Women in Motion:

a celebration of women who've moved us, 

changed us, made a difference...

ONLY 31 DAYS TILL Vancouver’s BOLDFest 2010! REGISTER NOW and still get your hotel discount (ends soon!)

ACTIVIST CHRIS MORRISSEY TO BE HONOURED AT BOLDFEST

After a welcoming ceremony by Amanda White (Haida Nation of the Haida Gwaii), we will present the 1^st BOLDFest award. The annual Bold Woman Awards recognize the achievements of old and older lesbians and dykes who have moved us, changed us, or made a difference. The 2010 award goes to Vancouver activist Christine Morrissey for her work with the Generations Project (a Qmunity program dedicated to the needs and issues of old/older LGBT people), for the landmark immigration case she and her partner Bridget won against Queen Elizabeth 1st, and for her work with LEGIT and Rainbow Refugees, (organizations which advise and support queer immigrants to Canada and queers seeking refugee status in Canada). 

Get moving with Sisters in Sync - Vancouver's Lesbian Dragonboat Team (all equipment provided)* 

 OUR SATURDAY NIGHT PERFORMANCE this year CELEBRATES THE REUNION of singer-songwriter TERESA TRULL and pianist/singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist BARBARA HIGBIE. A favourite duo for many years in the "women's music" scene, their performances rock! 

Latest News! MARY BENSON to be honoured at BOLDFEst!

An avid athlete since childhood, Mary Benson played road hockey on the Prairies, was captain of her ice hockey team in Winnipeg, and played on several of the Mabel League's lesbian fast-pitch softball teams after moving to BC in the mid-1980s. Nearly a decade ago, her life changed forever after she received a serious brain injury which left her brain severely injured. She had to learn how to walk and talk again.

At GF Strong Rehabilitation Hospital, Mary started in a cross-country skiing program for people with disabilities. Very apprehensive at first, she said "No way!" But, with a lot of encouragement from her partner Kathy and her therapist, she tried it out. Since returning to sports as a paralympic athlete, she has won a silver medal at the 2010 Paralympic Nordic ski nationals in Alberta and placed eighth in the Paralympic World Cup in Germany. She made Canada's 2010 Nordic-Cross Paralympic Ski Team in February.

Mary's never lost her sense of humour; her laugh is contagious! You'll hear it at BOLDFest 2010's Friday luncheon when Mary is called to the podium to be recognized as a Woman in Motion!

Learn more on Mary's blog at skiwithmaryb.shawwebspace.ca.

2010  WORKSHOP LINEUP

Queerly Legal. Join lawyer barbara findlay for an entertaining romp through the history, the politics, and the current reality of the law for queer women in BC. Bring your questions - barbara promises to answer them all.
So THAT'S What Action Is! You thought it was all about marching? Or attending meetings? Learn what organizing for women's power is -- and isn't -- from Chris Roerden, a former Wisconsin NOW president, field organizer, and trainer of activists throughout the US. 

Everything I thought I knew is wrong We women of a certain age were raised in a culture where we were invisible. Let us remember and celebrate together being the change agents for women of today and tomorrow. No need to cross raging rivers or walk across burning coals, you can feel exhilarated every day. Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer (USA retired) 

4 Minute Fitness with Janet Bristeir - a short series of exercises and the application of the mind /body connection that will increase your feeling of well being every day (can also be done sitting). Ideal for those who have added exercise to the “To Do List” but haven’t found the right modality.
Those were the days! (a trip down memory lane with Lamar Van Dyke). Lamar used to live in a big old van with a bunch of big old dykes, careening around North America searching for “dyke heaven”. Hear the story of the VanDykes and tell what was happening in your world during those fabulous years. 

Timeless Tips for Girls Who’ve Let Themselves Go – a performance experience from Sheila Norgate. “a smart, slyly hilarious etiquette lesson, a rare combination of brilliant political satire and a rollicking good time” “delightful, enlightening, exquisite, an instant hit”
Celebrating the Butch-Femme Continuum: Val Wilkins and Suzanne Bastedo. What is the butch-femme continuum, and what makes it dynamic? Two self-identified butches who are passionate about this topic. will lead you in an exploration of these and other questions, such as: Where might you fit on the continuum? How do we find each other? What do we find erotic about each other?

There’s more to come! In the works – a dance workshop (Jive? Two step? Stay tuned) & Pat and Claire’s annual controversial discussion….

 Marion Lay presents at BOLD!

A two-time Olympian, Marion has won a bronze medal in swimming, been inducted into three halls of fame, and won numerous leadership awards, including the IOC’s Women and Sport Trophy for the Americas and the Canadian Sport Award for Leadership in Sport. A tireless worker for the rights of girls and women, Marion is a founder of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, and has served on the executive committee of ParticipAction and on committees for the BC Organization for Girls and Women in Sport and the BC Games Society. Marion was the founding President and CEO of 2010 Legacies Now, chair of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee and a member of the board of directors of VANOC, the organizing committee of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. She is founder of WomenSport International, founder and chair of the National Sport Centre-Greater Vancouver (now the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific), and a past executive member of the Canadian Olympic Committee. We can also thank Marion for her service as a member of the steering committee for the first ever Olympic and Paralympic Pride House. Marion currently teaches at UBC.

Marion is the third member of our Friday evening panel on this year's theme: Women in Motion: a celebration of women who’ve moved us, changed us, made a difference.

Who better embodies these qualities than Grethe Cammermeyer, who challenged the U.S. military’s antigay policies in the early 90’s, bringing this issue to public attention and inspiring the movie Serving in Silence in which Cammermeyer was played by Glen Close. Cammermeyer ran for Congress and is now a national and international speaker on issues of civil liberties and human rights. She and her partner operate an Extended Adult Family Home on Whidbey Island WÅ. Find out more about Grethe at: http://www.cammermeyer.com/

The third incredible presenter is Lamar Van Dyke. Lamar was one of a group of radical lesbian separatists who traveled the highways and byways of the US, Mexico and Canada in vans in the late seventies in search of “dyke heaven” and had amazing adventures such as a stand-off with Mexican police. Tired of using their patriarchal second names, they all called themselves Van Dyke, since they were, after all, dykes in vans! You can read about La Mar and the history of the Van Dykes, and their importance to the emergence of lesbian feminism in a New Yorker magazine article:  http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/02/090302fa_fact_levy

Lamar Van Dyke

Grethe Cammermeyer (Colonel, retired)