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16 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 30, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Humanists help make everything possible By Melanie Cummings SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Marcus Logan considers his life quite "boring." So does Yo Mustafa. Both men are married, are dads, are paying mortgages on homes in suburban neighbourhoods and have demanding careers to tend to daily. But as homosexual men, their lives are constantly put under a microscope for social commentary. Legally married to men they love, and raising adopted sons, Logan is the executive director of Halton Organization for Pride Everywhere (HOPE) and Mustafa is an actor, director and teacher who runs West End Studio Theatre (WEST). "Gender identity intersects with faith, ability, job, politics, every facet of life," said Mustafa. "As a gay man, I have to come out all the time," said Logan. "But it's getting better." That's because of the Human Rights Code ­ a legislative rule book Ontarians must follow ­ and invitations to speak from the Halton-Peel Humanist Community. Logan and Mustafa were the guest speakers at an information "As a gay man, I have to come out all the time. But it's getting better." Marcus Logan, executive director HOPE "Gender identity intersects with faith, ability, job, politics, every facet of life." Yo Mustafa, actor, director, teacher WEST Marcus Logan meeting hosted by the group Tuesday at the Oakville Town Hall. The public meeting that attracted 35 people had a focus on sexuality, gender identity and human rights. "The Halton-Peel Humanist Community wants to try to understand the issues and seek actions that we each can take to bring full equality and fairness to all people in the community," said the group's president, Oakville resident Elka Ruth Enola. According to the Humanist Association of Canada, humanism is a non-theistic, non-religious ethical philosophy of life, based on the principle that human beings are responsible for giving meaning and purpose to their lives, relying upon their human capacities of reason and responsibility and natural and social resources. A lullaby written by social activist and U.S. singer and songwriter Fred Small, called Everything Possible, set the tone of the meeting and prompted frank disclosures from two people in the audience. Sung a cappella by local father and son performers Tom Miller Sr. and Tom Miller Jr., the lyrics state: You can be anybody you want to be, You can love whomever you will, You can travel any country where your heart leads, And know I will love you still, You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around, You can choose one special one, And the only measure of your Yo Mustafa words and your deeds, Will be the love you leave behind when you're done. There are girls who grow up strong and bold, There are boys quiet and kind, Some race on ahead, some follow behind, Some go in their own way and time, Some women love women, some men love men, Some raise children, some never do, You can dream all the day never reaching the end, Of everything possible for you. By the end of the frank and open discussion, one man told the group about his "heroic" teenaged daughter who began questioning her sexual orientation at age 14. In the span of three years she decided she was queer, bisexual and then lesbian. At 17, and transsexual, he described her "bravery" for pursuing her own answers. Another man attending anonymously told the group that he was a 44-year-old gay man who married and divorced two women and had two children before finally coming to grips with his orientation over the past two years. "I grew up in the '70s and tried to train myself as a heterosexual because I looked the part and believed it would be safer for me to live that way," said the man. Ironically, he said his two wives and 17-year-old son helped him feel more comfortable with his homosexuality. MENS WINTER SALE Owens black & brown Whitney black & brown Chesham black & brown Rugby black & brown 129.95 REG Caden black Monaco black & brown 109.95 149.95 NOW SALE STARTS NOV. 30TH. ENDS DEC. 6TH. REG REG $ 99 REG 179.95 NOW 99 $ 89 99 V I S I T W W W. F R E E D M A N S H O E S . C O M NOW OPEN O A K V I L L E P L A C E · 240 Leighland Ave. Telephone: 905-842-3418