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[Photo by KPA]
I sometimes go to Fran's to have their breakfast specials (at $5.45, they are a bargain) if I need to go on morning errands downtown. Fridays is french toast, so any excuse will do to go there for that. I've made friends with the waiters, and one is especially nice. He somehow figured out that I have origins in Ethiopia, and greets me with "Indeminesh?" and "Buna?"- "How are you?" and "Coffee?"
This morning, he sat me down, got my coffee, then spent some time attending to another "couple" that came in soon after I did. I thought he spent too much time with them, and was a little irritated. Not at him, but at the fact that such a "couple" always gets more attention and respect than it deserves.
The couple is homosexual. And to add more spice to this mix, it is a multi-culti homosexual couple. The "Asian" one spoke with a distinct Filipino accent, the other was white. The Filipino was speaking really loudly, as though nothing would stop him from "expressing himself."
My waiter finally came to take my order, and we had the following conversation.
"Do you mind if I say something?"
"No, not at all." He looked a little worried.
"That couple there is homosexual, isn't it?"
"Yes, they look like that to me."
"Don't you think it is pretty creepy? And they're so open about it. And everywhere I go in the downtown core, there are homosexuals everywhere. What's going on?"
"I don't like to judge."
"Well, you're just being polite."
"Canada is a multicultural country. Everyone belongs here."
"Really? Everyone I talk to, who honestly tells me his opinion, doesn't think homosexuals are normal. God gave us male and female, and everything flows form there. Gays are just there to destroy all that. They're very aggressive, you know. If they heard what I'm saying to you, they would probably (especially the loud Filipino one) report me to the Human Rights Commission."
At this point, he smiled just a little to show me that he agreed.
"We need to set up an army. We're going to have to fight them sooner or later. Better get used to that idea."
Silence from him, but not a hostile one.
These days, I'm not shy about confronting ordinary people about these assumptions. The waiter is right, Canada has advertised itself as a tolerant, multicultural country. Yet all these multicultural components are slowly eroding the country. The Chinese and Korean group, which collectively likes to be called "Asian," is another group which is subtly changing things, from the way business is handled (in shops, offices and even now in government) to the kinds of offspring they bear. For example, a large majority of Asian women are marrying white men and their children invariably end up associating more with their Asian background rather than their European one.
I said as much to another waitress at Fran's. A group of white men and their Asian girlfriends were at the table next to me. I said to my white waitress: "Doesn't it bother you when you see so many white men with Asian women? They are taking away your chances of having a husband and children." The poor girl looked bewildered, but didn't disagree with me. She continues to give me good service when I go there, so she clearly didn't mind (or find racist) what I said to her.