OCTOBER 2012 ISSUE 108 • FREE
The Voice of Alberta’s LGBT Community
RuPaul Drag Race All Stars
Sean Maher
on coming out in Hollywood
Jordan Knight
has Unfinished Business
PLUS:
Gay Night at Cowboys? Pitch Perfect Rebel Wilson Lily Tomlin ...and more!
Business Directory
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Community Map
Calgary • Alberta • Canada
Events Calendar
Nichelle Nichols
Tourist Information
Groundbreaking Actress STARTING ON PAGE 55
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Table of Contents
OCTOBER 2012 7
Letters
8 Rebel Rising
Pitch Perfect star and director on what’s so gay about the movie, outsiders and spotting lesbians
10 Sean Maher Comes To Edmonton
Firefly & Playboy Club Star on fans, Joss Whedon, and coming out in Hollywood
Photography
Steve Polyak, Photography Rob Diaz-Marino Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, B&J Videography Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino
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: RuPaul, photo by Mathu Anderson ThisSean Month's Top Right: Maher,Cover photo by Fox Cher andMiddle Christina Aguilera Right: Jordancourtesy Knight of Sony Pictures;Bottom Annie Lennox courtesyNichols of Mike Owen; Right: Nichelle Rex Goudie.
Proud Members of: Proud Members of:
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Publisher’s Column
PAGE 8
Mercedes MercedesAllen, Allen,Chris JoeyAzzopardi, Amato, Chris Dallas Azzopardi, Barnes, Dave Brousseau, Brousseau, Sam Rob Casselman, Diaz-Marino, Jason Janine Clevett, Eva Trotta, AndrewJack Collins, Fertig, Emily Dustin Collins, Fitzharris, Rob Diaz-Marino, Mark Gray, Janine Glen Hanson, Eva Trotta, Joan Jack Hilty, Fertig, EvanGlen Kayne, Hanson, Stephen Joan Lock, Hilty,Lisa EvanLunney, Kayne, Allan Stephen Neuwirth, Lock, Neil Steve McMullen, Polyak, Carey Allan Rutherford, Neuwirth, Steve Romeo Polyak, San Carey Vicente, Rutherford, Ed Sikov, Romeo Krista Sylvester San Vicente, andEd theSikov, LGBTNick Community Vivian and of the GLBT Calgary, Community Edmonton, of Calgary, and Alberta. Edmonton, and Alberta.
Mr & Ms GayCalgary
13 Gordon the Giraffe A tale of tolerance
14 Jordan Knight’s Unfinished Business New Kid Brings Solo Tour To Canada
17 Calgary Gay History Project
Exploring Calgary’s secret history of the 50’s and 60’s
18 A Conversation With Nichelle Nichols Groundbreaking Actress Speaks To GayCalgary
PAGE 10
Writers and Contributors
5
e n zi
21 Calgary Sexual Health Centre Celebrates 40 Years of Service
a g 24 The Perks of Beinga Ezra Miller m 22 Silly Lily
Comedian talks longtime relationship, gay repression and retirement rumors
Breakthrough actor talks gay teen role, why he’s queer and doing drag as a kid
26 28 29 30
The Other Reproductive Rights The Level Playing Field Is Still Askew BEAUTY AND THE BEAT Deep Inside Hollywood
PAGE 14
Publisher: Steve Polyak Editor: Rob Diaz-Marino Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: Rob Diaz-Marino, Ara SteveShimoon Polyak
Which one is Queen of The Desert?
31 Cocktail Chatter Gazpacho Borracho
32 Greta Gerwig: The New Gay-Loved Girl
Actress talks gay fake-out in new film, preference for gay boyfriends and filling Liza’s shoes
National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association
PAGE 18
International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Table of Contents Continued From Previous Page
34 How a Movement is Born
SlutWalk co-founder, queer positive feminist to speak at upcoming event
35 AGOKWE: A Two-Spirited Love Story
Ojibwa Artist, Waawaate Fobister, Portrays Queer Teenage Love on the Rez
PAGE 22
36 Out Destination Fort Lauderdale
Queens Return to All Star Drag Race
40 Jordin Sparkles
Singer talks acting debut, her gay following and how ‘Whitney loved her gays’
PAGE 40
PAGE 38
42 Cowboys Nightclub Turns A Shade Pink? JUST A GIGOLO Queer Eye Chelsea Boys A Couple of Guys Bitter Girl Directory and Events Classified Ads Q Scopes
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Originally established in January 1992 as Men for Men BBS by MFM Communications. Name changed to GayCalgary in 1998. Independent company as of January 2004. First edition of GayCalgary.com Magazine published November 2003. Name adjusted in November 2006 to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. February 2012 returned to GayCalgary Magazine
Disclaimer and Copyright Opinions expressed in this magazine are specific to the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of GayCalgary staff and contributors. Those involved in the making of this publication, whether advertisers, contributors, or the subjects of articles or photographs, are not necessarily gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans. This magazine also includes straight allies and those who are gay friendly. No part of this publication may be reprinted or modified without the expressed written permission of the editor or publisher. Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. GayCalgary is a registered trademark.
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Editorial
Mr & Ms GayCalgary Publisher’s Column
By Rob Diaz-Marino, MSc. There was a time when the cover of GayCalgary Magazine regularly featured fun, creative, and sometimes even sexy photo shoots with local Albertans. In recent times however, big name celebrities like Madonna, Cher, and Lady Gaga have stolen the spotlight. Can you blame us? Pragmatically speaking, as a magazine we need to put our biggest highlights up front and centre so that we make a splash. In our industry, people often do judge a book by its cover - at least until they get to know us a little better. Unfortunately this makes it hard for us to devote the cover to local people as we used to. Nevertheless, we miss the old grassroots days when we would do the photography ourselves. It was a chance to get the creative juices flowing – deciding on a concept, gathering clothing and props, finding a setting, working with our subjects to capture some truly striking photos, and then fine tuning to get the images just right. We also miss hearing the fun stories from the people we photograph, who are surprised and excited about the wave of attention that the publicity brings them. That’s why we are excited to announce a new monthly photo feature that will help us return to those roots: Mr & Ms GayCalgary, brought to you exclusively by GayCalgary Magazine. The feature will highlight LGBT Albertans, giving us and our readers a chance to get up close and personal with a single individual each month. Those photographed will be given the title of Mr GayCalgary or Ms GayCalgary for the month that they appear. While we’re certainly looking to show some pretty faces, we also give weight to an individual’s talent, hard work, community spirit, personal success, and more. It definitely won’t be a skinny-male-swimsuit-model-of-the-month-who-likes-longwalks-on-the-beach type of piece. We’re looking to focus on men, women, trans-people, drag queens, and drag kings of all colours, shapes, and sizes. Each month we’ll select one person and produce a series of quality photos that capture the essence of who they are and what they do, accompanied by a minimal blurb of explanation. So when can you expect to see the first Mr & Ms GayCalgary feature? We’re aiming to have the first one appear in November 2012, which is our 9th Anniversary edition. As of publishing this, we are starting to consider candidates. We may approach people at opportune times as we’re out covering events, but otherwise we welcome readers to contact us by Email to be considered (a recent face-shot of yourself may be required).
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Even if you don’t want to be in the spotlight yourself, take this opportunity to encourage your friends to apply. You don’t have to be famous or high profile to be selected for this feature; you just have to share a bit of what makes you uniquely you. Past GayCalgary Magazine cover models are eligible. Once selected, we’ll brainstorm some photo ideas based on what you tell us about yourself, and arrange to meet up as needed to execute these plans. We can’t promise anything like the high fashion photo shoots you see on TV, but we’ll get some great shots and have some fun in the process. We’ll also give you digital copies of your photos, including the ones we don’t use in the feature, for your own personal use. Popularity Contest Alexa.com is a third party website that we like to use to compare the popularity of GayCalgary.com to other websites in our province and around the world. Alexa uses a metric that judges both quantity and “quality” of web traffic to millions of websites around the world, and uses it to rank them in order from best to…well, worst wouldn’t even show up on their charts. Quality of web traffic includes duration of page views, total duration of visit, quantity of other websites linking in, etc. GayCalgary.com has always been a very popular site; in fact, we’re told that we have supposedly been used as a success case study for trainees at Yellowpages. Not only do we get approximately 5000 visitors each day, but we have what is called “stickiness”. Most visitors don’t “bounce” away from our site after a few seconds, but rather stay and browse for a while – an average of roughly 20 minutes, to be exact. This stickiness makes us great for online advertisers, who have a better chance of making an impression on visitors. We regularly check our ranking on Alexa to see where we place, and monitor how actions we take through social media to promote articles and other content on our website affects our world ranking. Usually this is a roller coaster ride as can be expected, but over the past several months we have been steadily trending better in the ranks. As of writing this, according to Alexa.com, GayCalgary.com is currently the highest ranked website of any LGBT publication in Canada! September 2012 After Calgary Pride (which we narrowly squeezed into the last edition), the month of September was mostly a lull in LGBT community activity. I
Continued on Next Page
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Continued from Previous Page say “mostly” because the weekend of the 22nd was a juggling act for us to make it to events in multiple cities. While I drove up to Edmonton on Saturday, Steve went down to Medicine Hat with a good friend of ours for the first Medicine Hat Pride Festival. While a parade was not in the cards, Medicine Hat Pride Association did put on a family friendly festival at Riverside Veteran’s Memorial Park during the afternoon, followed by an 18+ dance at Liquid in the evening. Steve was impressed by the turnout to the event, and the participation of people and organizations out of Lethbridge and Calgary. Organizers estimated over 1100 people showed up for the festival, and say the dance was also very well attended. Unfortunately, Steve and company had to depart before the dance so that they would be back for the Calgary AIDS Walk the next morning. Meanwhile in Edmonton, I attended the closing party for the Junction on the Saturday evening. The Junction prided themselves in their diversity of clientele, and this final night certainly demonstrated the wide range of people that would mourn the loss of the bar – not just the Junction, but the legacy of past LGBT incarnations of the space like Boots. Black sharpies were passed around, allowing patrons to write on the walls their fond memories and the things they would miss. The next morning, Steve and I in separate cities spent a relaxing morning and early afternoon in the sun covering the Calgary and Edmonton AIDS Walks. We might have been able to cover the walks that we were sponsoring in Red Deer, Grande Prairie, and Fort McMurray that same weekend, but unfortunately we’ve perfected neither cloning nor teleportation. The weekend of the 29th, right before our press deadline, was an event we were majorly looking forward to: another pool party put on by ARGRA. The concept for this one was a little different, however. Starting in the evening and anticipating colder weather for the end of September, the idea was to crank the heat on the swimming pool to make it bathtub if not hot tub warm. But despite the timing, it was a pleasantly warm night to be out, even wet and in a swimsuit for someone without “insulation” like me. Some additional details helped make the night truly magical – I mean, besides the $4 drinks! Two devices floated in the pool that not only projected multi-coloured light patterns under the water, but also spouted a fountain of water above it. Furthermore, a bubble machine occasionally released a flurry of bubbles out over the pool, and disco lights on the sidelines lit up the vapours that rose from the surface of the water. We took the opportunity to test out a new toy of our own – a waterproof Polaroid camera that we had picked up on sale for only $30. While the image quality wasn’t great, especially at night, and the flash took a while to charge between photos, it still allowed us to get a little more into the action than we could have with our standard cameras from the sidelines. Both Steve and I had an absolute blast, and really cut loose. We spent the evening socializing, drinking, and otherwise playing around in the water; I won a prize giveaway, and simultaneously coined and advocated HnH (half-naked hugs). By the end of the night I lay drifting around on the surface of the pool in an inflatable aqua-hammock, totally at ease. My back was submerged in the warm water while my front cooled off from the mild autumn breeze that also wafted the smell of smoke from the bonfire at the one corner of the yard. Overhead it was a clear sky and I could see some of the brighter stars despite the city lights. I happily let Steve and others shuttle me around or give me a gentle push, as the two light-fountains floated between my knees, splashing my legs and feet gently with their spray. When 1am hit, I was almost sorry it was time to go home.
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Joyride Worth Spending My Time
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Stone Temple Pilots As Good As Ever 4 years ago, the reuniting of the Stone Temple Pilots was a major draw for the first of only 2 Virgin Festivals to play in Calgary. Thousands packed Fort... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3096
Deep Inside Hollywood
Kimberly Peirce is wild about Harry
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Frank Ocean, Sparkle
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Screen Queen
Weekend, The Hunger Games, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
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The OutField
Major league soccer kicks boy scouts
Last month, after a two-year, super-secret study by a group of unnamed people, the Boy Scouts of America announced that... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3107
Thinking Out Loud
Freedom and Chicken Sandwiches: Is standing up for LGBT rights tantamount to censorship?
I am so happy I decided to stop eating chicken last month. It had nothing to do with the Chick-fil-A brouhaha, but... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3108
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Letters Dear GayCalgary: Thanks ever so much to Premier Redford and Health Minister Horne for restoring full funding to transgender reassignment surgery, a health matter which should never have been discontinued in the first place. As we celebrate the Premier and Danielle Smith joining Edmonton’s Gay Pride celebrations, this is like a true win for the gay/ lesbian/bisexual/transgender community. As I have stated before, being a man, but living as a woman and having spent many thousands for medications to prepare myself to change into my true feminine self, this policy reversal is like having a huge boulder lifted off of my shoulders. Now maybe I can recover some of the costs I have incurred and be honourable in paying back my creditors first. I personally am not gay, I will still be attracted to females only, whether I am gender species male or female, but for those that are in the LGBT community, I am ever so proud. Tie that in with our superb Edmonton Public School Trustees acting as Pride Parade marshals and Alberta’s level of tolerance for this great community has gone up exponentially this week. Graciously, Walter Dean Blake, aka “Juanita Diane”
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Melissa Etheridge, Elle Varner
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Health Talk
Pomegranates and Prostate Cancer
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Health Talk
Blood Sugar, Blood Pressure, and Diet
Q: Once blood sugar or blood pressure goes up, can people really bring them back down with healthy habits, or is that something from research but not seen...
Dear GayCalgary: The media is abuzz this week about Jason Kenney’s bizarre email to members of the LGBTTQ community lauding the Conservative government’s work to help persecuted gays and lesbians in Iran. This government is now trying to sell itself as a great defender of gays and lesbians abroad. And yet in contrast, at home, the Conservatives have consistently tried to undermine the equality rights of the LGBTTQ community. From trying to roll-back same-sex marriage as one of their first orders of business when first elected in 2006, to removing (and having to be shamed into re-adding) a mention of gay rights from the “Discover Canada” booklet for new immigrants, to cutting funding for Toronto Pride, to allowing Bill C-32, which makes changes to allow nonresident same-sex couples that were married in Canada to divorce, to languish for months on end, this government’s record on LGBTTQ issues is nothing short of shameful. In addition, we will not soon forget the hurtful and inflammatory statements against gays and lesbians made both inside and outside Parliament by Conservative members, including several who are now cabinet ministers. The queer community is right to question the Conservatives’ sincerity when it comes to issues affecting them and we should be resolute in calling them out on their hypocrisy. The Canadian government should be a leader on the world stage in the fight to combat discrimination against LGBTTQ persons, but it must be equally resolute in its work to ensure LGBTTQ equality here in Canada. Dr. Hedy Fry Liberal Health Critic MP, Vancouver Centre
http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3111
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7
Rebel Rising
Pitch Perfect star and director on what’s so gay about the movie, outsiders and spotting lesbians
Rebel Wilson, photos by Universal Studios
By Chris Azzopardi Everyone’s talking about Rebel Wilson, the scene-stealer in Bridesmaids who played Kristen Wiig’s trashy roommate and mistook her live-in’s diary for a “very sad, handwritten book.” The Australian breakout star has already had two other roles earlier this year with What to Expect When You’re Expecting and Bachelorette; her pilot for the ABC series Super Fun Night also just got the green light. Now she’s Fat Amy, the I-am-who-I-am collegiate mermaid dancer in Pitch Perfect who gets all the boys and belts her butt off as part of an all-girl a cappella group. Sprawled on a couch all cozy-looking in a track jacket and hand bling that spells out her name, Wilson – along with out director Jason Moore, whose first film is Pitch Perfect – chatted in her dry-wit way about stealing the role from Adele, why the gay community will find Fat Amy empowering and her tips for killing an a cappella audition (hint: Lady Gaga).
GC: This is a gay press interview, so all of these questions will be very gay. RW: Oh, cool. It’s a pretty gay movie. You’ve got a lesbian character, and I think most of the Treblemakers, the boy band, are gay. What about that scene where there’s, like, nine dudes in a hot tub … naked? That’s totally gay. GC: The gay community can be fickle about gay characters. Did you
worry about portraying the lesbian character a certain way so it wouldn’t come off as stereotypical?
JM: I don’t know what you’re talking about. (Laughs) In a way, we were looking at all stereotypes. So yes, she’s a lesbian and they mistake her for a man at the beginning – but also, she’s got this beautiful shock of hair, she is quite fun and feminine in the way she moves; she’s got
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
an amazing voice and she’s not afraid to be herself in the world. Are lesbians going to take offense to that character? I don’t think so, but we’ll ask them.
GC: You’ve really got the belting down, Rebel. Are you ready for the Adele comparisons? RW: You know, interestingly, when they were casting this, they were looking at Adele to play Fat Amy, because obviously she’s an amazing singer and this is a musical film. They were going to make a decision on whether they should go with a comedy person like me or a singer-singer. I was so glad they went with me. GC: Well, you hit that one really high note. RW: Yeah. That’s really hard. That’s higher than a lot of the Wicked
notes. (Laughs)
GC: What are your tips for gay men who want to pursue a career in a cappella? RW: You just gotta be committed, even if you’re not the best singer. Then they’ll see your confidence and they’ll be like, “That dude is pretty fly. He’s such a great dresser as well, so he would be a great asset to our group.” Also, choose your audition song wisely. I chose Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” when I auditioned for this movie. And I did my own body percussion. GC: Why no Lady Gaga song in the movie? JM: That’s a good question. I won’t lie, Glee had already done a Lady
Gaga show and had done it really well, so how do we choose songs that maybe could be unique to our movie?
GC: What are your gay roots, Rebel? RW: I started out in the theater, and obviously, in Australia, we say
it’s run by the gay mafia because all of the super-talented actors and directors are all gay – and so I have a lot of gay guy friends. Just in real
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life, generally. And I live with a super famous gay man, Matt Lucas, who is just a comedy genius. We’ve been having so much fun. He’s friends, also, with a lot of gay men who come around to the house. (Laughs)
GC: In the movie, you have really great gaydar. RW: Because there are 10 of us girls in the group, and so odds are
at least one of us has to be gay. Yeah, I just improvised that scene; it wasn’t even in the script. I picked Ester Dean’s character. Turned out I was correct. (Laughs)
GC: Is your gaydar that good in real life? RW: Gay guys are easier to spot. It’s harder to spot lesbians for some
reason, unless they’re super obvious.
GC: Like, in a flannel shirt? RW: Yeah, real butchy. Then you’re like, “Oh yeah, definite.” (Laughs)
Lipstick lesbians, it’s hard. You wouldn’t know.
GC: Jason, what drew you to this story? JM: I love Sister Act, I love Mean Girls, I love Heathers and I love Bring
It On. Those movies are all about people who are obsessed with things, whether it’s popularity or cheerleading or becoming the best choir they can be. You get these underdogs and weirdos that come together to form a group and make music, and they become rock stars for a minute.
GC: Why are you drawn to the outsider role? RW: I always think of myself as an underdog. I’ve had to prove myself
and be, in some cases, twice or triple as talented as other people, purely because I think I came from a lower-class background in Australia and no one from where I lived was a huge movie star. I thought I looked more like a normal girl, but then, weirdly, I’ve just stuck to what I am and Hollywood has found that quite refreshing – that I just was different. Then I marched through the doors of my agency and was like, “Heyyy, I’m Rebel! I’m an actress!” They thought I was really different from all other girls out there. I’m never the alpha one; I always feel like the underdog trying to achieve something.
JM: The underdog story, the outsider story – all humans are drawn to it, but certainly being a gay man, there’s a gay sensibility about being an outsider: “Do people understand me, and if I express myself, will people love me?” And Fat Amy is a great character. She says, “This is who I am, and I own it, and fuck all y’all if you don’t like it.” There’s a great message for anybody who feels like an outsider – which, as we know, is everybody. I grew up in the South and I knew fewer gay people than if I might’ve lived in an urban area. I’m definitely drawn to people who are looking for their place in the world. Avenue Q is about a kid looking for his place in the world; it’s also about puppets – monsters – that are prejudiced, which is an outsider message (Moore directed the original Broadway version). And Shrek is about an ogre who is ostracized because no one understands him (Moore directed Shrek the Musical on Broadway). So I am drawn to those stories.
GC: Tell me about your role in the Chris Colfer movie, Struck by
Lightning.
RW: I play his best friend. That character is totally different than mine in Pitch Perfect because it’s based on Chris’ real friend, who I met on the first day of filming. She’s a real interesting character. In high school, she tried to pass off classic novels as her own work. (Laughs). It was so great to work with Chris; he wrote that movie as well as starred in it, and I, of course, love his character on Glee and thought he was great. Just to work with him – he’s such a great young guy, and super talented. I think he’s got a future in directing and writing.
GC: How do you think the gay community will find Fat Amy empowering? RW: Because even though she might be flawed, Fat Amy just exudes confidence – and she doesn’t really care what other people think of her. Some people might say she’s not the best singer, she’s not the best dancer, but she just comes out and is like, “Whatever. I’m loving it. I’m
just gonna be proud and be myself.” Whenever I was on stage performing in the movie, I had to really keep that in mind the whole time, so that’s why I think she’s such a lovable character.
JM: I think a lot of gay people will find her role empowering. That’s the point. She was always called Fat Amy, she owns her body, she’s beautiful, she has lots of boyfriends; she’s a take-no-prisoners, fearlesstype of woman, and Rebel embodies that. GC: What was it like working with Jason? RW: I was quite nervous to meet him, because he’s the real-deal
Broadway director and then he just let me have so much freedom and do whatever I wanted. He’s just got such class, and this is his first movie and it’s frickin’ funny. He gave me these words to describe my character and I wrote them down on a piece of paper and had them in my jeans when I was filming every day: cocksure, confident, the instigator, loyal – that was a good one. So I would just look at those if ever I was stuck. And I did a lot of improvising in the movie; if ever I was stuck, I would look at those words and think, “I’m going to be really cocksure in this take.”
GC: Are you aware how much gay men love you? RW: Aww, that’s awesome. I do live in West Hollywood and I do feel
very safe on the streets. (Laughs) It’s so nice, though. I love playing all sorts of characters, but gay guys in particular seem to like my characters – and my writing.
GC: As a gay man, Jason, did any of your gayness rub off on the
movie?
JM: How could it not, first of all? Everything I touch turns to unicorns. (Laughs) I always worry about the gay sensibility. In the end, there was one lesbian character in the movie and I love the message that sends. Everybody else is trying to negotiate that fact that she’s gay and she’s like, “Yeah, that’s my girlfriend.” Again, she owns it. As they discover who they are and become more empowered through singing, that’s part of the message. And, you know, to keep it interesting we put some guys in a pool. GC: Did you feel like one of the girls on set? JM: There were times when I kind of wanted to be one of the girls. I
love women, I feel comfortable around them and it’s fun to make them look beautiful. As a group of women in this story, they have such heart and they form a bond in such a special way. At the same time, I was also very aware that I wasn’t a woman. I don’t know what it’s like to walk in high heels. Well, not really. I sort of do.
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
9
Interview
Sean Maher be worth it. I had talked to my partner about it and we were waiting for the time to be right.” GayCalgary Magazine chatted with Maher from Los Angeles, where he balances his acting career with spending time with his partner Paul and their two children Sophia and Liam. He will be appearing at the Edmonton Expo, October 20th and 21st. It was his daughter, along with playing a closeted gay man in the short lived NBC series The Playboy Club that made the time right.
Sean Maher Comes To Edmonton
Firefly & Playboy Club Star on fans, Joss Whedon, and coming out in Hollywood By Jason Clevett It has become more common and accepted for those in entertainment to come out of the closet. In the case of Sean Maher, he was already out when Hollywood pushed him into the closet. For almost 15 years he hid his sexuality, until September of 2011 when he came out to Entertainment Weekly. Ed tie corper si. Alis dolor sendit am nulpute magna facipis du“It was a couple of years in the making. I had met my partner, we decided to have kids, I took 2 years off to be a stay at home dad and it was the most wonderful time for me. Coming back to work I was having trouble finding my way, I had all this new stuff percolating from being a dad. I felt like a new man and kept wondering was there a bigger picture for me in the industry,” Maher explained. “It dawned on me after so many years of being in the closet because publicists, managers and agents told me to be, which is no one’s fault but my own for listening to them. For years and years of the fear and the suffering that I endured, it dawned on me that all of that time could be my greatest gift. I had this aha moment where if I could come out publicly and maybe help one person it would
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“When my daughter was around three years old she was starting to understand what I did for work. I wanted to be a great role model and show her there was no shame in our family and it was quite beautiful. I couldn’t imagine explaining to her that there was something about our family that I had to hide for the sake of my career. I did it for my family. I was doing The Playboy Club and the character was perfect for me to step forward and tell the story. I’ve never been happier with a professional decision ever.” Had Maher come out when he was younger it may have been a major story. In the past few years entertainers like Zachary Quinto (Star Trek, American Horror Story, Heroes), Jim Parson’s (Big Bang Theory) as well as CNN’s Anderson Cooper have all nonchalantly come out. The general reaction has been positive if not a big deal. “It is a good point. I don’t know what would have happened had I stayed strong to what I believe. I graduated college a very comfortable openly gay man – my parents and family and friends knew, I was living with somebody at the time in a comfortable life as a gay man, I didn’t understand bigotry yet I hadn’t faced it. The first job I got I was thrust into Hollywood as the lead of a new show, he was a young rookie cop and there was pressure to create more smoke and mirrors than I had ever assumed I would be expected to do. I wonder what would have happened if I had said no I’m not going to do this, I’m gay, I am not going to pretend I am not for the sake of the show. I don’t know what the fate of that show would have been, it was canceled really quickly anyway for other reasons. My coming out in 2011 was so well received and I was floored by the response. The day I came out I was in Chicago, I was not with my family and that is the one thing I regret. I was sitting alone in my hotel room and the tweets were just coming in like 150 each time I refreshed. It was amazing to feel this love and support which I knew I would receive, but it blew me away. I feel like they have my back no matter what route I take in my career. I knew the fans would welcome me with open arms and I am sure that some already knew but what shocked me was the amount of industry people – studio heads, casting directors, people within the industry who reached out to my manager to say please relay to Sean we have always been a fan of his work, we’re so proud of him, what a brave move, this will only make us fight harder for him. That is something I didn’t expect and speaks volumes to how things have shifted in the last 15 years or so. I do think we have a lot more work to do but it is a different world.” Although coming out is becoming more and more accepted, there is still a lot of work to do. Several states in the US have initiatives on the
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ballot this November to ban samesex marriage. Maher hopes that in being the “ideal” of a loving family with 2 kids and 2 cats, that just happens to have 2 dads it will help change minds.
our children and are trying to find our way in the world.”
“Prior to my coming out when I would sit down with my publicist, my manager, my partner I said if at the very least I could be an example of what a ‘non-traditional’ family could be, I would be honored. That was my strategy with my publicist as well her father is married to a man. We were trying to shed this light that there are all these stereotypes of what the gay lifestyle is, how different it is. What I was trying to say by stepping forward and shining some light on my family was that I am not that different. We have 2 beautiful children, a very domesticated lifestyle, are very hands on parents and are no different then a family in Michigan who have a husband and wife and multiple children. There is not much difference so why is there so much fear that my lifestyle is threatening to somebody. I wanted to present it as something that isn’t different. It is a family full of love, that does the best we can for
“My father is an Irish romancatholic who goes to church every day. He is a wonderful simple man and had a really tough time when I came out to him. When he met my partner and came to see my home in Los Angeles and his two grandchildren that is all it took for him, he needed to see what kind of life I could create for myself. He thought if I was gay I would be miserable or alone or I don’t know what. But he took such a liking to my partner and his grandchildren he can’t get enough of. It was just a matter of exposure.”
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He looks to his own family for an example of how seeing firsthand can change someone’s thoughts on gay relationships.
Maher has had many roles on TV including Party of Five, CSI: Miami and Wedding Wars. He is most famous for his role as Simon Tam on Firefly, and many fans will be in Edmonton to meet him based on the show. Those same fans will be lining up to meet Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on Buffy The Vampire
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Slayer and Angel. It speaks to the magic of creator Joss Whedon that a decade later both are so known and loved for characters created in his universe. “He has been such a huge part of my career. I never thought ten years ago when I met him that I would still be talking about Firefly, which is insane and humbling and overwhelming. It really is something very special to be part of. I love that he thinks of me for other projects, he is a great friend and mentor and one of the most accessible people I have worked with in this industry. He has such a knack for storytelling, he favours the original storytellers like Shakespeare and there are certain dynamics that are universal. He creates these characters, especially for women that are so relate-able, specifically with Firefly. There was such a universal aspect with the dynamic within the characters and that is why it resonated so strongly.” It is remarkable that a show lasting only 14 episodes before being canceled by Fox, has such a cult following that continues to this day. “I used to refer to it as the little show that could, all the time. There are two sides to that, people ask me if I am surprised? Of course I am, it doesn’t usually happen that a show that didn’t even get a full season is so celebrated 10 years later but at the same time it was something so special, I get why people love it so much, because we loved it while we were doing it. Coming from being an actor, you are in this bubble when you are creating a show that hasn’t hit the air yet. Here you are with these people creating this world and telling these stories and unfortunately sometimes the ratings don’t work, the show gets canceled and everyone moves on. It was a little bit different with Firefly, it burned harder when it was canceled. We all loved coming to work, all the actors, everything that was being written and playing in the world that Joss created. After we wrapped we would continue to spend time together. So I see why people are drawn to it because they connected to the authentic connection we had off screen that was coming across on screen. So I am surprised, humbled, overwhelmed but I understand why.” The filming of Serenity wrapped up some story lines, killed off some beloved characters, and gave some closure to the cast and crew. “Being on shows that had been canceled there was always talk of this isn’t the end, we are going to shop it around. Joss was saying that and it wasn’t that I didn’t trust him but I’d heard it before. There was all this talk about a movie, we were all doing our own thing and I was at Joss’ house with Summer (Glau) and he said he was heading off to Cape Cod to write the script for the movie. I was shocked, but it didn’t sink in until the first table read. Some of the actors hadn’t seen each other, so to sit down and hear these wonderful actors that I loved tremendously speak the words of these characters that I missed so desperately and loved, was a wonderful phenomenon of coming together again to recreate something that had been snatched from us. It brought closure but I would be lying if I didn’t wish for a second or third movie.” Maher and Whedon reunite in A Midsummer Nights Dream which was filmed over 12 days at Whedon’s home. The film is expected to be released next year. “It just speaks volumes to what Joss Whedon is capable of. He was going to go on a family vacation in Italy and decided instead to make a movie. I was filming a series in Chicago at the time and got an E-mail at 1:00 in the morning in my hotel room, saying that he was doing this and needed a sexy villain, what sayeth you? So I scrambled and my manager worked it out so I could head back to LA to shoot this movie. He did throw it together and he hand picked everybody so everyone wanted to be there and it was a passion project for Joss. It was such an extraordinary project to be a part of. It was a 12 day shoot but we had a ton of rehearsal to figure the scene out for as long as it took to get comfortable. When we were going to shoot it we only had one or two takes because there was little room for error. It was a terrifying experience because I had never done Shakespeare before and it was for Joss so I wanted to do right by Joss. It was truly one of the most exhilarating experience I have had, he was shooting live theatre. Everybody stepped up to the plate in such a magnificent way, it lifted the energy. He had come right off of Avengers, did Much Ado and went right back to editing The Avengers. Whether a Firefly fan, someone who appreciates him coming out, or a fan from other shows he has appeared in, Sean is excited to be part of the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo. “I am thrilled, I just found out a couple of weeks ago they wanted me to come. I’ve never been to Edmonton so I am excited. Sometimes I am moved to tears meeting people. I don’t have a lot of time with them, but I will make them stay if it is a coming out story and I inspired them to take that step I want them to share every step with me. It is extraordinary to meet people and it reinforces that coming out was one of the best decisions of my life. People are always like, I am sorry to bother you… are you kidding? Whenever someone recognizes me they are so apologetic but it means so much to me when people stop and tell me things. I can speak on behalf of the entire cast of Firefly that if there is a browncoat out there and they see us, say hi. I will see a tweet saying I saw Sean Maher in a coffee shop, fan girl went crazy and I am like, why in the world didn’t you say hello? We loved what we were doing and how strongly it resonated. I love it, I really do.”
Sean Maher Appearing at the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo October 20th & 21st, 2012 Hall E Edmonton Expo Centre www.EdmontonExpo.com
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Review
Gordon the Giraffe A tale of tolerance
By Evan Kayne Bruce Brown, graphic novelist whose work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and Wired (among others) and who has put out a series of graphic novels featuring a young Howard P. Lovecraft and his dog Spot (who’s actually Cthulu), recently finished work on a children’s graphic novel/story. It’s a very simple story of Gordon the Giraffe – but it’s also a wonderful, charming tale about learning to be tolerant, and an inspiring story once you know the background. Ed tie corper si. Alis dolor sendit am nulpute magna facipis dBruce published the story of Gordon the Giraffe as his answer to the promise he made to his late brother, who died due to complications from AIDS. “I’ve been writing graphic novels for years. I’ve done all kinds of allages stories...my brother knew that I did this and I had some pretty good success at it, and my brother had talked to me toward the end of his life...he had always said I would love for you to do some kind of book with maybe a positive gay character in it.” Bruce thought about it, but it seemed that just a character wasn’t enough. And since he normally writes all ages books, he thought a children’s book might work better. “I started to think more of my brother’s life, his struggles as a gay man, I remember with him at times... he’d be afraid to go certain areas... because he was worried about being beaten up because he was gay. Or he was discriminated against at a job one time...and I started to think how can I put this all into the context of a children’s story with a message of tolerance.”
Gordon the Giraffe, illustrated by Bruce Brown In the book Gordon is persecuted and bullied basically because he’s different from the other giraffes. “And in the end Gordon rises above being persecuted to help those who persecuted him even though they are different to him.” Bruce liked how he presented the idea that while this person may be different to you, you are also different to them. “I really did this book more for gay families, but the truth of the matter is a straight family could read it to their kids and say Hey...you may grow up and you may like boys, you may like girls, but whoever you like that’s okay. And whoever somebody else likes, guess what? That’s okay too.” Happily, the feedback he has received has been overwhelmingly positive. “It’s such a simple little story, but there’s so much behind the simplicity of it.” At this point, it’s too soon to gauge the overall response. Bruce has noticed with his other all-ages books, he normally would have no problem getting a review, but at times with this book he wouldn’t get a return email. Yet he’s had people in the comic book industry who have been extremely open to it. “In the end...I thought I’m just going to treat this as a book and go out and try to get whoever I can to review it...everyone I’ve gone to in the gay community has been overwhelming phenomenal.” Bruce hasn’t heard whether there are any schools who want to take the book, but there have been a few reviewers who have expressed an interest in introducing Gordon the Giraffe to school libraries. As Bruce tells it, promoting a book is a lot of work. He’s not complaining, however, as “...it wasn’t enough for me just make the book to keep that promise to my brother...I wanted to do everything I can to get it out there.” Finally, as to why the giraffe... “I don’t know what it was that clicked with me about it, but I started thinking symbolically about how the giraffe has this incredibly long neck and I thought his perspective next to all the other animals is that he’s got to see things differently than everyone else. It’s like he gets the Big Picture.” In further symbolism, within the story the giraffe mother tells Gordon, when giraffes were made they were given the biggest hearts along with their long necks so they could see and love all of creation. That worked nicely, and added to the overall charm of this book. It’s definitely a one I’d recommend to anyone with small child, or as a gift to a small child.
Gordon the Giraffe http://www.gaycalgary.com/u506
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Jordan Knight’s Unfinished Business New Kid Brings Solo Tour To Canada
By Jason Clevett It has been a busy couple of years for Jordan Knight. As member of The New Kids On The Block, he’s toured the world on a giant penis, selling out arenas on the NKOTBSB tour, released a solo album, and judged last year’s Cover Me Canada. Many people would take a break at this point, but Knight had some unfinished business with Canada. “It is a lot of fun, I love to tour and be on the road. I had a really nice relaxing summer for two and a half months. You kind of get the itch and want that excitement. I didn’t do Canada on my solo tour so I feel like I left them out. Canada is one of New Kids and my solo music’s supporters so I felt it necessary to come up there. A lot of fans wanted me there, there were a lot of different reasons.” Knight chatted with GayCalgary Magazine in advance of his Live & Unfinished tour which hits Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre October 16th and Macewan Hall in Calgary October 18th. Knight is excited to bring the intimate solo tour to Canadian fans. “When you do a solo tour you can really showcase yourself and your talents. During the show I do a whole piano set. It is really cool because the audiences are smaller so you can joke around with them, take some requests, and I can take my time and sing songs I wouldn’t sing on a New Kids tour. I can sing more obscure songs that diehard fans know, which is good for me and for the fans that know every single recording. It is really gratifying. I love to tour by myself but I also love to do the New Kids On The Block, it really balances out my career as a singer. I don’t do New Kids stuff, all solo stuff. Some of it sounds like New Kids because I am one of them.” The intimate venues are quite different from the massive boyband extravaganza that was the NKOTBSB tour which came to Alberta in July 2011. The combined headlining show with The Backstreet Boys brought two of the most popular boy bands of all time and was an amazing night for fans of both groups. 14
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“I agree it was one of the highlights of my career. In 2009 we were doing a summer tour and some of the promoters suggested the Backstreet Boys open up for us. We kind of thought that was selling the whole thing short. They are a huge international act and have so many great songs and are a class act. So we put that in our pocket because we could go as a co-headline and make a great show, a boy band extravaganza type of thing instead of them just opening for us. We did a show in New York City at Radio City Music Hall and invited them to come on stage and join us to sing I Want It That Way. For the first 20 seconds the crowd was like what is going on here? Their jaws dropped and they were silent. As the song grew and they saw that we were really collaborating together onstage and there was goodwill there, they went crazy. It showed us that it was a good idea to tour with them. After that we were off so we put the tour together and went on the road.” The stage design was... interesting. Those logging online to purchase tickets and see the map of the venue were greeted with what appeared to be a giant penis. “The name ‘penis stage’ came afterwards. We didn’t design it to look like a penis, but it did so we called it that. Nine guys on stage there is nothing more appropriate then being on a big penis stage. We got a lot of feedback from the fans and in these big arenas a lot of fans don’t have great seats. They are far away from the stage and they want to be close, and we want to be close to them. They designed this long ego stage, it is called an ego thrust and it was the biggest ever, so they designed it and showed it to us…and we said, it looks like a penis. We like it! It was designed to get close to the fans and for everybody to have a good seat.” The tour also had VIP Meet and Greet packages, seemingly a staple in the industry now. In Calgary I met fans who had purchased VIP packages for multiple tours and cities, which shows the rabid passion of some, who can meet Jordan in person this tour as well.
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“The VIP thing is kind of the modern model for touring. It also goes well with twitter and facebook and social media. Now instead of having fans you have fans/friends, you get to know them from the tweets they send and the videos they make and the VIP stuff you have a closer connection. It is another way to really get closer and know the fans better. It makes it more of an experience for myself and the fans.” On a break from the tour, Jordan was a judge on the CBC show Cover Me Canada which ran for one season and featured contestants singing Canadian songs. “It was actually a good experience. I wish that the show got picked up again so that I could pick up where I left as far as being a judge. It is challenging for me to do that stuff, I know what I am talking about but it can be hard to formulate it into words. I would love to do it again. To see all the emerging talent in Canada was great. It was filmed in Toronto and a lot of my fans were in the crowd every week, Deborah Cox was awesome and Ron Fair was great. It was definitely fun.”
It wasn’t his first foray into reality television. Knight had previously been a judge on American Juniors and participated in two seasons of The Surreal Life as well as the UK documentary Trust Me – I’m A Holiday Rep. “These stations like MTV and VH1 used to play videos and now they do a lot of reality shows. They have taken over. A lot of people do videos on YouTube, it is seeing people in their everyday environment as real people. Icons are now just regular people instead of these glossy polished images. A lot of people want to see more behind the curtain, raw and who you really are it is becoming the norm. It’s not that I’m interested in reality shows, just that is what is en vogue and popular these days.” One reality show that might be interesting would be the life of Lady Gaga. In 2008 the relative unknown had just hit the charts with the song Just Dance and was one of the opening acts for the New Kids The Block tour. Fans that 2 years later paid $200+ per ticket to see her headline Rexall Place likely had no idea who they were seeing.
Continued on Next Page
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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From Previous Page
“You can never say 100% sure that you knew someone will be a star, but I felt that she was a star. We were in the studio we were with RedOne producing and he said my brothers I have this girl I am working with who would like to come down and write with you guys, she is a great writer. In comes Lady Gaga and not being onstage or in front of a camera she exudes artist. We wrote the song Big Girl Now with her and she was on the same label with us so why not do a duet? So we put her on the album and the label asked us to put her on the show. She ended up with a smash record. We didn’t know she would be humongous but we definitely saw the potential.” In 1990, I attended the New Kids on the Block concert at the Saddledome. Being a young male NKOTB fan had its challenges. Teenagers could be heard complaining about how much the band sucked, but worse would throw around terms like “fags” to describe the band. Jordan reflected on the challenges in that era of dealing with the homophobia. His brother Jonathan is a member of the band and came out in publicly in 2011. “This was more than 20 years ago so things were different then. Homosexuality wasn’t as accepted back then as it is now. It did bug me a little bit because a lot of people would say Jordan’s gay and I’m not. As far as Jon, it is almost like I took the attention off the guy who was really gay, my brother. I don’t know exactly how he dealt with it; it must have been very tough for him. Back then you didn’t have openly gay boy band members, it would have been taboo. It is hard to believe that was only 20 years ago. We banded together as a group and we were good friends so I’d be able to talk to the other guys about it. It was what it was, it didn’t bother me too much because I was just who I was so whatever.” Jon’s “coming out” was fairly casual. After 80’s pop idol Tiffany said he was, he posted a statement on the bands website stating, “To all my fans who have expressed concern: I have never been outed by anyone but myself. I did so almost twenty years ago. I never knew that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay. Apparently the prerequisite to being a gay public figure is to appear on the cover of a magazine with the caption, I am gay. I love living my life being open and honest, but at this time I choose not to discuss my private life any further! My fellow band members don’t discuss their private lives with their loved ones and I don’t feel that just because I am gay, I should have to discuss mine!” The more casual way of coming out and lack of drama around it shows progress, Jordan believes. “We are also going to see athletes starting to come out I think. When Lance Bass came out I was asked about it and I said, I think it’s great. He’s made it ok for a boy band to have a gay member, or two or whatever. I am glad that it has gotten to that point. I was just watching CNN and the preacher Joel Osteen was on and there 16
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
are people that still believe it’s unnatural and a sin and blah blah blah but, it is really cool to see there is a lot of movement in the direction of it not being unnatural because there are gay people in the world and always have been so how is it unnatural? That whole notion of people being more accepting and not seeing gay people as something bad or is a choice, or it being a bad choice. We are all opening up.” Boy bands have long been supported by the gay community, which means a lot to Knight who has long had gay people in his life. “I think it is wonderful. I have never really found anything wrong with gay people, I have always worked with gay people; my brother is gay, some of the best songs and choreography have been created by gay people. To me it is just a normal thing to work with anyone. To be supported by the gay community is great. It shows that I am open and not judgmental in any way.” It has been 4 years since the New Kids reunited and released The Block. Fans who are anxiously awaiting a new album won’t have to wait long. “I am doing this tour and then right after I will be in the studio with the New Kids doing another album. We have some great songs lined up. It is awesome when you do new material because with it comes new choreography, new videos, a new stage act…it is just new new new. The fans and us will both be very happy. It has been 4 years since a new album so it is always fun to do new stuff.” To tide you over, you can get your dose of one New Kid in October in what promises to be an amazing show. “The show is great. There is some great choreography, there are a lot of up-tempo songs on Unfinished and there are a lot of ballads from past albums. It showcases the things I love which is dance, choreography, ballads and I love good pop and R&B music. The band I have is from Boston and they are all Berkeley College of Music alumni and are incredible musicians, they just have it. They are a great sounding band and compliment the whole show.”
Jordan Knight Unfinished available now October 16th – Edmonton October 18th – Calgary www.JordanKnight.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3122
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Community
Calgary Gay History Project Exploring Calgary’s secret history of the 50’s and 60’s By Carey Rutherford How often do you get to meet someone with the title of Historian in Residence? Yes, it’s a real thing – in fact, it is Kevin Allen’s role at Calgary Outlink. Calgary 2012, a foundation that helps to sustain Calgary art and culture, is currently funding him as Allen is, to put it lightly, interested in Queer Culture – specifically the history of it here in Calgary. “I had to find a host site [for the project funding]. Outlink has been an important support organization for our community, [and] they’ve been providing services right back to the ‘70s.” Funny enough, Calgary Outlink is also a subject of his research. He notes that they were previously called The Gay Information Resource Centre (GIRC), and then became The Gay and Lesbian Community Services Association (GLCSA). Some of this he knows from personal experience, “I was a phone line volunteer back in the ‘90s.” He expands: “The project really has two arms. One is that I’m doing a bunch of historical research, looking for primary sources like newspaper articles, programs, documents, that confirm the presence of the queer community in the 50s and 60s in Calgary. The other part is an oral history project, where I’m going to be interviewing queer seniors and getting their recollections on digital audio recordings so they can be preserved. “This is a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and writing the grant application coalesced my idea. Now that I’ve applied for it and received public funding for it, I feel responsible to get it done [in a reasonable time frame].” To that end, he has set up a website: CalgaryQueerHistory. ca and CalgaryGayHistory.ca will both take you to the same blog. That’s where he will be uploading his findings and audio clips as the project progresses, culminating in a public presentation at the Old Y Centre in February of 2013. Details of that will, of course, be on the site as well. “Queer’s a word I use to describe the community, but not one that everyone likes,” he explains, of his naming choice. So ultimately the archived information will be digitally stored for online access, though he suggests he’ll see if the Glenbow Museum is interested in archiving the physical audio recordings for historical purposes. The website’s states: “Calgary is a relatively young city, which from the 1950s on has become a key metropolitan centre and regional powerhouse. Throughout the exponential population growth over the next 60 years, the city’s gay community has existed as a distinct undercurrent. However, ...Calgary was a late bloomer when it came to having a politically active gay community. Calgary’s gay community historically did not have a similar profile when
Promotional postcard featuring a historical photo
compared to other Canadian cities. Hence the impetus for this research project.” It also reiterates for us that Kevin “is the Executive Director of the Alberta Media Arts Alliance and an amateur historian, with a strong interest in local audio/visual heritage.” To broaden this profile, he tells GayCalgary Magazine that this different time, this space within which individuals really had to stand up and demand respect, really fascinates him. As we discuss, the modern concept of a ‘gay man’, let alone any of the other rainbow spectrum modalities, certainly did not exist in the public perception fifty or sixty years ago. “A man may make love to another man, but it wasn’t a concept like the way we think of it today.” And of course, this would make a communal sharing extremely difficult, and probably fractured. But he wants to know what people from that time frame experienced to get a real viewpoint. “And, of course, many people didn’t come out until later in life,” which changes their experience as well. As of ride Week, Kevin continues to be Historian in Residence at Calgary Outlink: Centre for Gender & Sexual Diversity in the Old Y Centre, conducting research and receiving interested members of the community. Contact him to book an appointment or for more information.
Kevin Allen, Historian 403-890 7278 kevinallencharles@gmail.com http://www.calgarygayhistory.ca Calgary Outlink 403-234-8973 In the Old Y Centre 303 - 223, 12 Ave SW http://www.calgaryoutlink.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3123
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
17
Interview
Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, c/o Paramount
A Conversation With Nichelle Nichols
Groundbreaking Actress Speaks To GayCalgary By Jason Clevett Nichelle Nichols is best known for her portrayal of Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek, but her life and career is so much more than that. She has voiced major cartoons, appeared in TV shows like Heroes and received critical acclaim on Broadway. She is revered for breaking colour lines on TV in a racially intolerant era, was the first African American to have her handprint in front of Mann’s Chinese Theatre, toured with Duke Ellington and even worked for NASA, inspiring Dr. Mae C. Jemison to become the first African American female astronaut. Nichelle Nichols has a legacy that will be talked about for generations to come, and she will be at the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo October 20th and 21st. Nichelle spoke with GayCalgary Magazine about meeting fans and her career. GC: In the past few years the Calgary Expo has featured Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion, and all have received a rabid response. What are your thoughts on meeting your fans? NN: It’s very gratifying that something you’ve done has had a positive effect on so many people for so long. My heart just pumps a little faster or calmer. I’ve become very used to it, but you’re never completely used to it. Each story is different,
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each person is new and all through the Star Trek fandom it’s like meeting the same person over and over again, only in a different suit or different flesh - they’re just wonderful. It’s not like celebrity and crazy fans. Nothing like that. It’s like…it truly is something that we had the privilege of being in something that touched so many people’s lives in such a positive way that Gene Roddenberry gave to the world, because I’ll go to Europe and it’s the same thing. Wherever I go, it’s almost like meeting the same people over again from day one. I think they’re some of the brightest people in the world because they’re not just fans, they really care about the deeper aspects of the show and and what Gene achieved in portraying, using us, because that’s what life is. GC: It is interesting how the paths of people associated with Star Trek have crossed. You and Jonathan Frakes both voiced characters in Gargoyles, and George Takei and yourself were both on Heroes. NN: I think that’s wonderful….[after Star Trek, if] they hadn’t done something, I would still be seeing them because they all had careers of their own you know as exciting and as well known as mine. And so, when Jonathan came on board and did the next Star Trek edition that he did with new cast,when we meet at Star Trek conventions, we’re all family. GC: You’ve voiced a lot of children’s shows like Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, Gargoyles. Is that something that you specifically wanted to do? NN: I did not, I did what everybody else had done. I’m an actor and when they called me to work and if the price was right and I had the time (laughs). And it just happened, that it seems like that but I’ve done other work too and I’m in the process of co-producing and co-starring in a new movie that I’ve done and it’s just,part of it goes with the territory, it goes with the gig. Sometimes it’s drama, sometimes it’s humour, sometimes it’s for kids, sometimes it’s for very adult minded people.
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GC: It has been a challenge for many actors whether in Star Trek or another popular show to break away from that character and achieve other successes. You have had a long and varied career, what do you attribute that to? NN: Well, I had a career before Star Trek but I didn’t become noted in films or TV until Star Trek, but I’m a singer, a dancer, an actor and I’ve done it all. Theatre was my big thing and when a television series came along, I happened to be in Los Angeles and my agent said “Why don’t you go out for this, I could put you up for it,” and I said, “Oh I don’t do TV and movies.” I was at that time in negotiations to do a Broadway show. He said, “go out for it anyway,” and I said, “oh ok,” and I got it. (laughs) And things just keep happening, so I do theatre when I am available, and I do TV when I’m available, and I do movies when I’m available, and it’s all been very very
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rewarding career wise as a performer, but it’s been rewarding financially as well. GC: You have broken a lot of barriers. You were the first African American actress to not play a “stereotyped” character. You changed a lot of perspective both in Hollywood and for those watching on TV, and things have progressed. Your thoughts on that? NN: Yes, and I’m very proud of that and I’m very thankful. I’m thankful to Gene Roddenberry, first and foremost, because he gave me my first lead role 3 years before he did Star Trek. And that gave me entry to other things and when he was doing Star Trek he called my agent and said, “Find her and get her back here, we’ve got a role for her.” And when I came back, when I finally came back, he talked me into coming home, I didn’t know it was for Gene
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From Previous Page Roddenberry or I would have been on the next flight. But when I got here and went to the interview, I didn’t see Gene and he hadn’t told anybody that he had called me in. So, I went in against 5 or 6 other girls, and there were 5 men who saw me and one was the director and the co-producer and lighting man and all of that. And Gene did that to me twice (laughs), if he really wants you he never tells you. He has you go in and get it. It confirmed that he was right, instead of saying, “this is who I want,” and so when you find that out as an actor you feel pretty darn good about it cause you know if you go in and get it, it’s not because you know somebody. I said to him, “Well, what if I hadn’t gotten it?” He said, “I’d have been very disappointed in you.” I appreciated that because I came up in theatre; you go and get it on your own, you gotta go and perform, you know. And in theatre, unless you’re married to the producer, you gotta go in there and get it on your own, you gotta perform. And that makes me very proud in one way but very respectful of my chosen career. GC: Dr. Martin Luther King was a big fan of yours. Tell me about meeting him. NN: It changed my life. I had made the decision I wasn’t going to do any more TV and I was talking to somebody for a starring role on a show that was going to Broadway. I was at a social event in Beverly Hills, I think it was an NAACP function but I’m not sure. They were just seating me at the lead table where they put all of the people [that are] going to be voting on something or making decisions, you know their celebrities. And, I was just sitting down when the producers came over and said, “Oh pardon me Miss Nichols, there’s someone who would like to meet you, and he said he’s your greatest fan.” And so I thought, “Ok, you know, I’ve had some greatest fans…” I turned up and I looked across the room and walking towards me with this big smile on his face was Dr. Martin Luther King and I remember thinking to myself, “Well,
whoever that fan is, he’s going to have to wait, because I can’t miss this opportunity, I’m going to go meet Dr Martin Luther King.” And then he started laughing and he came over to me and he said “Yes Ms Nichols, I am your greatest fan,” (laughs) and I said that was just so great. And he said that Star Trek was their favourite show on television, his little kids and his wife too. And he said he came in one night, from being gone for several days, you know, and just his wife and little kids were on the floor watching TV, and he said “Hi darlings” and they turned themselves to him and said “Shush, Uhura’s on!” (Laughs) And he felt that that was just one of the first things he wanted to tell me, that’s why he wanted to meet me, to tell me that story. And I just cherish that story. GC: It is an amazing story thank you for sharing it. It was because of him that you stayed on Star Trek, correct? NN: I think it was made in heaven because when I met Dr King, I said to him “I’m going to miss my co-stars,” and the smile went off his face and he said, “What do you mean?” And I said, “Well, I’ve been offered a role on Broadway and I’m going to go…” and he said, “You cannot,” and he was so serious. And I’m looking at him like, what are you talking about Dr Martin Luther King? I just was stunned and I looked at him and he said, “Don’t you know what Gene Roddenberry has done? This is the first non-stereotypical role on television and especially for women. You represent too much and this is going to take you farther than you think.” And I thought, this man is interfering in my career choice (laughs). But he said it with such conviction that all my doubts about whether he was right or wrong, he said that I couldn’t leave and I didn’t leave and he was right. I have never looked back and never regretted it.” GC: We saw a different side of both you and George Takei at the William Shatner Roast... NN: I don’t want to talk about that. (laughs) GC: It was so much fun though. NN: I thought so too. I don’t think Bill thought it, I don’t think Bill understood what a roast is. (laughs) He couldn’t imagine all those people standing up and talking about him like a dog. And it occurred to me that I think, “My god I wouldn’t have done that if I’d known he didn’t know.” He thought we were going to stand up and say all kinds of wonderful things about him. That’s what he told somebody. He said, I didn’t know… why were they doing that. He said “they were roasting you,” and he didn’t know. He’s from Canada. (laughs) So anyway, forgive me for laughing so hard, every time I think of it, it’s hysterically funny. GC: You continue to do appearances and you mentioned you are working on another movie. Are you just going to keep doing this? You love it so much you are not going to stop? NN: Does a doctor stop being a doctor? GC: Eventually they retire, yes. NN: (laughs) Retiring is one thing, but doing something other than my career that I trained for in many aspects, as a singer, as a dancer, as an actor, as a writer, it’s what I’ll be doing, I’m never going to have enough time. I’ve already sent a message to St Peter: I don’t have time, don’t be visiting me. I still have too much to do.
Nichelle Nichols Appearing at the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo October 20th & 21st, 2012 Hall E Edmonton Expo Centre www.EdmontonExpo.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3124
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Community
Calgary Sexual Health Centre Celebrates 40 Years of Service By Lisa Lunney This October, the Calgary Sexual Health Centre is proudly celebrating their fortieth anniversary of providing services to the community. The centre began in 1972 as the Calgary Birth Control Association; a grassroots volunteer based organization focused on improving access to birth control and providing support to women facing unplanned pregnancies. Since 1972, needless to say the CSHC has evolved and adapted with the changing times. The programs the centre offers have adapted to meet the changing needs of growing and diverse communities. CSHC is the only non-profit organization in Calgary that offers an extensive range of programs and services that address sexual health issues in a comprehensive way for families, youth, adults and seniors across a spectrum of race, religion and sexual orientation. CSHC offers no judgment, and welcomes their doors to whoever is in need. If you’re a teen and are considering entering into your first sexual relationship, there are many different resources for you to explore. Counselling Services are open to all, anyone who needs advice — this is the place to find it. If you’re confused about your sexuality, uncomfortable with your body and too embarrassed to seek help — this is the place to go! The only thing that the staff cares about is the well-being of the client. There are no boundaries, and no restrictions about what you can discuss. In the year 2011 alone, CSHC was able to attend 38 community events thanks to the help of their enthusiastic volunteers. Through these events, the centre was able to reach 12,310 individuals with information and resources about healthy sexuality. Through partnership, CSHC was involved with 72 community organizations and 37 schools, impacting an addition 28,788 individuals with programs, information and resource materials. The centre stands firmly behind their mission statement, “we aim to normalize sexual health in Alberta by proving evidenced-informed non-judgmental sexual and reproductive health services; by ensuring sexual health curriculum is integrated across jurisdictions.” For the past four decades, the centre has accomplished these goals and more. Since 2009 CSHC has developed groundbreaking programs that have changed how society views sex, and has helped lower prejudice to those who are different. Programs such as Right 2 Love are one of a kind, the centre partnered with Disability Action Hall in order to support individuals with disabilities who want to change attitudes about the right to love. Right 2 Love participants celebrate their sexuality and fight for their right to love. Other notable programs include: Families Achieving Inclusive Relationships, WiseGuyz and Seniors A GOGO. The centre offers all the tools and tips to practicing safe sex to avoid further spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Counselling services are available to discuss prevention methods and offer advice. For those infected with any of these diseases, counselors are always ready to listen and offer advice for treatment, and tips for living a healthier lifestyle while battling a disease. Each individual who enters the door earns the same respect as another, no one is treated differently. That’s what the center is about, opening doors to smiling faces and positive influences. To date, one of the feats the centre is most proud of is their strong advocacy for the LGBT community. In 1995 CSHC started the Questioning Your Sexual Orientation group for www.gaycalgary.com
women. Since 1997 the centre has been delivering a strong anti-homophobia message and program in Calgary public schools, reaching over 5000 youth each calendar year. In 2009 the centre began offering professional development workshops to social workers, youth workers, nurses, doctors, and psychologists. These workshops, Creating A Culture of Respect for LGBT Clients and Co-Workers have reached thousands of professionals through this training. Factor in word-of-mouth, and individuals who attended these workshops sharing what they learned with friends and family, and there are hundreds more individuals that have been informed, and impacted by them. Recently the CSHC team established a Gay Straight Alliance Network to support students, teachers, schools and community members to create safe spaces for LGBT youth and their allies. This year, the centre received United Way funding for a coordinator to help LGBT youth who are homeless to find the support they need to successfully transition into adulthood, and to learn that who they are is just perfect. Step into the centre or visit their website and you will find a detailed list of positive associations and support groups for the LGBT community. Looking back at all the accomplishments of CSHC makes you want to celebrate! This October, they will be doing just that! As mentioned, this year marks four decades of service in Calgary, so it’s time to party! CSHC is beyond thrilled to be such a positive part of the community for four decades, the team looks forward to many more years of service, future friendships and making the future brighter for all. Join CSHC on October 25th 2012 at Belgo for a night of celebration. A Revolutionary Retrospective will bring together long time supporters and new friends for a fun and thoughtprovoking celebration. Guests will enjoy a playful expose of how society’s views on gender, sexual orientation and reproductive health has shifted over the past four decades and how CSHC has stayed on grasp with the changing times. The sexual revolution will be played out — and mirrored by cocktails, music, laughs and reminiscing about the change of times. Of course, followed with a toast to the future and dancing the night away! Expect to be blown away by the silent auction! It will include a far out selection of “woodies” (wooden props used for condom demonstrations) custom painted by local celebrities, and a few celebrities that will take guests by surprise! Mark your calendars as this is an event not to miss!
Calgary Sexual Health Centre http://www.cbca.ab.ca/
40th Anniversary Celebration Thursday, October 25th Belgo (501-8 Avenue SW, Calgary) Tickets: http://revolutionaryretrospective.eventbrite.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3125
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Interview
Lily Tomlin, photos by ABC
Silly Lily
Comedian talks longtime relationship, gay repression and retirement rumors By Chris Azzopardi Lily Tomlin launched her career over four decades ago with a timeless clan of wacky characters that she established on NBC’s sketch comedy show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. But what if she had to be friends with Edith Ann, Ernestine or Susie the Sorority Girl? It’s something the veteran comedian – and actress, who’s starred in The West Wing and Desperate Housewives – never considered until now, making Tomlin rethink her entire career. Tomlin also dished on how, despite rumors, she has no plans to retire; missing the “the sneaking around” before gay liberation; and what we can expect from her progressive, pot-smoking part alongside Reba McEntire in her first major sitcom role since Murphy Brown.
GC: Of all your iconic characters, do you have a favorite? LT: They’re like kids. You don’t show partiality. It just seems wrong. GC: Would you want to be friends with any of them? LT: Let me think. You’re right. Golly – they’re bad news. (Laughs) I
don’t know if I want to be friends with any of them! This is a startling awakening. No one’s ever asked me that question. I was running through them really quickly and I thought, “Well, that one would be a handful, and this is a high-maintenance relationship.”
GC: Right! Could you imagine being friends with Edith Ann? LT: Imagine having to be her mother! I had an Edith Ann puppet
with eyes and a tongue – and everything was animatronics – and we never did anything with her, but I was so wanting a kids show starring Edith Ann. Anyway, so she sits in a big old box right now. Poor thing. She’s probably all deteriorated. But they sculpted the puppet head after me – the way I perform her – and it had a vague resemblance to me. It was always sort of spooky. (Laughs)
GC: So, let me get this straight: Your characters are needy and they scare the hell out of you. You might want to rethink your career, Lily.
GC: Back then, when you realized you were gay, people didn’t even acknowledge it. Gay was taboo. Do you think that’s part of the reason you and Jane have been together so long but haven’t married? Because you never expected to? LT: No, I don’t think so. I guess it doesn’t mean that much. With the concept of marriage, I’ve been a little too flippant and I’ve said things like, “I was hoping the gay community would come up with a better idea than imitating heterosexual marriage.” (Laughs) But no, I know plenty of people who married and who are pleased about it and are happy. I guess if we had any kids, it would mean something more. Neither of us is religious, so that means nothing to us. I’m proud and happy for it, for people who want to be married. I suppose symbolically it would’ve been nice if we had gotten married for anybody who’s interested.
GC: You talk about Jane as your partner to the press often now. Was that always the case? LT: I used to talk about her all the time. I just talked about it naturally, but in those days people just did not write that way. When I was on the cover of Time in ’77, my publicist had almost pulled off the old two-cover coup where you get Newsweek and Time. It’s not even important anymore. For both stories, Jane would be there. It was nothing. One story, I can’t remember which one, said, “Lily lives alone in the Hollywood Hills”; another one said that we shared a house – me and writer Jane Wagner. They knew we were a couple. They used to protect us. The journalists would protect us just like they would protect politicians in the old days.
GC: You probably never imagined you’d be talking to gay publications like you do so often now. Is that different for you? LT: Yeah, of course it is. We had The Advocate. Vito Russo, who was my good friend, did a piece on me in The Advocate. What year was that? Probably sometime in the ’70s. And he didn’t want to out me in a really big way that would bring any kind of repercussions on me at that time, because I was very, very popular from Laugh-In. I said to him, “Look, I want to do the piece with The Advocate but I don’t want to lie. It’s too embarrassing and too awkward to do that.” I said, “I’m leaving it up to you. I’m not going to try to influence whatever you do.” So in the piece, I do say to him, “Look, if we don’t talk about the gay issue it’s going to look very strange.” And he kept writing in that vein. But
LT: (Laughs) Oh gosh. This has been revelatory. This one question is something I had never heard in my life and never even contemplated. GC: You and your partner, Jane Wagner, have been together for more than 40 years, right? LT: Yeah. It’s been – what is this? 2012? I have to think back. It’s 41 years, but it’ll be 42 years in March.
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GC: Word is that you’re retiring after this series, which you mentioned during the recent Television Critics Association panel. Is that true?
it was never explicit; of course, I’d get a lot of flack for it, a lot of heat. People weren’t that – I want to say hip.
GC: Isn’t it amazing how much progress we’ve made since then?
LT: I said it as a joke. Somebody in the audience asked me a question, something about playing a woman of a certain age; it was hard to hear. Maybe they were talking about how lately I’ve played all these mothers: I’m playing Lisa Kudrow’s mother on Web Therapy and I just did a movie playing Tina Fey’s mother. I also played McGee’s grandmother on NCIS. (The person asked) something about playing women of a certain age, so I answered it as Edith Ann first and then I said, “Don’t be surprised if this is the last project I do before I go to the motion-picture home.” I was just kidding around.
LT: It’s been remarkable. I mean, it’s not enough if it’s still an issue, but yeah – I’ve been just really dazzled by the activism and the refusal to disappear and be invisible. But I’ll tell you: You miss a little bit of repression, just on the sexy side. The sneaking around. Any kind of taboo is always a little more titillating. GC: Your upcoming series, Malibu Country, features a flamboyant record executive played by Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and a next-door neighbor who’s gay. Were you surprised that a show starring Reba McEntire, whose fan base tends to be ultra conservative, was so gay and progressive? LT: Yeah, and I’m not sure
where they’re going to take the kid next door, but I hope Lillie Mae gets very political. I’ve sort of pitched that to them, to go in that direction with my character. She’s just more enlightened than Reba, even though she’s Reba’s mother. She’s just more open and expansive, where Reba is a little more Nashville and shut down. She’ll definitely be more progressive.
GC: So you’re not retiring anytime soon? LT: I don’t plan to. GC: You come from
a generation of female comedians that had a very family-oriented style of comedy. What’s your take on this new wave of female comedians both in film and in stand-up who are just as vulgar and crass as men?
Photo by Patterson
LT: Guys have done it forever and so the girls just leveled the playing field. I like a much more cerebral kind of comedy. Well, sort of cerebral. But I still have no problem with it. I’m glad to see those girls make successful comedy. Because in the old days – I mean, Gilda (Radner) never got the chance to do the films that the boys did from SNL. I’m glad that these girls break that taboo, that obstacle that people have put up in front of them for years.
GC: So your character’s name isn’t Shirley anymore? LT: I changed it. It’s Lillie Mae. I changed it to my mother’s name. GC: What about the character interested you? The gray wig? LT: (Laughs) I built that wig! I had that wig made. Wigs always interest me. Haven’t you ever heard of Wigstock? I’m kidding. I have a wig room; I have at least 50 to 70 wigs. I’m kind of a wig queen. You know, first of all, Reba. I’m not close friends with Reba or anything, but my brother lives in Nashville, and Photo by ABC my mother and dad are both buried in Nashville, and so having those Southern roots, I know the culture very well. I’ve always liked Reba, but then I saw her in Annie Get Your Gun in ’99 and she was drop-dead brilliant. People still talk about it. She was so alive in that role. I’ve never forgotten that. And because in the pilot Lillie Mae smokes dope, I thought this is a great chance to do an older person who’s just really open to everything.
I remember I used to do a ’50s teenager at a school dance and the first time I did it at the Ice House in Pasadena – this would be like ’71 or ’72, right after I got on Laugh-In – and (I said) “boner.” And the owner of the Ice House was beside himself. He says, “Don’t ever use that language on the stage again.” The guys did anything they wanted, but they did not want to see women talking about anything that was the least bit – I don’t know – human. (Laughs) I didn’t listen to what he said.
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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The Perks of Being Ezra Miller
Breakthrough actor talks gay teen role, why he’s queer and doing drag as a kid Photos by Summer Entertainment
By Chris Azzopardi Twenty is a young age to have already played two characters that couldn’t be any more different. But Ezra Miller’s done it with parts as Tilda Swinton’s evil son in We Need to Talk About Kevin and as Patrick, the lovable outsider with swagger and fearlessness in the film adaptation of the coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower – the boy every gay person wishes he could be. Even Miller. The young actor talked about not being that kid in high school, breaking label barriers and coming from a “whole queer-ass family” – who dressed him in drag. GC: What was your high school experience? Were you out then? EM: Yeah, definitely. But I wasn’t shouting it out. I was unabashedly me. I was always having to leave high school, though, because I started working, so that was pulling me out of school. When I’d come back, there was a certain resentment: “You are no longer one of us. You have betrayed our pack.” And I dropped out of high school when I was 16 years old because, first of all, the form and function of the schooling system never made any sense to me in the context
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of education, but also there was some ostracizing at play. At that point in my youth experience, I knew that feeling all too well. I immediately realized that I had just turned 16 and that it was best, and technically legal, for me to flee. GC: How was it playing a character that you wished you could’ve been in school? EM: I came out of the movie feeling like I had a bunch to learn from the character I just played, and then I came to the unfortunate conclusion that he was a fictional character and he didn’t exist. I mean, to be able to hold your dignity and your pride, and to be able to empower yourself and love yourself in high school, is a feat. GC: That scene where you stand up for yourself in the lunchroom was probably something that hit close to home. EM: Yeah. You picture that moment where you effectively fight back, but then of course Patrick does, in that situation, end up getting held and pummeled and sort of relentlessly beaten on – that’s a reality, too. You can cultivate all of the courage and pride and power to stand up for yourself and still get beat to a pulp. I had that experience a few times. That scene was so important to everyone – to (director) Stephen (Chbosky) but really to (co-star) Johnny (Simmons) and myself. Having experienced things like that in our lives, we were really determined to get some bruises to make that fight brutal, the way that sort of peer-inflicted violence is – just horribly brutal. GC: Bullying is brutal, and it’s obviously become an epidemic in the last few years. What do you think young people who are victims of bullying might find empowering about Patrick? EM: I’m hoping that there could be a theoretical audience member who could watch Patrick in this fearless state of selfwww.gaycalgary.com
preservation and rebellion and come to the thought that anyone who dares to cultivate the courage to stand up for themselves has immediately already won the battle. The second you endow yourself to be your own best protector – your own best friend, your own best lover – you’ve already won. People can put you through a lot of horrific psychological, emotional and physical conditions, but if you have that for a support system for yourself, by yourself, there’s only so much anyone can ever do. GC: In the movie, Charlie is a troubled loner, but you open your world up to him and affect his life immensely. Who were your queer role models growing up? EM: My sisters, who were really strong and really empowered and who just were constantly making sure that I felt the love and that I was thinking for myself, but at the same time had my back. They were, for me as a younger person, the only role models I ever needed. My flesh and blood consumed almost my whole frame of perception from when I was a younger child. GC: So your sisters are queer too? EM: Yeah. It’s a whole queer-ass family! (Laughs) You know, it’s pretty much the most ridiculously happy and lucky situation a boy like me could ask for. I really thank all sorts of illusive deities for the family that I have every day. GC: After seeing you as Frank N. Furter during The Rocky Horror Picture Show scene, something tells me this wasn’t your first time doing drag. You were that good. EM: Thanks, darling! I’ve definitely dabbled from a young age. Those older sisters of mine actually started putting me through drag school when I was, like, 3. I remember running a lemonade stand and I was all made-up: My hair got did, I was in a dress and I remember getting it going so hard even then that people would come up to one of my sisters and say, “I saw you and your sister selling lemonade today.” (Laughs) Yeah, I’ve definitely served some time in the mighty and honorable school of drag. When I was in middle school – it was combined with a high school, and the theater department was the same and it was the year that high schools were allowed to do Rent – I jumped on Angel really
fast, so I even got to dance in drag and rock some pumps. So, I’ve definitely had some informative experiences. GC: You owe your sisters some gratitude for giving you drag training. EM: Really, man! I was such a goofily happy kid when we were doing that. It was such, like, a ridiculous dream come true. GC: You sound like the polar opposite of your character in We Need to Talk About Kevin. You were so not Kevin as a child. EM: Yeah, that’s true. But it’s good to stretch in many different directions. I’m still convinced I can go much darker than anywhere I’ve gone so far, and I’m pretty sure there are greater possibilities. I really feel like I’ve only just scratched a really minute surface. GC: You develop a small crush on Charlie in Wallflower. Have you ever fallen for a straight boy before? EM: I mean, I just never believe anyone when they say they’re straight. GC: The media obviously isn’t sure how to interpret your “queer” identity; I’ve seen you called gay by many news outlets. Why do you prefer queer? And what do you think of just abandoning labels all together? EM: I think queer is that doorway into the L, G, B and T. Queer is the doorway to where we should all be at. In a perfect Garden of Eden world, we are all pretty damn – I don’t know if you say genderless or omnigendered – but we’re all omnisexual, we’re all balanced and none of us are participating in a binary. But until that day comes, these labels and these ways that we can identity ourselves to ourselves are all useful, and it’s really important that people figure out how to be inclusive and supportive of each and every one of them. That’s my feeling on it. I’m queer because I think the way society splits the human being in half is kind of tragic, and I think we should all be as open a book as possible when it comes to loving another human.
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25
Trans-Identity
The Other Reproductive Rights By Mercedes Allen Recently, I was asked why in my writing at Rabble.ca on M-312, I had suggested that trans people should be concerned about attempts to criminalize abortion. This was from someone who was trans and angry at the suggestion, since she considered herself to be “pro-life.” Most of us have learned from experience that far right transphobes are motivated by a desire to impose their particular ideal about how people are supposed to live upon everyone else, and should be able to see through the hypocrisy of people wanting to end abortion, yet also wanting to limit access to contraception, to keep youth from being able to learn about sex in an age-appropriate way, to limit the distribution of condoms, to vocally oppose relationships that don’t result in their preferred family format (gay / lesbian families, single parenting), and wanting to end invitro fertilization. But beyond that, there are some obvious reasons to empathize with reproductive rights. A significant part of trans activism is focused on surgery, even though it affects only some trans people. This is because we recognize the need for bodily autonomy, the right to make medical decisions for ourselves. In the case of abortion restrictions, though, some of the proposed mandates can go the opposite direction and even jeopardize the lives and health of women in medical emergencies in order to protect a fetus. By extension, we also need to realize that bodily autonomy decisions are quite often life-changing, and that attempts to criminalize abortion are attempts to wrest that choice away from women. Through history and throughout the world today, pregnancy and childbirth have been used to control and oppress women in life-changing ways. Because childbirth uniquely places a life-long obligation upon women, it’s been used to dictate their entire lives. There’s nothing wrong with starting a family - imposing it upon someone is another matter, especially considering life-changing consequences. And that’s the thing about “pro-life”: prochoice is not a question of “yay, abortion, everyone have one,” but the “pro-life” lobby is very much about arresting and prosecuting any and all women and physicians involved regardless of circumstance, need and all of the other factors that could contribute to such a complex decision. But this is why this is such a contentious issue for women: it’s a complete life change, and implicit in the quest to ban abortion (even if pro-lifers aren’t consciously pursuing this end) are the conclusions that sex should only be engaged in for the purpose of conception, and that conception should always result in a lifetime role of motherhood. You wanted to go to college? You wanted to pursue a career? All of those are secondary now. Now, you’re a mother, whether you’re emotionally, financially or physically ready for it or not. Banning abortion takes self-determination right out of the equation, and the effects last a lifetime. And how many anti-abortion organizations seek to mitigate this result by supporting programs to enable mothers attend higher education? How many support subsidized day care or welfare programs? Most often, it’s quite the opposite, and we end up with Rush Limbaughs bemoaning the existence of “overeducated” women. At that point, abortion really does become a human rights issue. Whenever a characteristic class has their autonomy and self-determination taken from them, human rights are at issue. And that kind of struggle against the dictation of
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how people should live their lives is something that we do indeed share. During those articles I was also accused of being an imposter, of trying to co-opt womens’ struggles over this issue, even though my trans history meant that I don’t have the lived experience. At the time, I was clear that I wrote as someone who basically wanted to add a voice of support, and who has never had to participate in this kind of life-changing decision, and not likely to in the future. Relatively speaking, that qualifies as a position of privilege, even though it’s not “male privilege,” nor is it something that I feel very privileged by (although my personal choice is not to add to a world that is overpopulated as it is). But it’s disingenuous to say that trans people have no place in the larger discussion of reproductive freedom. Because in addition to the issue of bodily autonomy, we as trans people also regularly have our right to make reproductive decisions brought into question or denied us. For those of us who medically transition, part of the decision involved realizing that some treatments will end our ability to parent children. For some of us, it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make, but there are also people who desire to parent as well as to have children. When Thomas Beatie was dubbed by media as the pregnant man and propelled into the public consciousness, it was the first inkling that many people have had about this. Even many trans people were appalled by his decision to bear a child, because he challenged notions about gender, parenting choices and instincts, and the presumed “one true way” to be trans. Since Beatie’s media flurry, we’ve heard of other trans men choosing to conceive, and have come to recognize this as something that happens in modern day - although our society still hasn’t always come to grips with the implications. Only a couple months ago, Winnipegger Trevor MacDonald made news when the breastfeeding advocacy and counselling organization La Leche League Canada (LLLC) refused to allow him to enter a leadership role in the group - a decision which was later reversed. Prior to this, trans people have had the option of storing sperm or ova prior to transition, and then exploring the possibilities of artificial insemination or in-vitro fertilization. For trans women, it is still currently the only option. While Swedish doctors performed the first ever mother-daughter uterus transplant [1] this September, the underlying biological infrastructure means that it will be quite some time before this sort of medical technology will be well enough developed for trans people... even though one of the first attempts was tried with Lili Elbe, one of the first known transsexual women, in 1931 (she later died during the organ rejection). And while modern society is still coming to understand the concept of trans parenting, there are still places in the Western world (let alone elsewhere around the globe) where trans people having custody of pre-transition children or trans parents adopting is seen as controversial. Reproductive justice is as much about the choice to have children as the choice not to. What’s more is that legal identification often hinges upon surgical status. In Canada - with the very recent exception of Ontario, which is still working out the implications of a legal precedent - one has to have verifiable change of their physical sex in order to be able to change the most foundational of their identity documents, especially birth certificates and social insurance records (other ID can sometimes be changed sooner, under certain circumstances, www.gaycalgary.com
including Alberta Driver’s Licenses). Consequently, legal citizenship, enfranchisement and accommodation can require surgery, and surgery negates any ability to parent. Hormone therapy too is most often sterilizing (and it has happened a number of times in the past where transsexual people had not been informed of this prior to transition). Some countries are worse, too, literally writing sterilization into their legislation governing identification changes, or even requiring it in order to start transition. What all of this points to is that as transsexual and transgender movements are becoming more enfranchised, empowered and self-guiding, they are also raising questions about the status quo, and seeking new ways to parent, new ways to conceive, and asking new questions about what that means. It will be interesting, and will probably challenge all of us. And probably, when it happens, some of the people involved with reproductive rights movements now will reject the new questions we as trans people bring. But even so, it is important to educate ourselves about the guiding principles and be allies to those who we will probably one day ask to stand with us. Not to mention that it is simply the right thing to do. References: 1) http://www.gaycalgary.com/u513
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
27
Politics
The Level Playing Field Is Still Askew By Stephen Lock As if there was any doubt, two separate instances in September highlighted the lingering level of homophobia and garden-variety anti-gay feelings still in professional sports. The first instance involved an 18-year old North Dakota State College of Sciences football player by the name of Jamie Kuntz. He had experienced a concussion earlier and so when his first college game came up, he wasn’t allowed to suit up. Fair enough. What happened next, however, was he kissed his much older (and we are talking far older) boyfriend up in the press box at the game. Kuntz was videotaping the game for his team, the Wildcats, who were down more than 40 points against Snow College when, he said, the kiss “just happened.” A teammate apparently witnessed the kiss between Kuntz and his 65-year-old boyfriend and reported it to the team coaches. When Coach Chuck Parsons confronted the young linebacker during the bus ride back to North Dakota - so in other words, in front of his teammates - Kuntz said the man was his grandfather. Feeling guilty about lying, he later told the coach the man was, in fact, his lover. Kuntz was removed from the team due to contravening the rules about “conduct deemed detrimental to the team.” The college acknowledges the player was disciplined by his coach, but that it had nothing to do with him being homosexual. In a letter from Coach Parsons to Kuntz, the coach indicated the player was being removed from the team, not for the kiss itself, but for lying about the kiss and stating the individual was his grandfather. Kuntz has also since left the college, which he was attending on a partial football scholarship. The second instance involved Blue Jays’ shortstop, Yunel Escobar, and his choice to write “Tu ere Maricon” (“You are a Faggot”) on his black patches - which many players in both baseball and football wear under their eyes to reduce glare from the sun or stadium lights - throughout the Jays’ game against the Boston Red Sox. The phrase is allegedly not considered to be homophobic in Latino culture. It can also be translated more along the lines of “You are a Pussy” or “You are a Wuss”. The phrase is a comment on another man’s masculinity...or lack thereof. Escobar is Cuban. Controversy naturally erupted when the black patches could be clearly seen in zoom lens photographs of the game released by Jays’ fan and season ticketholder, James Greenhalgh, on his Flickr page. Escobar, being a far higher profile athlete than Kuntz, has come under both attack and defense. Those defending him, predictably, cite the differences between Latino and Anglo culture and claim “Tu ere Maricon” does not, in fact, have the same cachet in Spanish that it does in English and that Escobar is being unfairly castigated. In effect, playing the race card. Be that as it may, and even allowing for the machismo which permeates much of Latino culture, that officials permitted him to step on to the field with the phrase on his patches is one of the issues here. Athletes are role models for young boys and men and therefore have a responsibility to their public. They certainly get paid enough. That Escobar had no idea how the phrase would be interpreted is simply not believable. This is Canada, not East Los Angeles or New Mexico or Cuba. Was he really that naïve? I seriously doubt it. Not too bright, maybe. Arrogant? Perhaps. But there is a greater context here than just some baseball player or college football player. There is not one openly gay 28
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athlete in any of the major professional sports. Not one. True, some have come out after their careers have finished, going back to David Kopay thirty-seven years ago who came out three years after retiring from football. But current high-level athletes in football, hockey, baseball or boxing and wrestling? Not one. Part of that, of course, is the mindset within those sports which can definitely preclude any coming out by a player. These are highly aggressive, one might even say macho, sports. Image is everything within these sports and even behaviour such as drinking/partying too much, being busted for drugs or DUI, allegations of sexual assault against women, or adultery as negative and horrific as they can be - contribute to the image of the highly masculine, driven, “jock”. Certainly athletes who transgress on this level are called to task and held accountable, up to a point, but coming out as gay? Their careers would go in the toilet in a matter of weeks, guaranteed. Even those who have been accused, if not convicted, of sexual assault can rebound in their careers. I wonder if an openly gay middle linebacker could? That mindset is in place due to a convergence of factors: the players themselves, coaches, owners, franchises concerned about the bottom line, even fans. Every fan in the stands wants to be like the player on the field, to do what he does, to have what he has. If that player is openly gay would Joe Average Fan want to, or be seen to, align himself with...with...THAT? Not in my lifetime. The players know that, as do the coaches and owners. Any pro athlete who might approach his handlers to suggest he is thinking about coming out would be strongly discouraged not to. Maybe even threatened not to, I don’t know, but I can certainly envision a scenario in which millions of dollars are at stake whereby he would be. Far easier to go with the game plan and ‘discreetly’ (read: secretly) do what he does on the side, which is pretty much a textbook definition of ‘being in the closet.’ Is it any wonder, then, that in such an environment it is, at some level, seen as acceptable to have a player either dismissed from the team for lying about his relationship or having a player think there is nothing wrong with going on the field with an anti-gay slur emblazoned across his cheekbones? Would Kuntz have been kicked off his team, and any dreams of playing profootball dashed, if he had lied about the true nature of his relationship with a far older woman? I doubt it. Escobar was fined $90,000 and suspended for three games. Fair enough. But what if he had stepped onto the field with an anti-Semitic slogan on his patches, or an anti-Muslim slogan or a racist one? I think we all know the answer to that....he’d be gone so fast, all you’d see is dust. In Canada, LGBTQ people finally have full equality under the law. The level of acceptance is far higher than it was even a decade ago. On the surface, it would appear we finally have attained what so many of us sacrificed and fought for. There are those both within and outside the community who ask, what else do we need? What else do we want? We now have the same legal and social rights as every other Canadian. And yet, when things like this crop up, it is clear there is still work to be done. True equality comes when all people have the same opportunity and cannot, and are not, penalized or ridiculed for who they are. Professional sports has a ways to go before it can say it truly has a level playing field.
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BEAUTY AND THE BEAT
Mika Newton
By Dustin Fitzharris Mika Newton isn’t afraid to admit she is relentless. She vows that she will never stop working hard, going to places, meeting people, and encouraging everyone around her to make a difference in the world. If it sounds like Newton is on a mission to prove she isn’t just another pretty, blonde pop star, you’d be correct. Last month, the 26-year old released her American-debut single titled “Don’t Dumb Me Down,” written by Danish composer Rune Westberg. The beat is instantly infectious. The lyrics, “Sometimes you don’t get what you ask for; Sometimes you get a whole lot more,” are empowering and yet clever enough to stick in your head throughout the day. “It is a song with a very encouraging message,” Newton says. “People tend to think that if you are pretty, it’s unlikely that you have some brains too. I come across this opinion all the time!” With “Don’t Dumb Me Down,” Newton’s American career has been launched on a high note. She is the latest protégé of veteran producer and “American Idol” judge, Randy Jackson, who produced the single. MTV immediately took notice of the song and its video, directed by Marc Klasfeld, who is known for his work with Beyoncé and Katy Perry, and named it “buzzworthy.” But make no mistake, Newton isn’t trying to be a carbon copy of her peers. While she believes that every artist has a gimmick, her focus is on inviting her audience to take an emotional journey with her to recognize the potential they have within. “My ultimate mission as a performer is to help people believe in themselves, bring them hope of a better life and inspire them to be the best they can be,” explains Newton. “All our life is a struggle with something. And if we achieve everything easily, we wouldn’t appreciate what we have as much. If you do what you do with love, you don’t think of anything else and just do it because it comprises your life.”
started going to music school. Both of her parents supported her passion, and her father even helped train her to be the kind of performer who could sing at any given moment. Newton remembers how often times he would wake her up late in the evening to entertain guests who had come by the house for a visit. Newton continued to hone her craft and participated in various song contests. In February 2011 she was chosen to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest. While she finished in fourth place, she caught the eye of producer and “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson. She signed a contract with JK Music Group and Jackson’s Dream Merchant 21 and moved to Los Angeles in hopes to reach a whole new audience with her music. “I am very honest with myself in my songs and what I want to say to people,” says Newton. “I want to help them be honest with themselves. I would call my ‘stamp’ on today’s music as ‘the stamp of truth.’” At the moment Newton describes her audience as young people who “understand that life is an amazing adventure and everything is in their hands.” However, her colorful dance beats combined with empowering messages about finding pride within, are finding resonance among gay fans too. Some naysayers may say her image is too innocent for today’s pop music scene, but she isn’t concerned with fitting into a mold and using what is hot now to sell her music. “I do not really believe in fads, nor do I want to be a part of it. My intention is to continue to follow my heart and create my own art for people to enjoy and make their lives better,” Newton says. The future is bright for Newton. She has been quoted as saying that having wings to fly was something she always wanted. If she continues to keep her dreams alive and work as hard as she’s doing today, she may get her wish and soar to heights she never even imagined.
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Since Newton, born Oksana Stefanivna Grytsay, was a young girl growing up in Burshtyn, Ukraine admiring the talents of Celine Dion and Michael Jackson, she always knew she wanted to sing. At 7 years old she
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
29
Gossip
Robert Pattinson, photo by Entertainment One
Deep Inside Hollywood Which one is Queen of The Desert? By Romeo San Vicente Post-Twilight, Robert Pattinson’s career heat is leading him in some unexpected directions. Instead of continuing to cash in with above-the-title treatment in big budget Hollywood junk, the young actor has, instead, chosen to work with acclaimed filmmakers like David Cronenberg, for whom he’s currently starring in the very strange arthouse hit Cosmopolis. Now the former teen vampire has been cast by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams) for Queen of The Desert, Herzog’s biopic about Gertrude Bell. Naomi Watts will take the role of the famous adventurer and spy often known as “the female Lawrence of Arabia,” while Pattinson will play Mr. Of Arabia himself, T.E. Lawrence (made film-famous by young Peter O’Toole). Lawrence’s sexuality has long been the subject of debate and Bell was unmarried for life in a time when women were discouraged from that sort of thing. Queer historians, start your speculations. Gus Van Sant takes Matt Damon to the Promised Land That untitled, in-development “Capra-esque” movie Matt Damon co-wrote with John Krasinski, the one they’re also starring in together and that Damon was going to direct but then gave up to longtime collaborator Gus Van Sant? Remember that one? It has a name now: Promised Land. Based on a story by Dave Eggers, author of the acclaimed memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, it’s about a shake-up in the lives and values of two greedy rival Wall Street types. (And are there any who aren’t awful, or do we just not hear about them because they’re busy building Habitat for Humanity houses on the weekend?) And Focus Features is getting behind the film, which also stars Academy Award-winner Frances McDormand, for a sizeable Oscar push with a late December release and rollout into awards season. If the film is halfway decent and they play their cards right, it could be Van Sant and Damon’s next Good Will Hunting. And who wouldn’t like them apples?
Chloe Sevigny moves to Portlandia Played an HIV-positive teenager? Check. A young woman in love with a transgender man? Check. A nun? A sister-wife? A transgender female assassin? Check, check, check. But to call yourself a true gay icon you really need to have comedian Drew Droege make crazy Internet videos starring as you in conceptual drag while satirizing the media’s perception of your personal life. Oh wait, check on that one, too. This, then, makes Chloe Sevigny’s every career move important. And it’s why we’re pleased to announce her arrival in Portlandia, the IFC “sitcom” starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein about people in Portland, Oregon. Or maybe it’s really a satire of the media’s perception of the entire city of Portland? Whatever, we just hope that in at least one upcoming episode of the new season Sevigny will play a gay male comic making Internet videos about a hipster alt-starlet. Tail, eat yourself! Tootsie takes the stage, Hayes joins Smash In what appears to be a now firmly entrenched trend of taking popular films and turning them into Broadway musicals, Sony Pictures has struck a five-year deal with Tony Award-winning producer Scott Sanders to transform Sony titles into stagebound tourist pleasers. First up? Tootsie, the sweetly funny straight-man-in-a-dress comedy that starred Dustin Hoffman way back in 1982. No other details besides its potential existence are forthcoming, so you may now safely return to considering the future of your new TV-about-Broadway addiction, Smash. Sean Hayes is joining the cast for the upcoming season as a TV actor making his Broadway debut, something Hayes himself parlayed into a Tony nomination for the revival of Promises, Promises. As this character he will make Debra Messing’s life a living hell, so déjà vu on that one, too, while adding fresh blood to an already beefed up second season cast that includes Jennifer Hudson, Daniel Sunjata (Take Me Out) and Jeremy Jordan (Newsies). Hollywood is going to make Broadway a serious thing again or die trying. Romeo San Vicente will call you. Maybe.
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Lifestyle
Cocktail Chatter Gazpacho Borracho
By Ed Sikov “It sure has been one of those summers!” the talkative senior sitting next to me on the train said as we pulled out of Penn Station toward Babylon. (Yes, there really is a town on Long Island called Babylon. They may as well have named it Gomorrah.) The train’s air conditioning was no match for the heat and humidity. It was 7:55 a.m. and my T-shirt was already soaked through. I considered taking it off, but there’s a rule against going shirtless on the train, and besides, I didn’t want the happy 80-year-old to stare at my phenomenally hairy stomach. “Sure is,” I said with a tone meant to cut off the conversation but that succeeded only in ensuring that it would last for the duration of the trip. I heard all about her grandson’s service in Iraq; the intense heat of Iraq; the sand flies in Iraq; the parched earth of Iraq… . After 20 minutes of hearing her impromptu recitation of the Britannica entry on Iraq, I began to see myself crawling down the aisle rasping, “Water! Water!” “I’m sorry, but I have to get some work done,” I lied to the elderly woman. “Really! What kind of work do you do?” “I’m a writer.” “Really! Have I ever heard of you?” An inspiration struck: “Not unless you read a lot of gay pornography.” The old woman gasped “oh!” with an air of panic and remained glued to the window for the rest of the trip. For that night’s dinner I planned to make a recipe from a popular food magazine, but I knew it had to be altered. First I got rid of the third of a cup of sugar. Um, it’s the height of watermelon season! Sugaring a ripe yellow watermelon would ruin it. I also nixed the plum tomato. Um, it’s the height of the tomato season! You can get taste-free plums all year round. I went instead with two yellow beefsteaks to go with the melon. Four cloves were total overkill, as were four whole star anise pods. I went with one of each. Finally, I chopped a few Thai chili peppers and put them in a small dish for us to add or not, according to individual taste. And I added some Absolut and made it a cocktail. If you just want plain unspiked gazpacho, just leave out the Absolut. (Duh!)
Gazpacho Borracho Fresh basil – 2 cups sliced or torn, including stems Star Anise – 1 whole Clove – 1 Bay leaf – 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt (coarser than table salt) large yellow tomatoes – 2 yellow watermelon, cut into chunks – 2 cups peeled and seeded cucumber – 1 cup 1/4 cup lime juice Thai chilies (optional) Ground black pepper to taste Absolut premium vodka – to taste Put four to six martini glasses in the freezer. Wash the basil and dry it. Into a small saucepan, add clove, star anise, bay leaf, salt, basil and 1 ½ cups of water. Bring it to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let it steep for the time it takes for you bring another small pot full of water to a boil. Cut an X into the top and bottom of the tomatoes and plunk them into the boiling water for 30 seconds; remove them from the water. The skins should slide right off, but the tomato will remain uncooked. Cut the tomatoes in half sideways (one side gets the stem end, the other the bottom end); pare away any woody remnants of the stem and squeeze the tomato over the sink to remove as many seeds as you can. Cut up the watermelon into chunks, measure carefully and stop when you have more or less two cups. Place a strainer over the top of a blender or food processor and pour the basil tea through it. Toss out the contents of the strainer. Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the chilies, unless you’re sure your guests like their drinks spicy) to the blender or food processor and blend at increasingly high speeds until smooth. Pour blended gazpacho into a large bowl and stir. Blend it again in batches and pour each of these blended rounds of gazpacho into a large pitcher. Stir it, add salt and pepper, taste it, and if you’re happy with it, chill it for as long as possible. Add more salt and pepper if necessary; cold food needs more salt than room-temperature or hot food. Add the alcohol to individual glasses to taste.
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
31
Greta Gerwig: The New Gay-Loved Girl
Actress talks gay fake-out in new film, preference for gay boyfriends and filling Liza’s shoes
Photo by Fox Searchlight
By Chris Azzopardi It was only a matter of time before Greta Gerwig would enter gay consciousness. Roles in the Arthur remake, with Ben Stiller in Greenberg and as Natalie Portman’s bestie in No Strings Attached made her a bona fide movie star, but it was Damsels in Distress – gleefully riffing on the power of dance in suicide prevention – that earned her queer cred. Why? Just ask her. “It’s like an absurdist college version of Mean Girls,” the actress says. Now Gerwig, 28, stars in Fox Searchlight’s Lola Versus, a post-breakup dramedy about one woman’s (reckless, slutty and drunken) journey to self-fulfillment. The actress will also appear alongside Penélope Cruz, Ellen Page and Alec Baldwin in Woody Allen’s summer release To Rome With Love. Charming and upbeat, Gerwig spoke to us about the gay best friend she should’ve had in Lola Versus, how even straight guys can like Ani DiFranco and the best era to be lesbian. GC: You’re really put through the wringer in Lola Versus. Where’s a gay best friend when you need him? GG: I know! What’s sad is that a lot of people who saw the trailer assume that Hamish Linklater is my gay friend, and he’s actually not gay in the movie. They just assume because he makes that Rupert Everett joke. I don’t know what kind of New York girl I am that I don’t have a gay BFF. There’s something wrong with that. GC: Are we past having the gay guy be the proverbial shoulder to lean on for the damsel in distress? GG: It’s very stereotypical of that kind of movie. I think we’re ready to have just a full-on mainstream rom-com that’s just guys. Someone should make a rom-com about two guys falling
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in love and then they can have a sidekick straight girl best friend. GC: Would you star in it? GG: I would play the sidekick, and Bradley Cooper would star in it. (Laughs) GC: That means no sex scenes with Bradley. GG: I know. It would just be platonic. We’d make milkshakes together in my cute apartment with my cat. GC: Tell me what you learned from having a gay first boyfriend. GG: It’s a very good thing to have a gay boyfriend as your first boyfriend. We really liked each other, and we liked all of the same things – he loved musicals; I loved musicals. We had
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so much fun together. He didn’t want to have sex with me, which then – at 14, 15 – you don’t really want to be having sex anyway. We used to go to dances together and, regardless of the theme of the dance, we would create our own theme and go as whatever we had decided the theme was, so we went to dances as people from the Roaring Twenties – not the theme of the dance, but very fun. We just had a great time. It was much better than dating some meathead who just wants to touch your breasts. GC: So what’s your call on the one-night-stand rebound who was an incubator baby and has a thing for Ani DiFranco, who he plays during your sex scene with him in Lola Versus. Gay or not? GG: Yeah, no. I think he just really likes Ani DiFranco! (Laughs) One of my high school boyfriends loved Ani DiFranco. He did! He learned how to play Ani DiFranco songs on the guitar, and he’s fully straight. It’s a real thing. Photos by Fox Searchlight GC: There’s the scene where you wander drunk into a strip club. Was that your first time in one? GG: It was, actually. We didn’t have full-on strippers, though. I have been to places where there are naked people, but I’ve never been to a strip club. I always expect that to happen to me one day, but it’s never happened to me. I have only been in the fictitious world. GC: Where else do you find naked people? GG: The Box in New York; it’s a club, and there were lots of naked people and I was working there. But it wasn’t, like, proper strippers. Just naked people. (Laughs) Photo by Sony Pictures GC: What interested you in Damsels in Distress? GG: I love Whit Stillman and the crazy universes he constructs. I just think he’s totally unique as a voice; there’s no one else like him. He’s almost like the Oscar Wilde of now, in a way. I don’t think there’s another person who writes quite like he does and has this strange, absurdist, satirical sensibility that is also somehow totally sincere. GC: How cool was it to exercise some of your musical-theater background in it?
GG: I feel like I’ve oversold my actual credentials in musical-theater. A lot of my credentials in musicaltheater is just singing along to them in the car. (Laughs) I’m not like Lea Michele; I was not in Spring Awakening. I just loved musicals. GC: Adam Brody had a great line in Damsels in Distress that suggests he may have been homosexual in a different era, before it became so trendy. If you were lesbian, which era would you be lesbian in? GG: Obviously 19921997. Sinead O’ Connor, Lilith Fair – that was a super good time to be lesbian, right? And Melissa Etheridge, baby doll dresses with combat boots – awesome! GC: What was it like going to an all-girls college? GG: I love Barnard. While I was at Barnard, they changed the policy – my RA was transgender and was starting the process of changing from being a girl to being a boy. Barnard officially came out and said that’s totally cool and our students can do that and we support it, which was pretty awesome. GC: You played opposite Russell Brand in Arthur, in the part Liza Minnelli originated in 1981. How did it feel stepping into Liza’s shoes? And did your gay friends approve of your performance? GG: They did. Although everybody was really sad that I didn’t get to wear this one pantsuit that she wears in the original: this giant pink pantsuit that’s shiny and crazy. It’s insane. They were sad I didn’t get to wear her outfits. My favorite Liza movie is definitely Cabaret – the ultimate. She’s so great in that, and I used to watch that movie and wonder if my legs were as long as hers. (Laughs) I just thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I used to do that with Cyd Charisse with Singin’ in the Rain and Ann Reinking. All of those saucy girls that could get their legs way up there, I wanted to be like them.
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Community
How a Movement is Born SlutWalk co-founder, queer positive feminist to speak at upcoming event By Krista Sylvester Starting a global movement against victim-blaming, slut-shaming and sexual profiling on behalf of women’s rights is no small feat, but for queer and body-positivist feminist Heather Jarvis, it’s imperative. Jarvis is the co-founder of SlutWalk, which began in early 2011 in Toronto to combat stereotypes around sexual assault after a Toronto police officer said women should “avoid dressing like sluts” to avoid getting raped. “I think unfortunately society still teaches us how not to get raped instead of how not to rape,” Jarvis says on the topic, adding, “unfortunately it’s still about what to wear, what not to wear, how to act, how not to act to avoid getting assaulted.” Since the 3,000 person march in Toronto last April, the movement has spread across the globe, including right here in Calgary, and has reached as far as London and Brazil, who are among 200 other countries who hosted the protest. “I think somehow our message just really resonated with people. It was just supposed to be a one-time thing but it really resonated with people across the world,” she says. “I think it’s inspiring and encouraging but at the same time sad and disappointing that this kind of thing still resonates with people.” Now, Jarvis and her SlutWalk co-founder Sonya Barnett will be speaking at an upcoming TEDxToronto conference later this month. TEDxToronto is one of many satellite versions of TED (an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, Design), and pits speakers in front of 1,000 audience members and upwards of 30,000 live-streaming viewers during an 18-minute speech on the topic of the event. Jarvis says she is looking forward to connecting with over two dozen other like-minded individuals on speaking about the topic of Alchemy and how single ideas and stories can combine to create something much larger. And with chants of “one, two, three, four, we won’t take it anymore. Five, six, seven, eight, stop the violence, stop the hate” heard at last year’s SlutWalk in Toronto, who better than Jarvis to ignite the conversation. “I think that’s the point of these talks, where you get a really broad overview of topics and connect together,” Jarvis says. At their talk, Ms. Barnett and co-founder Heather Jarvis plan to discuss the power of language in society and why words have so much meaning.
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Heather Jarvis, queer and body-positive feminist
“We’re calling bullshit on that theory that words don’t hurt. We need to challenge that and look at the power of words and why that is. Words like slut, whore, and homophobic language, these words do mean something.” Jarvis, who loves public speaking and does it as much as possible, says TED talks bring together genuine and compassionate people to have what is sometimes a difficult conversation in an effort to move forward together. “That’s my optimistic goal, and I hope it brings people together and they will be kinder to each other and have less violence in the world.” And for those in Calgary, Jarvis says anyone can make a difference, anywhere in the world. “Generally, a lot of people can make a lot of difference; they just don’t think they can. There are so many ways to get involved and if you have an idea, touch base with the people in your community and you can make it happen. Working together and involving the community is important.”
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Preview
AGOKWE: A Two-Spirited Love Story
Ojibwa Artist, Waawaate Fobister, Portrays Queer Teenage Love on the Rez By Janine Eva Trotta Based on actual events, the one-man show Agokwe by Waawaate Fobister offers audiences a unique Ojibwan perspective of teenage two-spirit love. Agokwe is the story of Jake and Mike, both played by Waawaate. The two teens live on different reserves in Northwestern Ontario. Waawaate, who created the show at the age of 22, grew up in a reserve in Grassy Narrows one hour north of Kenora. “I started writing the piece in 2006 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as part of their Young Creators’ Unit,” he says. “This program was designed for young writers to create a one-man show.” “I was an artist looking for opportunities to tell stories.” Waawaate says aside from timelines, the piece is very much autobiographical. Raised in a small community the artist knows the hardships of being marginalized. At a party thrown by his babysitter Waawaate realized he was attracted to men. Coming out to his father was difficult, but his father, one of the most important people in his life, was understanding. This gave Waawaate the confidence he needed to emerge as two-spirited on his rez. Unfortunately coming out was not met with the same understanding reception his father provided by everyone Waawaate was close to. Waawaate was called a faggot by a drunk friend, and upon confronting him, or merely asking ‘why
are you calling me that’ he was beaten severely, waking up bloody in the back of an ambulance en route to hospital. “That was a really hard time because I thought he was my friend,” Waawaate shared on the program First Story. To other teens facing the same challenges he offers these words of encouragement. “Stay strong. Be brave. Have courage. Stay humble. Look into the culture and language. It’s very empowering. We have a very rich culture, especially about our two-spirited ancestors.” Waawaate got his artistic start in 2000 with the De-bah-jehmuh-jig Theatre Group. “I was 16 years old. They came to my reserve to do a workshop,” he describes. “I did the workshop and they saw that I had something, so they offered me a job in the summer.” Waawaate loved the position so much he decided to pursue acting as a career. He attended acting school in Toronto upon graduating from high school, and still resides there today. Agokwe, meaning ‘wise woman’ or ‘two spirited’, began as a short monologue and was originally performed as part of Buddies’ 2005/06 PrideCab, a 12-week youth driven cabaret, later developing into a 75-minute theatre piece when Waawaate was teamed with its current director. This is a story of classic teenage unrequited love; the difference in this piece is its refreshing inclusion of Ojibwan elements. Waawaate’s preparatory rituals include prayer and the smudging of sage, a commonly used medicinal herb by Ojibwans. “I smudge the stage, the theatre, the set, and my costumes,” he says. “I also do 1.5-hour warm-up – vocal, yoga, cardio, and a little physical workout. I do it to all to my favorite and inspiring tunes.” In addition to playing Mike the hockey player and Jake the dancer, Waawaate also performs the iconic, multifarious persona of Nanabush the trickster who adds an interesting dark component to the story. Mike and Jake meet at a Kenora shopping mall and connect through their mutual love of movement, ‘however youth, distance and isolation strive to pull the threads apart when tragedy intervenes.’ Directed by Edward Roy, who has pulled in numerous awards for his work including the Dora Award for The Other Side of the Closet, and Chalmers Awards for A Secret Life and White Trash Blue Eyes, Agokwe offers audiences a ‘provocative, rhythmic and visually rich’ production. The show won six Dora Awards when it premiered in 2009 in Toronto. This fall Alberta Aboriginal Arts, based in Edmonton, is hosting a remount of the play as it travels across Canada.
Agokwe Oct 30th to Nov 11th Catalyst Theatre (8529 Gateway Boulevard, Edmonton) 780-477-5955 ext. 301 • tickets@workshopwest.org http://www.catalysttheatre.ca http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3135
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Out Destination Fort Lauderdale
By Joey Amato Known as one of the country’s foremost LGBT capital’s, Fort Lauderdale definitely offers visitors a plethora of dining, entertainment and cultural options, not to mention miles of pristine beaches perfect for those looking to catch some rays while listening to the mesmerizing sounds of the Atlantic. Fort Lauderdale is actually three destinations in one. The first, Fort Lauderdale Beach, is a picturesque ocean-front destination dotted with high rise condominiums and hotels, including The RitzCarlton, W and Hilton. Dozens of beach front restaurants, shops and attractions line North Atlantic Boulevard, also known as A1A and are extremely gay-friendly.
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But the charm of Fort Lauderdale Beach lies just two blocks inland. Those looking to avoid swanky hotel chains in favor of smaller, more personal accommodations should head to one of over a dozen LGBT-owned guest houses, most notably, The Grand Resort & Spa. The Grand is the largest gay-owned and operated men’s resort on Fort Lauderdale Beach, offering 33 luxurious guestrooms, two pools, a Jacuzzi, full-service spa, fitness center and complimentary breakfast. Stay in one of the suites, which contain a separate living space and full kitchen, perfect for those looking to spend a few extra days of fun in the sun. Guests can enjoy the resorts famous Sundown Happy Hour every Thursday thru Saturday before heading to one of the beach’s fine restaurants including Steak 954, 3030 Ocean or Coconuts, where diners can savor delicious American cuisine including New England
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physical sciences and a large array of programs designed to serve diverse audiences. If you’d prefer to spend a more casual afternoon with friends, head to Rosie’s Bar & Grill, and enjoy some of the best burgers, sandwiches and salads in Fort Lauderdale. I suggest trying the She BOP Wrap consisting of grilled chicken, bacon, fresh avocado, cheddar cheese and herb mayo rolled into a tomato-basil tortilla with a side of homemade sweet-potato fries. For a different flavor, head to Rodeo, a restaurant specializing in Southwestern, Tex-Mex and Cajun cuisine. For a quick bite, sample Rodeo’s delicious Fried Green Tomatoes, Barbeque Nachos or New Orleans Quesadilla. While in town, be sure to stop by the Stonewall National Museum & Archives, an extraordinary collection of cultural and historical artifacts celebrating the LGBT community. The museum is home to over 21,000 books, 19 traveling exhibits and over 7,000 artifacts including the gavel used to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Fort Lauderdale is also home to many LGBT charitable organizations including SunServe, Out of the Closet and Broward House, South Florida’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS community service organization. If your vision of a vacation includes the hottest go-go boys in South Florida, then visit Johnny’s Fort Lauderdale, one of three bars in town featuring nightly go-go dancing. The staff and dancers at Johnny’s are always welcoming, so if this is your first time visiting, they will make you feel right at home. Upon arrival to Fort Lauderdale, be sure to pick up a copy of either South Florida Gay News or Hot Spots magazine. Both publications will provide you with great information about what’s happening around town including special events, nightly drink specials and LGBT community news. For more information, visit www.sunny.org/glbt OUT Destinations is part of OUTreach Public Relations, a company specializing in LGBT marketing. Founded by Joey Amato in 2012, OUTreach PR has quickly become one of the most sought after companies for celebrities, corporations and non-profit organizations looking to target the ever growing and affluent LGBT consumer. For more information, please visit www.outreachpublicrelations.com. Lobster Rolls, Coconut Shrimp or the fresh catch-of-the-day while watching the sunset over downtown.
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Enjoy some after dinner libations at any one of the many venues on Las Olas Boulevard including Yolo, or head to Wilton Manors, South Florida’s gay mecca. Just a few miles from Fort Lauderdale beach, Wilton Manors is an epicenter of gay culture. Dozens of gayowned shops, restaurants, bars and clubs are clustered along Wilton Drive, making the area a one-stop destination for the LGBT traveler and a great place to mingle with the locals.
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Sports enthusiasts should head to Sidelines, a friendly neighborhood sports bar offering daily drink specials and a great mix of men and women alike. Beer aficionados should visit Wilton’s Bier Garden, a fairly new establishment offering 16 beers on tap and over 100 different bottled beers imported from countries around the world including Germany, Belgium and Scotland. Dance the night away at The Manor Complex, a huge mega club in the heart of Wilton Manors which combines a restaurant, ultra lounge and nightclub all into one upscale experience. Check out The Manor’s website for a list of daily events which include special appearances by world-renowned DJ’s and numerous live performances throughout the year. After a fun evening of partying, culture buffs should visit the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, located in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The museum is home to a permanent collection of more than 6,000 works including significant pieces by the artists of the northern European CoBrA movement and contemporary Cuban artists. The museum also offers numerous unique exhibitions which included the recent Primordial: Paintings and Glass Sculptures by Isabel De Obaldía and upcoming original exhibition, SHARK. A few blocks away is the Museum of Discovery and Science consisting of 85,000 square feet of interior space, a 300-seat AutoNation IMAX Theater, and an open-air grand atrium. The Museum features dynamic interactive exhibits in the natural and
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Send In My Girls
Queens Return to All Star Drag Race
Photos by Mathu Anderson
By Jason Clevett If I were to create a list of “GayCalgary Interview All Stars” RuPaul would be one of the top. Somehow he always says something moving and thought provoking, but speaking with him is also a lot of fun. He is an inspiring person, and has influenced a whole new generation of drag queens. 12 of the best queens from the first 4 seasons return for RuPaul’s All Star Drag Race, premiering October 22nd at 9pm et/pt exclusively on OUTtv. The challenge in casting any TV show is the right combination of people. Such is the case with drag race, RuPaul explained over the phone from Los Angeles. “In choosing an ensemble we have to find the perfect mixture of kids. It is an interesting chemistry project actually. We are thinking about who we want to spend time with, who the audience wants to spend time with, and who doesn’t clash or cancel each other out. It is the same process when we are looking for the new girls. They’ve got to complement each other and represent the different genres of drag.” The announcement of the cast - Raven, Jujubee, Chad Michaels, Pandora Boxx, Tammie Brown, Yara Sofia, Mimi Imfurst, Nina Flowers, Latrice Royale, Manila Luzon, Shannel and Alexis Mateo – sent the twitterverse and facebook afire. Predictions, complaints, and the repeated question, “why isn’t so-and-so in?!” plastered the internet. “Hopefully if those people support us we will have many seasons of all stars and get around to getting all the girls in 38
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there. The thing is, we need support from people. One of my platforms is to teach young people how to support our gay culture. As elders we have fought long and hard to have these freedoms, but it seems like young people take it for granted. If you want something you have to fucking support it baby.” With that in mind, where’s Willam?! “He is right here, do you want to talk to him?” Ru asked, laughing. “He’s not actually here. Hopefully we will have Willam next time if we have a next time. We have unleashed maybe 65 girls into ya’lls neighborhoods in the world and these girls are working. What I am most proud of is that these kids have redefined what drag is in the world. I have been at this for 30 motherf**king years, being up on stage and paid for it. To see these kids become household names around the world - we are on in 25 countries - is the thing I am most proud of. Even the kids that are dismissed the first show become famous. They really all win, and I want all of them to win 100,000, I really do but that is just a bonus, they all come out of it as winners.” In addition to the queens, an all-star judging panel will convene, including Billy B., Kelly Osbourne, Ross Matthews and my personal favorite Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. “…Elvira is back for the All-Stars. Latoya is back. I would love to get Judge Judy, Cher and Diana Ross on as judges but they don’t do this kind of television. It would be great. Cher might get sick of all the impressions, but maybe not. Maybe she is at a point in her life where I did this, be proud of it.” Often times “reality” TV scrapes the bottom of the barrel. One of the appealing things about Drag Race is while it has its share of drama, it hasn’t degenerated to the lowest common denominator. www.gaycalgary.com
“Our goal starting out “We had to pack a lot was to bring awareness to more into fewer shows. the art of drag and how it Think of it as concentrated, is important it is, not only 6 shows have the cleaning to drag but to humans to power of 12 shows and you understand that you are will not be disappointed. not what it says on your Like with any new show the driver’s license. We walk network wants to take it around pretending to be a easy. When we started with lawyer, republican, mother Drag Race it was just eight of two. There is more to shows. It is a television it. This is where it gets a show and people love to get little creepy, but we are their shaft tickled. That is actually all god in drag what we are in the business playing dress up. We have to do. As annoying as it a bit of amnesia and drag is may seem, people love it, there to remind us who we love to talk about it. They really are and not take all went on the computers and this so seriously. It pokes went crazy - do you believe fun at these images and what they did?! That is why identities that we adopt. people tune in, they want Throughout history the job different levels of value of the shamans and witch from the TV and computers doctors and the court jester and every product we have was to do that exact thing, today.” and it is an important job.” Staring in October, it That isn’t to say the seems fitting that RuPaul’s show doesn’t have its All Star Drag Race debuts Cast of RuPaul’s All Star Drag Race creative challenges. Trying just before Halloween, the to keep the winner from time of year when straight being leaked prior to the broadcast, Ru filmed three endings to guys dress up in drag and all sorts of horrors lurk around the the last season. Even the three finalists – Chad Michaels, Phi corner. RuPaul isn’t a fan of scary movies or Halloween. Phi O’Hara and winner Sharon Needles – didn’t know who had “I have always hated Halloween, I had resentment about it. actually been crowned the next drag superstar. Just one day that you can dress up, that is ok with society? “It is so funny, I don’t know why people would want to spoil Fuck you I will dress up every day except for that day. I watch it for other people. Actually, I do understand that the ego will Elvira: Mistress of the Dark every Halloween, which isn’t a scary do anything it can to single itself out and have something over movie just the funniest movie ever made. For me the scariest another person. It is a big part of our culture that we don’t movie ever, and I reference it all the time, is The Exorcist. It is talk about how ego minded we are. We’ve allowed the ego to so real, and the metaphor that there is a demon lurking inside run everything, when people are texting in the car they think, all of us. The truth is, there is a demon lurking in all of us, our I can get away with it, I just don’t want anyone else to do it. ego, the saboteur that can undermine all the great things you Actually, you are just like everybody else and you can’t do it. It can do on this planet. Learning how to navigate around it is is frustrating because we do all this work and somebody goes quite a task. So the Exorcist... but Poltergeist is pretty scary aha! I’ve got it and I’m telling!! It’s like, fuck you, bitch! I was in too.” bed waking up and it occurred to me - shoot three endings! No one would know until the editor at the very end. I thought, oh my god that is fucking awesome! So that is what we did. Sharon found out at a live event in New York when it broadcast on TV, RuPaul’s All Star Drag Race she found out with everyone else.” Mondays starting October 22nd The screams of frustration on the episode in which a winner 9pm et/pt exclusively on OUTtv should have been announced, but instead was saved for the reunion show, showed how involved viewers had become. Ru certainly likes to toy with us, but this time you won’t have to http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3137 wait as long. All-stars is a short six episode run.
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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Jordin Sparkles
Singer talks acting debut, her gay following and how ‘Whitney loved her gays’ Photos by Sony Pictures
By Chris Azzopardi Whitney Houston’s starring role – the last before her tragic death earlier this year – isn’t the only reason Sparkle has gay written all over it: there’s the flamboyant style of the ’60s, an all-girl singing group and, well, the movie’s name. Seated in a hotel suite outside Detroit, where the film was shot, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks lights up – applauding, even – knowing how many of her gay fans will see her on the big screen in her movie debut. Sparks’ return to Motown in early August was even more appropriate when Aretha Franklin, who sang on the soundtrack for the 1976 original, showed up to walk the red carpet with the remake’s star. Even though she lost a nail, the 22-year-old said having the Queen of Soul there was “absolutely incredible.” About the finger fiasco: “I was freaking out because I looked at the picture of Aretha and me and the nail is gone.” That’s not a problem today, however. “I made sure I glued these suckers on like nobody’s business!” Ever so bubbly, Sparks also chatted about Whitney’s mutual adoration for the gay community, addressed “mean” rumors of her anti-gay upbringing and recalled her first time at a drag club. GC: What are some of your favorite parts of Motown in the ’60s? JS: I’d already grown up listening to (Motown music) because my grandparents introduced it to me when I was really young. I listened to Diana Ross and The Temptations and all of them, so being here, knowing that’s where Motown started, you could feel the energy. I loved singing the music that was like that. And the clothes, come on now! The clothes, 40
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the makeup and the hair – it was so much fun to transform into that every single day. GC: Which outfit do you wish you could’ve taken with you after Sparkle wrapped? JS: The outfit when I walk into Columbia Records: the hot pink dress with the white stripes on it, when I walk into (label head) Larry Robinson’s office. It was my favorite one. It fit so good! GC: What was it like spending your 21st birthday at a drag club in Dallas? JS: It was the best thing ever. It was my first time, and I was just beside myself because I had never seen a drag show live before. I was just so amazed at how they transform and lip-sync to a T. So much fun! They were doing these tiny tube shots and my hairdresser and his partner were there and we were just having a blast. All of us had a great time. I can’t wait to go back. GC: Do you hope there will be a Sparkle drag queen? JS: I’m waiting for it! I’m waiting on them to come out in a red dress like that (points to movie poster) with their hair down, singing to my songs. I can’t wait. And hey, Halloween is coming up, too! GC: What is your fondest memory of being here in Detroit with Whitney? JS: For me as a singer, growing up and loving her and listening to her so much, the whole experience was amazing. But also, she was just so open and wanted to get to know us. That was very unexpected. GC: Was there a specific scene she guided you through? JS: She was there for a lot of the songs when she didn’t need to be there, which was really sweet. One thing she did www.gaycalgary.com
say was, “Believe in the gift that you have; believe in your talent,” because there were times when I was really unsure since I’d never done a movie before. She was like, “Mama’s here, it’s OK.” And she used to call us her babies. When you see us up on that screen and we’re telling each other that we love each other, it’s genuine. We got to know her and we cherished her. We loved her. GC: You grew up in Arizona and now you’re a part of Hollywood. How did your gay circle change when you made the move? JS: I didn’t know as many (gay people), but I did drama club, and the head of my drama club in the ninth grade – his name was Eric and on the weekends he was Sapphire St. Regis, and he was so amazing! He was the president of the drama club, and so talented and so fun. Then I did community theater, and that introduced me to more. I have some (gay) family members as well, so I’ve always been used to it. GC: The rumors of you growing up in a Christian family that wasn’t very accepting of gay people are just nonsense, then. JS: That’s all stuff that people write. I grew up in a Christian family, but I have cousins and I have tons of friends (who are gay). Some of my closest friends are actually gay, and some of my band members are, as well. So, for me, I’m just like, whatever! Those are just mean things that people say. GC: Your boyfriend, Jason Derulo, has a following in the gay community for many reasons. One of those is an It Gets Better video he filmed. Have you thought about getting involved in anything like that? JS: I would love to. You see people being so hateful toward other people, and I wasn’t raised like that. I was raised to love everybody, and some of the funnest times I have had are with my gay friends. So, for me, I am all for it and I would love to do something like that. GC: Did you make anything of how closely related the name Sparkle is to Glitter, Mariah Carey’s infamous film? JS: If you haven’t seen the original Sparkle you kind of assume it’s a sequel: Glitter, Sparkle, sprinkles, fairy dust – they all go together! I hadn’t realized it was such a cult classic. I had no idea until I got the part and then I had people coming up to me going, “You better not mess it up.” “Is this song on the soundtrack?” But I love Mariah Carey and I hear Glitter and I’m like, “I love Mariah!” I think Sparkle is definitely very different than Glitter. (Laughs) GC: The song “Celebrate” with Whitney Houston could work as a gay anthem. What do you think about that? JS: Whitney and I didn’t get to do it in the studio together because our schedules didn’t allow it, but when I recorded my part, I heard her as I was recording and she sounded so happy. Whitney loved her gays. She absolutely loved them. For me, being one of the last songs she did – a song just
about loving each other and celebrating each other and it just being so encouraging and uplifting – I think it’s one of the best gifts she could’ve left. I feel like that song is one of the best gifts she could’ve left for the younger generations who are going to discover her music and discover her – and also for the people who still love her. GC: Did Whitney talk about her gay fans on set? JS: No, but her family would tell us. They’d be like, “She loves her gays, honey,” and there have been a few other reporters who have interviewed her before and she absolutely represented. Hello! How can you not? I will say, I have Googled “drag queens singing Jordin Sparks.” I just love it so much. I think it’s the best thing ever. I love watching them sing and sometimes I’m like, “They look better than I do! What is going on here?” GC: When did you first become aware of your gay fan base? JS: In the very beginning during meet-and-greets after concerts. There was just a huge array of people: all different races, orientations and ages. I just remember because I didn’t think boys would like my music, but I have some straight male fans who love my music and then I have my gay fans that love my music. GC: More gay than straight? JS: Yes. Very much so! It’s actually really surprising when I have a straight male fan that’s like, “Yeah, I love your music.” And I’m like, “Really?” GC: What’s coming up for you? A new album? JS: I’m putting out a new album. I’m working on it now. I’ve got about seven songs that I’m really feeling strongly about. Sparkle is actually giving me the opportunity to do something stylistically different than I did before, so it’s going to be a little more R&B. Early Mariah, early Whitney is what I’m going for. That’s what I grew up on. I’m already filming my next film. It’s called The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, and Alicia Keys is executive producing and Jennifer Hudson is actually in it. It’s an indie drama and I don’t sing. I just play an Afro-Latina from the Bronx and I just get to be the character. I’m excited to see how that goes. GC: Not as glamorous as your role as Sparkle? JS: Oh, she’s glamorous! The other day I had my hair pulled back in twists, almost like cornrows, and then my hair was on the side in a huge, curly side ponytail. Then the lashes! And my nails were crazy. She thinks she’s so fabulous.
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41
Cowboys Nightclub Turns A Shade Pink?
Photo courtesy of Cowboys Nightclub
By Evan Kayne They’re a renowned Calgary business that has been around for years. After signing an agreement with the Calgary Stampede, Cowboys nightclub has finally returned better, bigger, and hopefully a tad gayer than it was before. While the disbelievers roll their jaw up from the floor from this last comment, perhaps a bit of background is in order. GayCalgary Magazine spoke to Paul Vickers, president of Penny Lane Entertainment (PLE), who recently re-opened Cowboys in the huge 125,000 square-foot space - originally the Stampede Casino. He and PLE are gambling that, with all the changes to the East Village and the long term plans for the expansion/remodelling of the Stampede grounds, Cowboys will become even more of a destination for nightclubbers of all types. PLE recently invited a small group of individuals representing event-based LGBT organizations, to take a look at the new Cowboys – or rather, Cowboys Casino. The Cowboys nightclub has two levels with a capacity of 1200, an on-site restaurant (with plans for maybe two more), not to mention the casino itself. Furthermore, we are told they have started work on a 2000-3000 seat live music venue. Critics might say Cowboys doesn’t exactly have a gayfriendly atmosphere. This is something Paul Vickers disputes. “As the owner of that business...we are open to everyone - that I can promise you. We’re not going to be prejudiced to anyone for any reason.” In recent years PLE has hosted Pride Dances and other LGBT events at several of their venues such as Belgo, Wild Ginger, Coyotes, and even the old incarnation of Cowboys. During our interview, I recalled a gay dance held in the
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
early 1990s at Club Malibu – formerly a PLE property. “I can’t count the number of [LGBT] events we’ve had over the years,” Vickers admits. He also wanted it known both he and PLE have always been open and friendly to our community – even at times when maybe it wasn’t the popular thing to do. “In 1991 I hired gay people to work for me. In 1991 in Alberta it wasn’t a very socially smart thing to do but I didn’t [care]. And of course, it came back to me where people - for years – haunted me by challenging me that I’m gay and saying mean derogatory statements about me: Oh he’s gay and of course the nastier versions of that.” In essence, Vickers experienced bullying because he wouldn’t discriminate. In his mind, an employee’s sexuality was irrelevant, as long as they were good at their job. Furthermore, we discussed how Cowboys patrons themselves are not a monolithic stereotype of interchangeable vapid pretty girls and “big dumb dogs”. According to him, Cowboys is a wide cross-section of the population: men and women of every race, sexuality, and social strata. “That’s why we want to encourage a wide spectrum of people, of characters,” he explains, likening it to the idea of NYC’s legendary Studio 54 – a wide variety of gay, straight, odd, and beautiful people from every walk of life. That is what Vickers says Cowboys is today, and that’s what he especially wants the new Wednesday Industry Night and Gay Night to become. Wednesday nights have been Industry nights at Cowboys currently, but “...every third week – we’d like to see a drag show for entertainment. We think the public would like to see this. It’s a really fun thing to go watch.” He explained that his wife has been to the popular drag show put on in Inglewood, presumably at the Village Cantina, and thinks www.gaycalgary.com
that there are a lot of talented drag performers in this city who could provide fresh entertainment under the Cowboy’s roof. It would offer performers the opportunity to showcase their talents to a new and wider audience. As for teaming it up with Industry night, his experiences in other clubs as Vickers has travelled Canada and the United States is that the two make a good match. “Those Industry nights cater to a very strong gay and heterosexual crowd at the same time. That entails the tolerant kind of people who prefer that kind of room.” In his opinion it’s a great crowd with usually little headache – just people who want to have a good time. This was evident when, after the tour, the invited LGBT representatives had animated discussions brainstormed about the events that could work at Cowboys in tandem with, or in addition to, the Wednesday nights. The potential is huge, especially when discussing the future plans for Cowboys. “We have this big entertainment place that we’re opening upstairs,” Vickers explained. According to him, it will be a live venue and convention facility with an estimated capacity of up to 3000 patrons. At the moment, he says, they are working out some engineering issues, but, “our hopes are to shortly start construction...” And as a live venue, expect to see a wide variety of artists. “Expect Brazilian Rock N’Roll one day to Alice Cooper the next to Country to Cirque du Soleil, whatever goes on...” This is in addition to the other aforementioned on-site attractions: Cowboys, the casino and restaurants. Melrose has already partnered with PLE to offer a restaurant inside the casino, and soon a Zen8 sushi bar will follow. The exciting part is that Cowboys is on the leading edge of long term plans for the future development of Stampede Park. The area beside Cowboys is slated for more restaurants and bars to be built over the next several years. “Basically the City of Calgary and the Stampede would like to see this become the entertainment row for Calgary, and I love the idea.” Yet having a nightclub teamed with a casino has unique rules, one which may impact those showing up in drag or otherwise in costume. As the entrance for Cowboys is through the casino, there are very strict legalities about being able to match a person with 100% certainty to their ID. This is not unique to Cowboys, as Vickers tells us. “You cannot come into any casino in North America with your identity concealed.” This rule exists to protect establishments from robberies or other illegal activities - much like a bank would have a major problem with you walking in wearing a mask or disguise. So even during Halloween, masks and/or makeup may need to be removed before entering. Happily, Cowboys can compensate by being accommodating in other ways: “...we’re going to give [performers] access to specific dressing rooms to dress up... and [if] we’ve got a customer...we can make special access to go and get dressed up there as well.” Drag performers and patrons can walk around inside of Cowboys, and can leave in drag when they are ready. However, if in drag, they must leave directly out of Cowboys and not stop in the casino. Unfortunately, this also means smoke breaks could be a hassle, as the same rules apply for re-entry. Some members of the LGBT community may worry about their safety in a place like Cowboys because of “straight bar” stereotypes. Cowboys, and even Vickers to a certain degree, have a larger than life reputation here in Calgary, not all of which is necessarily based in fact. Vickers wants to reassure us that we are as welcome and respected as any other customers. His basic rules for both patrons and staff are, “...no bad behaviour, no drugs, no organized crime. We don’t let any of those three things go on in our business. Our temperament, our tolerance is for everyone. Anybody who would try to harm, disrespect – from a staff or customer standpoint – is not tolerated.” He stresses, “We don’t allow anybody to single out any person because of their ethnicity, their social stature, their
personal tastes, dislikes...that’s not something we’re going to be accepting of.” So often we forget it’s not just us standing up for ourselves - we are also supported by our straight allies. From what Vickers tells us, he has been an ally to LGBT people for many years, and working with the LGBT community continues to be a goal of his. Even if that doesn’t sway you, then hopefully you can be reassured that as the owner of a high profile nightclub/casino in a new facility; as a businessman working in corporate Calgary and serving corporate clientele (including interests besides PLE); as a person working for over 25 years in an industry where a large portion of workers tend to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender; Vickers knows that estranging customers for trivial reasons is poor business in the long run. “Dancing and having fun...that’s pretty much what we’re selling,” he says, with the door to Cowboys and other PLE venues open. The question is now, what can Calgary’s LGBT community make of these opportunities?
www.gaycalgary.com
Cowboys Nightclub 421 12th Ave SE, Calgary Contact: Scarlet Lee 403-264-7111 ext. 288 http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3139
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GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
43
JUST A GIGOLO
Junior Stellano, professional Escort
By Mark Gray Junior Stellano was just 18-years-old when, on a bet, he stepped into a tattoo parlor in New Orleans and was forever branded with the tiny heart on his right butt cheek that has become his trademark. “My friends all knew my father would kill me if I got a tattoo,” he remembers. “They dared me to do it and I was so trashed (on alcohol), I did. My father saw it and laughed his ass off. A few years later my Dad, brother and I all got tattoos together.” Sadly, his father passed away in 2003 and due to an unusual set of circumstances, his death lead to Stellano joining Rentboy. com. Surprisingly to some, he calls escorting the best thing that ever happened to him. He made lots of money, it lead to him becoming a star of (strip) stage and (adult) screen, and most recently, he was chosen to grace the cover of the website’s annual calendar. So why did the world’s leading gigolo announce this month that he is leaving the escorting biz? Our inquiring minds needed to know. GC: Why do you think Rentboy.com chose you as their 2013 calendar boy? JS: There are thousands of guys out there who are better looking than me so I’d like to think I was chosen for my winning personality. GC: Are you “Just a Gigolo”? JS: There is way more to me than that. I earned my MBA and have worked corporate jobs since I graduated from grad school. GC: How did you get into escorting? JS: My father was a successful businessman and when he passed away a few years ago, my family ended up in a legal battle where all our assets were frozen. I didn’t make enough money 44
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
at my 9-5 to see my family through the tough time, so I pimped myself out and it turned out to be the best thing I have ever done. GC: Becoming an escort was the best thing you ever did? JS: It brought the world to my doorstep and opened so many opportunities. When clients realized there was more to me then “just a gigolo”, they treated me with respect and I was able to work with a higher-class client base. Then after I became an international porn model, the Junior Stellano brand went into over-drive. I had my family’s back covered and then some. GC: Why have you decided to retire from the biz? JS: I landed an amazing job in fashion and was recently promoted to VP. Rentboy.com opened the door but the rest was all me. Also, my family’s difficult financial situation ended and we came out on top. My father would have been proud. My family and our future are secure once again. But I do miss being a rent boy. GC: What would you like people to know about the rent boy profession? JS: People should know rent boys are not sex machines or toys. We are people with feelings and emotions. There are escorts who have bright futures ahead of them. Like myself, many are educated and come from good homes and were taught morals and manners and are using Rentboy.com as a stepping-stone to bigger things. Some are escorting because of the poor economic situation in our country. GC: Can anyone be a rent boy? JS: It takes a certain type of guy to do what we do. It’s not easy to separate work from play. Clients should also know hardworking rent boys are not out to con, rob or hurt them in any way. They just want to put food on the table. GC: How has the escort business fared in this down economy? JS: Sex sells. I had clients on unemployment hire me. www.gaycalgary.com
GC: Would you ever pay for a rent boy? JS: It’s funny you should ask that question and I am surprised you did. Yes! I have paid for many escorts, and trust me they are very happy when they walk in my door. GC: Who is someone you have paid for? JS: I have so my many good friends in the business from all over the world, so that’s a question I can’t answer. I have my privacy too. GC: Are you single? JS: Now that escorting is over and my life is about family and career, I have started to date again. I recently met someone special. I’m not sure I was ever really in love before because I have never felt the feelings I feel now. I think I’m in love. GC: How does he feel about your porn career? JS: He’s okay with a few more years of me making porn. It takes a mature, secure, real man to see past such things. My man loves me and he is proud of me and proud to be with me. GC: What are you most looking forward to in 2013? JS: I look forward to seeing where my new relationship will take me. I look forward to getting back to work with some of my favorite porn studios and making some awesome new movies and I look forward to being the best VP my company has ever had.
Rentboy.com’s 2013 GIGOLO Calendar http://www.rentboy.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3140
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Photography ARGRA Pool Party, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa344
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Photography Medicine Hat Pride http://gaycalgary.com/pa341
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Photography Aids Calgary Aids Walk http://gaycalgary.com/pa343
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Photography HIV Edmonton Aids Walk http://gaycalgary.com/pa345
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Photography The Junction Closing Party, Edmonton http://gaycalgary.com/pa342
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Directory & Events 24
DOWNTOWN CALGARY
43 41 37 34
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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
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---------------------------------- ✰ 209 - 10th Ave SW 403-265-5211 Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close
Calgary Eagle Inc. (CLOSED)
424a - 8th Ave SE
Club Sapien (CLOSED)
1140 10th Ave SW
FAB (CLOSED)
1742 - 10th Ave SW 5 Texas Lounge------------------------------ ✰ 308 - 17 Ave SW 403-229-0911 www.goliaths.ca Open 7 days a week, 11am-close 33 Twisted Element--------------------------- ✰ 1006 - 11th Ave SW 403-802-0230 www.twistedelement.ca Dance Club and Lounge.
58 Theatre Junction--------------------- Theatre 59 Village Bistro-----------------Bars and Clubs
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 members with well-organized and fun sporting events and other activities.
• Western Cup 31
www.westerncup.com
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
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
55
Directory & Events Mosaic Youth Group-------------------- 7-9pm
Womynspace---------------------------- 7-9pm
Sunday Services--------------------- 10:45am
Squash------------------------------ 7:30-9pm
New Directions-------------------------- 7-9pm
Worship Services------------------------- 11am
Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE)
Thursdays
Inside Out Youth Group---------------- 7-9pm
Heading Out----------------------- 8pm-10pm
Int/Comp Volleyball----------- 12:15-1:45pm
Lesbian Seniors--------------------------- 2pm
Rec Volleyball--------------------------- 7-9pm
Church Service---------------------------- 4pm
Alcoholics Anonymous-------------------- 8pm
Swim Practice (June)------------------- 5-6pm
Calgary Events
Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW)
Mondays
ASK Meet and Greet---------------- 7-9:30pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
Yoga----------------------------- 7:40-9:15pm See
Apollo Calgary
By
Apollo
May17Jun27
Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW
3rd
At 6 Goliaths
Calgary Networking Club-------------- 5-7pm
Swim Practice (June)------------ 7:30-8:30pm
1st
Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
2nd, 4th
Bootcamp--------------------------- 7-8:30pm See
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
Swim Practice (Jul/Aug)--------------- 7-8pm
By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)
JulAug
Bootcamp------------------------------- 7-8pm See
Apollo Calgary
Lesbian Meetup Group------------- 7:30-9pm At 1 Calgary Outlink
1st
Alcoholics Anonymous-------------------- 8pm Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
Karaoke-------------------------------- Evening At 3 Backlot
Communion Service----------------- 12:10pm See
By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)
Knox United Church
Pool Night----------------------------- Evening At 59 Village Bistro with
Prime Timers Calgary
Illusions------------------------------- 7-10pm See 1 Calgary Outlink
1st
6020 - 4 Avenue NE badminton@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
• Golf
golf@apollocalgary.com
• Lawn Bowling
lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com
• 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
4th
Apollo Calgary
See See See
Hillhurst United Church Knox United Church
Apollo Calgary
Rainbow Community Church
By Different Strokes SAIT Pool (1301 - 16 Ave NW)
Saturdays
Women’s Volleyball---------------- 7-8:30pm
Running----------------------------------- 9am By
Apollo
Coffee------------------------------------ 10am
See
Apollo Calgary
Tuesday, October 9th
Annual General Meeting--------------- 7-8pm
By Prime Timers Calgary Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW)
By Fairy Tales EMMEDIA Screening Room (351 – 11 Ave SW)
Curling------------------------- 2:20 & 4:30pm
Intimate Apparel
Alcoholics Anonymous-------------------- 8pm
Saturday, October 13th
See
Apollo Calgary
Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
Alberta Theatre Projects
Apr9Oct27
By ARGRA Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Str SW)
Worship Time---------------------------- 10am Deer Park United Church
Worship------------------------------ 10:30am See
By
Pirate & Princess Ball-------------------- 8pm
Sundays
November 2012
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown By
Alberta Theatre Projects
Nov22Dec30
Scarboro United Church
Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range/Future), = Sponsored Event
vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to 9+ minute miles.
• Slow Pitch
slow.pitch@apollocalgary.com
• Squash
Mount Royal University Recreation squash@apollocalgary.com All skill levels welcome.
Calgary Gay Fathers
Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre
calgaryfathers@hotmail.com http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning fathers. Meeting twice a month.
77 Deerpoint Road SE http://www.dpuc.ca
Different Strokes
FairyTales Presentation Society
http://www.calgarymenschorus.org
403-244-1956 http://www.fairytalesfilmfest.com Alberta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
• Rehearsals
• Tennis
Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW
• Volleyball (Beach)
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.
tennis@apollocalgary.com beachvb@apollocalgary.com
• Volleyball (Competitive) vb@apollocalgary.com
• Volleyball (Recreational) recvb@apollocalgary.com
• Yoga
Robin: 403-618-9642 yoga@apollocalgary.com
Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)
www.argra.org
• Monthly Dances----------------------------- Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association 1320 - 5th Avenue NW
Calgary Sexual Health Centre---------
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.
• 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
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
✰
1 Calgary Outlink---------------------------- ✰ Old Y Centre (303 – 223, 12 Ave SW) 403-234-8973 info@calgaryoutlink.ca http://www.calgaryoutlink.com
• Peer Support and Crisis Line
403-278-8263
http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org
Calgary Men’s Chorus
Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)
56
See
Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW
Calgary Contd. • Badminton (Absolutely Smashing)
3rd
See 1 Calgary Outlink
See
Fridays
2nd
See 1 Calgary Outlink
See
Buddy Night------------------------- 6pm-6am
Tuesdays See 1 Calgary Outlink
See 1 Calgary Outlink
• DVD Resource Library
Over a hundred titles to choose from. Annual membership is $10.
Gay Friends in Calgary
http://www.gayfriendsincalgary.ca Organizes and hosts social activities catered to the LGBT people and friends.
Girl Friends
girlfriends@shaw.ca members.shaw.ca/girlfriends
Girlsgroove
http://www.girlsgroove.ca
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 http://www.knoxunited.ab.ca
403-269-8382
www.gaycalgary.com
Directory & Events Calgary Contd. 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
Wild Rose United Church “Yeah...What She Said!” Radio Show
CJSW 90.9 FM yeahwhatshesaid@gmail.com
• Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre
1213 - 4th Str SW 403-955-6014 Sat-Thu: 4:15pm-7:45pm, Fri: Closed
• Coffee Night
Good Earth Cafe (1502 - 11th Street SW)
NETWORKS
networkscalgary@gmail.com A social, cultural, and service organization for the mature minded and “Plus 40” LGBT individuals seeking to meet others at age-appropriate activities within a positive, safe environment.
Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Sean: 403-695-5791 http://www.pflagcanada.ca A registered charitable organization that provides support, education and resources to parents, families and individuals who have questions or concerns about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Positive Space Committee
4825 Mount Royal Gate SW 403-440-6383 http://www.mtroyal.ca/positivespace Works to raise awareness and challenge the patterns of silence that continue to marginalize LGBTTQ individuals.
Pride Calgary Planning Committee
www.pridecalgary.ca
Primetimers Calgary
primetimerscalgary@gmail.com http://www.primetimerscalgary.com Designed to foster social interaction for its members through a variety of social, educational and recreational activities. Open to all gay and bisexual men of any age, respects whatever degree of anonymity that each member desires.
Queers on Campus---------------------
279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C 403-220-6394 http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students and Staff.
✰
• Coffee Night
2nd Cup, Kensington
Safety Under the Rainbow
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
www.gaycalgary.com
Howard McBride Chapel of Chimes 10179 - 108 Street bookworm@teamedmonton.ca
403-850-3755 Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am
Club Sapien (CLOSED)
Theatre & Fine Arts
FAB (CLOSED)
Buck Naked Boys Club
See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
36 ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects 403-294-7402 http://www.ATPlive.com
59 Village Bistro 2nd floor, 610 - 8 Avenue SE Restaurant and lounge.
107, 100 - 7 Ave SW rob@axisart.ca
AXIS Contemporary Art--------------------
Retail Stores
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
403-246-4134 (Rork Hilford) MarriageCommissioner@shaw.ca Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths. 24 Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors) 1138 Kensington Road NW 403-571-5120 http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca GLBT legal services.
Jubilations Dinner Theatre
Bow Trail and 37th St. SW 403-249-7799 www.jubilations.ca
37 Pumphouse Theatre------------------ 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW 403-263-0079 http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca
✰
Stagewest-------------------------------
✰
727 - 42 Avenue SE 403-243-6642 http://www.stagewestcalgary.com
DevaDave Salon & Boutique
Duncan’s Residential Cleaning
Jim Duncan: 403-978-6600 Residential cleaning. Free estimates.
Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)
403-461-9195 http://www.lornedoucette.com
EDMONTON Bars & Clubs 6 Buddy’s Nite Club------------------------- ✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6636 14 FLASH-------------------------------------- ✰ 10018 105 Street 780-938-2941 flashnightclub@hotmail.com
The Junction (CLOSED)
10242 106th St
Bathhouses/Saunas 11 Steamworks------------------------------- ✰ 11745 Jasper Ave 780-451-5554 http://www.steamworksedmonton.com
SafeWorks
Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing.
Edmonton Prime Timers
edmontonpt@yahoo.ca www.primetimersww.org/edmonton Group of older gay men and their admirers who come from diverse backgrounds but have common social interests. Affiliated with Prime Timers World Wide.
Edmonton Rainbow Business Association
3379, 11215 Jasper Ave 780-429-5014 http://www.edmontonrba.org Primary focus is the provision of networking opportunities for LGBT owned or operated and LGBT-friendly businesses in the Edmonton region.
Edmonton Illusions Social Club
5 The Junction 780-387-3343 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions 4 Edmonton STD 11111 Jasper Ave
Edmonton Vocal Minority
780-479-2038 www.evmchoir.com
sing@evmchoir.com
GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club
780-474-8240
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
12 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557
MFM Communications
403-543-6970 1-877-543-6970 http://www.mfmcommunications.com Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware and software.
✰
34 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------------------ 161, 115 - 9 Ave SE 403-221-3708 http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com
403-777-9494 trial code 3500 http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY. 810 Edmonton Trail NE 403-290-1973 Cuts, Colour, Hilights.
Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)
35 One Yellow Rabbit------------------------- Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE 403-299-8888 www.oyr.org
Cruiseline
Camp fYrefly
http://www.edmontonpride.ca
43 Lisa Heinricks (Artist)--------------------- Art Central, 100 7th Ave SW, lower level http://www.creamydreamy.com
58 Theatre Junction---------------------- Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW 403-205-2922 info@theatrejunction.com http://www.theatrejunction.com
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. 7-104 Dept. of Educational Policy Studies Faculty of Education, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5 http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca
See Calgary - Community Groups.
✰
140, 58th Ave SW 403-258-2777 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys.
305 10th Street NW http://www.thenakedleaf.ca Organic teas and tea ware.
403-262-3356 www.axisart.ca
Fairytales
Adult Depot-----------------------------
AltView Foundation
#44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB 403-398-9968 info@altview.ca www.altview.ca For gender variant and sexual minorities.
Book Worm’s Book Club
• Safeworks Van
See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
mystiquesocialclub@yahoo.com Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and up but all are welcome.
www.beefbearbash.com
Room 201, 420 - 9th Ave SE 403-410-1180 Mon-Fri: 1pm-5pm
See Calgary - Bars and Clubs.
Mystique
Alberta Bears
• Centre of Hope
1317-1st Street NW
Calgary Eagle Inc. (CLOSED)
The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) For queer and trans youth and their allies.
Community Groups
Room 117, 423 - 4th Ave SE 403-699-8216 Mon-Fri: 9am-12pm, Sat: 12:15pm-3:15pm
Restaurants
• Fake Mustache • Mosaic Youth Group
403-797-6564
• Calgary Drop-in Centre
Unity Bowling
Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE) sundayunity@live.com
#50, 9912 - 106 Street 780-423-3737 http://www.facebook.com/LivingPoz Living Positive through Positive Living.
Men’s Games Nights
Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) 780-474-8240 tuff@shaw.ca
OUTreach
University of Alberta, basement of SUB outreach@ualberta.ca http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
57
Directory & Events DOWNTOWN EDMONTON
11 6 12
N
4 14
4 Edmonton STD---------- Community Groups 6 Buddy’s Nite Club------------Bars and Clubs
Edmonton Events Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm Team Edmonton
TTIQ------------------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
1st, 3rd
HIV Support Group--------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
2nd
QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Martial Arts--------------------- 7:30-8:30pm Team Edmonton
Swim Practice------------------- 7:30-8:30pm See
Team Edmonton
Martial Arts--------------------- 7:30-8:30pm
Bowling----------------------------------- 5pm
Knotty Knitters-------------------------- 6-8pm
Intermediate Volleyball-------- 7:30-9:30pm
Sundays
QH Craft Night-------------------------- 6-8pm
Fridays
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
GLBTQ Bowling------------------ 1:30-3:30pm GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club
QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Sports/Recreation----------------- 4pm See 1 Youth Understanding Youth
See See
Team Edmonton Team 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. robwells780@hotmail.com Support & social group for gay & bisexual men to discuss current issues.
58
Running------------------------------ 10-11am See
Team Edmonton
QH Anime Night------------------------ 6-8pm
Men Talking with Pride---------------- 7-9pm
Movie Night----------------------------- 6-9pm
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
Youth Sports/Recreation----------------- 4pm
QH Game Night------------------------ 6-8pm
Saturdays
Cycling--------------------------- 6:30-7:30pm See
Team Edmonton
Yoga--------------------------------- 7:30-8pm Team Edmonton
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Youth Understanding Youth
Swim Practice--------------------------- 7-8pm See
Team Edmonton
Women’s Social Circle------------------ 6-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
2nd, 4th
Book Club----------------------------- 7:30pm See
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Thursdays
See
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
BookWorm’s Book Club
3rd
See See
Men’s Games Nights
2nd, Last
Youth Understanding Youth
Team Edmonton
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See
Team Edmonton
Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) See Edmonton Primetimers
2nd
Sunday, October 14th
Annual General Meeting------------- 12-2pm
Naturalist Gettogether See
See
Buck Naked Boys Club
2nd
QH Youth Drop-in------------------ 2-6:30pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
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) Saturday, October 27th
AGM & Dance
By Womonspace Bellevue Hall (7308 112 Avenue)
Legend: = Monthly Reoccurrance, = Date (Range), = Sponsored Event
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group.
• Men Talking with Pride
Team Edmonton
Yoga--------------------------------- 2-3:30pm
Edmonton Contd.
Pride Centre of Edmonton-------------
See
QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Wednesdays See
Counseling---------------------- 5:30-8:30pm
See
Tuesdays
See
14 FLASH-------------------------Bars and Clubs
See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton
Mondays See
11 Steamworks----------------------Bathhouses 12 Woody’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs
• Movie Night
Movie Night is open to everyone! Come over and sit back, relax, and watch a movie with us.
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.
• Curling with Pride
• Queer HangOUT: Game Night
• Badminton (Mixed)
• Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders)
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.
Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton
780-474-8240 tuff@shaw.ca
Team Edmonton
president@teamedmonton.ca http://www.teamedmonton.ca Members are invited to attend and help determine the
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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
• Blazin’ Bootcamp
Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW curling@teamedmonton.ca Dawson Park, picnic shelter cycling@teamedmonton.ca
• Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons) dragonboat@teamedmonton.ca
• Golf
golf@teamedmonton.ca
• Gymnastics, Drop-in
Ortona Gymnastics Club, 8755 - 50 Avenue gymnastics@teamedmonton.ca Have the whole gym to yourselves and an instructor to help you achieve your individual goals. Cost is $5.00 per session.
Garneau Elementary School 10925 - 87 Ave bootcamp@teamedmonton.ca
• Hockey
• Bowling (Northern Titans)
15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance) 780-328-6414 kungfu@teamedmonton.ca kickboxing@teamedmonton.ca Drop-ins welcome.
Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall) bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.
• Cross Country Skiing
crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca
hockey@teamedmonton.ca
• Martial Arts
• Outdoor Pursuits
outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca
www.gaycalgary.com
Directory & Events Red Deer Events Wednesdays
LGBT Coffee Night------------------------ 7pm See
CAANS
1st
Edmonton Contd. • Running (Arctic Frontrunners)
Kinsmen Sports Centre running@teamedmonton.ca All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to join this free activity.
• Slo Pitch
Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave slo-pitch@teamedmonton.ca Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players from the 2008 season.
• Snowballs V
January 27-29, 2012 snowballs@teamedmonton.ca Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend.
• Soccer
soccer@teamedmonton.ca
• Spin
MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness 109 St. and 104 Ave Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm Season has ended. spin@teamedmonton.ca 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant.
• Swimming (Making Waves) NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street) swimming@teamedmonton.ca www.makingwavesswimclub.ca
• Tennis
Kinsmen Sports Centre Sundays, 12pm-3pm tennis@teamedmonton.ca
• Ultimate Frisbee
Sundays Summer Season starts July 12th ultimatefrisbee@teamedmonton.ca E-mail if interested.
• Volleyball, Intermediate
Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road) volleyball@teamedmonton.ca
• Volleyball, Recreational
Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave) recvolleyball@teamedmonton.ca
• Women’s Lacrosse
Sharon: 780-461-0017 Pam: 780-436-7374 Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome. Call for info.
• Yoga
Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street) yoga@teamedmonton.ca
Womonspace
780-482-1794 womonspace@gmail.com www.womonspace.ca Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.
Youth Understanding Youth
780-248-1971 www.yuyedm.ca A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.
www.gaycalgary.com
• Sports and Recreation
Brendan: 780-488-3234 brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org
Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S) Bring your membership card and photo ID.
• Monthly Potluck Dinners
Restaurants The Junction (Closed)----------------------
10242 106th St
• Monthly Dances
780-756-5667
12 Woody’s------------------------------------ ✰ 11725 Jasper Ave 780-488-6557
Retail Stores Passion Vault
15239 - 111 Ave 780-930-1169 pvault@telus.net “Edmonton’s Classiest Adult Store”
Products & Services Cruiseline
780-413-7122 trial code 3500 http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.
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.
McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your own beverage.
• Support Line
403-308-2893 Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm Leave a message any other time.
• Friday Mixer
The Mix (green water tower) 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S Every Friday at 10pm
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
LETHBRIDGE Community Groups GALA/LA
403-308-2893 http://www.galalethbridge.ca Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area.
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
lethbridgepridefest@gmail.com
RED DEER Community Groups
Theatre & Fine Arts
ALBERTA Community Groups Alberta Trans Support/Activities Group
http://www.albertatrans.org A nexus for transgendered persons, regardless of where they may be on the continuum.
Theatre & Fine Arts
Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA)
University of Lethbridge GBLTTQQ club on campus.
Pride on Campus
rdcprideoncampus@gmail.com A group of LGBTQ persons and Allies at Red Deer College.
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.
Alberta Ballet
http://www.albertaballet.com Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton.
CANADA Community Groups Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition
P..O. Box 3043, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S9 (306) 955-5135 1-800-955-5129 http://www.rainbowhealth.ca
Egale Canada
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.
Products & Services Squirt
http://www.squirt.org Website for dating and hook-ups. 18+ ONLY!
Theatre & Fine Arts Broadway Across Canada
http://www.broadwayacrosscanada.ca
OUTtv
http://www.outtv.ca GLBT Television Station.
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.
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
59
Classifieds Announcements
100
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
Obituary
170
Daren John Hickey Dec 8, 1968 to Oct 1, 2012
buying him drinks and asking for his number. Where ever Daren went he was the “life of the party” He loved to meet people and they certainly loved him back. Daren was naturally good at so many things. He a variety of jobs, which always made look beautiful and effortless. But he loved the many art galleries throughout Calgary, notiably the Manager of the former Walker Hill Lifestyles from Bankers Hall and later Visual Display at the presitigous Rubaiyat Gallery of Calgary. Daren leaves behind a partner, Cordell Hodder, of NFld. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Cordel and all the Hickey’s. For the loss of our wonderful brother, friend, partner. Have a drink for Daren, he would certainly have one with you. “Cheers” There was no one like Daren and he will certainly be missed. Love Always your friend Victor and all your friends all over the world, but especially the calgary guys.
Wedding/Union
190
Welcoming the Gay Community to WILD BILLS DJ SERVICES
Employment
Cowboys is seeking part-time staff, including: bartenders, bussers, bouncers, DJs, door staff, drag queens/kings, and other entertainment. Please contact Scarlet at 403-264-7111 ext. 288 for more info.
Audition
It is with the greatest sadness we annouce the sudden passing of Daren, aka (The Big D) due to heart attack, in St. Johns, Nf. He was born in Baie Verte, NewFoundland; to a large wonderful Catholic family with 7 children. Daren has many neices and nephews, He was the favorite uncle of them all. The family moved to Sparwood BC, where Daren grew up. When Daren was 18 he moved to Lethbridge before moving to Calgary in 1990. He loved art, paint, sculpture, shoes, fashion, music, dancing and was a master at billiards. (he couldnt be beat! and if you did beat him by chance, he would buy you a drink!) He loved travel and was nicknamed, “Paris Hilton” in mazatlan cuz he had such style and taste for the good life. Daren had a wonderful smile and Charm. A wonderful belly Laugh with a wicked sense of humor, always with a great joke. He always had many a fellows
• Music From 6pm to 1am. • Corded Microphone or Cordless • No embarrassment, private and very discreet • Lights included • 23 YEARS EXPERIENCE AS A DJ http://www.wildbillsdjservices.com
Adult Oriented
210
The Producer of The Great Canadian Male will be in Calgary to recruit models for our website. We are looking for Gay, Bi, Straight but Curious and First Timers between the ages of 19 - 50. Models will be selected to appear in future episodes on our website. Compensation is $300 per shoot. Obtain an application by email to applications@thegreatcanadianmale. com You can call for further information Monday to Friday after 5 PM and any time on the weekends 403-536-6990. Interview slots will fill up quickly!
215
Gay Talent Wanted Beauty & Mayhem Production Agency is are looking for Gay Talent to perform in Adult entertainment Productions. Call Pj @ 403 826 2670 E-mail: pj@beautymayhem.ca www.xxxbmpa.com
Help Wanted
240
Antique
305
Alberta Aviation Museum, 11410 Kingsway Ave., Edmonton, AB. November 2-3, 2012. Friday 2-8 P.M.& Saturday 10-4 P.M. $5.00 Admission. Free Parking. Over 120 tables of Pop Culture, Vintage Clothing, Advertising Collectibles, Shabby Chic, Antique Furniture, Militaria, Jewelry, Petroliana, Art Glass, Vintage Toys, Fine China, Records, Sports Memorabilia, Coins & Stamps, Watches, Comics, Buttons & Linens and so much more!
Erotic Massage
420
UltimateMaleMassage.com
Sales Rep Wanted GayCalgary Magazine is looking for a part time sales rep. Income by commission, sales experience required. Duties include contacting new advertisers and maintaining existing customers. Contact Steve at sales@gaycalgary.com.
Volunteer We supply music up to a total of 7 hours.
210
285
CJSW 90.9 FM Volunteer!!!
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. You’ll be signed up to attend an orientation, and from there you can help us keep CJSW awesome. E-mail Geneviève, our Office and Volunteer Coordinator at office@cjsw.com, or call (403) 220-3902 to find out more!
Best Erotic Male Massage In Calgary • Studio with free parking• Deep Tissue and Relaxation • Licensed, Professional • Video on website 403-680-0533 mike@ultimatemalemassage.com
Models/Escorts
460
Alberta Escort Listings
Check out www.Squirt.org for the Hot Escorts in Calgary, Edmonton, and the rest of Alberta. New Improved Features. Free to Post and Browse. Videos, Pics, and Reviews. Join Now! Code: GCEE
Ads starting at $10/mo. for the first 20 words. Submit yours at http://www.gaycalgary.com/classifieds 60
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
www.gaycalgary.com
Products/Services 500 Drink Container Recycling I presently provide bottle pickup services for many local businesses. People with active lives have little time to do this. I am willing to help, I ask 50% for the service. I am hopeing to proqure 3 to 6 more local businesses. Home pickup can also be arranged. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Glen at 4038046471 glengrobinson3@hotmail.com
CHURCH OF TECHNO – E-book Collection Esoteric/Fringe and Occult Library $50 for 1700 Ebooks – Easy Download Process- PDF format.
Consulting
Do You Need a Computer Hero?
Rork Hilford MC, Commissioner for Oaths. MarriageCommissioner@shaw.ca | 403246-4134
www.gaycalgary.com
Want to attract the LGBT local or traveler to your business?
On-site home and business computer service. 15yrs experience. Certified, insured, BBB member. GLBT Owned. Friendly & respectful service. Call 403-444-0700, Calgary & Area.
Travel
600
Visit the Caribbean Rainbow Style 7-Days of Fun and Sun. From $582.41 cdn p.p. (Air Aditional) http://www.rainbowexplorations.ca
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. (403) 258 2777
Health
550
Email: tarotpsychic@gmail.com for info.
Marriage Ceremonies
527
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? Local, Domestic, International, We can assist. Check us out at http://blueflameventures.ca, Email us at info@blueflameventures.ca, Call us at 604-369-1472. Based in Alberta.
Massage
560
Massage in Edmonton
Registered Massage Therapist in downtown Edmonton. Relaxation and therapeutic massage. For appointment phone Dwayne at 780-483-3190 or 780-918-5856
Premium organic medical marihuana shipped quickly, discreetly to your door. www.mycm.ca
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
61
Q Scopes Be helpful, Leo!
Saturn entering Scorpio alleviates some social conservatism and spells trouble for plutocrats. Mars, Venus, and Mercury all changing signs at the same time will help people develop strategies to make sure of that.
ARIES (March 20–April 19): Think carefully about your life’s
goals. Your ruler Mars entering Sagittarius makes you more open and impulsive, but reality and disappointment will slap back at you. You can handle it. Exercise foresight, responsibility and compassion.
TAURUS (April 20–May 20): To clarify questions about the future, grasp the creative challenges of today. Hard work brings focus. Don’t do it alone. Asking your partner or a friend to help can help improve a relationship – or end a bad one. GEMINI (May 21–June 20): Get to work! While energy is
high, clear the decks, set goals and build momentum. When you hit a wall, ask your boss or an authority in your field for help. The answer need not make logical sense, but practice should clarify it.
CANCER (June 21–July 22): Living up to your promises is
largely a matter of managing your moods. Friends want to help if you only give them a chance. Take time to be alone so you can charge up and be ready to dig in.
LEO (July 23–August 22): Focusing your energy into
house cleaning or community affairs will make you a force to be reckoned with. Don’t reckon wrong. Your challenge is to listen to others, to really hear what they need. Be helpful, not meddlesome.
VIRGO (August 23–September 22): Nice or nasty? Venus brings charm and grace to your sign. You’ll need it with other planets giving you a hard critical edge that could easily misfire. As always, focus your critical brilliance on yourself before sharing it with others.
LIBRA (September 23–October 22): Life in general will get
a little easier, but finances continue to be a problem. Helping others who have it worse will help you keep perspective. Take time alone to prioritize your goals and time with friends to vent your frustrations.
SCORPIO (October 23–November 21): The real world
is dragging you out of yourself but doesn’t look all that real. To stay oriented, keep your priorities in mind and your wallet in your pocket. Bring your creative and empathetic insights into practical application.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 20): Of course friends will disappoint you. They’re only human and you’re not exactly perfect, either! Sort through your negativity alone or do something charitable to lift yourself out of it. Your positive energy will return soon.
CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19): Your ruler,
Saturn, entering Scorpio takes you past a career peak into twoand-a-half years of winnowing your friends to those you really value and trust. The future looks bleaker than it is, but you’re enduring and resourceful. Time is always on your side.
AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18): Your ruler, Saturn, entering the top of your chart signals a two-and-a-half year career peak. Work hard and shine! Don’t let promises of success tempt you to extravagances. Money continues to be uncertain, but with time you’ll learn to manage in the new economy.
PISCES (February 19–March 19): Home is an uncertain
respite from the world’s troubles if your problems won’t leave your head. As worries come into clearer focus, so can solutions. Accept kind encouragements from others even if they seem fuzzy and meaningless. The late Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977 taught at the Online College of Astrology. Due to his recent passing, this is the final QScopes column. 62
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
www.gaycalgary.com
www.gaycalgary.com
GayCalgary Magazine #108, October 2012
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