mobius, Author at Daniel Gawthrop

MEMO TO THE POPE

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - OCTOBER 29: Pope John Paul II celebrates a mass in occasion of the 'Jubilee of Sports People' during the Jubilee Year in St. Peter's Square on October 29, 2000 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Post published:July 1, 2000

Posted on Xtra.ca on July 13, 2000 [On the occasion of an Italian gay pride parade being held in Rome, near the Vatican, in the midst of the Catholic Church “Jubilee” celebrations….] By Daniel Gawthrop Somewhere this very minute, in the bedrooms and bathrooms of teenaged Catholics all over the world, a young lesbian or gay boy is reaching for the razor blades. They’re thinking suicide, or perhaps they’ve already gone through with it,…

Hail, the Conquering Asian

Post published:October 1, 1999

Published in the Vancouver Sun on Saturday, October 2, 1999 “It is war now between Oriental the Euro-Canadian for possession of British Columbia –the prize region of the whole Pacific.” — Tom Maclnnes, The Oriental Occupation of British Columbia, 1927 “British Columbia is on its way to becoming an economic, cultural and finally political dependency of Asia — a Pacific Columbia likely dominated by China.” — Vancouver Sun columnist Trevor Lautens, Sept. 4,1999 …

Vanishing Halo

Post published:April 30, 1999

Vanishing Halo: Saving the Boreal Forest Encircling the northern hemisphere like a giant green halo, the boreal forest plays a crucial role in protecting us from global warming. Its peat bogs absorb carbon dioxide and purify the air we breathe. But the forest is disappearing. Veteran journalist and author Daniel Gawthrop reveals the array of wildlife, plants and peoples of the boreal forest. He exposes the logging, mining, oil and gas extraction, and manufacturing that…

Jumping to Conclusions

Post published:December 1, 1998

Published in Canadian Forum (Vol. LXXXVII, No. 874), December 1998, pp. 20 - 26 John Lewis was destroyed by an over-zealous police investigation and hair-trigger journalism. By Daniel Gawthrop No one who showed up at the Dr. Peter Centre on June 8, 1998, took much notice of the frail, grey-haired man in the blue polo shirt standing in the hallway at the edge of the crowd. Instead, all eyes were focused on CBC personality…

Fab Four’s Guiding Light

Post published:August 1, 1997

[This essay was published in Xtra! West on August 21, 1997 under the headline "Fab Four's Founding Fag" and posted here years later as published. It has been revised for the 57th anniversary of Brian Epstein's death--August 27, 2024] He was a brilliant over-achiever whose creative vision and marketing savvy turned a Liverpool guitar band into the biggest rock ‘n’ roll phenomenon of all time. He was a conflicted homosexual who never found a…