GayCalgary Magazine - April 2016

APRIL 2016

® ISSUE 148 • FREE The Voice of Alberta’s LGBTQ Community

Steve Grand

moving beyond ‘All-American Boy’

Interview with

GWEN STEFANI

Brandon Routh

Out of One Suit, Into Another

PLUS:

Alan Cumming • Solosexual Unique Inner World of Cosplay Mr. GayCanada 2016 - Derek Bedry ...and more!

Business Directory

Billy Santoro

Scan to Read on Mobile Devices

Community Map

Calgary • Alberta • Canada

Events Calendar

One Million Served?

Tourist Information

STARTING ON PAGE 63

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GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

www.gaycalgary.com

Table of Contents

APRIL 2016

®

Videography Photography Steve Polyak

Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, B&J Sales Steve Polyak Videography sales@gaycalgary.com Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino

Legal Council

Courtney Aarbo,Printers Barristers and Solicitors North Hill News/Central Web

General Inquiries

® GayCalgary Magazine Distribution 2136 17th Avenue SW Calgary: Gallant Distribution Calgary,GayCalgary AB, CanadaStaff T2T 0G3 magazine@gaycalgary.com Edmonton: Clark’s Distribution Other: Canada Post

Office Hours: By appointment ONLY Legal403-543-6960 Council Phone: Courtney and Solicitors Toll Aarbo, Free: Barristers 1-888-543-6960 Fax: 403-703-0685 Salesmagazine@gaycalgary.com & General Inquiries E-Mail:

GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine This Month's Cover 2136 17th Avenue SW Main: Gwen Stefani,

by Jamie Nelson. Top Calgary,photo AB, Canada Right: Steve Grand,T2T photo 0G3by Christopher Free.

Mid Right: Brandon Routh, photo Courtesy of BellMedia.

Bottom Right: Billy Santoro, photo by Office Hours: By appointment ONLY Steve Polyak GayCalgary Magazine Phone: 403-543-6960 Toll Free: 1-888-543-6960 Fax: 403-703-0685 E-Mail: magazine@gaycalgary.com

This Month's Cover Cher and Christina Aguilera courtesy of Sony Pictures; Annie Lennox courtesy of Mike Owen; Goudie. of: ProudRexMembers

Proud Members of:

Jasper Pride for the 7th year, knocks it out of the park

11 VIDEO - Walking with the Stars

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Mercedes Carey Allen, Rutherford, Chris Azzopardi, Chris Azzopardi, DallasDave Barnes, Dave Brousseau, Brousseau, LisaSam Lunney, Casselman, Mars Tonic, JasonOriol Clevett, R. Andrew GutierrezCollins, Jr., Romeo EmilySan Collins, Vicente, Rob Steve Diaz-Marino, Polyak, Janine and theEva LGBT Trotta, Community Jack Fertig, of Calgary, Glen Hanson, Edmonton, Joan Hilty, Evan Kayne,and Stephen Alberta.

Lock, Neil McMullen, Allan Neuwirth, Steve Polyak, Carey Rutherford, Romeo San Vicente, Ed Sikov, Nick Vivian and Photography the GLBT Community of Calgary, Edmonton, and Steve Polyak, Jeff & Brian Alberta.

Words from the Publisher

Tips and Tricks from the Unique Inner World of Cosplay

14 Derek Bedry Mr Gay World? Yeah he is!

17 Positive Thoughts - Young at Heart

Why we need to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among young people

20 Stepper Custom Homes

Celebrating 60 Years of Innovative Business

PAGE 14

Writers and Contributors

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24 Deep Inside Hollywood

Paul Rudd, Guy Pearce, James Franco, ‘I Love Dick’

26 Brandon Routh

e

Out of One Suit, Into Another

30 Gwen Stefani SpeakszHer in (Gay) ‘Truth’ ga

a m

Pop star talks sharing a queer posse with boyfriend Blake Shelton, The Danish Girl and her gay support system

36 In Good Company

Alan Cumming on sappy songs, bisexuality and his proudest moments

PAGE 26

Publisher Publisher: & Editor: SteveSteve Polyak Polyak Copy Editor: Editor: RobJanine Diaz-Marino Eva-Trotta Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: Rob Diaz-Marino, Steve Polyak Ara Shimoon

41 Boy Problems

Steve Grand talks new music, touchy-feely fans and moving beyond ‘All-American Boy’

46 VIDEO - Billy Santoro: Fast Porn Nation

International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association

One Million Served?

National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

Gay European Tourism Association

PAGE 30

Edmonton Rainbow Business Association

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GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

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Table of Contents  Continued From Previous Page ®

49 Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator

PAGE 36

Exploring Bateworld.com and the book about being Solosexual

Magazine Figures Monthly Online Magazine Readership:

Combined total of PDF and ISSUU Downloads/Reads –100,000 copies

53 Queer Eye

Total Readership of PDF/ISSUU/WEB

59 A Couple of Guys

Readers Per Copy: 4.9 (PMB) Avg. Online Circulation: 310,000 readers Estimated Total Readership: >319,800 readers Frequency: Monthly

60 News Releases 63 Directory and Events

Proof of monthly figures are available on request.

68 Classified Ads

PAGE 41

History

a m

PAGE 46

Scan for this Issue:

e n zi

ga

Scan for Latest Issue:

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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.

http://www.gaycalgary.com/RSS Articles • Recent News • Prize Draws • Events • Travel Info

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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.

February 2013, GayCalgary® becomes a registered trademark. December 2014/ January 2015 is the last print edition.

February 2015 is the first digital only edition.

Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

GayCalgary® is a registered trademark.

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Editorial

Words from the Publisher Jasper Pride for the 7th year, knocks it out of the park

By Steve Polyak It always impresses me what Jasper Pride is able to pull off every year; this year was no different. I arrived on Thursday afternoon using a shuttle service from Calgary. Rob and Justin could not leave on Thursday, so they headed out at 4am Friday morning to make it in time for the Ice Canyon Walk. Justin, who is 28, had not really gone out to gay bars. This was first time to a gay pride in his life, so he was extremely excited to attend events and check the town of Jasper out. It was refreshing to see something Rob and I have attended for a number of years through a fresh set of eyes.

While Rob and Justin were tackling Ice Canyon, I got an amazing tour of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, who had arranged jaw-dropping accommodations for the three of us for the weekend. The weather was great. The snow was mostly melted around the townsite, but the slopes still had perfect skiing conditions; Rob did get some snowboarding done on Saturday. The dance, which was also at Jasper Park Lodge, had about 750 people in attendance, which was 100 more than last year. Jasper Pride is definitely showing that they are still growing in attendance year after year.

This Pride, a new event was added: LumBEARjack Party, at the Whistle Stop Pub, was a complete success. In conjunction with the Fab Albearta Bear group, the event was extremely well attended and looks like it will be a yearly addition. Even with the expanded amount of events Jasper hosted this year, most of the events were either sold out or very well attended.

ď ° Jasper Pride 2016, photo by GayCalgary Magazine The other cool thing is that as you are walking throughout Jasper, you find that many businesses are creating products for Pride: Jasper Pride Coffee, Beer, Fudge and more; plus participation with 20 businesses who have brandished their front windows with rainbows. The main road in Jasper, Connaught Ave, had 83 rainbow banners hanging too.

You also feel part of a family, where your mom keeps telling you to eat. Every day there is an invitation to eat food at an event during Jasper Pride. I have never seen any Pride organization that has consistently figured out how to make sure people are fed and food keeps coming, never running out. This is definitely a good thing since, when you are

Continued on Next Page ď‚„

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 From Previous Page running around to so many different places throughout the day to participate in activities, you sometimes forget to eat. There have been Pride weekends where Rob has actually needed to remind me to eat something after realizing I had not had anything to eat all day and it was 2am. At least I have some ‘body reserves’ in place to keep me going for a while, as long as I have water to drink. It also helps showcase what Jasper Pride partners have to offer for food through the year. Check out the photos at http://www.gaycalgary.com/pa1128.

Apollo Western Cup This year, Apollo Western Cup had a new host hotel: the Hyatt in downtown Calgary. The venue change was a great test run for them.

With the 35th Anniversary of Apollo Western Cup to happen in 2017, they were able to test out new high-end lighting and sound system for the dance, which looked great! The attendance was a little down due to another major volleyball tournament on the same weekend happening in Vancouver, and also the last minute cancellation of dodgeball. But plans are in the works to include additional sports for 2017. Even though numbers were down, you really did not notice it, and the larger venue will be able to easily handle the additional participants next year. Check out the photos at http://www.gaycalgary.com/pa1129.

Alberta’s Next Drag Superstar Alberta’s Next Drag Superstar finale is happening at Evolution Nightclub on April 15th. Talent queens from Calgary and Edmonton have competed in events over the last couple of months, so you will see the best of the best performing, with guest Jackie Beat. Who will be crowned Alberta’s Next Drag Superstar? Every year, the drag queens competing work on out-doing each other in their performances, and they put out some really amazing outfits and chorography. If you want to see some of the best queens perform all in one night, this will be the event to see it at.

Opening of Backwards I know it starts sounding like a broken record, but they are opening; it has just been delayed some more. Backwards has been posting photos so that people can see that progress that has been made; they are just constantly running into issues outside of their control. So the next time someone complains ‘why doesn’t someone open up a gay bar’, you can see that it is not easy.

Comic Expo At end of April is the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which runs from Thursday April 28th to Sunday May 1st. This is the biggest event that GayCalgary sponsors. They have over 100,000 people in attendance and it is the second largest Comic Expo in Canada after Toronto. The event fills the buildings on the Stampede Grounds beyond even what the Calgary Stampede does every year (other than when there is a downpour and people outside are looking for shelter). The parade is the third largest parade in Calgary too, just after the Stampede Parade and the Calgary Pride Parade.

GayCalgary has been a proud Media Partner and a Sponsor since 2008. The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo has been an amazing experience for us, and the crowds have been really friendly towards the LGBTQ Community. With people attending the Expo dressing up in cosplay, it feels like Halloween comes twice a year. They do have an amazing ‘Expo Equality Policy” in place, which makes sure that all in attendance are respected. The policy includes sexual harassment, bullying, consent, abuse and more. Sexual orientation and gender identity is actually included in the policy, which shows how serious they are in ensuring everyone is in a safe environment.

If you are attending, look for the GayCalgary logo, which will be hanging above one of the rows along with other sponsor logos. Take photos of it in the background, with you in the foreground, and post it to social media. Include @calgaryexpo and @gaycalgary for Twitter and Instagram!

Online Last Month Creep of the Week Manny Pacquiao

Let’s pretend that it’s your job to get punched in the head over and over and over again by muscular men who train for hours every day with the specific goal of hitting you harder.... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5051

Screen Queen

The Wiz Live!, Grandma, The Danish Girl, Freeheld, and more

Grandma Cool if we just let Lily Tomlin play every spunky lesbian grandma? Yeah? Thought so. The iconic comedian-actress is such a fire hose of sass and bottled-up sadness in... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5053

The Frivolist - Reading Rainbows

9 LGBT Books To Bide Your Time Until Summer

Reading list getting stale as we head into spring?

Freshen it up with these nine LGBT novels, anthologies and web serials to make the winter blues melt away. Kept by Jim Arnold... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5054

Creep of the Week Pat McCrory

I’m tired of talking about toilets, everybody.

I don’t love using public restrooms, mostly because of the ick factor and lack of total privacy. But I sure am glad that public restrooms... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5057

Creep of the Week Donald Trump

A recent episode of “This American Life” featured a gay teenager who was totally gay for Donald Trump. This kid’s parents were totally opposed to him being gay and he... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5061

Deep Inside Hollywood

Jussie Smollett, Alexander McQueen, Vauxhall and Di, Watch Out for Lena Waithe

Jussie Smollett Is Going to Outer Space You see him being cute and musically talented on Empire every week, as he implores his homophobic father to love him, possibly to will... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5062

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The Frivolist

Spring Into These CalorieBurning Activities to Shed Your Winter Padding

Hard time keeping your hands out of the cookie jar this winter? Polish off those last few Oreos then set your sights on spring with these easy-tointegrate activities that’ll have... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5063

Creep of the Week One Million Moms

Alert! Alert! All One Million Moms to their battle stations! A new TV show has a gay. I repeat: a new TV show has a gay. Until President Ted Cruz makes such defilements of the... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5076

Hear Me Out

Gwen Stefani, Bonnie Raitt, Zayn, K. Michelle

Gwen Stefani, This Is What the Truth Feels Like Poor Gwen Stefani, all heartbroken on “Used to Love You,” the launch single from her longdelayed album that set the... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5078

The JUNO Awards Arrive

Canadian Awards Show Returns to Calgary this weekend

It has been 8 years since The JUNOS were in Calgary, and you can feel the energy in the city and excitement for the return of Canada’s music awards show. Additional tickets for... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5064

In on It

A Lunchbox Theatre Production

Having avoided (however non-intentional) the intimacy of local theatre for the past few years I was thrilled to have the opportunity, along with my best friend Kathy, to witness... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5065

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VIDEO - Walking with the Stars Tips and Tricks from the Unique Inner World of Cosplay

Watch the videos online: http://gaycalgary.com/a5070 

 Ivy Doomkitty, Riddle, Monika Lee, Nathan DeLuca

by Mars Tonic Cosplay is as varied and intense as the simple action of putting on your makeup; there are a lot of ways to do it, depending on what kind of look, event, and overall finished product you are going for. So, when you see a cosplayer walking around with their A-game on and you catch yourself thinking ‘they’re no different than the next one’, think again. Every cosplayer has their own secret to making it last; each has their own origin story.

We had the chance to speak to some of the best names in the industry to hear their tips, tricks and stories – from building that first suit of armour to pulling off the perfect eyebrow. www.gaycalgary.com

Ivy Doomkitty Though blessed with an intense amount of physical vavoom that puts her right up there with film noir sex symbols, Ivy is more well-known for her body positivity and support for cosplayers of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds.

What kind of advice does she give to cosplayers about picking characters to dress as, who might be concerned about whether or not they look like that character? “Honestly, just be yourself,” she says. “Have fun with it. At least, what I like to do is to make a list of all the different characters that I like – that I enjoy from childhood and just growing up. And I pick characters that I feel passionate towards. Do I look like

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them? No. But it’s fine. You take a concept and you run with it. At the end of the day it’s art; it’s you expressing your love for the character, and it’s you having fun. Don’t let others dictate what makes you happy. Don’t let others dictate how you perceive yourself.”

Cosplay is an art, and so are Ivy’s eyebrows. She uses Benefit’s Brow Zings – a combination of wax and powder – to make them pop, but the shape is a natural one. “I started waxing my brows at a young age; it’s at a point now where I don’t need to wax them at all: they just grow this way! And then I just fill them in to darken them, because I really like the darker eyebrow.”

Riddle The globe trodden Riddle knows how to travel, but there’s something about Canadian cons that she loves most, especially since she’s a Canadian herself. “They’re really well run,” Riddle confided. “Everybody’s so polite. I don’t know how to describe it; everyone’s just so awesome. But it is honestly – anytime you’re at a con the geek community is just awesome in general.”

Her tips and tricks for travelling on planes with unwieldy props and delicate armour are invaluable. “With sculpted and fragile pieces, I will actually carry them on,” she says, “so that way they don’t get crushed. One trick you can do is put a little PVC bracket cage in your checked bag and pack around that, so then if the bag does get compressed the PVC will stop that.”

“With Delta [Airlines], golf bags have no weight limit, so you can pack a ton of stuff in a golf bag. Also, if you put a weapon into a gun case and say it’s a gun or a bow, it’s not considered oversize baggage, it’s considered regular baggage.”

Finally, if you’re ever travelling with a strange costume or suspicious weapon-like props, Riddle advises that you always

put in a picture of the full costume and a letter stating its purpose. “It’s tough. I always used to get stopped by customs!”

Monika Lee During our interview with Riddle, Monika Lee shouted “We’re a gay couple!” from the background. Boisterous and friendly, it was our second time meeting Monika, and she has yet to disappoint. If you ever see her at a convention, don’t be shy about saying hello. She might look angry but, as Monika told us, she is one of the many victims of the ‘Resting Bitch Face’. “I have to work extra hard to look happy, because I was just born this way.”

Despite her status as a student, she still finds time to head out to conventions and meet her fans (often with Riddle, her good friend). She travels so much she often has a hard time keeping track where on the globe she is. “Generally I know what part of the world I’m going in, but sometimes I’m like, where are we, in relation to this country? I’m ignorant.”

She recently went to Manila, and had a great time seeing the convention world from the Asian perspective. She also put Abu Dhabi on the travel docket, and she swore she wouldn’t do a repeat performance of Carrie in Sex and the City 2.

A first generation American, she has roots in central Canada, including Montreal. “My dad’s side of the family has a noodle company in Chinatown. Wing Noodles – that’s the Lee family!

If only my grandpa could see me now! He would be horrified.

I’m the worst noodle royalty ever.”

Nathan DeLuca Quite cruelly, we asked Nathan who was nicer – Calgarians or Edmontonians. Wisely, he chose not to answer and, really, when it comes to being nice, Nathan DeLuca takes the cake.

His smile didn’t slip from his face once.

Men are rare in the world of well-known cosplayers, but Nathan didn’t find the field to be less friendly towards him at all. What was it like, moving up in the scene? “Unexpected. It was never my intention nor my plan, but honestly it has been nice. I’ve just been going with the flow. Everything so far has been a happy sort of accident. I walked in with no expectations and the fact this is happening still blows my mind. I never expected it to be a job.”

He started coming to cons as a guest about a year ago, and has been added to the roster exponentially since then.

Starting out in the hobby he relied a lot on the Internet for help with costuming; RPF.com was a great resource, as well as good old fashioned trial and error. “I went to a con in my first set of armour and I realized I loved it. It wasn’t good armour, by any means: craft foam, and it tore about some 30-odd times. I would look down and something would be ripped in half. But since then, things have gotten much easier and more enjoyable.”

Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo http://www.calgaryexpo.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5070 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

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Derek Bedry Mr Gay World? Yeah he is!

by Carey Rutherford Derek Bedry is a self-described ‘nerdy guy who never thought he would be in a pageant and is suddenly Mr. Gay Canada’.

“My initial reaction was, Oh my gosh! Me, in a pageant? That’s so unusual; I’d never thought of doing that! But I considered it, and it wasn’t very difficult to say yes: I didn’t think about it for too long. It was the prospect of making my way out to Malta (Where Bedry will be representing Canada in the Mr. Gay World competition), which is very exciting, as I have never been able to travel that much. And to talk about human rights, which is a subject that interests me deeply.”

Bedry is, clearly, already looking like a good choice. Hot bod aside, he’s too diplomatic to venture a guess as to why Big Roger Events (in partnership with Whistler Pride) picked him to represent Canada at this year’s Mr. Gay World competition. But he does acknowledge, “I’m confident in my abilities as a speaker . . . have a great interest in human rights [and] have worked in various volunteer or activist capacities in Vancouver for the past six or seven years.”

With a background in journalism, Bedry has often looked for opportunities to write about marginalized communities, and has developed a queer arts focused portfolio with volunteer, community and mainstream publications, and has been involved in other charity and fundraising work in the Vancouver area. He has been a busy lad!

putting it on a stage. I enjoy talking about social justice and queer issues, and I have [an online] presence that features me frequently taking my shirt off! . . . I don’t have any pageant preparation as such, but I’m already geared towards it.

“There’s nothing about it that scares me: I’m just trying to have fun and make friends.”

Bedry is very comfortable with his ‘presentation of self’. Public speaking, for instance, is not a difficulty for him, which is of prime importance when representing a nation’s image on a world stage. GC asks where he thinks things might go afterwards, whether he becomes Mr. Gay World or not.

“What I hope for would be the opportunity to travel, and learn from the lived experiences of people who live in various countries that have [a] different human rights status than we do in Canada . . . Not to say that everything’s perfect about being gay in Canada, or that there isn’t discrimination, because there is! But we’re relatively privileged, and our federal government – at least – has a lot of sympathy and a lot of protection for gay people. So I want to visit communities in which that may not be the case, or in which people experience their queerness in a different way, and learn those stories.

“If there’s a way in which my activism can advance the needs in those places, or can provide some support to people who are living [there], legal or otherwise, then that’s what my interest is in winning.”

GC asks if, since he wasn’t familiar with the pageant circuit before Mr. Gay Canada realized they had no one to compete in Malta, Bedry feels he is jumping out of the communications frying pan into the public-eye fire. “Yes, that would describe it!” he says, going on to tell us why this is fine.

GC feels like we have been listening to the victory speech of the Mr. Gay world event already: this guy’s good! Further on that, we discuss the success of ‘educating’ ANY community from outside, and how that tends to simply alienate people. It also presumes that we know better than they do.

Instead Bedry mentions his interest in the exchange of knowledge.

“My social media presence is basically ‘Mr. Gay World’. That is to say, Mr. Gay World is basically just me taking my social media presence and

“[We could], for example, tell them about legislation we have that’s successful in protecting queer rights: I think [the] leaders in the community

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are the ones that need to know, so that they can build a grassroots effort to make those changes. You can’t ‘beam’ human rights onto a population; I feel you have to start this kind of messaging at a community level.”

Since Bedry clearly has opinions about his role in the rainbow community as Mr. Gay Canada, we ask him for the most and least favourite social aspects that he can address with this public stage.

“The best thing about being gay in Canada, for me, is I can go through my life with, basically, complete comfort. Now that I am an adult, and have ownership over my sexuality and have found a community that doesn’t make me explain that – or ‘come out of the closet’ every time I meet someone new – I’m very comfortable.

“But it has to be said: I’m an adult, I’m a white male, and I present masculine. Many, many of those things are not the case for queer people in general, and are not the case for my friends. As long as I have friends who are fem, or who are stigmatized by their own community or the heterosexual people who are not sympathetic or allied, I will NEVER be able to say that Canada is as advanced in human rights as a nation as I would like it to be.”

And, in case you’re wondering Well, what about Trans too? Bedry points out that in B.C., unlike Alberta, it is legal to be discriminated against on the basis of gender presentation. Believe it or not, transgender or trans-sexual Albertans have a better legal environment than those in B.C.! We are on the leading edge of legal gender recognition!

“As you can imagine, it is extremely legitimizing for transgender people, or people who are gender variant, to have legal rights enshrined in language that’s specific to them. Without that – even if the protection can be argued in a court of law that it exists – without that language, it’s an erasure of their legitimacy.”

Yep, this guy’s serious – inside and out!

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Lifestyle

Positive Thoughts - Young at Heart Why we need to raise HIV/AIDS awareness among young people

By Oriol R. Gutierrez Jr. I was 22 years old when I was diagnosed with HIV in 1992. I have now been living with the virus longer than I did without it. I’m grateful for being alive and healthy, but I can’t say that I’m happy to have HIV. I want to believe that I’ll live long enough to see a cure for HIV, but in the meantime I live with it because I have no other choice.

After testing HIV positive, I was convinced that I wouldn’t even see my 30th birthday. As a young person, I thought that I was being denied something most of us growing up take for granted – dying old. My fear of dying young only grew worse in 1994 when my ex-boyfriend, the person who I believe gave me HIV, died. He was 30.

In 1996, effective HIV treatment finally became a reality. As more and more people began taking the new medications and living as a result, my fear slowly turned into hope. I had lived those first few years after testing HIV positive as if I wasn’t going to have a future. It actually took me a long while to get used to the idea again of growing old.

Much has changed in the HIV epidemic since the dark early days. Treatments have improved. Despite getting diagnosed with HIV today, you can expect to live a virtually normal life span as long as you adhere to effective treatment. The research is advancing for a cure and a vaccine. New HIV cases are increasingly being prevented.

All that said, there remains much that isn’t better. Stigma and discrimination related to HIV are stubbornly resistant to change.

Access to care and treatment remain out of reach for too many people living with the virus. Although HIV rates have declined, there are still up to 50,000 new cases each year — and that has been true for many years.

Unfortunately, one of the most disheartening truths about HIV is related to young people. Current estimates are that one in four new HIV cases in the United States occur among people between ages 13 and 24 — and that 60 percent of these young people living with the virus don’t know they have it. That is just unacceptable.

To sound the alarm about HIV among young people, National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) was created in 2013.

Commemorated each year on April 10, NYHAAD seeks to educate the public about the impact of HIV/AIDS on young people. The day also highlights the contributions of young people in the fight against the virus.

The organizer of NYHAAD is Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit that educates young people about reproductive and sexual health.

Events will be held nationwide with support materials from the advocacy group. Local groups and individuals will host events at such places as high schools, colleges, churches and community centers.

Awareness day organizers this year are promoting the idea of a NYHAAD Bill of Rights, which asserts that young people should have certain rights and protections related to HIV/AIDS. The declaration has five articles, which are listed below.

Article 1: The right to live free from oppression. Poverty, racism, homophobia and other forms of oppression all contribute to HIV risk and to quality of treatment and care.

prevent HIV, and have the right to confidential, affordable and accessible services.

Article 4: The right to treatment and care. Young people are at risk of not receiving medication regularly enough to have their viral load suppressed. We must ensure that all youth have access to accessible and affordable HIV treatment.

Article 5: The right to live without criminalization, discrimination and stigma. Young people living with HIV have the right to freedom and dignity. Laws that criminalize HIV are founded in ignorance and serve only to divert attention and resources from real strategies to end the epidemic.

Approximately 1,000 young people in the United States become HIV positive each month. Undoubtedly, many of these young people living with HIV are LGBT. As such, they need and deserve help from the LGBT community.

To find out how you can help, please go to YouthAIDSDay.org for more information. You can also get the latest NYHAAD updates by searching “National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day” on Facebook or following @YouthAIDSDay on Twitter.

Oriol R. Gutierrez Jr. is the editor-in-chief of POZ magazine. Find him on Twitter @ oriolgutierrez. This column is a project of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, The Body and Q Syndicate, the LGBT wire service. Visit their websites — http://hivplusmag.com, http://positivelyaware.com, http://poz.com and http://thebody.com — for the latest updates on HIV/AIDS.

Article 2: The right to education. Young people have a right to the education and skills they need to protect themselves from HIV.

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Stepper Custom Homes

Celebrating 60 Years of Innovative Business

by Lisa Lunney

This April marked the 60th anniversary of Stepper Homes serving homeowners in Calgary. In honour of this milestone they launched a special anniversary collection with 60 new homes at special pricing on a new website, http://www.stepperhomes60.com.

Stepper ensured this anniversary was celebrated with a bang; new radio advertisements, new design options, strong presence in the media, and the aforementioned website change. Emily Smith, marketing lead for Stepper Custom Homes, contributes their success and long run due to the culture and family feel: Stepper is much more than just a work place, both to employees and the clientele they serve.

“Over the years, we have grown to incorporate dozens of trades into our homebuilding process with great success, and they are just as much a part of the team as any employee,” Smith shares. “With time, we have also developed and changed how we build our homes so that we turn over a safe and healthy home. We have also changed

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how we sell, plan, draft and construct our homes to benefit our customers and their home buying experience.”

Innovation has consistently remained a goal of Stepper, always aiming to present new technologies and products.

Stepper was the first homebuilder in Calgary to introduce an accessible show-home that included a zero-entry shower and stair lift. The team has led the Calgary homebuilding industry in creating new designs for homes and sales centres, including the award winning ‘Stepper Experience’ in SE Calgary’s Legacy. “We were the first builder to integrate fully functional touchscreens in all of our showhomes”, boasts Smith. “Stepper’s Home Album is also a simple and easy way for our customers to pick their homes interior selections that cuts down on the stress of building a new home.”

Some of the more quirky aspects of Stepper Customs include elaborate man caves – complete with urinals!

Whether it’s a craft room, workshop, or custom garage, Stepper delivers unique spaces for customers. “These options are included in some of our floorplans, and depend on what

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our customers are looking for,” Smith says. “In the past, we have included urinals in bathrooms, lifts in garages, threecar tandem garages with space for a workshop… we have even had a painted floor hockey rink in a basement once!”

In addition to serving the Calgary community, Stepper Homes holds a soft spot for making El Salvador a better place. As Smith explains, “El Salvador is near and dear to all of our staff. Each staff member is regularly involved with our efforts, whether it’s fundraising or our annual trips to El Salvador to build the homes. Over the past six years, we have contributed to building over 300 homes.”

Stepper is dedicated to building our homes with passion.

That passion is shown through consistently focusing on our integrity and legacy. Our integrity is about being who we are, no matter who we are with. Our legacy is that we build our homes today with tomorrow in mind.

Cheers to another 60 years!

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Gossip Guy Pearce, still flaming More than 20 years have passed since Guy Pearce appeared on screen as a larger-than-life drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of The Desert. Now, that film’s writer-director, Stephan Elliott, has recruited Pearce for another round of sexual nonconformity. Their upcoming film together, also written and directed by Elliott, is titled Flammable Children, and it co-stars Radha Mitchell. Telling the story of three families on the beaches of Australia in the mid-1970s, the comedy explores the sexual revolution of that era and the changes it effects on everyone.

There’s also a 200-ton whale involved in the story, but we’re not sure what role it plays or if it’s a speaking part. If none of that sounds especially Priscilla-esque, then we have two words for you: Lizzy Gardiner. She’s the Academy Award-winning costume designer responsible for the Priscilla outfits. You’ll want to see this movie for her work, if nothing else. Cameras roll early this fall, the beginning of Australia’s summer.

James Franco, Kristen Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter resurrect JT Leroy

 Paul Rudd, photo by KathClick

Deep Inside Hollywood Paul Rudd, Guy Pearce, James Franco, ‘I Love Dick’

By Romeo San Vicente Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan move into Ideal Home A long time ago, in the very bad old days, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison portrayed a dismally unhappy gay couple in a wretched little movie called Staircase (watch on TCM some day if you dare). One problem: their characters were unhappy mostly because they were gay. A neat little trick to play on gay audiences, don’t you think? Well, we’ve come a long way, and now we get to be unhappy for all the same reasons heterosexuals enjoy, which seems to be the plot of An Ideal Home, the new film from queer director Andrew Fleming (who worked with Coogan before on Hamlet 2). The story involves Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan as a married couple whose relationship is on the rocks.

The situation is further complicated when Coogan’s surprise grandchild shows up at their door. Wild – and somewhat jaded – guess: the adorable child reminds them what family is really about. Whatever the typical tropes may be, we love Coogan and Rudd and, so, yeah, we’re in.

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JT Leroy is back again. First there was a documentary, then another documentary, and now a narrative feature that has attracted the attention of James Franco, Kristen Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter. Who’s JT Leroy, you ask? OK, you only ask if you don’t read books, ever, but that’s fine, no judgments here. JT Leroy was actually nobody, a staggeringly far-reaching literary hoax sensation of the early ’00s, one concocted by a female author posing as a teenage literary wunderkind who identified as transgender. Novels were written, literary acclaim followed, public appearances were made by a young woman in a wig and sunglasses, celebrities lined up to sing Leroy’s praises, a few even participated in the lie. And then it all came to a screeching halt when the truth was revealed. Fascinating, right? Justin Kelly, who has already directed Franco in the exgay biopic I Am Michael, is at the helm of this one. It’s early days yet, and no ink has met a contract, but here’s hoping it all comes to pass. They just don’t make cool, weird, public spectacles like that on a regular basis, especially ones where lots of celebs get pranked. We need all of them we can get.

I Love Dick is coming When you’re hot, you’re hot, and Jill Soloway is hot. On the strength of the critical and audience love of Transparent (those awards don’t hurt, either), Amazon has ordered a second pilot from the show’s creator. It’s called I Love Dick, but it’s probably not exactly what you have in mind. The comedy comes from playwright Sarah Gubbins, based on Chris Kraus’ 1997 novel, set in the rural art community of Marfa in Southwest Texas, and the story revolves around an unhappily married couple who become mutually obsessed with a difficult, magnetic professor named Dick. Charting the dissolution of the marriage, it will be told from various points of view, much like Showtime’s The Affair, or, you know, Rashomon. Pilots don’t necessarily become series, but this one seems a pretty safe bet for Amazon’s biggest success story. Step up your game, network TV, they’re killing it out there.

Romeo San Vicente will keep this space free for you to write your own “I Love Dick” joke.

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Brandon Routh Out of One Suit, Into Another

 photos courtesy by BellMedia

by Mars Tonic It has been ten years since Brandon Routh starred as Clark Kent, and the actor has been tearing it up in film and television ever since. Born in Norwalk, Iowa, he attended the University of Iowa and studied English – but Hollywood beckoned.

Having just wrapped up filming on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, where he plays the first on-screen incarnation of superhero Ray Palmer – aka Atom – he was able to speak to us on the phone about his work before his upcoming appearance at the Calgary Expo. It will be his first visit; he was unable to attend last year because work in Asia pulled him away.

“I enjoy Canada, for the most part everywhere, except when it’s really cold,” he said. Let’s cross our fingers for a warm and balmy end-of-April!”

He has played Superman, but he has also been Justin Long’s out-of-the-closet boyfriend in Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

There is a made-for-TV Christmas film in there somewhere too (involving true love and adopting a cat, so everyone needs to go watch it right now). On the phone we discussed his work

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with comic book culture, his enjoyment of Wes Anderson, the fact he went to high school with Aquaman, and his bro-mance with former costar Sam Huntington.

GC: What has it been like jumping from role to role, with all of these really interesting characters that have been developed outside of the film business?

BR: In a way, it is a different task, because I’m bringing to life characters that people already have ideas about – sometimes very firm ideas. That’s kind of a challenge, but one that I have taken on and embraced. The opportunity now to play Ray Palmer, the Atom, is he hasn’t been seen in live action before – he has only been in comic book or cartoon form.

GC: Ray debuted in the 1960s; it is mind-boggling that we haven’t seen him since then.

BR: Yeah, you know, the film business is certainly bringing a lot of the more iconic characters to life. And Ray has played an important role and worked alongside many of the very iconic DC heroes. He hasn’t gotten as much play and it’s exciting to get to do that.

GC: What is it like wearing the suit?

BR: [laughs] It’s uh... it’s cool. It is a bit cumbersome at times. The longer I’m in it, the harder it is.

GC: That’s you wearing it, too – it’s not like Robert Downey Jr. with a bunch of CGI. BR: Yeah. It is a little bit harder to cheat me being in the suit, definitely. Because it does have a helmet and the rest of me is pretty much covered, it is helpful for filming situations where I have to be two places at once, which happens often www.gaycalgary.com

on a TV schedule. There are three Atom suits in existence, and one day there were all three working. I was on one unit, and two other stunt doubles that I have were on two others, working and doing different fight pieces – and I was, you know, doing more of the acting bits where you see my face.

GC: I couldn’t help but noticing that Ray kind of gets a raw deal with the ladies, especially Felicity on Arrow and Kendra on Legends of Tomorrow.

BR: [laughs] Yeah, well, chalk it up to situations, for one.

You could blame it on the ladies, I guess, but he is making the

choices of falling for people who have a little bit of backstory they haven’t worked through yet. With the case of both of them, [Felicity and Kendra], they were both kind of happened upon relationships. Felicity wasn’t certainly anything he was intentionally engaging in. It was a friendly work relationship, which turned into something. With Kendra, he wasn’t considering her in that way, but he found there was some chemistry. But yes, because of that, he wasn’t necessarily thinking of it going anywhere, and then in a relationship he would just go with it, hoping he could change a person.

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GC: Speaking of you being in the DC Universe, a little bird told me you might have gone to high school with Jason Momoa, who is now Aquaman.

BR: That is true! We were on the same high school soccer team, and another club soccer team growing up. We spent more time in soccer together than in school, because although he is only two months older than I am, he was a grade above me in school. So we didn’t have classes together, but we did do sports together.

GC: So what is it like that he is Aquaman now?

BR: Yeah, you couldn’t write a story like that. No one would even think that could be a thing. And it certainly wasn’t something on either of our radars – leaving Iowa – or at least high school.

GC: After doing Superman, if you look at IMDB, you’re kind of a workaholic – you’re all over the place. I think one of my favourite instances of you showing up somewhere was in Zack and Miri Make a Porno. How did that happen?

BR: That was just a really cool opportunity that kind of came out of the blue. I believe it was a suggestion by Seth Rogen, actually, in a meeting with Kevin Smith the director.

They were looking to have someone play opposite to Justin Long and for some reason, thankfully, he thought of me, even though I didn’t know him. But I think he just thought that who is the person who could play that character who you would least expect and you know, Superman being the one that took the bill. I was very grateful for the opportunity because comedy was then, and is still now, the thing I love to do the most.

GC: Do you like to make people laugh, or do you just find it is a more fun set to walk on to?

BR: Both, I think. I do enjoy making people laugh, and getting that reaction from the crowd, and lightening people’s day if I can. But also the creative expression and experience on set is more enjoyable to me. It’s a light-hearted time; cracking jokes, and not taking yourself too seriously.

GC: If you could work with anyone in the comedy film industry, who would it be?

BR: As far as a comedic director that I would like to work with, I really like Wes Anderson’s style. Kind of quirky and odd, and he very much has great characters in his films. But I kind of fancy myself a character actor in a leading man’s body, I guess, so I would definitely look forward to working with his team sometime in the future.

GC: The last thing I would love to talk to you about is your work on the film Dylan Dog, which was also a comic book film, and let you team up with your former co-star Sam Huntington.

Were you aware of Dylan Dog before you were offered the part?

BR: I was! I actually had a friend who spent several years in Italy growing up; he spoke fluent Italian and had read Dylan Dog. We were roommates at the time and he showed me the comic years ago. And to me, you know, it was bigger than Superman, so when I got the script and heard about it, I thought it was pretty cool and it definitely made me … my ears perked up.

GC: And you got to work with Sam again!

BR: Yes, which was one of the most exciting aspects of Dylan Dog. We worked in New Orleans and had a great time.

You know we were roommates, and also worked together, so it was a lot of fun.

GC: Do you keep in contact with Sam quite a bit these days?

BR: I do! He and his family have spent the last few years up in Montreal, as he was filming Being Human, and now he is on Rosewood, which is really awesome. I mean he’s back in Los Angeles working, so I’m happy about that – selfishly – just so we can have some more time to hang out.

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Gwen Stefani Speaks Her (Gay) ‘Truth’

Pop star talks sharing a queer posse with boyfriend Blake Shelton, The Danish Girl and her gay support system

 photos by Jamie Nelson

By Chris Azzopardi Don’t speak? Gwen Stefani can’t help it as she opens up about her latest release – the “record that saved my life.”

Featuring a multitude of diary-like outpourings related to Gavin Rossdale, whom the No Doubt frontwoman divorced in 2015 after 13 years of marriage, This Is What the Truth Feels Like is Stefani’s third solo album and first since 2006’s The Sweet Escape.

“It’s so therapeutic to talk about it,” she says the day before the album’s release. “And I hope it saves some other lives. I really, really truly do hope that. That’s the message I wanna give.”

During our candid tell-all, Stefani also talked about her gay besties who “made me look pretty when I didn’t feel pretty,” being a (mostly) respected woman in a man’s world and how she and boyfriend Blake Shelton hang with the same “big posse” of gays.

GC: In the last year, when the going got tough, which gay friends of yours could you count on to have the wine cupboard fully stocked?

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probably my two closest gay friends, and what I love about them is how unique they are and how spirited they are and how talented they are. I think “passionate” would be a really good way to describe them. They’re not representing all gay men, but they represent the ones in my life who’ve had a huge impact on me. I turned to them this whole time period, during my whole tragedy, and they have been really, really super supportive and loyal and made me look pretty when I didn’t feel pretty.

GC: How did collaborating with Justin Tranter of SemiPrecious Weapons, who’s gay, affect your recording sessions for This Is What the Truth Feels Like?

GS: I didn’t know who he was or anything, but the thing that was so great about working with Justin was that he had followed my career for the longest time. He knew everything about every song I’d ever done, whatever I’d worn, every piece of jewelry. It was like, whoa. And he’d wanted to work with me for a long time and I didn’t know that, but it was like God put us in the same room at the perfect time because I needed his understanding and compassion. He was so supportive of me and so confident in me, and I had lost a lot of my confidence, so he really brought that out of me. I felt so comfortable around him from the moment that www.gaycalgary.com

I met him. So, he was a huge support in making this record and a good friend – an instant friend, weirdly, because I didn’t know him at all. But now I feel like he’s one of my closest friends.

GC: I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch to say that any gay man would instantly connect with you.

GS: Awww! That makes me happy.

GC: Did Blake have to get your gay friends’ approval?

GS: Well, I mean, Blake’s definitely like – how would I describe it? All the same people all the time are always in the room together and we do everything together, so it’s like we’re all a big posse. It’s funny, too, because Blake’s mom was a hairdresser growing up, so he was definitely introduced to that world a looong time ago.

GC: As the frontwoman of No Doubt, there have been many times you’ve been the only female rocker on a festival bill. For you, what’s that experience been like? Did the boys take you seriously from the beginning?

GS: No, it’s crazy. I’ve been so unbelievably blessed. I grew up in a man’s world and it really doesn’t make any sense either. In the past, as a girl – a baby girl – I was a girly girl and I wasn’t guyish at all, but when I did discover music, I really got into this niche music, which was ska. I

really related to it. All of the people who were my mentors as far as music, they were all guys, and to be in a band with my brother (Eric Stefani) and then my boyfriend (Tony Kanal), I was in this little family and very protected. I always felt like my opinion was counted, and not even counted but even counted with double stars. My creativity was respected.

There was a moment back in the day when I was doing festivals and we were just getting known and I do remember being disrespected here and there – they’d want me to take my top off or whatever – but it really didn’t take long for me to be able to prove that I wasn’t gonna stand for that.

I don’t know where the confidence came from, but I would get up there and I just knew I was gonna win them over and do whatever it took to win them over. I was not gonna leave the stage until I had a pit going. That’s it. No question. It was a fire that was inside of me. I wasn’t rebellious; I had this really normal, easy, beautiful, loving family. But I feel like I’ve always been respected and never had to really worry about, “Oh, I don’t get respect because I’m a woman.” And that’s a really good thing, because that means if I can have that, other women and other people can have that and we are making some progress.

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GC: You’re known for your sonic soul-barings, but lately, you also seem especially candid in interviews. Why did you decide to be so open about your life in the last year?

GS: Because I’m the kind of girl that’s just not good with secrets. I tell everybody everything. If ate too many Oreos, I’mma tell you about it! I grew up Catholic, so I just need to confess everything.

I feel like I’ve always been really open, but there was a point in my marriage and in my relationship (with Gavin Rossdale) – because maybe we born out of the ’90s – it felt cooler and more protected to not talk about the relationship, or it felt awkward because maybe we were both doing the same thing and I didn’t wanna say something and he’d be like, “Why’d you say that?!” There were probably some limits during that relationship. And then with my children, obviously I can’t talk about them because they’re gonna be 15 and like, “Mom, why did you say that? You’re embarrassing me!” I have to think a little bit about that now. But I just think… I don’t know how else to be. Everybody knows what happened to me. I got a divorce. It’s the worst thing that can happen to me besides death.

My whole life all I wanted to do was be a mother and a wife, and I had the dream of having this family because that’s

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what I had. I have parents who’ve been married since high school, who are in love, and they’re still in love and having their big wedding anniversary. I had a perfect example, so it’s super tragic for me. My dreams are shattered and I feel so embarrassed about what happened. I don’t feel embarrassed to talk about it though, with respect to my kids. I just think what happened was: In February (2015), my family fell apart. It was devastating. I didn’t know what to do. It was a real big secret, but as I just explained, I’m not good with that. I tried everything to fix it. By June (2015), I went into the studio and started writing. I was praying.

I had already started on a spiritual journey when I got pregnant with Apollo (in 2013) that was sort of like, “Wow, really? I’m gonna be blessed with a baby... now?” That was a miracle. It just started me on this spiritual journey and thank God it started then because I was prepared when I had the tragedy. I had that nest of spirituality in me.

GC: They say everything happens for a reason.

GS: And you kind of can’t see it until you go through it and look back at it and see all the signs. I had the baby.

Then I got The Voice, which was so needed. I needed to do something like that. I needed to play that role, and I also got

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in the room with Pharrell again who’s been like a guardian angel to me.

GC: You mentioned Apollo, and you also have two other sons: Kingston and Zuma. There are people who don’t appreciate the fact that you allow them to explore their feminine sides by painting their nails. How would you respond to those critics?

GS: Obviously I’ve lived my life with criticism for a very long time and my personality is, I live in truth and reality, and if somebody says something about me and I don’t know them and they’re not my friend or part of my life, it really doesn’t affect me. Of course everyone’s gonna have their perspective and their opinion, and I know what’s real and what’s honest and true, and that’s really all that matters to me and all that’s important.

So, it doesn’t really bother me. As long as my boys are protected and happy and I’m spending quality time with them, whether it’s doing sports or doing nails, it really doesn’t matter.

GC: What would you say to one of your boys if they came out to you one day?

GS: I would be blessed with a gay son. You know that I would feel blessed about that. I just want my boys to be happy and healthy, and I just ask God to guide me every day to be a good mother because it is not an easy job.

I’ve been lucky enough to have such a blessed life. I’ve been able to travel the world and meet so many different kinds of people. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re gay, straight, whatever. There are good and bad people, and I would be happy. I just want my kids to be happy, and whatever journey God gives them is their journey. I just need to be there to be the most supportive mom that I can be and that’s what I’m gonna be. I always ask my gay friends, “OK, so what was it like when you were a little boy?” Because I do know that it’s gotta be difficult to be the alternative, to not be the mainstream, or to be different, if you want to call it that. I feel like it’s less and less (like that) these days, and it’s hard for me to understand because it doesn’t seem different or weird or anything anymore because it just

seems so normal to me. I just saw that movie… what was it… The Dutch Girl?

GC: The Danish Girl…?

GS: Yeah, The Danish Girl. I think what was so incredible about that movie was just – that was so long ago. I mean, can you imagine back then?

Whoa. Now it feels like nothing anymore.

GC: As a pop star over 40, what’s it like navigating the pop world with so much pressure on youth, age and beauty?

GS: There was a moment right before I did The Voice, in between (2012’s No Doubt release) Push and Shove and The Voice, where I was concerned about it and desperate to have new music and it took a little earthquake to be like, “OK, let’s get some perspective here. You’ve already had the longest career. You’re so blessed to have any of this and any of this that happens after this is literally icing on the cake.”

I’m not delusional about where I’m at in my career. I know that this opportunity to have new music is magical, and there’s not one second that I don’t appreciate it and I think it is what it is. I feel proud of the career that I’ve had and I feel so grateful for it and I mean, we all have to go through life. This is life. Life is… “born to blossom and bloom to perish.” That’s it. That is what it is. And the way to do it is to be grateful and to be spiritual and try to do the best you can every single day – to be in the moment.

I’m not thinking about the future. I’m really trying to focus on right now, today. I wanna be in the moment right now because it’s so much better if you’re not thinking about the past or the future.

GC: Gwen, you have such a healthy perspective on life.

GS: Oh, I have to work on it! I work on it every single day.

Some days I’m a mental case.

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In Good Company

Alan Cumming on sappy songs, bisexuality and his proudest moments  photo by Steve Vaccariello

By Chris Azzopardi As a child, Alan Cumming cried as his older brother sang “Danny Boy” to him from across the bedroom they shared.

“He would do it to make me cry,” Cumming says, recalling his reaction to the Irish staple. “It’s just the emotion of the song.

I’m Scottish, so the ‘pipes’ are kind of a direct route to my tear ducts.”

“Danny Boy” was the first song to break the singer-actor into pieces – but it wouldn’t be the last. There’d be Annie Lennox’s “Why” and Adele’s “Someone Like You” and Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes,” all of which are among the tear-inducing tunes on the performer’s latest release, Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs: Live at the Café Carlyle.

And when Cumming cries, it’s no act. Those are real tears.

After all, this is not Broadway, where the actor has appeared in a mélange of shows including Macbeth and Cabaret, for which he won a Tony. Nor is this The Good Wife (he plays Eli Gold on the CBS show, which wraps in May). It’s also not Spy Kids or Smurfs or his U.S. film debut, 1997’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. On that Carlyle stage, Cumming is only one person: himself.

GC: You’re pretty naked on that album cover. Are you wearing anything?

AC: I’m not wearing anything! I was performing at the Carlyle and (photographer Jordan Matter and I) ended up texting dancers at 2 in the morning to see if they wanted to come over to the Carlyle and get naked. Two did, and we did that photo.

Just took our clothes off at 2:30 in the morning.

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GC: How do you explain your appreciation for music that makes you cry?

AC: For me it’s about connecting personally. These songs are songs that have things in them that I can really understand. I feel my singing them makes people listen to them in a different way, maybe. But, really, they’re all songs that I felt compelled to sing because I connect to them in an emotional way.

GC: Which one resonates with you most?

AC: I think it would be “Dinner at Eight.” I find that really quite difficult to get through some nights because I think about my dad. I do normally shed a tear during that song. Yeah, it’s really difficult, and you have to go with it and understand that it’s emotional because it’s an emotional song and you’re connected to it and the audience is really with you. I’m not incapable of getting through the song and I am really crying, but I think that’s all right. It makes sense. It’s a song that’s gonna be hard to sing. As long as there’s no falling to the floor into a heap of tears, I think it’s actually all right to show your emotion. In a way, the whole show is about me showing my emotions.

GC: The album’s coda is “The Ladies Who Lunch,” made famous by the late Elaine Stritch in Company on Broadway.

Elaine was a beloved presence at the Carlyle up until she performed her last show there in 2013. Is your performance of the song in that space a tribute to her?

AC: Years ago I did a workshop with John Tiffany who directed me in Macbeth. We did this workshop of Company, and a lot of the couples’ genders were changed, so I was playing the Elaine Stritch role. I sang that song in the workshop. I thought

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 photo courtesy of Alan Cumming

it worked really well, but ultimately it didn’t go any further.

Then when I was doing this show I thought, “I can’t not sing that song at the home of Elaine Stritch.”

When I was doing Cabaret, in my dressing room I would always turn on Elaine singing “Ladies Who Lunch” as the last song. Whenever it came on, it was time to go. Everyone would be quiet and listen to the song and then at the end everyone would go crazy and that was the end of the night. So, she has a very special place in my life in a lot of ways. By doing it in that venue, this is very much a tribute to her.

GC: Your résumé is expansive. When a gay guy stops you on the street, which career endeavor of yours are they most likely to compliment you on?

AC: It’s very difficult to tell nowadays – it really is. You know, some mention the Romy and Michele thing. But now it’s really hard to tell. It may be my book (Not My Father’s Son: A Memoir); it’s a variety of things. With lesbians, I know it’s always gonna be The L Word.

GC: Having accomplished as much as you have, what’s been a career highlight for you?

AC: The things I’m most proud of are the things that are the most personal, the biggest challenges. I thought I was never going to be able to do Macbeth on Broadway. I thought I was going to die. Doing Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs is really an amazing thing because I am sort of being myself.

Also, my book a couple of years ago – that was a great sort of achievement because it was a terrifying thing to do. It was so vulnerable. For me, personally, it’s the things that I might have failed at, or when I make myself really vulnerable in a personal way. Those are my best achievements.

GC: What about ones that were not your best achievements – do you regret those projects?

AC: I don’t. If you’re happy where you are then it’s impossible to regret things, because everything you’ve done has made you who you are as a person and who you are at the moment. I get snarky journalists saying, “Why did you do this, blah, blah?” and I go, “Why do you think I did that?” Because it made money!

People get a bit offended that you’ve done some commercial thing, but I did those things in order to do XYZ, (projects) that don’t make very much money. So, I’m actually doing you a favor by doing those things that make money.

So I don’t really regret. I’m not a regretter. There are things I had a terrible time on, and at the time I was like, “Fuck, I didn’t know it was gonna be like this. I thought it was gonna be great fun,” but there were asshole people and the experience went wrong. Ultimately, there’s always something you can learn a lesson from. And nobody died, hopefully.

GC: As a bisexual person yourself, you’re known for being outspoken on bisexuality and gender fluidity. How do you explain bisexuality to people who still don’t get it?

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 photo courtesy of Alan Cumming

AC: I’m not here to change people’s minds about whether they believe in bisexuality. All I’m saying is that I think my sexuality and most people’s sexuality is gray. And yeah, I like cock. I love cock. But I also feel that I have an attraction to women. I’ve never lost it, actually. I’ve always been attracted to both sexes, and whether I act on it or not is not anyone’s business, really.

I’m not going to close myself off to the possibility of experience just because society says we must stick within these rigid boundaries. I find it really self-hating that the gay community, which has been so bullied, are especially the ones who might be chiding people about their bisexuality. I think, let everyone be who they are.

The point I’m making is that it seems more ironic for a gay person to chide someone about their sexuality – they’re chiding all of us at heart. It seems particularly galling that that would be coming from a fellow LGBT person. I really do believe people today, especially young people, have a much more fluid idea about sexuality and gender, and I should think we’re in a really great place with the youth of today. It’s people who are a bit older who are still struggling with it.

GC: Reflecting on your early days as an activist: Why was it so important for you to start speaking out on LGBT issues?

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AC: I have a voice. I have a platform. I have a great life. I have a really great life, and I live the way I want to live. I am the person I want to be, and I feel like it’s my duty to take care of people who don’t have those opportunities. I have a personal connection to people who have been prejudiced against who are gay or bisexual or transgender. I’m Scottish and I grew up with fairness and justice. Where I come from, it’s very important that we adhere to making sure that everyone is looking after each other. So, it’s partly my genetic makeup (laughs), but also in the privileged position that I am in, I feel it’s my duty to give back and help other people along. Being an artist is understanding other people and wanting to reach and connect with other people, so helping other people is absolutely a part of that. When there’s injustice and persecution, I can’t really live in a society with that going on and not do something about it.

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Boy Problems

Steve Grand talks new music, touchy-feely fans and moving beyond ‘All-American Boy’  photos by Christopher Free

By Chris Azzopardi Steve Grand can barely stand himself – that is, the superficial, Internet-packaged version of the singer/ songwriter/dreamboat presented to the public since even before his 2013 viral hit “All-American Boy” rocked our gay world.

“I don’t like the me that most people probably see,” admits Grand, 26.

Now, the self-proclaimed “weird guy trapped in a douchey gym guy’s body” is tackling YouTube with a fun and frank smattering of endearing, no-holds-barred confessionals. He takes on his constantly-criticized image… and also a half gallon of Breyers, which he (in)appropriately slurps as he dishes practical advice on clean bottoms. In another video, called “Steve and Trev PUMP it up at the GYM,” Grand delivers on the dream of him wearing compression pants over his jockstrap.

As he preps new music, the “All-American Boy” is certainly less all American-y these days. In our new freewheeling interview, Grand opened up about everything and anything: people’s “low expectations” of him, his more carefree career attitude, his junk, boner kills, handsy fans, haters and his fear that someone will start singing “All-American Boy” while having sex with him.

GC: I have a confession to make: I like you better now than I did at the beginning of your career.

SG: Fuck you! (Laughs) ... I’m kidding.

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GC: Yeah, fuck me. I blame the Internet. I got bits and pieces of you. The abs. The music. But now, through your YouTube videos, we’re finally seeing the real you.

SG: I’m not so bad. People have (such) incredibly low expectations of me, that I just need to show up. For my performances, I need to not be terrible and people will be impressed. I just know people have really, really low expectations of me and that’s what the Internet does. I’m such an easy person to target. Young, good-looking, white, gay men – we love to hate those people. But there’s been a real person there the whole time.

It’s weird. For a long time there’s been a big disconnect between how much I could expect to be understood by people and how much I actually was understood by people. I had this unreasonable expectation that I was going to be understood by people and it took me a long time to get over that. I don’t make sense in any kind of headline, so I’ve kinda given up on that and I’m fine with it. The more you kind of give up and don’t care, the more people feel that and like that.

GC: When did you stop caring as much?

SG: Of course I do care. I revel in not caring, but I still am human. I’m not very good at crafting the public image version of me. I’m just not. I’m too messy of a person, and I care too much about being able to be a real dimensional human being.

GC: Why do you say you’re “messy”?

SG: (Hesitates) There’s a good answer to this. Some people just make more sense in a headline. Taylor Swift – she’s an example of someone who’s not really messy. She’s a well-oiled machine. Everything about her is very comfortable and that’s

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one of the reasons she’s so massively successful. That’s not a criticism; it’s an objective observation. With me, I still am just a regular person operating in the same world as everyone else.

I’m not rich and famous. And I think there’s a weird disconnect that, when someone has any degree of fame on social media or whatever, we discount them as being a real, complicated human being. I feel like I have always fought for myself to be seen as a complex, nuanced human being, to the point where I would rather not have lots of success and notoriety if it means that I can’t let all the messy edges of me show.

GC: “All-American Boy” categorized you as “country music’s first out gay male,” but then you didn’t make any “country” music after that and even resisted the label. Was that time in your career as confusing for you as it was for other people?

SG: What I’m mostly confused about is how important labels are to people. Music is music and maybe “All-American Boy” is a country song to some people and maybe it’s not to other people. I just never put much energy into thinking about what it was classified as. I probably would’ve been smarter to, but I just genuinely don’t care about labels that much. I never called myself a country singer, so yeah, it was kind of confusing and another reason why you have to separate yourself from the way that you’re seen publicly. Even going down to the most basic details of who I am publicly, it’s not even correct. I never said I’m country and I never said I’m the first anything; those are all things that people associated with me and it had absolutely zero to do with anything that I said or did myself.

GC: Do you regret having that song be country-tinged at all because it put you in a box that you didn’t want to be in?

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SG: No – I have to learn everything through life experience. I didn’t have anyone taking me through this. It’d be so easy to get caught up in, “I regret this, I regret that.” We’re not all on the same playing field, and I’ve had certain advantages and I’ve also had certain disadvantages. One is that I really got into this on my own and I didn’t necessarily have the guidance that maybe would’ve made everything turn out a little differently.

GC: With that said, is the facial hair intended to shift you from the “All-American Boy” image?

SG: (Laughs) I’m really trying! I’m really, really trying. It’s not growing right! But it’s natural and nice. I just feel like it fits my personality to be more cuddly and look like a bear a little bit.

Even having shitty facial hair fits my personality. (Laughs) GC: Can you talk about the struggle to be taken seriously as a music artist when there are half-naked photos of you circulating all over the Internet?

SG: It used to be really frustrating, but I’ve readjusted my expectations. I don’t have that high of expectations for the general public – I mean, we don’t even understand things that really actually fucking matter, like, with this election. So why should I expect people to take the time to understand me? I don’t matter. And people don’t even care about things that do matter.

I take my music seriously. I’m a good musician and I’m a good performer, and I also like to work out my body and show it off sometimes. It’s a fleeting thing; when I’m 50, I’m not gonna look like this.

Everybody has to feel like they have to be a special snowflake.

People can’t just look at a picture of a hot guy and let it be beautiful. It has to be some statement about them. Let people

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just fucking appreciate what is beautiful and let things be beautiful if they’re beautiful.

GC: So, you never look at a photo of another guy and think, “I wish I could look that good”?

SG: Oh my god – of course I do. But I try to take personal responsibility and not lash out at that person because they maybe make me feel less. I just fucking look at the picture and enjoy it. I’ve had a lot of moments where I’ve seen someone who is maybe more beautiful or someone who sounds better than me or has written a song that I think is gorgeous – yeah, sometimes I have that envy and that jealousy rises up. I could either leave a really bitter comment about it on the Internet or I could go work on my own shit and be the best I can be.

GC: Do you think your more risqué photos have helped or hurt your career?

SG: Oh, I don’t know. It is what it is. I’m just trying to be myself.

GC: Would you ever go back into modeling full time?

SG: I never was a model. I never got paid for any of it. I’m just another guy who has photos online of me in my underwear and that’s really all it is. It’s really true. I don’t know what qualifies as being a model anymore because we all have Instagram accounts. Max Emerson is a model. I’m not. I just wanted to take pictures of myself with my clothes off.

GC: You recently got naked for a promo advertising bassackwards tees. Tell me about that.

SG: I got with them and worked with them and we’re still figuring out which organization it’s gonna benefit. It’s definitely gonna be an LGBT organization. If people are gonna click on

this shit then yeah, I’ll be a part of this cool T-shirt (campaign) and we’ll give some of the proceeds to our cause and everyone wins.

GC: How do they decide how much butt to show in a video like that?

SG: Everyone’s seen my butt, but some days I’ll feel more like an instigator than other days; other days I want no part of that. With this, I don’t think I’d done anything that I hadn’t done before. I just wanted to make a video that was beautiful and sexy.

GC: Under what circumstances would you go completely au natural?

SG: And show my dick? You can pretty much see it in some of the shots from the past, but I probably wouldn’t. I’d rather not. But if someone was like, “Here’s a million dollars,” I would be like, “Sure.” But, like, I don’t think my dick is that exciting.

It’s just like, whatever. It’s pretty unremarkable. I think it’s good to be proud of what you have but I think there are more interesting things about me than my relatively… what’s the word I’m looking for? It’s very appropriately sized and shaped, that’s what I would say.

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GC: That’s gonna be the headline somewhere: “Steve Grand calls his dick ‘unremarkable’ and ‘appropriately sized.’”

SG: That’s fine. If it makes people happy…

GC: How has notoriety changed your life?

SG: That’s a big question. I don’t know. I have a Wikipedia page! Googling myself is a really scary thing that could have really adverse effects on my psyche!

GC: You’re not supposed to do that, Steve.

SG: I definitely don’t anymore. It took a long time. It’s been months since I’ve done it. I’m terrified of what’s out there.

GC: How has it changed dating for you?

SG: When “All-American Boy” came out I couldn’t be on dating apps without getting shit for it, but now it’s fine. It doesn’t really have any effect.

GC: Have you ever been faced with a flirty fan that made you uncomfortable?

SG: Someone was tickling me as we were taking a picture and I’d kind of had it, and I think they thought they were being sneaky about it. But I really reacted and made a scene. “That tickles!” And I jumped. There’s a picture of me reacting. It’s hilarious. I was gonna repost it but I didn’t wanna embarrass the guy. Like, it’s fine. He was tickling my side; I don’t know what he got out of that. Sometimes people, if they’re more drunk, their hand will lower to my ass and I’ll be like, OOOK. GC: You have to slap their wrist?

SG: Yeah. (Tickling) is one of those things. I felt like tickling me was really presumptuous and I didn’t like it. It was uncomfortable. One time there was someone who was a fan and I was like, “You’re really hot,” and, you know, that whole thing happened, but that doesn’t really happen. I just feel like I’m automatically put in a position when someone is a fan. I’m already something to them. There’s an expectation there. It freaks me out to think about if I’m having sex with someone they might be thinking about my music video, like that’s really weird to me. I wouldn’t like that.

GC: Or if they wanted to play your music during sex.

SG: My fear is that someone will start singing “All-American Boy” during it. People joke like, “Oh, I feel like we’re in your music video,” and that’s a boner kill. I like to keep those things separate. It’s so pure. What I put out there is so pure and I don’t want to think about purity when I’m actually having an intimate moment.

GC: What’s next for you?

SG: I really do wanna have something out in the next couple of months and I wanna move more quickly with getting content out there. I really want to put out a full album, so I’m working on that right now. I’m in a better frame of mind and what I’m putting out is gonna be about a lot of things that happened in the last two years. I’m more grown up and things are gonna be more stripped down. I just feel like I’m better and more comfortable with myself, so I’m letting the edges of me be present on the album and in the recordings more than before.

I was always trying to round off my edges because I wasn’t comfortable with them. It’s gonna be a little more gritty. It’s gonna fuck up people’s brains.

GC: So the “Anti All-American Boy”?

SG: Yeah, I have a rebellious spirit and that’s what made me want to do “All-American Boy” as my first thing, but now I’m rebelling against something different. I don’t feel like making a music video about two guys is an act of rebellion. So, what am I saying now? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself while making this music. It’s gonna be interesting. I’m grateful I’ve relieved myself of the burden of trying to be whatever expectations people had of me because I think I fucked all that up good enough to where I’m able to freely be myself now.

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Interview a way for him to stay connected with the community and also provide more work for his industry peers. “I’m deciding on how to launch it. I want to do basically ten porn stars in a house for a week, just fucking whenever they wanna fuck, and we just catch it with an iPhone. Just very natural, kind of like a Big Brother thing, but not a competition.

“One of the things that I feel has made me popular is I’m accessible.

A lot of my fans can talk to me directly through any of my social media routes. You come up to me in person, I’m very friendly. I let you into my life, and I feel that that’s the way the porn industry is going to be going.

You are going to actually know who you’re watching beat off. And that’s the goal with the site.”

Billy openly mentions that he doesn’t wear underwear, which turns out to be rather ironic. “I don’t wear underwear: no no no no no. I stopped wearing underwear when I moved to D.C. because it’s so fucking hot in the summertime, and I felt like I was sweating more with underwear. So I stopped wearing it. And plus, doing porn, you always have a fucking boner, and you don’t want it more constricted than it needs to be. So I just started putting it up in the waistband. It’s comfortable. Everyone’s like what kind of underwear do you have on?! None. The funny thing is – the ironic thing – is underwear is one of my biggest fetishes. I love when a guy wears like, tighty whities, and pulls his dick out the side and just fucks the shit out of me. Drives me crazy. Anyone out there that I end up hooking up with, wear tighty whities when you come to meet me.”

Beyond underwear, another thing Billy isn’t one for, is group sex.

“They start talking to each other and start ignoring me, and I don’t like that. One cums, they leave; the next one comes in. Sometimes I have a waiting room in my apartment lobby.”

Golden arches above his bed, perhaps?

“Yes!” Billy exclaims. “One million served!”

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VIDEO - Billy Santoro: Fast Porn Nation One Million Served?

By Mars Tonic Billy Santoro is known for his cream pies (he is a baker.) But seriously, also according to Santoro, whose pilgrimage up North was a first, Canada is an amazing place and very friendly. Very friendly. He didn’t have to work too hard to convince people to give him massages.

We were able to speak with him during his visit, which was a pleasure.

He is a lovely, friendly, engaging, and naughty man. Infused in a youthful glow that hides his years (you won’t believe how old he is), he is happy to discuss everything, from his Twitter account to relationships with costars.

“I just treat porn as work,” he explains. “It’s kind of fraternal for me; we’re a family. We’re all doing the same thing. We can relate to each other. I’m not self-centred; I want others in the industry to thrive. I feel like if I’m working with someone and they thrive, it makes me look good, and that has always been my approach in anything I have done. If I’m in a team – and porn is a team; you’re not doing a solo all the time – the better your scene partner looks, the better you look. We are a family.”

There are very few in his industry he doesn’t get along with. To Santoro, porn is fun and funny at the same time. “I have a very jocular approach to life: When I’m on set and I’m watching or hearing people moan, or watching people try to cum, it’s hard to keep a straight face.”

That being said, he has an issue with giggling during takes.

Beyond his current filming work he is also working on a website for homemade porn videos: Leaked and Loaded, which is yet to be live. It’s

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Book Review

Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator Exploring Bateworld.com and the book about being Solosexual

By GayCalgary.com Staff Just when you thought that the LGBTQ community couldn’t be any more diverse, a book comes out called Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator. Yes, we know that most men masturbate, so how is this anything new? But the book is not at all what one would expect. It examines an entirely different way of being sexual with other guys and with oneself, characterizing solosexuality as something of a “brotherhood”, and defining terminology to describe this “bate” culture.

The goal of most people who use dating apps or websites is to find someone to date, or at the very least meet in person for sex. But interestingly there is a site dedicated to guys who have the sole intention of masturbating to one another. The site is called Bateworld.com and it is unique in that guys post sexual photos of themselves, but strict guidelines are in place that forbid images of oral or anal insertion. The site focuses on the penis, masturbation and what guys do to get off. Also, profiles on this site aren’t a list of “no’s” to filter the men they are not interested in. Bateworld.com profiles are more geared toward talking about what excites them, stuff that they are experimenting with, and things that they use as “bate fuel”, and more.

Many people treat the terms solosexual and autosexual as synonymous, but this book defines solosexuality as something different. Autosexual is about the person becoming only sexually interested in oneself and having no interest in dating or being sexual with others. In contrast, being solosexual means pleasuring oneself while sometimes making contact with others, either by chatting with them online or in masturbation clubs (which do exist in some cities) and also using fetishes and “bate fuel” to bring yourself to orgasm. You can still have a sexual preference for men, women or both, but you can enjoy pleasuring yourself using them as your “bate fuel”. You can still be in a relationship and enjoy being part of the brotherhood – in fact, there are a good number of straight married men on the site, along with single guys as well.

The site Bateworld.com and the book Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator open your eyes to a world where guys actually can be positive and friendly towards one another. It is where your age, race, body shape, the amount of hair you have, and sexual preference creates a brotherhood of “baters”. Guys even make positive comments on each other’s images - a refreshing change from the mean and judging comments on most dating/ hookup sites. Guys do still hook up from Bateworld but it is mostly for masturbating with one another or being part of a group masturbation event.

GayCalgary chatted a bit with author Jason Armstrong to talk more about the world of solosexuality. The book does get pretty intense with chapters about how he masturbates and how he explores his sexuality, but there are also chapters that take a step back and help you understand who he is as a person.

GC: When you wrote your book about being solosexual, did you feel it more as a personal coming out process or a continuation of your coming out process as a gay man?

JA: It was a little bit of both. I unapologetically want to put the “sex” back in “homosexual”. I feel that while being gay is accepted more and more in the West, the idea of being a sexual being (gay, bi or straight) is judged harshly. I would be rewarded socially if I married and adopted and moved to the suburbs and aped hetero-normative mores, but heaven forbid we should declare ourselves sexual beings. And yet, I know that for many, sexuality is a central part of life, not www.gaycalgary.com

 Book cover

a peripheral part. I wanted to celebrate that, because where there is silence, there is unnecessary shame. Furthermore, solosexuality is a rather new notion in the sexual landscape – we don’t have a language for it in our vernacular. So to declare myself solosexual was a type of coming out – and involved a lot of explaining.

GC: Since you were an out gay man, how was coming out as a solosexual different?

JA: I recall telling men that I’d be intimate with that I didn’t necessarily want to continue with penetrative sex. I wanted a partner with whom I could masturbate instead. This was met with some confusion, but luckily, the men I’ve been intimate with lately are wise, warm men who wished me well on my sexual journey. But when one door closes, another opens: I found a community of men for whom masturbation is the best sex of their lives and sharing that with them has been exciting and at times, transcendent.

GC: Your masturbation session starts with GodSmack – Cryin’ Like A Bitch!! playing from YouTube, with shirtless MMA fighters (and same with the band in the end). Do you ever change it up or is it always ready to go when you are going to have a session?

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JA: For a good year, the band Godsmack’s music was the soundtrack to my masturbation sessions – at least until the porn started rolling! I’m not sure if the band would be amused or horrified by this if they knew! But lately, I’ve been mixing it up. I do love hard rock at the start of a bate sesh (masturbation session, keep up with the lingo). Hard rock mirrors the aggressive sexuality that informs a messy, intense connection with my penis.

GC: As part of the session, you use a site called BateWorld. com, which is a lot different than other sites that guys are usually are on. What do you find different and interesting that makes it stand out for you?

JA: BateWorld.com is fascinating on multiple fronts. First, the men there are unabashedly proclaiming that masturbation is their favorite sexual outlet – still a rather taboo thing to say. Masturbation, when discussed, if discussed at all, is often couched in jokes. It’s considered a “snack” until the so-called real meal of partnered, penetrative sex comes along. Not so for these men. These men are having sex with themselves and sharing that experience with others doing the same. Which leads to the second marvelous quality about BateWorld: When a man isn’t trying to necessarily get into another man’s pants, but is encouraging that man to get into his OWN pants, a camaraderie develops. It’s not for nothing that men on BateWorld refer to themselves as part of a community, a brotherhood of men celebrating being men with cocks that they love.

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GC: Also in the book, rather than publishing your twitter or Facebook information like some authors, you bring up your handle on Xtube.com and on Bateworld.com. Have you had a lot of guys check you out or contact you to discuss being solosexual?

JA: I’m not a typical author! Instead of a staid, conventional author photo, I offer up my x-rated videos. And I don’t mind sharing that my handle on Xtube.com is Wildhorse100.

Many men have found the book by way of those videos of me masturbating, and I love it. But be warned, the videos are rather kinky!

GC: With doing a book that goes into details about how you bate and also your videos on xtube.com and your profiles online, do you think you are also a voyeur and an exhibitionist?

Is there a difference from those to being solosexual or is it part of being solosexual?

JA: The hallmark of a solosexual is a love for masturbation above all other sexual outlets. That said, we humans love to connect. It might seem like a contradiction, but the internet has allowed men both privacy to go within, and also a community to share that with others who are doing the same thing. I think we are all voyeurs and exhibitionists in varying degrees. That the internet enables us to be both can fuel a masturbation session. The solitary act of masturbation made social.

GC: What I have found interesting is the whole “brotherhood of the bate”, where guys check in on one another and discuss where they are at in their bate. How they discuss what they are doing, swap photos over email or texts to help each other bate, and unlike all the other sites, they are not looking to actually hook up during all of this. They can easily chat over Bateworld.com or apps like Skype or WhatsApp and interact with one another, make personal requests for bate fuel, and it can be all done over great distances and at any time of the day.

Do you feel that this is like having a more personal experience where guys become each other’s amateur porn stars?

JA: Absolutely! If I may quote from my book to answer this one: “The heightened masturbatory experiences that men have achieved as solosexuals are largely possible because of the strange combination of privacy and social interaction that the Internet permits. It is hard to imagine men masturbating daily for three, four or five hours at a stretch without online porn, cam and chat to fuel their descent into the batehole.”

Masturbators are going on a journey within, but fueled by outside sources. Although, some solosexuals I know, need only their imaginations, or a mirror, and some men find that gooning (that point in the bate when you lose all sense of time and place except for the fact that you are a man with a hot cock in his hands) is best achieved without outside stimulus, reveling instead in the mad rush of horny ecstasy coursing through their bodies.

GC: You also bring up guilt, shame and religion when you were younger. I know that did connect with me as an experience too. Do you think lots of guys growing up went through something similar to what you did?

JA: Unfortunately, shame and sexuality are no strangers for many people. The irony is that our sexuality is, in my opinion, one of the greatest gifts that God ever gave us. My religious upbringing informed me and instilled shame, and to this day, there are remnants of that shame still to be dealt with. I wanted to connect with any reader who also struggled, like I had to, to reclaim his or her sexuality from forces either from without or within.

GC: As an adult, you also have a similar reaction to guilt and shame as when you were younger when you posted your first video on Xtube and then quickly removed it. Do you regret doing that or do you think it was part of the process of becoming more comfortable with yourself?

JA: Oh God, when I posted my first video of myself on Xtube, I had such a panic attack a few days later and took the video down. Why oh why, I asked myself, had I posted such a kinky video showing my face? I worried about the video getting into the wrong hands and wrecking my life. But I also believe in

www.gaycalgary.com

overcoming sexual shame. As a sex writer, if I was shamed by my sexuality being seen, how could I expect anyone else to be brave. And so I reposted the video, hoping that providence would provide me with a path. I like having that video up there now.

GC: Do you think that with the help of sites like Bateworld and your book, that awareness about solosexuality will increase to the point where more groups dedicated to being solosexual will be set up throughout North America? Maybe having booths or walking in gay pride parades like the Pro-Foreskin groups, Pups and so on?

JA: I think that would be amazing! Could we add “S” for solosexual to LGBT? This notion of solosexuality is getting out there – sites like BateWorld and Chaturbate exist, and the internet was a game changer. It allowed men to bate for hours, with limitless porn and social interaction. I see men now identifying as solosexual in their twenties, while it took me until I was forty to understand my sexual nature. I hope my book helps nourish this nascent idea of solosexuality. If I had read my own book at twenty, I think I might have saved myself numerous missteps in my dealings with men, sexually speaking.

GC: What sort of responses have you been getting? Have they been pretty positive, or have you been getting some negative ones too?

JA: The responses have moved me to tears, in the best way possible. Readers have written to me from all over the world wanting to share their feelings and I embrace it, honour it, love it. But I must tell you that it’s still very clear to me that masturbation as a subject makes many people very uncomfortable. Salon.com did a feature on the book, and the cyber trolls went ballistic in the comments section. Though they hadn’t read the book, they made all sorts of negative

assumptions about me and bemoaned that the respected Salon. com would lower itself to writing anything about masturbation.

GC: This book took a couple years to write. Do you think you will do a sequel to it?

JA: The book took about two years to write, not because the writing itself took so long, but because I was still living it, if you know what I mean. I do think there will be a sequel because one never completely understands the concept of sexuality – it has too many twists and turns. We are ever growing and changing and never done learning about our sexuality.

GC: Anything you would like to say to the solosexuals out there or to the readers of GayCalgary Magazine?

JA: I lived in Alberta for over ten years! In Edmonton. I think back to those years as a time of sexual exploration and I met many men who taught me so much about myself. But living in Alberta also felt a little isolating as a gay man at times.

We gay men know how to use our sexuality as a creative force, and I hope that if any men reading this might be turned on by this notion of solosexuality, that they would contact me, read the book, watch my Xtube videos, share! And I thank GayCalgary Magazine so much for indulging me and offering me this platform to share my work.

www.gaycalgary.com

Solosexual: Portrait of a Masturbator http://www.solosexbook.com Bateworld http://www.bateworld.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5073 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

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Photography ISCWR - Dukes & Diamonds at Woodys, Edmonton

ISCWR - Iconika at Evolution, Edmonton

photos by B&J

photos by B&J

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Photography Jasper Pride 2016 http://gaycalgary.com/pa1128

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Photography

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Photography Apollo Western Cup 34, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa1129

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News Releases BOOK - A Groundbreaking Work in Our Understanding of Solosexuality

For many, masturbation is nothing more than “the next best thing.” We have placed a premium on sexual intercourse than... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2124

Calgary Pride & the Trans Equality Society of Alberta host a Trans Day of Visibility Celebration Calgary Pride and the Trans Equality Society of Alberta (TESA) are partnering to host a free event for all members, allies, and... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2125

NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian VIDEO: Feel My VIBE!

Models: Topher DiMaggio, Cory Zwierzynski, Jon Pastor Watch Topher, Cory, and Jon work up a sweat as they put the new VIBE collection... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2126

Calgary Expo Official After Show Party with Rock Sugar and Kirby Krackle at Cowboys Nightclub The Calgary Expo fun doesn’t die down when the convention doors close! Calgary Expo will host an evening of nerdy music with a... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2127

Meze Burger Recipe Susie Fishbein Launches Final Chapter in the Kosher by Design Cookbook Series

Kosher by Design Brings It Home is Susie’s final installment in the Kosher by Design cookbook series. Fifteen years ago Susie... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2128

NSFW - Bruno Gmünder - Book News in February 2016

New in February 2016 from Bruno Gmünder Group. Click on photos for more info on each book. Visit their website today! http://www. gaycalgary.com/n2129

NSFW - Bruno Gmünder Book News in March 2016

New in March 2016 from Bruno Gmünder Group. Click on photos for more info on each book. Visit their website today! http://www. gaycalgary.com/n2130

Hornet Invests in Gay Men’s Health Through Partnership and Innovation

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Red Deer’s “The Dirrty Show” Release New Album “CREAM”

Double R-Rated Musical Comedy act to perform at Scott Block Theatre March 5, 2016 “Cream”, the latest full length... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2132

CDC Releases Alarming New Data on Spread of HIV

HRC calls for greater investment in studying and supporting underserved communities Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2133

Reality TV Show Addresses Controversial “Gay for Pay” Porn Industry

New show provides a behind the scenes look into controversial multi-billion dollar industry BluMedia announced today that the... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2134

NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian VIDEO: ANIMAL INSTINCTS

Models: Cory Zwierzynski Take a walk on the wild side with Cory Z. I promise he won’t bite... much Andrew Christian Models:... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2135

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Top Political Leaders, Strike A Pose For Pride Toronto North America’s largest Pride festival unveils Canada’s first-ever Pride Month theme “YOU CAN SIT WITH US” Pride... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2136

SVTV Short Film Fest Presents “SOUND/VISION” - queer network shows film about a shy Muslim girl

SVTV Short Film Fest, gaySVTVworld’s online film festival, will present SOUND/VISION, a short film about a shy Muslim girl, lost... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2137

RuPaul’s Drag Race Tour Heads to Australia For The First Time Ever 2016 Extravaganza Tour Dates Ticket Sales + Info: http://www.rupaulbots.com 7/1... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2138

Miss Fame Releases “I Run the Runway” Music Video Featuring Violet Chachki

Hornet is committed to HIV health innovation and is investing in its Health Innovation...

“I Run the Runway” was shot on location at a cabaret in Paris with a who’s who of the Parisian club scene....

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News Releases Peg’s Front Row Seat At NYFW

Pride Montreal 2017 Festival to be part of Official Events of Montreal’s 375th Anniversary

Miss Fame, Violet Chachki and Carmen Carrera turned out to toast the biggest week in fashion, attending the Marc Jacobs Fall Fashion...

Canada Pride Montréal 2017 will shed the light on Montréal’s diversity and attractions on the occasion of the city’s 375th anniversary....

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VIDEO - Hooking Up Faster Than Ordering A Pizza

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2148

In their newest video, “Faster Than Ordering A Pizza,” Manhunt proves just how easy it is to hookup in 30 minutes or...

The gay friendliest travel destinations worldwide - The new Spartacus Gay Travel Index

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The Spartacus Gay Travel Index 2016 lists the homo-friendliest...

NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian VIDEO: Beast Mode Pablo Hernandez

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Transgender people who are sexual minorities are more likely to be harassed, new study shows

MODEL: Pablo Hernandez Pablo Hernandez puts the VIBE Collection to the test during his Beast Mode workout Director/Editor: Erica...

Sexual minority respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey were more likely to be harassed on the job, at...

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WHERE THE BEARS ARE: SEASON 5 The Gay Comedy Mystery Series Kickstarter

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EASTER BRUNCH IS SERVED at Earls

Donate for Season 5 of the show people say is “The Golden Girls” meets “Murder, She Wrote” but with big, hairy,...

This Easter long weekend Earls Kitchen + Bar (select locations) features a delectable weekend brunch. Offering irresistible fresh,...

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Australian Government dumps gay refugee couple on Nauru – where being gay can be punished

Vancouver’s New Bordello Of House Music #BAWDYHAUS

17,000 thousand people call on Malcolm Turnbull to bring them home and fix Australian detention process. Two gay men fleeing...

What: HoneyPot brings back the underground at Bawdyhaus with DJ/Producer Tommy K (Sea) headlining this debut event with local...

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Latrice Royale Infuses Jazz with Pizazz: RuPaul’s Drag Race Star Releases Debut Album

City of Calgary set to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility

The Trans Day of Visibility is an annual event that has been celebrated internationally since 2009. Led by a joint initiative...

Celebrating 100 years of Jazz, Latrice Royale, the larger than life star from RuPaul’s Drag Race, is bringing the energy and rawness...

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Esks, Evolution, Francis Price and ISCWR join Exclusive Presenting Sponsor TD Bank

Recipe: Herb Infused Ranch Style Sweet Potato Chips.

Wellness Blogger Provides Easy Summer Snack

JTMF West is proud to announce that all sponsors from last year’s event have returned and they have added a new one. The http:// www.gaycalgary.com/n2154

New York Times Wellness Blogger and Nutritionist, Dawn Lerman, Provides Healthy Snack Recipes That Will Fill You Up While Not...

8-Year Old Transgender Child Fundraising To Buy Transgender House Across From Westboro Church

http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2146

Go Green Alberta Style with a Cocktail from Eau Claire Distillery on St Patrick’s Day

Once purchased, house will be painted the colors of the transgender flag as a symbol of hope and acceptance Avery Jackson,...

Introducing ‘Fiddler’s Green’ from Eau Claire Distillery and Cannibale Eau Claire Distillery has teamed up with Cannibale...

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http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2147

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Directory & Events DOWNTOWN CALGARY

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Calgary Outlink---------- Community Groups HIV Community Link---- Community Groups Backlot------------------------Bars and Clubs Texas Lounge-----------------Bars and Clubs

5 6 7 8

Goliath’s--------------------------Bathhouses Twisted Element--------------Bars and Clubs Broken City-------------------Bars and Clubs Cowboys Nightclub-----------Bars and Clubs

FIND OUT!

GayCalgary Magazine is the go-to source for information about Alberta LGBT businesses and community groups—the most extensive and accurate resource of its kind! This print supplement contains a subset of active community groups and venues, with premium business listings of paid advertisers. ..........Wheelchair Accessible Spot something inaccurate or outdated? Want your business or organization listed? We welcome you to contact us!

 403-543-6960  1-888-543-6960

 magazine@gaycalgary.com http://www.gaycalgary.com/CalgaryTravelRSS http://www.gaycalgary.com/EdmontonTravelRSS Local Bars, Restaurants, and Accommodations info on the go! http://www.gaycalgary.com/Directory Browse our complete directory of over 750 gay-frieindly listings!

Bars & Clubs (Gay) 3 Backlot-------------------------------------  209 - 10th Ave SW  403-265-5211  Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close 4 Texas Lounge

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

www.gaycalgary.com

6 Twisted Element

 1006 - 11th Ave SW  403-802-0230

 http:.//www.twistedelement.ca

Bars & Clubs (Mixed) These venues regularly host LGBT events.

Bodega

 318A 10th Street NW  tim.richards@labodega.ca

 http://www.labodega.ca

Dickens Pub------------------Bars and Clubs Flames Central---------------Bars and Clubs Local 522---------------------Bars and Clubs Ten Nightclub-----------------Bars and Clubs

7 Broken City

 613 11th Ave SW  info@brokencity.ca

 http://www.brokencity.ca

LGBT Community Directory

CALGARY

9 10 11 12

 403-262-9976

 403-233-7550

11 Local 522----------------------------------  522 6 Ave SW  403-244-6773

 http://www.localtavern.ca  403-457-4464

15 The Blind Monk---------------------------  918 12th Ave SW  403-265-6200  12thave@blindmonk.ca

 http://www.blindmonk.ca  Mon-Sun: 11am-2am  403-384-9777

14 Vinyl & Hyde (CLOSED)

 213 10 Ave SW

 http://www.vinylandhyde.com

 587-224-5200

Community Groups

• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing)

 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@apollocalgary.com

 lawnbowling@apollocalgary.com

Bathhouses/Saunas

Alberta Society for Kink



http://www.westerncup.com

• Lawn Bowling

5 Goliaths

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

 403-398-9968  masdenn@yahoo.com

 http://www.apollocalgary.com  http://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.

• Golf

13 The Pint

 1428 17th Ave SW  calgary@thepint.ca

 http://www.thepint.ca/calgary

 403-475-9227

 http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/ group.albertasocietyforkink

• Western Cup 31

10 Flames Central----------------------------  219 8th Ave SW  403-935-2637

 http://www.flamescentral.com

12 Ten Nightclub

 1140 10th Ave SW

13 The Pint-----------------------Bars and Clubs 15 The Blind Monk--------------Bars and Clubs

Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports

8 Cowboys Nightclub------------------------  421 12th Avenue SE  403-265-0699

 http://www.cowboysnightclub.com 9 Dickens Pub

 1000 9th Ave SW  info@dickenspub.ca

 http://www.dickenspub.ca

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• Outdoor Pursuits

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

• Running (Calgary Frontrunners)

 YMCA Eau Claire (4th St, 1st Ave SW)  calgaryfrontrunners@shaw.ca East Doors (directly off the Bow river pathway). Distances vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to 9+ minute miles.

• Slow Pitch

 slow.pitch@apollocalgary.com

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Directory & Events Fetish Slosh----------------------------  Evening

Calgary Events

At 3 Backlot

Mondays

 2nd

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

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

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

Saturdays

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

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

Karaoke-----------------------------------  7pm

At 5 Goliaths

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

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

Wednesdays

Fridays

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

Inside Out Youth Group---------------- 7-9pm

See

ISCCA BBQs--------------------------------Dinner

Student Night------------------------  6pm-6am

Worship Time---------------------------- 10am

At 5 Goliaths

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

Tuesdays

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

Mosaic Youth Group--------------------  7-9pm

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

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

Beers for Queers--------------------------  6pm

Thursdays

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

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

Student Night------------------------  6pm-6am

 Kerby Center, Sunshine Room 1133 7th Ave SW

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

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

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

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

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

 Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE) See 1 Calgary Outlink

See 1 Calgary Outlink By

 1st

YYC Badboys at 13 The Pint

At 5 Goliaths

At 3 Backlot

Knox United Church

 Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW)

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

 3rd

Between Men--------------------------- 7-9pm Karaoke-------------------------  8pm-12:30am

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

 2nd, 4th

At 4 Texas Lounge

ISCCA at 3 Backlot

See 1 Calgary Outlink

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

• Tennis

 tennis@apollocalgary.com

• Yoga

 Robin: 403-618-9642  yoga@apollocalgary.com

Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)

 www.argra.org

• Monthly Dances

 Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Street SW)

Calgary Expo

 http://www.calgaryexpo.com

Calgary Gay Fathers

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

Calgary Men’s Chorus

 http://www.calgarymenschorus.org

• Rehearsals

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

Calgary Sexual Health Centre

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

1 Calgary Outlink

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

 1st

See 1 Calgary Outlink

 2nd

See 1 Calgary Outlink

At 5 Goliaths

 3rd

At 1 Calgary Outlink

 4th

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

 1st

Sundays See See See See See

Deer Park United Church Scarboro United Church Hillhurst United Church Knox United Church

Rainbow Community Church

Flashlight Night---------------------  6pm-6am

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

• Peer Support and Crisis Line

 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

 Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)

Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre

 403-278-8263

Different Strokes

 http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org

FairyTales Presentation Society

 403-244-1956

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

• DVD Resource Library

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

Gay Friends in Calgary

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

Girl Friends

 girlfriends@shaw.ca

 members.shaw.ca/girlfriends

Girlsgroove

 http://www.girlsgroove.ca

• Telephone Support

 M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Hillhurst United Church

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

HIV Peer Support Group

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

Calgary Queer Book Club

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

2 HIV Community Link----------------------  110, 1603 10th Avenue SW  403-508-2500  1-877-440-2437  http://www.hivcl.org

ISCCA Social Association

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

Knox United Church

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

Lesbian Meetup Group

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

Miscellaneous Youth Network

 http://www.miscyouth.com

• Fake Mustache • Mosaic Youth Group

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

Mystique

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

• 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.

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

At 5 Goliaths

 Calgary Contd.

• Squash

 2nd

See 1 Calgary Outlink

Uniform Night-----------------------  6pm-6am

See 1 Calgary Outlink

By

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

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

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

 403-797-6564

 www.pridecalgary.ca

Primetimers Calgary

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

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

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

Directory & Events  Calgary Contd.

Spectrum Volleyball Calgary

 http://www.spectrumvolleyball.ca  spectrumvolleyball@gmail.com Join us for recreational, competitive or beach volleyball.

Unity Bowling

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

DevaDave Salon & Boutique

 1317-1st Street NW

Restaurants & Pubs Bodega

See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).

10 Flames Central---------------------------- See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).

13 The Pint See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).

Retail Stores Adult Depot (CLOSED)

Adult Source--------------------------------

 10210 Macleod Tr S  403-271-7848

 #102 2323 32nd Ave NE  403-769-6177

 1536 16th Ave NW  403-289-4203

 4310 17th Ave SE  403-273-2710

 http://www.adultsourcecalgary.ca

Best Health

 206A 2525 Woodview Dr SW  403-281-5582  besthealthcalgary@hotmail.com  http://www.besthealthcalgary.com

La Fleur

 403-266-1707 Florist and Flower Shop.

Ellen Embury

 403-750-1128  www.DBBlaw.com Fellow, American Academy of Reproductive Technology Attorneys

Hardline

 Calgary: 403-770-0776

 Edmonton: 780-665-6666  Other Cities: 1-877-628-9696  http://www.hardlinechat.com Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

 2145 Summerfield Blvd  403-912-2045  http://www.hotwaterpoolsandspas.ca

 #4 - 1126 Kensington Rd NW  403-283-3555  http://www.thenakedleaf.ca Organic teas and tea ware.

Pushing Petals

 1209 5th Ave NW  403-263-3070  http://www.pushingpetals.com

Services & Products 6th and Tenth - Sales Centre

 633 10th Ave SW  403-239-5511  http://www.6thandtenth.com

 M-W: 12-6pm, R: 2-7pm, S-N: 12-5pm

Barry Hollowell

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.

Christopher T. Tahn (Thornborough Smeltz)

 403-808-7147

Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors)

 3rd Floor, 1131 Kensington Road NW  403-571-5120  http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca GLBT legal services.

www.gaycalgary.com

 #3 306 20th Ave SW 

http://www.thirdstreet.ca

MFM Communications

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

 Suite 27, Building B1, 2451 Dieppe Ave SW

 403-471-0204  780-922-3347  nrg@shaw.ca  http://www.nrgsupportservices.com

SafeWorks

 403-703-4750

Vertigo Mystery Theatre--------------------

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

Webster Galleries Inc.

 812 11 Ave SW  403-263-6500  http://www.webstergalleries.com

 T-S: 10am-6pm, N: 1-4pm

EDMONTON

Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)

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

Bars & Clubs (Gay) 3 Buddy’s Nite Club (CLOSED)

 11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6636 6 Evolution Wonder Lounge

 10220 - 103 St  780-424-0077  http://www.yourgaybar.com

FLASH (CLOSED)

 10018 105 Street  flashnightclub@hotmail.com

 780-938-2941

UpStares Ultralounge (CLOSED)

 4th Floor, Jasper Ave and 107th Street 4 Woody’s

 11725 Jasper Ave

 780-488-6557

Bars & Clubs (Mixed)

• Calgary Drop-in Centre

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

These venues regularly host LGBT events.

Hooliganz Pub (CLOSED)

Buck Naked Boys Club

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

Camp fYrefly

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

Edmonton Expo

 http://www.edmontonexpo.com

Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS)

 http://www.edmontonpride.ca

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

 780-387-3343

 groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions 2 Edmonton STD

 11111 Jasper Ave

Edmonton Vocal Minority

 780-479-2038  www.evmchoir.com

 sing@evmchoir.com

Fellowship of Alberta Bears

 www.beefbearbash.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.

• Centre of Hope

 10704 124 St NW

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

• Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre

7 The Starlite Room

 10030 102 St contact@starliteroom.ca  http://www.starliteroom.ca 8 Yellowhead Brewing Co.

 10229 105 St  info@yellowheadbrewery.com  http://www.yellowheadbrewery.com

 http://www.iscwr.ca

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

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

• Safeworks Van

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

Wheel Pro’s

 403-819-5219  http://www.bcbhcounselling.com

Third Street Theatre

Interactive Male

Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing.

Priape Calgary (CLOSED)

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

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

 403-355-3335  http://www.interactivemale.com

NRG Support Services

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

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

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

Theatre Junction----------------------------

Hot Water Pools & Spas

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

Pumphouse Theatre------------------------

 2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW  403-263-0079  http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca

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

Wild Rose United Church

 11650 Elbow Dr SW  ctahn@thornsmeltz.com  http://www.thornsmeltz.com

Cruiseline

 Calgary: 403-777-9494

 Edmonton: 780-413-7122  Other Cities: 1-877-882-2010  http://www.cruiseline.ca Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.

 4143- Edmonton Trail NE  403-226-7278  http://www.wheelpros.ca “Experts in Everything for Wheels”

Bathhouses/Saunas 5 Steamworks

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

Community Groups

Theatre & Fine Arts ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects

 403-294-7402

 http://www.ATPlive.com

Fairytales

See Calgary - Community Groups.

AltView Foundation

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

 403-398-9968  info@altview.ca  http://ww.altview.ca For gender variant and sexual minorities.

One Yellow Rabbit--------------------------

 Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE  403-299-8888  www.oyr.org

InQueeries

Book Worm’s Book Club

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

Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose

Living Positive Society of Alberta

 #50, 9912 - 106 Street 780-424-2214  living-positive@telus.net  http://www.facebook.com/LivingPoz Living Positive through Positive Living.

• HIV Support Group

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

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 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group.

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

 10608 - 105 Ave  780-488-3234  admin@pridecentreofedmonton.org  http://www.pridecentreofedmonton.org  Tue-Fri 12pm-9pm, Sat 2pm-6:30pm

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

65

Directory & Events DOWNTOWN EDMONTON

1

6

8

5 4 3

1 Pride Centre of Edm.---- Community Groups 2 Edmonton STD---------- Community Groups

Edmonton Events Boot Camp------------------------------ 7-8pm See

Team Edmonton

TTIQ------------------------------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

 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

7

3 Buddy’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs 4 Woody’s-----------------------Bars and Clubs

5 Steamworks----------------------Bathhouses 6 Evolution----------------------Bars and Clubs

7 The Starlite Room------------Bars and Clubs 8 Yellowhead Brewing Co.-----Bars and Clubs

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

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

QH Youth Drop-in------------------  2-6:30pm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fridays

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See

Tuesdays

See

2

See 1 Youth Understanding Youth

Mondays

N

Team Edmonton

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

Team Edmonton

Thursdays

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See See See

 2nd, 4th

BookWorm’s Book Club

 3rd

Team Edmonton Team Edmonton

QH Youth Drop-in---------------------- 3-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

QH Anime Night------------------------ 6-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturdays

See

Team Edmonton

See

Wednesdays See

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

Youth Understanding Youth

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See

Team Edmonton

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See See

Men’s Games Nights

Youth Understanding Youth

• TTIQ

• Counselling

• Women’s Social Circle

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

• Men Talking with Pride

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

• Movie Night

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

• Queer HangOUT: Game Night

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

• Queer HangOUT: Craft Night

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

• Queer HangOUT: Anime Night

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

66

See

Team Edmonton

Sundays See

Team Edmonton

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

Team Edmonton

Men Talking with Pride---------------- 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

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

Team Edmonton

Soul Outing-------------------------------  7pm

 Robertson-Wesley United (10209 123 St)

 2nd

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

 2nd

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

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.

• Knotty Knitters

 2nd

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

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

Buck Naked Boys Club

 Edmonton Contd.

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

 2nd, Last

Naturalist Gettogether See

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

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

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

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

See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton

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

• Badminton (Mixed)

 St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street

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

• Badminton (Women’s)

 Oliver School, 10227 - 118 Street  780-465-3620

 badminton@teamedmonton.ca

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

Women’s Drop-In Recreational Badminton. $40.00 season or $5.00 per drop in.

• Gymnastics, Drop-in

•Ballroom Dancing

 Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW  Cynthia: 780-469-3281

 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.

• Blazin’ Bootcamp

• Hockey

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

 hockey@teamedmonton.ca

• Martial Arts

 Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall)

 bowling@teamedmonton.ca $15.00 per person.

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

• Cross Country Skiing

• Outdoor Pursuits

• Bowling (Northern Titans)

 crosscountry@teamedmonton.ca

• Curling with Pride

 Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW  curling@teamedmonton.ca

• Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders)

 Dawson Park, picnic shelter  cycling@teamedmonton.ca

• Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons)

 dragonboat@teamedmonton.ca

• Golf

 outdoorpursuits@teamedmonton.ca

• Running (Arctic Frontrunners)

 Kinsmen Sports Centre  running@teamedmonton.ca All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to join this free activity.

• Slo Pitch

 Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave  slo-pitch@teamedmonton.ca Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players from the 2008 season.

 golf@teamedmonton.ca

www.gaycalgary.com

Directory & Events Red Deer Events Wednesdays

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

CAANS

 1st

Friday, August 15th

 Edmonton Contd.

• 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  http://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  http://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.

• Sports and Recreation

 Brendan: 780-488-3234  brendan@pridecentreofedmonton.org

Restaurants & Pubs 12 Woody’s See Edmonton - Bars & Clubs (Gay).

Retail Stores Passion Vault

 15239 - 111 Ave  780-930-1169  pvault@telus.net “Edmonton’s Classiest Adult Store”

Products & Services Cruiseline

LETHBRIDGE

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

Robertson-Wesley United Church

 10209 - 123 St. NW  780-482-1587  jravenscroft@rwuc.org  www.rwuc.org  Worship: Sunday mornings at 10:30am People of all sexual orientations welcome. Other LGBT events include a monthly book club and a bi-monthly film night. As a caring spiritual community, we’d love to have you join us!

• Soul OUTing

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

• Film Night

 Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates.

• Book Club

 Monthly, contact us for exact dates.

Theatre & Fine Arts

Community Groups GALA/LA

 356 - 2 Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB  403-527-5882  1-877-440-2437

• Monthly Dances

 M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm

 Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S) Bring your membership card and photo ID.

• Monthly Potluck Dinners

 McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your own beverage.

• Support Line

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

• Friday Mixer

Exposure Festival

The Roxy Theatre (closed)

 University of Lethbridge GBLTTQQ club on campus.

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

BANFF Community Groups HIV Community Link

 102 Spray Ave  PO Box 3160, Banff, AB T1L 1C8  403-762-0690

JASPER Accommodations Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge

 Old Lodge Road  1-866-540-4454  http://www.fairmont.com/jasper

Community Groups Jasper Pride Festival

 PO Box 98, 409 Patricia St., T0E 1E0

 contact@jasperpride.ca  http://www.jasperpride.ca

• Telephone Support

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 Alberta Ballet

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

Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA)

 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 Expo

 http://www.lethbridgeexpo.com

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

Whistlers Inn

 105 Miette Ave  1-800-282-9919  info@whistlersinn.com  http://www.whistlersinn.com

Community Groups HIV Community Link

 403-308-2893  http://www.galalethbridge.ca Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area.

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

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

MEDICINE HAT

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.

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.

Pride on Campus

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

www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

67

Classifieds Event

140

Furniture

335

The Fetish Slosh at the Backlot!

Safe Step Walk-In Tub Co.

Come on down to the Backlot the 2nd Tuesday of every month for a no-cover Fetish party. Upcoming dates are November 13, December 11th, etc. You can dress up in Leather, Latex, cuffs, collars, or just your skivvies. Have the conversation you like without offending a vanilla in sight. The Backlot supports and promotes the alternative lifestyles of Calgary so feel free to express your KINK!

Safe Step Walk-In Tub Alert for Seniors.

Bathroom falls can be fatal. Approved by Arthritis Foundation. Therapeutic Jets. Less Than 4 Inch Step-In. Wide Door. Anti-Slip Floors. American Made. Installation Included.

Call 1-800-594-9682 for $750 Off.

Wedding/Union

190

Rork Hilford MC OFFICIANT

MARRIAGE COMMISSIONER COMMISSIONER FOR OATHS IN ALBERTA WEDDINGS AND MARRIAGES at your venue or in my home studio starting at $150 Destination Location Style • Elopement Style • Quick and Legal • Formal or Stylish • Immediate or in the Future • Religion Free • Standard or Customized Ceremonies • Cross Cultural • Same Sex - LGBT-TTQ hilford@shaw.ca • 403-246-4134

Home to Share

350

Furnished Room For Rent in West Springs SW Seeking a clean/tidy, responsible, single, mature working person for quiet, clean, secure, furnished bedroom to rent in working MALE COUPLED household in modern home; 10 minute bus ride to amenities; beautiful location, house has 3 cats, rent includes utilities; bedroom located in walkout basement, private bathroom ; street parking; references required + proof of steady income.

403-660-6300

Dating Service

420

UltimateMaleMassage.com

GUYSPY

INTERACTIVE MALE Interested in guys? You aren’t the only curious one. It’s just a phone call. Sexy. Discreet. Free.

Why not try? 1-800-913-8509

Help Wanted

GayCalgary Magazine is looking for salespeople, graphic designers, and writers in Calgary or Edmonton. For more info, contact:

527

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

Products/Services 500 Certified Personal Trainer

Upcoming wedding/event/trip/class reunion?

If you want to look/feel better, increase your strength/endurance/flexibility, I CAN HELP YOU! call/text me 4038263305 or email me j_d_short@hotmail.com

Cleaning

517

GET A LIFE! Commercial Cleaning

Meet singles right now! No paid operators, just real people like you. Browse greetings, exchange messages and connect live. Try it free.

Call now: 1-800-692-5415

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Will clean for the gay community. Very detailed. Includes vacuuming, dusting, cleaning floors, kitchens and bathrooms. Cute clean appearance. Must have own cleaning supplies.

Call for rates. Kevin 403-797-6336

Want to attract the LGBT local or traveler to your business?

LIVELINKS

Specializing in LGBT Weddings and Unions.

Everyone deserves the wedding they’ve always dreamed of with the person they love! Call us for a quote today 403.254.9754 Email: magicalmusic@shaw.ca Website: www.magicalmusicdjs.com

Private House Cleaner

Consulting

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ALL MALE HOT GAY HOOKUPS! Call FREE! 800-913-8509 only 18 and over

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Erotic Massage

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.

Legal

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Award Winning One Stop Paralegal, Immigration & Business Services since 1999. Gay Friendly Staff. Call 403-590-3818 http://www.ActiveProfessionals.com Active Professionals #200, 2705 Centre Street N.W. Calgary T2E 2V5

Retirement Homes 580 A PLACE FOR MOM

Does your business need a professional cleaner?

Steve is bonded/Insured. Flexible prices and brings all his own supplies. Steve is a part of the LGBT Community and has been cleaning for over 5 years in Calgary. (403)200-7384 getalifecleaner@gmail.com www.getalifecleaner.com www.facebook.com/getalifecleaner

A PLACE FOR MOM. The nation’s largest senior living referral service. Contact our trusted, local experts today! Our service is FREE/no obligation. CALL 1-800-830-6628

Travel

680

Puerto Vallarta Condos for Rent 2 x 2 Bdrm for Rent. Ocean views. daily maid service included. Wi-fi , high speed internet.

Secure Quiet 9 suite building. 1/2 block to Blue Chairs Beach. On site English speaking Manager. Contact Rob - rburla21@gmail.com

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Ads starting at $10/mo. for the first 20 words. Submit yours at http://www.gaycalgary.com/classifieds 68

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

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www.gaycalgary.com

GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

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GayCalgary Magazine #148, April 2016

www.gaycalgary.com