Anna Willats has been questioning authority and confronting the abuse of power since she was teenager in Milton, Ontario. Her first public speak out was against Reverend Ken Campbell, when he was waging a homophobic campaign against education about the realities of gays and lesbians in local high schools. She has a long history in the women's anti-violence and other social justice communities in Toronto.
Anna is a 51 year old proud butch mother of two young people, who has
been living and working in Toronto
since 1982. She will celebrate a very wonderful 12 years with her lover, Helen Victoros this year. She is a professor in the Assaulted Women's and Children's Counsellor/Advocate Program at George Brown College, and a member of several social justice action groups, including the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition and the Women Against Poverty Collective. She sits on the board of directors of the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, and the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape. Anna was named Toronto's Best Activist by NOW Magazine in 2006. She has put together a social justice newsletter called RISE UP! for eight years, which she emails weekly, free of charge, to more than 1,400 subscribers. She also teaches a human rights/community leadership program called Knowledge is Power, which she developed and wrote, to member of the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre. Along with PARC members and staff, Willats was awarded a 2007 City of Toronto Access Award for Disability Issues for their work on this course, which is now being offered in 3 other Toronto area drop-ins.
Anna has participated in many panels and public forums over the years, including the "RAGE! Toronto Queers: 25 Years Later" panel, and the "Older Gays and Lesbians and Sexuality" panel - both held last year. She also conducted a community consultation about policing and queer issues for the Women's Bathhouse Committee, which resulted in several excellent recommendations for the Toronto Police Service.
Photo: Peter Ovesny
Photo: David Sweeney
2008 Honoured Dyke Group
Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club (TNG)
The Toronto Newsgirls started in 1996 and was made up mostly of dykes. I had postered in the gay community with posters that read 'Boxing for Women' and within a short time 40 women signed up. In the first few years of the Newsgirls, it was approx. 90% gay and 10% straight. Straight women were welcome as long as they were respectful to all of us queers. Over 12 years of teaching, over 1000 women have come through the Club. The mission of the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club is to provide a safe and positive space for all women to explore the sport of boxing.
This year the Newsgirls received funding from the Attorney General Victim Services Unit, in partnership with OFA (Opportunity for Advancement for Women) and Jessie's Place, to teach boxing to 120 survivors of violence. A prof from Brock Univ will be following the women for 2 years to see if boxing helped break them out of the cycle of violence. Also, the TNG advisory committee is in talks of how to make all the classes available and accessible to the Trans community. By April '08, all classes at the Club will be Trans inclusive.
In 1993 I fought and won the first sanctioned bout for women organized by Toronto. Today there are lots of dykes boxing. Last night, Jan. 24, a dyke Newsgirl coach worked the corner of a dyke cop at the annual cop fight night and kicked some serious butt. In our next club show on Feb. 15, 9 of the 10 female boxers who have put themselves up for a fight are queer. Out of my 12 coaches, 10 of them are queer. All of my coaches work hard in the gym teaching the next batch of boxers the art of boxing. In the sharing of stories, all of us have tales to tell, including tales of dealing with difficult family issues, difficult co-workers who have issues with our queerness, and difficulties finding strength dealing with society's beliefs around women and queers. The common thread for many of us is knowing that we have a place to meet up where we can remind ourselves and each other how blooming strong we are. This is a very important place for those of us who don't have family or relationships. At club shows, we cheer each other on and that alone inspires the cheer-er-on-ers. The Newsgirls queers are made up of very important people...social workers, Moms, postal carriers,teachers,cops,web designers, volunteers, policy makers, opera singers, dancers,writers, & teens of queer moms.
Boxing is defending one's rights to the core.
'Courage is the art of not letting anyone know you're scared to death.' 'Courage is being scared but doing it anyway.' The Newsgirls boxers, both the rec and competitive ones show their courage firstly, by just showing up to the gym. Getting in the ring wins them so much respect from the other boxers in an inspirational way. Being through being queer, we know diversity and we easily share the concept of diversity with anyone willing to listen. We have so much respect for each other knowing what we have been through. Not only is boxing a very humbling sport, it is also a very respected sport. Respect is one of the missing elements of queers in society. Queers often come and box for a hit of respect. The Newsgirls carry so much pride in their accomplishments that it inspires me as a coach to keep going, to keep doing what it is that we are doing. We do outreach. We offer free classes to youth who have gone through Children's Aid Society. The TNG Advisory Committee meets once every couple of months to keep me on track. They are now organizing writing grants for at-risk youth. And celebrate, do we know how to celebrate? Oh yeah, maybe a little too much.
