Capital Pride?

This is my very first contribution for the blog and I’m writing from the capital (Ottawa that is). I wanted to talk about my experience today on conquering (heteronormative) spaces in Ottawa. My first observation was that there are not a lot of gay “couples” who do what heterosexual couples do, such as holding hands, kissing in public, and public displays of affection in general. I feel like everyone here is pretty much closeted (I might be wrong since I am writing from a perspective of a Torontonian, where pretty much gay couples are left alone by the general public). But I find that over here, gay pda’s are generally frowned upon, even having a few laughs from heterosexual couples and even calling us faggots. Surprisingly, the people who gave “approval” and who were generally happy about it were older people and older heterosexual couples, which I find quite ironic in a way. It seems a bit odd and off for the capital city to be very heteronormative. Another experience I had today was at the university campus itself (of all the places); I found that there’s not very much gay visibility and that other students judged us as if we were very unusual. Ottawa advertises itself being open and friendly, however, based on my experience this weekend, it is quite the contradiction. And so I ask, where is your pride Capital City?