By Michael F. Paré,
- A bronze statue, was unveiled in the heart of the city's traditional gay village on Saturday May 28, 2005, as a gay tourist attraction. About a hundred on lookers, were on hand to witness the first glance of the 2.5-metre monument of Alexander Wood, a 19th century city magistrate. The general public is being led believe, Wood was first known homosexual in the town of York, and should now be honoured as hero for our gay youth.
Wood's place in Canadian history is relatively unknown. There's no proof, he was even a homosexual. "The Village" BIA would have us believe, he was also a merchant who sold powder for wigs, as if that occupation marked him gay. The statue is on the corner of Alexander Street (name after Wood) at Church Street.
Wood became the centre of a sex scandal in 1810 when he was accused by several young men of fondling them during a rape investigation. A woman who claimed to have been attacked by a group of men told Wood she had scratched the penis one of the assailant, so Wood took it upon himself to investigate the suspects' genitals. Word of his actions leaked out, and, in a cloud of shame, he was asked to leave the country by his superior.
Wood returned to Canada and bought a piece of land in 1826 at Yonge and Carlton Sts., that was known as Molly Wood's Bush. For the rest of his life he was referred to as a Molly - In the slang of the day, a sodomite. Molly is from the Latin mollis meaning "soft". The word "homosexual" wouldn't be coined for more than a hundred years later. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he died in 1846. The Statue $200,000 cost was shared by the Church-Wellesley Village BIA and the City of Toronto.
If Wood had been born, in the twentieth century, he would have been labeled a sexual pervert and worse a child molester, and more detail investigation would have commenced. Whether Toronto's downtown gay community, would be still be celebrating Alexander Wood as a local gay hero, is anyone's guess.
Still, Toronto's downtown pigeon population will be happy, to have wonderful new place to perch and poop, on this gay myth.
- A bronze statue, was unveiled in the heart of the city's traditional gay village on Saturday May 28, 2005, as a gay tourist attraction. About a hundred on lookers, were on hand to witness the first glance of the 2.5-metre monument of Alexander Wood, a 19th century city magistrate. The general public is being led believe, Wood was first known homosexual in the town of York, and should now be honoured as hero for our gay youth.
Wood's place in Canadian history is relatively unknown. There's no proof, he was even a homosexual. "The Village" BIA would have us believe, he was also a merchant who sold powder for wigs, as if that occupation marked him gay. The statue is on the corner of Alexander Street (name after Wood) at Church Street.
Wood became the centre of a sex scandal in 1810 when he was accused by several young men of fondling them during a rape investigation. A woman who claimed to have been attacked by a group of men told Wood she had scratched the penis one of the assailant, so Wood took it upon himself to investigate the suspects' genitals. Word of his actions leaked out, and, in a cloud of shame, he was asked to leave the country by his superior.
Wood returned to Canada and bought a piece of land in 1826 at Yonge and Carlton Sts., that was known as Molly Wood's Bush. For the rest of his life he was referred to as a Molly - In the slang of the day, a sodomite. Molly is from the Latin mollis meaning "soft". The word "homosexual" wouldn't be coined for more than a hundred years later. He eventually returned to Scotland, where he died in 1846. The Statue $200,000 cost was shared by the Church-Wellesley Village BIA and the City of Toronto.
If Wood had been born, in the twentieth century, he would have been labeled a sexual pervert and worse a child molester, and more detail investigation would have commenced. Whether Toronto's downtown gay community, would be still be celebrating Alexander Wood as a local gay hero, is anyone's guess.
Still, Toronto's downtown pigeon population will be happy, to have wonderful new place to perch and poop, on this gay myth.
You've taken the words right out of my mouth. I was flabbergasted when I read about this statue (in the Globe & Mail a couple of weeks ago). "Not my role model!" a friend and I chimed almost in unison.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear of a Queer West Village. My queer-positive church, Trinity-St. Paul's United, falls within the area (at Robert and Bloor Sts.) but I live to the east of the Church-Wellesley slum.