Prejudice in Vancouver

I'm hanging outside the Starbucks at Granville and Broadway in Vancouver waiting for a bus. I see an older gentleman, white, perhaps early seventies, take a seat on one of the benches near the bus-stop. He is wearing a baseball cap and a dark jacket with a hood. He sits for a while, then casually gets up an walks towards the collection of newspaper boxes on the corner. I'm mildly concerned because he is leaving his bag unattended on the bench. This is a fairly busy, public area. So I keep an eye out. He returns with an armload of free weekly papers (today is Thursday which means new editions are out), walks past the bench and dumps the papers into a garbage can, only then returning to his seat-- all in the world is well.

After a few minutes I can't stand it anymore and walk over the the garbage can to see what paper he dumped. I see about twenty or so copies of Xtra West, the local edition of a Canadian free paper of gay and lesbian news.

So I approached the man and asked, 'I'm curious, why did you dump those papers in the garbage?” He opens his reply: "Do you know about the Bible?" I am now regretting my decision. He continues on for a bit about God, Satan, and Sodom & Gomorrah. Many of his teeth are crowned with gold. I suggest that although he is entitled to his opinion, what he did may be considered an act of vandalism, and perhaps the police might not view his actions as appropriate. He said something about me being in league with the devil. I said that was fine and left him.

A few minutes pass and we hear sirens, not surprising, being close to a fire station. He pulls his hood over his head. The trucks pass and he pulls his hood down again.

My bus arrives, bound for the ferry terminal and a small farming community to the south of Vancouver. I get on first and find a seat near the back. The man gets on afterwards and sits near the front. I don't know if he is aware or cares that I am there, doubtful.

A few stops down the road a young Asian boy, perhaps fourteen or fifteen, gets on the bus, carrying a guitar and wearing sunglasses -- an Elvis in the making. The old man quickly offers the boy a seat and strikes up a conversation.