‘Hot lesbians’ ad for oil backfires

CALGARY — “In Canada lesbians are considered hot! In Saudi Arabia if you’re a lesbian you die!”

So reads the poster that rapidly made the rounds on Facebook and Twitter Monday; it was greeted with groans, howls of indignation, tittering delight and flabbergasted silence. The meme shows two attractive women kissing.

“Why are we getting our oil from countries that don’t think lesbians are hot?! Choose equality! Choose Canadian oil!”

The poster was created by the Canada Oil Sands Community, one of many spinoff groups seeking to advocate for the beleaguered industry on social media.

Founder Robbie Picard admits he didn’t expect the backlash.

“(We used) a random stock image, but the point was to draw attention to the bigger issue. I was surprised there was so much response to it,” he said.

The image appears provocative at best, sexist at worst, confirming the most embarrassing and crass stereotypes of oilsands workers.

Picard doesn’t see it that way; he’s an openly gay Metis man and scrap-metal recycler whose Fort McMurray, Alta., home burned down in the recent massive wildfires.

For him, the poster builds on the ethical oil-esque themes he has been championing for more than a year through his small independent group.

“Why is it that we have such an issue supporting our own oil? Fighting among ourselves over pipeline approvals, yet we turn a blind eye to the mass massacre of gays and lesbians in Saudi Arabia? If you’re gay there, they will throw you out of a window. They will hang you,” he said.

Picard said he didn’t intend to offend or objectify anyone. In fact, he would have no problem featuring a similar poster showing two men embracing.

“When I say lesbians are hot, I don’t think there is anything wrong about saying that,” he said.

“I think all lesbians are hot and I’m not opposed to putting a picture of two guys up there. It was just to strike up a conversation. I find anybody is hot. I think two women kissing is hot. I think that something that is part of the fabric of our city — that we can do whatever we want in our country — that is hot.”

If his goal was to draw attention to the differences between Saudi Arabia and Canada on LGBTQ issues, this is not the way to go about it, said Carla Bertsch, a social worker who works on gender and sexuality issues in Calgary.

“That message is lost in his advertisement. That message does not come out for me, this is just an advertisement that oversexualizes women,” she said, a lesbian and a member of Calgary Social Workers for Social Justice. “There is so much more to my life than whether I’m not or overly sexual. This is simply an ad that’s using sex to sell.”

She added gay and lesbian people in this country also face forms of discrimination and oppression. “If this (poster) is what convinces you to buy oil from Canada instead of Saudi Arabia, then I think you probably don’t appreciate the movement that is still happening.”

She believes it will do nothing to persuade fellow LGBTQ people of the moral superiority of Canadian oil. “It’s not speaking to my community. It’s speaking to a privileged community ... of mostly men.”

Picard was recently featured in an article in magazine in which he discussed the diversity of the oil-driven boom town.

He says the industry’s high wages are a boon, not least to gay and lesbian workers who would face severe, if not fatal penalties for working in restrictive countries like Saudi Arabia or the other oilrich Persian Gulf states.

Picard was once associated with the prominent I Love Oilsands campaign, but split to become an independent activist about a year ago. He operates mostly on social media, where his Facebook page has more than 13,000 followers.