GayCalgary Magazine - September 2012

SEPTEMBER 2012 ISSUE 107 • FREE

The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community

NELLY

FURTADO

Is Indestructible

Adam Levine

Biggest “Voice” Diva

Nuns of Our Own

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

PLUS:

Photos from Calgary Pride Third Street Theatre Alberta AIDS Walks ...and more!

Business Directory

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Community Map

Calgary • Alberta • Canada

Events Calendar

Tourist Information

New Normal

New Gay TV Series on NBC STARTING ON PAGE 55

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Table of Contents

SEPTEMBER 2012 5

A Month of Many Firsts

8

“If we keep hiding, they will say we’re not here”

Videography

Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino Printers Web exPress

Printers North Hill News/Central Web Distribution

Calgary: Gallant Distribution, Distribution GayCalgary Staff Calgary: Gallant Edmonton: Clark’sDistribution Distribution GayCalgary Other: CanadaStaff Post Edmonton: Clark’s Distribution Other: Post LegalCanada Council Courtney Aarbo, Barristers and Solicitors

Legal Council

Courtney BarristersInquiries and Solicitors SalesAarbo, & General GayCalgary Magazine Sales2136 & General Inquiries 17th Avenue SW GayCalgary EdmontonT2TMagazine Calgary, and AB, Canada 0G3 2136 17th Avenue SW sales@gaycalgary.com Calgary, AB, Canada T2T appointment 0G3 Office Hours: By ONLY

Phone: 403-543-6960 Office Hours: appointment ONLY Toll Free:By 1-888-543-6960 Phone: 403-543-6960 Fax: 403-703-0685 Tollmagazine@gaycalgary.com Free: 1-888-543-6960 E-Mail: Fax: 403-703-0685 This Month's Cover E-Mail: magazine@gaycalgary.com Main: Nelly Furtado, photo by Richard Bernardin, Month's Top Right:This Adam Levine,Cover photo by Terry Cher and Christina courtesy Sony Richardson, Middle Aguilera Right: Sissy Fister, of Bottom Pictures; Annie Lennox courtesy Right: New Normal, photo ofbyMike NBC.Owen; Rex Goudie.

Proud Members of: Proud Members of:

Edmonton Rainbow Business Association

9

Celebrating a Sweet 30 Years of Womonspace

10 Andrew Rannells: Baby Daddy Broadway star talks The New Normal, anti-gay controversy and comparisons to Modern Family

12 Nuns of Our Own The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

14 Third Street’s the Charm

New queer theatre company wants to buck gay stereotypes

15 Northern Alberta’s 2012 AIDS Walk 16 Queer Eye - Part 1 21 Frenchie Speaks Out

PAGE 12

Photography

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

A Calgary International Film Festival for Everyone

PAGE 10

Writers and Contributors

Mercedes Mercedes Allen,Allen, ChrisChris Azzopardi, Azzopardi, DallasDave Barnes, Dave Brousseau, Brousseau, Andrew SamCollins, Casselman, Rob Diaz-Marino, Jason Clevett, Andrew Janine Collins, Eva Trotta, EmilyJack Collins, Fertig, RobGlen Diaz-Marino, Hanson, Janine JoanEva Hilty, Trotta, EvanJack Kayne, Fertig, Stephen Glen Hanson, Lock, Lisa Joan Hilty, Lunney, EvanAllan Kayne, Neuwirth, StephenSteve Lock, Polyak, Neil McMullen, Carey Rutherford, Allan Neuwirth, Romeo Steve SanPolyak, Vicente, Carey Ed Sikov, Rutherford, Krista Sylvester Romeo San andVicente, the LGBT Ed Community Sikov, Nick Vivian of Calgary, and the GLBT Community Edmonton,ofand Calgary, Alberta.

Edmonton, and Alberta.

Publisher’s Column

e n zi

a g 25 Smart Chicks Kick Ita Tour! m 26 On Trans Celebrities

Voice finalist gets serious about her sexuality and talks upcoming album

25 Calgary’s 2012 AIDS Walk

27 Central Alberta’s 2012 AIDS Walk

PAGE 14

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

28 Does Being At Pride Carry Any Political Risk for Redford?

30 Crystal Shawanda

Canadian Country Belle Takes Music by the Reins

International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association

35 Medicine Hat Shows its Colours

National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

PAGE 16

500 expected to participate

35 Edmonton’s 2012 AIDS Walk Continued on Next Page 

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

3

Table of Contents  Continued From Previous Page

36 Out of Town

An Alaska Adventure: 8 Essentials Magazine Figures

38 Adam, Exposed PAGE 21

Pop star talks passion for gay rights, acting debut nudity and biggest ‘Voice’ diva

40 The Chinook Lesbian & Gay Fund 41 Walk a Mile in her Shoes

YWCA fundraiser aims to end violence against women

42 The Indestructible Nelly Furtado

PAGE 30

44 Queer Eye - Part 2

54 Bitter Girl

e n zi

55 Directory and Events 60 Classified Ads

PAGE 38

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Editorial

A Month of Many Firsts Publisher’s Column

By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc. At the beginning of the month, Steve and I went to take photographs at the Hoedown, an ISCCA fundraising campout that took place at the Regency Ranch near Airdrie, owned by Brandy Bishop Towers. Now, you might think that a campout is an odd event for a dragoriented organization like the ISCCA to host, and though it was open to everyone, unfortunately not a lot of people gave it a chance.

Steve and I were not sure what to expect either, so we showed up with open minds, only planning to stay for an hour or two to capture the essence of the event. Instead we ended up staying quite late into the night, having a total blast!

The event was along the same vein as Drag Queen H2O at the Backlot, and the ISCCA Dunk Tank at the ARGRA Rodeo – an opportunity for the drag queens to be silly with their art and find fun ways for spectators to participate. Personally I enjoy these events because it shows, underneath all the glamorous outfits and diva bravado, there are some humble, fun, and interesting people. People that the rest of us who don’t do drag can relate to, and even make friends with.

For the time we were there, nobody was actually in drag – it was mostly just queens hanging out as boys for a change, alongside other attendees. Current reigning Duke and Duchess, Dennis Storm and Eunice Kong organized the day’s activities. As usual, Eunice’s husband Les was right in the thick of things, eager to put himself out there and participate. Now, I recall the first time I noticed Les was at last year’s dunk tank at ARGRA; I was taking photos as he bought round after round, demonstrating some pretty sharp aim and getting many a queen wet...perhaps figuratively, too.

It became clear to me at the Hoedown that Les enjoys challenging himself and honing his skills, something that, lately, I’ve taken to doing myself. He helped to make the events of the day into a platform for some fun competition.

The first event that we witnessed was called “Run Bitch Run” – a relay race where the queens were tasked with collecting three bags of pearls and depositing them into a goal, all while wearing womens clothing (protective gear included). What made this challenging, and profitable for fundraising, was that spectators could shoot at them with paintball guns as they ran the course. You could purchase portions of paintballs to use during their run, and any leftovers would carry over to the next round.

There were also prizes for the relay runners who completed the challenge with the best time. After watching Les, Brandy Bishop Towers, Victoria, and Shauna Starr compete in the relay with the fastest time being Shauna’s at 18 seconds, I decided I wanted to give it a try too.

www.gaycalgary.com

I’ve never played paintball before in my life, so this was an exciting first.

Predictably, Steve preferred sticking to taking pictures.

I got suited up in drag like the others. I put on a little black sleeveless dress, with a leopard skin poncho to protect my arms, and a pink wig over top of a protective helmet. I described it to others as “Halo does drag.” Then I took my place at the starting gate and waited for the signal to begin. When Les called “Go”, I dashed as fast as I could go from barrel to barrel to collect the bags of pearls, occasionally feeling a light strike as a paintball hit me. It didn’t seem too bad until I got closer to the end, when the rapid firing began. The goal was a small basket on top of a pole, and I overzealously slammed the bags down into it, causing the whole apparatus to fall over. I had to turn around, pick it back up, and get all the bags back into it before time was called and the bullets stopped flying. This was when I really got bombarded, and a few bullets struck in painful places like the joint of my index finger and on my exposed forearm. I would have scored 14 seconds if not for my mishap at the end, and had I not incurred an additional 10 second penalty for not closing the starting gate behind me (which I maintain I wasn’t told I needed to do). It was quite a rush, and at least I had a nice red welt on my forearm that I could take away as a souvenir.

Doing the shooting was fun too, though after having felt the pain from the paintballs, I was a little reluctant to shoot too aggressively at the runners. I fired casually as Sir Wayne made a run, at one point managing to nail him twice in succession on the helmet where it wouldn’t hurt. I say that as if I did it intentionally. I had ammo left over, so Steve and I took a few practice shots at the barrels on the course before the activity came to a close.

After this, we all headed back to the house to hang out, drink, and socialize before Dennis served all of us to a delicious steak dinner – included in the fee for the weekend.

As the sun started to set, Les informed us of another event that he had planned for the next day: “The Slippery Bear”. For the sake of us taking photos, however, he was willing to do a couple of rounds that evening.

Les, although straight, made a very good “bear” for this game. The idea was that he would strip down to his underwear, slather himself in oil, and the ISCCA would collect donations for people to get in the ring and wrestle him to the ground, either on their own or in teams of two.

This took place in a little arena behind the “Run Bitch Run” obstacle course. The dirt was soft enough that one could run around in it barefoot, and have a safe landing when wrestling someone to the ground.

Several people gathered their cars around the circular fence, using their headlights to light the arena. After a few Mad Max references and a stimulating re-enactment of the old-fashioned Coppertone commercials, I, along with two of the three other competitors for the night, Makayla, and Brandy Bishop Towers, decided that we also needed to strip down

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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 Continued from Previous Page if we were going to be tackling him, or else we would get dirt and oil all over our clothes. Tyler was the only one willing to get their shirt dirty.

As a bonus, I got to help apply the oil to Les as we were getting set up; Brandy poured it over his head while Makayla and I helped spread it all across his chest, arms, and legs. It was without a doubt the most homoerotic moment I’ve shared with a straight guy in...well...ever. He was totally cool about it, even sort of enjoying the attention and the chance to flaunt his body. This definitely advanced my respect and liking for Les. Then came the actual wresting part: I teamed up with Brandy for round 1, and Makayla for round 3, and while Les did a good job of evading and slipping out of our grasp, both times I was the one to take him down. Though I put my arms around his chest, the oil made them slip down around his waist as I weighed him down. I dug my knees into the back of his to buckle his legs, and brought him surprisingly gently down to the ground.

I felt proud that a smaller guy like me was capable of taking down the stocky ex-rugby player. Of course, the oil made the soft dirt cling, and all of us got completely filthy. It practically turned into mud wrestling, which would be another first for me! We must have been quite the sight as we marched back up to the house half naked, caked in dirt and vegetable oil, queuing up to shower off and leaving muddy footprints across Brandy’s nice white basement carpet. Even with soap, the vegetable oil didn’t come off easily, so poor Les had the worst of it. All of us would have pretty soft skin for the next several days!

Steve and I didn’t really want to leave, but it was already nearly Midnight at that point. Most people there were camping for the night, but we needed to get home. I made sure to thank everyone for the amazing time, the chance to socialize outside of the bustle of the bar scene, to try some new things, to challenge myself, to do some male bonding, and most of all, to get to better know some of the real people who are part of the ISCCA.

Continued on Next Page 

Online Last Month (1/2) From The Halls: Struggle, Hope, and Optimism at AIDS 2012 Hope and optimism were in abundance for tens of thousands of those in attendance at the the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) held this year... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3037

From the Streets: AIDS 2012 and a New Generation of Activism Last month, thousands converged from all corners of the globe at the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012 ) to confront big drug companies, wealthy... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3038

Creep of the Week Chuck Norris

Have you heard the news? President Obama hates the Boy Scouts of America and wants to make all of the boys involved into a bunch of pansy liberal gay... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3045

Beat Box

Tracks Poppin’ Into Clubs

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Summer is close but not here yet. If you can’t wait to feel the heat, check out what’s spinning on gay dance ... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3054

Going for Gold Teamm8 pays tribute to the 2012 Olympic games with it’s new Nations collection of swim and underwear. Produced in striking colors that match the flags... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3056

The OutField

Nike Reaches the LGBT Sports Summit

A few years ago, no one was talking about LGBT issues in sports. Now, everyone is.

Suddenly, the game that dared not speak its name turned into... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3052

Screen Queen Debut Edition

21 Jump Street His clothes stay on, but Channing Tatum – aka “Magic Mike” in his recent stripper flick – is still a sight... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3053

Queer Hip Hop Nation Coleman and Jackson Vrana make up the controversial band, Elephant - the only white, twin brother, queer rappers on the music scene today. Originally... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3055

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Online Last Month (2/2) Enter the Village of the Fringed August, the month tomatoes finally redden on the vine; fans whir through the dry heat of our bedrooms; summer love... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3057

Thinking Out Loud: A Lesson in Fairness Last week I had the privilege of interviewing Mitch and Devynn Stein, father and daughter, on L.A.’s IMRU... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3050

Ask Dr. Eva: Is Bottled Water Better?

Dear Dr. Eva, A visiting friend asked me for ‘a water’ last night. I went to the kitchen cupboard for a glass and then... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3058

Ask Dr. Eva: Herpes Zoster, Not an STD Dear Dr. Eva, An elderly relative was recently told she has a form of herpes. It appeared as a painful rash with patches... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3059

Thinking Out Loud: Are We Out Enough?

How a Facebook status update raised hard questions about my marriage

During a lazy day last weekend, my partner, Traci, and I were Google surfing in bed, one laptop between us. Every... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3051

Linkin Park & Incubus Invade Alberta Headline Calgary’s X-Fest and Edmonton’s Sonic Boom

It seems that Alberta gets the short end of the stick when it comes to music festivals.

Sure we had Edgefest in the 1990’s, the... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3061

Somebody That You Want to Know Gotye shakes off dismal attendance

Now he’s just somebody that they thought they knew. Despite a small crowd that barely filled a quarter (approximately... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3062

X-Fest Succeeds Despite Hail and Incubus Cancellation I can’t even begin to think about the logistics and challenges that come with putting on a major outdoor music... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3063

Evil Dead a Bloody Fun Show When the “cabin in the woods” shuttered its doors after a successful run in 2009, it remained to be seen if Evil Dead: The...

August 2012 Steve and I had a very relaxed month of August, despite the ever stressful Calgary Pride looming at the beginning of September.

We attended the Bearbash in Edmonton, the last one scheduled to happen at the Junction before they close later this month. For the first time we were able to stay for the whole barbecue in the afternoon and hang around with people, and then in the evening at the bar we were able to let our hair down and drink for once, thanks to our nearby accommodation at Coast Edmonton House Hotel. Rather than being the outsiders with the cameras, we both felt like we were part of the event, strengthening friendships and even forging some new ones. As I told my straight friends at work about it on Monday morning, I found it difficult to describe a parallel to the energy at a Bearbash. Just about everybody in the room is attracted to just about everyone else – that’s not even possible in a mainstream straight context.

ARGRA has held a summer pool party in August for the past two years, but this year was the first that we were able to participate in.

Initially Steve didn’t plan to go swimming, but after seeing how much fun I was having in the pool and hot tub with ARGRA members and other attendees, he made a quick run home for his bathing trunks. Lucky enough, we live no more than 4 blocks away from the location of the event, at the house of one of the ARGRA board members. We floated around on water noodles, enjoying the sunny warm weather, drinking, socializing, batting around beach balls and squirting each other with water guns.

Although we were unable to attend Edmonton’s Coronation this year, we heard the news that Vanity Fair and JJ Velour were elected as Empress and Emperor of Edmonton. Congratulations guys, we look forward to working with you this year!

This month of relaxation came to a close with the September long weekend, and Calgary Pride. With so many events going on all over the city, this is our most hectic time of the year for LGBT event coverage.

On Friday we jumped between 4 events, starting with another fabulous installment of Drag Queen H2O at the Backlot. Thanks to the new patio lighting, we were able to get some great photos and video of the performers despite the fading daylight. Then I went on to photograph the Ladies in Labour drag show at the Texas Lounge, which started late enough to allow someone to tape condom packets to the wall, spelling out “OMG I’M LATE!” Ever the fan of word play, I thought it might be cute to change the exclamation point into an X, and informed Ruby that in one of the photos she was ideally positioned so that it read “OMG I ATE!” After that, I rejoined Steve at the Pride Calgary Kickoff Party at Hotel Arts where we stuck around to cover the Perry Twins, and then finally on to the Calgary Eagle for their Military Ball.

We started Saturday off with the Dyke March in the afternoon, which went down 4th Street and ended at Rouleauville Square with stage performances. We stayed as long as we could, but with storm clouds starting to loom, we luckily made our way over to cover the Pride Pool Party at Hotel Arts before the weather began to turn nasty. A little later we headed over to James Short Park for the Possibilities Bi-BQ. Then in the evening was the much anticipated PURE Pride dance, which was a blast even for us, sober and behind cameras. Organizers tell us the event sold out, even with a capacity of 1500 people! The performances

by April Storm, Argentina, Farah Moan, Mantra, Chad Michaels, and Spencer Reed were a whole new calibre of fabulous. We and the majority of the crowd stuck around right until closing time.

Sunday was the craziest day of them all, with the Pride Parade at noon, followed by the Street Festival at Shaw Millennium Park. Allison Redford showed up a bit late, but gave a well-received speech that showed support and respect for the LGBT community. We covered some of the stage performances before striking out into the crowds to capture people showing their pride, and having a good time. Then at around 4 we headed over to The Bank to get set up for the Les Girls dance.

I left Steve there while I popped over to the Backlot to grab a single burger as lunch and take some photos at the ISCCA Pride BBQ. Then I collected Steve and we both headed over to Broken City for the Deep Roots fundraiser for SHARP foundation. It was our first time visiting the venue, and we quite liked it, especially the huge rooftop patio!

More articles online...

Then finally we were able to make our way over to the Calgary Eagle closing party which had been going since 11am. We took our time with photos, had dinner and a drink and socialized. We ran into a number

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Continued on Page 29  GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Event

“If we keep hiding, they will say we’re not here” A Calgary International Film Festival for Everyone

By Janine Eva Trotta There are three things, that every fall, greatly compensate for the dwindling of warm summer days: a foamy Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, reinstitution of the scarf as an accessory, and the Calgary International Film Festival.

This year’s festival aims ‘to draw in the untapped audience’, including those suburbanites that otherwise never come downtown to watch a film. Though the festival lost a venue with the closure of the Utptown theatre, CIFF Programming Manager Brenda Lieberman states the 2012 festival will offer just as many seatings between the Globe and Eau Claire as it did last year, the latter of which will be offering 3D screenings new to this year’s program.

GayCalgary Magazine is proud to be sponsor of the three Queer/ Gay and Lesbian genre films on the festival’s slate.

“I think it’s important to represent every genre that exists,” Lieberman says, “to have a broad spectrum of films from worldwide.”

Whether that’s special interest, dance, music or art house, CIFF doesn’t put a limit on films per genre. They simply select films best suited to the festival regardless of their content. One rule does however apply: they need be premiers in the city, meaning any queer genre films that were shown at the Fairy Tales International Queer Festival would not be admissible to this festival.

Lieberman is especially keen on a German reel. “A darker romance called Bliss. It’s got an edge to it so it’s quite a unique film,” she says.

With your warm beverage in hand get ready to embrace this year’s cardiac arresting line up – a host of films that promise to put the spice into every show time, whether that taste be bitter, acrid or sweet. The following are those in the Queer/Gay & Lesbian category, but should that not be your particular taste, the festival hopes they have programmed a little something for everyone.

Laurence Anyways Directed by Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2012, 169 minutes, English subtitles For those of us that spent a week in recovery after watching the gripping J’ai tué ma mere (I Killed My Mother; written, directed and starring a then very young Xavier Dolan of Montreal – he was just 19 when he wrote that script), Laurence Anyways will unquestionably be inked in our agenda.

This is Dolan’s third feature film following Les Amours Imaginaires which took the top prize of the Official Competition at the Sydney Film Festival and was privately funded.

Dolan, the 23-year-old actor/writer of Egyptian descent – and voice of Stan on the Quebec-specific French language dubbed Southpark in his downtime – is gay and describes his first film as semi-autobiographical.

Laurence Anyways focuses on a young bohemian couple whose ties become unraveled when Laurence expresses his need to be a woman. Dolan shot the film in a ‘hyper-florid style’ and selected a cast that delivers a brave, powerful performance.

Suzanne Clément is riveting as the partner who strives to stand by Laurence, however different the course this puts them on may be, and must suffer with him through the consequences of embracing his transgender identity.

A trailer can be viewed at http://www.gaycalgary.com/u492.

This film competed in the Un Certain Regard selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Clément deservingly took home to Quebec the selection’s Award for Best Actress. Laurence Anyways also won the Cannes’s Queer Palm Award.

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

Margarita Directed by Dominique Cardona & Laurie Colbert, Canada, 2012, 90 minutes Hello, Canadian version of Mary Poppins. Margarita is not your standard nanny. She throws boozy hot tub parties, flirts with the hunky Brazilian maintenance guy, and is in love with another woman.

Mexican and dwelling illegally in Canada, Margarita’s life is thrown into arrears when the power couple employing her let her go, unaware of the mortar she enacted betwixt the complicated bricks of their lives.

Gail and Ben appear the couple who has it all together, but in reality it’s Margarita who has single-handedly been raising their daughter, Mali, and making ends meet as the yuppie couple’s finances diminish due to bad economic decisions.

Realizing their mistake the couple desperately grapple to keep Margarita in the country now that they have caused her deportation, with a phony marriage scheme.

Though comical in nature, Margarita actually tackles the serious social issues of immigration, class struggle, and the working family structure in Canada.

Margarita was winner of the Audience Award Best Feature at both the Women’s International Film Festival in France and at the Inside Out LGBT Festival in Toronto, 2012.

Call Me Kuchu Directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malika Zouhali-Worrall, UK, 2012, 90 minutes, English subtitles Inspirational and heart breaking, Call Me Kuchu documents the life and consequent murder of LGBT activist David Kato. Kato dubbed himself the first openly gay man in Uganda, and fought for the rights of those in his community of Kuchus.

Kato worked with the striking belief that “if we keep hiding, they will say we’re not here”. At current, Uganda’s parliament has an Anti-Homosexuality Bill pending. This film could not speak to a more pressing concern.

The film follows Kato and three other activists, capturing the courageous work they conduct daily in an effort to combat the persistent media slander and public persecution the Ugandan LGBT community endure.

A trailer of the film can be viewed at http://www.gaycalgary. com/u499. Call me Kuchu took home the Best International Feature award at Hot Docs in Toronto and the Best Documentary Award in Berlin.

The Calgary International Film Festival September 20th – 30th • Calgary, AB http://www.calgaryfilm.com

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Event

Celebrating a Sweet 30 Years of Womonspace

By Lisa Lunney With so many gay spaces disappearing in 2012, it is wonderful to have some good news to report, such as LGBT organizations celebrating huge milestones.

It makes one thankful to have such great channels of support still going strong. It is heartwarming; to know how hard people have worked to make lives for others within their communities better. In a selfish world, volunteers are the selfless hidden gems.

Lesbians in Edmonton have found refuge and hope through Womonspace for 30 years. Womonspace is a Social and Recreation Society in Edmonton, whose goal is to inform and entertain members and other interested women within the LGBT community. Womonspace first entered the scene in 1981, when a small group of women identified a need in the Edmonton lesbian community for social events, held in a safe, fun and positive environment. After many months of vigorous planning, the first dance was held in September of 1981. Since that time, Womonspace has massively grown - the society now holds six dances each calendar year and organizes many other social events, which is quite a feat to be proud of. Womonspace is a non-profit organization made up strictly of volunteers, and all the hard work has paid off as the organization has joined the ranks as a respected and recognized organization within their local community.

To many, Womonspace is a place known for sweet memories, good times and great support. It took a lot of hard work and great volunteers for this society to bloom into what it is today. If you’re not familiar with Womonspace, it is never too late to join in the fun! New volunteers are always accepted.

A great trade-off is to volunteer for an hour at an event in exchange for free admission. In the process, you get the opportunity to meet and network with others, and who knows, you just may make a few lifelong friends.

On Saturday, September 8th, you can join Womonspace in celebrating all their accomplishments, including their milestone 30th anniversary of being active in the community.

That evening, Womonspace will be hosting the “How Sweet It Is” anniversary dance at Bellevue Community Hall.

The doors open at 8PM, offering a great way to mingle with others before the real party begins at 9PM. If you’re thinking of flexing your volunteering muscle, you can receive reduced or even free admission; otherwise the cost is $10 for members, and $15 for non-members.

As always, Womonspace events are open to everyone. If you can make it, bring your dancing shoes and prepare for a fun night with friends, both old and new!

For more information about volunteering, contact wsvvolunteer@gmail.com or check the Womonspace page on Facebook for additional references!

How Sweet it Is 30th Anniversary Dance Presented by Womonspace Saturday, Sept 8th, 8pm Bellevue Community Hall, Edmonton http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3067

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9

Andrew Rannells: Baby Daddy

Broadway star talks The New Normal, anti-gay controversy and comparisons to Modern Family  Photo by NBC

By Chris Azzopardi Another modern family is moving into prime time: Ryan Murphy’s The New Normal, premiering this fall on NBC, casts Andrew Rannells and Justin Bartha as gay dads going through a surrogate to raise their own little bundle of joy (and tears, and poop).

Known for originating the role of Elder Price on Broadway in The Book of Mormon, Rannells dished on breaking ground with a progressive family TV show, controversy from anti-gay groups and whether we can expect these gays to have more sexy time than they do on Modern Family.

GC: You make such a cute dad. Are you aware of how many gays will want to have your babies?

AR: (Laughs) Well, I don’t know about that. We’ll see!

GC: What’s been the most fun you’ve had on set?

AR: The episode we’re doing currently is one of the first times that we all get to work together on the same day. This episode is a big dinner party, so everybody’s there. Yesterday (I was) just shooting the shit with Ellen Barkin and NeNe Leakes. We’re a funny little motley crew of personalities here; it’s been a lot of fun getting to work with all these folks.

GC: Do you think America is ready for a show about two gay dads?

AR: I hope so. There’s obviously been a lot of progress in the past decade-plus in terms of gay characters on TV. In terms of gay families, Modern Family has done a really fantastic job with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet’s characters – that was a good introduction.

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I feel like in a lot of ways, this is the next step in terms of showing exactly what that whole process is of surrogacy and really how much love and work and money it takes for a gay couple to start a family. I’m really excited that we get to show that for one of the first times on television.

GC: What do you have to say in regards to naysayers like One Million Moms, who boycotted the show?

AR: The silly part is that no one has seen it. So what that boycott is based on is a two-line description of what they read this show was about and, just based on that alone, they’re upset. That’s disappointing because, ultimately, what the show is about is how much love it takes to start a family – and not just our family.

To be greeted with such resistance and such judgment is disappointing. Ryan (Murphy) made a very good point that Ellen Barkin’s character really represents the right-wing Republican viewpoint in America. Ryan said One Million Moms might enjoy Ellen Barkin’s character because she’s sort of one of them.

(Laughs) Every argument is made on our show and continues to be made.

GC: How well did you and co-star Justin Bartha connect when you first met?

AR: Justin and I had never met prior to him being cast. We had a lot of friends in common but had never really hung out or anything. We had one meeting before we got started, and just hit it off. We have a very good time working together.

GC: In the last 20 years, what do you think of some of the gay people we’ve had on TV shows?

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AR: It’s all steps in a very positive direction, as far as I’m concerned. As a kid, there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot on TV for me to watch in terms of gay people. I remember my mom loved thirtysomething and Peter Frechette played a gay character – that was one of the first gay people I’d ever seen on TV. Then Will & Grace came out the first year I was in college, so that was obviously very exciting.

What’s really cool to me is what Ryan has done with Glee in showing gay high school students. If I had been able to watch that show and see other young gay people on television, that would’ve been very comforting and empowering. Ryan obviously makes big strides in terms of gay characters.

America is warming up to the idea of gay characters – and not just as a sassy gay person, but being a person. A real character.

And that’s just what’s so fun about this show. Certainly we are a gay couple, but we get to do a lot more than just that.

GC: How do you think Bryan is more than just a stereotypical gay man?

AR: I obviously get to be quote-unquote fabulous in terms of my outfits, but Bryan has a lot of heart and a lot of strength. It’s nice to get to play that; it’s nice to get to play someone with sass but also a lot of smarts and sincerity. To have the opportunity to show all of that is really fantastic. To completely strip all the sass away would be equally untrue; there’s a certain amount of sass and glamour that goes along with being gay. There’s a certain amount of fabulousness that is needed or wanted. But running around being fabulous day-to-day isn’t every moment of your life.

GC: Is there fabulousness in your life?

AR: Yeah, I try. I try to live with low-level glamour – absolutely!

But with two varying degrees of successfulness, I can’t always pull it off as easily as I’d like. (Laughs) GC: Ryan gave Modern Family a hard time for the lack of intimacy between the gay couple. You and Justin, however, kiss in the first episode – in bed! Do you think that’s Ryan’s way of reacting to Modern Family?

AR: We’re telling a different story. This show has a different tone, and I’m happy to say that we’re showing a very romantic side to this couple, which is great. It’s really thrilling to get to do. Justin and I have filmed some really great scenes together that are real, honest, flirtatious and sexy. Obviously people have really embraced Modern Family – audiences love that show and they love Eric and Jesse, so they’re clearly doing something right. I’m a big fan of that show, but they’re just different. Yes, we’re going to be more affectionate, but it takes nothing away from what they’re doing.

GC: There’s a heterosexual sex scene in the premiere episode.

Will you ever get that intimate with Justin?

AR: I don’t know if we’ll necessarily be riding each other. I don’t know about that! (Laughs) But we shot another scene in bed together just this morning, actually. There’s definitely more of that, but we’re not on cable; we’re on network. I don’t know

how much sex we’ll actually get to do. Maybe down the road. I’ll see what I can’t do. (Laughs) GC: What kind of responsibility do you feel portraying one of the first major gay families on television?

AR: As far as how it’s received and how people perceive it, we’re obviously not in control of that. I’m optimistic that we will find an audience, and I hope that people find it effective and moving and funny, but we’ll see. My focus right now is telling the story to the best of my ability.

GC: Has playing a dad on TV influenced you becoming a reallife parent?

AR: It hasn’t yet, but I haven’t been in the mindset to start a family, either. I’ve been career-focused. I have thought about that: I wonder if this process will sort of change my mind about that as we get into these scenes with sonograms and things like that. Will I feel differently? Who knows. Maybe I’ll want one myself. I have seven nieces and nephews, and that’s good for me right now.

GC: Why do you gravitate toward gay characters?

AR: I’ve been lucky, particularly with (HBO’s) Girls. That was a really well-written, really funny and very well-developed gay character. I was pleased about that. Then, as far as Bryan goes, it was, again, a really wonderful opportunity to play a really great character. I don’t really think about the sexuality of (the character) so much, but I do recognize the fact that I’m very lucky, particularly as a gay man able to play these gay parts that are really developed and are good roles.

GC: Because those roles oftentimes go to straight actors?

AR: Absolutely. Which is very strange to me. I mean, it’s like any acting job. I’ve played a lot of straight characters, too, and if I had been denied those because I was gay, I would’ve been pissed. It comes down to who’s best for the part, so I get that.

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Community

Nuns of Our Own

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

By Evan Kayne If you attended Calgary’s Pride Parade, you might have seen three fabulous creatures resembling nuns...on acid.

Down from Edmonton on a spiritual tour of our city, the Abbey of the Festival City Sisters Society - a mission of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence - added a splash of colour and excitement to our parade. With their white-face makeup, sparking habits, bejewelled and bedazzled outfits, they dispelled hatred and bigotry while dispensing “glitter blessings”.

Attendees of Pride parades in Vancouver or cities in the USA will have encountered other missions and may know what the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are and what they do. They are an international charity, protest, and street performance organization using gender bending and religious imagery to bring attention to sexual intolerance, sexual education, and to highlight concerns relevant to the city of each mission. They first appeared in San Francisco in 1979 - expanding out across the States and worldwide since.

Or as Novice Sister Sissy Fister of the Edmonton order puts it, the Sisters are “...a contemporary order of Queer Nuns whose mission is to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.”

While their appearance may be designed to shock people, strangely

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enough it allows a connection between the nuns and the people they “minister” more so than would be possible if the Sisters were in street clothes.

Part of the look is a custom stretching back to the 1970s. “The tradition of painting one’s face started in San Francisco as a means of protecting one’s identity,” Sissy said. “Some of them were sex trade workers or they were protecting their identity in a politically tumultuous time.”

The white-faced/kabuki look has been adopted as a common practise, and the face they put on has different meaning to each sister. As Sissy was told, the face and the look they create “...it’s like a shaman wrap or an amplification of what’s already inside of you...in terms of Jungian psychology, we’re engaging in archetype.

We’re putting on a persona that does have this incredible power of drawing out of people, and drawing people toward us.”

Usually it’s for picture requests, but often when they are doing their ministries (e.g. handing out condoms at events) people will confide in them troubles in their lives. “We are able to bridge a particular social barrier with people that is fascinating. People from professionals to sex trade workers. I don’t know what it is that opens people up...” but as Sissy maintains their appearance amplifies the draw of people to them. “The other thing that ties into that...part of why people feel so comfortable talking to us – when you engage your own inner freak, and you stand so far on one end of the freak spectrum, you give people permission to be who they really are.”

The Festival City Sisters society first started up in November of 2011. It was really difficult – the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are something that’s nowhere near as common in Canada as it is in the States. “There was a really harsh reaction. People said What’s the matter with you? You’re wannabe drag queens...you barely look the part! But then as we kept going and as our image kept growing and as we developed our habits and became more comfortable in embodying this archetype we grew to an order of ten. We formally submitted papers to register as a society last month, and just a week and half ago were accepted by the greater order of the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence to be a mission within their ranks.”

Sister Sissy herself has had a long and varied relationship with religion. “I grew up Baptist, became an Anglican in my teens, and entered the postulancy for the priesthood, and then was rejected from it because I was gay.” She researched other religions and formally converted to Judaism late in her late 20s, yet the one constant was this desire to marry spiritual fulfilment with everyday life in the work that she did. About a year ago Sissy started experimenting with drag and found the aspect of the persona and being able to express and break through to people in a different way was appealing.

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A friend then introduced her to the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence. “As I looked into it, I found an immense collective of people who were dedicated to community service, dedicated to building strong and vibrant communities that were loving and just” but also married that to the archetype of the sacred or ritual clown. As for the other sisters, some come to it because it satisfies a sense of vocation, a sense of fulfilment, and a sense of community. “What that looks like is for each sister to define for herself.”

While the order uses religious imagery, what they are NOT doing is mocking nuns; they are emulating and translating an ancient tradition held by sacred women but adapting it for LGBT people and for the 21st century. “We have a visual ministry. We are striking at and targeting bigotry and intolerance as it relates to gender, sexuality, and religion. Gender – we’re men in women’s clothing. Sexuality – we’re gay. Religion – we’re wearing a nun’s habit. Just by our visual image alone it’s a psychological mindfuck for a lot of people.” Sissy says that when people see them for the first time it’s amusing to watch their expressions as they are trying to process all of that. However, they are a spicier kind of nun...while they take vows, serve their community and have spiritual services, they don’t take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

As well, the variety of the LGBT spiritual experience is an element of the Sisters. As Sissy puts it, “We are the product of an exiled people. We are Jews, we are Muslim, we are Christian, we are pagan, we are Buddhists, we are whatever…who we are doesn’t necessary fit the mold.” As a result, they have to form their own spiritual nature, Sissy asserts.

In addition, not “fitting the mold” is something the Sisters confront when they tackle the misconception they are drag queens. They’re not drag queens; they are queer nuns, as Sissy tells us.

“People have often asked How are you different from the court?” Sissy’s answer is that they are a community rather than a hierarchy. “We cry together, we laugh together, we come together once a month (at least) in community and have ritual and foster our spiritual growth. There is no hierarchy.

Even though I have the title of Reverend Mother which is equivalent to president of a society…we are completely non-hierarchical.”

They don’t just do fundraising for local charities – they have a harm reduction campaign, they are out in the streets. “HIV and AIDS is on the rise among gay men in Edmonton and we are out almost every weekend handing out condoms at the bars and bathhouses through our Condom Communion campaign where we dish out rubbers out of communion chalices. We do street theatre, we do a lot of things that are at the ground level. We’re a community of people, a spiritual people. When there are problems we work them out together. We hold up love as our biggest thing to working things out. We are inclusive….people with disabilities are welcome to join us, people from all religions are welcome to join us.”

While there is the element of clowning in their appearance, the Sisters are also engaging the nun’s habit. “We’re there to lift them up. To sex-trade workers when we do our Condom Communion (we’re) just loading up their purses with as many condoms as we can and talking about their journey and then having this intimate moment when we look into each other’s eyes and say Be careful tonight...and add a bit of light to their journey. It is a really very powerful medium and one I’ve never encountered before.”

Essentially, while they take their work seriously, they don’t take themselves seriously. “Everywhere, people need to be able to have permission to own their freak a little bit, because in doing that they learn to love themselves a bit little more. And when you can love yourself a little bit more you can teach others how to love each other. And when you teach other people how to love each other you transform a community.”

Finally, Sissy is not shy about just what they are hoping to do, regardless of what people think they are. “We are standing with people who are so marginalized…sex trade workers, people who are homeless...we are serving this community and we are not here to please anybody. That has never been our intention. We are here to ruffle feathers, we are here to shine a light on intolerance, and bigotry, and racism, and sexism and it is going to make a lot of people really angry. That is what we are here to do. Political activism is absolutely a part of what we do.”

While it’s something we have not seen in Canada outside of Vancouver, it is a breath of fresh air and definitely something that is needed and worthwhile in Edmonton and...maybe Calgary.

When Sister Sissy Fister, Sister Angel Kiss and Sister Roxie D’Cradle marched in Calgary’s Pride Parade, they say at least six guys came up to them, seriously considering joining the Sisterhood.

Whether or not a sisterhood arises in Calgary, as Sissy puts it, “an order or a house will come up where it’s needed.” Perhaps many people may not understand the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, but I believe their ministry and the good they can do is needed both in Edmonton, and maybe sometime soon in Calgary.

Abbey of the Festival City Sisters Society http://www.edmontonsisters.org Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence http://www.thesisters.org http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3069

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Community

 Paul Welch (left) and Jonathan Brower (right)

Third Street’s the Charm

New queer theatre company wants to buck gay stereotypes

By Krista Sylvester Everyone loves Jack from television’s Will and Grace but that doesn’t necessarily mean every gay man is Jack or wants to be portrayed that way.

That’s one of the reasons why creative duo Paul Welch and Jonathan Brower have joined forces to create Third Street Theatre, which is touted as Calgary’s “queer theatre company”. The two have very different backgrounds but come together as one when it comes to giving queer voices a stage.

Welch, at the reigns as the artistic director, says the theatre’s mandate is to provide authentic and artful representation of queer content. In other words, they intend on bucking the standard stereotypes of homosexuality and queer characters in movies, plays and television shows.

“There is this pop culture representation of queers, which tends to be pretty stereotypical, like the flamboyant character or the self-repressed character,” Welch says. “And there is a lot more to it than that. I think it’s just familiar and fun and done for laughs, but we’re more interested in showing the human side of being queer, not just the comedic side.”

The newly-formed theatre company came to flourish at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival this summer in Edmonton, when Welch and Brower reconnected. Although they’ve only known each other for about a year, they both have theatrical backgrounds and decided to turn their ideas into reality.

“We felt like the city was ready to have something like this again,” Welch says referring to a former queer theatre in the city.

Third Street isn’t the first queer theatre company in the city of Calgary, and hopefully it won’t be the last, but Teatro Berdache paved the way for companies such as this to exist.

Led by Steve Gin, the company lasted about eight years between 2000 and 2008, and Welch hopes Third Street can do the same.

“I think Steve really paved the way for queer theatre in the city and broke down some barriers. I think the timing is right.”

And it doesn’t come at a better time, considering Alberta’s premier Alison Redford spoke at the Calgary Pride Festival this month, becoming the first Alberta Premier ever to do so. And with an estimated record attendance of over 20,000 people at the parade, it seems Calgary may be ready to sustain a queer theatre company.

“I think we [have] seen a niche market that is being unfulfilled and we want to foster it,” Welch says. “We think it’s a good opportunity to foster queer talent and create work. And we have a pretty ambitious season ahead of us.”

Even the theatre company’s chosen name has a queer symbolism to it, referring to the non-existent “Third Street” (there is no street between 2nd and 4th Streets southwest) in trendy Mission, which is symbolism for the sometimes minority status of homosexuals who often feel unrecognized.

While Brower and Welch “[explore] what it means to be human” – which is their motto – they also promise to bring impactful stories to the stage through their art. But that doesn’t mean only people who identify as homosexual will be interested; the creative duo want to explore life issues such as sexuality and faith.

Besides bringing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer (LGBTQ) voices to the stage, Third Street wants to provide a mentorship to the next generation of queer actors, directors, producers and playwrights.

“The next generation will be starring in and producing and writing theatre so it would be very positive to help cultivate some of that talent,” Welch says. “We definitely want to focus on cultivating talent. I think it’s quite important because the queer community doesn’t seem to be coming out to theatre but maybe it’s because their stories aren’t being told. And we want to tell those stories.”

And the hope is to reach out to the queer community and get more of the community involved, not only as audience members but also participants.

“We’re both very passionate and determined people and we’re really hoping after this year we see what is successful and what’s not and make it even better for next year, but right now we want to get the word out and let people know. “ The inaugural season kicking off now is accepting applications until September 15th for a “queer theatre creation ensemble” that will meet regularly to develop skills and professional development until a public performance in March, 2013. It’s also open to anyone who is queer-minded, meaning you don’t necessarily have to be gay but you should be open to queer ways of thinking.

Third Street is also currently launching a playwriting competition this month and the winning entry will participate in a two-day workshop with professional actors and a staged reading of their work. The deadline for submissions is February 1st for the competition.

“It’s a great chance to let someone get their chance,” Welch says.

And finally, those who want to see what Third Street has to offer can watch Welch perform in the spring in a oneperson show directed by Ground Zero Theatre’s artistic association director Kevin McKendrick. The show is planned for the Motel space in the EPCOR centre at the end of April.

More information about the theatre company can be found on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Third Street Theatre http://www.thirdstreet.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3070

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Event

Northern Alberta’s 2012 AIDS Walk

By Lisa Luney HIV North has a bold vision; all individuals and communities in Alberta’s Peace County will have the ability, capacity and power to eliminate the harm caused to communities by HIV/AIDS. This vision will become a reality through awareness, prevention, education and advocacy. HIV North provides community based programs and services, as well as leadership in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The current goals of HIV North include developing and maintaining a diverse mix of funding from within the community, and finding different ways to spread public presence and overall awareness of the services HIV North provides within Alberta’s Peace County.

HIV North wants to change HIV/AIDS statistics. Worldwide, only one in ten persons infected with HIV has been tested and is aware of his/her status. In 2005 alone, a total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS related causes. By the end of 2005, there were 40.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, including 17.5 million women and 2.3 million children under the age of 15. These statistics are heartbreaking. Despite advances in science, HIV/AIDS continues to spread and destroy lives.

HIV North wants to help provide the change the world needs.

This year, HIV North will be hosting three Walk for Life events within Alberta’s Peace County: Grand Prairie, Fort McMurray and Peace River.

HIV North kicks off the fundraising campaign in Peace River. On Saturday September 15th the beautiful Riverfront Park of Peace River, Alberta will host Scotiabank’s AIDS Walk For Life. Registration will begin at 11am, where you can drop off your pledge forms, meet with your team and network with other teams and participants. At 12pm the walk will begin through the gorgeous Riverfront Park. The walk will be followed by a BBQ lunch, then by awards and entertainment.

The weekend of September 22nd and 23rd is sure to be a busy and fun-filled one, with two of HIV North’s Walk for Life events.

On Saturday September 22nd Grande Prairie will host their 2012 Walk in Muskoseepi Park Pavilion. Registration will begin at 10am, drop off pledge forms, pick up incentives, and get ready for the walk which commences at 11am. Immediately afterward will be a free BBQ lunch for all participants and volunteers.

The weekend will close in Fort McMurray with HIV North’s final 2012 Walk in Borealis Park. Registration begins at 10am sharp, with a two-hour gap until the walk. This allows volunteers and participants ample time to socialize with one another. The walk begins at noon.

HIV North operates strictly on donations and volunteer work, so if you’re in the neighbourhood, why not spread your dollars and yourselves to try and help them make the world a better place?

You can obtain a pledge form for the HIV North AIDS walks at the centre of this magazine.

HIV North Society http://www.hivnorth.com Peace River Walk for Life Sun, Sept 15th, 11am • Riverfront Park Grande Prairie Walk for Life Sat, Sept 22nd, 10am • Muskoseepi Park Pavillion Fort McMurray Walk for Life Sun, Sept 23rd, 10am • Borealis Park http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3071

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Photography

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Pride Calgary Kickoff Party at Hotel Arts

3rd Annual Calgary Dyke March

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Photography Pure Pride 2012 Dance Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa328

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Photography Calgary Pride 2012 http://gaycalgary.com/pa311

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Photography

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Photography Les Girls present FUSED The Official Pride Wrap Up Party http://gaycalgary.com/pa340

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Interview

 Photos by Project Publicity

Frenchie Speaks Out

Voice finalist gets serious about her sexuality and talks upcoming album

By Chris Azzopardi Everything happens for a reason in the life of Frenchie Davis.

Ten years after getting disqualified from American Idol for her Internet porn past, she became a finalist on The Voice, sang with Christina Aguilera and releases her debut album later this year.

In our interview, she put it all out there again: Davis addressed the stigma of being bisexual and black, how she doesn’t regret the Idol ordeal and why her upcoming album – and entire solo career – almost didn’t happen.

GC: Before you came out publicly in a recent interview, how out were you in your own life?

F: I first told my mom that I was attracted to boys and girls when I was 16 years old. A lot of my friends and family weren’t really surprised to hear that I had “come out,” because all I did was answer a question honestly in an interview and it ended up becoming a headline.

I didn’t plan to come out. I fell in love with someone who I think I could be with forever, and I’m used to, in casual conversation, talking about my partner. That’s what ended up happening in the interview and what ended up being my coming out. It wasn’t something that I had planned. It wasn’t something I was being secretive about, either. I’ve performed at so many HRC and GLAAD events and gay Prides – and made out with so many girls in college. I don’t think it was a secret to anybody! (Laughs) GC: Was performing “I Kissed a Girl” on The Voice your way of hinting at your homosexuality?

F: You know what’s crazy? I didn’t even plan to do that. They came to me and said, “You’re singing ‘I Kissed a Girl’ and I’m like, ‘OK. Well, let’s go with this.’”

GC: You just got involved with the It Gets Better campaign.

Why was that important for you to be a part of?

F: The most important thing to me outside of music is inspiring young people. The more we adults continue to send out the message to young people that it’s OK to be you, we’re all, in a small way, contributing to making the world a little better.

That’s just my philosophy. Any opportunity that presents itself to send that message to young people, I’m all for it. www.gaycalgary.com

GC: For you, how did it get better?

F: My mother was very accepting and understanding, but I actually didn’t tell my father right away. I think he definitely knew because he came to visit my dorm room and was like, “Wow, you’ve got a lot of pictures of half-naked girls on your wall.” (Laughs) GC: You were just idolizing those girls … right?

F: Yeah, just idolizing them – sure. And thinking they were hot. My dad read so much into it, and it’s been really interesting seeing my dad embrace all of this – that has been the most heartwarming part of it. I mean, my father and I never really talked about it. My mother knew; she met whatever girls and guys I dated in high school. But with my dad, we never really talked about it until he met my partner and was like, “You look happy. I like her.”

My dad is super conservative and Republican. Black Republican, I know. Don’t even get me started. He was the one I was afraid to tell. When it all ended up being in the headlines, he was afraid that me being open and honest about who I am would affect my career negatively or negatively affect the way people look at me. You know, he’s my dad; he just wants to protect me. It really meant so much to me when (my coming out was) all in the headlines and my dad called me and was like, “I just want to call and say I’m really proud of you.”

Moments like that have reminded me that it indeed does get better. There were times where it was hard, like in high school.

And not even having to do with being bisexual, but being a big girl, too. People called me fat; they called me a dyke and all those things. I know what it feels like to not fit into the mold of what society thinks you’re supposed to be.

GC: Bisexuality in the gay community is looked at as taboo or “just a phase.” Have you felt stigmatized because of it?

F: It absolutely is something I’ve had to fight. For a long time that’s why I dated mostly men, because when I would meet a woman that I was into – a lesbian – she would be turned off by the fact that I was bisexual.

GC: And men aren’t so much turned off by that.

F: (Laughs) Men are totally opposite! For a long time I felt like it was just easier to identify with being straight; it seemed

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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easier to date guys because lesbians seemed so turned off by the bisexual thing. So I’ve experienced criticism and people looking down on it in the straight community and in the gay community.

I didn’t plan to come out, but I’m really thankful that everything unfolded the way it did because no, I’m not straight; none of the guys I’ve been with made me straight, just like being madly in love with my partner right now doesn’t make me a lesbian. I’m a bisexual woman and it is what it is. I have enjoyed men thoroughly, and I can say the same thing about women.

People who don’t think that it’s real, maybe that’s the reality in which they exist, but that’s not my reality.

GC: How does being black and bisexual change things?

F: I honestly thought that we were a lot farther, and then I did an interview with the Tom Joyner Morning Show and was completely taken aback by the way that went. The interview ended with a guy shouting, “Let a man into the bedroom!”

That’s how disrespectful it was. It was bad. It really broke my heart, because I know what it’s like to be black in America and I know what it’s like to be a woman in America, and to be treated with disdain and disrespect by members of my own community was hurtful. It hurt me to the core.

You know, at the end of the day when the stage lights are turned off and the audiences go home, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. When I leave this earth, I want to know that I was on the right side of history. Things won’t change unless people like me say, “No, I’m not going to allow society to bully me into lying about who I am.”

GC: Christina Aguilera’s diva behavior makes a lot of headlines. What is she really like, and what surprised you most about working with her on The Voice?

F: (Hesitates) I’m never going to bad talk her, publicly. I’m just never gonna do it. But I will say this: I was pleasantly surprised by how amazing her ear is. Her ear is on point. Even when she’s not trying, that instrument is right. She definitely is a pop diva for a reason.

GC: She has a reason to be a little catty, is what you’re saying.

F: No! I’m not saying that! That’s what you got out of that?

(Laughs) GC: What do you remember most from performing at drag clubs and gay bars?

F: All the makeup tips I picked up. All the wardrobe tricks I’ve learned. My friends from back then. I don’t miss the struggling part! (Laughs) But even then maybe – those days of being in that grind and me and my college friends not being able to afford to fly home for the holidays, so we all put our money together to go grocery shopping and I cooked a big holiday dinner for everyone. Then it was, “Well, let me go sing with the gay boys tonight so I can make a couple of dollars real quick” – because you know the gay boys tip at the drag bar! (Laughs) GC: You were among a bunch of other drag queens. Did anyone ever mistake you for one?

F: They didn’t. I think that’s why I made so many tips, because I was the only real girl and I was the only performer not lip-syncing. So I’m really thankful for that. I still keep in touch with a lot of drag queens in D.C. The gay community in D.C. is really what started this whole performing at gay Prides and all that. It’s been an amazing journey.

GC: After performing on reality shows and doing Rent on Broadway, how does it feel to be releasing your debut single and album?

F: It’s amazing how the universe works. There was a time when I just thought, “I don’t want to feel unfulfilled and bitter, so maybe I should give up on the recording thing and be really thankful that I’m a Broadway star and just do the theater thing.” There was a moment where I had given up on this, and then I’m singing at a gay club and the casting director for The Voice is in the audience having drinks and then I’m on The Voice and this whole other window of opportunity opens up that I never even expected.

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GC: What can we expect from the upcoming album and your debut single?

F: It’s gonna be dance-pop and the first single is called “Love’s Got a Hold on Me,” and it was written by Janice Robinson and I’m really excited about it. I shot a video for it with Brian Friedman as the co-director and choreographer. A lot of people know Brian from his work with Britney Spears and he’s a creative director for X Factor. Brian jumped on board because he believed in me enough to be like, “Yeah, I’m gonna bring in the dancers and make it fierce for you.”

GC: Is the whole album dance-pop or just the single?

F: The single is dance-pop and most of the album will be dance music. But, of course, I’m gonna throw in a power ballad or two! I have to. Knowing me and my gay boys, there will probably be dance remixes of even the ballads. (Laughs) GC: Are you going to get Christina on the album?

F: I’d love to do that, if she’ll do it.

GC: Is there pressure to stay in the closet on shows like American Idol or The Voice?

F: Not at all. I didn’t feel any pressure to not be out when I was on those shows. In all honesty, some of the people who’ve been most successful on those shows have been members of the LGBT community. Look at Adam Lambert – and America loved Beverly (McClellan) and loved Vicci (Martinez), so I didn’t feel any pressure at all. I can’t really speak for Idol because I didn’t stay on the show long enough to really have a fair comparison between Idol and The Voice, but I can speak from my experience on The Voice, and I can say that they were very welcoming to LGBT contestants. I don’t think anyone there felt pressure to not be open about who they are. And that was an amazing experience. Who would’ve thought 10 years after being on Idol that I’d be singing “Lady Marmalade” on national TV with Christina Aguilera?

GC: So you’re glad things worked out the way they did? No hard feelings against Idol?

F: You can’t waste your time on regrets, because they’re just the past crippling you in the present. If there was a button we could push to change the past then that would be a different conversation, but that button doesn’t exist so you have to walk away with all the lessons that you could’ve possibly learned and move forward and try to be better in the future. I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m really thankful for the woman that I’m evolving into, and I’m really thankful for all the good in my life. Had something back then happened differently, who knows where I would’ve been today.

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Event

Calgary’s 2012 AIDS Walk Smart Chicks Kick It Tour!

By Lisa Luney

By Lisa Luney

On Sunday September 23rd, the Aids Awareness Association invites Calgarians to join over 700 walkers for the ScotiaBank’s Aids Walk For Life.

Summer is drawing to a close, so it’s time to stock up on books to keep you company through the frigid months ahead. What’s better than a book? Hmm…a personalized, signed book of course!

As always, the Walk is about bring people together, raising awareness and funding a great cause. Since 1983, AIDS Calgary Awareness Association (ACAA) addresses the real needs of individuals who are living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The Walk For Life helps to enable ACAA to provide services to the growing client base.

Volunteers matter, and each hour invested is a direct contribution to your community. Volunteers are critical to the success of ACAA, and on average offer over 14,000 hours of their time to our community each year - that is the equivalent of eight staff positions. It is impossible to ignore the facts: HIV and AIDS do exist, and there is still no cure. But, that is where the role of the volunteer comes into play: a cure is possible, but the community just needs to work together to raise awareness, funding and support for those directly affected.

AIDS Calgary promotes healthy choices that individuals can make to reduce the risk of spreading or contracting the virus. They provide information and resources on practicing safer sex, and avoiding behaviors or situations that could put you at risk.

ACAA works towards reducing the harmful effects of HIV and AIDS by providing programs and services to those living with the disease. These programs offer tips for healthier choices, and ways to enjoy a better quality of life. ACAA acts as their advocate by promoting awareness and battling misunderstandings and prejudices. Through partnering with others in the community, the city of Calgary is developing a stronger caring and compassionate society.

The best way to get a jump-start into volunteering is to walk-the-walk instead of just talking-the-talk. So, join your community and participate in the Aids Walk For Life!

The start location is in the heart of the city, Eau Claire Market.

At 10am, the day will kick start with Starbucks coffee and pastries, so morning people cannot complain as they will have coffee ready at their avail! From 10:30-11:30am registration will occur. At this time participants can drop off pledges, get their t-shirts, incentives, and give themselves a bit more time to enjoy the entertainment. This is also a great time to mingle and network with others within the community.

11:30am marks the opening ceremonies.

The walk will being at between 12 and 1pm, and between 1 and 2pm all patrons will enjoy a free lunch and entertainment! With performances from a wide variety of talents, you’ll want to get your friends and family to tag along for the fun! Live music, live entertainers and a team banner creation station will keep you busy for hours.

The Walk is all about supporting a good cause, and having fun while helping others. As a ‘thank you’ for all your hard work, there are many prizes up for grabs. You could leave the walk with the title of Top Adult, Top Youth, Top Child or one of the Top Teams! Prizes are bigger than ever before, so be excited—be very excited! Don a costume and make some noise when you come to walk, you can be sure there will be judges ready to reward you for your enthusiasm.

Mark your calendar, and join in the fun.

Remember all contributions will directly impact services and work within your community. Donations are a great way to support education, advocacy and support services for those living with HIV/AIDS. The Walk is the perfect feel good event, where you can have fun and know you’re making a difference.

You can obtain a pledge form for the Calgary AIDS walk at the centre of this magazine.

September 2010 marked a change in the way authors toured. Normally, tour dates are entirely decided by publishers, but in this case, two great authors - Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr - took it upon themselves to organize a signing tour across the United States. They decided the cities and the authors; just how they wanted it.

The two of them organized a group of events for 19 authors in 12 cities over two days. This marked the beginning of the infamous Smart Chicks Kick It Tour! In 2011, another tour was launched, this time with fewer cities and less chaos for the authors.

September 2012 marks the third and final installment of the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour. This tour travels internationally, and this time around Canada is home to a few stops!

Sure enough, Alberta is lucky enough to have a spot. On September 13th at 6pm, Chapters Westside in Edmonton is in for a crazy night. Hold your breath, this is will be a lot to take in. Attending this panel of brilliant authors are the following: Kelley Armstrong (Women of The Otherworld series, Darkness Rising Series, Nadia Stafford Mysteries, Darkness Rising series and other novellas and anthologies), Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely series, Graveminder, Faery Tales and Nightmares, Carnival of Souls and various anthologies), Veronica Roth (Divergent, Insurgent), Ally Condie (Matched, Crossed, Reached, Enthralled), Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Dream Dark, Enthralled), and Beth Revis (Across The Universe, A Million Suns). To add a bit of testosterone, a smart dude has been added to the panel for the Edmonton stop: Charles De Lint (Under My Skin, The Painted Boy).

Several of the authors have movie deals in the works for their novels, so how cool would it be to have a signed novel that will be a future movie? Move over Twilight, there are new players in the book-to-movie game!

You can join this panel of brilliant authors as they sign their bestselling novels. This special event will include live music, prizes, games and more. This event is free, so anyone can partake in the fun. Bring in your collection of books to get signed, or purchase one of the many new releases these great authors have. With this many hard hitting novelists in one place, it is bound to be a once in a lifetime experience.

Smart Chicks Kick It Tour!

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

25

Trans-Identity

On Trans Celebrities

By Mercedes Allen “Cloud Atlas” will be winding its way to movie theaters shortly, being billed as an exploration of “how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future.” Neat, huh?

Except that the movie is in danger of ending up buried under an avalanche of press that is distracted by the fact that a promo video is Matrix trilogy co-filmmaker Lana Wachowski’s first public appearance since transitioning in 2006.

Times have changed a little, at least. Since she made her decision, Chaz Bono also grabbed headlines for his transition to male. In the music world, Mina Caputo of Life of Agony and Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! rocked the metal and punk worlds with their announcements. In the modeling and acting realms, Alexandra Billings, Isis King, Alexis Arquette and Candis Cayne emerged most having transitioned prior to achieving celebrity status, but still grabbing headlines. And Jenna Talackova sent waves around the world after fighting for (and winning) the right to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

In a few short years, we discovered celebrities in our midst... and they were no longer automatically met with the same sensationalistic, lurid, invalidating and vicious derision that had been previously the norm - or when they were, they were also widely supported and found allies.

That’s probably not a whole lot of comfort for Wachowski, who’s still being met with some abhorrent commentaries. Wachowski’s transition had originally been the subject of a ghastly exposé - a sensationalistic, lurid, misrepresentative sideshow-style piece that probably drove her further into reclusive seclusion than she needed to be.

But something does speak volumes from the video: she’s happy, full of creative energy, and in the end, that will speak louder than the negatives.

When Mina Caputo announced her decision to transition and the media called her the first recording artist to do so in the spotlight (in actuality, Jayne County was probably the first, in 1979, but that makes Caputo’s coming-out no less groundbreaking in 2012), the first thing the public did was look back and see where she had let the clues slip. Her chosen band name - “Life of Agony” - was probably the first clue, but then there were lyrics like this: “you put yourself away “you’re locked up in a cage “people think I’m crazy...”

That kind of “post-mortem” is probably inevitable right now, and not unlike our own lives and transitions where our parents, loved ones and acquaintances try to look back and see what indicators we let slip in our years prior. It’s an inevitably human (even if sometimes dreadfully wearisome) response, even if we can almost never see those same kinds of indicators before the fact, or be certain of them.

But that’s where our culture is now.

Where is it going? Well, hopefully, it’s going in a direction in which we become not so much a novelty as yet one more characteristic group that is accepted as a “person in the neighborhood” - where people like Lucas Silveira can be first considered a talented musician and songwriter and secondly a trans man, rather than the other way around. But we (as a movement, community, or whatever informal grouping you feel appropriately describes those of us bound together by the single need to transition between sexes) have seen a clear shift in that direction.

When people can relatively succeed like this (even if not overwhelmingly) in the world of paparazzi and “entertainment news,” this is an exceptionally good sign. In our society, when someone excels at something, tall poppy syndrome tends to kick in. It becomes sport to try to knock someone off their pedestal, as though to prove one’s own merits at the expense of someone famous, despite the critic’s absence of accomplishments.

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Rather than challenging someone because of their talents (which can be difficult to dispute at times), it can be easier to seize upon characteristic differences (like being trans) as a point of criticism, backhanded humor or venom. In an age where trans status is still used as a tactic of ridicule or insult, this is a sign that trans-ascomedy is coming to an end - that even if comedians and shock journalists aren’t getting it yet, the public is well on its way to doing so. And if the media, comedians and entertainment wonks don’t try to catch up, they’re just going to look silly.

Celebrity status also brings up the “role model” question, though, and as much as we want to celebrate people and thrust them out there as heroes and idealized icons, we need to be cautious about doing so.

Celebrities tend to represent qualities that people admire, and provide a source of inspiration and self-respect for those who see themselves in their idols (this kind of projection is actually not a good thing to do, but it also seems an inevitable quality of being human).

But the pressures of role model expectations can have a tragic cost.

As a movement that has just recently touched the public consciousness, we have to remember not to push, but to respect the risks taken by the people who will be new pioneers, and the needs that they still have as individuals. In the world of celebrity, it’s too easy to go from the suffocation of the closet to the suffocation of fans’ expectations - and too easy to fail those expectations, given that heroes - being human - tend to develop clay feet.

More than that, though, we need to look toward a world not where trans people are able to achieve extraordinary things, but one in which it’s no longer notable that extraordinary things have been accomplished by people who are trans... where it has become commonplace and unremarkable. And that will happen by not simply inspiring a characteristic group, but by reaching people at large on a universal level.

Probably the best way to see this is anecdotally.

After he was found dead in his home on April 5, 1994, L.A. Times music critic Robert Hilburn wrote that “In a pop world filled with pretenders and opportunists, [Kurt] Cobain was the real thing - a unique and invaluable voice.” Other reminiscences were similar.

Rolling Stone contributing Editor David Wild described Cobain as “arguably the last truly great rock star - or maybe the first great rock star who truly didn’t want to be one.” Bob Guccione Jr. (then editor of Spin magazine) called him “... the poet of this generation... he died too young, lived too unflatteringly and left too little compared with what we hoped for, but it was enough for him to be one of the pillars in the artistic pantheon.”

But would Kurt Cobain have still been hailed by Rolling Stone as “the spokesman of a generation” or by MSNBC’s Eric Olson as “a messiah and martyr whose every utterance has been plundered and parsed” if he had become “Kara Cobain, the transgender grunge singer?” Would “Come As You Are” have reached a generation of fans on a universal level if it had become a singularly trans-specific anthem? Would Kurt the Legend, about whom swirls a mystique of conspiracy theories and overwhelmingly awestruck remembrances, still have attained a level of rock star myth when he died at the (apparently magically martyrprone and dangerously tragic) age of 27?

It’s not unthinkable. Over the years, Cobain has been rumored to have been trans and even now, it’s not unusual to have the suggestion resurface in blogs and social media. My first encounter with this was a late ‘90s Geocities website containing someone’s thesis paper, collecting circumstantial occurrences to support the idea - from minor things like featuring a cross-dressing nanny on the In Utero CD label to a story of when Axl Rose apparently sent bodyguards to rough him up, resulting in an attempt to topple his trailer; from comments made at an LGBT ordinance benefit concert to his sometimes wearing a plain grey skirt onstage (rather than the “safer” kilt which had become de rigeur at the time for male performers wanting to beat the heat onstage). And speculation surfaces around songs like “Been A Son,” which could as easily be about Courtney Love (as the lyrics are purported to be) as about someone feeling like they couldn’t live up to that role.

Overall, a picture emerges of someone who was not afraid to be out as gay-friendly or even gay [1], but was still fighting some unknown struggle that seemed even bigger. One of the most compelling

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Event moments parsed was an interview he gave to The Advocate where Cobain admitted to being bisexual: “Yeah, absolutely. See I’ve always wanted male friends that I could be real intimate with and talk about important things with and be as affectionate with that person as I would be with a girl. Throughout my life, I’ve always been really close with girls and made friends with girls. And I’ve always been a really sickly, feminine person anyhow, so I thought I was gay for a while because I didn’t find any of the girls in my high school attractive at all. They had really awful haircuts and fucked-up attitudes. So I thought I would try to be gay for a while, but I’m just more sexually attracted to women. But I’m really glad that I found a few gay friends, because it totally saved me from becoming a monk or something.” [2] Biographers, friends and family have since said that Kurt - a showman - had played things up for The Advocate, and this may be true. The “evidence” is speculative and sometimes harder to believe than the other explanations that have been given... yet cumulatively, it’s curious. And adherents have sometimes piled onto the speculation with the trite “at least he’d still be alive...” but in reality, even that’s still hopeless conjecture, and really doesn’t take into account the full context of Cobain’s life experiences - or the obvious truth that nobody could ever have possibly wanted things to end as they did. But if true, we’ll never know... although we’ve at least reached a moment in time where his legacy likely wouldn’t be destroyed by such a revelation.

We need to remember the principle of visual iconicity and identity, and how it relates to celebrity culture. It’s a principle best seen in comic books: Green Lantern John Stewart was one of the first iconic superhero characters designed for African-American readers to relate to... but the iconic “happy face” is a character in which people of all races, genders, ages and walks of life can usually see themselves. The simpler and less detailed an image and its characteristic associations are, the more universal it can become (which is perhaps why anime became a phenomenon, but that’s beside the point). Recognition of self happens most frequently in undetailed faces, in visual culture.

The thing that draws us as trans people toward Bono and Caputo, Talackova and Grace, Cayne and Wachowski is that their revelation of being trans or of trans history gives us a point of verbal and visual representation, where we can recognize ourselves in them, and find empathy in what they create. Yet that is the same thing that they have potentially lost with the cissexual / cisgender public.

I say potentially, because it can still be overcome, but this happens by repeatedly showing that regardless of (or sometimes because of?) individual characteristics, a songwriter / actor / public speaker / director / performer is still able to reach universal truths that transcend those characteristics... that despite their uniqueness, our visionary Cobains can still touch on truths that make them voices of a generation. But it becomes a greater challenge for trans people than it is for marketably heteronormative white “pretty people.”

Of course, the people I’ve named (or missed) didn’t come out as trans for our benefit, but for theirs - but even so, they’ve made this sacrifice in their lives, and we’ve already benefited from it. So it does call for some respect, right there.

But there is also a point where being universally accessible means playing into heteronormative expectations, and out trans celebrities would probably never be able to completely do that, even if they wanted to. Nor, probably, should they. There is a point where we have to be ourselves, as characteristically unique and distinctive as we are.

The purpose of transition is not to erase our individuality but to accept it. There will be a balance that each and every out trans public figure will have to discover for themselves - and probably, where they find that balance will not be exactly where each of us would like that balance to be. So we will have to grant the space, the respect and the levity for them to achieve what they need to - balancing their unique identity and their career ambitions - without creating yet another directional pull.

While we can’t expect it, we can and should applaud when it happens. And also take solace in this: we’ve finally reached a point in time where those who’ve traveled the most difficult road are those who have suffered in silence... even if we haven’t yet reached the time in which being trans has become un-sensational.

Central Alberta’s 2012 AIDS Walk

By Lisa Luney The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society (CAANS) is a local charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in the former David Thompson Health Region. CAANS service area extends from Drumheller to Drayton Valley, and from Nordegg to the Saskatchewan border. This covers a continuously growing population of 445,000!

The goal of CAANS is to foster healthy responses to HIV and related issues through education, support and research. The society has created a welcoming environment, which leads to the beginning of trusting relationships with potential service users. The society welcomes patrons to drop in and relax, read a newspaper, use the telephone or chat on the computers. The relaxed setting draws in more patrons in need of services because it is laid back and doesn’t intimidate. Seeking help or advice can be hard, and the society knows this so they work toward creating an environment where patrons feel safe.

The CAANS office is known for being open, non-judgmental and helpful. Word of mouth has been the best advertising for all programs at CAANS. The society assures privacy and confidentiality in all of the programs offered.

There are several different ways to get involved and help out your community through teaming with CAANS: volunteer your time in the office or at events, donate financially or in the form of supplies, attend events and spread the word about the society.

A great way to start volunteering with CAANS, is the upcoming ScotiaBank Aids Walk For Life in Red Deer. This event will take place in Rotary park on Sunday September 23rd, with a later starting time so all those non-early birds can still get their beauty sleep. The registration will begin at 1:00PM, where participants drop off pledge forms and redeem incentives for funds raised. 1:30PM will mark the beginning of opening ceremonies and a yoga stretch. This is a great time to socialize, network with others in the same community and make new friends. The walk will begin at 2:00PM followed by a BBQ and some classic camp games!

CAANS hopes to make this a Sunday to remember, pairing up a great cause, great people, and some great activities. As always, this is a family friendly event so bring the kids, bring your friends – not to mention, bring comfortable shoes!

You can make the most of this great fundraising opportunity by sharing your team information with your workplace, friends and family to receive the most sponsors’ possible. There are always incentives for the teams that rake in the most donations, and of course there’s that great feeling of accomplishment from helping others who are truly in need.

Remember, every single cent raised from this event will go towards CAANS. By helping fundraise you can support people living with HIV and their loved ones. You can be playing a part in making sure education and awareness is spread to prevent further outbreaks of HIV. Most importantly, you can be helping to both better and potentially save lives.

You can obtain a pledge form for the CAANS AIDS walk at the centre of this magazine.

References:

ScotiaBank Aids Walk for Life Presented by CAANS • http://www.caans.org Sun, Sept 23rd, 1PM • Rotary Park, Red Deer

1) September 14, 1991. Quoted from http://www.gaycalgary.com/u478 2) Now offline, but archived at http://www.gaycalgary.com/u485

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27

Politics

Does Being At Pride Carry Any Political Risk for Redford?

By Stephen Lock Despite the advances in GLBTQ rights over the last several years, after decades of minimal gains in employment protections and access to public services at the provincial level before the idea of “equality” actually meaning equality took hold in the national consciousness, there are still pockets of resistance to the idea the GLBTQ community deserves exactly the same considerations enjoyed by any other community, be they minority communities or mainstream ones. The idea a sitting premier of one of Canada’s provinces would attend not one, but two, GLBTQ Pride events is, if not exactly front page news, certainly considered a significant news story. It really shouldn’t be any more than if she chose to attend Caribfest or a Ukrainian cultural event.

Alberta, despite its attempts at overcoming our image of redneckism, is still in many ways what one might charitably call ‘socially conservative.’ It’s certainly nowhere near what it was like in the 70’s or 80’s - and light years away from what it was like in the 50’s and 60’s - but resistance to advances in queer equality rights are still within living memory.

It was not that long ago that another premier of this province, a certain Ralph Klein, pronounced he’d invoke the Charter’s notwithstanding clause if same-sex marriage were to become law in Canada, thereby allowing his government a five-year ‘opting out’ of compliance. He didn’t do it, but he sure created a lot of controversy - something he seemed to delight in doing - and managed to pull those of us working on equal marriage “off message” to deal with the possibility of Alberta going rogue and invoking the clause.

So when Alison Redford announced she would be attending Edmonton’s Pride celebrations last June and delivering the opening statements at that event, it was news. That the recent election saw yet more examples of socially conservative Wildrose candidates spewing anti-gay rhetoric highlighted her involvement’s newsworthiness. She also attended and spoke at Calgary’s Pride celebrations September 2nd as well.

It should be noted, however, Premier Redford spoke briefly at a rally in Edmonton’s Churchill Square following the parade but did not participate in the actual parade, despite reports in mainstream media prior to the event that she would; nor did any other PC MLAs, apparently.

Jessica Dollard, Pride Calgary’s spokesperson, has been quoted as saying Redford is showing “amazing leadership” by attending Calgary Pride, while Edmonton Pride’s Colleen Sutherland described the premier’s appearance at the rally as “quite significant”. The significance, of course, is having a sitting premier in attendance at anything to do with Pride, but it also is now comparatively politically safe to do so, especially at a rally following the main parade, given the political and legal recognitions our community finally enjoys.

In 1990, when a handful of activists involved with the Calgary Lesbian and Gay Political Action Guild (CLAGPAG) organized Calgary’s first Gay Pride Rally and March, Don Getty was premier. We had approximately 145 individuals show up to the rally held in Central Memorial Park in Calgary’s Beltline, many of whom chose to wear masks or paper bags over their heads since to be publicly identified as gay or lesbian at that time - 21 years after the Stonewall Riots launched the modern GLBTQ rights movement in the US - was still professional suicide. Getty was not what one might call a friend of the GLBTQ community and he was opposed to the inclusion of sexual orientation in Alberta’s then human rights legislation, the Individual Rights Protection Act. That he, or his successor Ralph Klein, would ever attend a Pride event, or

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any other event within the GLBTQ community, was not even on the radar.

When Joe Clark, then the leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives and a former Prime Minister of Canada, was Calgary’s Pride Parade Marshal 11 years later, in 2001, that was significant.

Clark had defeated Calgary Centre’s Canadian Alliance candidate Eric Lowther, an early favourite for that riding, by 4000 votes in the 2000 federal election, largely due to support from gays and lesbians who joined a coalition backing Clark in an effort to defeat Lowther.

Keith Purdy, then co-chair for that year’s Pride Week, noted in a June 7, 2001 interview with FFWD Magazine that Clark’s victory in the strongly GLBTQ riding marked the first time a Canadian GLBTQ community had influenced an election result.

“I think this is a huge step for the gay community at large.

If they come together on a cause... they can see the results of what the gay community can do,” he was quoted as saying at the time. “After this, it’s only going to be heightened.” And it was. Four years later, largely due to the community again coming together for a cause only on a national level, equal marriage became a reality in Canada.

The reaction to Clark’s involvement with Pride was swift and, in some quarters, vehement. The Westboro Baptist Church, headed by Fred Phelps and notorious for it’s “God Hates Fags” demonstrations, threatened to send representatives to protest his involvement. Paul Jackson, an opinion columnist for the Calgary Sun, showed up in a leather blazer and ‘pleather’ pants (not, I hasten to add, chaps or leather jeans...thankfully) and attempted to make bit of a nuisance of himself and get close to Clark’s convertible but didn’t really accomplish much due to the security surrounding Clark and GLBTQ participants ensuring they were as close to Clark’s vehicle as possible.

Jackson soon learned to try and breach a wall of chanting lesbians and excited drag queens was not the greatest idea he’d ever come up with.

Not to minimize Redford’s involvement, I’d far prefer having a sitting premier in attendance than one who sniffed imperiously it would be ‘inappropriate’ to be there, but the reality is attending a GLBTQ event in 2012 just doesn’t carry the same risk of political fallout Clark faced in 2001. What a difference a decade makes!

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 Editorial - From Page 7 of people that we hadn’t seen in years – one I hadn’t seen in over 7! The back patio was so packed that Steve and I had to aggressively squeeze past people to get to the food station on the other end. Bizarrely, in the process my wallet chain hooked somebody’s sunglasses that were sticking out of their pocket, and I was a bit baffled to discover them hanging off of me a few minutes later. Lucky enough, the owner found his way over to us and got them back – it was worth a good laugh.

As daylight faded, we had to break away to cover the Les Girls dance, which once again packed The Bank completely! The dance was open to everyone but maintained a majority of women. This time they had and a second DJ playing in the vault room of the basement, and an additional VIP area on the second floor at the front end of the building.

We were lucky that a friend of ours had a table in this area, and invited us to partake in some of the food and drink at his table, because we were getting dehydrated and our blood sugars were starting to dip by this time.

Finally we headed back to the Calgary Eagle to make the most of its last two hours in operation. We wanted to stay right to the end but we were much too exhausted to pull that off.

My feet grew heavy as I took my last steps through the bar, wading through the history of the place. I took a long look at the stage where I’d made my tough drag debut, where I had filmed year upon year of drag numbers, leather demonstrations, and wet jockey contests. I passed through the area where the Chili Cook-offs had taken place, and where the tables had been set up for the Christmas dinners. I looked to the back bar where I had first met Johnathan, dressed as a Vampire one Halloween, who had to find creative ways to apply a temporary tattoo to my arm in the absence of a damp cloth – and numerous others I had met or shared company while standing there. I stopped to take a look at the painted portrait of Barry (Momma G) who stared out over the main bar where we would often see Ron, the anchor of the Calgary Eagle, working away alongside Kevin, and newer additions David and Joel. I passed by the pool table where I’d experienced my infamous birthday mishap with Neal, and then the coat check where we’d carried on so many conversations on the way in, or as we were getting pushed out the door at the end of the night. So many more memories came to mind as I would think about it over the next few days, a few bad, but most of them good.

But just like that we were out in the cool night air, walking down the street to our car as if it were the end of any other night at the Calgary Eagle.

Monday was our day for recovery. We slept in, woke up to eat breakfast, and then, wonderfully, took the liberty of going back to bed again. We must have slept for half the day to catch up on all the late nights we’d pulled since the start of the long weekend. Come Tuesday, I was well rested and energized from the excitement and fun, mixed in with the sadness and chaos, of this year’s Calgary Pride weekend.

Photos and video footage from Pride and other events this month are available online at: http://www.gaycalgary.com/photos

Next Month AIDS Walks are happening in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Peace River, and Fort McMurray. Look for the articles in this edition to find out about ones closest to you.

As Calgary loses a bar, so too does Edmonton. The Junction is holding their final closing party on Saturday, September 22nd. GayCalgary Magazine approached the owners for an interview, but they declined.

Medicine Hat is organizing their first Pride celebration later this month. See their ad in this edition for more details.

Also, make sure you check out the Calgary International Film Festival.

As we’ve done in previous years, GayCalgary is presenting a handful of LGBT-related films.

Alberta Gay Bar Survey Bars and clubs have been a central meeting place for the LGBT community for decades, and the way people feel about them has an impact on it, if one will even be necessary in the future.

Earlier this month we launched our Alberta Gay Bar Survey to learn how LGBT individuals feel about the gay bar/club scene in our province.

The point of this survey is to help bring out some of the tough realities that people are too polite or too scared to voice in person, but that we all need to hear.

So far the response has been overwhelming, with more entries than we’ve ever received for any in-house survey we’ve conducted. But we’re still looking for a good deal more respondents before we close down the polls and announce any results.

Regardless if you consider yourself a bar goer or not, this survey will target appropriate questions toward you, and ones that are not applicable based on your answers will not be shown. So you don’t need to worry about answering questions specific to gay bars unless you indicate that you actually visit them from time to time. Otherwise, we still want to know what you like or dislike about bars in general, and what factors affect your decision to go out to them or not.

So if you haven’t filled the survey out yet, please do. It’s clear that attitudes are changing, and for LGBT businesses and organizations to continue to survive, we all need to know the direction that LGBT Albertans want to see the community going.

Q-Scopes We’re sad to announce that Jack Fertig, Q-Scopes columnist, passed away at the beginning of August at age 57 after a battle with liver cancer.

Prior to producing his horoscope column, he wrote for the San Francisco Bay Times and then the San Francisco Spectrum. He was also known as Sister Boom Boom, his famous drag nun persona that he adopted in the 1980s as an early AIDS activist, pioneer of queer rights and founding member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

At this time, GayCalgary Magazine is uncertain whether we will seek another author to continue publishing a monthly horoscope.

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Interview

Crystal Shawanda

Canadian Country Belle Takes Music by the Reins

By Janine Eva Trotta It’s not a stretch to say Canadian country vocalist Crystal Shawanda was born country. Raised on the Wikwemikong Native Reservation of Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Shawanda grew up with a connection to the land solidified in music.

For Shawanda music was everything: a way to mourn, a method of preservation and storytelling, and a joyous tool of celebration.

“Music was my way of relating to the world, my way of connecting to it,” she says. “Country music was what I grew up with so it led me to Nashville and the stories of the legends.”

Shawanda accompanied her truck driving father on a long haul to Nashville at the age of 12. The following year she recorded her first album there – a full track list of self-written songs.

“I couldn’t wait to jump in and be a part of [the music industry] – once I started I couldn’t stop!” she exclaims.

The next years saw young Shawanda record three more independent albums over several trips back and forth from Nashville. The strenuous travel, practice and dedication to her craft finally awarded the teenage songstress a fulltime gig at the renowned Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge on Nashville’s Broadway.

It was there, in that hot world of country legends, that she met her husband and lead guitarist Dewayne Strobel. The two musicians shared the stage at Tootsie’s for six years.

“Playing for tips in Nashville, paying my dues on Broadway, helped me realize how much I love to sing,” she recalls. “I dug my heels in and just worked on being the best I could be.”

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The hard work came not without its struggles.

“There was one day I thought about giving up after one too many jerks (a slow day in the tip jug),” she begins. “Then I walked downstairs and saw Jimmy Snyder, who’s in his 70’s, singing his butt off still after all this time, with all his heart!”

“Then suddenly I thought, can you imagine having the privilege to play music, to do what you love for a living your whole life? From that moment on I thought, if I should be as lucky it’s been a good life.“ Soon Shawanda began working with Faith Hill and Brooks and Dunn producer Scott Hendricks, which landed her a contract via Joe Galante with RCA Records and Sony Music Nashville in 2007.

Her first single, “You Can Let Go” was the fastest rising single in BDS Canada history, hitting top 5 in Canada and top 20 in the United States.

Dawn of a New Day, her debut album, was released the following year, selling over 400,000 copies and claiming title as the highest charted album released by a Native American in history.

“Now giving up is not an option. I’m a singer – that’s what I do and I’ll never give up!” she says. “Life inspires me to write; I write what I know, what I’ve been through, and what goes on around me.”

“It’s always been like cheap therapy for me!”

Shawanda released five hit singles off that first album, landing her the Canadian Country Music Association’s Female Artist of the Year award in 2009.

In 2010 Shawanda and Strobel created their own label, New Sun Records, and on it their inaugural release, Just Like You. “The experience was very overwhelming and satisfying all at the same time,” she describes of the process of taking her recording career by the horns. “I had to wear a lot of different hats, so I was always consumed, and yet the creative freedom gave me the opportunity to peel back more layers.”

Her first single off the album, “Closer”, has received warm media accolades and a lot of country radio play. The track showcases her throaty Mellissa Ethridge-like vocals and head-bobbing melodic capabilities. “[Creating a label] was a secret life-long passion of mine. To see it come to life has been incredible,” she says.

Shawanda says the support and advice she received from industry peers gave her the confidence to embrace the what ifs she faced in the process of taking the scary leap from the safe bounds of recording within a known label.

“I put everything back into the business,” she says. “In the words of Ruth Brown, ’you better love it, cuz it ain’t always gonna love you’.”

Shawanda has been touring the new album extensively since April with recent dates in Grande Prairie and Strathmore, and a homecoming event in Manitoulin Island. On August 5 she will be playing at the Lac La Biche Festival in Alberta before heading back to Ontario and hitting Saskatoon September 9th to perform at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards.

In October, Shawanda returns to Alberta for tour dates in Lloydminster, Bonneyville, Peace River, and Leduc October 20th.

“I love to tour; I love the music – to be out there with my fans,” she says. “I love jamming with musicians and being on the stage every night, always moving, always on the go, somewhere different all the time.”

Shawanda says having her husband on tour with her makes her love of the road that much more profound, but spending off-road downtime with her step kids is equally important.

“They are my whole world and my best friends,” she says.

“We teach them that it is possible to raise a family and live your dreams.”

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Event

Medicine Hat Shows its Colours 500 expected to participate

Edmonton’s 2012 AIDS Walk

By Krista Sylvester

By Lisa Luney

Every pride festival has to start somewhere and Medicine Hat is starting at its roots.

The city of Edmonton will be hosting its annual Walk For Life on Sunday September 23rd, marking the 21st year of the ScotiaBank AIDS walk! This fundraising and awareness event brings in funds for local programs and services.

Former Calgary event planner Jason Johnson recently moved back to his hometown of Medicine Hat after eight years away. Johnson decided he wanted to move “back to the Hat” to be closer to family and take a break from the “big city.”

When a Medicine Hat college student noticed the need for a pride event in the city, Johnson decided to use his experience with event planning and working at Club Sapien in Calgary to branch out and connect.

“So far the support has been overwhelming and the people in the community seem really excited and supportive,” Johnson says of the response the city’s first pride festival has received. “Our hope is that the festival keeps growing and keeps getting bigger each year.”

And while many have been supportive, there has been some discontent as well, which is somewhat expected.

“I think some people might get their noses out of joint a little,” he admits. “There have already been a few letters to the newspaper questioning the need for a pride festival but I think they might have some preconceived notions and what we are is a grassroots, familyfriendly festival.”

About 500 people are expected to attend the event, which is impressive given it’s a first year festival in what is typically not known as a gay city.

“I don’t think we will top any lists for pride festivals or anything but I do think the community is ready for something like this and I hope it keeps growing each year,” Johnson says, who plans on being in Medicine Hat for several years. “I think it would be great to establish a presence and pass the torch for beyond when we’re even here.”

Johnson says there are several types in the gay social community in Medicine Hat; those who are close knit friends and involved in the community socially; those who come out to special events but are more homebodies; and then of course those who are private and not really “out” yet.

That’s why it is so important to create a presence in the city, Johnson says.

“I think it gives the community something to anchor to and be proud about,” he says. “It’s really about having a pride initiative and growing it, and it’s especially important in these smaller communities.”

Which is why Calgarians and other surrounding areas should support the event, he adds.

“It’s a growing community and after living in Calgary for eight years I can see the luxury a big city has compared to a smaller community. That’s why I think it’s great if the big city people can get out and support the smaller communities. It’s going to be fun and it’s good to show our support.”

The Medicine Hat Pride festival takes place on Saturday, September 22nd at the Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park from 2pm until 9pm. There will be live performances by drag queens, DJ’s and venders galore. Later that night, there will be an 18+ only gay dance at Liquid nightclub.

For more information, check out the Medicine Hat Pride Facebook group.

The vision of HIV Edmonton is to reach zero.

Zero new transmissions, zero stigma and discrimination, and mostly important - zero AIDS related deaths. All of the money raised will help get us one step closer to this goal.

Proceeds from all fundraisers stay in Edmonton, and go a long way to providing service for those living with, affected by and at risk for HIV. HIV Edmonton is known for providing support, community education, prevention and advocacy for over 25 years. The team is a community based, not-for-profit organization that works to eliminate stigmas and discrimination surrounding this disease. The team takes pride in the delivery of innovative programs and services that promote dignity, health and well-being of those affected by HIV, and works with the community as a whole to strive for no new HIV infections, and longer, healthier lives for those affected. HIV Edmonton ensures everyone affected by HIV gets the service and support they need without barriers or discrimination.

The HIV Network of Edmonton Society is hosting their annual Walk For Life event at Sir Winston Churchill square, in the heart of downtown Edmonton. Registration begins at 11am, with a delicious pancake breakfast that also serves as an opportunity to socialize and network with others. The walk doesn’t begin until 1pm, so there is plenty of time to spread your social butterfly wings.

An extra incentive for teams of walkers to work harder and raise as much money as possible, is this year’s list of prizes. MP Laurie Hawn has challenged the community with a bold statement, “Love me or hate, just come out and beat me?” If you raise a minimum of $500 your name is entered for a chance to win one of three great travel prizes, and for every additional $500, you receive an additional entry.

This may be incentive for you to push your campaign to coworkers, friends, shops you frequent - everyone!

The three travel prizes include: a trip for two on VIA Rail to Jasper, airfare for two wherever WestJet flies, and the grand prize: a trip for two to Beijing to walk as VIPs on the Great Wall of China as part of the first ever AIDS Walk China (this prize also includes one week stay at the exclusive Fairmont Beijing).

The prizes are great incentive to get your butt in gear and fundraise, but the real reward is seeing the ways your effort can help those within your community. Your fundraising efforts can help build a tighter bond within your community, and help those affected by HIV/AIDS to live well and with dignity.

You can obtain a pledge form for the CAANS AIDS walk at the centre of this magazine.

Medicine Hat Pride Presented by HIV Edmonton• http://www.hivedmonton.com Sat, Sept 22nd, 2-9pm • Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park

ScotiaBank Aids Walk for Life Presented by HIV Edmonton• http://www.hivedmonton.com Sun, Sept 23rd, 11am • Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton

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35

Out of Town

An Alaska Adventure: 8 Essentials  Hiking through an ice cave at Juneau’s Mendenhall Glacier, with Above & Beyond Alaska, photo by Andrew Collins

By Andrew Collins I spent 15 days touring Alaska (travelalaska.com) with a friend earlier this summer, my second extended trip to the country’s largest state in the past three years. My previous trip included a memorable Holland America Line (hollandamerica.com) cruise through the Inside Passage, followed by a four-day land trip north through Anchorage and Talkeetna. On this most recent adventure, I overnighted in eight different towns, from Juneau and Skagway in the southeast to Fairbanks in the east-central section of the state.

Even having jumped around the state a bit, I’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of getting to know this state nearly four times the size of California. But I have at least come up with a good list of mustsee activities or places I strongly recommend experiencing. Here, in no particular order, are eight essential Alaska highlights.

Drink your share of Alaska craft beer What Alaska lacks in gay nightlife, it more than makes up for in quirky, offbeat bars with diverse, generally gay-friendly followings. Some of the best of these hangouts are craft-beer pubs, of which Anchorage has the greatest number. A few blocks apart in the city’s downtown, Glacier Brew House and Humpy’s both serve first-rate beer and great food, and in Midtown, the Bear Tooth Theatrepub and Grill, and nearby Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria are popular with the gay community and serve outstanding food and distinctive beers.

In Juneau, the venerable Alaska Brewing Co. is one of the foremost craft-beer makers in the country, and although there’s no brewpub on site, you can stop by for a tour and tastings, and the company’s beer is widely available at bars all over Alaska. Also in southeast Alaska, the funky and friendly Skagway Brewing Co. is a great place to sip Spruce Tip Blonde (a locally distinctive beer flavored with hand-picked Sitka spruce tips) and munch on tasty bar food. Fairbanks is home to another

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terrific brewpub, the Silver Gulch, which is as well-regarded for its malty Pick Axe Porter as for such delicious fare as beer-braised pork ribs and IPA fish-and-chips.

Take the bus into Denali Visitors to Alaska’s iconic national park, Denali, are sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of this 6-million-acre wilderness crowned by North America’s highest peak, Mount McKinley (20,320 feet).

The park is ideally explored over the course of a few days, but even with one full day, it’s possible to cover a remarkable amount of ground.

There’s one road into the park, and beyond the first 15 miles, only official park school buses are permitted.

Options for touring the park by bus include guided tours and more flexible and less expensive “hop-on/hop-off” shuttles. A practical oneday strategy is taking a shuttle bus to the stunning and relatively new Eielson Visitor Center, which is 66 miles into the park and access two short but very scenic hikes with Denali peak views. The trip here takes a minimum of eight hours round-trip, but the ride itself is part of the fun guides frequently comment on the scenery and stop to allow passengers to snap photos of wildlife, which can include caribou, Dall sheep, golden eagles, moose, wolves, and grizzly bears.

- Explore the Kenai Peninsula With relatively easy access to Anchorage, a slew of engaging towns and attractions, and rugged, spectacular scenery that takes in everything from massive glaciers to icy fjords to dense forests, this peninsula about half the size of South Carolina is ideal for road-tripping. The top towns for visitors are the artsy and progressive fishing town of Homer (the farthest from Anchorage, at 220 miles); scenic Seward, the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park; and secluded Whittier, situated at the end of Passage Canal, which links to Prince William Sound. You can also forego driving and take the Alaska Scenic Railroad from Anchorage to Seward or Whittier, enjoying some close-up glacier views along the way.

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On your way to the peninsula, consider tacking on a night or two in tiny Girdwood, just 40 miles from Anchorage, spending the night at the elegant Alyeska Resort (alyeskaresort.com). This upscale hotel and ski resort has beautiful rooms, a full spa, and one of the top destination restaurants in the state, Seven Glaciers, which is reached via aerial tram. From Girdwood, it’s a short drive to one of the peninsula’s most fascinating attractions, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center - others musts include the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, and the Alaska Islands & Oceans Visitor Center in Homer.

If you’d prefer an all-inclusive touring approach to the Kenai Peninsula, with some incredible outdoor recreational opportunities, book a trip with Alaska Wildland Adventures (alaskawildland.com), which has three oneof-a-kind accommodations on the peninsula, the Kenai Riverside Lodge, Kenai Backcountry Lodge, and Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge. AWA’s trips include everything from adrenaline-pumping white-water rafting and sea-kayaking to more easygoing hikes, float trips, and fishing outings.

These tours are ideal for families or groups of friends traveling together.

- Trek on a glacier Opportunities to view these glaciers abound from Juneau north into Denali National Park. One of the most amazing ways to experience one of these hulking masses of slow-moving ice is to hike directly onto one. In the historic gold-rush town of Skagway, at the northern end of the Inside Passage, Packer Expeditions (packerexpeditions.com) offers wilderness and snowshoe hikes onto Laughton Glacier. These full-day adventures involve riding the historic White Pass & Yukon Route Railway to a mountain trailhead, and then trekking about 4 miles through verdant woodland and then onto the glacier.

In Juneau, Above & Beyond Alaska (beyondak.com) has developed an amazing glacier trek on which you’ll hike 3.5 miles through rainforest alongside Mendenhall Lake, then don crampons and ice axes and walk for more than an hour atop Mendenhall Glacier. If conditions permit, you may also hike inside one of the surreal, blue-walled ice cave that have formed beneath the glacier.

- See Alaska from the air Alaska is home to more licensed airline pilots per capita than any other state. This is hardly surprising given the remote terrain, and that many communities can’t be reached by road. Even commercial flights around the state can - depending on the weather - yield some tremendous views.

A number of smaller airlines offer regularly scheduled service through the Inside Passage, with the trips from Juneau up to Skagway or Haines, or down to Ketchikan especially magnificent.

Flight trips are also a favorite way to view Denali National Park. Offering flights over McKinley’s summit as well as actual glacier landings in Denali, McKinley Flight Tours (talkeetnaaero.com) is one of that area’s best airtour companies, flying out of a small airport just north of the park, in Healy. In the funky town of Talkeetna, about midway between Anchorage and Denali, you can also book a variety of air excursions over the park with such reliable outfitters as K2 Aviation (flyk2.com) and Talkeetna Air Taxi (talkeetnaair.com).

- Hide out at one of Within the Wild’s secluded lodges Renowned chef and cookbook author Kirsten Dixon and her husband Carl operate three of the most enchanting wilderness lodges in the state, each with just a handful of warmly appointed guest cabins, and all of them serving artful, locally sourced food. Winterlake Lodge is about 200 miles northwest of Anchorage (reached by float- or ski plane depending on the season) on the Iditarod Trail; and Redoubt Bay Lodge lies about an hour by floatplane southwest of Anchorage in one of the state’s densest bear-habitats.

The easiest of the properties to reach, Tutka Bay Lodge, still requires a spectacular water-taxi ride from Homer across Kachemak Bay. Once here you’ll discover a splendid retreat at the mouth of a fjord, nestled beneath Sitka spruce trees, and complete with its own cooking school, which has been built ingeniously inside a former crabbing boat. Spend at least three or four days at any of these secluded hideaways - once you get here, you’ll have a difficult time pulling yourself away.

 Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America, towering of Denali National Park. to gain a better sense of what it’s actually like to live in Alaska. Anchorage has a number of terrific options, including the affordable Copper Whale Inn (copperwhale.com), which is within walking distance of downtown attractions. Also centrally located are such gay-owned options as the Wildflower Inn (alaska-wildflower-inn.com) and the City Garden B&B (citygarden.biz).

Dale and Jo View Suites (daleandjo.com) is a luxurious, cozy spot with wonderful views in Fairbanks, while Juneau’s renowned Pearson’s Pond (pearsonspond.com) is one of the most sumptuous places to stay in Juneau. Funky Homer is home to such welcoming B&Bs as Brigitte’s Bavarian B&B (akms.com/brigitte), which is set on a birch-shaded hillside, and the sunny and contemporary Bay Avenue B&B (bayavebb. com), which overlooks rippling Kachemak Bay. And in Skagway, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more welcoming, reasonably priced accommodation than the centrally located White House B&B (atthewhitehouse.com).

- A Great GLBT Resource Finally, if you’re looking for an excellent, gay-friendly resource to help plan or even guide you on your trip to the Last Frontier, get in touch with GLBT-owned Out in Alaska (outinalaska.com), which offers an impressive variety of relatively intimate (usually four to eight people) trips throughout the state, from multiday cruises and overland adventures to quick day trips around Anchorage, where the company is based. These tours range from rafting and camping adventures in the wilderness to hotel-based trips, and Out in Alaska can also customize guided trips or help you plan your own independent tour.

Andrew Collins covers gay travel for the New York Times-owned website GayTravel.About.com and is the author of Fodor’s Gay Guide to the USA.

- Stay at a small, atmospheric inn

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Most of the state’s key communities have at least a few gay-friendly inns, which typically have distinctive settings and offer guests the chance

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37

Interview

Adam, Exposed

Pop star talks passion for gay rights, acting debut nudity and biggest ‘Voice’ diva

By Chris Azzopardi Supermodel girlfriends, rumored spats with Christina Aguilera and the engine that has kept Maroon 5 running for 10 years – there’s still so much more to Adam Levine.

The adored frontman of one of the biggest pop bands, who recently told MTV that if he were president his first mission would be to legalize gay marriage, is also a straight ambassador for the gay community.

With lots going on – judging this fall’s third season of The Voice, making his acting debut on Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story and touring with Maroon 5 – it’s no wonder the band’s latest album is called Overexposed.

In this exclusive chat with the pop star, Levine talks how fighting for gay rights has little to do with him having a gay brother, what he really thinks of people who don’t believe in marriage equality and if we’ll see him, ahem, overexposed on American Horror Story.

GC: Of all the things you could’ve said, why did you tell MTV that you’d legalize gay marriage first if you were president?

AL: It’s just so silly and it doesn’t make any sense to me that you wouldn’t be able to marry whomever you want to marry. It’s not our business. I don’t know why we’re obsessed with making everything in this country our business, all the time. It seems we’re a little behind on that, and we just need to make it legal and stop caring so much. It doesn’t matter. And it shouldn’t matter.

GC: What would you say to other straight people who don’t agree with you on the marriage issue?

AL: Listen, I’m always willing to hear all sides of all arguments.

Anyone who doesn’t agree with it is essentially putting themselves above other people. That’s what they’re doing. And that’s not OK with me.

People have their personal preferences as to what they want to do with their own lives, and they have every right to do that – just like a gay couple has every right to do that. It’s just not anyone’s business except the people involved. That’s all I would say: “What makes you better than these people?”

People have a million different justifications and reasons why they don’t want (gay marriage) allowed, but it doesn’t check out. Whenever I hear people’s reasoning behind it, I think to myself: First of all, marriage isn’t always successful anyway. Look at the divorce rate and all the things that go wrong with marriage. Whether it’s gay or straight, there are issues with it. Clearly people have a hard time staying together, and that’s just a sad truth about marriage in our society. People should be allowed to succeed and fail at marriage as they so desire.

GC: Has having a gay brother influenced how outspoken you’ve become for the gay community?

AL: I don’t think that having a gay brother has affected the way I feel about it, because I would feel the same way regardless. I happen to have a gay brother, but that doesn’t mean I’m more of an advocate for equal human rights. That shouldn’t change anything about the way that I feel.

GC: But he’s your brother, so certainly some of your passion for gay

rights is an extension of that relationship, right?

AL: Of course! That contributes on some level to the way that I feel. But I don’t know – I don’t think I would feel any differently if he happened to be straight. The relationships that I have with people – whether it’s my brother or a friend, gay or straight – shouldn’t really ever come into play. Someone’s sexual preference is their sexual preference. Let’s move on.

When I’m talking about dating a girl and they’re talking about dating a guy – big fucking deal. That’s the thing; that’s what’s so bizarre about it: It doesn’t faze me. Obviously I was brought up to believe that

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 Photo by Terry Richardson

everybody is on a level playing field and we’re all crazy, cool and all that fun stuff – and I don’t pay much mind to it, because who am I to judge people? I judge people based on the things that they do. I judge people based on their character. If you have a friend who decides to do certain things in their own private time – even if they’re straight – whatever the fuck they’re into, fine. It doesn’t matter. That’s the biggest problem: It just simply doesn’t affect the way I view a person. It’s so arbitrary.

GC: How big of a role do you think the gay community has had in Maroon 5’s career?

AL: The music that we make is for people to enjoy, and as far as all communities are concerned, the band’s mission statement is that we make music for everybody and that we love everyone who appreciates it and we appreciate everyone who appreciates it. There’s every type of person at our shows. And I love that. The more diverse our crowds get over time, the happier we get as a band.

GC: What’s been the best part of shooting American Horror Story

so far?

AL: It’s so much fun. I’m having a blast and obviously Ryan (Murphy) is amazing and so passionate and so cool, and I thank him for giving me this opportunity. It’s a really special show to be a part of, and it’s been really fun and I’m very excited to see the results.

I’ve never really seen myself do any of this before, so I’m a little wigged out about that – actually watching myself. It’s all new and it’s all fun and it’s a fresh experience. I’ve gotten super into it and hope there are more cool things like that to come. And I’ve got a lot of blood on me!

GC: What does that taste like?

AL: It tastes like gross corn syrup crap.

GC: Dylan McDermott is known for getting naked a lot on the show.

Should we expect you to get naked as well?

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AL: (Laughs) I don’t think I’ll be getting naked on the show. There’s no nudity for me. But you’ll see: It’s definitely interesting.

GC: Who’s the bigger diva on The Voice: you or Christina Aguilera?

AL: Probably me. (Laughs) You know, it’s cool because at this point,

we finally hit our stride as friends – all four of us. Anytime you get four people together who don’t know each other very well, at first certain people gravitate toward others and alliances are formed and friendships are formed. But what’s great now is that all four of us are very close and having the best time because we’re the most connected we’ve ever been.

GC: Blake Shelton seems very connected to you. So connected, in fact, he has said that he wants to kiss you. Is there a bromance going on that you want to tell us about?

AL: (Laughs) I’m pretty sure all that is in good humor. I’m sure he

doesn’t really want to kiss me. He’s married; he’s taken.

GC: When was the moment that you felt like Maroon 5 had become overexposed?

AL: (Laughs) (The album title) is more just a humorous take on the

fact that the band is everywhere, which is a wonderful thing. It’s kind of nice to put a spin on it and make fun of it and be silly about it rather than turn it into a bad thing. Because it’s amazing.

We’ve been lucky enough to withstand over a decade of, I guess, what you call relevance, and we’re really excited about that: continuing to have songs on the radio, playing big concerts and having this wonderful career. But we’re everywhere, so I do believe there is some truth to that statement – and it’s funny to poke a little bit of fun at it.

GC: A lot has changed in the business since you started 10 years ago. We have Chely Wright, an out gay country artist, and now the first major out hip-hop artist: Frank Ocean. How do you think these people, and the music business as a whole, can be influential in changing people’s mind regarding gay politics?

on this television show, or that it was casually thrown around a lot.”

It’s become a bad word, and that’s a good thing. There’s always going to be a lot wrong with the world, but I do think it’s becoming a better place in that regard.

GC: What about the music business itself: Do you see the music business evolving faster than the rest of the world?

AL: That would be a nice idea. You do tend to find that a lot of people who are involved in music don’t care about whether someone is gay or not, or gay themselves. Who knows why that’s the case. Maybe that particular part of entertainment is evolving or has always been that way.

Most of the people that I know, it’s just not an issue. Most people in the music industry don’t necessarily judge people for that kind of thing and it doesn’t really come into play; it doesn’t matter. People, especially musicians and artists, were more guarded a while ago. Now it seems like it doesn’t seem to bother anybody very much, which is great.

Listen, the forward movement with this whole thing is good, and getting it all out there and having discussions and debates only helps us advance, so I’m all about discussing it with someone. I’m still very interested in getting to the bottom of why people don’t understand that in saying certain people aren’t allowed to marry – what leg do you have to stand on there? Unless you can admit that you’re putting yourself above them, then there’s no argument. Otherwise you would say, “Everyone has the right to marry.” That’s a hard pill to swallow because, like I said, I’m always ready to play the other side and to try to appreciate the other side for what it’s worth, and you can’t really argue unless you can start to understand where that side comes from. But I still don’t quite get it. It still baffles me.

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AL: It’s a great platform for that. We’ve made a lot of strides in a lot of ways as far as acceptance is concerned. What’s funny is everyone is always talking about the world being so fucked and such a disaster, but when you really look at it, there’s an argument in there that the world’s become a better place.

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Look at the strides. It’s really easy to look at all the things that are wrong with the world and say, “Oh my god, we’re all going to hell in a hand basket.” But I think what’s cool to say is, “Look at the wonderful things that we have been able to achieve and look at how much more equally people are treated now as opposed to the past.”

I think we have a lot of really big strides to make: For some reason, someone being homophobic is still somewhat acceptable in our society, which I don’t like. That’s what I hate so much, but I think that we’ve made strides there, too. It’s going to be a long battle. People make fun of people for being gay too much; it’s too culturally accepted still, but it’s better.

You used to watch a movie and people used to say – I won’t say it – but F-A-G all the time. And that doesn’t happen anymore. You have to look at that and say, “That’s a good thing, man.” It’s not this derogatory thing that’s widely acceptable. You look back to the ’70s and ’80s and you’re like, “Whoa, I can’t believe that’s in this movie or

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Community

The Chinook Lesbian & Gay Fund

By Carey Rutherford When speaking with a tax professional, one would think that clarity of detail and a respect for the sanctity of process would be held in high regard, and that unattributed rumour or unverified claims would be investigated and eliminated.

And you’d be right.

The President of the Advisory Committee for the Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund is a case in point. As Christopher Post, a tax professional himself, tells GayCalgary Magazine: “In 1998, there was a group of folks in Calgary that felt a need to create a source of funding for the Gay/Lesbian Community Services Association (now called Calgary Outlink). They were concerned that the government funding for the organization was in jeopardy, so they felt there was a need to create a source of funding. Which they did: a donor-advised fund at The Calgary Foundation.”

The Calgary Foundation website explains that it was “established in 1955 (and) facilitates collaborative philanthropy by making powerful connections between donors and community organizations for the long term benefit of Calgary and surrounding area.” This made it the ideal place to establish The Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund.

“So every year,” Christopher continues, “they are in the position of making grants to whoever the advisory committee of donors recommend that they be made to.”

While Chris wasn’t involved when the CL&G Fund was created, he’s told that the imperative behind it somewhat dissipated over the next few years. The fund, to some degree, “fell asleep, and sat quietly for almost 10 years, and a couple of years ago...I was looking to make a charitable donation to an LGBTQ cause in Calgary, but the only one I could easily find was AIDS Calgary, and I thought that that was already a well-supported cause.”

After hearing about “some kind of Chinook something-or-other” from a friend, he eventually located it, and became part of the advisory group after he had made his desired charitable donation.

“So now we’ve begun to have meetings once a month, just had our first fund-raising dinner in nearly a decade,” and he’s very happy with the feedback they’ve been getting about these developments. “A Gay United Way is sort of what we’re trying to create, (and) I had a vision of building it into something substantial, but I didn’t know if it was just me.

I didn’t know if the idea would resonate with other people.”

To his delight, when the swish event was organized, 40 potential contributing diners listened to Christopher, City Councilor Gael MacLeod and Mayor Nenshi’s Chief of Staff, Chima Nkemdirim, and donated over $40,000.00 for the fund. “And what was even more wonderful for me,” Chris says, “is that the idea resonated broadly with the entire group that was there: the number of people that said this is an awesome idea was (very exciting).... That was in October of 2011, and we are now accepting grant applications to be given out. Up until now, it has always been the advisory committee that has determined the need and given the funds to an organization.” Whereas now you, dear reader, can apply for their assistance and the committee will go through the applications to determine the greatest need, and distribute the funds appropriately.

The fire is in his eyes now, as Chris describes this small triumph and its possible consequences: “We’re doing three things right now. Firstly, we’re trying to raise awareness, because nobody knows about us, which is why I stood up at Fairy Tales and spoke for a few minutes, inviting people to make grant applications; which is why we (had) a booth at Shaw Millennium Park (during this year’s Pride), so people know who we are, what we are, and what we’re trying to do.

“Secondly, we’re trying to raise money, because in order to give money away, you’ve got to have some, and we’re not getting any from the government: we’re just raising it from the community. Taking it from those that have, and giving it to those in need.”

And thirdly, of course, they are giving grants “to folks that are supportive of the community.”

Grant applicants with ideas for constructive projects that need support have until sometime in September to make an application, and then at the 2012 Chinook Lesbian and Gay Fund fundraising dinner the recipients will be announced. As it mentions on The CL&G Fund website, “Last year we were able to provide funding for the Fairy Tales Presentation Society for their Youth Anti- Homophobia Public Service Announcement contest in partnership with EMMEDIA. A second grant

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was given to the Calgary Sexual Health Centre for their work providing education to schools regarding sexuality, sexual health and diversity.”

Christopher says the fund is now over $75,000.00, and they’re hoping to crest $100,000.00 before the year ends. “We want to be able to give money to anybody or any group that supports the LGBTQ community in Calgary. We want to be able to ebb and flow as we see the need.” And, with the advent of the public grant application process, the result is that, “We’re hoping the community will tell us about the need.”

So tell them!

The Chinook Lesbian & Gay Fund http://www.calgarychinookfund.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3084

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 Interview - From Page 11 But it is refreshing for me, as a homosexual, to play these gay characters. It’s nice to get to play somebody who’s a little bit closer to who you are.

GC: Tell me about your role as a stripper in Bachelorette.

AR: It was the most eventful two days of work for me. The first day was super fun because it was just me and Isla Fisher – she’s so cool. Then the next day, I had to rip off some tear-away cop pants in front of Kirsten Dunst and 40 extras.

GC: No big deal.

AR: Right. No big deal! That was nerve-wracking, but I think that movie is really great. I’m very proud to be a small part of that.

GC: Where did you get your stripper moves from?

AR: There’s an event in New York called Broadway Bares. I was in the show but I did not have to take off my clothes, so I asked a couple of friends of mine who had done the show: “What’s the trick with tear-away pants?” So I got some tips.

That was my big rehearsal. We didn’t really get to rehearse it at all. I just had to rip off my pants.

GC: What do you miss most about your role as Elder Price in Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, which you wrapped in June?

AR: I miss doing the show every night, I miss performing in front of that audience and I miss my cast. That was almost every day of my life for two years. I was wrapped up in that show with those people so it was hard to leave, obviously. I had the best-case scenario because I was leaving to do another job.

That job changed my life. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am right now without it. All I wanted to do when I moved to New York 15 years ago was open a Broadway show. The fact that that was the show I got to open – I don’t think you can really ask for more as an actor.

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Event

Walk a Mile in her Shoes

YWCA fundraiser aims to end violence against women

By Carey Rutherford Once a year for the past eight years, hundreds of men step up and strap on – a pair of heels that is – to walk two laps in women’s shoes around Olympic Plaza. It may sound painful, and it probably is, but it’s nothing compared to the violence thousands of women go through at the hands of their abusive spouses.

That’s why these men do it; to take a stand against family violence and to raise money for the YWCA Walk a Mile in Her shoes event, which ultimately goes towards ending violence against women and their children. Whether it’s a pair of hot pink stilettos or sexy black strapped heels, men will flaunt it.

Organizers say the event is an important way to raise money for a good cause while increasing awareness; last year the event raked in $287,000 and they hope to top that amount this year. There will be hundreds of men participating, ranging from the everyday Joe to local celebrities and everyone in between. At the beginning of September the event had already raised over $100,000.

While the event itself is fun – imagine big, burly athletes in high heels - it’s also humbling for those involved, and past participant Mark Smith says the event opened his eyes.

It takes a lot of courage to wear heels.

“I mean, obviously walking in a woman’s pink high heels is kind of embarrassing, mostly because I could barely stand, but it’s more than just her shoes,” Smith says. “It’s so sad that so many women have to go through abuse and often they have nowhere to turn. You kind of forget that stuff happens behind doors and this brings it to the forefront again.”

This is what it’s all about, says organizers, who hope the event can help women in abusive situations but also help the men around them. The need is greater than ever.

Last year, over 6,000 individuals were helped through the YWCA’s integrated and specialized family violence programs while over 300 women and almost 400 children fled family violence and were sheltered through the YWCA. Over 1,500 calls were received through the YWCA 24-hour crisis line.

“I would just say to other guys that it’s actually a really good time but it’s also important to get out there and strut it,” Smith adds. “I think us good guys can kind of forget there are bad guys out there and we need to stand up for the women in our lives.”

This year’s event takes place on Thursday September 20 at the Olympic Plaza at noon. By registering for the event, participants can help take a stand against family and domestic violence while raising money for the YWCA. And ladies, bring your cameras because you might not see this again, at least not for another year. Those interested can visit the YWCA website.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes Presented by the YWCA • http://www.ywcaofcalgary.com Thurs, Sept 20th, 12pm • Olympic Plaza, Calgary http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3085

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The Indestructible Nelly Furtado

Pop singer on first drag experience, musical ADD and how she’s still like a bird  Photo by Joseph Llanes

By Chris Azzopardi There’s a story Nelly Furtado likes to tell of her seeing two lesbian teens squeeze each other while crying as she sang “ … On the Radio (Remember the Days)” on one of her first tours. Furtado doesn’t remember the venue.

She doesn’t even remember what state she was in. But the emotion that connected all three of them hasn’t left her.

“They were feeling it in a way that I never imagined,” says Furtado, 33. “That really struck a chord with me.”

The same girls would likely find bravado and strength – and maybe even shed a few tears – after hearing the liberation, empowerment and sense of individuality beaming through Furtado’s first English-language studio album in six years, The Spirit Indestructible.

GC: Why has it been so long since you released an Englishlanguage album?

NF: Getting inspired again, making time for pursuits and hobbies and families and friends, and taking some time out to establish my label Nelstar. Nelstar was the first project I did after Loose. My first signing was a group called Fritz Helder & The Phantoms. We put out their release and did some fun traveling with them and showcases, but eventually they broke up.

Then I launched another album on my label, which was my Spanish album Mi Plan, and I wrote that with Alex Cuba. That journey ended with him winning Best New Artist at the Latin Grammys, and my album won Best Female Pop Vocal Album.

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GC: What’s a new hobby that you picked up?

NF: Working on my label, more than anything. I’m obviously spending time with my family and enjoying being a mom and doing all the hands-on things that you don’t have as much time to do when you’re traveling around. And I actually picked up basketball! That’s been fun.

GC: Can you dunk?

NF: I can’t dunk, but I’m fast. I’ve got some moves. (Laughs) GC: What kind of travels?

NF: Right before I started cutting some of the record I did with Rodney Jerkins, I went on this crazy tour of national parks and forests of the United States. It was this awesome journey.

Sometimes you have to get really unplugged to get inspired. I feel like if you really live your life, you’re going to put all your energy into your songs and your songs are going to feel alive and like they’re living and breathing; if you don’t feel alive, your music’s not going to feel alive. At the end of the day, I want people to press play on that album and really feel like it’s taking them somewhere; like that energy is taking them over. That’s why, I think, I take all these musical detours in my career.

GC: You’ve gone from the pop-folk of your 2000 debut, Whoa, Nelly! to hip-hop on Loose. What about dance music inspired the change?

NF: When I was a child, every birthday I would ask for old Casio keyboards and sound-effect machines. I had a collection.

I remember trying to sample Billy Joel into my tape recorder from vinyl when I was 4 years old. I was just always obsessed with technology in music. Even when I first moved to Toronto from this small town of Victoria, I engaged myself in the trip-

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hop and electronica of Toronto. I sang at urban talent shows. I made triphop music. I used to cut electronic tracks of my DJ friends in Victoria when I was in college. So it’s been a natural love affair.

Although, from time to time, I like to unplug and be like, “Will this song sound good on acoustic guitar?”

Urban and hip-hop music really influenced me a lot as a young teenager, and it’s fun for me. On this new album I’m working with Rodney Jerkins, who produced a lot of my favorite urban tracks as a kid – and I didn’t even know that until I was already deep into the recording process!

(Laughs) A lot of really trippy things happened.

It was almost like my 14-year-old teenage self, who was already writing lines and songs, wanted to meet Rodney Jerkins but didn’t even know it. Here I am years later working with him and making this crazy urban track that talks about me being 14, putting my big hoops on and my  Photo by Richard Bernardin cross-colored jeans.

GC: Would you say your reinventions are more trend-grabbing or musical evolutions?

NF: It’s probably a little bit of both, I guess. I have a lot of different sides to myself, and that’s always good. When you have a deep musicality and a real good gauge of a lot of different musical styles and an attention deficit disorder – really, let’s just call it that. I mean, it’s more obvious with each album that I have a bad case of attention deficit disorder. But I am a chameleon. I do gravitate toward things that I like and that I find popular and cool, and I do have a way of blending in.

I’ve always been that way, though. I was the kid in school that dressed like a hippie one day, then a rapper the next day and then prep the next day. That’s just who I am.

GC: I like that you don’t deny trend-grabbing.

NF: Why bother?

GC: Will you ever return to the pop-folk sound on Whoa, Nelly! and Folklore that made you a star?

NF: People really hold those two albums dear. I just think there’s nothing like your debut. You’ll never be the person you were when you did your debut. There’s an innocence there, a real naivety and a beautiful idealism that’s awesome. And just musically you spend all your time making music and then, when you start making records professionally, you don’t have as much time to explore sounds in music. That’s why I took a break for this album. I really wanted to chill and bring the music back, so I think fans of those first two albums are really going to enjoy this new one, because there’s a lot of breadth to the album musically.

GC: Did you go to any gay clubs as a teenager?

NF: Yes! I will never forget coming to Toronto: I was sleeping on my sister’s couch at the age of 17 and my sister took me to this awesome gay club, which was the first time I saw beautiful queens on stage. I’d never seen them before. And I’m coming from Victoria, this little town, and I’m going, “Oh my god, there’s a whole other world out here.” I was transfixed. I

remember we’d go to a rave all night and then catch a Greyhound to Montreal and do it all over again. I’d have my bottle of water and just dance all night. It was really about the dancing and getting lost in the music for me. That’s never changed.

I really feel like music can take you places. This was proven to me again when I saw Tiësto play at the Winter Music Conference in Miami about three years ago and, near the end of his set, I actually began to cry because the music was so emotional. It reminded me that dance music, just by itself, can really take you to emotional places.

He actually produced one track on my album called “Thoughts.” It’s not typical Tiësto.

GC: What song do you think your gay fans will be into most?

NF: I have a really good dance track called “Waiting for the Night” – an ethnomusicology track that’s got accordion and a dance beat. It’s all about this summer I spent in Portugal as a teenager waiting to run into this boy while on the island. It’s just a really fun, upbeat song. “The Most Beautiful Thing” is really special, I think. And “Spirit Indestructible” is all about how strong our spirits are and how we can really conquer anything. Great things have happened in the (gay) community in the last couple of years.

GC: Who’s the closest gay person to you in your life?

NF: One of my best friends who I just adore and have known since childhood. He’s a wonderful guy – and a diva in the best way! (Laughs) GC: Are you talking about more than just earrings with “the bigger, the better” line on the first single from the album, “Big Hoops”?

NF: (Laughs) It’s funny: One of my gay friends said the same thing! He said, “Oh, this one’s dirty.”

GC: Are you a size queen?

NF: No, no! But no matter what you’re doing – and whether you’re in the bedroom or walking down the street – you’ve gotta have that thing that makes you feel tough and gives you swagger. Whether it’s a hoop or a watch or a special memento, or maybe it’s just the way you did your hair that day – something that makes you feel good. The bigger, the better.

GC: You were like a bird 12 years ago. What animal best represents you now at this point in your life?

NF: I’ve really been connecting with eagles lately, because the eagle represents the spirit, so this bird thing just ain’t going nowhere!

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Photography 6th Annual Bowls For Beswick, Calgary

ISCCA - Hoedown A Starlit Night at The Regency Ranch, Calgary

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ISCCA - Carnal Intentions at the Eagle, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa315

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Photography ARGRA’s Annual Sip ‘n Soak, Calgary

Beef Bear Bash Summer Party at the Junction, Edmonton

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Beef Bear Bash Summer Party BBQ at Victoria Park, Edmonton http://gaycalgary.com/pa319

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Photography

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ISCCA - Drag Queen H20 4 at the Backlot, Calgary

Rooftop PRIDE Party! (Deep Roots 3) at Broken City, Calgary

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GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Photography ProPride 2012 Calgary, at Hotel Arts

First Annual Possibilities Bi-BQ, Calgary

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Photography TD Calgary Pride Reception

Risen, Calgary’s 2nd Annual Queer Youth Art & Theatre Show

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Ladies in Labour at the Texas Lounge, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa327

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Photography Pride by the Pool at Hotel Arts, Calgary

8th Annual Homo Hop!, Calgary

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ISCCA - Pride BBQ at the Backlot, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa337

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Photography Calgary Eagle Closing Party http://gaycalgary.com/pa338

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Directory & Events 24

DOWNTOWN CALGARY

43 41 37 34

2 33

16

35

36

3

5 6

1

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13

1 2 3 5 6

Calgary Outlink---------- Community Groups Aids Calgary------------- Community Groups Backlot------------------------Bars and Clubs Texas Lounge-----------------Bars and Clubs Goliath’s--------------------------Bathhouses

13 Westways Guest House----Accommodations 16 Priape Calgary----------------- Retail Stores 24 Courtney Aarbo-----------------------Services 33 Twisted Element--------------Bars and Clubs 34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------- Theatre

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 650 gay-frieindly listings! www.gaycalgary.com

One Yellow Rabbit-------------------- Theatre ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects-------- Theatre Pumphouse Theatre----------------- Theatre La Fleur------------------------- Retail Stores Lisa Heinricks--------- Theatre and Fine Arts

CALGARY

LGBT Community Directory

✰....... Find our Magazine Here

35 36 37 41 43

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. (CLOSED)---------- ✰  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 (CLOSED)-------------------------- ✰

 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

58 Theatre Junction--------------------- Theatre 59 Village Bistro-----------------Bars and Clubs

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

 1006 - 11th Ave SW  403-802-0230

 www.twistedelement.ca Dance Club and Lounge.

59 Village Bistro

 2nd floor, 610 - 8 Avenue SE Restaurant 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

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Directory & Events Pool Night-----------------------------  Evening

Calgary Events

At 59 Village Bistro with

Mondays

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

 Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE)

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

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

Apollo Calgary

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

CAANS

 1st

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

Squash------------------------------  7:30-9pm By

Apollo

May17Jun27

Calgary Networking Club-------------- 5-7pm

 1st

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

 Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW

 3rd

Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm

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

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

Swim Practice (June)------------  7:30-8:30pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink See

 2nd, 4th

Apollo Calgary

Karaoke------------------------------  8pm-1am At 5 Texas Lounge

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

 2nd

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

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

Communion Service-----------------  12:10pm See

Knox United Church

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

AIDS Calgary

At 6 Goliaths

By Different Strokes

 SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)

Swim Practice (Jul/Aug)---------------  7-8pm

By Different Strokes

 SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)

JulAug

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

Apollo Calgary

Lesbian Meetup Group-------------  7:30-9pm At 1 Calgary Outlink

See

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

See

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

See

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

See

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

See

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

By Different Strokes

 SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)

By

ISCCA at 3 Backlot

See 1 Calgary Outlink



www.westerncup.com

• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing)

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

• Biking

 bike@apollocalgary.com

• Boot Camp

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

• Bowling (Rainbow Riders League)

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

• Curling

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

 1st

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

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

Karaoke--------------------------------  Evening At 3 Backlot

• Outdoor Pursuits

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

• Slow Pitch

See

 4th

Apollo Calgary

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

Knox United Church

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

Church Service----------------------------  4pm Rainbow Community Church

Swim Practice (June)-------------------  5-6pm Women’s Volleyball----------------  7-8:30pm See

Apollo Calgary

Sunday, September 23rd

Saturdays

Annual General Meeting--------------- 1-4pm

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

By

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

Crankin’ the Heat!------------------  7pm-1am

By

Apollo

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

Curling-------------------------  2:20 & 4:30pm See

Apollo Calgary

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

Misc Youth at Old Y Centre

Saturday, September 29th By

ARGRA at 2320 Sunset Ave SW

Tuesday, October 9th

Annual General Meeting--------------- 7-8pm

By Fairy Tales EMMEDIA Screening Room (351 – 11 Ave SW)

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

Saturday, October 13th

Sundays

By ARGRA Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Str SW)

Pirate & Princess Ball--------------------  8pm

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

• Volleyball (Recreational)

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

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

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

• Volleyball (Women’s)

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

• Peer Support and Crisis Line

• 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.

Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)

 www.argra.org

• Squash

• Monthly Dances------------------------------

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

 Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association 1320 - 5th Avenue NW

• Tennis

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

 tennis@apollocalgary.com

 beachvb@apollocalgary.com

• Lawn Bowling

• Volleyball (Int/Comp)

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

Calgary Gay Fathers

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

Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre

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

 403-278-8263

Different Strokes

 http://www.calgarymenschorus.org

 http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org

• Rehearsals

FairyTales Presentation Society

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

✰

 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.

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

 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.

 Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)

Calgary Men’s Chorus

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

56

Hillhurst United Church

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

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

 slow.pitch@apollocalgary.com

 golf@apollocalgary.com

 lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com

 3rd

Scarboro United Church

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

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

• Volleyball (Beach)

• Golf

 2nd

See 1 Calgary Outlink

 Calgary Contd.

• Western Cup 31

 1st

See 1 Calgary Outlink

See

members with well-organized and fun sporting events and other activities.

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

Fridays

Fundraising BBQs------------------------  5pm

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Thursdays

Tuesdays See 1 Calgary Outlink

Prime Timers Calgary

 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.

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events  Calgary Contd.

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

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

 279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C  403-220-6394  http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students and Staff.

✰

• Coffee Night

 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.

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

 2nd Cup, Kensington

Girlsgroove

Hillhurst United Church

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

HIV Peer Support Group

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

ISCCA Social Association

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

Knox United Church

 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.

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

 www.sutr.ca A collaborative effort dedicated to building capacity and acting as a voice for the LGBTQ community, service providers, organizations and the community at large to address violence. For same-sex domestic violence information, resources and a link to our survey please see our website.

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.

Sharp Foundation

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

Mystique

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

Unity Bowling

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

Wild Rose United Church

NETWORKS

9 FAB (CLOSED)------------------------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.

✰

 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

 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.

www.gaycalgary.com

59 Village Bistro

 2nd floor, 610 - 8 Avenue SE Restaurant and lounge.

Community Groups Alberta Bears

• Calgary Drop-in Centre

 www.beefbearbash.com

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

AltView Foundation

• Safeworks Van

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

Adult Depot-----------------------------

✰

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

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

Theatre & Fine Arts 36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects

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

Book Worm’s Book Club

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

 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

Fairytales

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

Jubilations Dinner Theatre

 http://www.edmontonpride.ca

 403-262-3356  www.axisart.ca

See Calgary - Community Groups.

Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)

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

Edmonton Prime Timers

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-------------------------------

✰

58 Theatre Junction----------------------  Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW  403-205-2922

✰

 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

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

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

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

Buck Naked Boys Club

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

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

 403-246-4134 (Rork Hilford)  MarriageCommissioner@shaw.ca

Bathhouses/Saunas 11 Steamworks------------------------------- ✰

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

Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing.

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

Retail Stores

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

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

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6557

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

Restaurants ✰

Positive Space Committee

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

• Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre

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

Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)

Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)

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

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

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

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

 CJSW 90.9 FM

 yeahwhatshesaid@gmail.com

• Coffee Night

 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.

Duncan’s Residential Cleaning

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

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

• Centre of Hope

✰

 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.

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

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6636

DevaDave Salon & Boutique

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

SafeWorks

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.

4 Calgary Eagle Inc. (CLOSED)--------- See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.

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

Bars & Clubs

MFM Communications

“Yeah...What She Said!” Radio Show

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

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

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

 1317-1st Street NW

• Fake Mustache • Mosaic Youth Group

EDMONTON

Cruiseline

Safety Under the Rainbow

 http://www.girlsgroove.ca

 403-797-6564

Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths.

 5 The Junction  780-387-3343

 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions 4 Edmonton STD

 11111 Jasper Ave

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 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 Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm Team Edmonton

TTIQ------------------------------------- 7-9pm See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

 1st, 3rd

HIV Support Group--------------------- 7-9pm See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

 2nd

Tuesdays

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

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

Team Edmonton

Swim Practice-------------------  7:30-8:30pm See

Team Edmonton

Knotty Knitters-------------------------- 6-8pm

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

GLBTQ Bowling------------------  1:30-3:30pm GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

Pride Centre of Edmonton

QH Craft Night-------------------------- 6-8pm See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

Pride Centre of Edmonton

See

Youth Understanding Youth

See

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

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm

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

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

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

Edmonton Illusions-------------------  8:30pm

QH Game Night------------------------ 6-8pm

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

AIDS Walk for Life--------------------  11am

By HIV Edmonton at Sir Winston Churchill Square

Swim Practice--------------------------- 7-8pm

Saturdays

Tuesday, September 25th

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

Team Edmonton

See See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

Youth Understanding Youth Pride Centre of Edmonton Team Edmonton

Women’s Social Circle------------------ 6-9pm See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

See See

Thursdays See

See

 2nd, 4th

See

BookWorm’s Book Club

 3rd

See

Team Edmonton

Pride Centre of Edmonton Pride Centre of Edmonton Men’s Games Nights

See

 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.  Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street)

 780-474-8240  tuff@shaw.ca

58

 2nd

Youth Understanding Youth

See See

Team Edmonton

Pride Centre of Edmonton Team Edmonton

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

 2nd

Sunday, September 23rd

Annual General Meeting-----------  7-8:30pm

Naturalist Gettogether See

See

Buck Naked Boys Club

 2nd

QH Youth Drop-in------------------  2-6:30pm Pride Centre of Edmonton

By

Team Edmonton at 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Sunday, October 14th

Annual General Meeting-------------  12-2pm

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

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

 2nd

By Edmonton Pride Festival Society  HIV Red Ribbon Building (9702-111 Avenue)

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

Team Edmonton

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

Edmonton Vocal Minority

Men’s Games Nights

 2nd, Last

At 5 The Junction

See See

Pride Centre of Edmonton

 Edmonton Contd.

 780-474-8240

Team Edmonton

Movie Night----------------------------- 6-9pm

Team Edmonton

Pride Centre of Edmonton

 780-479-2038  www.evmchoir.com

See

Fridays

Men Talking with Pride---------------- 7-9pm

See

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

Counseling----------------------  5:30-8:30pm

Sundays

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

QH Anime Night------------------------ 6-8pm

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

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

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

Team Edmonton

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

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See

See

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm

See

Wednesdays See

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

See

Mondays See

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

• Men Talking with Pride

OUTreach

 University of Alberta, basement of SUB  outreach@ualberta.ca  http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group.

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

✰

 10608 - 105 Ave  780-488-3234  admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org  http://www.pridecentreofedmonton.org  Tue-Fri 12pm-9pm, Sat 2pm-6:30pm We provide a safe, welcoming, and non-judgemental drop-in space, and offer support programs and resources for members of the GLBTQ community and for their families and friends.

• Counselling

 780.488.3234 Free, short-term counselling provided by registered counsellors.

• HIV Support Group

 huges@shaw.ca Support and discussion group for gay men.

• Knotty Knitters

Come knit and socialize in a safe and accepting environment - all skill levels are welcome.

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton

 robwells780@hotmail.com Support & social group for gay & bisexual men to discuss current issues.

 780-474-8240

 tuff@shaw.ca

• Movie Night

 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.

Movie Night is open to everyone! Come over and sit back, relax, and watch a movie with us.

• Queer HangOUT: Game Night

Come OUT with your game face on and meet some awesome people through board game fun.

• Queer HangOUT: Craft Night

Come OUT and embrace your creative side in a safe space.

• Queer HangOUT: Anime Night

Come and watch ALL the anime until your heart is content.

• TTIQ

A support and information group for all those who fall under the transgender umbrella and their family or supporters.

• Women’s Social Circle

 andrea@pridecentreofedmonton.org Women’s Social Circle: A social support group for all female-identified persons over 18 years of age in the GLBT community - new members are always welcome.

Team Edmonton

• Badminton (Mixed)

 St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street

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

• 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

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events Red Deer Events

Peace River Events

Fort McMurray Events

Medicine Hat Events

Sunday, September 23rd

Sunday, September 15th

Sunday, September 23rd

Saturday, September 22nd

AIDS Walk for Life---------------------- 1-5pm

By CAANS at Rotary Park

AIDS Walk for Life-------------------------- 11am

AIDS Walk for Life-------------------------- 10am

Pride Festival--------------------------- 2-9pm

By Medicine Hat Pride Association  Riverside Veterans’ Memorial Park

By

HIV North at Riverfront Park

By

HIV North at Borealis Park

Grande Prairie Events

Pride Dance--------------------------------9pm

By Medicine Hat Pride Association at LIQUID

Saturday, September 22nd

AIDS Walk for Life-------------------------- 10am By

HIV North at Muskoseepi Park Pavillion

 Edmonton Contd.

• Blazin’ Bootcamp

 Garneau Elementary School 10925 - 87 Ave  bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca

• Bowling (Northern Titans)

 Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall)

 bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.

• Swimming (Making Waves)

 NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street)  swimming@teamedmonton.ca  www.makingwavesswimclub.ca

• Tennis

• Cross Country Skiing

 crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  Sundays, 12pm-3pm

 tennis@teamedmonton.ca

• Curling with Pride

• Ultimate Frisbee

 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

 Sundays Summer Season starts July 12th  ultimatefrisbee@teamedmonton.ca E-mail if interested.

• Volleyball, Intermediate

 Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road)  volleyball@teamedmonton.ca

• Volleyball, Recreational

 golf@teamedmonton.ca

 Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave)  recvolleyball@teamedmonton.ca

• Gymnastics, Drop-in

• Women’s Lacrosse

 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.

 Sharon: 780-461-0017  Pam: 780-436-7374 Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome.

Call for info.

• Hockey

 Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street)  yoga@teamedmonton.ca

 hockey@teamedmonton.ca

• Martial Arts

• Yoga

Womonspace

 15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance)  780-328-6414  kungfu@teamedmonton.ca  kickboxing@teamedmonton.ca Drop-ins welcome.

 780-482-1794  womonspace@gmail.com  www.womonspace.ca Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.

• Outdoor Pursuits

 outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca

 780-248-1971  www.yuyedm.ca A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.

• Running (Arctic Frontrunners)

• Sports and Recreation

 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

Products & Services

 spin@teamedmonton.ca 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant.

Cruiseline

 780-413-7122 trial code 3500  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

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!

• Soul OUTing

 Second Sunday every month, 7pm An LGBT-focused alternative worship.

• Film Night

 Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates.

• Book Club

 Monthly, contact us for exact dates.

Theatre & Fine Arts

 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”

 403-308-2893  Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm Leave a message any other time.

• Friday Mixer

 The Mix (green water tower) 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S  Every Friday at 10pm

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

PFLAG Canada

 1-888-530-6777

 lethbridgeab@pflagcanada.ca  www.pflagcanada.ca

Pride Lethbridge

Exposure Festival

 http://www.exposurefestival.ca Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival.

The Roxy Theatre

 10708 124th Street, Edmonton AB  780-453-2440  www.theatrenetwork.ca

BANFF/CANMORE Community Groups

Youth Understanding Youth

• Support Line

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.

 lethbridgepridefest@gmail.com

RED DEER Community Groups Affirm

 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!

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.

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.

Pride on Campus

 rdcprideoncampus@gmail.com A group of LGBTQ persons and Allies at Red Deer College.

• Monthly Potluck Dinners

 MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness 109 St. and 104 Ave  Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm Season has ended.

 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.

www.gaycalgary.com

Continued on Page 61  GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Classifieds Announcements

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The Calgary Police Service Sexuality & Gender Diversity Chief’s Advisory Board is currently accepting applications for new members.

We are dedicated to working with the LGBT communities to promote effective two-way communication; promote education and awareness; identify and resolve crime and safety concerns; increase police awareness of Sexuality & Gender Diverse Communities; and to increase the communities’ awareness of police related issues. If you are interested in applying or would like more information, please contact Cst. Andy Buck at pol4792@ calgarypolice.ca

Wedding/Union

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CJSW 90.9 FM is Calgary’s Campus and Community radio station, spinning only the best in underground music, showcasing stories and perspectives you won’t hear anywhere else, and connecting you to the Calgary Community.

The best part? All of it is done by volunteers folks just like you. At CJSW, we’re proud of our commitment to diversity in our programming, and also in our volunteer base. CJSW is a welcoming environment that celebrates all kinds of people. If you’ve ever wanted to get started in radio, learn more about music, find out how to edit audio, and get experience that looks great on a resume, drop us a line.

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Adult Depot Large selection of gay DVDs from $9.95, aromas and toys. Open Mon-Fri 12-11pm, Sat 12-6pm, closed Sundays and holidays.

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Consulting

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Help Wanted

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It’s not about special treatment. You can’t assume the LGBT person, or the straight person will follow the pack anymore. The LGBT market is becoming more and more aware of what organizations support them, and which ones don’t, ultimately sending them away from businesses and communities that do not recognize them or their lifestyle. Does your staff need LGBT sensitivity training? Want to attract the market but unsure how to proceed?

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Ads starting at $10/mo. for the first 20 words. Submit yours at http://www.gaycalgary.com/classifieds 60

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

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Health

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Travel

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 Directory - From Page 59

ALBERTA

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Massage

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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 Alberta Ballet

 http://www.albertaballet.com Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton.

Products & Services Squirt

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Theatre & Fine Arts Broadway Across Canada

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OUTtv

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CANADA

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Community Groups Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition

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Registered Massage Therapist in downtown Edmonton. Relaxation and therapeutic massage. For appointment phone Dwayne at 780-483-3190 or 780-918-5856

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Egale Canada

 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.

GayCalgary Magazine #107, September 2012

61

Q Scopes

Trust erotic instincts, Virgo!

Mercury is lord of the zodiac now, but he’s in bad aspect. Reign in ego and criticism. Venus in Leo aspecting the outer planets is challenging us all to innovative change. Heed your intuition and keep it sweet.



ARIES (March 20–April 19): When people disagree with you,

it’s not about you! That can be hard to remember at work, especially. Efforts to charm will probably backfire. Just keep your nose to the grindstone and do your own work the best you can



TAURUS (April 20–May 20): You want to make big changes

at home, but are there others to consider? “Brilliant” surprises will not be appreciated. New recipes are a safer bet. Treat your creative efforts as experiments: There are no failures, only lessons.



GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Glib charm will not go down

well. Make your words matter. Use your charm to convey challenging notions. Being nice helps get the message across, but by itself it’s no message at all.

CANCER (June 21–July 22): You need to take care of



yourself and get back to basics to care effectively for others.

Reconsider your recent accomplishments and talk them over with a close friend. The new moon on the 15th will bring new ideas to explore.



LEO (July 23–August 22): No matter how much charm you pour on your efforts to help others, they may not be much appreciated. Self-improvement is always a worthwhile effort.

Working on yourself can open opportunities to play with others.



VIRGO (August 23–September 22): Trust your creative and

erotic instincts. Some rational discernment is necessary, but you should know within the count of 10 whether you are hearing the call of passionate brilliance or a sirens’ song.



LIBRA (September 23–October 22): Even without malicious intent, gossip can be very damaging. Your friends mean well, but do you need sloppy blabbermouths complicating your life?

Trust your partner’s advice on who your friends really are.



SCORPIO (October 23–November 21): Challenges at work

can bring out your best. It will take hard work, creativity and shrewd thinking, but you can win accolades. Your innovative instincts are good. It will take subtle persuasion to get others to go along.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 20): Kindness



and charity can take considerable effort. Some poor annoying fool probably has no idea that he or she is hitting your sensitive points.

You don’t have to put up with it, but you can be kind and gentle when stopping it.



CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19): As in a

bad romantic comedy, a misunderstanding could lead to a passionate affair. More than that? Probably not, but it could still change your life. New ideas at work need some polish, but will help you push forward.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18): News from your



partner could knock you for a loop and change the relationship. If you think of it as a battle, you will lose the war. Pay attention and adapt. Necessary changes won’t be easy but will make things a lot better in the long run.

PISCES (February 19–March 19): Confusion can lead you to friends for advice. Listen, but consider carefully how their suggestions conflict with your own values. Out of that clash of ideas you’ll come up with something very useful. If your partner is being annoying, he or she really needs your support now.

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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