GayCalgary Magazine - May 2012

MAY 2012 ISSUE 103 • FREE

The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community

Interview with

JACK

BLACK

Jonny McGovern Return of the Gay Pimp

Melissa Etheridge

Rocker (Kind Of) Opens Up

PLUS:

Idina Menzel Jason Mraz Erin Grey ...and more!

Business Directory

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Community Map

Calgary • Alberta • Canada

Events Calendar

Peter Katz

A Dreamy Lover’s Date Night

Tourist Information

STARTING ON PAGE 55

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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Table of Contents

MAY 2012

Photography

Entertainment Or Else

8

Full Frontal Nerdity

Publisher’s Column

A Retrospective of this year’s Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo

10 Something In Steph Macpherson

Canadian Sweetheart Releases her Premier Album, Bells and Whistles

11 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Longest running LGBTQ organization in Alberta re-opens

12 Aaron Douglas Seriously a Funny Guy

Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, Diaz-Marino B&J

13 Edmonton’s Artists for Life 2012

Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino

14 Idina Menzel Defies… Everything

Printers

Transcontinental PrintersPrinting North Hill News/Central Web

Distribution Calgary: Distribution Gallant Distribution,

Calgary: Gallant Distribution GayCalgary Staff GayCalgary Edmonton: Clark’sStaff Distribution Edmonton: Other:Clark’s CanadaDistribution Post Other: Canada Post

Legal Council

Courtney Aarbo, LegalBarristers Council and Solicitors Courtney Aarbo, Barristers and Solicitors

Sales & General Inquiries SalesGayCalgary & General Magazine Inquiries

GayCalgary Magazine 2136and 17thEdmonton Avenue SW 2136AB, 17thCanada AvenueT2T SW0G3 Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada sales@gaycalgary.com T2T 0G3

Office Hours: By appointment ONLY Office Hours: appointment ONLY Phone:By 403-543-6960 Phone: Toll Free: 403-543-6960 1-888-543-6960 TollFax: Free:403-703-0685 1-888-543-6960 403-703-0685 E-Mail: Fax: magazine@gaycalgary.com E-Mail: magazine@gaycalgary.com This Month's Cover ThisBlack, Month's Main: Jack photoCover

by Millennium Cher and Christina Aguilera of Sony Entertainment, Top Right: Jonnycourtesy McGovern, photo Pictures; Annie Lennox courtesy of Mike Owen; by Dick Mitchell, Middle Right: Melissa Etheridge, RexBottom Goudie.Right: Peter Katz. photo by Universal,

Proud Members of:

Edmonton Rainbow Business Association

3rd Annual Event to benefit HIV Edmonton and Camp fYrefly Theater icon talks queer crushes, hubby’s gay tendency and her ‘Wicked’ nightmares

17 Transcend at the Auburn TESA Debuts its Annual Fundraiser

17 Progress, One Day at a Time Calgary Outlink Keeps Up

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18 Jason Mraz Won’t Give Up

Pop star talks supporting LGBT community, his ‘open’ sexuality and clarifies Instinct interview

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20 Catching Up With Kristine W

Dance diva on new music, keeping the gays in line and pressure to go country

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22 Notorious G.A.Y.

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Videography Steve Polyak, Videography Rob Diaz-Marino

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Writers and Contributors

Mercedes Allen, Chris Azzopardi, Dallas Barnes, Dave DaveBrousseau, Brousseau,Benjamin Sam Casselman, Burtt, Sam Jason Casselman, Clevett, Andrew Jason Clevett, Collins,Jade Emily Cooper, Collins,Andrew Rob Diaz-Marino, Collins, Rob Janine Diaz-Marino, Eva Trotta, Janine JackEva Fertig, Trotta, Glen JonHanson, Fairbanks, Joan Jack Hilty,Fertig, Evan Glen Kayne, Hanson, StephenJoan Lock, Hilty, NeilEvan McMullen, Kayne, Allan Stephen Neuwirth, Lock, Steve Allan Polyak, Neuwirth, Carey SteveRutherford, Polyak, Carey RomeoRutherford, San Vicente, Romeo Ed Sikov, San Vicente, Nick Vivian Ed Sikov and the GLBT and the LGBT Community Community of Calgary, of Calgary, Edmonton, Edmonton, and andAlberta.

Alberta.

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Publisher: Steve Polyak Editor: Rob Diaz-Marino Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: Rob Diaz-Marino, Ara SteveShimoon Polyak

The Return of the Gay Pimp

26 Erin Gray

The Lady of 1000 Talents

28 In Good Conscience 30 Deep Inside Hollywood Steel Magnolias: the TV movie

International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association

31 Cocktail Chatter El Nuevo Mojito

National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

PAGE 26

31 Queer Prom

Misc Youth gives LGBT Youth a second chance

Continued on Next Page  www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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Table of Contents  Continued From Previous Page

32 A Dreamy May Lovers’ Date Night Peter Katz is Coming to Town

Magazine Figures

34 Two Worlds Collide

Monthly Print Quantity:

PAGE 32

The Death of a Gay Activist

7,000–9,000 copies Guaranteed Circulation: 7,000 copies Bonus Circulation: up to 2,000 copies

35 Letters to the Publisher 36 Cape Town

Readership

Paradise in the Rainbow Nation

38 “The Best Life that Good Design Can Offer” Step into 6th and Tenth – Construction Slated to Break Ground this Fall

39 Melissa Etheridge (Kind Of) Opens Up Rocker talks life after ex, getting remarried and upcoming album

42 Jack Black (Maybe) Goes Gay 44 52 53 54 55 60 62

Queer Eye Chelsea Boys A Couple of Guys Bitter Girl Directory and Events Classified Ads Q Scopes

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Be very careful, Aquarius!

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Actor talks playing a real-life man who might be gay – and the pedicure he gave Shirley MacLaine

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Originally established in January 1992 as Men for Men BBS by MFM Communications.

Name changed to GayCalgary in 1998.

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First edition of GayCalgary.com Magazine published November 2003. Name adjusted in November 2006 to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. February 2012 returned to GayCalgary Magazine

Disclaimer and Copyright Opinions expressed in this magazine are specific to the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of GayCalgary staff and contributors.

Those involved in the making of this publication, whether advertisers, contributors, or the subjects of articles or photographs, are not necessarily gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans. This magazine also includes straight allies and those who are gay friendly.

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Submission: Wed, May 30th In Circulation: Sat, Jun 2nd Please contact us immediately if you think you may have missed the booking or submission deadline. www.gaycalgary.com

Editorial

Entertainment Or Else Publisher’s Column

By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc.

At first, people were the masters of entertainment. They could choose when, where, and how they would spend their time playing games, reading books, listening to music, etc.

They could choose when to watch a movie or go out for a live show. And when there were more important things in their lives that needed to be done, they could put their entertainment on hold, or away on a shelf, and return to it the next time it was convenient for them.

Today, I see signs that providers of entertainment have managed to flip the script, in many ways making us slaves to their wares. In an industry that profits from our demand, is it any wonder that it has employed mechanisms to inflate these demands to new levels? Are today’s entertainment providers designing their products in a way that completely misses the point, influencing us to mix up our priorities so that they can make an extra buck?

Perhaps you’ve gone to see a movie and walked out thinking to yourself, that’s X hours of my life that I’ll never get back. In pursuit of profits, we’re all too often bombarded with entertainment that has no other purpose than to generate money. It can lure you in with the promise of something interesting, but leave you feeling disappointed.

My point with this article is not to condemn entertainment as a complete waste of time. In fact, I believe entertainment serves some very necessary functions and satisfies our basic human nature. Good entertainment serves a purpose: it teaches us something, inspires us to try new things, brings us together with other people, gives us a reprieve from day to day drudgery and helps us unwind after a long day’s work. Bad entertainment just consumes our time and takes away from us doing meaningful things with our lives.

Let’s start with the Reality TV fad, what I dare call the intellectual “junk food” of television. From my experience sampling a number of such shows, I can at best expect ad hoc storytelling, at worst pointless mind-numbing tripe.

Much like real junk food, most Reality TV makes me feel full but it rarely provides me with anything useful that I can

take away from it. Yet it seems to keep me coming back to it because I want more – I want to see who gets voted out next, what challenges and surprises lie ahead. Somehow I think consuming more of it will fix that hungry feeling, when in reality this could just be the result of malnourishment. I find myself craving a good overarching story, rather than just a loosely related collection of incidents.

I relish having a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) because it comes in handy for skipping to the good parts. I admit I do enjoy seeing some of the scantily clad men on Survivor, or the cool photo shoots on America’s Next Top Model, or the imaginative costume and makeup designs on Face Off; in the past I have ended up trying out my singing voice whenever I heard people performing good songs on American Idol. So I can get something out of Reality TV shows, I just have to remember to pick through them for the worthwhile parts, rather than swallowing them whole.

However, when unwatched shows pile up on my PVR and I have to spend hours picking through them, I start to think I might be better just turning the TV off permanently. I could perhaps expect worthwhile stuff to later be available on DVD or a service like Netflix for me to watch at my own pace, so that I won’t feel rushed and obligated to keep up with the weekly or daily push of new content.

Video Games, despite being a more interactive form of entertainment, can be just as bad if not worse for sucking people in. Personally I have stuck to my guns, refusing any and all “pay to play” massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft. From what I understand, they charge a player for a subscription – a time window that they can use to play as much as they want. We all want to get our money’s worth, so people will push themselves to play as much as they can during that time – even to the point where it is no longer enjoyable - even letting their real life responsibilities lapse. What’s worse is that if you don’t renew your subscription for a period of time, you lose your all your progress and have to start again from scratch, should you ever return. All this strikes me as being designed to punish people for not playing the game, in a way, forcing us to keep consuming while our time and money are held hostage.

Even in offline games, positive reinforcement is just as effective of a drug for making us slaves to Video Games.

Most of my experience is with Role Playing Games (RPGs) where the characters that you play will develop skills and abilities from experience they earn as a result of the time

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A century or two in the past, people would need just about every waking hour to ensure their basic survival needs were covered. But over the years we have invented technologies that have helped us accomplish these things readily, freeing up more and more of our time. In Western society at least, we have opted to turn that time into a luxury by filling it with entertainment.

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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 Continued from Previous Page you invest “training” them. You need to do this because, in most cases, you can’t advance the story unless your character improves enough to overcome the obstacles put in their way: things like monsters and other foes. A lot of games completely overdo this, making the gaming experience more about hack and slash than character and storyline. At some points it can feel like work to get past these obstacles. I don’t know about you, but I have enough work in my real life already.

Then again, instant or easy gratification in games is also a dangerous thing. It’s a great feeling, and it’s easy to find yourself needing to strive for that next achievement, complete that next quest, in order to keep that feeling going.

But accomplishments made in a fictional world rarely translate to anything useful in your real life. You train your video game character to fight more effectively with a sword, but you yourself don’t learn that skill. All you do is get pretty darn good at pushing buttons.

On the other hand, with the invention of more physical interfaces like Kinect, I can see that one of these days we may very well learn useful physical skills by playing video games. Already we have fitness games that use their power of fun and positive reinforcement to encourage us to do healthy, regular exercise. So I have high hopes that I may yet learn to swordfight!

So yes, what I’m saying is that just like eating healthy, we have to be mindful about what sorts of entertainment we allow our bodies and minds to engage in. We have to be aware that bad entertainment goes down smooth, while good entertainment gives us roughage. At times we need to consider turning away the forms of it that aren’t convenient for us to consume, and not allow ourselves be force fed.

And at all times, we need to remember that we’re the boss of ourselves!

April 2012 April was a ridiculously busy month for us here in Calgary, with something major happening nearly every weekend.

The day after we went to press with the April edition was the much anticipated Back(lot) to Boyz(town) reunion party at Vinyl, the former Boyztown/Rekroom location. For the past two years this event has given people the chance to relive their fond memories of the former gay bar, and for the next generation to get a glimpse of the history behind this space. As the official kick-off party for Apollo Western Cup, the event was extremely well attended. The fact that it was on a Wednesday night seemed to make no difference, although I’m sure there were some hung over people at work the next morning.

The weekend to follow was the 30th Annual Apollo Western Cup, and another spectacular Western Cup dance at Hotel Arts to wrap up the sporting weekend. Western Cup is one of a small handful of LGBT dances in our area

Online Last Month (1/2) A Tale of Two Dream-Crossed Lovers ATP Returns Mary’s Wedding to the Epcore Centre

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Book Marks Gypsy Boy

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies, by Mikey Walsh. St. Martin’s Press, 288 pages, $24.99... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2830

Book Marks Cloudland

Cloudland, by Joseph Olshan. St. Martin’s Minotaur, 304 pages, $24.99 hardcover.

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Creep of the Week Kirk Cameron

On March 2 Kirk Cameron was on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight for some reason. To many viewers it must have come as... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2832

Creep of the Week Utah Legislature

Yes! Utah is on a fast track to becoming the first sex-free state in the country. I know, I know, a lot of people already... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2833

Creep of the Week Rush Limbaugh

Poor Rush Limbaugh. Can’t a guy even call a girl a slut on the radio these days without people getting all mad? It’s not... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2834

Creep of the Week Pat Robertson

Congratulations, Pat Robertson, for being chosen as Creep of the Week. There were a lot of outstanding candidates this week... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2835

Deep Inside Hollywood

Clint wants Cruise for Beyonce.

Can you blame him?

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Thinking Out Loud: Time Heals No Wounds

Why waiting for LGBT equality is a waste of time

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Thinking Out Loud: In a Family Way Why reproductive rights should matter to the LGBT community

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Antibodies helped, hindered vaccine

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Penis Questions

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Homophobes Attracted To Same Sex, Study Shows

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that bring together over a thousand people at the same time (the others being PURE Pride in Calgary, PURE Pride in Edmonton, and the dances at the ARGRA Rodeo). According to organizers, they had already run out of pre-sold tickets at most of their outlets, and sold out of the remainder at the door within an hour of the dance opening.

After that we needed a weekend of reprieve, and stayed put in Calgary even though the Bearbash was happening in Edmonton. Out of curiosity, we popped down for the grand opening of Ten in the former Club Sapien space. The changes inside were dramatic, opening up the whole room to be a huge dance floor, with a staggering array of lights and basically a “jumbo-tron” looming over the stage behind the DJs. The place was packed and lined up, though for the sake of taking a quick tour as media we were able to jump the queue. Inside we recognized a lot of faces from the LGBT community, having a great time as part of the mixed crowd concept for the club.

Then the following weekend was the ISCCA Coronation ball at the Westin. Steve and I found it to be a great opportunity to reconnect and get caught up with many people from Edmonton who we haven’t seen in a while, not to mention having a fun time and good discussions with others from out of province, such as Ted Northe (first Empress of Canada) and Paul Therien (founder of Q Hall of Fame). Of course the socializing only came after 6+ hours of work filming and photographing the event. Photos and streaming videos of the show should already be posted in our online gallery by the time you’re reading this.

About a year ago, GayCalgary was nominated to receive a special award for our support of the Alberta courts, from the International Court System of Canada in commemoration of their 40th Anniversary. The ceremony was held at the time in Vancouver but we and a few other Calgary recipients weren’t able to attend. We were happy to finally receive the Royal Order of the Maple Leaf award at this Coronation, alongside of David Atchison and David Patten, presented to us by Martin Storm who is the President of the Canadian Court System and Heir Apparent to Nicole the Great. While these awards were mainly intended for individuals, we were one of only a handful of businesses across Canada to receive this honour.

We would like to congratulate Emperor 35 Chris Tron, Empress 35 Makayla Quinn, and their upper house, who all stepped down that evening. We would also like to congratulate the newly elected monarchs, Emperor 36 Bull Dozr and Empress 36 Ruby Elizabeth Hart, who were crowned at the end of the night. Usually the fundraising totals are announced and cheques are given out to charities at the Coronation, however the ISCCA has declared that they instead will do this at this year’s Investitures ceremony.

Check the ISCCA website (http://www.iscca.ca) for more information.

We spent our final weekend of April at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, manning a booth to promote our magazine whilst gunning for interviews with the many big names they had brought to Calgary.

We’d like to thank Evan and Jade for helping out with our booth, and for making themselves available (along with

Continued on Page 9 

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Alberta Ballet Returns the Rockin’ Love Lies Bleeding to the Stage At times romantic and gentle, at others racy and erotic, Love Lies Bleeding, an abstract, poetic ballet choreographed... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2845

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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Entertainment

 Wil Wheaton

 Adam West as Batman

 Robert Englund as Freddy

Full Frontal Nerdity

A Retrospective of this year’s Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo

By Evan Kayne The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo was, as ever, a very strange, very exciting, and very exhausting way to spend the weekend. While I interviewed some actors and artists, of course I wanted more. And then throw in having to cover several seminars...if you saw a blur zipping through the crowd, it wasn’t The Flash, it was me.

Robert Englund (“Freddy Kruger”) We’re so used to his portrayal of the original Freddy Kruger from the Nightmare on Elm Street series it’s surprising to remember Robert Englund is a classically trained actor. Yet as he rattled off directors he’s known or worked with and discussed the work of acting - it was quite an education.

From an early age, Englund realized getting attention and laughs was fun, and by the time he got the part of Freddy, he was already established having celebrity status from the original V series.

The seminar was relaxed and easy-going...much like how Robert Englund is said to be himself. When asked about missed possibilities with the Nightmare franchise, he did tell the audience at one point, “...we got very close to doing Freddy versus Ash. Sam (Raimi) wanted Ash to win.” Which Robert thought was perfect, but unfortunately the studio nixed the idea.

As for the recent remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Englund was blunt in saying, while some people don’t like remakes, Hollywood will always do it. They may do it right sometimes, sometimes not. As well, he gently chastised the audience for rushing to see these sequels while ignoring the great films which are released and then sink into anonymity.

The only criticism he gave the new version of Nightmare was “they made it too soon” implying, as many people have, that sometimes movie franchises need rest between the old and the new. Additionally, he was disappointed they didn’t use as much of the newer technology available today to create truly bizarre dream landscapes, citing the effects used in the Robin Williams film What Dreams May Come.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

Adam West (1960s Batman, “Mayor Adam West”) If there’s a walking block of cheese almost as hammy as William Shatner, Adam West would be it. Known as “the Classic Batman” or “The Bright Knight” for his work on the 1960s live action Batman series, it’s been an image which typecast him for a long time after the series ended. Much like Shatner, he came to embrace the role and the image it gave him as a large ham. Consequently, we have him showing up on a lot of shows and animated series playing...well, a version of himself (especially as the mayor on Family Guy).

An interesting tidbit about the 1960s Batman TV series was, despite the campiness of the series, it managed to bring back interest in the DC Comics character. In defending the camp, he said it was harder than it looked – he praised the skill of the writers and made a bridge to the similar skills of the writers on Family Guy. As well, he pointed out the difficulty of playing in a campy comedy series, be it Batman or as “Mayor West”, was delivering the lines in a deadpan manner even thought the character was in a hilarious predicament.

Overall Adam West was playful and entertaining, telling fans about the pros and cons of fighting with a cape and how driving the Batmobile was not as much fun as you would think. As for Catwoman? West was coy on which one he liked best, only admitting he looooved the legs on Julie Newmar.

Animation and InnerSPACE panels A number of expo-goers may not have checked out the smaller panels because they didn’t have a big name attached to them. This is a mistake because they can be just as entertaining – if not more so – than the big name panels and there’s a better chance you’ll get to ask a question.

The strangest and most wonderful panel was the cartoon voices seminar featuring, among others, the talents of Billy West, Tara Strong, and Jim Cummings. While they may not be household names (Billy West is getting up there, though), they kept the audience laughing the whole time. They discussed common experiences the actors had growing up which brought them to voiceovers – be their skills originating

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 Publisher’s Colum - From Page 7 from a comedy or a musical background. If there was anyone who was thinking about getting into voice acting, this seminar certainly opened your eyes to the possibilities. These people were true craftsmen (and craftswomen) and the seminar was something many in attendance will probably remember long after we’ve forgotten about the other headliners.

The InnerSPACE panel was a chance to catch up with Teddy, Ajay and Cynthia. If there were another trio having a better time on the floor of the expo, I’d suspect they were on drugs (Ajay’s constant joking about rampant alcoholism aside, of course). The excitement these three generate for the sci-fi/fantasy/animation genres is contagious – so much so they ended up having Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Galactica and Ryan Robbins from Sanctuary drop by and join their panel. One surprise they told me was that for people who make their living interviewing actors and people in the industry, they still do get nervous and/or have fan girl and fan boy moments.

Wil Wheaton (“Wesley Crusher”) Finally, one person who was most excited by the reunion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast was, himself, a cast member on the show. Wil Wheaton for the longest time lived in the shadow of the character “Wesley Crusher”, but he’s at peace with the role, and has learned to ignore the fandom who hated Wesley. Or as he so eloquently puts it, “I have run out of fucks to give.”

He admitted for the first two seasons the writers had no idea what to do with the character and as an actor, he did the best he could. Since that time he’s continued doing some acting, some writing, and has become an avid gamer.

As an actor, and an industry insider, he did have some surprising notes on acting – essentially how hard it can be at times to create personalities on stage or screen which are different from other characters the actor has played, and especially from themselves: “There are big superstar actors who ruin movies for me because they don’t act. It’s just like Oh, it’s Tom Cruise as that guy! and they don’t give themselves up to the character.”

Wil also had advice for writers: “Turn off the TV. And turn off the computer,” and then create those wonderful worlds in your mind. Furthermore, he agrees with what Stephen King has said in the past – if you’re going to be a writer you have to be a reader. He echoed ideas put forward by a lot of other artists at the convention – that this is the best time in history to be a creative person. “All you need is an idea, and the commitment to do the work, to bring the idea into the world.”

Jason) for panels and spontaneous interviews throughout the weekend. It was another awesome experience, making us proud to be a sponsor of the expo.

As we discovered last year, attendees of the expo are extremely accepting of our presence there, and many weren’t shy about taking a copy to see what we were about.

In fact, we’re happy to say that we gave out more copies of our magazine that weekend than even at Taboo, ARGRA, or the Calgary and Edmonton Pride festivals, in good part thanks to Jade’s mad people skills.

We discovered that we likely had the print media exclusive interview with Wil Wheaton, who had approached us, we are told, on recommendation from another sci-fi celebrity that had enjoyed our interview from the year prior. This really lays testament to the hard work and great attitudes that our writers bring to the table. During one of her panels, Amanda Tapping was happy to hear an audience question from Jade, and announced the fact that she was main feature on last month’s cover of GayCalgary Magazine to which the packed auditorium clapped and cheered.

I was excited that our media and sponsor status got us within 5 metres of the complete collection of my biggest childhood heroes, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

I found it surreal and even a little emotional to be seeing these people, who were important role models to me during my formative years, up close and in person. Even though I was behind a camera, I had to pause and appreciate the moment with my own eyes because it was the sort of thing that only happens once in a lifetime.

This Month May looks like it will give us all a chance to recharge before the true insanity of the summer months begins. The major event for May is the 14th annual Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival, running from May 24th to June 2nd. Otherwise prepare yourself for Edmonton Pride Week, June 8th to 17th. For more information, see the ads for Fairy Tales and Edmonton Pride Week in this edition.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

9

Interview

Something In Steph Macpherson

Canadian Sweetheart Releases her Premier Album, Bells and Whistles

sounds with my voice,” she says. “Now, I’m not sure if that qualifies as singing, but if I can spin it that way, I’ll take it.”

Macpherson began taking voice and piano lessons at the age of 4 at the urging of her parents.

“I’m pretty sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I would sing the entire Disney discography on repeat, and they figured I’d better expand my repertoire,” she kids.

Additional to dabblings with the banjo, ukulele, glockenspiel and mandolin, in high school she picked up the guitar, “probably to impress a crush”, and says it was one of the best decisions she made.

“Much more portable than a piano.”

That portability factor means that Macpherson has toured the country extensively, including a 30 shows in 33 days stint from Montreal to BC with friend and road warrior Zachary Lucky of Saskatoon.

“I love touring,” she says. “Travelling and performing – yes please!”

But aside from the thrill of new places and faces, Macpherson does say that life on the road takes its tolls both on sleep and bank accounts.

“I’d be lying, of course, if I said it wasn’t exhausting at times, but it’s so cool to get out there and play for new audiences, and to have the chance to see the places that listeners come from,” she says. “I think the hardest part for me … is missing people; not just at home, but also the amazing people you meet on the road.”

Last year Macpherson got the opportunity to play the Canada Day show on the legislative gardens of Victoria with Fred Penner, and opened for the legendary Men Without Hats at the Rifflandia Music Festival in 2010.

She’s also made the bill at Lilith Fair, The Peak Performance Project, Canadian Music Week and Victoria’s Zone Band of the Month.

Now she makes her true entry into the music scene with Bells and Whistles, written entirely by Macpherson and backed by a solid industry team: Cordova Bay Records as her label; Beat Music Management as her manager; Indoor Recess handling publicity; and Pitbull Media tackling the radio.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” she admits.

Macpherson says the material on her album was inspired by a variety of experiences, reflections and items from her life.

“I’ve often felt like I had to give myself over to ‘the music’ to be able to write a song; just stop thinking, and let it flow,” she describes. “It can feel like you’re outside yourself, channeling this other entity.”

“Music also does something to people. I don’t know how or why, but it has this incredible ability to lift, lower, or level a spirit. That in itself is inspiring. You can literally feel a note.”

You can join Macpherson in this feeling at one of the dates she’s lined up to play in Alberta. She will be performing at the Ironwood in Calgary May 8th and the Haven in Edmonton May 11th.

“The rest of the year is still taking shape,” she says. “We’re in the process of confirming gigs and festivals for the summer/fall, so you’ll just have to stay in the loop by visiting [my website].”

By Janine Eva Trotta She’s blonde, beautiful and melodic. Canada’s answer to the Californian folk songstress Lissie releases 10 original tracks in her first album entitled Bells and Whistles.

From Victoria, BC folk waif Steph Macpherson has promised to lead a life of music since a young age, accompanying her mom on car drives.

“My parents tell me I was a very noisy baby/toddler, not because I wanted anything, but because I simply loved making 10

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

Steph Macpherson http://www.stephmacpherson.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2848

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Community

Pride Centre of Edmonton Longest running LGBTQ organization in Alberta re-opens

By Sam Casselman Now located in downtown Edmonton, the Pride Centre of Edmonton (PCE) has re-opened after having to close its doors in August of 2011, following an external fire at its former location. The organization has signed a 10 year lease at their new location, which they hope will provide a sense of stability for the community they serve. Not to mention, the new central location is close to transit, which should help with accessibility.

After being forced to close their old location the PCE started a fundraising campaign to acquire, renovate and re-open a new space.

Initially they set a fundraising target of $20,000 but by the end of their campaign they had raised much more than that.

When asked about the success of the campaign Ashley Matchum, PCE Executive Director said, “We had outstanding community support.

With the support of the community as well as the Edmonton Community Foundation and Stollery Community Foundation we were able to raise just over 31,000.00! The fundraiser was led by our board of directors who completed a mail campaign. The majority of our donors were able to donate on-line on Canada Helps.”

The PCE is still in need of donations, which they are currently collecting online. Phase one of the three phase renovations are now complete and include a fully accessible space for people with disabilities, a dedicated space for youth and much more.

It is truly amazing how the community came together in Edmonton to keep their community space alive. The money was raised in only a matter of months, likely setting a new record for the LGBTQ community in Alberta. Perhaps it is not surprising considering its importance to numerous segments of the Edmonton LGBTQ community.

Their services include a drop-in centre that is open Tuesday through Saturday, an extensive library collection, internet and computer access, information and resources, meeting space for community groups and events, counselling, a seniors group, a youth group, mens groups, womens groups, a Trans group, an HIV support group, free STI testing, community potlucks, craft nights, an art group and much more. The Pride Centre also offers outreach where they provide public education and workshops for the community at large. Complete information can be found on their website.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances in the future, the centre expects to call this location home for many years to come.

History of the PCE The Pride Centre of Edmonton was founded in 1971 under the name of ‘Gay Alliance Towards Equity’ or GATE, making it the oldest and longest running LGBTQ organization in Alberta. GATE later joined forces with the ‘Edmonton Lesbian Feminists’ or ELF to establish the Gay and Lesbian Community Centre of Edmonton better known as the GLCCE. The board of directors of GLCCE voted to dissolve the organization in March of 2004 which became effective as of July 2004, yet directors and members saw a need for another organization to take over services and support that the GLCCE provided and so voted to create the Pride Centre of Edmonton. By August of 2004 the Pride Centre of Edmonton assumed the assets of the former GLCCE and in April 2005 the PCE moved from the old GLCCE offices to their 109th street location.

The move to this location was needed to accommodate the planned expansion of services. In 2006 the centre moved again to a new location, and just recently in 2011, the PCE was forced to move because of a fire.

The centre re-opened as of April 3, 2012.

The Pride Centre of Edmonton 10608 105 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5H 0L2 Phone: 780.488.3234 www.pridecentreofedmonton.org http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2849

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

11

Aaron Douglas Seriously a Funny Guy

By Evan Kayne Forced to wear an L.A. Kings jersey due to the loss of a bet with Wil Wheaton, Aaron Douglas - best known for his role as Galen Tyrol on Battlestar Galactica and Frank Leo on The Bridge - was in attendance at this year’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Aaron should get a job as the poster boy for our ideal straight man. He’s easy on the eyes, funny, relaxed around gay guys, and a bit of a goof (but in a funny, good way). While he hasn’t found any big gigs at the moment, he’s still keeping busy renovating his house and doing a videogame for Ubisoft in Montreal which he says “I’m very excited about – but that’s ALL I’m allowed to say.”

Like many actors, he’s hoping to hear back on possible jobs; as well he’s developing his own projects. “I’m waiting to hear on a few things, and if I get ‘em, it’ll be awesome. I’m doing a lot of writing – I’ve been pitching some shows and movies that I’ve written, and they’re starting to get a lot of traction. It’s a here’s hoping right now.” As he puts it, he’s in a nebulous zone where everything could either come crashing down, or fall exactly into place.

He is not worried that he might be pigeonholed as a genre actor. “Work is work is work…people in L.A. don’t really look at Battlestar as a sci-fi genre and you as a sci-fi actor. They loved it for the drama that it was and the great show it was. They just see you as a good actor that’s pretty versatile. The only thing they don’t see me as is funny....I have a hard time getting into auditions for sit-coms and things like that...hopefully I’ll break through that door because that’s something I’d really like to do.”

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Being at conventions, I asked him if he gets star-struck meeting some of the other talent. “I don’t really go fan girl on celebrities. I fan girl on hockey players...mostly goalies,” he said. He does appreciate meeting some of the other actors and artists, but not without some reservations. “It’s really nice to meet some of the people, and people that I really, really admire and appreciate. The problem with it is, sometimes somebody who is an actor or a celebrity that you really admire and you love their work, you meet them and they’re a douchebag.”

This usually destroys any joy you might have had in the actor’s body of work, so Aaron usually inquires beforehand about the actor’s attitude, and makes sure he himself tries to stay humble and easygoing.

That easy going attitude comes naturally to him in Calgary, as he, like Erin Gray, loves the city. “There’s something about people that are from the prairies. They’re just so much more real. There’s no pretence, there’s no bullshit, there’s none of that stuff.” This is in comparison to the behaviour on the coast – which he describes as a “weird, guarded, clique-y thing.”

Hopefully, Aaron continues to spread the news about Calgary and hopefully he discovers he has fans in high places who decide “yes, let’s give this guy a go on a sit-com.”

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Community

Edmonton’s Artists for Life 2012 3rd Annual Event to benefit HIV Edmonton and Camp fYrefly

By Sam Casselman This year on Saturday, May 26th is the 3rd annual Artists for Life fundraiser taking place at the Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton.

This event is put on by the James Tolin Memorial Fund West (or JTMF West for short) which is a local arts organization created with the mandate of raising funds for HIV/AIDS and LGBT youth support services. This is Artists for Life 2012: Edmontons 3rd event in a partnership with HIV Edmonton and their first year in partnership with Camp fYrefly.

This year’s event will celebrate women in the arts, featuring the talents of two local performing groups called Send in the Girls Burlesque and the Diva Support Group. Fresh off their success at the 2011 Fringe Festival with Tudor Queens: A Burlesque, Send in the Girls Burlesque is comprised of Edmonton actors, playwrights, and theatre artists. The Diva Support Group is a group of local female vocalists who work together to share ideas and provide peer support to fellow artists. Three amazing divas will be featured at the event: The Fab Tiff Hall, Lesley Pelletier, and Lindsey Walker, and ending the evening is the Bridget Ryan Hair Band Experience.

Touted as Clever, sassy and fearless, Bridget Ryan Hair Band has been described as possessing “a mesmerizing quality.” (Liz Nichols, Edmonton Journal, July 2011) The fundraiser takes place to benefit the invaluable programs and services provided by HIV Edmonton and Camp fYrefly. HIV Edmonton works with those living with, affected by, and at risk of HIV to provide education, support, outreach and advocacy. Camp fYrefly is now in its 8th year of operations and is an educational, social, and personal learning camp for sexual and gender minority

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(LGBTTIQ) and allied youth. It focuses on building and nurturing their leadership potential and personal resiliency in an effort to help them learn how to make significant contributions to their own lives and to their schools, home/group-home environments, and communities. The Camp is designed for sexual and gender minority and allied youth between the ages of 14 and 24. All proceeds go toward these two charities, with ticket sales to benefit HIV Edmonton and the silent auction are to benefit Camp fYrefly.

Tickets cost $50 and include a full night of entertainment, the post-show concert by the Bridget Ryan Hair Band Experience, and a catered reception sponsored by Alley Kat Brewery and Yellowtail Wines. VIP Tickets are available for $100 and include entry into a special prize draw and a gift from JTMF West. $20 tickets are available for the concert and catered reception only. Tax receipts are available for a portion of the ticket price. In total, more than 50 artists are participating in the event, including those who have donated to the silent auction taking place at the end of the evening.

Tickets are available online at www.hivedmonton.com, in the Red Ribbon Shoppe, the agency’s online store and will be available for purchase at the event, one hour before the doors open.

Come out and support your local community programs while being entertained by some of the fine artists of Edmonton. Get your tickets now, as organizers anticipate they will go fast.

Artists for Life Presented by the James Tolin Memorial Fund West Saturday, May 26th Catalyst Theatre (8529 103 St., Edmonton) http://www.jtmfwest.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2851

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

13

Idina Menzel Defies… Everything

Theater icon talks queer crushes, hubby’s gay tendency and her ‘Wicked’ nightmares

 Photos by Robin Wong

By Chris Azzopardi Idina Menzel doesn’t do anything halfway – even when she’s deciding on her gay faves. “It’s so silly,” says the homo-hearted theater queen, surfing Google for “hot gay male celebrities.” Her assistant even gets involved. “This is very important stuff,” Menzel giggles, fully immersed in her search to name her current gay crush.

Neil Patrick Harris? Too typical. George Michael? Maybe 20 years ago.

“Oh, I could do a woman” she realizes, before catching the unintentional humor in that: “I mean, not do a woman.”

And on she goes, scouring the web relentlessly. Again, she laughs. “(My assistant) just went onto a gay porn site.

That’s helpful!”

Ten minutes later, she’s got it: Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes and Anderson Cooper, because “that makes me sound really smart.” Not that she has to sound anything but beautiful, and that she already does – as demonstrated in her 20 years on stage, from Rent to Wicked (originating the roles of Maureen and Elphaba, respectively), and as a cradlerobbing club leader on Glee.

Now the ever-sweet Broadway diva has a new live album, Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony, and plans to hit the road this summer for a series of tour dates. Menzel

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caught up with us recently to talk toes, hubby Taye Diggs’ gay tendency and learning the real definition of “white party.”

GC: Barefoot at the Symphony is the name of the new album – do you have nice feet?

IM: They’re all right. My toes are pretty in proportion to each other. No weird toes.

GC: Is the second toe longer than the big toe?

IM: No, they’re actually nice like that. It’s just that – from working out and stuff – my heels are always dry. But the toes are nice!

GC: Will your tour be a lot like this album?

IM: The album is a culmination of a year and a half of touring and playing with these amazing symphonies. So, this summer when I go on tour, I obviously need to retain some of the songs that I know people would shoot me for if I didn’t sing them, but I am going to clean the slate and freshen up the show and explore some brand-new material.

GC: Do people expect you to fly when you do “Defying Gravity”?

IM: No, I don’t think they do. (Laughs) But I’m sure they expect me to hit very high notes, which isn’t always an easy thing to do.

GC: How did it go over when you covered “Poker Face” with the symphony?

IM: It’s funny: The audience was everyone from theater people to symphony people to just your regular audience coming to see some entertainment for the evening. But “Poker Face” was great. I did it because I knew people would like to see something from Glee and I thought the juxtaposition of the song with the orchestra could be really cool, but I didn’t realize it would become a comic piece for me. The

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first couple of times I did it, I realized these stories and I stopped the full-on symphony in the middle of the song, which you never do, to tell people the story behind it. Then it just started becoming this little creature that I used every night as a way of singing that song but also having fun with the audience and being really spontaneous.

GC: On the album you recall a crush you had on a gay professor during your freshman year in college. What was it about him that you were so into?

IM: Well, first, I didn’t realize he was gay until later in life, but he was just so intense and he was the kind of teacher that you know you trusted and respected so much that also could make you cry in a second, because he saw right through you and challenged you and expected the most of you. For me, when I got in front of class and felt like I was disappointing a teacher, I would just get so demoralized. That feeling never goes away.

Whether you’re standing up in front of 10 people in a class or 5,000 people in an audience, the idea of opening your soul and making yourself really vulnerable is quite terrifying and sometimes, if you’re not prepared, you get really thrown.

GC: Since you have a history of falling for gay men, did Taye have to pass some kind of test?

IM: No. Please. He went to the School of the Arts in Rochester and majored in theater in Syracuse, and so many of his friends were gay before we even met.

GC: Oh, Idina, these are all red flags.

IM: (Laughs) Yeah, he’ll even engage in “runway” at parties at the house if we pull out the carpet and it’s late at night, he has a couple of drinks and Taye will even do runway… if you give him enough alcohol.

GC: Who has the bigger gay following?

IM: I think I do! (Laughs) GC: You know, you take everything from the gays: Taye Diggs. Kissing Puck on Glee. IM: Waking up with Patrick Dempsey in Enchanted. What do you have to say for yourself?

That’s some good stuff, huh? In my defense, I’m a mom of a 2-year-old and – like, right now I’m in the ugliest outfit, practically pj’s, and my hair hasn’t been washed in two days – and if I didn’t have those opportunities, I’d never feel like a woman again.

GC: What was your recent gay cruise experience on Atlantis’ Allure of the Seas like?

IM: I learned the white party doesn’t necessarily mean you wear white suits; it means you wear as little as possible and maybe some white Hanes underwear and angel wings. (Laughs) I learned that I will never go on a cruise ship again unless it’s a gay cruise because I am now ruined forever.

The creativity and the passion and the fun will be unmatched. The best audiences of my life. It was just a blast. There are a bunch of sides to yourself, but it’s nice to just let ’er rip. And sing some duets with some drag queens!

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GC: What would you tell your son, Walker, if he came out to you?

IM: Hopefully I wouldn’t have to say much by then.

Hopefully he’ll grow up in an environment where he won’t think much of it and it will be very commonplace and yet, if for some reason that discussion did arise, Taye and I would say, if we were to have a son or daughter who were gay, they wouldn’t meet any resistance with us.

We always take five steps forward and two steps back, but in our house, in our family and with our friends, he already is in the company of – and loved by – all sorts of people.

(Taye and I) have very supportive parents, and so it’s more the outside world that tends to put some stigma on it, even in this day and age. I’d probably say Taye has more responsibility to African-American people, not feeling like he’s let them down in some way. I think it’s just about raising a son that’s going to be mixed race and how to tackle that and what that means – even religiously and spirituality, we have a lot of stuff ahead of us. I want to be really clear and defined so that it’s not confusing.

GC: Is your character on Glee, Shelby, done for?

IM: You know, I don’t know. They’re saying I’m coming back, but you never know. Maybe they’ll go with another storyline. But I love being there. I love the energy on set, and I certainly did enjoy being hot for teacher and having the 17-year-old man with the Mohawk to kiss on. But they keep things really close to the vest, so it’s hard to tell.

GC: Are you looking at being a part of a musical again?

IM: Yeah, but nothing that I really can speak of yet. I’m trying to give people their space to create and do their thing, but that’s my goal. I’m putting my energy toward trying to get back to New York City in an original piece, just because that’s where I’ve had the most success and where I feel the most fulfilled. That process of standing at the piano with a composer and a writer as they’re creating from scratch and using you as inspiration – there’s nothing like that.

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GC: Any word on a Wicked movie?

IM: No. I just always hear that if it came about Kristin (Chenoweth) and I would probably be too old, which is really annoying considering all the CGI you can do these days. I called them and told them, “What about Avatar?!”

You never know, but I kind of don’t hold my breath on that one.

And I feel lucky enough that I got to do the Rent movie 10 years after I actually originated the role. So we’ll see about Wicked.

GC: So much has happened in your career since playing Maureen in Rent. Is that still a part of you?

IM: Yes, because I put it in my show all the time in some capacity, so it actually forces me to get back in touch with that time in my life and what it represented and how I’ve grown since then.

GC: What about Wicked? Do you have nightmares about going green?

IM: Yes! I actually have those recurring theater nightmares.

It’s not always just Wicked; it could be Rent, and they just desperately need me.

The girl playing the role at the time can’t get in and there’s no one around. They call me and I’m like, “Of course I remember how to do it!” and I get on a dark and dreary stage that looks nothing like any set I’ve ever been on before and I can’t remember a single line and I don’t know how to put the green makeup on and I start having a meltdown.

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Community

Transcend at the Auburn Progress, One Day at a Time TESA Debuts its Annual Fundraiser

Calgary Outlink Keeps Up

By Dallas Barnes

By Dallas Barnes

The Trans-Equality Society of Alberta (TESA) has a lot to celebrate. They just witnessed a hugely successful AGM – one that resulted in a fresh Board of new and returning faces with a renewed energy.

We live in a city that is undergoing constant evolution, and the LGBT community is inundated with groups, bars, and organizations coming and going. It is difficult to remain a viable queer organization in Calgary for a year, let alone 25 years. Calgary Outlink: Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity is a survivor.

Because of this zest to advocate and celebrate all that is in the trans-identified world, TESA is presenting the first Trans-celebration of its kind in Calgary: TRANScend.

Brianne Langille, newly elected President of TESA is excited about TRANScend and what it means for the Calgary Trans community.

Trans-rights have often been a forgotten sector of the queer community, and even more overlooked in the political scene. Langille is thrilled at where it is now.

“TESA is finally coming into its own. We are only a few years old and we have got a strong base and business model. We are really starting to have a positive effect on the community and we are bringing out more member support. We are being more supportive to Trans individuals as well as to government issues. We are continuing to speak at a lot of conferences and panels: we are educating the masses both queer and straight. It is time for Trans rights to start coming around and come into their own. Whether the government legislates those rights or not, we will take those rights and teach through advocacy and education.”

TESA works as a voice for the Trans-community in Alberta. If you take a look at their Facebook page you will be educated on all current issues facing the Trans community. Their Board consists of members of all walks of life, all from different sectors of Alberta.

Their only funding comes from TRANScend and membership fees.

The first annual TRANScend event will be held at the Auburn Saloon on Friday, May 11th. At a cost of only $5 per person, they have an exciting night of entertainment scheduled, with partial proceeds going to Gratitude, the queer history documentary currently in production.

“We hope to bring out a good portion of the Trans-community as well as our allies,” Langille commented when asked about who she expects to attend. “This is an event for the Trans-community by the Trans-community, a first of its kind. All of our performers for TRANScend are Trans or Trans-friendly. These include the Backyard Betties, The Good Ole Boys, Avery Mitchell, and a few spoken word pieces from people within the Trans-community. This will be a celebratory event as opposed to a sombre moment. We need to put aside our issues for one night and truly celebrate the Trans identity in all of its forms.”

Not only will there be a bevy of entertainment, but there will also be a raffle and silent auction with items from local organizations.

The response TESA has received is inspiring. Langille states, “We have gotten support for the queer community at large. A lot of organizations have stepped up to help us with raffle items, advertising, etc. It has really been awesome, and it is great that everyone else sees that it is about time to have this event, and supports us in doing so.”

It is high time that we support all of our facets of the community.

As Langille says, “You should come to have fun. This event is not solely for the Trans-community, we want allies to celebrate with as well, queer or not. The bottom line is, if the Trans community didn’t have allies we wouldn’t be where we are now, we would still be hiding.”

Like any queer organization, Outlink has had its fair share of struggles and challenges, but has somehow overcome them and continued offering support to those that need them. This time around, they have made a few exciting changes to their organization for the people that utilize their services.

Throughout 2012, Outlink’s volunteer Executive Board has been slowly moving their offices from the original 16th Avenue SW location to its new location at the Old Y Centre. They are now permanently housed at the Old Y; not only do they have their own office there, but they also offer drop-in hours, peer support, and all programs out of this location.

Lynne Hood, President of Calgary Outlink took some time to talk to GayCalgary Magazine about the new location. “The cost of the 16th Ave house was too expensive for Outlink to continue renting. Looking around at options in an affordable price range was very difficult. Outlink is aware of the amazing work that is taking place within the Old Y Centre for Community Organizations as well as providing affordable rent which would help us sustain our programming and part time community support worker staff. Outlink wants to be participating and involved with our community. Since many organizations are in the Old Y and use the space we felt that being there would provide more of a sense of community and easy ability to inform and refer people [to these organizations].”

The Old Y has historically been a central location for many queer organizations in the city, and currently houses Pride Calgary, TESA, ARGRA, Apollo, and is a meeting space for the Mosaic Youth Group. It is central, affordable, and historical.

This year is also an exciting time for Outlink, as they have hired a Community Support Worker onto their team, Britt Aberle, and have also taken over the “Out is OK” phone line, a crucial LGBT community service.

The “Out is OK” phone line offers confidential support and provides resources to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, two-spirited, intersex, queer, questioning, and asexual population. Up until April it was run by the Calgary Distress Centre, but is now run completely by Calgary Outlink.

It does not provide crisis and suicide prevention any longer, but what it does provide is peer support by trained volunteers who have connections and experience within the community, something that has been lacking in previous years. To access the “Out is OK” line, call 1-877-OUT-IS-OK. Regardless of all of the progress Calgary Outlink is making, they recognize that there is still a long way to go. “Outlink needs to focus on stability and sustainability. We need to work with our facilitators, volunteers and staff to continue our supports, resource knowledge base and maintain our community allies,” Hood states. “In terms of growth, I would like to see the board work on fundraising and fun fundraising community events. I would like to see our Community Support Worker broaden our relationships with community social service agencies, Alberta health and mental health services and the Calgary Board of Education just to name a few.”

To keep up the momentum, Hood is excited about the AGM in June of this year. The meeting will review what has taken place in the past year, and what the goals are for the one to come. “We will also open the floor to hear ideas from the community about how they would like to see Outlink for 2012/2013,” adds Hood. This includes an opportunity for those interested to join the Board.

TRANScend Presented by TESA Friday, May 11th The Auburn Saloon (115 9th Ave SE, Calgary)

Calgary Outlink http://www.calgaryoutlink.ca

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

17

Jason Mraz Won’t Give Up

Pop star talks supporting LGBT community, his ‘open’ sexuality and clarifies Instinct interview  Photos by Emily Shur

By Chris Azzopardi How cool is Jason Mraz? For one, his unwavering fight for equal rights led him to shoot a Human Rights Campaign video recently; he’s also waiting to wed until everyone can and, not long ago, united with Cyndi Lauper to tell the world that he, too, gives a damn.

And hey, it doesn’t hurt to know that he’s laid-back in the sack.

Not just as a curious kid, but even now as an adult who, as he told us during this interview, is down for some three-way fun. As Mr. Feel-Good releases his fifth album, Love is a Four Letter Word, we got Mraz on the phone for a candid catch-up on music, marriage and the evolution of his wordplay – and set a few things straight: his misleading words in Instinct and how, when it comes to sex, he’s “keeping his options open these days.”

GC: So, the grungy look: Is that what happens when you make an album about freedom and love and everyone getting along?

JM: Yeah, maybe so. I certainly admire John Lennon, George Harrison and David Crosby – the guys before me that did it. I think it’s a rite of passage that not necessarily every artist has to go through, but I feel that I have to experience. And I’m enjoying it.

GC: What about the boyish geek in pink? Is he still in there?

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JM: Yeah, of course. From that I sprang.

GC: How have you changed since Waiting for My Rocket to Come?

JM: You know what, I’m still scared. And from that fear, I’m still

hopeful. I still don’t know what I’m doing and from that not knowing, I’m still very excited. And those contradictions are what keep me going. That’s the kind of stuff I continue to write about. I guess how I’ve changed is that I’ve learned to just accept what is. I certainly try to influence and inspire, but I am also not attached to the outcome, and I didn’t know those things during Rocket. I was just like, “Give me a pack of cigarettes and let’s go.” And now I don’t smoke anymore. I have more tools under my belt.

GC: So your rocket finally came?

JM: Yeah. But I want it to get off! (Laughs) I tried to get it off. I jumped off several times actually, like “Ooh, OK, this is what this feels like. Yeah, no thanks. Let me start over.”

GC: Between doing the Human Rights Campaign PSA recently, a Give a Damn video and being on the cover of Instinct, how do you feel being a poster boy for gay rights?

JM: I love it, because this is my way to finally fight back. There were a few kids in high school who called me a fag or just would always intimidate me, and I didn’t know at that time what I was going to grow up to be or who I was going to grow up to be. I hadn’t had enough intimate experiences to know, so as a young man I questioned how my sexuality was going to evolve.

My best friend in high school came out when I was a senior and I thought that was the bravest thing anybody could do – to stand up and truly be themselves. I’m not bashing my town, but at that time in my life there were other kids who bullied those who were gay or different. I ended up just leaving town for many reasons, for pursing a dream mostly, but I didn’t feel encouraged or inspired by my peers.

Now that I have this opportunity to shine a light on the subject and be a straight man and be outspoken, I’m making up for that lost

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time – I’m making up for that kid, that geek in the pink, that didn’t stand up – and I’m using my voice now for good, and it makes me feel really darn good.

GC: You should. We need our allies.

JM: The civil rights movement happened because all parties got involved. And this, I think, is one of the final steps in the civil rights movement.

GC: You mentioned experimenting as a young person, but now you identify as straight. Early in your career, however, I recall you stating that sexuality is fluid and that everyone is somewhat bisexual. Have you changed your mind? Are you still keeping your options open?

JM: Yeah, I’m keeping more of my options open these days. The older I get, the more fearless I become. That’s not to say I’m absolutely fearless. (Long pause) Man, I should be really careful with my words, especially with this question.

GC: Talk about the “straight” label itself – do you dislike labels?

JM: Were we to live in a society that was equal, those labels wouldn’t really exist or matter – except maybe at the DMV or someplace where, for some reason, you have to put down gender, race or age. I don’t get it. I don’t get why sexuality has to be such a big deal. You know, I’ve been invited by couples to join them, and I’m really turned on by that.

(Laughs) I’ve never taken them up on it, though.

GC: We can leave it at that, then. Your decision to wait to wed until there’s marriage equality was a bold move to make, especially since – according to the recent Instinct interview – it became one of the reasons your relationship with Tristan Prettyman ended. To people who might not understand your decision to wait, what kind of message are you hoping to send?

JM: I would like to add that my words in Instinct may have been written or may have been spoken incorrectly. It wasn’t that my partner wasn’t into the fight for equality – she absolutely was – but it was the frustration in the partnership, the waiting, that was one of many factors that made it difficult.

I can’t speak for her anymore because we’re not together, but for me it was a great opportunity to experience what it feels like to only be able to go so far in a relationship, which I know some of my gay and lesbian friends have experienced. They’re like, “Well, we’ve been together for seven or eight years, we’ve even got a kid, yet we can’t get married. We can’t get the tax benefits. We can’t visit each other in the hospital.” It just seemed very unfortunate.

So, my personal protest really gave me that kick in the stomach that I wasn’t expecting: “Oh man, this really is frustrating,” because my partner really wanted to get married and I saw that and I acknowledged it but I’d already committed to this and I surprised her with it. She said, “All right, let’s go for it.” But it wasn’t easy.

GC: “I Won’t Give Up,” the first single from your upcoming album, could be a love letter to the gay community. Have you thought about it that way?

JM: I wanted the song to be able to connect with anyone who has something worth fighting for – whether it’s the fight for equality or someone who just wants to lose five pounds. The song is available for anybody’s fight. Hopefully, though, I never see the song on two sides of the same fight. That would be awkward.

GC: Love is a Four Letter Word lacks the scatty wordplay we’ve come to know from you. What’s that all about?

JM: It shows up in a different way now. That scatty rap and wordplay is still in the core of my writing and what I do; for instance, the bridge of “I Won’t Give Up”: “I don’t wanna be someone who walks away so easily/I’m here to stay and make the difference that I can make.” The essence of that is a scatty, rappy wordplay all about alliteration and rhythm. On this album I wanted to have an intention with the words and have an intention with the lyrics rather than just pass it off as goofy wordplay.

GC: Since the album’s all about love, and without quoting Whitney Houston, what’s the greatest love of all?

JM: Oh man. I think it’s the love of oneself, because it’s once you truly love and accept yourself that you can accept others loving you and you walk around with the confidence and strength to love others and actually be of service to the world, so it’s that – accepting and loving oneself. And it has nothing to do with being self-absorbed. It’s just getting over your shit so you can step out into the world and make a difference.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

19

Catching Up With Kristine W

Dance diva on new music, keeping the gays in line and pressure to go country

By Chris Azzopardi We all know Kristine W – or do we? In one of her most revealing interviews ever, the gay-adored dance-music powerhouse recently caught up with us to chat about the closeted gay choir director who inspired her as a kid, her upcoming summer release and the pressure on her – a farm girl from Washington – to pursue country.

GC: What’s new, Kristine?

KW: Working on the new album. I just got out of the studio, and got my hard drive stuffed in my purse. We do sessions and put everything on our hard drive, so I run around with hard drives stuffed in my purse. (Laughs) The new album is so fun. Bimbo Jones is a great production team to work with. It’s been a wild ride and very laborintensive, but the next few months we’re going to be really churning and burning to finish it up. We shot the album cover with Mike Ruiz in New York this past week. We’re just having a hard time coming up with a title. We’re all over the place.

GC: How do you approach new music?

KW: I don’t want to be an ambulance chaser. I always find it annoying that someone does what the last five people have done, so I try to create stuff that’s different and tap into my audience and see what they’re feeling at the moment and do songs they can relate to.

A lot of songs on the new album will be new productions of my original hits. We’re doing a mix of brand-new material and a few of the No. 1s that we tend to do a lot, because if we don’t

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people start freaking out. If there’s no “Land of the Living” or “One More Try,” you get hate mail.

GC: Weren’t you raised on a farm?

KW: Yeah, totally. My grandpa was an alfalfa and wheat farmer and he raised black angus beef cattle for the Black Angus restaurant chain back in the day. So I kind of brought the ranch with me, because I have a little ranch where we perform. It looks like a little farmhouse, but it’s actually a rehearsal studio. We call it “the ranch.” It’s on two-and-a-half acres, so we can be as loud as we want and nobody gets mad at us. I have my horses out there, and I have a sheep and a goat, and random animals that people drop off that they don’t want anymore. (Laughs) My mom was telling me I remind her of Eva Gabor in “Green Acres.”

GC: Not many gay people around, I assume.

KW: Not really. When I was a kid, the first person that I figured out was gay was my choir director – believe it or not, I figured that one out! (Laughs) Obviously he wasn’t out at all, but my mom used to pretend to be his girlfriend and I was hip to the fact that he was definitely not her boyfriend, that he was her confidante or best friend. I was like, “Wait a minute!”

GC: What kind of influence did he have on you musically?

KW: I remember I’d go over to his house all the time; I just adored him. He was one of my best friends and he gave me piano lessons and singing lessons. He and I were super tight.

He always gave me the solos because I had this big ol’ voice, so I got to be the calling card as the church got fuller. People were talking about this kid who could sing really good. I brought an audience and helped make the church popular. www.gaycalgary.com

But he was my first. He was always around after my dad died when I was 3. I was about 8 years old when I realized that he was definitely not my mom’s boyfriend. In Vegas we call them a “shill,” where gamblers are hired by the casino to pretend that they’re gambling. So, she was that. He was a sixth-grade teacher, and she knew that if anyone caught wind that he was gay, he would’ve lost his job – he would’ve lost everything. So I learned early on how the party rolls. When I was embraced by the gay community, I just thought how proud he would’ve been.

GC: What was your mom like?

KW: My mom was a working musician, so she performed six nights a week from 5 to 11 o’clock. I don’t think she had a hardcore passion for it; it was more about survival. She’s really good at the wigs; she looked like Liz Taylor. She had the black hair and beautiful blue eyes. And perfect boobs. I call her a musical therapist, because she sang half the time, talked half the time and knew everyone. It was like a “Cheers” atmosphere. And, for me, that’s where that comes from.

GC: How did you wind up taking the dance-pop route instead of going country?

KW: There was a lot of pressure for me to do country because I was good at it. But I started winning these competitions in junior high as a jazz soloist, because my mom would perform on the weekends with jazz trios. I was around all these amazing musicians and people would constantly teach me old music. When I came to Vegas, there really wasn’t any style of music I couldn’t sing, because I grew up with a mom who sang country and sang jazz tunes and standards. My two best friends – one Mexican, one black – turned me onto all the killer R&B, soul and dance music.

I remember the turning point was when I was a kid and I heard Donna Summer on the radio and that just stopped me in my tracks – her combination of a gospel voice with dance

music. I remember being a kid and my mom going, “What’s wrong with you?”

GC: You have more No. 1s on the Billboard dance charts than Donna Summer and Whitney Houston, both of whom also have big voices. What are your thoughts on Whitney’s legacy?

KW: While performing in Vegas, we did Whitney Houston medleys all the time. I remember us doing “Queen of the Night” and “I’m Every Woman.” We did a whole medley for my Vegas show. Nobody sounded like her. They’ve tried to emulate her, but she’s one of a kind.

I’m angry, because she was constantly surrounded by people. Why didn’t someone just say, “This is it, sister, we gotta clean this shit up”? It’s weird. I’ve been asking myself, “Why are you so mad about it?” But it’s sad. They just watched a train go off its tracks. It makes my heart ache. I wish I would’ve been her friend. If my gay boys get out of hand, I figure out something.

GC: Have you intervened in the lives of your gay friends before?

KW: Oh god, yes. One, a really talented drag performer, lived with me for four or five months, and he got on crack.

Boy, did I witness some shit. His teeth were falling out, and to see how he deteriorated in a year was just shocking. But I turned his life around. He’s so successful now. I’ve never done any drugs, no pot, but I like my champagne. Pinot noir if I’m really partying hard!

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

21

Notorious G.A.Y.

The Return of the Gay Pimp

 Photos by Dick Mitchell

By Benjamin Burtt THE GAYEST OF ALL TIME continues Jonny McGovern’s journey into the fabulous fairyland where queens rule, glamour is celebrated, every street is a fashion runway and every corner a dance club.

It’s been ten years since McGovern – affectionately known to fans as The Gay Pimp - released his first music album, DIRTY GAY HITS, a collection of hilarious gay themed songs. It included “Soccer Practice”, the song that would make Jonny an international phenomenon after it’s music video was spread virally by e-mail to millions. YouTube didn’t exist at the time.

The music video introduced the world to the colorful antics of Jonny “The Gay Pimp” McGovern and his queer posse, dubbed “Team Pimp”.

It was added to MTV Europe and MTV Asia and helped land Jonny a role as a commentary contributor on several VH1 shows including Best Week Ever, Totally Gay, and 40 Dumbest Celebrity Quotes. It also earned him a slot on Comedy Central’s all-gay standup show Out on the Edge, hosted by Alan Cumming, which

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brought him to the attention of Rosie O’Donnell, who cast Jonny as a lead player on her LOGO-TV comedy show, The Big Gay Sketch Show.

A slew of comedy-music albums followed, including THIS IS NYC, BITCH! THE EAST VILLAGE MIXTAPE, GAYS GONE WILD, KEEP IT FAGGITY: THE GAY PIMP REMIX PROJECT, and last year’s GAY PIMP. His latest, THE GAYEST OF ALL TIME, was made possible by the generous donations of Gay Pimp fans who raised over 13 thousand dollars for the project. Jonny has used the funds to create music videos for four of the singles featured on the album: “Sexy Nerd”, ‘Modified”, “Dickmatized” and “Man Areas”. All can be viewed on YouTube.com.

In the coming months, he plans to produce another three music videos. So sit back and buckle yourselves in for a wild ride. Everyone’s favorite Gay Pimp Daddy, Jonny McGovern, is back, bigger and dirtier than ever.

GC: When will The Gay Pimp grow up?

JM: Jonny McGovern has grown up quite a bit. Gay Pimp is still just frolicking down the street with some go-go hoes and he always will. But he’s got a rockin’ beard now.

GC: You have made a career out of being outrageously gay.

JM: I strive to create music that does that expresses gay sexuality and desire in a cheeky, fun and unapologetic way. Some people criticize my songs for being too sexual or making gays look bad but I also get emails from teenagers who tell me my music gave them the confidence to come www.gaycalgary.com

out and helped them to see gay sexuality as not something to be ashamed of or swept under the rug, but to be celebrated.

GC: Did you always celebrate your gayness?

JM: I certainly went through my own period of denial in my teens. I had no gay role models around to tell me it was ok and cool even to be different; that being gay would be something I eventually wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I certainly could have used some Jonny McGovern songs back them to let me know that “Likin’ Big Dicks” was a-ok.

GC: Does everybody really want to be G.A.Y., as you say on the album?

JM: The song “G.A.Y” does have a lot of truth to it. Especially in the last few years, a lot of what is huge in pop culture has been heavily influenced by gay club and ballroom culture.

From Tyra inspiring girls to be fierce to Rihanna and, of course, Lady Gaga performing straight up drag queen style to even the Jersey Shore dudes and their obsession with muscles and tans. Gay influence is everywhere.

GC: How has your idea of dirty gay fun evolved in the ten years since “Soccer Practice”?

JM: While I have grown as a person and performer over the last ten years, my idea of dirty gay fun remains the same. Gimme a dark bar, some amazing beats, drag queens turning it out www.gaycalgary.com

on the runway and tons of sexy dudes and I am happy. But what I think is sexy has broadened.

While I still love a dirty frat boy on a soccer team, I am also attracted to other types of homos, like bearded tatted up daddies or sexy nerds.

GC: Would you have sung about sexy nerds ten years ago?

JM: As an artist who originated on the internet, I have always depended on the kindness of nerds.

Technology, how we communicate and how we get content to an audience, has grown so much and so fast that without a few good nerds, I’d be up the gay creek without a gay paddle. Ten years ago, I checked my email once a week. Now we have email on our phones and we’re all constantly checking the web and tapping apps.

I find someone who is master of all that extremely sexy.

GC: Thanks to guys like Darren Cris, 2012 may just be the year of the sexy gay nerd. What do nerds offer that the Soccer Practice muscle jocks do not?

JM: Unlike a muscle jock who puts it all out there, a sexy nerd sort of has their sexuality bubbling under the surface which is even more fun when you get to the bedroom and they let it out. Plus the idea of someone who is smart and sexy and who can do dirty gay stuff with you and then whisper in your ear, “Now I’m gonna fix yer

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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computer” is especially erotic.

GC: Tell us about your new single, #TOTDF. JM: I came up with #TOTDF (Texting on the Dance Floor) standing in the middle of a club in LA. Looking around, I saw all these guys rockin’ to the music while texting on their phones! It made me think about how things are today. People gather in big groups but spend their time on their phones reading a blog, checkin’ out their Grindr, tweeting and tagging people they are with on Facebook. #TOTDF celebrates all that and also mocks the insanity of it.

GC: What’s your take on mobile technology?

JM: I love my phone and computer like everybody else. But long gone are the days when you can pretend you’re not available ‘cause every damn message is sent right to the phone in our pockets.

GC: Is it killing nightlife?

JM: The constant availability of sexy gentleman is certainly convenient but it is taking its toll on nightlife. People used to have to go out to meet people. Now you can order dick right up to yer front door and never have to actually go out and talk to anyone.

GC: What’s the biggest misperception people have about the Gay Pimp?

JM: I think a lot of times people take what I am doing too seriously.

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All my songs are meant to be taken with a wink.

I don’t take myself seriously as a pop star or think that I’m really a gay pimp. I’m a comedian and it’s all jokes to me.

What I have done with my music, beginning with “Soccer Practice”, is to flip the super masculine elements and images of straight pop culture and pop music and give ‘em a subversive dirty gay twist.

If yer truly offended by it you should lighten the fuck up.

GC: Speaking of being offensive… do you worry that “Modified” might be seen as offensive to middle-aged housewives?

JM: It shouldn’t.

“Modified” is kind of an anthem for doing things yer own way and fuckin’ what everybody else thinks. I’ve only gotten mad love from all the middle age ladies that have heard the song. I’ve been getting reports that aerobics teachers are even playing it in their classes. People tweet me all the time to tell me they’re at the gym, doin’ it “Modified”!

GC: Where did the idea for “Modified” come from?

JM: When I first moved to Hollywood, I tagged along with comedian Nadya Ginsburg to her aerobics class at the Hollywood YMCA. The class was very intense and everyone was giving it their all. Then I noticed this fabulous creature in the front row: a middleaged lady with a high Madonna Truth or Dare www.gaycalgary.com

style pony tail, super tight spandex body suit and leg warmers. She was doing all the moves the class was doing but in the most relaxed way. She was doing everything “Modified” which is aerobics speech for doing things low impact. I was obsessed with her spunk. I went home and wrote a song about her. Then Nadya and I collaborated on an amazing music video where Melanie Hutsell (from Saturday Night Live and Bridesmaids) starred as “Modified” and lots of LA nightlife superstars like Jackie Beat, Calpernia Addams and Mario Diaz made cameos.

GC: Are your songs based on reality or fantasy?

JM: Though they’re obvious fantasy, most songs do have a nugget of truth in them.

GC: Have you ever truly been “Dickmatized”?

JM: There was a dude I was hooking up with who was so sexy and so good in bed that it didn’t matter to me how wrong he was for me. He kept telling me things that should have sent up red flags. He was still dating someone back in New York, he was unemployed, a hooker - but that dick was so good! I’d be cooking in the kitchen or getting ready for a show, having dirty gay flashbacks like one of them ho’s on LOST. I continued texting him for sexy times. I eventually

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had to delete his number from my phone cause I realized I was truly “dickmatized”.

GC: So you wrote a song about it?

JM: You bet and when it came out so many people, ladies included, told me about their own experiences of being “Dickmatized” by the wrong sexy guy. There’s even a video on Youtube where Jill Scott talks about being dickmatized.

GC: The video gloriously depicts the whole “Gay Pimp World” you have created.

JM: The world I created was a combination of all the things I loved as a young gay living in NYC through my 20’s and early thirties: the drag queens, the bangin’ beats and all the go-go boys....

GC: It’s almost a gay Disneyland. Has it become real life for you?

JM: I’ve definitely had my moments where real life is a lil’ like my music videos. I certainly do hang out with drag queens and go-go boys and if ya get a couple cocktails in me, I get a bit of that “gay pimp” swag. I rarely break in to song while walking down the street, though.

GC: What have you learned in the ten years you have been in the entertainment business?

JM: Not to wait for permission to create my work: to just do it. Not to wait for someone else to create opportunities for me: to make them myself. To surround myself with the greatest and gayest, most creative people I can and collaborate with them. Share the spotlight with those you love. And definitely don’t make crazy drag queens angry.

GC: What’s next for The Gay Pimp?

JM: I’m shooting two pilots: a TV version of my long running “Gay Pimpin’” podcast and a making of the video show called “Jonny McGovern’s Super Gay Video Project”.

It will feature other gay artists and their videos. I’ll soon be releasing a “Gayest Of All Time” video special featuring all the sexy dudes and queens from all the music videos. Plus more music videos… and I’m preparing to perform my stand up and songs all over the country. I’m comin’ to yer town and I’mma make sweet lurve to ya.

Jonny McGovern http://www.GayPimp.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2857

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

25

Erin Gray

The Lady of 1000 Talents

By Evan Kayne Often when I talk to friends about doing actor/celebrity interviews, they’re disappointed I don’t interview the worldrenowned names. For me, having interviewed people from many walks of life, I’m not a member of the cult of personality.

Instead, I get excited over the ideas they convey to me. That’s why my interview with Erin Gray was one of the best things about the 2012 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

A model and actress known for her roles as Kate Summers in the situation comedy Silver Spoons and as Colonel Wilma Deering in the science fiction television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Erin has carved out a very successful additional career as a casting agent booking sci-fi stars for appearances at conventions.

As someone who has attended a lot of conventions, both as an actor signing autographs and as a booking agent for other talent appearing at conventions, Erin did have high praise for Calgary: “...on this particular expo, this is probably my favourite show in the world.” Erin started brokering talent for these shows because she saw there was a need to coordinate conventions with talents and let the show staff know what 26

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

it takes to get and retain headliners. Consequently, over the last 15 years she has seen how much these “comic-cons” have changed. It has become its own industry and agents like Erin are helping to make them epic.

Besides the work and the chance to connect with fans, Erin loves these events because she thinks they’re excellent for families to attend. “How many situations are there...the family can go out, the kids can see their favourite artist or actor...Mom and Dad can say this is my favourite actor from when I was a kid...”

Going hand-in-hand with the rise in popularity of sci-fi conventions, Erin and I discussed how undiscovered talent is now rising up from the pool of fans. The audio-visual equipment which is now available, when coupled with the distribution power of the internet is giving anybody the opportunity to produce and market their own material. “The internet is changing our ability to find talent where we didn’t know where it was before.”

The original content providers – studios and networks – are seeing these changes evolve the industry. They’re asking how a person with this book, this YouTube show, how is it she has www.gaycalgary.com

2 million followers on Twitter?

Additionally, existing actors and artists who are already well known are realizing they can be more active in cultivating their fan base using social media (as Wil Wheaton does, for example).

This change in where the talent is arising and how the end product is distributed – be it comics, books, even shows on YouTube – is something that has piqued Erin’s attention: “...what I’m seeing is a paradigm shift...Hollywood, the Internet, and local media.

Shifts of power. One of my clients is Felicia Day...and she’s the forerunner...in terms of creating material the fans support. She’s writing it, producing it, starring in it, and the fans are there to support her.”

With only five minutes to talk, there was only so much to cover, but we did briefly touch on how exciting it is we are seeing a lot more “in charge” women like her character from Buck Rogers appear in movies and television. It’s a welcome step forward both as representing the changes in society and for helping push

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forward a story where the woman isn’t necessarily the “damsel in distress” - women are now kicking ass and taking names.

Finally, as we were wrapping up the interview, I mentioned the LGBT community, in its own way, has been dressing up (drag, western) for years.

Hence we usually don’t blink an eye seeing all the cosplay at the expo. We also recognize fabulous science fiction costuming like they had on Buck Rogers. At which point Erin surprised us by pointing out the rainbow patch on Wilma Deering’s uniform in one of her publicity photos.

Yes, it’s not the true rainbow pattern we know, but it has the rainbow colours. We are, indeed, everywhere – even in the future.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

27

Trans-Identity

In Good Conscience

By Mercedes Allen I’ll need to preface this article with a position statement, to note that I support the right of people of faith to believe, speak and practice their faith, and also that it is wrong to project the attitudes of far right people of faith onto all people of faith. That’s not just lip service, but a resolution to accord to others the same respect and rights that I seek for myself. And the growing number of affirming people of faith is a positive thing, as far as I’m concerned.

In my other life, I’m a graphic designer.

Recently, I’ve seen an upsurge in ads being designed for theological colleges and schools -- probably triple the number of ads we’ve done compared to last year -- and sizeable, too. Being politically aware, I know that some of this arises from the battles over anti-bullying education in several provinces across Canada -- including Alberta -- and backlashes against things like Ally signs in classrooms, the Day of Silence, and anything else which might affirm LGBT students -- not the only kids who are bullied, certainly, but very often the ones whose bullying is institutionally sanctioned or at least tacitly tolerated via the turning of a blind eye. Far right leaders have started urging people of faith to withdraw their kids from public education (which they claim are indoctrinating kids into gayness and the competing “religion” of secularism), and enroll them in theological schools.

Currently, I’m the only graphic designer, so it’s not like there would be an option to pass a project on to someone else -- I either do the work, or we refuse the business, which I doubt my employer and the sales people would want to do. But that’s fine, because I’m a professional. I build the ads, and don’t do a half-arsed job of it, either. I don’t have to agree with my clients’ ideologies in order to do my job, and do it with the same commitment and effort as anyone else.

It helps that I don’t usually look at the policies to confirm whether the school in question is an ideologically far-right institution or simply a Christian one. But today, while working on the third such ad in two days, I made the mistake of looking.

And sure enough, the position statement on what teachers must be committed to presenting to students is filled with hardline statements that make it a pretty good guess that LGBT issues (which are not discussed directly other than to comment that teachers should not reinforce “non-Biblical lifestyles”) would be viewed in terms of absolutes: “The Creation of all things by God are of a recent origin “The days as recorded in Genesis 1 are not geologic ages, but are 6 consecutive, 24 hr days.

“The “gap” theory (eons of time between Gen. 1:1; 1:2) has no Scriptural base, nor does the Framework Hypothesis (symbolic days), nor does the Day-Age theory (days are actually ages of time), nor does Theistic Evolution(God using evolution to create). All these views rather reflect attempts to “reconcile” the Bible with current popular theories of origins.

“The fall of mankind into sin has affected not only our spiritual relationship with God (resulting in our total depravity), but the entire creation was cursed, causing all the death, decay and disasters we see and experience in this world...”

I shouldn’t have looked. Nevertheless, bitter pill or not, it’s my responsibility to be a professional and treat the assignment the same as I’d want my own commission to be treated.

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In the recent Alberta election, candidates for one party floated the idea of a “conscience clause,” the idea that a professional could decline to assist someone if doing so would violate their moral conscience, or their religious beliefs. The argument was made that such a thing should be an option for marriage commissioners who object to gay marriage, doctors who object to abortion and pharmacists who object to the morning-after pill, but in a practical application, it would either have to be universally applied to everyone -- even graphic designers, although I’d probably still choose to proceed as I do now -- or else likely be difficult determining who should have a special right of refusal.

I already know how conscience clauses work. In dealing with trans health care, doctors already practice conscience-like refusal, in the guise of “I haven’t had any training on trans issues, so I can’t help you” -- although sometimes the refusals are far less diplomatic and gracious. This refusal can even apply to treating a person for a broken arm, herpes or the flu, even though those aren’t trans-related health issues at all. We’ve had to maintain a running list of trans-friendly medical professionals -- from general practitioners to urologists, endocrinologists, gynecologists, neurologists and the like -- to refer people in the community to, and sometimes (like last year, when someone appears to have obtained a copy of the list and went clinic-to-clinic raising a ruckus with staff, resulting in a rash of removal requests) that list can dry up pretty fast.

Trans people are also refused employment, refused accommodation, refused passage in public spaces... the only difference from what conscience legislation proposes is that someone has to make the effort to devise an alternate excuse.

Apparently, the far right feels that that needs to be stripped away, so that people are enabled to be blatantly clear on their reason for refusal.

The argument is often that “they can go somewhere else.”

Unless, of course, they can’t. The practical application of any law is unpredictable, and if situations arise in which the only marriage commissioners in an area who are willing to perform same-sex weddings charge double, if all pharmacists in a town refuse to dispense contraception, if a couple has already booked a bed and breakfast and the owners realize when they arrive that the couple is gay... in the practical application, undue hardships result, and would be legally sanctioned under such legislation.

But the implications go further.

Does racism become acceptable if the discrimination is not because a person is of Middle Eastern descent but “looks Muslim?” Do we create economies of scale in which corporations hire only ideologically acceptable employees, leaving the rest to struggle for dwindling unrestricted work? Picture a doctor who is Jehovah’s Witness refusing to provide a blood transfusion to Protestant or Catholic patients, and then picture that in a society where most doctors are Jehovah’s Witness. If that sounds perfectly acceptable and can be be justifiably reasoned, then and only then am I interested in hearing an argument about conscience rights.

The reciprocal must also hold true. And it is for this reason that whatever my impressions of a theological client are, and whatever my reminiscences of the 24/7 self-bludgeoning of religion I endured as a kid might be, I will continue to give those advertisers the same level of professionalism I would give anyone else.

Because in all good conscience, that’s how this mutual tolerance and respect thing is supposed to work.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

29

Gossip Forest Whitaker to take on the title role. And with an AfricanAmerican filmmaker in charge of a production about a black man in a domestic service position, here’s hoping the finished product can avoid the kind of negative press that followed last year’s The Help. Of course, no matter how the movie turns out, Fox News is going to get a lot of mileage out of it.

Glee’s Brittany S. Pierce meets Kids’ Harmony Korine Indie filmmaker Harmony Korine is no stranger to the weird.

He’s built an outsider-cool reputation thanks to his early script for the ’90s drama Kids and his later increasingly bizarre films Gummo (about trailer park Americana), Mister Lonely (about a commune populated by celebrity impersonators who live each day as their chosen alter ego) and Trash Humpers (about… well, the title explains it). So what’s next for the daring director? How about a spring break action-comedy featuring America’s favorite teenage lesbian cheerleader? Glee’s Heather Morris has joined the cast of Korine’s Spring Breakers, a headscratching detour about four college girls who rob a restaurant to fund their spring break vacation, only to fall in with a gang of drug and arms dealers who want them to work full time on the opposite side of the law. And Morris isn’t the only stuntcasting move here. Rounding out the cast is James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez and Pretty Little Liars regular Ashley Benson. Get ready, tweens, Harmony Korine is coming to corrupt you.

Let’s start the boycott of Ender’s Game now

 Dolly Parton, photo by Van Redin

Deep Inside Hollywood Steel Magnolias: the TV movie

By Romeo San Vicente If you never saw the original 1989 film version of Steel Magnolias with Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts then you’ve got a little catching up to do on the subjects of Southern idiosyncrasy, female bonding, the trouble with men, the fragility of life and the importance of a good hairstyle (it’s all centered around a beauty salon). A huge hit and an enduring touchstone of gay culture, it was, therefore, a no-brainer that Lifetime would want to get behind a small-screen remake. Even smarter?

Executive producer Queen Latifah (still not an official lesbian, for the record) has assembled an all-black cast filled with beloved names like Phylicia Rashad, Jill Scott, Latifah herself and newcomers like lesbian indie film Pariah’s breakout star Adepero Oduye. Talk about crossing demographic boundaries.

This is probably going to call for a girls night in when it finally hits the airwaves.

Sci-fi author Orson Scott Card hates gays. That’s the first thing you should know. Like, he really hates gays. Just Google some of the things he’s said about us. It’s Santorum-level stuff. He actively fights civil rights laws. He’s on the board of the anti-gay group, the National Organization for Marriage.

And that’s why it’s more than a little disconcerting to report that his most famous novel, Ender’s Game, a modern sci-fi classic, is about to get the big-budget, big screen treatment from X-Men Origins: Wolverine director Gavin Hood. It will star Hugo’s Asa Butterfield as Ender, Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld and Sir Ben Kingsley. Expect hardcore sci-fi fans to geek out and look the other way, gay scifi fans to feel conflicted, Card apologists to lecture you on how to separate the art from the artist and Hollywood to pretend like they haven’t just bankrolled Maggie Gallagher a little more.

Coming soon to a multiplex near you.

Romeo San Vicente likes science fiction best when its creators respect science. He can be reached care of this publication.

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The Butler’s conservative icon: Jane Fonda Jane Fonda has spent her entire life working for liberal causes when she wasn’t busy building a career as one of our most acclaimed actresses. And if you’re old enough to remember the era when she was disparagingly referred to as “Hanoi Jane,” you’ll know that she wasn’t afraid to court controversy and right-wing scorn in the process. Now, in her eighth decade, she’s going to court a little more by playing Nancy Reagan in gay director Lee Daniels’ (Precious) new film The Butler. A biopic of White House butler Eugene Allen, who worked for a string of Presidents from 1952 to 1986, Daniels is currently in talks with 30

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Lifestyle

Cocktail Chatter El Nuevo Mojito

Community

Queer Prom

Misc Youth gives LGBT Youth a second chance

By Ed Sikov

By Carey Rutherford

“We’re in the port of Old San Juan / We have a boat we can sleep on / Hundreds of drag queens in full bloom / Hundreds of fat men in steam room!”

The Miscellaneous Youth Network is at it again! Calgary’s LGBT youth organization is attacking the horrors of high school prom - a sometimes uncomfortable situation that arises for graduating LGBT youth.

My singing drives Dan nuts. I don’t know why. Just because I can’t hit the notes…. But for once I got a laugh. The Neue Weimar, the VSOP Caribbean cruise ship we’d taken as our belated honeymoon, had a spa, and we found that the “spa” area was – how shall I put it? – heavily populated. There were many men, a lot of them shaped like our planet. They could no more wrap a bath towel around their waists than could Kirstie Alley at her greatest tonnage.

Spending a week with 2,000 men is an anthropological experience: the size of a flaccid dick varies greatly among the general population and crosses all boundaries of race, ethnicity, age, girth and intelligence. We required a lot of thermal therapy; the hot tub became our second home aboard the Neue Weimar. At one point, a strapping young stud appeared at the hot tub’s entrance; all eyes turned as he strode to the towel rack and whipped off his towel. There were murmurs of appreciation at his godlike ass but an audible groan of disappointment at the sight of his Midget League meat. Moments later, a stooped old man tottered in and nobody gave him a second look until he was halfway down the steps into the tub, at which point the crowd suddenly gasped at his absolutely mammoth shlong – proof that one should never judge a cock by its cover.

Even I was amazed by the alcohol consumption on the cruise. Every hour was happy hour, except that all the drinks were full price. The Neue Weimar had at least 15 bars, and most were busy all day. We were waking up over our granola at 8 a.m. when Dan’s jaw dropped at the sight of something over my shoulder; I turned around and saw a Bloody Mary cart being wheeled toward us. Some guys were tanked by noon, passed out by 2, back at it at 5, flying high through dinner, still drinking at 10, 11, and 12, and staggering around the open top deck, the ship’s equivalent of a back room, at 3. I’m not passing judgment, believe me. The whole point of a cruise like this is to ditch your everyday life and have nothing but fun, fun, fun till your bank takes your credit card away. Still, having had my share of encounters with the severely inebriated, I must warn: too much alcohol thwarts the project. And nothing is as hard-on-dampening than the sound of one’s trick heaving into the toilet in the next room.

Which is not the proper way to launch into this week’s recipe, but a slap in the face is an effective rhetorical device. Our cocktail this week is Caribbean: the mojito. A Cuban drink, the mojito is made of rum, mint, a bit of lime juice and simple syrup – rather like a mint julep, only with rum instead of bourbon. But I’ve adapted it. Like mint juleps, traditional mojitos are easy to make if you have slaves to make them for you. This one’s easy for everyone.

If you’re not able to try these recipes at home, then ask your favourite bartender to make them for you!

Of course, the date is the issue: “It’s about bringing the date that you always wanted to, and being able to be who you are,” says James Demers, of the Miscellaneous Youth Network.

Calgary’s 2nd Annual Queer Prom opens its doors at 8pm on June 23rd in the beautiful Arrata Opera Centre, offering a night for Calgary’s LGBTQ community to celebrate their milestones and achievements. In an era where queer youth are stepping up and into the media spotlight as future leaders, there are still some who do not feel comfortable bringing their partners to their final high school dance.

The Miscellaneous Youth Network is hosting the prom, with all proceeds going directly to support queer youth in Calgary. “Queer Prom is a reclamation of a rite of passage, and an opportunity of celebration,” insists Justine Bonczek, co-chair of The Miscellaneous Youth Network, “This is a huge event for Calgary and totally unique in its theme for the queer community here. The name Queer Prom itself is a powerful statement. This isn’t an event about segregating ourselves away out of need: this is an event where we can come together and celebrate our milestones... It’s about reclaiming all the nights that we couldn’t be ourselves, taking back all the fear and replacing it with joy.”

The Arrata Opera Centre, home of Calgary Opera, is a refurbished encore in the 100 year-life of the Wesley United Church. Started in 1911, the church came into Calgary Opera’s hands in 2005, and now houses administration, rehearsals, recitals, and events. Surely, though, this must be a unique event even for the dramatic life of an opera house!

The Queer Prom will be offering more than just a dance venue this year. In fact, they are offering professional photographers, a full bar (for those of legal drinking age), a midnight buffet, and a Prom King/Queen contest complete with a prize package for the two lucky winners.

The Miscellaneous Youth Network is a not-for-profit organization in Calgary, dedicated to making safe places for queer youth. They run the Mosaic Youth Group, Risen - Calgary’s Queer Youth Art and Theatre Show, as well as annually organizing the Kids Zone for the Pride Street Festival.

El Nuevo Mojito Put fresh, washed mint leaves into a shaker with ice, and add a few drops of simple syrup and a few drops of lime juice. Pour in as much rum as you like; any type will do, since the mint and lime will overpower the rum’s subtleties. Shake hard and serve over ice.

Notes: 1) Most recipes call for muddling the mint with a muddler or a fork.

I say phooey. It’s a waste of energy, and the result is that you’ll end up with bits of mint stuck to your teeth.

2) If you use the repulsive Captain Gorgon’s spiced rum – the “spice” is obviously arsenic – I’ve got a voodoo doll with your name on it.)

Queer Prom Presented by the Miscellaneous Youth Network Saturday, June 23rd, 8pm Arrata Opera Centre (1315 7th Street SW) www.miscyouth.ca

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

31

A Dreamy May Lovers’ Date Night

Peter Katz is Coming to Town

By Janine Eva Trotta The cooing, melancholy, and clear voice that brought us the zesty track Dangerous is back with a new album.

Canadian born singer songwriter Peter Katz returned to the recording studio – of sorts – to produce his latest works Still Mind Still, and will be performing the album at various venues throughout the province this month.

Katz just completed a string of sold out tour dates in Europe in time for the Canadian release of Still Mind Still this past April 24th.

The album includes 11 original tracks laid down mainly on the floor of a log cabin in the middle of the woods, and leant its stunning ‘atmospheric’ sound production by producer/singer/songwriter Rob Szabo.

“We were in the country-side somewhere between Markdale and Owen Sound in Ontario,” Katz says. “Georgian Bay area, gorgeous country.”

Though originally from Montreal, Katz has spent the last 12 years calling Toronto home.

“I know that Toronto isn’t so well loved by the rest of Canada, but it’s a pretty great place if you give it a chance,” he says. “In fact, most places in Canada have their charms; haven’t really found a place I don’t like.”

That’s a sentiment which must make life on the road that little bit easier. Katz has played more than 150 shows over the past year and counting.

“I don’t care about missing sleep and the usual creature comforts; I’ll do anything, drive through any snowstorm and sleep on any floor; if it means I get to play a show for a room of people who want to be there, but being away from my wife so much is tough,” he shares.

“That being said, absence really does make the heart grow fonder, so there’s a sense of deep appreciation there that we’re lucky to have. “

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There is very little that Katz won’t do for his fans. For this album the innovative artist developed a ‘Perk Campaign’ to help support recording costs. The campaign pre-sold the album to wanting fans and in turn, when the album was completed, the fans were shipped their copy in advance of the release date with personalized liner notes – including their own name.

“I think my music is designed to be interactive so it feels natural for me to take that relationship beyond the one-way street of me putting things out there,” he says. “I want people to connect, for the music to mean something in their lives, so I make myself available to that as much as possible.”

Katz has recorded a fan’s favourite song as a duet with himself, and wrote a personal wedding song for a newlywed couple – even going so far as to perform it at their nuptials.

“I try to find unique and creative ways to connect with as many people as possible in a personal way, and to give special attention to people under special circumstances, while also forgiving myself for not always being able to get to everything and everyone,” he says.

“That being said, it can be a bit overwhelming trying to connect with everyone when I should be focusing on making new music as well as giving time to my loved ones.”

Katz comes from a family with a seeded appreciation for music and the arts in general. At the age of four he started on violin, piano shortly thereafter, and at the age of 13 took up the electric guitar.

“As a teenager I loved rock bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Nirvana, Tragically Hip etc. In my late teens/early 20’s though, I got wind of artists like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, etc. and something changed in me and I became a total junkie for singer-songwriters,” he says. “That really hasn’t left me; I love a good song presented in a stripped down way.

That’s my drug of choice.”

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And that’s how Still Mind Still plays out – clear and conscious.

“When we came up against a hard decision, the question was always does it make it more intimate?” Katz said of the recording process in a press release issued in March. “If the answer was yes then we did it, and if it was no, then we didn’t.”

“It’s the first time that most of the record is just me standing, singing and playing at the same time, and for several songs you’re hearing complete single takes. I feel more out on a limb than ever and I’m convinced that’s a good thing.”

Thunder in Your Chest, the promising first single, was written for a pregnant friend of Katz’s concerned for how she was going to manage. We hear blunt, real lines like: When the baby’s at your breast and there’s thunder at your chest will you still be strong? and When the lines there on your face all settle into place…

“I wanted to write her a song to say that everything was going to be ok; that she was going to find a way to make it through and that she had people around her to support her,” he explains. “In the end, it was also very much an exploration of my own feelings about parenthood, and confronting my own fears about the whole thing.”

If creating personal relationships with fans, touring two continents, playing more than 150 shows and releasing a fresh new album were not accomplishment enough, Katz also received a Juno nomination this year. His 2011 release Peter Katz: Live at the Music Gallery was nominated for Music DVD of the Year.

Other notable accolades he’s tucked under his belt include sharing the stage with Glen Hansard of The Swell Season, a nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2010 Canadian Folk Music Awards, and a CBC Galaxy Rising Star Award.

“Canada has a lot to be proud of in the music department and offers an endless supply of inspiration and influence,” he notes.

As much as he plays music, Katz loves to go and see it played too.

“Singer-songwriters like Rob Szabo, Emma-Lee, Layah Jane, Mike Evin, Valery Gore, Luke Doucet, Melissa McClelland, etc. are doing some amazing work out there,” he says. “I love some of the great bands out there too like Hey Rosetta, The Arcade Fire.”

Katz has several Alberta tour dates booked this month. He will be playing at the Slice in Lethbridge on May 7th, May 8th in Canmore at Communitea, May 9th and 10th in Edmonton at the Haven Social Club, and May 11th and 12th at the Ironwood in Calgary. Both the Edmonton and Calgary shows will be played with Canadian roots rock band the Skydiggers of Toronto.

More information on the songster and his upcoming shows can be found on his website.

“You may think I’m just saying this, but Alberta has by far been the best place for me to tour, consistently,” he says. “Some markets were particularly bad on those early tours and Calgary carried me through some of the darker times and kept me hopeful.”

“There seems to be a hunger and appreciation for singersongwriters [in Calgary], more so than in the rest of Canada. Not sure why that is, maybe the country influence or something, but it’s noticeable and wonderful.”

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

33

Politics

Two Worlds Collide The Death of a Gay Activist

By Stephen Lock With the recent killing of Halifax gay activist, Raymond Taaval, homophobic violence is once again receiving media attention.

The fact his killer, Andre Noel Denny, went missing while on a one hour’s unaccompanied pass from the East Coast Forensic Hospital in nearby Dartmouth-Burnside, and was known to be a paranoid schizophrenic who had slashed the throat of a puppy because he believed it to be the ‘devil’s dog’, has added fuel to the fire of outrage and brought to the forefront two very distinct issues: how homophobia and the accompanying violence is dealt with (not very well) and the treatment and care of individuals suffering severe psychiatric disorders.

One of the key questions in this is why Denny was on an unaccompanied pass to begin with. Even his lawyer, Pavel Boubnov, has stated the heavy-set Denny was prone to violence when off his medication and when drinking alcohol, which was apparently the case the night of April 17th when Taaval was attacked after trying to break up a fight between Denny and another individual outside the Menz and Mollyz bar in Halifax’s gay bar district. This does not sound like an individual who should ever have been permitted to leave the ward for any length of time, let alone without supervision.

That, right there, was a recipe for disaster.

By all accounts, Taavel was a peaceful, caring and gentle individual. Friends and acquaintances have said they are not surprised he intervened in the fight and attempted to calm those involved. This is what activists do...get involved.

That night it cost Taavel his life, beaten to death by a crazed individual and left to die in the street.

An accompanying issue here is the stigma attached to those suffering any sort of mental illness, but more so in dramatic cases such as paranoid schizophrenia. One of the pivotal defenses to be used by Boubnov on behalf of his client is whether or not Denny understood the consequences of his actions that night. If not, then he could be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness or defect.

However, this should not be interpreted as ‘having got away with it’, a common misunderstanding of the defense.

What such a finding, in fact, does is set into motion an ongoing assessment process by the Criminal Code Review Board. That process is designed to seek rehabilitation and reintegration into society while, at the same time, ensuring protection of the public. The board can provide a range of disposition orders, ranging from absolute discharges, to conditional discharges or detainment in a secure forensic hospital.

In other words, the individual is still held accountable for their actions - as delusional as they may have been they just are not punished in the same way an ordinary individual in full possession of their faculties would be.

The state still often maintains quite strict control over the individual, often for extended and indefinite periods of time, and may exert considerable control over the individual’s movements, including confining them. Why this wasn’t done in the case of Denny is currently under investigation as of this writing.

Of course, the other issue that arises from this was whether or not Taavel’s murder was a hate crime. The Halifax Regional Police are not dismissing the possibility.

Witnesses have said they heard Denny yelling “faggot” as he turned on Taavel. One can probably safely assume, however, that Denny’s lawyer will argue, given Denny’s 34

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

reduced understanding and quite possibly delusional and paranoid state at the time, he was incapable of forming the intent to kill, let alone develop the motivation of hate towards a specific group - in this case, gay men.

Those of us who take on the mantle of activism are quite aware there are dangers attached to being so public and vocal. When I was involved with various issues ranging from sexual orientation inclusion in provincial human rights law to equal marriage it was not unusual for me to receive threatening phone calls to my home (and, yes, I was listed in the phone book; I refused not to be) and, on at least a couple of occasions, death threat letters. I also coordinated what was then Gay Lines Calgary, an information and peer-counseling phone line and drop-in centre for gay and bisexual men located in the Old Y Centre, for many years as well as involved with the Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG) and would walk from my residence in the Beltline along 12 Ave SW to the Old Y. There were times, I will admit, especially after I had been in the media, that I was nervous walking to the Old Y and if a vehicle passed too close or slowed down, my heart would pound and my breathing would catch. No doubt Taavel was likewise aware of the dangers, but it is something one learns to accept and adapt to. One has to. And yet none of us really expect we will be killed...not in Canada.

Then the question is, was Taavel killed because he was a gay activist or was he killed because he intervened in a fight between a deranged individual and, I gather, an unknown third party? I would suggest he was killed for the latter reason. Denny, whether insane or not, probably had no idea who Taavel was.

This in no way minimizes the tragedy of losing an activist such as Taavel.

Our communities don’t have enough individuals willing to stand up and speak out on our behalf as it is, so the loss of even one activist has repercussions throughout the community. The loss, either through death as in Taavel’s case, burnout or other personal reasons an activist may be facing, leaves a gaping hole in the fabric of community with people looking for answers.

One of the answers we need to hear, and certainly the Halifax GLBTQ community needs to hear, is how and why an individual with Denny’s history was out on an unsupervised pass to begin with. While he may very well not be held legally responsible for his actions, those tasked with caring for him and monitoring him should be. Who authorized his pass? Why? Quite bluntly, what the hell were they thinking?

Part of the investigation into Taavel’s murder should involve investigating the rationale behind allowing Denny to walk out the door of a, I assume, closed psychiatric ward - unsupervised and unaccompanied - on an hour’s pass.

Someone needs to be held accountable for that. Whether that occurs or not remains to be seen.

Of course, it is understandable that doctors want to reintegrate patients into community living where possible.

And that is a laudable goal. The days of having someone with a mental illness locked up in an asylum/provincial mental hospital or other institution are past, by and large.

We don’t warehouse people in mental hospitals like the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest portrayed. The idea is repugnant to any right-thinking individual. But, by the same token, there is a responsibility to ensure those being reintegrated are ready for it - for our safety and theirs.

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Denny had not been allowed to leave the hospital from September 2011 until February 2012, the time between his court-ordered assessment following his attack on the dog he believed to be a spawn of Satan, and a Criminal Code Review Board hearing. On February 20th, 2012 the board granted him a conditional discharge, meaning he could have been released at any time. The process of reintegrating him then began.

According to the institution’s Clinical Director, Dr. Aileen Brunet, hospital staff were proceeding slowly with Denny’s reintegration and he was in the “early stages of graduated increased access to the community”. However, she did not know how frequently he had been on outside release but did state it was normal practice to start patients off with short supervised outings such as off hospital grounds for a cigarette or a coffee at a nearby coffee shop.

If individuals behave appropriately, they can then earn unsupervised outings, often several hour-long ones a day.

From there, they work their way up to six overnight passes a week and eventually full release from the hospital and reintegration into their community.

This is all quite reasonable. But somewhere along the line, Denny was not assessed properly or he was able to hide an awful lot. His lawyer stated he was only violent when off his medication. But he was out for several hours. Was he not medicated prior to leaving for what staff - reasonably let’s say - assumed would be yet another one hour trip? He also apparently consumed alcohol, which exacerbated his increasingly delusional state. In short, he was a time bomb waiting to go off and he did go off. And Raymond Taavel, his family both biological and chosen, and his community, paid the price.

Two lives destroyed. Two victims, and yes, Andre Denny is a victim here as well. Who should be held responsible for that?

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Letters to the Publisher Dear GayCalgary, As a transgendered man waiting to become a woman through gender reassignment surgery, I can truly say I am proud of Donald Trump today. As Regis Philbin calls him, affectionately “The Trumpster”, I will be affectionate about him as well. The Trumpster is allowing a transgendered Canadian model (who has actually gotten her sex change) to compete in the Miss Universe contest. What a truly remarkable man that Mr. Trump is, he’s not such a bad guy after all. I used to think he was an arrogant jerk, but this decision of honour and fair play shows me that Mr. Trump’s model wife Melania is being encouraging & open with him. Plus, it shows he has the good sense to listen to her input. I for one will be watching the contest with great interest!

Graciously, Walter Dean Blake

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

35

Cape Town

Paradise in the Rainbow Nation

 Penguins inhabit Boulders Beach in Cape Town

By Jon Fairbanks (GayTravel.com) South Africa is a country that celebrates diversity. It’s the only country in Africa that allows same-sex couples to marry. Cape Town, the second-largest city in the “Rainbow Nation,” is one of the most popular tourist destinations for straight and gay vacationers alike.

What makes Cape Town so appealing is the combination of a well-developed infrastructure, amazing climate and natural beauty. Several popular tourist attractions are located in “The Mother City,” including Table Mountain National Park and Boulders Beach. Whether you enjoy gazing at bronzed hotties on the beach, crave an ideal wine tasting experience or have a penchant for adventure and want to bungee jump or sharkcage dive, you’ll love this city!

Cape Town has a lot to offer LGBT travelers. There are gay beaches, gayborhoods and several LGBT-friendly hotels and businesses. Tourism is a major industry and many businessowners are happy to accept the coveted pink dollar.

Most of Cape Town’s gay scene is divided between the Waterkant and Sea Point neighborhoods. Waterkant, situated northwest of downtown, is a haven for young queer professionals and a great place to find hip, eclectic restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. Many of the most popular gay clubs can be found on Somerset Road. Bronx is always a blast if you love to dance and watch hot go-go boys. Beaulah, also on Somerset, is known as a lesbian bar, but it also attracts a lot of gay men. In addition to great music and dancing, the venue also offers regular comedy nights and other live performances. If you’re into leather, head 36

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

down to Bar Code on Cobern Street. This joint enforces a strict dress code, so if you’re not weather leather, rubber, a uniform or jeans, you won’t get in.

Cape Town is a melting pot and the ideal destination if you want to experience diverse and exotic cuisine. There’s a variety of gay-friendly restaurants sprinkled throughout the city.

In Waterkant, Cafe Manhattan is a staple of LGBT life. The restaurant was established in 1994, the same year South Africa adopted its democratic constitution. Highlights include mouthwatering burgers, a full bar and live entertainment. Andiamo is a popular venue offering a Mediterranean/California-influenced menu. There’s also a deli if you want to take a dish to go.

City Bowl is also a great area to grab a bite. Savoy Cabbage is an upscale, bistro-style restaurant where it’s common to see affectionate gay couples sharing a meal. The vegetarian and seasonal entrees are out of this world.

Most of the locals are warm and welcoming but it must be noted that crime is still a major issue in Cape Town. If you use common sense, you shouldn’t have a problem. Don’t wear a camera or other valuables slung around your neck or strapped to your waist. Also, avoid traveling alone on deserted city streets at night. If you plan on visiting one of the townships, do so during daylight hours on a guided tour. These are areas where you’ll find the most extreme poverty and where tourists are the most vulnerable.

Visiting a gay beach is a must-do when you’re in Cape Town.

Sandy Bay is the most popular, located about a half-hour away from downtown. It’s clothing-optional but if you want to swim www.gaycalgary.com

keep in mind the water is very cold most of the year. If you’re planning a trip to Sandy Bay, head there early because parking is extremely limited. Clifton 3rd is less windy than Sandy Day and attracts a mostly gay crowd. If you’re looking to experience a beautiful sunset, this is an ideal spot.

There are many similarities between Cape Town and California, and they don’t begin and end at the beautiful beaches. Looking for another great day excursion? Go wine tasting in Stellenbosch. The towering mountains serve as the perfect backdrop for a glorious day in the vineyards. This is also a great spot to go horseback riding or hiking.

There are great LGBT events happening no matter what time of year you plan to visit. Cape Town Pride takes place at the end of February and lasts until early March. Pink Loerie, which is held in April, is the only Mardi Gras event in Africa.

There are several highlights during Pink Loerie including the Mardi Gras Street Parade, which draws thousands of revelers.

The event was first held more than a decade ago and serves as a fundraiser for HIV/AIDS charities. Free HIV testing is also offered during Pride and Pink Loerie.

Cape Town is a place like no other on earth! It’s a city of extremes where the ridiculously wealthy live a stone’s throw away from the most destitute. Unspoiled natural beauty can be found next to state-of-the-art buildings and luxury hotels.

It’s the contradictions, as well as the blending of cultures that make the jewel of South Africa the most intriguing, alluring city on the continent.

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

37

Lifestyle

“The Best Life that Good Design Can Offer” Step into 6th and Tenth – Construction Slated to Break Ground this Fall

By Janine Eva Trotta Young urbanites and the young at heart: a new development in Calgary is being catered to suit your posh dwelling needs.

Brad J. Lamb, the Toronto developer and mega condominium broker who founded Lamb Development Corp. in 2001, is the brains behind 6thandTenth – a 230 unit, 31 storey point tower aimed to grace the Beltline with a stylish and luxurious living space.

Close to the downtown core, 6thandTenth offers residents the clean and modern features Lamb is known for, with a design focus on sustainability and green space.

“I am influenced by everything everywhere that is good,” Lamb says. “I just tried to steer the design of 6th and Tenth to the best place possible.”

Highlights of the property include a sky garden with spa pool and outdoor terrace; nine foot ceilings in principal rooms; floor to ceiling windows; exposed concrete walls and columns; slab style bathrooms with brushed chrome hardware; and a private club space in the sky garden lounge from which habitants will be rewarded one of the best views of the buzzing Beltline district.

6thandTenth draws the passerby in from the onset. The property will be enveloped in a Greenwich Village styled green and walking space featuring water pools, sculptural gardens and chic landscaping.

“The forecourt [art park] was inspired by the grand plazas in New York City, where people actually stop and meet, instead of just walk by,” Lamb says. “Indoor and outdoor amenities are perfect for a party or get-togethers.”

If the private club space doesn’t fit the residents’ fancy on a Friday night the 5 star restaurant aimed to habituate the premises might.

“It¹s about connecting people and offering them the best life that good design can offer,” he says.

Design is what Lamb is all about. Originally from Toronto he studied mechanical engineering at Queens University and is “self-trained in understanding and appreciating style and design.”

World class firms Core Architects and the Design Agency were selected by Lamb to achieve this project.

In ensuring green aspects are aptly incorporated into the high rise Lamb lists the following elements as essential: use of brick masonry walls; limited waste of glass cladding which aids in the prevention of heat loss; limiting the proximity of vehicle traffic by way of location selection close to the city’s centre; and use of high efficiency heating and cooling systems.

6thandTenth, Lamb’s first West Coast project, incorporates all of these elements and more.

On choosing Calgary as his entrance site into the West Canada architectural mélange, Lamb says the city is still young and “finding itself architecturally.”

“We wanted to contribute to the positive evolution of great architecture and enhance the population¹s lifestyle,” he explains.

6thandTenth is just the first of three projects Lamb intends to erect in the city. But what the next two will look like, the designer gives no clues.

“At this time, they are still a secret,” he says, confidently adding, “I can tell you that they will be amazing.”

6thandTenth http://www.6thandTenth.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a2867

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Melissa Etheridge (Kind Of) Opens Up

Rocker talks life after ex, getting remarried and upcoming album  Photos by Universal

By Chris Azzopardi Come to her window, but Melissa Etheridge won’t be around. Why? Because she’s everywhere else – on tour through the summer and in the studio laying down tracks for her first album since 2010’s Fearless Love.

And, in the midst of a heated custody battle with her ex, she dished on both during our recent interview: what to expect from the new music (songs about her split, of course), tentatively due in September; how, despite her breakup, “it’s not as heartbroken” as past albums; and, of course, getting underwear-bombed onstage.

GC: How’s life treating you these days?

ME: It’s pretty incredible. Very full and very fun. There’s always a new adventure around the corner. I have four kids and I’m very happy.

GC: What’s it like raising teens?

ME: My kids are 13 and 15, and I have two 5-year-olds; surprisingly, it’s very similar. (Laughs) They require all of your attention and they don’t remember anything you’ve told them.

GC: What’s inspiring this upcoming album?

ME: Life has always inspired whatever I’m singing about, so events in my life in the last couple of years: new love, saying goodbye to an old love, and my kids and my hopes and my dealings of life are all there.

GC: So Lucky meets Skin?

ME: (Laughs) That’s funny, but no actually. Better than that. I was pretty down and out during Skin – that was hard! www.gaycalgary.com

I’m in a much better place and I feel much better, so I think it’s more up. It’s hard for me to tell when I’m just starting, when I’m just making it, but I feel like it’s not as heartbroken as Skin was. We’re never going back there.

GC: But some fans miss sad Melissa.

ME: I know! Some people say Skin is their favorite and I’m like, “Aww, I’m sorry.” (Laughs) GC: On your last album, Fearless Love, you started writing from other people’s perspective. Will there be more of that on the upcoming album?

ME: I found that I’m writing from another point of view as if it were my own. They’re memories, like, “What if I was still there, what would this be like?” I’ve written a couple of those.

GC: It’s been a couple of years since you and Tammy Lynn Michaels split, though it’s still making headlines. What’s been the hardest part about going through a public breakup?

ME: That it was public. (Laughs) Some private pains and anger and heartache gets out there and no one understands, nobody except who is in the relationship knows what’s going on, and there’s always two sides to everything. I don’t ever like to do anything public; whereas she might take things public, I keep very quiet about it, so that’s hard. You can’t win that, ever.

GC: People naturally make assumptions and start rumors.

Is it better not to say anything or clear the air?

ME: You know, I wish it was possible to just go on and say, “Hey, this is my truth, this is it,” but it never stops.

Continued on Next Page 

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39

When you engage in that then you’re in it and it gets all mucky and you can’t win. You can’t change what people think. Some people are just out there assuming away and I can’t change that. So I accept it.

It’ll all be in the past soon.

GC: Except you’ll be reliving it on this album.

ME: (Laughs) Yes, that’s the thing. And that I can control. I can control my art, and I can control what I say and how I say it.

GC: Do songs that you’re performing from decades ago bring you back in time? Like, how do you feel when you’re performing “Bring Me Some Water” now?

ME: Well, certainly the feelings aren’t the same.

I’m not in that place anymore, yet it’s a blast; it’s so much fun to play (“Bring Me Some Water”).

The song rocks and the people enjoy it and I have such a good time. It’s easy to get right back into that moment. I imagine it’s

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like acting: You’re just truthful in the moment when you’re singing it, but you don’t have to live it.

GC: Do you relate to songs you were singing 20 or 30 years ago?

ME: I wouldn’t say I would relate to them in that I’m in that place right now, but there’s always some bit of truth – it’s a part of me that I understand. I find new meaning in them and I find new ways of approaching them. It’s actually kind of fun.

GC: What about performing still gives you goose bumps?

ME: The audience.

Whenever I can find a place, an audience that is receptive, is listening, is there to enjoy themselves and have a good time, and they came with an expectation, that can really move me.

GC: Your shows lure lots of lesbians. Before settling down into motherhood, you… um… had a lot of options.

ME: (Laughs) It’s rock ’n’ roll, you know!

GC: Do you have fond memories of those days?

ME: Fond? Yes! I have many fond memories of that, of my wild and wicked days. (Laughs) But I’m a family girl now. I can sing about it, though. I’ve been writing, and on some songs I reminisce about those… certain things.

GC: Do fans still toss panties onstage?

ME: Oh yeah, they tend to do that. I’m not fond of that, but you know, it’s an expression, I suppose.

GC: What’s the oddest fan “gift” you’ve received?

ME: Oh lord. Besides undergarments? Hmm. People throw all kinds of things, and of course the minute you ask me I blank on any of the funny stuff.

GC: Bras and underwear are weird enough.

ME: And I’m still getting those. I’m like, “Really? Don’t you want that for later?”

GC: How do you put together your set lists?

ME: I use kind of a spine. There are a handful of songs that I’ll do every single night for the fans and the people who are just coming for the first time: “Like the Way I Do,” “Bring Me Some Water,” “I’m the Only One,” “Come to My Window.”

Then after that, I try to mix it up with songs from all different albums, tunes that hardcore fans would be really excited to hear, and I try to play from the newest album.

GC: Is there a certain song in your catalog that’s still the closest to you?

ME: They really are like children; you can’t pick one. So many of them have parts of me in them and I wouldn’t say there’s one. I feel like that about all of them.

GC: Do you feel the same way about your albums?

ME: Well, usually the latest album is the one I’m closest to because, well, it’s the one that I’m closest to. (Laughs) But I’m proud of them all. I can stand by them and enjoy them and still enjoy playing the music. www.gaycalgary.com

GC: How’s the musical you’re working on with your girlfriend, Linda Wallem, coming along?

ME: I hope soon we’ll have something out there, once she finishes with Nurse Jackie (Wallem is a writer for the show) and I finish with my album – but yes, when we have the spare time we’re working on it. It’s very close. We’ve worked on it for a while now.

GC: More like Les Miserables or Hairspray?

ME: It’s more like… like nothing you’ve ever seen. (Laughs) It’s an original script with original songs. I’d rather it be more like Jesus Christ Superstar meets Bye Bye Birdie or American Idiot. It’s a real hybrid thing.

GC: How did you get interested in that?

ME: I’ve always loved musicals and Broadway. I mean, I am gay! Come on. (Laughs) But when I was much younger I loved Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. I loved the drama in them and I always thought that was the ultimate, so that’s still my dream.

GC: Where do you think we’re headed on the path to equal rights?

ME: It’s absolutely going to the Supreme Court, because there’s no place in the Constitution that says “everyone except those gays.” This is America for everyone, and every time this sort of challenge comes up, the Supreme Court – no matter how conservative – has to put their own personal bigotry aside. I believe it’s going to pass the Supreme Court and that’s going to change a lot of things. That means the fight won’t have to go all the way to the Supreme Court anymore, and that’s where we’re going to start seeing big changes. And then that’s when we’ll all sink into the ocean and the world will end. (Laughs) GC: Is marriage in your near future?

ME: You know, three’s a charm! That’s what they say. But this time I’d be getting married because she has a job and I wanna marry her because she makes lots of money (laughs) – no, she’s a wonderful gal. She’s just amazing, and if and when we do it, it would be for my family and really for the reasons that you get married when you’re older.

GC: With more celebrities being public about their sexuality nowadays, how do you reflect on your coming out? How does it compare to now?

ME: Now it can be just a part of someone, not the definition.

Still, if there’s a gay joke, it’s me at the end of it. (Laughs) You know, it defined me for a long time. In a weird way, my cancer kind of knocked that out, but for a long time that’s what I was known as, so I think now you can come out and still rely on your work. I know now that it’s about my work; it’s no longer, “How unusual that you’re gay!”

GC: How does it feel knowing that being out in your life and in your music changed so many LGBT people over the last couple of decades?

ME: It’s just really starting to come back to me now.

Recently I did interviews with Australia, because I’m going down there this summer, and (a reporter) said when she was 18 and I came to Melbourne it meant so much to her and it helped her come out. It was just a beautiful thank you. It’s really coming back to me right now that what I did 20 years ago really made a difference in the world, and that’s a really nice feeling to go to sleep with at night. To have people come up and say, “Thank you, that made my life better” – what more can a gal ask for?

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Jack Black (Maybe) Goes Gay

Actor talks playing a real-life man who might be gay – and the pedicure he gave Shirley MacLaine  Photos by Millennium Entertainment

By Chris Azzopardi Is this Jack Black’s first gay role? As a small-town Texan teddy bear who goes off the deep end, it might be. But, because the real-life man he’s playing isn’t out, we may never truly know.

Enter Bernie, an offbeat black comedy based on a true story of a flamboyant people-pleaser who befriends the local she-devil, and then turns on her. As the titular mortician who is, as one townie calls him, “light in the loafers,” Jack – known for fun-loving roles in School of Rock and Tropic Thunder, and a hilarious kidnapping cameo in last year’s The Muppets – is totally non-Black, playing Bernie Tiede with understated finesse, an effeminate lisp and an endearing touch.

We got Black on the phone for an exclusive chat about his maybegay turn, what he has in common with Bernie and how LGBT rights is a “no-brainer” issue for him.

GC: Was giving Shirley MacLaine a pedicure the gayest thing you’ve done in your career?

JB: Yeah, that was pretty gay. I wasn’t really thinking gay or straight while I was doing it. I was really just thinking about giving the best pedicure that I could. I thought that I was damn good.

Were you shocked at my proficiency?

GC: Very much so.

JB: Key is blowing off the excess. That was just instinct. I think maybe I did pedicures in a past life.

GC: Does your wife make you give her pedicures now?

JB: No. My wife gave me a pedicure the other day. That’s true love, man.

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GC: The music in the movie isn’t exactly anything like your hardcore comedy band, Tenacious D. What was it like to go into flamboyant musical-theater mode for those?

JB: It didn’t feel that much of a departure for me, actually. Those songs, I loved singing them. It was a blast. I think they’re actually pretty catchy tunes. (Sings) “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”

I loved singing that, I got into it. There’s something really joyous about singing about our savior.

GC: You’re biased. You were Jesus in Funny or Die’s “Prop 8: The Musical.” Speaking of which, how did that come about?

JB: I had worked with Marc Shaiman on the Oscars; we did a thing with me and Will Ferrell where we were presenting for Best Original Song. Anyway, I knew Marc Shaiman so he called me up, I believe, and said, “Hey, we’re doing this thing on Prop 8,” and I was like, “Let’s do it.”

GC: Why was this important for you to be a part of?

JB: It’s a rights issue. I’ve got a lot of gay and lesbian friends and family, so it’s personal to me when people and the government start talking about them as less than. It just seems like one of the no-brainers in our society. There are not a lot of no-brainers where you’re like, “This is right and that is wrong and I’m definitely on this side,” where you want to go out and sing about it and do things. But it feels good to be on the right side of history.

GC: The community Bernie lived in speculated that he might be gay. Do you feel, despite how adored he was, they would’ve turned on him if he were out?

JB: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But it’s not a town that had, at the time anyway, a lot of people out of the closet just being who they really were. But the love was pretty intense, so I think he

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would’ve remained popular if he had just come out. I mean, there would definitely be some haters; there is lots of homophobia in that neck of the woods.

GC: Did you shoot in the actual town of Carthage, Texas?

JB: We shot it near Austin.

We never went to east Texas, to the actual place. It’s a lot different, actually. If you’re in and around Austin, that’s sort of a blue oasis in a sea of red – that’s where I would live if I lived in Texas. I actually would love to live in Austin. It’s pretty groovy, pretty open.

GC: What did you make of Shirley MacLaine’s character, Marge?

JB: They were just friends. (Bernie) volunteered that they had never had any sexual relations, that they were just friends and travel companions. He was her servant; that was their relationship.

It was more of a master/slave relationship than a true friendship, but there was an element of love and friendship there, too, and there was a codependency.

One of his character flaws is that he has to be loved; he was the most popular in this small town for a reason – because he wanted to be. He wanted everyone to like him, and she was a tough nut to crack. She didn’t really want to like him, and he had to work on her.

If you didn’t like him, he’d make it his life’s mission to get you to like him. I think he was truly afraid that if he ever left her that she would hate him, and he couldn’t live with that – so he stayed for an unhealthy amount of time until he just snapped.

GC: What’s your take on Bernie’s homosexuality as it’s implied in the film?

JB: You know, I met him and I talked to him and that is a question I probably should’ve asked. But I didn’t want to. It just felt personal, like none of my business. I don’t want to ask someone their (sexual orientation); that’s for him to say. I mean, I’ve got my feelings – obviously I felt like I was playing him accurately – but he never came out himself, so I wouldn’t be bringing him out if he didn’t want to come out. It’s such a big part of who he is, and the character of Bernie, I feel like he’s got a secret he’s been living with his whole life. In a small town in east Texas, you’re not gonna come out and be all open. That speaks to the secrets that we carry.

GC: Well, do you know of any straight men who would get pedicures and listen to show tunes and make curtains?

JB: Let me think about this. Wait a second. I’ve got two out of three there. I’ve got a big musical-theater background from high school. I was a big musical-theater nerd; Ben Vereen was my hero.

And pedicures – I love a pedicure. Someone’s gotta scrape off the cement down there on the heel. It’s like the surface of Mars down there. As for curtain making, that’s where I draw the line. I just have no interest in that. But I am sure there are straight dudes who have the trifecta under their belts. I’m certain of it.

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Photography LGBT Project Art Show/Sale at Deva Dave’s http://gaycalgary.com/p221

Beef Bearbash at the Junction, Edmonton (photos by B&J)

Sharp Foundation Mac & Cheese Contest at the Eagle http://gaycalgary.com/p222

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Photography Back to Boyztown Party - Vinyl Nightclub http://gaycalgary.com/pa211

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Photography Western Cup 30 Weekend http://gaycalgary.com/pa212

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Photography

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Photography ISCCA Coronation 36 Week, taken at the Backlot, Calgary Eagle, Texas Lounge and the Westin Hotel http://gaycalgary.com/pa208

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Photography

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Photography Calgary Comic Expo 2012 http://gaycalgary.com/pa228

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Directory & Events 24

DOWNTOWN CALGARY

43 41 4

37 9

34

2 33

16

35

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3

5 6

1

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1 2 3 4 5

Calgary Outlink---------- Community Groups Aids Calgary------------- Community Groups Backlot------------------------Bars and Clubs Calgary Eagle Inc.------------Bars and Clubs Texas Lounge-----------------Bars and Clubs

6 Goliath’s--------------------------Bathhouses 9 FAB----------------------------Bars and Clubs 13 Westways Guest House----Accommodations 16 Priape Calgary----------------- Retail Stores 24 Courtney Aarbo-----------------------Services

FIND OUT!

GayCalgary Magazine is the go-to source for information about Alberta LGBT businesses and community groups—the most extensive and accurate resource of its kind! This print supplement contains a subset of active community groups and venues, with premium business listings of paid advertisers. ......... Wheelchair Accessible

Spot something inaccurate or outdated? Want your business or organization listed? We welcome you to contact us!

 403-543-6960  1-888-543-6960

 magazine@gaycalgary.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/CalgaryTravelRSS http://www.gaycalgary.com/EdmontonTravelRSS

Local Bars, Restaurants, and Accommodations info on the go! http://www.gaycalgary.com/Directory

Browse our complete directory of over 600 gay-frieindly listings! www.gaycalgary.com

Twisted Element--------------Bars and Clubs Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------- Theatre One Yellow Rabbit-------------------- Theatre ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects-------- Theatre Pumphouse Theatre----------------- Theatre

CALGARY

LGBT Community Directory

✰....... Find our Magazine Here

33 34 35 36 37

Accommodations 13 Westways Guest House------------------- ✰

 216 - 25th Avenue SW  403-229-1758  1-866-846-7038  westways@shaw.ca  www.gaywestways.com

Bars & Clubs 3 Backlot---------------------------------- ✰  403-265-5211  Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close

 209 - 10th Ave SW

4 Calgary Eagle Inc.---------------------- ✰  424a - 8th Ave SE  403-263-5847  http://www.calgaryeagle.com  Open Wed-Sun, 5pm-close Leather/Denim/Fetish bar.

60 Club Sapien (CLOSED)----------------- ✰  1140 10th Ave SW  403-457-4464  http://www.clubsapien.ca Dance Club and Restaurant/Lounge.

9 FAB-------------------------------------- ✰

 1742 - 10th Ave SW  403-263-7411  www.fab-bar.com  Closed Mondays.

Bar and restaurant.

5 Texas Lounge------------------------------ ✰

 308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911  www.goliaths.ca  Open 7 days a week, 11am-close

41 La Fleur------------------------- Retail Stores 43 Lisa Heinricks--------- Theatre and Fine Arts 58 Theatre Junction--------------------- Theatre

33 Twisted Element--------------------------- ✰

 1006 - 11th Ave SW  403-802-0230

 www.twistedelement.ca Dance Club and Lounge.

Bathhouses/Saunas 6 Goliaths------------------------------------ ✰

 308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911  www.goliaths.ca  Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day

Community Groups 2 AIDS Calgary--------------------------  110, 1603 10th Avenue SW  403-508-2500  info@aidscalgary.org  www.aidscalgary.org

✰

Alberta Society for Kink

 403-398-9968  albetasocietyforkink@hotmail.com  http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/ group.albertasocietyforkink

Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports

 www.apollocalgary.com  www.myapollo.com A volunteer operated, non-profit organization serving primarily members of the LGBT communities but open to all members of all communities. Primary focus is to provide members with well-organized and fun sporting events and other activities.

• Western Cup 31

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Directory & Events Squash------------------------------  7:30-9pm

Calgary Events Mondays

By Apollo Thursdays

ASK Meet and Greet----------------  7-9:30pm

Lesbian Seniors---------------------------  2pm

 Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE)

Inside Out Youth Group---------------- 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink

Yoga-----------------------------  7:40-9:15pm See

Apollo Calgary

Calgary Networking Club-------------- 5-7pm See 1 Calgary Outlink

 1st

Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink

 2nd, 4th

Bootcamp---------------------------  7-8:30pm Apollo Calgary

At 5 Texas Lounge

Fetish Slosh----------------------------  Evening At 3 Backlot

 2nd

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Communion Service-----------------  12:10pm Knox United Church

Squash------------------------------  7:30-9pm Apollo Calgary

AIDS Calgary

 1st

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Free Pool-------------------------------  All Day Prime Timers Calgary

LGBT Coffee Night------------------------  7pm

 1st

At 4 Calgary Eagle

Mosaic Youth Group--------------------  7-9pm  Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW)

 1st

Womynspace---------------------------- 7-9pm

 2nd

New Directions-------------------------- 7-9pm

 3rd

Heading Out----------------------- 8pm-10pm

 4th

Rec Volleyball--------------------------- 7-9pm See

Coffee------------------------------------ 10am

By Prime Timers Calgary  Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW)

Curling-------------------------  2:20 & 4:30pm Apollo Calgary

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Worship Time---------------------------- 10am Deer Park United Church

Worship------------------------------  10:30am See

Scarboro United Church

Sunday Services---------------------  10:45am See

Hillhurst United Church

Apollo Calgary

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

 Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW

Knox United Church

Int/Comp Volleyball----------- 12:15-1:45pm See

Apollo Calgary

BBQ Social Sundays----------------------  2pm

East Doors (directly off the Bow river pathway). Distances vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to 9+ minute miles.

• Biking

• Slow Pitch

• Boot Camp

• Squash

 Platoon FX, 1351 Aviation Park NE  bootcamp@apollocalgary.com

• Bowling (Rainbow Riders League)

 slow.pitch@apollocalgary.com

 Mount Royal University Recreation  squash@apollocalgary.com All skill levels welcome.

 Let’s Bowl (2916 5th Avenue NE)  bowling@apollocalgary.com

• Tennis

• Curling

• Volleyball (Beach)

 North Hill Curling Club (1201 - 2 Street NW)  curling@apollocalgary.com Will return in September 2010. Sign up at myapollo.org to receive updates.

• Golf

 golf@apollocalgary.com

• Lawn Bowling

 tennis@apollocalgary.com

 beachvb@apollocalgary.com

• Volleyball (Int/Comp)

 West Hillhurst Community Center 1940 6th Avenue NW  vb@apollocalgary.com

• Volleyball (Recreational)

 lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com

 Langevin School (107 6A St NE)  recvb@apollocalgary.com

• Outdoor Pursuits

• Volleyball (Women’s)

 outdoorpursuits@apollocalgary.com If it’s done outdoors, we do it. Volunteer led events all summer and winter. Hiking, camping, biking, skiing, snow shoeing, etc. Sign up at myapollo.org to get updates on the sport you like. We’re always looking for people to lead events.

• Running (Calgary Frontrunners)

 YMCA Eau Claire (4th St, 1st Ave SW)  calgaryfrontrunners@shaw.ca

56

Heroes Hangover Brunch At Calgary Eagle

Bear Chest/Jockstrap Auction----------------9pm At Calgary Eagle

Sunday, May 20th

Sexy Underwear Party-------------------Evening At Goliaths

Thursday, May 24th

Juicy Flicks

By Fairy Tales Film Fest

->Jun2

Friday, May 25th

Fairytales KiNK Afterparty At Calgary Eagle

Saturday, May 26th

Church Service----------------------------  4pm

Wild West Warm-Up Party----------------8pm

By ARGRA  Hillhurst Sunnyside Comm. Hall (1320 5th Ave NW)

See

Rainbow Community Church

Swimming-------------------------------  5-6pm

By Different Strokes

 SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)

Jun

Women’s Volleyball----------------  7-8:30pm See

Apollo Calgary

Saturday, June 9th

Icarus--------------------------------------  8pm

By Calgary Men’s Chorus  Rosza Centre, U of C

Free Pool-------------------------------  All Day At 4 Calgary Eagle

Monday, May 7th

Uniform Night----------------------  6pm-6am At 6 Goliaths

Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range/Future),  = Sponsored Event

 6020 - 4 Avenue NE  badminton@apollocalgary.com

 bike@apollocalgary.com

Heroes and Villains------------------9pm-2am At Calgary Eagle

At 4 Calgary Eagle

 Calgary Contd.

• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing)

Saturday, May 12th

Saturday, May 19th

Sundays See

By TESA The Auburn Saloon (1639 9 Ave SE)

Sunday, May 13th

Alcoholics Anonymous--------------------  8pm

See

Leather Night-------------------------  Evening

See 1 Calgary Outlink

TRANScend--------------------------------7-11pm

Apollo

Worship Services------------------------- 11am

Fridays

See 1 Calgary Outlink

CAANS

May310

Lesbian Meetup Group-------------  7:30-9pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Women’s Healing Circle--------------  1:30pm

See

Apollo Calgary

See 1 Calgary Outlink

At 4 Calgary Eagle with

Jun

Bootcamp------------------------------- 7-8pm See

Friday, May 11th

See

Swimming-------------------------------  6-7pm

Illusions-------------------------------  7-10pm

Wednesdays

See

 3rd

At 6 Goliaths

See

Saturdays

Running-----------------------------------  9am By

Buddy Night-------------------------  6pm-6am

At 1 Calgary Outlink

Karaoke------------------------------  8pm-1am

See

 Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW

By Different Strokes

 SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)

Tuesdays

See

May17Jun27

 YWCA Calgary (320 - 5th Avenue SE)  vbwomen@apollocalgary.com

• Yoga

 World Tree Studio (812 Edmonton Trail NE)

 Robin: 403-618-9642  yoga@apollocalgary.com $120 (10 sessions); $14 Drop-ins open to all levels. Apollo membership is required.

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)

 www.argra.org

• Monthly Dances-----------------------------  Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association 1320 - 5th Avenue NW

Calgary Gay Fathers

 calgaryfathers@hotmail.com  http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning fathers. Meeting twice a month.

Calgary Queer Book Club

 Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)

Calgary Men’s Chorus

Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre

 http://www.calgarymenschorus.org

 77 Deerpoint Road SE  http://www.dpuc.ca

• Rehearsals

 Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW

Calgary Sexual Health Centre---------

 403-278-8263

Different Strokes

✰

 304, 301 14th Street NW  403-283-5580  http://www.calgarysexualhealth.ca A pro-choice organization that believes all people have the right and ability to make their own choices regarding their sexual and reproductive health.

1 Calgary Outlink---------------------------- ✰

 Old Y Centre (303 – 223, 12 Ave SW)  403-234-8973  info@calgaryoutlink.ca  http://www.calgaryoutlink.com

• Peer Support and Crisis Line

• Calgary Lesbian Ladies Meet up Group • Between Men and Between Men Online • Heading Out • Illusions Calgary • Inside Out • New Directions • Womynspace

 1-877-OUT-IS-OK (1-877-688-4765) Front-line help service for GLBT individuals and their family and friends, or anyone questioning their sexuality.

 http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org

FairyTales Presentation Society

 403-244-1956

 http://www.fairytalesfilmfest.com Alberta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

• DVD Resource Library

Over a hundred titles to choose from. Annual membership is $10.

Gay Friends in Calgary

 http://www.gayfriendsincalgary.ca Organizes and hosts social activities catered to the LGBT people and friends.

Girl Friends

 girlfriends@shaw.ca

 members.shaw.ca/girlfriends

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events  Calgary Contd.

Girlsgroove

Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students and Staff.

Hillhurst United Church

• Coffee Night

 http://www.girlsgroove.ca

 2nd Cup, Kensington

 1227 Kensington Close NW  (403) 283-1539  office@hillhurstunited.com  www.hillhurstunited.com

Scarboro United Church

 134 Scarboro Avenue SW  403-244-1161  www.scarborounited.ab.ca An affirming congregation—the full inclusion of LGBT people is essential to our mission and purpose.

HIV Peer Support Group

 403-230-5832  hivpeergroup@yahoo.ca

 http://www.iscca.ca Imperial Sovereign Court of the Chinook Arch. Charity fundraising group..

Knox United Church

Lesbian Meetup Group

 http://www.meetup.com/CalgaryLesbian Monthly events planned for Queer women over 18+ such as book clubs, games nights, movie nights, dinners out, and volunteering events.

Miscellaneous Youth Network

 http://www.miscyouth.com

Urban Sex Radio Show

 CJSW 90.9 FM

 http://www.cjsw.com Focus on sexuality; gay bisexual lesbian trans gendered and straight issues here in Calgary and around the web.

Vigor Calgary

 403-255-7004  www.vigorcalgary.ca Violence in Gay Male Relationships (VIGOR) is a committee of professionals dedicated to increasing the awareness of gay men’s domestic violence and the services available to them.

“Yeah...What She Said!” Radio Show

 The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) For queer and trans youth and their allies.

Mystique

• Coffee Night

 Good Earth Cafe (1502 - 11th Street SW)

NETWORKS

 networkscalgary@gmail.com A social, cultural, and service organization for the mature minded and “Plus 40” LGBT individuals seeking to meet others at age-appropriate activities within a positive, safe environment.

Positive Space Committee

 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW  403-440-6383  http://www.mtroyal.ca/positivespace Works to raise awareness and challenge the patterns of silence that continue to marginalize LGBTTQ individuals.

Pride Calgary Planning Committee

 403-797-6564

 www.pridecalgary.ca

Primetimers Calgary

 primetimerscalgary@gmail.com  http://www.primetimerscalgary.com Designed to foster social interaction for its members through a variety of social, educational and recreational activities. Open to all gay and bisexual men of any age, respects whatever degree of anonymity that each member desires.

Queers on Campus---------------------

 279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C  403-220-6394  http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass

www.gaycalgary.com

✰

MFM Communications

5 The Junction---------------------------- ✰

 10242 106th St  780-756-5667  http://www.junctionedmonton.com

 403-543-6970  1-877-543-6970  http://www.mfmcommunications.com Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware and software.

4 Calgary Eagle Inc.--------------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.

✰

60 Club Sapien (CLOSED)---------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.

✰

9 FAB------------------------------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.

✰

Bathhouses/Saunas

MPs Catering

 403-607-8215

11 Steamworks------------------------------- ✰

 11745 Jasper Ave  780-451-5554  http://www.steamworksedmonton.com

Community Groups Alberta Bears

 www.beefbearbash.com

• Centre of Hope

 Room 201, 420 - 9th Ave SE  403-410-1180  Mon-Fri: 1pm-5pm

• Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre

 1213 - 4th Str SW  403-955-6014  Sat-Thu: 4:15pm-7:45pm, Fri: Closed

Halo Steak, Seafood & Wine Bar

 Howard McBride Chapel of Chimes 10179 - 108 Street  bookworm@teamedmonton.ca

Theatre & Fine Arts

Buck Naked Boys Club

36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects

 403-294-7402  http://www.ATPlive.com

AXIS Contemporary Art--------------------

Retail Stores Adult Depot-----------------------------

✰

 107, 100 - 7 Ave SW  rob@axisart.ca

 403-262-3356  www.axisart.ca

 140, 58th Ave SW  403-258-2777 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys.

See Calgary - Community Groups.

41 La Fleur------------------------------------  103 - 100 7th Avenue SW  403-266-1707 Florist and Flower Shop.

 Bow Trail and 37th St. SW  403-249-7799  www.jubilations.ca

The Naked Leaf----------------------------

 403-283-3555

16 Priape Calgary------------------------- ✰

 1322 - 17 Ave SW  403-215-1800  http://www.priape.com Clothing and accessories. Adult toys, leather wear, movies and magazines. Gifts.

Services & Products Calgary Civil Marriage Centre

 403-246-4134 (Rork Hilford)  MarriageCommissioner@shaw.ca Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths.

 780-471-6993  http://www.bucknakedboys.ca Naturism club for men—being social while everyone is naked, and it does not include sexual activity. Participants do not need to be gay, only male.

Camp fYrefly

 7-104 Dept. of Educational Policy Studies Faculty of Education, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5  http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca

Fairytales

Jubilations Dinner Theatre

Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)

 http://www.edmontonpride.ca

43 Lisa Heinricks (Artist)---------------------  Art Central, 100 7th Ave SW, lower level  http://www.creamydreamy.com 35 One Yellow Rabbit-------------------------  Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE  403-299-8888  www.oyr.org 37 Pumphouse Theatre------------------  2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW  403-263-0079  http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca

✰

Stagewest-------------------------------

✰

 727 - 42 Avenue SE  403-243-6642  http://www.stagewestcalgary.com

AltView Foundation

 #44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB

 403-398-9968  info@altview.ca  www.altview.ca For gender variant and sexual minorities.

Book Worm’s Book Club

• Safeworks Van

 403-850-3755  Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am

 Canyon Meadows Plaza 13226 Macleod Trail SE  403-271-4111  www.halorestaurant.com

 305 10th Street NW  http://www.thenakedleaf.ca Organic teas and tea ware.

12 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6557

 Room 117, 423 - 4th Ave SE  403-699-8216  Mon-Fri: 9am-12pm, Sat: 12:15pm-3:15pm

Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)

 Sean: 403-695-5791  http://www.pflagcanada.ca A registered charitable organization that provides support, education and resources to parents, families and individuals who have questions or concerns about sexual orientation or gender identity.

14 FLASH-------------------------------------- ✰

 10018 105 Street  780-938-2941  flashnightclub@hotmail.com

• Calgary Drop-in Centre

Restaurants

 mystiquesocialclub@yahoo.com Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and up but all are welcome.

Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)

 403-461-9195  http://www.lornedoucette.com

Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing.

 CJSW 90.9 FM

 yeahwhatshesaid@gmail.com

• Mosaic Youth Group

6 Buddy’s Nite Club------------------------- ✰

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6636

SafeWorks

 1317-1st Street NW

 Club Sapien (609 7th Ave SW) Calgary’s ONLY Drag King Show. Early show 7:30pm, late show 9pm.

Bars & Clubs

 Jim Duncan: 403-978-6600 Residential cleaning. Free estimates.

Wild Rose United Church

• Fake Mustache

EDMONTON

Duncan’s Residential Cleaning

 Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE)  sundayunity@live.com

✰

34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------------  161, 115 - 9 Ave SE  403-221-3708  http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com

 810 Edmonton Trail NE  403-290-1973 Cuts, Colour, Hilights.

Unity Bowling

 506 - 4th Street SW  403-269-8382  http://www.knoxunited.ab.ca Knox United Church is an all-inclusive church located in downtown Calgary. A variety of facility rentals are also available for meetings, events and concerts.

Cruiseline

 403-777-9494 trial code 3500  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

DevaDave Salon & Boutique

Sharp Foundation

 403-272-2912  sharpfoundation@nucleus.com  http://www.thesharpfoundation.com

ISCCA Social Association

58 Theatre Junction----------------------  Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW  403-205-2922  info@theatrejunction.com  http://www.theatrejunction.com

24 Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors)

 1138 Kensington Road NW  403-571-5120  http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca GLBT legal services.

Edmonton Prime Timers

 edmontonpt@yahoo.ca  www.primetimersww.org/edmonton Group of older gay men and their admirers who come from diverse backgrounds but have common social interests.

Affiliated with Prime Timers World Wide.

Edmonton Rainbow Business Association

 3379, 11215 Jasper Ave  780-429-5014  http://www.edmontonrba.org Primary focus is the provision of networking opportunities for LGBT owned or operated and LGBT-friendly businesses in the Edmonton region.

Edmonton Illusions Social Club

 5 The Junction  780-387-3343

 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

57

Directory & Events DOWNTOWN EDMONTON 5

11 6 12

N

4 14

4 Edmonton STD---------- Community Groups 5 The Junction------------------Bars and Clubs

Edmonton Events Team Edmonton

Martial Arts---------------------  7:30-8:30pm Team Edmonton

Swim Practice-------------------  7:30-8:30pm Team Edmonton

GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm Youth Understanding Youth

Cycling---------------------------  6:30-7:30pm See

Team Edmonton

Yoga---------------------------------  7:30-8pm See

Swim Practice--------------------------- 7-8pm Team Edmonton

Book Club-----------------------------  7:30pm See

BookWorm’s Book Club

 3rd

Martial Arts---------------------  7:30-8:30pm See See

GLBTQ Bowling------------------  1:30-3:30pm See

Youth Understanding Youth

Team Edmonton

Intermediate Volleyball--------  7:30-9:30pm

Wednesdays See

Monthly Meeting----------------------  2:30pm

See

Tuesdays

See

Thursdays See

Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm

See

12 Woody’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs 14 FLASH-------------------------Bars and Clubs

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm

Mondays See

6 Buddy’s Nite Club------------Bars and Clubs 11 Steamworks----------------------Bathhouses

Team Edmonton

Team Edmonton

Men’s Games Nights--------------  7-10:30pm Men’s Games Nights

 2nd, Last

Edmonton Illusions-------------------  8:30pm At 5 The Junction

 2nd

Youth Sports/Recreation-----------------  4pm See

Youth Understanding Youth

See

See

Buck Naked Boys Club

Team Edmonton

Running------------------------------  10-11am See

Team Edmonton Team Edmonton

Ballroom Dancing--------------  7:30-8:30pm Team Edmonton

Monthly Meetings---------------------  2:30pm

 Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) See Edmonton Primetimers

Avenue Q--------------------------------------9pm ISCWR at 5 Junction

 2nd

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group.  sing@evmchoir.com

GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

 tuff@shaw.ca

HIV Network Of Edmonton Society----

✰

 9702 111 Ave NW 780-488-5742  www.hivedmonton.com Provides healthy sexuality education for Edmonton’s LGBT community and support for those infected or affected

by HIV.

InQueeries

 inqueeries@gmail.com Student-run GLBTQ Alliance at MacEwan University.

Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose

 http://www.iscwr.ca

Living Positive Society of Alberta

 #50, 9912 - 106 Street 780-423-3737  http://www.facebook.com/LivingPoz Living Positive through Positive Living.

Men’s Games Nights

 Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street)

 780-474-8240  tuff@shaw.ca

 University of Alberta, basement of SUB  outreach@ualberta.ca  http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach

58

Treasury Vodka Bar (10004 Jasper Ave)

Friday, June 8th

Pride Awards----------------------------------7pm Edmonton Pride Week Society

Friday, June 9th

Pride Parade---------------------------------Noon By

Edmonton Pride Week Society

Celebration on the Square-------------------1pm By

Edmonton Pride Week Society

PURE Pride Dance----------------------------9pm By

PURE Pride

Friday, June 15th

2012 Gay Edmonton Pageant---------------9pm By

ISCWR at 5 Junction

By

ISCWR at 5 Junction

• PFLAG

Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton

 10608 - 105 Ave  780-488-3234  admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org  http://www.pridecentreofedmonton.org

 10608 - 105 Ave  780-436-1998  edmontonab@pflagcanada.ca Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: A support group for family members and friends of GLBT people. An excellent resource for people whose family members and friends have just come out.

• Free School

• TTIQ

 president@teamedmonton.ca  http://www.teamedmonton.ca Members are invited to attend and help determine the board for the next term. If you are interested in running for the board or getting involved in some of the committees, please contact us.

• Womonspace Board Meeting

 St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street

 coedbadminton@teamedmonton.ca New group seeking male & female players.

Pride Centre of Edmonton-------------

Edmonton Vocal Minority

OUTreach

Queens of Clubs--------------------------Evening

Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range),  = Sponsored Event

4 Edmonton STD

 11111 Jasper Ave

 780-474-8240

Catalyst Theatre

Thursday, June 7th

College Show------------------------------- 10pm

 Edmonton Contd.

 780-479-2038  www.evmchoir.com

 2nd

Friday, May 11th By

At

By

Yoga---------------------------------  2-3:30pm See

Artists for Life-----------------------------7-10pm

At

Sundays

Saturday, May 26th

Saturdays

Naturalist Gettogether

 2nd

Bowling-----------------------------------  5pm

See

Fridays See

By Edmonton Primetimers  Unitarian Church, 10804 - 119th Street

✰

 10608 - 105 Ave  monika\penner@shaw.ca Free School provides workshops on a variety of topics related to local activism.

• Get Tested for STIs

Free STD testing for anyone interested. For more information please contact the Pride Centre.

• GLBT Seniors Drop-In

 SAGE building, Classroom B 15 Sir Winstone Churchill Square  tuff@shaw.ca A social and support group for seniors of all genders and sexualities to talk, have tea and offer each other support.

• Men Talking with Pride

 10608 - 105 Ave

 robwells780@hotmail.com A social discussion group for gay, bisexual and transgendered men to discuss current issues and to offer support to each other.

• Men’s HIV Support Group

 10608 - 105 Ave  huges@shaw.ca Support group for people living with HIV/AIDS.

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

 10608 - 105 Ave  admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org TTIQ is mixed gender open support group addressing the needs of transsexual and transgendered individuals.

 10608 - 105 Ave  wspresident@hotmail.com Womonspace is a Social and Recreational Society in Edmonton run by volunteers. They provide opportunities for lesbians to interact and support each other in a safe environment, and to contribute to the broader community.

• Youth Movie

 10608 - 105 Ave  brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org Movie chosen by youth (aged 14 – 25), usually with LGBT themes. Popcorn is served.

• YouthSpace

 brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org A safe and supportive space for GLBTQ youth aged 13–25.

Video games, computers with internet, clothing bank, and more.

 780-474-8240

 tuff@shaw.ca

Team Edmonton

• Badminton (Mixed)

• Badminton (Women’s)

 Oliver School, 10227 - 118 Street  780-465-3620

 badminton@teamedmonton.ca Women’s Drop-In Recreational Badminton. $40.00 season or $5.00 per drop in.

•Ballroom Dancing

 Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW  Cynthia: 780-469-3281

• Blazin’ Bootcamp

 Garneau Elementary School 10925 - 87 Ave  bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events Alberta Events Friday, May 11th

Nudist Weekend-------------------------- All Day

By Buck Naked Boys Club May13 Labyrinth Lake Lodge

Saturday, May 31st

Friday, May 18th

Saturday, June 16th

Houseboat Weekend--------------------- All Day

Ghost Town LGBT Campout-------------- All Day

Lethbridge Pride Fest-------------------- All Day

By Buck Naked Boys Club Jun4 Shuswap Lake, Sicamous BC

At Last Chance Saloon, Wayne AB. May21

Jun23

 Edmonton Contd.

• Bowling (Northern Titans)

 Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall)

 bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.

• Cross Country Skiing

 crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca

• Curling with Pride

 Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW  curling@teamedmonton.ca

• Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders)

 Dawson Park, picnic shelter  cycling@teamedmonton.ca

• Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons)

 dragonboat@teamedmonton.ca

• Golf

 golf@teamedmonton.ca

• Gymnastics, Drop-in

 Ortona Gymnastics Club, 8755 - 50 Avenue  gymnastics@teamedmonton.ca Have the whole gym to yourselves and an instructor to help you achieve your individual goals. Cost is $5.00 per session.

• Hockey

 hockey@teamedmonton.ca

• Martial Arts

 15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance)  780-328-6414  kungfu@teamedmonton.ca  kickboxing@teamedmonton.ca Drop-ins welcome.

• Outdoor Pursuits

 outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca

• Running (Arctic Frontrunners)

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  running@teamedmonton.ca All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to join this free activity.

• Slo Pitch

 Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave  slo-pitch@teamedmonton.ca Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players from the 2008 season.

• Snowballs V

 January 27-29, 2012  snowballs@teamedmonton.ca Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend.

• Soccer

 soccer@teamedmonton.ca

• Spin

 MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness 109 St. and 104 Ave  Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm Season has ended.  spin@teamedmonton.ca 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant.

• Swimming (Making Waves)

 NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street)  swimming@teamedmonton.ca  www.makingwavesswimclub.ca

• Tennis

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  Sundays, 12pm-3pm

 tennis@teamedmonton.ca

• Ultimate Frisbee

 Sundays Summer Season starts July 12th  ultimatefrisbee@teamedmonton.ca E-mail if interested.

Theatre & Fine Arts Exposure Festival

 http://www.exposurefestival.ca Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival.

• Volleyball, Intermediate

 Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road)  volleyball@teamedmonton.ca

• Volleyball, Recreational

 Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave)  recvolleyball@teamedmonton.ca

• Women’s Lacrosse

 Sharon: 780-461-0017  Pam: 780-436-7374 Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome.

Call for info.

• Yoga

 Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street)  yoga@teamedmonton.ca

Womonspace

 780-482-1794  womonspace@gmail.com  www.womonspace.ca Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.

 780-248-1971  www.yuyedm.ca A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.

• Sports and Recreation

 Brendan: 780-488-3234  brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org

Restaurants 5 The Junction-------------------------------  10242 106th St  780-756-5667 12 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6557

Retail Stores Passion Vault

 15239 - 111 Ave  780-930-1169  pvault@telus.net “Edmonton’s Classiest Adult Store”

Products & Services Cruiseline

 780-413-7122 trial code 3500  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

BANFF/CANMORE Community Groups Mountain Pride

 members@gaybanff.com  www.gaybanff.com Serving the GLBTQS community in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise and Area.

LETHBRIDGE Community Groups GALA/LA

 403-308-2893  http://www.galalethbridge.ca Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area.

• Monthly Dances

 Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S) Bring your membership card and photo ID.

• Monthly Potluck Dinners

 McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your own beverage.

• Support Line

 403-308-2893  Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm Leave a message any other time.

• Friday Mixer

Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA)

 University of Lethbridge GBLTTQQ club on campus.

 galia@uleth.ca

• Movie Night

 Room C610, University of Lethbridge

Gay Youth Alliance Group

 Betty, 403-381-5260  bneil@chr.ab.ca  Every second Wednesday, 3:30pm-5pm

Lethbridge HIV Connection

 1206 - 6 Ave S

Pride on Campus

 rdcprideoncampus@gmail.com A group of LGBTQ persons and Allies at Red Deer College.

Western Canadian Pride Campout

 www.eventmasterinc.net

ALBERTA Community Groups Alberta Trans Support/Activities Group

 http://www.albertatrans.org A nexus for transgendered persons, regardless of where they may be on the continuum.

Theatre & Fine Arts

CANADA Community Groups Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition

 P..O. Box 3043, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S9  (306) 955-5135  1-800-955-5129  http://www.rainbowhealth.ca

Egale Canada

• Film Night

 lethbridgepridefest@gmail.com

Pride Lethbridge

LGBTQ Education

 LGBTQeducation@hotmail.ca  http://LGBTQeducation.webs.com Red Deer (and area) now has a website designed to bring various LGBTQ friendly groups/individuals together for fun, and to promote acceptance in our communities.

 8 Wellington St E, Third Floor Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1C5  1-888-204-7777  www.egale.ca Egale Canada is the national advocacy and lobby organization for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transidentified people and our families.

PFLAG Canada

 1-888-530-6777

 lethbridgeab@pflagcanada.ca  www.pflagcanada.ca

 Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates.

Central Alberta AIDS Network Society

 4611-50 Avenue, Red Deer, AB  http://www.caans.org The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society is the local charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in Central Alberta.

 http://www.albertaballet.com Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton.

• Soul OUTing

 Second Sunday every month, 7pm An LGBT-focused alternative worship.

 Sunnybrook United Church  403-347-6073  2nd Tuesday of the month, 7pm Composed of LGBTQ people, their friends, family and allies. No religious affiliation necessary. Activities include support, faith and social justice discussions, film nights, and potlucks!

Alberta Ballet

 The Mix (green water tower) 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S  Every Friday at 10pm

Robertson-Wesley United Church

 10209 - 123 St. NW  780-482-1587  jravenscroft@rwuc.org  www.rwuc.org  Worship: Sunday mornings at 10:30am People of all sexual orientations welcome. Other LGBT events include a monthly book club and a bi-monthly film night. As a caring spiritual community, we’d love to have you join us!

Community Groups Affirm

The Roxy Theatre

 10708 124th Street, Edmonton AB  780-453-2440  www.theatrenetwork.ca

Youth Understanding Youth

RED DEER

• Book Club

 Monthly, contact us for exact dates.

Continued on Page 61  www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

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Classifieds Announcements

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Pride Church Service 10:30am, Sunday June 10 McDougall United Church 10025 101 Street & MacDonald Drive Edmonton, Alberta 780-428-1818 http://mcdougallunited.com

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GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

www.gaycalgary.com

 Directory - From Page 59 Doug at 587-335-7667 or douglas@parsonsdevelopment.ca

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www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #103, May 2012

61

Q Scopes

Be very careful, Aquarius!

The Sun conjoins Jupiter in Taurus offering a bright spot in the economy, both global and your own. Venus is in close aspect boosting that optimism, but Eris is also in aspect so real gains require hard work.



ARIES (March 20–April 19): Your efforts at solving problems

at work will be mired in obstruction for a while yet. Work off the frustration with moderate exercise. Remember you’re the one being edgy and impatient; be nice to colleagues! The good news: Money is coming your way!



TAURUS (April 20–May 20): Be very careful of sports injuries! Otherwise, be daring. Say what’s on your mind. Personally and professionally you’re looking fabulous. Hard work is sure to be rewarded. You could even luck out on the lotto on the 13th.

GEMINI (May 21–June 20): The less you say, the more people



will listen. Busy as your brain is, the stars promise a closed trap and an open mind will bring you lots of new information, insight and respect from others.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): Your energy and ambition

are cranking up, maybe a little too hard. Keep your eyes open for opportunities, but look ahead and exercise judgment. Gossip and friendly chatter are tempting distractions. Keep your mind focused on the prize.



LEO (July 23–August 22): All eyes and ears are focused on you. Make the most of this opportunity. How you turn a sudden (financial?) shock into an opportunity could impress everyone around. Think quickly, show spontaneous foresight, and recruit help as you need it.





VIRGO (August 23–September 22): You’re the queen of exacting details, but let that go and look at the larger picture. You’ll get a clearer overview of where and how those details work best.

Explore new ideas, tastes and feelings. Celebrating the sensual will prove practical.



LIBRA (September 23–October 22): Your ruler Venus

usually confers graceful manners. Now she’s pushing you to get slutty. You’ll have time to explore your sensual, adventurous side.

Consider ground rules, good sense and protection. If partnered, talk with your mate about how to focus that passion.



SCORPIO (October 23–November 21): Brutal honesty with your friends will not only clear away lugs you’re better off without, but it can also alienate folks you should value personally or professionally. If you want brutal honesty, start on yourself and your current direction in life.



SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 20): Your own charms and good work will get you ahead at work, but your partner could prove the secret weapon in helping you cement connections that will help promote you. Your competitive streak is coming out. Keep it light and playful.



CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19): A critique of your work may feel devastating. Set your feelings aside and learn what you can from that. There’s always room for improvement and the lessons here can be just what you need to push forward.



AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18): Family arguments can reveal a lot and might even prove to be blessings in disguise.

Sexual adventures – or otherwise acting like a teenage boy – can go wrong. Be very careful. Remember you have nothing to prove!

PISCES (February 19–March 19): Open communications with those close to you can prove very lucrative, or at least help you focus on what really matters. Keep your ears open and let family and friends know what you want.

Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977 teaches at the Online College of Astrology. He can be reached for personal or business consultations at 415-864-8302 or through his website at http://www. starjack.com



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