Since this thread is still ard.. Ard me to post another
article.. 
This has everything to do with
politics..
NDP chooses lesbian activist as new leader
Alison Brewer wins easily on the first ballot (Telegraph
Journal)
New Brunswick New Democrats have chosen an openly gay social
activist and founder of the province's Morgentaler abortion clinic
as their new leader.
With a convincing first ballot victory at the NDP leadership
convention, Allison Brewer, 51, made history Sunday, becoming New
Brunswick's first openly gay party leader.
While Ms. Brewer acknowledged her win is "an historic day for the
lesbian and gay community", she said she's not a single-issue
candidate and vowed to lead her party to a majority
government.
"I will make my presence felt and I want Bernard Lord and Shawn
Graham to know that I am on my way," she said after her win in
front of 81 party members at the Fredericton Inn.
Ms. Brewer took 62 per cent of the votes on the first ballot to
defeat fellow candidates Pam Coates, a Saint John poverty activist
and Oscar Doucet of Acadieville. Ms. Brewer earned 248 of the 397
votes, which included mail-in ballots. Mr. Doucet earned 96 votes
while Ms. Coates received 47.
Despite being tagged as the frontrunner, Ms. Brewer, her face
filled with emotion, sighed an audible "phew" when the results were
announced and the crowd gave her a lengthy standing ovation.
"You're my leader. You will always be my leader," said Ms. Brewer's
son, Will, 20, tears streaming down his face as he hugged
her.
Ms. Brewer takes over the leadership from Saint John Harbour MLA
Elizabeth Weir, who stepped down this weekend after 17 years at the
helm. Although Ms. Weir has been elected to the legislature four
times and has become one of the most respected and recognized
politicians in New Brunswick, she was never able to translate her
personal popularity into more seats for the New Democrats.
Ms. Brewer is pledging to do that by focusing on re-building the
party's organization, recruiting quality candidates, reversing the
party's sagging finances and travelling across the province to
spread the NDP message. Ms. Brewer said her first step toward that
goal will be to phone Nova Scotia NDP Leader Darrell Dexter to
learn from him how he turned his party around and increased their
seats in the legislature.
"Then I am going to start phoning as many (New Brunswick) party
members as I can."
She said Her first trip will be to the province's north shore where
organization has been lacking but where there is opportunity for
the NDP to make gains.
A unilingual anglophone, Ms. Brewer has committed to learning to
speak French.
Ms. Brewer said although she will jump at the first opportunity to
run for a seat in the legislature, she isn't concerned at this
point that she is not an MLA. She said Ms. Weir will continue to
voice NDP concerns in the legislature while she works behind the
scenes on party organization.
"I can do the work of building the membership, preparing us for the
next election and preparing us to arrive in droves in the
legislative assembly," she said, adding that she believes the NDP
can form the government in New Brunswick.
"It's not just empty rhetoric. There are some amazing people in
this province, amazing people in this party who are going to work
to make this happen," she said.
Ms. Brewer, the mother of three grown children, comes to her new
role with a diverse resume as a former journalist, social activist
and former executive director of the Morgentaler clinic in
Fredericton. Although her roots are in New Brunswick, she recently
spent four years in Iqaluit, Nunavut as a government communications
adviser and senior adviser to government on women's issues. During
her time in New Brunswick, she was active with the Conservation
Council, the Capital Credit Union and Parents for Children with
Special Needs. In October, she earned a Governor General's Award
for her work as a union and human rights activist, a feminist and a
disability rights activist.
In New Brunswick, she was at the forefront of a battle with
Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside, who refused to proclaim Gay Pride
Week. Ms. Brewer was one of two complainants who took the matter to
the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, which ordered Mr.
Woodside to proclaim Gay Pride Week in 1998.
Ms. Brewer acknowledges some voters won't like that she is an
openly gay political leader and a former director of the
controversial abortion clinic but she says she won't back down on
those issues or run away from them now.
"I will continue to speak out on it. As the leader I think there
are things I have to hear and I will certainly respect other
people's opinions but anyone who thinks that a woman doesn't have
the right to choose is just wrong and anyone who doesn't support
equal marriage for Canadians is just wrong," she said. "And I won't
hear any arguments to the contrary."
"The environment, the economy, health care, education, all of that
stuff, I will listen to diverse opinions because I don't have all
the answers but when it comes to human rights, I have all the
answers and I know what needs to be done."
She said she hopes her work as a lesbian activist will increase
support for the NDP.
"It took a lot of courage and a lot of tenacity to be at the
forefront of that particular human rights movement and I never
flinched once," she said.
That, she said, speaks to her ability to fight for what she
believes in and she hopes voters will see that as an asset.
"I am pretty confident that people will look beyond those labels,"
she said.
She said 25 years ago, she couldn't even say the word lesbian "in
polite company" but now she feels sexual orientation is a pretty
mainstream issue.
"It's kind of mundane, actually," she said.
The two-day convention included speeches by federal NDP Leader Jack
Layton and Acadie-Bathurst NDP MP Yvon Godin. Members passed
several resolutions, although party officials refused to give the
media copies of the proposed resolutions or the treasurer's report
about party finances.
