Lesbian writer honoured by Canada

By Natalie Relph • July 11, 2007 - 12:45

Her first novel Desert of the Heart, a lesbian love story, was made into an award-winning film, Desert Hearts.

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Jane Rule, 76, a writer of lesbian-themed novels, is to be appointed to the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour, in recognition of her lifetime contribution to literature.

Ms Rule has won many awards over the years as a writer, educator, gay rights activist, including the Order of British Colombia 2004.

Born in New Jersey in 1931, Ms Rule moved to Galiano Island, Canada with partner Helen Sonthoff, after a peripatetic childhood in America.

"I was proud and relieved to claim the label Canadian," Ms. Rule told the Globe and Mail.

In 1964 her first novel Desert of the Heart, a lesbian love story, was published and Ms Rule was publicly outed.

It was made into an award-winning film, Desert Hearts, starring Helen Shaver, in 1985.

In recent years, Ms Rule has opposed gay marriage on the basis that it 'mainstreams' gay and lesbian relationships.

"To be forced back into the heterosexual cage of coupledom is not a step forward but a step back into state-imposed definitions of relationships," she told the paper.

Ms Rule will be admitted to the order today at Galiano Island community hall.

"I chose Canada over fifty years ago, so it's nice to have Canada choose me," she told the Globe and Mail.

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