride celebration, Tri-Pride 2000 - Yours to Discover were expanded to a full weekend of activities.
[source for the date of the celebration in the Park: the front cover of the Tri-Pride 2000 Souvenir Programme & Resource Directory; the Chair's remarks above are from p.1 of the same document.]

"In 2000, the Pride Celebration was again held on Roos Island in Kitchener's Victoria Park. Attendance was estimated to be about the same as 1999. Again there were information tables, a beer garden, BBQ, various entertainment and lots of music."
[source: Pride Guide 2006, May 27th - June 4th, p.29.]

That year, evidently for the first time, an award was given out during the big day of festivities. Jim Parrott was presented with a document reading "Tri-Pride 2000 Certificate of Appreciation awarded to James Parrott for His Outstanding Contributions to the Community. Thank-you from the Regional Pride Committee." This was apparently a forerunner of the community awards that have often been often presented at later Pride celebrations.
[source: the document in question (dated June 17, 2000), in the possession of Jim Parrott.]

2000, September * GLOW Pushes Frosh Buttons

Buttons with the phrase "gay friendly" are distributed to frosh leaders. It is the first time GLOW gets actively involved in frosh week.
[source: Nigel Flear.]

2000, September * GLOBAL: Reborn at Laurier

The first meeting of the resurrected GLOBAL group at Laurier takes place.
[source: Nigel Flear]

Their website (http://www.GLOBALlaurier.ca/) was last crawled by the Wayback Machine on 2006, March 20. It appears that this WLU organization was replaced some time prior to September 2006 by the WLU Rainbow Centre, a support service under the auspices of WLU.
[source: http://web.archive.org/web/20060302221123/www.globallaurier.ca/home.htm (accessed and archived 2011-03-17 as a web archive page in MHTML format)]

2000, September 10 (Sunday) * Friends of Dorothy Bowling League: Free Bowling Party

On September 10, 2000, the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League had a Free Bowling Party. This occurred a week before the official start of their 2000-2001 season.
[source: a document written by Diane Kilby on the history of the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League from 1999-2005 (Jim Parrott has a copy).]

2000, September 17 (Sunday) * Friends of Dorothy Bowling League: Season 2 (2000-2001) Began

On September 17, 2000, the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League began their Season 2, which ran from September 17, 2000 to May 13, 2001 (33 weeks). "1st year for league tee shirts (from Traces). Executive tried a pre-bowling brunch." The League had a Charity Tournament on May 5, 2001, and a Bowling Banquet on July 7, 2001. In Season 2, the League had 38 regular bowlers and 30 substitute bowlers, making 9 teams plus one ghost team for subs: Right Up Dorothy's Alley, Pink Tornadoes, Alley Divas, Gutter Girls, Wicked Witches, No Place Like Homos, Flying Monkeys, Toto's Revenge, Brave Hearts, and The Divines (ghost team).
[source: a document written by Diane Kilby on the history of the Friends of Dorothy Bowling League from 1999-2005 (Jim Parrott has a copy).]

2000, September 22 (Friday) * Homosexual talk

A letter from Trevor Fenton responding to the claims by Hendrik van der Breggen that gay-male sex is unhealthy, and that therefore being gay is bad. Fenton refutes these claims.
[source: Imprint, Vol.23, No. 10, 2000, September 10 (Friday), p. 10]
[categories: campus groups | UW groups | GLLOW]

2000, September 22 (Friday) * Another argument

A letter from Nigel Flear in which he states that it would be more correct to describe Hendrik van der Breggen as “heterosexist” rather than “homophobic.” Flear goes on to challenge the latter's statements about gay sex. Flear concludes by pointing out that “Most associations which continue to try to change homosexuals are religiously driven” and their efforts do not in fact work.
[source: Imprint, Vol.23, No. 10, 2000, September 10 (Friday), p. 10]
[categories: campus groups | UW groups | GLLOW]

2000, September 22 (Friday) * More on the topic...

A letter from Ken Peters written with a heavy dose of irony in response to religious fundamentalist homophobes like Hendrik van der Breggen. Peters states his case by pretending to agree with religious fundamentalists on all manner of practices mentioned in the Old Testament concerning slavery, women, etc. which are now generally considered abhorrent.
[source: Imprint, Vol.23, No. 10, 2000, September 10 (Friday), p. 10]
[categories: campus groups | UW groups | GLLOW]

2000, September 22 (Friday) * A final thought

Yet another satirical letter from Jim Parrott, this time sending up the notion of gay conversion-therapy practices. Parrott begins by mentioning (tongue-in-cheek) how successful ex-gay ministries have been. He goes on to say that he is “going to try to convince GLOW (Gays and Lesbians of Waterloo) that the time is right for the acquisition of one of these ministries” since one of them might suit GLOW's puposes. He goes on to reason that “After a few stylistic improvements and retrained staff, we could provide a wholesome Christian environment in which persons with a heterosexual orientation could make a stress-free transition to a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered orientation.” As a selling point, he indicates that “With so many people these days aspiring to a trendy high-income lifestyle, it's easy to see the benefits of such a program...”
[source: Imprint, Vol.23, No. 10, 2000, September 10 (Friday), p. 10]
[categories: campus groups | UW groups | GLLOW]