Bill Siksay & Brian Burke

William Livingstone (Bill) Siksay, former MP (born March 11, 1955, in Oshawa, Ontario to parents Patricia and William Siksay) is a Canadian politician, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the British Columbia riding of Burnaby—Douglas for the New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2011. Siksay resides in Burnaby with his partner, the Rev. Brian Burke, and remains an active member of the United Church of Canada. They have lived together since 1981. Brian was ordained as a United Church minister in 1996, and he currently serves the Prairie Points Pastoral Charge in Fillmore, Osage and Creelman, Saskatchewan.

Receiving his high school diploma from McLaughlin Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Oshawa, Ontario, Siksay attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto, graduating with a B.A. in 1978. He then enrolled in the M.Div. programme at the Vancouver School of Theology at the University of British Columbia, studying as a candidate to be a congregational minister in the United Church of Canada. He was one of the first people to come out as gay or lesbian in the process of his ordination and helped start the debate in the church on the ordination and commissioning of openly gay or lesbian candidates. He did not complete the programme and was not ordained.

Prior to running for elected office, he was constituency assistant to Svend Robinson for over 18 years. He also ran in the 1997 election in the riding of Vancouver Centre, but lost to incumbent Hedy Fry.

When Robinson resigned the Burnaby—Douglas seat in April 2004 due to a controversy around his theft of a piece of jewellery, Siksay won the nomination to replace Robinson as the NDP candidate in the upcoming election, and won the riding in the 2004 federal election on June 28.


@Christine Ackermann
Bill Siksay, former MP, is a Canadian politician, and was the Member of Parliament who represented the British Columbia riding of Burnaby—Douglas for the New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2011. Siksay resides in Burnaby with his partner, the Rev. Brian Burke, and remains an active member of the United Church of Canada. They have lived together since 1981. Brian was ordained as a United Church minister in 1996, and he currently serves the Prairie Points Pastoral Charge in Fillmore, Osage and Creelman, Saskatchewan.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Siksay

Gabriel Parsons & John C. Wells

John Christopher Wells (born 11 March 1939 in Bootle, Lancashire) is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. In September 2006 he signed a civil partnership with Gabriel Parsons, a native of Montserrat and his partner since 1968. (P: Ziko/Esperanto Wikipedia. John C. Wells, 1991)

Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics.

His father was originally from South Africa, and his mother was English; he has two younger brothers. After a childhood in poverty, he studied languages and taught himself Gregg Shorthand. Having learned Welsh, he was interviewed in Welsh on radio; he has a reasonable knowledge of ten different languages. He was apparently approached by the Home Office to work on speaker identification but turned down the offer as it was still considered unacceptable to be homosexual at the time, and he feared that the security check would make his homosexuality public.

Wells earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Cambridge and his master's degree and his Ph.D. at the University of London.


Ziko. Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, Roterdamo 2008. John Wells, IKU-prelego: "La mirinda mondo de la parolsonoj".
John Christopher Wells is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher. In September 2006 he signed a civil partnership with Gabriel Parsons, a native of Montserrat and his partner since 1968. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics. He is a member of London Gay Men's Chorus and has featured in their It Gets Better video. He is also a player of the melodeon and has uploaded videos to YouTube.

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Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Wells

( Further Readings )

More Real Life Romances at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Christopher Rice (born March 11, 1978)

Christopher Travis Rice (born March 11, 1978) is an American author. Rice has written five best-selling novels: A Density of Souls, The Snow Garden, Light Before Day, Blind Fall, and his latest book, The Moonlit Earth, which was published in April 2010 by Scribner.

Christopher Rice comes from a family of authors. His parents are Anne Rice and the late poet Stan Rice; his aunt, Alice Borchardt, is a noted writer. He is also friends with fellow author Clive Barker. Unlike his famous mother, he does not write horror novels, but considers his books to be thrillers.

Rice has lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and is a 1996 graduate of the prestigious Isidore Newman School. Rice went on to attend Brown University and the Tisch School of the Arts. He did not graduate from either school; instead, he moved to Los Angeles to explore writing screenplays.

Rice now lives in Los Angeles, California.

Rice is gay, and his works consist of descriptions of contemporary American life for the gay male. When asked in 2002 about "being pegged a 'gay writer,'" he replied:

That's not what I do. I might be more open to that label if I hadn't introduced ensemble casts of characters. Granted, A Density of Souls is as close to a gay book as you can get. It revolves around a character's homosexuality, and others are described in terms of their reaction to the one character's sexuality. In that sense it's at the core of the book. The Snow Garden is about identity. With this book, I'm trying to shrug off the term "gay" author.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Rice

Further Readings:

A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Miramax (August 22, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786886463
Amazon: A Density of Souls

Take the sensuous, fecund New Orleans setting, add a generous helping of tangled Southern family history, and season liberally with a sensitive teenage boy rejected by his friends and frightened of his own homoerotic impulses and you wouldn't be surprised to discover that the novel containing all of the above was written by someone named Rice. But a few paragraphs into the first page, it's clear that Anne Rice's son's first novel isn't about vampires or witches and does not otherwise read like one of her exceedingly popular books. The only family resemblance is in the setting, the sexual orientation of the lovingly described male characters, and the scent of overripe magnolias.There's murder, suicide, and madness at the heart of this rather clumsycoming-of-age story, which focuses on the youthful friendship of Stephen Conlin, Meredith Ducote, Greg Darby, and Brandon Charbonnet. This friendship is destroyed by a sexual incident that takes place just before the foursome enters Cannon, an exclusive prep school. There, Stephen is ostracized by his former friends, now the most popular kids on campus, who'd just as soon forget their own complicity in the event. Envy, passion, and rage drive the narrative, but the emotions are as juvenile as the characters, and the long passages depicting the rituals and cruelties of high school, from pep rallies to football games, slow down the pace without really illuminating character or motivation. The novel reads like a roman +á clef. Rice might have been wiser to tell someone else's story rather than his own. --Jane Adams

More Spotlights at my website: www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Michael Cashman & Paul Cottingham

Michael Cashman (born December 17, 1950) had a successful career as an actor and is now a politician in the Labour Party. He’s been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999.

Born into a working-class family, Cashman was always a performer. As a young child he and his friend would put on dance shows for his mother’s friends. "I think he’s one of them," Cashman would hear her confide to her fellow matrons. He wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but he knew there was something different about him.

At age twelve, a dead-on impression of Eartha Kitt landed Cashman the part of Oliver Twist in the original West End production of Oliver! (by Lionel Bart). He’s possibly best known for his role as Colin Russell in BBC TV’s EastEnders—a character remembered for being the first man to kiss another man in a soap opera in the UK. Cashman also played Mike Wallace in The Sandbaggers and guest-starred in the "Time-Flight" story in Doctor Who.

Cashman was one of the founders (with Tim BARNETT and Ian MCKELLEN) of the gay rights group Stonewall UK, and he regularly influences government policy decisions relating to sexual orientation. In the EP he is labour spokesman for human rights.

Cashman is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Staffordshire for his human rights work. He was also recognized by his peers as MEP of the Year for Justice and Fundamental Rights. He’s the head of the EU commission monitoring 2008 elections in Rwanda.


Friend Barbara Windsor introduced Michael Cashman to Paul Cottingham in 1983, when they were performing at Scarborough. Michael was 32, Paul was 19, they moved in together the following January. "But in the early days of our relationship, I was actually frightened by the amount of love Paul was giving me - it seemed too perfect to last. I was all clammed up and putting my energies into Stonewall" Cashman entered a civil partnership with Paul Cottingham on March 11, 2006. Cottingham, a fellow actor and humanitarian activist who worked as Cashman's researcher during Cashman's time in the European Parliament, died of cancer on 23 October 2014.

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Stern, Keith. Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals. Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

( Further Readings )

More Real Life Romances at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Blog Tour: What’s In A Name? by Pat Henshaw

What’s In A Name? by Pat Henshaw
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (January 21, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: What’s In A Name?

Barista Jimmy Patterson thinks it's a good idea to get rip-roaring drunk on his birthday after he’s dumped by his boyfriend. When the burly owner of Stonewall’s Bar rescues Jimmy, the night starts to look up.

Now Jimmy just wants to know the bartender's first name since he's worn a different name tag every time Jimmy's seen him. "Guy" Stone gives Jimmy seven guesses, one for each night he takes Jimmy out on a date.

While Jimmy’s trying to come up with his name, he's distracted by the destruction of his coffee shop and what looks more and more like a hate crime.

( Guy's POV )

( Excerpt )

Author Bio: Born in the Heartland of Nebraska, Pat Henshaw has made America hers by living in Texas, Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. She has found joy in visiting Mexico, Canada, Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and relishes trips to Rome, Italy, and Eugene, Oregon, to see family.
Pat has spent her life surrounded by words: Teaching English composition at the junior college level; writing book reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helping students find information as a librarian; and promoting PBS television programs.
Two of her fondest memories are touching time when she put her hands on the pyramids and experiencing pure whimsy when she interviewed Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch). Her triumphs are raising two incredible daughters who daily amaze her with their power and compassion. Her supportive husband keeps her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away writing fiction.

Where can you find the author?:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pat.henshaw.10
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6998437.Patois
Book website: http://whatsinanamenovella.blogspot.com
Website: http://patbooked.blogspot.com
E-mail: whatsinanamenovella@comcast.net
Tumblr: http://phenshaw.tumblr.com/



Tour Dates/Stops:
28-Jan Molly Lolly, Inked Rainbow Reads
4-Feb Hearts on Fire, Andrew Q. Gordon, Amanda C. Stone
11-Feb Multitasking Mommas, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Novel Approach
18-Feb Love Bytes, 3 Chicks After Dark, Bayou Book Junkie
25-Feb Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Kristy's Brain Food
4-Mar Dawn’s Reading Nook, MM Good Book Reviews, Velvet Panic, Christy Loves 2 Read
11-Mar Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Prism Book Alliance
18-Mar Crystal’s Many Reviewers, Rebecca Cohen Writes

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