Spring 2024

CANADA’S REIGNING QUEENS

ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR 2SLGBTQI+ COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND CONNECTIONS?

The IN Directory has you covered.

VISIT INMAGAZINE.CA/DIRECTORY

The IN Directory is Canada’s newest 2SLGBTQI+ community resource directory of 2SLGBTQI+ specific programs, services and supports.

Photo by Ece AK/Pexels

PUBLISHER

Patricia Salib

EDITOR

Christopher Turner

ART DIRECTOR

Georges Sarkis

COPY EDITOR

Ruth Hanley

SENIOR COLUMNISTS

Paul Gallant, Doug Wallace

CONTRIBUTORS

Fernando Cysneiros, Natalia Dolzycki, Aram Eginliyan, Adriana Ermter, Colin Gaudet, Bianca Guzzo, Elio Iannacci, Kirsten Klontz, Karen Kwan, Hugo Lamoureux, Marc-Andre Levac, Kályd Odeh, Larry Olsen, Alan Ovalles, Reece Owens, Stephan Petar, Viktor Peters

VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT

Benjamin Chafe

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Jumol Royes

MANAGER, COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS

Brennen Neufeld

COMMUNITY RESOURCE NAVIGATOR

Tyra Blizzard

ADVERTISING & OTHER INQUIRIES benjamin@elevatemediagroup.co

EDITORIAL INQUIRIES editor@inmagazine.ca

IN Magazine is published six times per year by Elevate Media Group (https://elevatemediagroup.co).

All rights reserved.

Visit www.inmagazine.ca daily for 2SLGBTQI+ content.

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117

Issue 117

Spring 2024

INFRONT

06 | TAKE NOTE

Perfume notes that bridge the gender divide

08 | TRAVEL YOUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH

Take your love of travel and combine it with a wellness goal – these five getaways will have you coming home a better you

09 | SUPPORTING BLACK WOMEN LIVING WITH HIV

IN spoke with Orville Burke about how Black CAP is working to provide much-needed support and resources to often-overlooked communities

10 | THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH ABOUT INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Learn how to spot the signs – and what to do if you believe someone you know may be experiencing intimate partner violence

12 | 5 ORGANIZATIONS OFFERING SUPPORT TO PEOPLE EXPERIENCING INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Here are five community resources from the IN Directory that can offer help to 2SLGBTQI+ communities

14 | HELP PROTECT YOURSELF: FIVE FACTS ABOUT HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS (HPV)

What you need to know to help protect yourself against certain HPV-related cancers and diseases

Above: The highly anticipated third and final season of Netflix’s popular gay Swedish drama, Young Royals, starts streaming episodes 1 through 5 on March 11, followed by the series finale on March 18, bringing Wilhelm and Simon’s story to a close. Get your tissues ready. (Photo: Johan Paulin/Netflix)

16 | IN FERTILITY CARE, 2SLGBTQI+ REPRESENTATION CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Why inclusivity matters when you start a parenting journey

FEATURES

18 | INDIGIQUEER ARTIST ROGER KUHN DISCOVERS HIS TRUE COLOURS IN “KALEIDOSCOPE”

Kuhn talks to IN about combining art and activism

20 | HOW THE L WORD REVOLUTIONIZED SAPPHIC REPRESENTATION ON TELEVISION

In the 20 years since the TV show premiered, it has broadened horizons and changed the way queer women were represented in the media

22 | AL VAL ON BRINGING HER TRANS JOURNEY TO THE STAGE AND ON TOUR

We chatted with Toronto-based transgender comedian Al Val about her comedy journey, her upcoming special, and how she got involved with Gay AF Comedy’s first national tour

24 | JONNY MCGOVERN IS GAY AF

The host of Hey Qween! dishes on his dishy new podcast show, and lots more

26 | LIKE TWO PEAS IN A PODCAST

BFFs Mae Martin and Sabrina Jalees invite us into their friendship circle to discuss joining forces for their new podcast, why oversharing is caring, and how they hope to open up dialogue between friends around the world

28 | CANADA’S REIGNING QUEENS

Canada’s Drag Race royalty Priyanka, Icesis Couture, Gisèle Lullaby and Venus join The Queen Of The North Brooke Lyn Hytes and get behind the camera for one epic photo shoot

40 | SELF-COMPOSED

Singer-songwriter-film composer Casey MQ opens up on the intricacies of intimacy on his sophomore album

44 | MASTER OF THE MUG

Verushka (a.k.a. renowned Canadian makeup artist Viktor Peters) steps in front of the camera for a little glam lesson

48 | THE PROFANE AND RAUNCHY CHRIST OF ANTHONY OLIVEIRA’S DAYSPRING

IN sat down with the Canadian author to talk about his upcoming debut novel

50 | OLÁ LISBON! A 2SLGBTQI+ TRAVEL GUIDE TO PORTUGAL’S CAPITAL CITY

Portugal has a ton of charm and an array of activities for travellers to enjoy

52 | TRANQUILITY IN MONTTREMBLANT

The beating heart of the Laurentian Mountains offers diverse skiing, irresistible charm and a mountain of great food

56 | FLASHBACK: MAY 12, 1985 IN 2SLGBTQI+ HISTORY

The first memorial to the LGBT victims of the Nazis is unveiled

LOOKING GOOD

TAKE NOTE

Perfume notes that bridge the gender divide

By Adriana Ermter

Imagine a world where scent doesn’t exist…where one lets other people, and their body odour, live and let live. Kind of puts a whole new perspective on public transit, waiting in line at the grocery store and steamy humid nights at the local pub, doesn’t it? Thankfully, our bathrooms are a hygiene haven, loaded with soap, deodorant and, perhaps most importantly, a smattering of our favourite fragrances.

Yet, how many of these little bottles containing scented elixirs bear the descriptor ‘men’ or ‘women’? More importantly, how necessary is it to spritz them on according to that description? After all, during the 17th century, when fragrance first gained mass popularity in France and England, perfume labels only bore a descriptor for whatever scent lay inside its glass flacon.

Perfume was, simply put, just perfume. Used to mask odours – as bathing was irregular and clothes weren’t changed often – anyone and everyone who could afford a bottle bought and used it. Legend has it that Napoleon, consumed with smelling great, had a standing order with a local perfumer for 50 bottles each month. Eaux then were single notes and smelled like rose, orange flowers, jasmine or musk, and were crafted from botanical and deer musk oils and distilled water. In the 1800s, when the first lab-created fragrance ingredients were introduced, perfume’s scent roster grew to include notes of cinnamon, anise, vanilla and coumarin.

Inspired, famed French perfume houses Houbigant Paris and Guerlain swirled multiple notes together to create the now iconic gender-neutral eaux Fougère Royale and Jicky, in 1884 and 1889 respectively. Fragrance brands like Coty, Creed, Floris and Penhaligon’s mix-mastered multi-note creations that buyers then chose solely on the likeability of the scent.

The 19th century’s economic growth and burgeoning middle class parted these fragrant waters, separating parfum into gender-based categories. With ‘his’ and ‘hers’ defining who wore what, notes like lily of the valley and heliotrope (a powdered, cherry pie-like scent) became aligned with the feminine, while others such as tobacco and pine were deemed solely for men.

This gender divide continues in perfumery today, with stereotypical scents inclusive of florals, fruits and candies for women, and whisky, leather and metals for men. However, seven versatile notes – ambroxan, bergamot, cedarwood, citrus, lavender, patchouli and vetiver – continue to consistently cross over. Their ability to play nicely with a multitude of notes is influencing new blends, particularly gender-fluid ones. And so, as we wait for the fragrant industry to revert, in totality, back to its inclusive roots, it’s time to take note and spritz differently. After all, wearing perfume is about feeling and smelling great.

Photo by yousef alfuhigi on Unsplash

AMBROXAN

This note falls under the same fragrance category as musk, amber and animalic smells. It is derived from clary sage and is a synthetic compound that captures an intimate and earthy essence. Ambroxan is favoured by perfumers as it not only adds complexity to a scent, but is also renowned for helping parfums linger longer on the skin. Overall, the note exudes a warm, musky aroma with a subtle sweetness that integrates well with floral notes such as rose and jasmine, and adds a modern twist to traditional musk fragrances. The notes feels contemporary, sophisticated and sensual.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Bond. No.9 TriBeCa Eau de Parfum (EDP), $373 for 100 mL, available online at www.walmart.ca; and Laboratorio Olfattivo Miss U EDP, $170 for 100 mL, available online at www.gravitypope.com

BERGAMOT

Perhaps best known for its inclusion in Earl Grey tea, this Italian citrus fruit is favoured in perfumery for its uniquely sweet and slightly bitter aroma. It’s both vibrant and refreshing, and many would claim that when it’s inhaled, it boasts therapeutic properties that can reduce anxiety and stress. As a perfume note, it pairs harmoniously with floral and spicy accords. Bergamot’s ability to enhance the freshness of florals like lavender and the warmth of spices like black pepper makes it a key player in creating balanced and androgynous scents.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Malin and Goetz Bergamot EDP, $132 for 50 mL, available online at www.malinandgoetz.ca; and The Body Shop Full Orange Blossom EDP, $56 for 75 mL, available at The Body Shop stores across Canada

CEDARWOOD

One of the oldest ingredients used in perfumery, cedarwood (as its name suggests) is a note extracted from the wood of cedar trees. Legend has it that the Cherokee believed the human spirit was hidden in the core of cedarwood, while the Tibetans used its oil in their spiritual ceremonies and the ancient Romans constructed their ships from its tree trunks. As a fragrance note, it wafts a warm, comforting, woodsy and robust scent that is often incorporated into perfumes to enhance a fragrance’s longevity. Cedarwood blends seamlessly with floral notes like jasmine and rose, as well as with spicy accords such as cinnamon. The combination of strength and versatility in cedarwood embodies a timeless elegance and confidence.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

AllSaints Sunset Riot EDP, $108 for 100 mL, available at Shoppers Drug Mart stores across Canada; and Pearfat Multiball Parfum EDP, US$120 for 50 mL, available online at www.pearfatparfum.com

CITRUS

Derived from the peels of fruits like lemons, limes and all types of oranges, citrus notes provide a zesty and invigorating aroma. In perfumery, these notes are known as hesperidic, an allusion to classical Greek mythology (referring to the garden tended by

nature nymphs called the Hesperides). When incorporated into parfum, citrus notes’ bright, crisp and uplifting qualities make them very versatile. They harmonize effortlessly with floral notes such as jasmine and rose, while their vibrancy adds a refreshing layer to earthy scents like patchouli.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Clean Beauty Reserve H2Eau Collection Golden Citrus EDP, $148 for 100 mL; and Maison Margiela Replica From the Garden Eau de Toilette (EDT), $110 for 30 mL, both available at Sephora stores across Canada

LAVENDER

With its calming and herbaceous profile, lavender has been a staple in perfumery for decades. Its herbal and botanical essence has been used for centuries to treat insomnia, headaches and irritated skin. Distilled from the lavender plant, this fragrance has a soothing aroma that complements a variety of other notes. It harmonizes beautifully with woody scents like cedar and sandalwood, creating a balanced and inviting fragrance. Its timelessness and adaptability also make it a staple for neutral botanical and herbal-based fragrances.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Le Labo Lavande 31 EDP, $280 for 50 mL, available online at www.lelabofragrances.ca; and L’Occitane en Provence White Lavender EDT, $98 for 50 mL, available at L’Occitane en Provence stores across Canada

PATCHOULI

Not the hippy-dippy smoky version of the incense sticks burned in the 1960s and ’70s, parfum’s patchouli note is extracted from the leaves of the patchouli plant. It emanates a deep, earthy fragrance with sweet and spicy undertones that is favoured by perfumers for its versatility. Patchouli complements sweet scents containing vanilla and chocolate by creating a warm and inviting aroma, while it adds a layer of depth to floral, herbal and aromatic eaux.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Lancôme L’Autre Oud, $345 for 100 mL, available online at www.lancome.ca; and Pacifica Himalayan Patchouli Berry EDT, $52 for 30 mL, available online at www.well.ca

VETIVER

Otherwise known as vetivert and khus-khus grass, this note is extracted from the roots of the vetiver grass; it is rich and earthy and can often smell smoky and intimate. It is versatile, too, and can blend seamlessly with a wide range of accords. Vetiver pairs well with spicy notes like ginger and pepper, creating a dynamic and enticing fragrance, while its depth and warmth exude a sense of sophistication and a natural allure.

IN MAGAZINE’S UNISEX SPRITZ SUGGESTIONS:

Diptyque Vetyverio EDT, $176 for 50 mL; and Frederic Malle Heaven Can Wait EDP, $360 for 50 mL, both available at Holt Renfrew stores across Canada

TRAVEL YOUR WAY TO BETTER HEALTH

Take your love of travel and combine it with a wellness goal – these five types of personal improvement getaways will have you coming home a better you

By Karen Kwan

One of the biggest trends in travel is the shift towards bettering your personal well-being, both mental and physical, while you’re away on your vacation. Travel experts trace the popularity of this type of travel to the pandemic; our health became a first concern in the past few years and we continue to make self-care habits and longevity a non-negotiable. This is in contrast to pre-pandemic times, when caring for your health often got pushed down the list of priorities.

Looking for a wellness getaway for yourself? From improving your sleep to dabbling with psychedelics, there’s truly something for everyone.

Sleep retreats

If you’ve been suffering from insomnia, get your bleary-eyed self to a sleep retreat to say goodbye to restless nights spent tossing and turning. These retreats are focused on finding the root of your sleep issues and developing habits to help you get a solid night of zzzs. Typically, you’ll consult with a sleep expert and also take part in fitness programs, meditation and sound baths, all while dining on a menu featuring sleep-promoting ingredients. At Rogaška Slatina in Slovenia, much of the program is centred on the area’s healing highmagnesium water – you’ll not only partake in thermal treatments in this water but also drink it in prescribed quantities.

Silent retreats

Meant to allow you to further develop your mindfulness practice, silent retreats involve escaping to a space away from everyday life where you can sit in silence and focus on the present moment, and also take part in gentle movement and meditations. The experience is meant to be restorative, allowing you time to look inward. At the Silent Stay Meditation Center in Montecito, Calif., you’ll take part in sitting and group meditations, practise yoga, journal and hike the property’s lush green grounds.

Psychedelic retreats

You can find retreats centred on microdosing psychedelics in a safe environment while guided by doctors and experts in places like Costa Rica, Jamaica and Mexico (where many of these substances are legal). The experience is said to be transformative and is aimed at bringing you back into alignment. At Ayahuasca Retreats at Soltara Healing Center in Costa Rica, your all-inclusive stay includes a number of ayahuasca ceremonies led by native Shipibo healers. In Canada, at Dimensions Retreats in the Algonquin Highlands in Ontario, you’ll dive into using plant medicine to assist with therapy to treat everything from anxiety to addictions with a program that includes a range of immersive experiences including bodywork treatments (think reiki, cranial sacral therapy, acupuncture and more), BioSound or flotation therapy and breathwork.

Sexual retreats

Intimacy or sexual retreats allow you to get away from the everyday stresses of life at home and enjoy quality time with your partner. Programming differs from retreat to retreat, but you may find yourself learning about erotic massage, having open discussions about desire and boundaries, taking part in couples therapy sessions, practising yoga and breathwork, and simply enjoying some R&R. At Kim Anami Retreats, which are held in Bali and Mexico, you may even get a surprise delivery of sex toys or aphrodisiac truffles delivered to your room.

Blue Zones-inspired retreats

Thanks to humankind’s ongoing quest for longevity, and perhaps stoked by research on the five Blue Zones (a.k.a. places where people live longer than average) – not to mention the Netflix series on these areas – you can now book getaways that incorporate the Blue Zones lifestyle. At Kamalaya in Koh Samui, Thailand, for example, you’ll eat plant-forward meals inspired by the traditional diets of the Blue Zones while also practising the lifestyle habits of Blue Zones residents during your retreat.

Photo by Javier García on Unsplash

Photo by yousef alfuhigi on Unsplash

Supporting Black Women Living With HIV

We spoke with Orville Burke about how Black CAP is working to provide much-needed support and resources to often-overlooked communities

According to the Canadian AIDS Society and Health Canada, about one in four Canadians living with HIV identify as women – about 16,880 females.1 All women have risk factors for HIV infection, but women who belong to socially and economically marginalized populations face a number of interconnecting determinants of health that adversely impact their risk for HIV infection and their experiences accessing diagnosis, care, treatment and support. African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) women, along with Indigenous women, trans women, women who use drugs, women who experience violence, and women who are incarcerated are at a higher systemic risk for HIV.

The Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention (Black CAP) is Canada’s largest Black-specific AIDS organization. It is a force in filling some of the gaps in healthcare programs, offering services and information about HIV prevention and living with HIV/AIDS within Toronto’s ACB communities. To learn more about Black CAP, and the challenges specific to women living with HIV, we spoke with Orville Burke, harm reduction specialist at Black CAP.

Tell us about the impetus behind Black CAP’s work. In the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, when deaths from the virus were at their highest, HIV-positive ACB community members in Toronto complained that they did not have equitable access to medical and other forms of support and care. This is what led to the formation of the organization. Since then, we have remained committed to creating a safe space for ACB community members to access prevention supplies, education, testing services and related programs. The ACB community has been disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. In Canada, ACB people constitute only 2.5 per cent of the population but 16 per cent of people living with HIV.2 In 2017, ACB people in Ontario comprised approximately 29.3 per cent of all HIV diagnoses in Ontario.3 Of these, approximately 60 per cent lived in Toronto and about half acquired HIV outside of Canada.4

What services does Black CAP offer?

We provide prevention, testing, information sharing and other HIVrelated programming to Toronto’s ACB community. In addition, Black CAP has a robust history of assisting newcomers to Canada, and we work to address the settlement and labour market needs for ACB LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive convention refugees and permanent residents. Over the years, and due to the realization of the intersectionality between HIV and other factors affecting the ACB community – such as anti-Black racism, mental health, substance use, and disparities in health, education and access to myriad services, etc. – Black CAP has diversified its offerings to include harm reduction, counselling, system navigation and dropins to boost social inclusion, among other programs and services.

How is the organization working to support Black women living with HIV?

We recognize the unique challenges faced by ACB women, especially those who are HIV-positive. To this end, our women’s support

coordinator runs dedicated programming for the organization’s female-identified clients. The opportunity is used to engage women on the subject of HIV, provide new information, prevention education and resources, as well as to debunk myths and challenge stereotypes and stigma. The reports generated from discussions like these filter back into our decision- and internal policymaking apparatus – ensuring women’s voices, and particularly HIV-positive women’s voices, remain centred in the design and delivery of programs and services. HIV-positive women also have access to almost all the other suite of programs and services at Black CAP, including mental health counselling (often related to new or existing HIV diagnoses, trauma, relationship issues, etc.), employment counselling, harm reduction training and supplies, newcomer settlement services, 2SLGBTQ+ support groups and drop-ins, and volunteering opportunities, among others.

Some of the statistics around women living with HIV in Canada, and among Black women in particular, are staggering. Why are the numbers so high?

In 2020, Black women accounted for 44 per cent of all women newly diagnosed with HIV in Ontario, despite representing a significantly smaller portion of the province’s total female population.5 Much of this disproportion is the result of structural and other forms of inequities, discrimination and more grim determinants of health compared to their white counterparts – resulting in a greater likelihood of Black women becoming infected with HIV. This is why Black CAP continues to advocate against anti-Black racism and other forms of social inequities in our work. Relatively higher levels of, and more entrenched, HIV-related stigma within ACB communities also play a role in the number of Black women becoming infected. Studies have shown that where there are high levels of stigma, a community faces a greater difficulty responding to/preventing or reducing the spread of HIV. More conversations around HIV need to be had in ACB communities, and stereotypes need to be displaced with the realities.

What is something you’re excited about for Black CAP?

The renewed focus on youth in our programming provides a real opportunity to change perceptions about being HIV-positive. In my experience, while many ACB youth display a naïveté or lack of knowledge around HIV, they are also less burdened with negative preconceptions. This presents opportunities both to educate ACB youth with the facts about HIV, and to change perceptions of what it means to be HIV-positive among the current younger generation and beyond – to dismantle HIV-related stigma within ACB communities.

To learn more about AIDS Committee of Durham Region and resources available to support people living with HIV, visit www.aidsdurham.com.

To learn more about ViiV Healthcare Canada, visit www.viivhealthcare.ca.

References

1. PHAC. HIV in Canada: 2022 surveillance highlights. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/hiv-2022-surveillancehighlights.html. 2. PHAC. A/C Study cross-sectional investigation of HIV among ACB people. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/ canada-communicable-disease-report-ccdr/monthly-issue/2022-48/issue-10-october-2022/cross-sectional-investigation-hiv-prevalence-risk-factors-african-caribbean-blackpeople-ontario-ac-study.html. 3. OHESI. New HIV diagnoses in Ontario, 2017. 4. OHESI. New HIV diagnoses in Ontario, 2017.

5. WHAI. Women & HIV in Ontario. Available at: https://whai.ca/women-hiv-ontario/#:~:text=NEW%20HIV%20DIAGNOSES%20%26%20WOMEN%20IN%20 ONTARIO&text=In%202020%2C%2044.4%25%20of%20women,the%20first%20time%20were%20Black.&text=In%202020%2C%2013%25%20of%20women,the%20 first%20time%20were%20Indigenous.&text=Trans%20women%20are%2010%20times,with%20HIV%20than%20Ontarians%20overall..

The Uncomfortable TRUTH

About Intimate Partner

VIOLENCE

In Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Communities

Learn how to spot the signs – and what to do if you believe someone you know may be experiencing intimate partner violence

By Jumol Royes

It’s time we had a real conversation about intimate partner violence in 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

I’ll admit I hadn’t given the issue much thought until I received a phone call one day from a friend asking for my help.

She needed advice on how to support a 2SLGBTQI+ community member. The individual identified as trans, and my friend was looking to connect them with local 2SLGBTQI+ community resources geared towards people experiencing intimate partner violence.

My friend just so happens to be the visionary founder and executive director of The 482 Collective – a charity serving women, children and gender-diverse individuals in the Greater Toronto Area and York Region who are experiencing intimate partner violence and human trafficking. I did what I could to point her in the right direction, but realized I needed to learn more about intimate partner violence in Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

Photo by Cottonbro Studio on Pexels

What is intimate partner violence?

We usually think of intimate partner violence, or IPV, in the context of monogamous, straight relationships. Yet it’s prevalent in 2SLGBTQI+ relationships, too.

A Rainbow Health Ontario fact sheet defines IPV as “all forms of violence between individuals in a romantic or sexual relationship, including physical, psychological/emotional and sexual violence.”

IPV can also manifest in behaviours that are specific to the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, like outing someone or preventing them from accessing essential items related to their gender or sexual identity.

Research shows that emotional and psychological violence tend to be more common in 2SLGBTQI+ relationships than physical violence. However, a systematic review of studies shows that bisexual women are particularly prone to experiencing physical violence. Among gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men (MSM), studies have found that the prevalence of physical violence reported was between 11.8 per cent and 45.1 per cent, with psychological violence ranging from 5.4 to 73.2 per cent. There’s a lack of information about IPV among trans communities.

Intimate partner violence in 2SLGBTQI+ communities

Experiences of IPV are varied, and it can take many forms. Some behaviours are common to relationships regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, while others are particular to 2SLGBTQI+ communities and can sometimes be more challenging to identify.

According to a newsletter on intimate partner violence in rainbow communities published by the Learning Network at the Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children (CREVAWC) in the Faculty of Education at Western University, IPV includes emotional abuse like insults or humiliation; minimizing, denying or blaming the individual experiencing IPV; physical abuse such as shoving, pushing, slapping, hitting, kicking, biting or strangulation; sexual abuse in the form of forced sex, assaults to “sexual” body parts and unsafe sex practices; cultural or identity abuse where the individual’s culture or identity is weaponized against them or they’re prevented from practising their faith; threatening to harm or take children away and using children to pass on abusive messages; social isolation and monitoring; and economic abuse like controlling access to money and using credit cards without permission.

2SLGBTQI+ individuals may also be:

• questioned about the authenticity of their gender identity or sexual orientation, and the targets of homophobic, biphobic or transphobic slurs

• accused of “mutual abuse” or gaslighted into believing that IPV doesn’t exist in same-sex relationships or with a trans partner

• prevented from accessing hormones and pressured into public displays of affection with the goal of outing them or making them feel unsafe

• forced to engage in sex acts that go against their gender identity or use gender roles to control what they can do sexually

• placed in situations where their sexual orientation or gender identity is used against them and internalized homophobia, biphobia or transphobia is ingrained

• threatened with revealing their gender identity or sexual orientation to their children or using it to gain custody of children

• threatened with being outed to their family, friends or employer, isolated from 2SLGBTQI+ spaces and the targets of identity theft

How to help someone who is experiencing intimate partner violence

If you believe a friend, family member, co-worker or someone you know may be experiencing intimate partner violence, there are some telltale signs to look out for.

They may seem down, depressed or more anxious than usual, and may become socially disconnected. You might also notice that they’re hyper-vigilant about their partner’s moods and unable to explain cuts, bruises or marks on their body.

There’s often a lot of shame around IPV, and individuals experiencing it may be reluctant to reach out and ask for help. The Canadian Centre for Gender + Sexual Diversity (CCGSD)’s Guidebook for LGBTQ2S+ and Intimate Partner Violence Service Providers in Canada recommends starting with a conversation.

Find a safe space to talk and let the person know that you’re concerned for their safety and well-being. Enquire about how they’re doing, and practise active listening without judgment. If they don’t feel like talking, don’t push them. Reassure them that you care about them and that you’re available to listen and provide support whenever they’re ready. You’ll likely need to engage them in more than one conversation before they feel comfortable opening up to you.

If someone does disclose that they’re experiencing IPV, the CCGSD guidebook says that you should acknowledge and honour their feelings and refrain from questioning what they tell you. It’s important to let them know that the abuse is not their fault, and that they did nothing to deserve it. Ask them what they think the next steps should be and how you can best support them. Selfdetermination is key, as the individual should feel empowered to lead the process.

Other practical things you can do to support an individual experiencing IPV include:

• being a community resource navigator and helping them connect to social programs, services and supports

• making notes about what they tell you (e.g., dates and times) in the event they decide to report the abuse to the authorities

• above all else, keeping everything they share confidential and between the two of you, unless they give you permission to do otherwise

Having a conversation about IPV can be uncomfortable, but it’s necessary to combat the shame and stigma surrounding the issue – because shame requires secrecy to thrive. IPV survivors return to their partner an average of seven times before leaving them for good, so asking for help is a courageous act.

A simple conversation might just be the thing to spark that courage.

If you’re experiencing intimate partner violence, know that you matter, you’re not alone, and help is available.

JUMOL ROYES is IN Magazine’s director of communications and community engagement, an Ottawa-based poet and storyteller and glass-half-full kinda guy. He writes about compassion, community, identity and belonging. His guilty pleasure is watching the Real Housewives. Follow him on Instagram @jumolroyes.

Photo

While there are organizations across the country that provide vital support for people experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), finding services that welcome queer folks can be challenging. Support services can be vague about whether they’re inclusive of queer folks, or even discriminatory about who can safely access their services.

This can make finding much-needed support more difficult than it should be. Thankfully, more and more organizations are expanding their services to be more inclusive. If you or someone you care about is experiencing IPV, support is available.

Here are five organizations from across Canada that are providing inclusive support for people in 2SLGBTQI+ communities who are experiencing IPV.

The 482 Collective

Where: Vaughan, Ont.

Who they are and what they do: This registered Canadian charity supports women, children and individuals from diverse 2SLGBTQI+ communities in the Greater Toronto Area, York Region and beyond who have fled domestic violence and human trafficking. It does this by providing timely support for essential items such as food, personal hygiene products, home essentials, cleaning supplies and more.

The Today Centre

Where: Edmonton

Who they are and what they do: Individuals in 2SLGBTQI+ communities who are experiencing family violence can access shortterm support from this registered charity. It helps clients navigate their risks and increase safety by directing them to appropriate legal assistance, exploring options for emergency shelters, and providing education about family violence and its impact.

Black Women in Motion

Where: Toronto

Who they are and what they do: This survivor-led, grassroots organization empowers and supports the advancement of Black women, girls, non-binary and gender non-conforming survivors of gender-based violence. It provides youth employment assistance, training and consultation services, internships, student placements and more.

Family Services of the North Shore

Where: Vancouver

Who they are and what they do: This is a non-profit, community-based agency that offers counselling, support, education and volunteer engagement opportunities across the entire North Shore of British Columbia. All programming, which includes their Counselling Support and Sexual Assault Response Program, is inclusive of all genders.

Sexual Violence New Brunswick

Where: New Brunswick

Who they are and what they do: A variety of services are available at this provincial non-profit, such as support groups, counselling and public education. It operates within an antioppression, feminist-based framework. Services are available to individuals of all genders in the Fredericton region, but the organization can also connect people to community-based support services across New Brunswick.

These are just a handful of the impactful 2SLGBTQI+ organizations providing valuable services and programs across Canada.

To find more resources in your local community, visit the IN Directory, Canada’s national 2SLGBTQI+ community resource directory, at inmagazine.ca/directory.

BRENNEN NEUFELD is IN Magazine’s manager, community partnerships, and a small-town guy with a big heart. He’s passionate about cultivating inclusion, belonging and community wherever he goes. In his down time, he enjoys listening to audiobooks, dancing to disco in his kitchen and watching queer films, especially documentaries.

Help Protect Yourself: Five Facts About Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

What you need to know to help protect yourself against certain HPV-related cancers and diseases

You’ve probably heard that human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection (STI), can in some cases cause certain types of cancer. But what is HPV exactly and why is it important for both males and females to educate themselves and know the common facts (and myths)?1, 2

There are more than 200 types of HPV, and about 40 kinds can infect the genital area – rectum, anus, penis, scrotum, vulva, vagina and cervix – as well as the mouth and throat. These kinds of HPV are spread during sexual contact.1, 2

HPV is usually harmless and can go away by itself, but some types can lead to cancer or genital warts, which is why it’s important to educate yourself about the health effects of HPV and about HPV vaccines.2

Read on to learn some important facts about HPV, and be sure to visit gardasil9.ca/patient-guide for more information on HPV prevention with GARDASIL®9.

GARDASIL®9 has been issued market authorization with conditions in individuals nine through 45 years of age for the prevention of certain head and neck cancers, such as throat and back of mouth cancers caused by HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58, pending the results of trials to verify its clinical benefit. GARDASIL®9 helps protect individuals nine through 45 years of age against cervical, vulvar, vaginal and anal cancers caused by HPV types 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58 and genital warts caused by HPV types 6 and 11.

GARDASIL®9 does not treat HPV infection, cancers and diseases and may not protect everyone who gets vaccinated. GARDASIL®9 is not recommended for use in pregnant women. Women should

still get routine cervical cancer screening. Side effects and allergic reactions can occur.

1. HPV is one of the most common STIs in Canada.2

It’s true. Both men and women can contract HPV, and it is thought to be the most common STI in the world. Most people are infected with HPV at some time in their lives, and in Canada, it’s estimated that 75% of sexually active people will have at least one HPV infection during their lifetime.2

2. Being in a monogamous relationship does not protect you from an HPV infection.2

Anyone who has sex can get HPV, and all it takes is one infected partner for you to be infected. As with many STIs, people can have an HPV infection and spread the virus without knowing it, because they may not have any visible symptoms or know they are infected.2

3. A number of cancers and diseases are caused by HPV.1

Researchers have found that HPV causes at least 70% of certain head and neck cancers (such as throat and back of mouth cancers) in both men and women. Looking back to 2012, oropharyngeal cancer (which affects your oropharynx, your tonsils, the back part of your tongue and soft palate, and the sides and back of your throat) was the most common HPV-related cancer in Canada. In that year, there were 1,335 cases of oropharyngeal cancer, as well as 1,300 cases of cervical cancer and 475 cases of anal cancer. In 2020, it was estimated that the rate of oropharyngeal cancer was approximately 4.5 times higher in males than females.1, 3-5

4. Condoms may not be enough to protect you against HPV.2 Using condoms may reduce your chances of getting this highly contagious infection – but they do not provide full protection. Wearing

a condom only protects the area that the condom covers. You can still get infected just by skin-to-skin or oral contact with the genital area of an infected individual, and without having intercourse. That said, using a latex male condom or a female condom correctly during sex (including anal and oral) is a good way to help prevent any STI.2,6

5. Both men and women should visit a doctor for regular health exams if they think they are at risk of contracting HPV.2 While there is currently no approved test for HPV in men, men can be examined by their doctor for genital warts (which are caused by HPV) and signs of HPV-related cancers. The fact that there is no screening for HPV in males makes HPV vaccination one of the best prevention methods. For individuals with a cervix, knowing that HPV causes nearly 100% of cervical cancer cases, regular Pap tests are the best way to find abnormal cervical cells early so they can be treated before they develop into cervical cancer.1, 2

GARDASIL®9 is the first and only vaccine that helps protect individuals aged nine to 45 against nine HPV types that cause certain HPV-related cancers and diseases. It can also help protect against six HPV-related cancers and diseases: head and neck, anal, vulvar, vaginal and cervical cancer, and genital warts.1

You may be covered

Many private insurance plans reimburse some or all of the cost of GARDASIL®9, so check with your insurance provider. Even if your plan does not include coverage for this vaccine, it may still be covered under your health spending or wellness account. If you have a drug benefit wallet card, simply present your card to a pharmacist along with the Drug Identification Number (DIN) 02437058 for GARDASIL®9 and ask if you are covered.7

Multiple clinics and pharmacies offer GARDASIL®9. In certain provinces, you may need a prescription to get it reimbursed.

HPV vaccination: what everyone should know

• You can get the HPV virus at any point in your life that you are sexually active.2

• If you’re aged 18 through 45, it’s not too late to get vaccinated.1

• An HPV vaccination is important for both females and males because it can help protect from various HPV related cancers and diseases.1, 2

® Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC. Used under license.

© 2023 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its affiliates. All rights reserved CA-GSL-00826

References

1. Merck Canada Inc. GARDASIL®9 Product Monograph. July 7, 2023.

Public coverage for GARDASIL®9 is also available and varies by province or territory, and by age or risk factor. You can ask your healthcare professional such as your doctor, nurse or pharmacist, or visit your provincial government website for more information.

Talk to your healthcare professional to see if GARDASIL®9 is right for you. For more information, visit gardasil9.ca/patient-guide.

2. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. What is HPV? Available at: www.hpvinfo.ca. Last accessed August 11, 2023.

3. Canadian Cancer Society. What is Oropharyngeal Cancer? Available at: https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/oropharyngeal/what-is-oropharyngeal-cancer. Last accessed September 1, 2023.

4. Canadian Cancer Society, Statistics Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Provincial/Territorial Cancer Registries. Canadian Cancer Statistics, 2016. Special topic: HPVassociated Cancers. Available upon request at: stats@cancer.ca. Last accessed September 1, 2023.

5. Bruni L, et al. ICO/IARC Information Centre on HPV and Cancer (HPV Information Centre). Human Papillomavirus and Related Diseases in Canada. Summary Report 22 October 2021. Available at: https://hpvcentre.net/statistics/reports/CAN.pdf?t=1565188933974. Last accessed August 2, 2023.

6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/. Last accessed August 3, 2023.

7. Health Canada. Drug Product Database: GARDASIL®9. Available at: https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/. Last accessed February 3, 2022.

In Fertility Care, 2SLGBTQI+ Representation Can Make All The Difference

Why inclusivity matters when you start a parenting journey

Diverse representation is important for any industry, but it is especially important in health care. A lack of visibility and inclusiveness already puts many 2SLGBTQI+ patients on edge, and quality care is unlikely if someone feels they cannot share their entire medical history or feels they are not truly understood.

“The nuance of the impact of sexuality and gender on one’s health is often lost. It means that decisions are not made in the best interest of our community; they’re made in the interest of the majority,” says Jody Jollimore, executive director of the Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC). Founded in 1999, the Vancouver notfor-profit promotes the health of gay, bi, trans, two-spirit and queer men through research and intervention development.

The problem starts with a lack of data – studies and statistics – about the health and lives of 2SLGBTQI+ people. Just as traditional medical research has overlooked how women and people of colour might face different health issues, and require different medical approaches, than the “standard” white male patient, health researchers have only recently started acknowledging the different experiences of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

It can become even more complicated when queer individuals or queer couples look to start a family. Building a family using assisted reproductive technology is never easy for any individual or couple, but queer people face unique challenges. While all potential parents must consider the ifs and whens of starting a family, most same-sex couples must also grapple with the how. That includes deciding whether to pursue adoption, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination (IUI), egg donation and gestational surrogacy – each of which comes with their own variations. As a growing number of same-sex couples turn to assisted methods like IVF and IUI to have children, many say they’re encountering entrenched inequality.

Variations in clinical practices and commitments to 2SLGBTQI+ family creation, and limited funding opportunities, are just some of the obstacles that queer individuals and same-sex couples have to navigate on the journey towards parenthood. In fact, in Canada no one has ever established a fertility treatment referral service

for gay people before, because the approach to building family in fertility clinics has been geared to the heterosexual community. It’s something Dr. Marjorie Dixon is more than familiar with and something that she is passionate about changing. Dr. Dixon is the founder, CEO and medical director of Anova Fertility & Reproductive Health, which operates four fertility clinics in southern Ontario.

“When I started in the fertility industry, the lack of diversity and inclusivity was evident,” says Dr. Dixon. “I aimed to create Anova Fertility as a welcoming space where all patients could find understanding and representation.”

As a proud member of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, Dr. Dixon is acutely aware of the specific needs and challenges in the community. Her path to founding Anova Fertility back in 2016 and supporting third-party assisted reproduction was deeply influenced by her own personal IVF journey and the realization of the need for more inclusive and diverse fertility care.

“My own journey through fertility and experiencing IVF personally has imbued me with a level of empathy and compassion that’s deeply rooted in my own experiences,” says Dr. Dixon. “Being in the patient’s shoes has shaped my professional approach, allowing me to connect with and understand our patients on a much more profound level.”

According to Dr. Dixon, providing comfortable access to the best fertility services in Canada is her way of serving her community and all pathways to parenthood.

Over the past decade or two, the thinking around 2SLGBTQI+ health has expanded well beyond sexual health, which traditionally targeted gay men, to now encompass multiple concerns affecting a diverse queer community. Studies have captured how addiction, tobacco use, depression and suicide disproportionately affect us. However, there has been little research or education on the journey that same-sex and queer parents go on when they decide to create a family.

Photo by yousef alfuhigi on Unsplash

“Reflecting on the inception of Anova, I recall how, 20 years ago, most fertility clinics were not 2SLGBTQI+ friendly – a trend that, unfortunately, persists in many places even today,” say Dr. Dixon. “This lack of inclusivity extended beyond just the 2SLGBTQI+ community; it also affected those who were racialized. As a healthcare provider, I often saw a disconnect because so few patients could see themselves in their doctors – very few of us represented the diverse patient landscape we were serving. This disparity was a significant factor in how I envisioned and built Anova Fertility, aiming for a clinic that truly mirrors the diversity of Canada.”

Exploring all the available options

The first step in providing that individual-focused education is exploring what options are available. Those options can be confusing and may not be what couples expect. Some of the stereotypes about the difficulty of starting a queer family no longer hold up, according to Dr. Dixon. With more than 20 years in the field, and eight years since she founded Anova, she’s seen many changes in the technology and policies available to provide queer couples with access to fertility treatments.

On the medical side, improvements in endocrinology and screening not only make the process more reliable, but allow doctors to, for example, look for genetic mutations like those that cause cystic fibrosis. Even improvements in communication technology have contributed to streamlining the journey. For couples in small towns seeking to create a family through surrogacy, for example, many of the necessary meetings and interviews can be done remotely through videoconferencing, something we wouldn’t even have thought of a few years ago.

Medical advances also help provide more choices. Techniques like reciprocal IVF, which is possible when both partners have eggs and/or uteruses, allow one partner to form an embryo created with donor sperm, while the other partner receives that embryo and carries the pregnancy, a path that can increase the feeling of a shared experience.

Finances, of course, are also a consideration, and it can be especially daunting when there is no guaranteed outcome. Employee benefit plans are increasingly likely to cover fertility treatment for queer couples – although, in Canada, the median amount of coverage is about $3,500 while a standard IVF process can cost $25,000 (surrogacy costs even more). Considering the commitment required for parenthood – queer or otherwise – every little policy change can make a difference. We do know that the federal government has promised to reform the Employment Insurance system to provide a new parental benefit to parents who adopt or who grow their families with the help of a surrogate.

There have also been ongoing lobbying efforts to make coverage more equitable for 2SLGBTQI+ families across the country, which means that over time, benefits packages are likely to become more inclusive. “Anova is working on benefits companies,” says Dr. Dixon. “We’re telling them: ‘If you guys are saying you’re not discriminating against our community, then how are these amounts fair?’”

Thousands of same-sex couples are raising children in this country, according to government data, and increasing numbers are looking to grow their families, advocates say. Yet many fertility clinics remain focused on straight couples: one report, according to the New York Times, suggests that self-identifying 2SLGBTQI+ people make up just between five per cent and 10 per cent of fertility-clinic patients in the United States. In Canada, the stats are echoed. In fact, it was less than two years ago that a Nova Scotia clinic dropped a consultation fee for same-sex couples and single people seeking fertility help.

“The design and ethos of Anova are deeply influenced by my personal experiences as a patient,” says Dr. Dixon. “Every aspect of Anova’s environment is crafted with the patient in mind and draws on not just my journey but also the shared experiences of friends, who like many felt their voices were unheard and their needs unconsidered in their fertility journey.”

Message received. Finding a clinic with practitioners who can speak the language of queer couples in a judgment-free way can be a key factor in the journey.

Ready to start your family building journey?

Contact Anova now, your friends in fertility.

To begin your planned journey to parenthood, please visit anovafertility.com.

Dr Marjorie Dixon, founder, CEO and medical director of Anova Fertility & Reproductive Health

INDIGIQUEER ARTIST ROGER KUHN DISCOVERS HIS TRUE COLOURS IN “KALEIDOSCOPE”

Kuhn talks to IN about combining art and activism

By Larry Olsen Photos by Bjorn Bolinder

“I always knew I was different from the other kids my age,” says musician Roger Kuhn. In addition to standing out as bi-racial and bi-cultural – his father was of German and Russian descent and his mother is a tribal Poarch Creek woman – Kuhn says he never felt quite settled in his skin. “I didn’t feel like a boy, nor did I feel like a girl. I grew up loving He-Man, ThunderCats, Barbie and She-Ra. I used to pretend I was Madonna and David Bowie at the same time.”

It wasn’t until his mid-20s that Kuhn discovered what it meant to be two-spirit. Coined in 1990 by Dr. Myra Laramee, an Aboriginal awareness consultant with Manitoba Education, the term is used by Indigenous Peoples to signify male, female and intersexed individuals who combine activities of both gender traits. In most Indigenous tribes, they are considered neither men nor women; they occupy a distinct, alternative gender status.

Kuhn describes his gender and sexuality as circular and not on a fixed binary. “It’s like peering through a kaleidoscope and seeing multiple shapes, colours, expressions and beauty,” he explains. It’s a focus in his new single, “Kaleidoscope,” a song rooted in classic house and progressive EDM that champions finding inner strength and celebrating liberation, as well as in his new book, Somacultural Liberation, which recently came out. “For me, freedom is living my truth and pursuing my dreams,” he says.

This is why, after working as a psychotherapist for the past decade, Kuhn decided to take time away from his practice to prioritize his creative expression once again. He explains more from his home in Los Angeles.

Growing up in conservative North Dakota had to be difficult for you. If I wasn’t being picked on for being bi-racial, I was being made

fun of for my perceived gender and sexual orientation variance. I was always a target, and it was sad because feeling included is so important. Being treated with equality and equity is vital to one’s well-being. One of the primary reasons I became a musician and author was to break free from the limitations that others placed on me my whole life. I discovered that through writing and song, I could share my truth.

What is your truth?

That I am an Indigiqueer person. There are few examples of Indigiqueer people in mainstream media. I’ve had to learn new ways to navigate systems that were put in place to silence and control Indigenous people.

Have you faced discrimination within the 2SLGBTQI+ community? Countless times, both personally and collectively. Being Indigenous and LGBTQIA+ presents with unique complications. We face different issues and challenges that others in the community do not experience or understand. I have stood my ground with many Caucasian gay men who have tried to convince me they were as marginalized as Black, Indigenous and People of Colour LGBTQIA+ people are.

What exactly does it mean to be two-spirit?

Two-spirit is a term used by Indigenous people who have gender and sexual orientation variance and a deep connection to their Native identity. I first learned the term in 2005 from another twospirit person who, upon meeting me, said, “Oh, you’re like me: two-spirit.” He then explained what it meant and I immediately resonated with the term.

I identify more as two-spirit than I do as gay because being a Native American person is as important to me as my identity as a gay person. Two-spirit allows me to not have to choose.

What pronouns do you prefer to use?

I use he/him pronouns, though I am also comfortable with they/ them. If we are homies, she works too.

I’m curious to know how you feel about Demi Lovato switching her pronouns from they/them back to she/her after she grew tired of having to explain her gender identity.

I believe it’s important to recognize that some people come from a privileged place where they don’t have to explain themselves. For others, living in our truth requires work and a willingness to be witnessed in our vulnerability.

Is ‘Kaleidoscope’ intended to be a two-spirit anthem?

It’s an anthem for all of us really. ‘Kaleidoscope’ is about trusting our vulnerability and pursuing our innermost truth. For me, part of that was to embrace my identity as a Poarch Creek two-spirit person and to advocate for other 2SLGBTQIA+ and all marginalized people.

In 2022, you were featured in the Levi’s Pride campaign, promoting awareness and acceptance within the two-spirit community. How did that come about?

Six years ago, I made a sign that I carried with me in the San Francisco Pride Parade. It read: Decolonize Sexuality. It got a lot of attention and was featured in several media outlets. I carried the sign again in the next year’s parade and it caught the attention of Levi’s. They reached out and invited me to partake in a photo shoot that they ended up using in their Pride campaign. The campaign ran

in Target and Macy’s stores in the US and appeared internationally on Levi’s social media.

Where are you in your quest to find happiness and satisfaction in your life?

I am at a really great place in my life. I know that all the work I have done on myself over the years has paid off. I have a great connection with all of my family and friends and, this year, I will celebrate my 18th anniversary with my husband, 15 years married.

What advice would you have for someone still struggling to find their place and/or their people?

Don’t put on facades. I am careful to always be open, honest, caring and supportive. I don’t give my time or talent to people who don’t respect my boundaries and limitations. Ultimately, I love myself and know myself enough to recognize that I still have a lot to learn and unlearn. I welcome growth and change. I encourage others to do the same.

What do you hope fans take away from ‘Kaleidoscope’?

The power of vulnerability will lead you closer to your liberation. Trust that you have wings and you can soar.

LARRY OLSEN defines himself as a teacher, reader, writer and dreamer. He lives in Palm Springs, Calif., with his partner of 22 years. In his spare time, he enjoys interviewing underground artists and exposing their unique talents to the light.

Roger Kuhn’s “Kaleidoscope” is being distributed by So Fierce Music/The Orchard/Sony Music Entertainment and is available on all digital

How The L Word Revolutionized Sapphic Representation On Television

In the 20 years since the TV show premiered, it has broadened horizons and changed the way queer women were represented in the media

By Bianca Guzzo

Before the premiere of The L Word in 2004, the only representation queer women got in popular media was one-dimensional lesbian characters shown on sitcoms and dramas for, at most, one to two episodes. The L Word literally flipped the script on what relatable media could look like for queer women. From messy relationships, to breakups, the messy affairs, and of course the makeups, the intertwined relationships of these women from Los Angeles captivated its loyal fanbase, and the show continues to influence the way lesbian and bisexual women are characterized on television. For the first time, queer women were seeing accurate portrayals of their lives on mainstream television. They weren’t being used as a cheap gimmick to boost ratings, or as the punchline to a joke. They felt seen, and they saw their own close-knit communities reflected back at them on screen.

What was it about The L Word that made it so special and appealing to queer audiences? And how have we continued to see the ripple effects of what it started back in 2004?

IN THE BEGINNING…

According to Liveabout.com, the show Heartbeat was the first to feature a regular lesbian character, in 1988. In 1991, the first sapphic kiss was shown in an episode of L.A. Law between a bisexual lawyer and one of her colleagues. Towards the end of the ’90s, Ellen DeGeneres made waves with the infamous “Puppy Episode” of her eponymous sitcom, when she bravely came out both in and out of character. And during an episode in the second season of Friends, we saw Ross’s first wife, Carol, marry her partner, Susan, in the first televised wedding between two women.

But these examples of representation for lesbian and bisexual women were, let’s face it, crumbs. Yes, it was more than we had previously seen on prime-time dramas and sitcoms, but a lot of the time kisses between female characters were produced, promoted and teased to the audience only as a tool to get viewership up. The lesbian stereotype we had so often been fed on television was usually a side

character with a one-episode story arc. This character was usually a butch lesbian, who was purposefully portrayed with little to no sex appeal. In some cases the storylines felt one-dimensional, or had obviously been thought up by a male-led team and produced with and for the male gaze. This wasn’t media being created with queer audiences in mind, and the result was disingenuous representation that saw romantic moments shared between women as a stunt to attract more viewers.

That all started to change when The L Word premiered on Showtime on January 18, 2004. Not only did it crush the stereotyped depictions of lesbians, but it also made room to portray more of a spectrum of sapphic identities and storylines all in the same series. During its original six-season run, viewers would tune in to watch an hour of pure sapphic drama: breakups, makeups, women in established long-term relationships trying to start a family, complicated love triangles and, of course, how the relationships between these women would intertwine with each other throughout the series (we get a visual sense of that intertwining at the end of the show’s second episode through “The Chart” – more on this later). It gave us both lesbian and bisexual women, and none of it was played off as a joke. For the first time, queer women were seeing themselves on screen in a way that didn’t feel icky.

A WINNING FORMULA

What was it that made The L Word so iconic when it came to the representation it delivered in the prime-time space? Sure, the actors who played the complicated protagonists and love-to-hate antiheroes of the series had a lot to do with why viewers kept tuning in. Some of the show’s actors, who were also queer (but not all out at the time), brought the stories and characters to life, and hooked us in week after week and season after season. And there was also a lot of magic happening behind the scenes, too.

The queer women working behind the camera – like co-creator and producer Ilene Chaiken, and the talented group of writers working on the show – really laid the groundwork for queer female stories

Photo courtesy of Showtime

to be told more freely on television, and they did so by sometimes sprinkling stories from their own lives into the plot. Having not only women, but queer women, in the writers’ room to create the show really helped it feel well-rounded, sincere, and not just playing up the sexuality of the characters for the pleasure of male audiences.

Many fans have speculated for years that Chaiken incorporated elements of her own lived experience into the storylines of the show. In a 2018 interview with People Magazine, Chaiken revealed that the Jenny and Marina storyline in the first season was inspired by her first lesbian relationship, which ended in heartbreak once she found out her girlfriend already had a long-term partner.

Another way writers were able to infuse their own experiences into the series was through “The Chart.” Alice Pieszecki (played by Leisha Hailey) keeps track of the romantic relationships of the group, as well as the queer community in Los Angeles, with her version of “The Chart,” which chronicles the relationships, hookups and affairs the characters share with each other over the series. The idea for the infamous chart was created when the writers of the show were discussing the mutual romantic connections they shared. They decided to incorporate it into the series, which turned into the Alice character developing it into a social networking site in the series. The fictional chart and website inspired a project called “OurChart.com” to be developed in the real world, where fans of the show could make profiles and create their own charts within their social groups.

Did The L Word always get it right? Well, the answer is complicated. By a 2024 standard, some characters and storyline choices haven’t exactly aged well. Such is the case for any “ground-breaking” show that aired 20 years ago. Sex and the City, for example, is often lauded as being ahead of its time for the way it portrayed women talking and partaking in casual sex. But a 2000 episode of the series saw Carrie Bradshaw dating a bisexual man, and her general disgust in her partner and disbelief that bisexuality even exists – and she’s a sex columnist – has not held up over time. The same can be said about certain storylines on The L Word. Most fans of the show frequently bring up how disappointed they are over the treatment of Max (played by Daniel Sea), a transmasc character, in the third season. Throughout the series, some characters also voiced disgust, through jokes, towards butch-presenting side characters. In fact, the mistreatment of butch characters and lack of butch representation on the show is something that both new and old viewers say was a major step backwards when it came to the progressive writing of The L Word

THE L WORD LIVES ON

Despite the fact that the show’s last episode aired 15 years ago, in 2009, the show’s fanbase is still very active in online spaces. Fans post queries, rants and revelations to the show’s subreddit every day, and there are currently 28,000 posts under #thelword on TikTok, which are mostly thirst edits of Shane McCutcheon (played by Katherine Moenning). Fans have watched and re-watched the series, and frequently discuss in the comment sections what the show got right, and which storylines have aged like milk.

One popular opinion in the subreddit is the dislike for the Jenny character (played by Mia Kirshner) throughout the series, but

mainly with how she centred herself in her partner’s transition during the third season. It should be mentioned that a lot of fans agree that the Jenny character does have a redemption arc, and she is regarded by a lot of viewers as one of the most exciting characters in the show to watch.

A lot of the fans also agree that the trans character of Max, and Max’s storyline, make the show hard to rewatch. In a 2023 episode of the reboot The L Word: Generation Q, Shane catches up with Max at a party and offers them an apology for how they were treated the last time they saw each other. Many fans of the show saw this as the show also apologizing to its audience for the way they chose to portray a trans character in the original series. Other viewers argue that having a trans character on a show in the mid 2000s provided visibility that inevitably helped pave the way for better representation of trans identities in media.

The L Word came out at a time when queer representation was highly needed, and it really did usher in a new type of media that told queer stories without making fun of the characters. Its entire run predated the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. The last episode of the original series aired in 2009; the first episode of Glee premiered that same year, and shows like Modern Family soon followed. A 2012 poll conducted by The Hollywood Reporter found that the visibility of queer characters with genuine storylines in television shows like Glee and Modern Family actually drove people to vote in favour of legalizing gay marriage that same year.

Looking back 20 years, The L Word is certainly a product of its time, but we can’t ignore what it got right. Without it, we wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy shows where the main characters are queer women, like Orange is the New Black or Killing Eve.

The drop in the water of queer television that The L Word originally created is still making waves today. In 2023, some of the core cast members – Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey and Katherine Moenning – and co-creator Ilene Chaiken were invited to the US Capitol to stand beside the first openly LGBT White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, and give a briefing on Lesbian Visibility Week.

We need stories about queer women now more than ever in the media. Shows depicting lesbian and bisexual stories are cancelled a lot quicker and are less celebrated than their male counterparts. The Wilds and A League of Their Own both ended prematurely thanks to being cancelled by Amazon, even though both shows had vocal fanbases and the demand for renewal was there. Even The L Word: Generation Q couldn’t escape a hasty cancellation. The sequel to the original series, which had been well received, was given the axe by Showtime after just three seasons. These stories still need to be told. Queer women deserve to see themselves and their friends represented accurately in the media they consume.

The L Word started an unstoppable craving for sincere stories and characters for queer women that isn’t slowing down any time soon. Sapphic characters in modern series and movies display a wider range of the queer spectrum and experience than ever before, which will only get better with more representation, and we have The L Word to thank for that.

Al Val On Bringing Her Trans Journey To The Stage And On Tour

We chatted with Toronto-based transgender comedian Al Val about her comedy journey, her upcoming special, and how she got involved with Gay AF Comedy’s first national tour

By Stephan Petar

Photos by Loretta Meyer

After five years of making countless people laugh out loud, Gay AF Comedy is headed on its first national tour. The Gay AF Comedy Tour will bring queer joy and laughter to six cities across Canada starting April 4, with stops in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

Founded by comedian Robert Watson, Gay AF Comedy focuses on amplifying 2SLGBTQI+ voices. The brand gives audiences the chance to see themselves represented in comedy shows, while providing hilarious, personal and unique takes on common experiences.

The inaugural tour is headlined by transgender comedian Al Val, whose comedy touches upon her trans journey in an insightful, vulnerable and universal way that can relate to everyone, even those beyond the 2SLGBTQI+ community. She has appeared on programs for CBC, OutTV and MTV, and at festivals like Just for Laughs, Halifax Comedy Fest, The San Francisco Comedy Festival and others throughout North America.

We chatted with Al Val about her comedy inspirations, how coming out liberated her to speak more freely about her experiences on stage, her comedy special coming to YouTube later this year, and how she got involved with this tour.

How did you get into comedy and discover your comedic voice?

I knew from a very early age that this is what I wanted to do. I’m one of the lucky ones. I catch a lot of flak for this, but Dane Cook made me want to do stand-up, especially his album Retaliation. It was hearing and listening to the audience’s response. Say what you want about his comedy, but the energy in that room and the response from the audience was invigorating. It was visceral as a listener, and I wanted to experience that for myself.

Do you have other comedic inspirations?

My family used to watch Mr. Bean – he was a household comic; I’ll call him a comic – and Whose Line Is It Anyway? Those were the two main comedy things that brought our family together the

most. Even before Dane Cook, it was watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? and seeing how quick, how skilled and how sharp they were. It was very inspiring.

Those are two very different types of comedy that inspired you. One is improv and the other is focused on physicality. Mr. Bean and Whose Line Is It Anyway? aren’t necessarily stand-up, but it’s interesting reflecting back on how those things influenced me. Stand-up is a solo effort, and I’ve always appreciated that because I live and die by my own agency and my own artistry, and I don’t have to count on anybody else. It’s full ownership and it is very appealing to me. But, also, I improvise a lot on stage and I’m very physical. So, you can kind of see that Mr. Bean and Whose Line Is It Anyway? [are an] influence in my comedy DNA.

How would you describe your stand-up to someone who has never seen you perform?

After this interview, I think I’m going to say Mr. Bean meets Whose Line Is It Anyway? meets Dane Cook (I’ll whisper the Dane Cook part). I would describe it as very personal material about my life, especially when it comes to my trans journey, but universally delivered. I am speaking about a human experience and I do it with a lot of energy and a lot of hand waving. I’m like a wacky inflatable tube man outside a used car dealership, but I’m outside a dealership that deals in hugs.

Your comedy carries a vulnerability as you talk about your trans journey and coming out. Did you always want to insert that vulnerability or did that come as you discovered your identity? It was this cathartic thing. Before I transitioned, my act was not about me. There was nothing personal. Audiences would leave feeling entertained, but not know anything about who I was as a person because my act was pretty much a deflection away from me.… When your entire identity is built around assimilating and maintaining the status quo and fitting in, you have no real sense of self. It’s impossible to tell anybody about who you are because who you are is manufactured around the opinions of other people. Once you’ve liberated yourself from that, it’s easy to talk about yourself because you really embrace how unique your experience is.

What do you hope your impact on the community will be?

It’s really heartwarming getting personal messages from people who are trans who will say, ‘I’m in the early stages and I’m figuring things out’ and ‘You make me feel like it’s all going to be okay’ and ‘You’ve helped connect me with some of the insecurities that I’m experiencing.…’ It is so invaluable, and I wish I’d had more of that starting out.

Beyond that, I’ll get messages from all kinds of people who see me unabashedly putting my insecurities out there on full display and speaking authentically from the heart. I’ll get messages from people who take inspiration from that and say, ‘I’m not trans, but you’ve inspired me to take ownership of who I am a whole lot more.’ If I influence one person to dance like nobody’s watching, then I’ve done a fine job.

You’re touring with Gay AF Comedy on its national tour. How did you get involved?

I met Robert Watson, who I’m touring with, at a Pride-themed

comedy show, and he had me headline one of his Gay AF Comedy shows and we hit it off right away.… He was asking me some unrelated question and I misinterpreted it as an offer to go on tour. I was enthusiastically like, ‘Yeah, we could hit this city and this city,’ and he just took it and ran.

What are you most excited about for this tour?

I love a well-organized, extended tour with multiple locations. There are cities on this tour that I have either never seen or haven’t been to in a very long time. I’m excited to see them with fresh eyes and perspective. There’s also this sense of accomplishment. I’ve been doing comedy for 17 years, and it took a long time to make this a profession. I still haven’t gotten used to the feeling of being on the road and having those moments where I look around and feel so grateful that this is my life.

Tell us about your upcoming comedy special.

It is a beautiful photographic capturing of who I was in that moment because I tend to improvise a lot in my sets and I encouraged people to call out and heckle if they wanted to. This special is super fun and I’m so proud of it because it’s got all that authenticity and anecdotal, meaty, beautiful, chewy, humanizing stuff about my journey. It also has a lot of spontaneity and showcases my personality nicely, and I can’t wait until people see it.

Are there any trans comedians in Canada, or beyond, we should be following?

Bee Bertrand I find excellent. Mickey Dykeman is a relatively young comic and they are super funny and charming and they’re going to go places. Then you’ve got Robin Tran in the United States.

Was there anything else you wanted to add?

Even though this is the Gay AF Comedy Tour, I don’t want to discourage anyone outside that [2SLGBTQI+] umbrella from coming, because Robert is very funny and, like I’ve been saying, my comedy is very accessible. It’s personal, but my stories can relate to anybody. Everybody is welcome and everyone is encouraged to come, as long as they come with an open mind, an open heart and eagerness to laugh.

Follow Al Val on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.

The Gay AF Comedy Tour will stop in Victoria (April 4), Vancouver (April 6), Edmonton (April 11), Calgary (April 14), Toronto (April 18) and Montreal (April 21).

For tickets, visit linktr.ee/gayafcomedy or follow the tour on Instagram.

Gay AF Comedy founder comedian Robert Watson with Al Val

JONNY MCGOVERN IS GAY AF

The host of Hey Qween! dishes on his dishy new podcast show, and lots more

By Larry Olsen

Jonny McGovern’s career in entertainment launched 20 years ago with Dirty Gay Hits, his collection of gay-themed songs including “Soccer Practice,” “Hey Lil’ Raver Boi” and “The Wrong Fag to Fuck With.” The collection was a hit, receiving more than five million downloads before YouTube even existed. It caught the eye of Rosie O’Donnell, who cast McGovern as a lead player on her comedy show, The Big Gay Sketch Show, alongside Oscar nominee Colman Domingo and SNL’s Kate McKinnon.

Today, Jonny McGovern is best known for his popular television shows including GoGo for the Gold (second season streaming now on OUTtv) and his talk show Hey Qween!, which is streaming new episodes now, exclusively on World of Wonder’s SVOD platform WOW Presents Plus. For even more gay laughs and hijinks, you can catch him in Jonny McGovern is Gay AF, the comedian’s new weekly podcast show, where he puts a homo spin on all of the latest celeb news. Jonny McGovern spoke with us from his home in L.A.

Jonny on the new set of Hey Qween

What is it like to be gay AF in Hollywood today?

There’s never been a better time to be gay AF!

Gay comedians are hot right now! There’s Fortune Feimster, Matteo Lane, Tig Notaro, Bob the Drag Queen…the list goes on and on. Yes, it’s great. I think apps like TikTok have really helped make this possible. They take a lot of the gatekeeping away. It’s no longer some straight person telling you what you can and cannot talk about. The audience can decide for themselves what they find is funny, and when something or someone gets a big reaction from a digital audience, comedy clubs and the industry take notice.

Were you always gay AF?

I may have tried to hide it in my younger years, but when I stopped trying to be what society told me was proper and started fully expressing my true self, that’s when I started to make a name for myself.

What inspired you to launch your new podcast, Jonny McGovern is Gay AF?

I started podcasting in 2006 and my podcast audience has been my most devoted audience. I have people who have been riding with me for almost 20 years, and that’s really special.

Your first podcast, Gay Pimpin’, was a real pioneer in LGBTQ podcasting!

We were the first gay show to crack the top 10 of iTunes podcasts.

How is Jonny McGovern is Gay AF different from Gay Pimpin’?

Spiritually, they are both from the same place. Format wise, they are different. Gay Pimpin’ was a snapshot of my life at the time, with a very large group of friends on the mic with me. Gay AF is more intimate. It’s created to be like you, as the listener, are sitting down with me one-on-one to gossip, throw shade, and kiki about which OnlyFans accounts are good and which are not worth our coins. We break down the stories of the day and deep dive into DL gay celebrity scandals and blind items.

Where do you find the topics?

I keep a list of everything I see that stands out as “of homosexual interest” on social media, in magazines, movies, TV and music, from diva rap battles like Nicki vs. Megan to the gay couple airport meltdown to Diddy’s alleged gay sex parties – no topic is off limits!

How did your podcast shows prepare you for Hey Qween!?

I was working in nightlife while recording the Gay Pimpin’ shows and I spent a lot of time with drag queens and ballroom legends. It was a natural evolution to make Hey Qween! a place where queens share their journeys.

“It’s created to be like you, as the listener, are sitting down with me one-on-one to gossip, throw shade, and kiki.”

Congratulations on the show moving to Wow Presents Plus! This season, we have access like never before to the world’s top queens! We are the first sit-down TV interview for the eliminated queens of Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, so we get the tea piping hot! Not only do I have some of Drag Race’s Emmy-winning producers working with me on the show, but we’re also able to get call-ins from Drag Race legends and we regularly feature actual iconic props from the season. The girls’ elimination airs on Friday and Hey Qween! comes out on Monday afternoons at 3:30 p.m. on WOW Presents Plus. There’s so much Drag Race conversation; it feels great to be in the eye of the storm and on the mother ship of WOW.

No doubt the late Lady Red Couture is smiling down from heaven at your success.

It’s bittersweet to have finally gotten to this place that we always dreamed of travelling together and not have Lady Red beside me. She’s with me in spirit and I keep a candle with her picture on it next to me on the desk, so she’s always represented. I miss her and I know she’s up in heaven cheering me on.

Speaking of legendary angels, what would Dorian Corey or Pepper LaBeija think of the state of LGBTQ+ representation in entertainment today?

Paris is Burning and all of the people who were in that movie have been extremely inspirational to me. I would hope they would love it and be huge TikTok stars, especially Dorian Corey – who I quote to this day! I would’ve loved to have seen all those divas as judges on Legendary

Is there anything you will not ask an eliminated queen?

We want the tea, but I never want to ask anything that’s going to make anyone feel or look bad. These queens are our homegrown stars and we aim to celebrate them.

What would the house mothers of Paris is Burning have to say to the new crop of queens competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race? If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you.

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Jonny

LIKE TWO PEAS IN A PODCAST

BFFs Mae Martin and Sabrina Jalees invite us into their friendship circle to discuss joining forces for their new podcast, why oversharing is caring, and how they hope to open up dialogue between friends around the world

By Stephan Petar

If there is one thing Mae Martin (Feel Good, The Flight Attendant) and Sabrina Jalees (Farming for Love, Carol’s Second Act) will teach you in their new Canadian Audible Original podcast Benefits with Friends, it’s that oversharing is caring and it’s important to dig deep with your best friend.

Mae (they/them) and Sabrina’s (she/her) lifelong friendship started 20 years ago in Toronto when they were rising stars in the comedy scene. While their inner circles encouraged them to meet, the pair didn’t connect until they were on the same billing for a show. “We were pretty deep right away. We had this shared ambition and passion for comedy,” Mae told IN

Despite busy production schedules and living in different countries with different time zones, the pair stayed close, strengthening their friendship and evolving their conversations. This is evident in their 10-episode podcast, which is a hilarious and candid journey exploring topics like friendship, gender, parenting, shame and more. Their hope is that listeners will grab their friend(s) and chat about these things too. “I feel when you share everything in your brain with your friend, you both grow together,” Mae says in Episode 1.

Listeners will instantly feel Mae and Sabrina’s connection, support and competitive spirit. Throughout the podcast, and in our interview, they finished each other’s sentences, called each other out and made one another laugh – like true BFFs.

Sabrina Jalees (courtesy of Audible Canada by Matt Misisco)

Mae Martin (courtesy of Audible Canada by Matt Misisco)

What was the inspiration behind this project? Who came up with it?

Mae Martin: We’ve wanted to work together for a while. We’ve done a lot of live stand-up shows together, but any time we’d get together with a producer and try to come up with an idea of something to pitch, all we wanted to do was talk about our friendship and tell stories about each other. And then we were like, ‘Let’s do that.’

What can listeners expect from Benefits with Friends?

MM: Laughs, tears, arguments…

Sabrina Jalees: …the feeling you get right after you’ve cried and you’re going to laugh…

MM: …sexual tension, we’ve got it all. I feel romantic relationships are so celebrated, and friendships have to play second fiddle. My friendship with Sabrina has been such a guiding light and she’s known every version of me and put up with so much that it’s always nice to dig deep into those relationships.

SJ: You write love songs about these people you’re with for a couple of years, and then whose arms are you going to be in when that relationship falls apart? Sabrina Jalees or Mae Martin!

The podcast seems like an authentic conversation with no script. What was the recording process like?

SJ: We went in knowing there were certain bullet points we wanted to hit with each theme, but there was no real script. It’s our candid take on the thoughts that come up when we think about shame, for example. That episode [“Shame”] encapsulates a little bit of what we were going for. When you talk about things that feel vulnerable or personal, all of a sudden those things you were once embarrassed about feel more empowering, and you feel connected and closer together. Whereas when you deal with them in silence, you feel so fucking lonely.

MM: You can get a lot deeper and more vulnerable if you’re in a safe space with someone that you really trust and who’s going to call you on your shit. It’s hard to stick to any kind of script when Sabrina is present because all of a sudden you’re in an improvised scene. That’s why I loved it.

“ When you talk about things that feel vulnerable or personal, all of a sudden those things you were once embarrassed about feel more empowering.”

Did you reveal anything you didn’t think you would? Were you surprised by anything?

MM: Yes, I was. There are things Sabrina remembers that I don’t remember doing from long ago. In the ‘Money’ episode, there were a couple of stories where I was like, ‘Did I do that?’ You think you’ve talked about everything with your best friend, but there’s stuff we have never talked about that we found we had different opinions on.

SJ: And once you open an episode titled ‘Kink,’ you are sharing things that you wouldn’t necessarily be catching up with over a coffee.

Where did you come up with these topics? Are they things you speak about regularly?

MM: Some come up a lot in our work and some interest us. Things like shame and money can be awkward to talk about with friends. We wanted to push ourselves to explore things that we might not normally.

SJ: We wanted those juicy topics. For me, if I’m at an airport bar, these are the places that I’m going. If I’m meeting a lady named Diane from Chicago and I’m never going to see her again, then these are the areas I always want to go in conversationally.

What is the difference between talking about these topics in your stand-up compared to this podcast?

MM: The difference is being challenged. Doing stand-up is a totally solipsistic thing. When you have someone else there challenging you, you’re forced to entertain different points of view. When you’re in your own head and exploring things in either stand-up or scripts, you can get kind of locked into certain paths of thinking, thought loops or narratives.

SJ: Stand-up can be this internal monologue where you’re also chasing the laugh. As you tell the story you start to find the laugh points, whereas in a conversation with Mae, it’s never short of laughter. A really enjoyable part of recording these episodes is that I don’t think either of us ever was thinking, ‘Alright, this will be a funny area. Let’s really laugh about this.’ In each episode we both felt emotional.

MM: It’s one of the most revealing things I’ve ever done. When you’re with somebody who knows you so well, you can’t wear the mask of performance – you have to be yourself.

You’ve both lived all over the world, so what tips would you give to friends who want to maintain a strong connection while living apart?

MM: Living in so many places, the friendships [that have] endured are the ones where they don’t get mad at me and I don’t get mad at them when we don’t talk for a week or two. [Trust] takes that pressure off. You can’t be like, ‘I haven’t heard from them in a few days. I guess they don’t care about me anymore.’

SJ: There’s a fairy tale that people buy into with friendship that there’s going to be some psychic bond or some consistency when you first connect and collide. When we first met, our job was to run around after school and go see comedy together. We had all of this time, but then you grow up and there’s jobs and relationships. The friendships that have lasted are built on a foundation where we’re not looking for reasons to doubt each other’s love.

MM: If you haven’t seen someone in a year and you go and have your big friendship reunion, you’ve got to meet them where they are and be excited about where they are and not wanting an older version of them.

What’s next for you both?

MM: I’m finishing the writer’s room for a new Netflix series that I’m going to shoot in Canada from June to September. I’m mainly excited that I’m in L.A. at a time when Sabrina’s new baby is going to be born.… That’s the most exciting thing.

SJ: My second baby’s coming in March and I’m acting in a movie that’s premiering at South by Southwest called Doin’ It… in March as well.

You can listen to all 10 episodes of Benefits with Friends on Audible.ca, but note this podcast dives into adult themes and mature topics, so maybe listen to it with a pair of earphones.

Canada’s Reigning Queens

Canada’s Drag Race royalty Priyanka, Icesis Couture, Gisèle Lullaby and Venus join The Queen of the North Brooke Lynn Hytes and get behind the camera for one epic photo shoot

Story and interviews by Christopher Turner Photographer: Fernando Cysneiros

Since RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered back on February 2, 2009, drag artists from all seasons of the show and its many spinoffs have become superstars on the global circuit. Drag Race was a game changer, and its alumni now tour the globe, dominate social media, walk international fashion runways, play major concerts and festivals, and have become a very real part of our lives. Canada’s Drag Race is no different.

Of course, Brooke Lynn Hytes captured the entire country’s attention when she strutted into Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race as the first Canadian contestant to appear on the hit drag competition series, and she made history as the first alum from the cultural phenomenon to hold down a fixed gig as a panellist on any of the series’ international editions. But she’s not the only one. Since the Canadian spinoff premiered on July 2, 2020, Canadian queens have been going global, following in the footsteps of their sisters south of the border. And Canada’s four winning queens – Priyanka, Icesis Couture, Gisèle Lullaby and Venus – have been leading the way.

What better way to celebrate than with a little photo shoot. For the first time, all of Canada’s reigning queens, plus Brooke Lynn Hytes, Canada’s Drag Race’s most iconic host, were gathered together in mid-February in Toronto for one epic photo shoot and Q&A. Read on to see the pics and hear what each of the queens had to say on secrets from their season, returning to the Drag Race world to compete again, role models, the best advice they’ve ever received, what drag means to them, what they would be doing if they weren’t in drag, and much more.

Priyanka

Winner of Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race, which premiered on July 2, 2020

MAKEUP: Kályd Odeh

HAIR: Kirsten Klontz, Bellami Hair

OUTFIT: Artiface Clothing / Mr. Haque

NAILS: The Pink Room

STYLING: Kályd Odeh

Tell us something about your experience on your season of Canada’s Drag Race that we might not know.

Oh wow, I feel like I’ve told EVERY SINGLE story ever. One that I actually don’t ever say out loud was when I got home from filming, I told all my friends that I knew Rita Baga was going to win. It wasn’t until the show aired that I realized how well I was doing. Imposter Syndrome at its best!

Would you ever make a return to the Drag Race world on an All-Winners season or similar?

I think about what Bob the Drag Queen said about doing an AllWinners season. She said, ‘I do drag other places too!’ Of course, the prospect of being back on a season is a HUGE deal and you KNOW I love a good competition. I would absolutely consider returning if it were the right time for me. Last year I said 100 per cent. Now I’m like….wait…WILL IT BE THE RIGHT TIME?!

pitched it to you! [Editor’s note: Yes, she did.] Don’t be afraid to ask: the worst they will do is say no or ghost you, but that happens all the time so…who cares? RIGHT?!

There is so much chatter about drag right now, especially south of the border. I’m wondering: what is drag all about for you at its core? What does it mean to you?

Being able to host HBO’s We’re Here really showed me a lot of truths about hate. I will say that the only difference between hate in Canada vs the US is that it’s a different country. People need drag more than ever right now – it’s the ultimate escape and inspiration for so many people to find themselves. There is nothing like going on stage and being able to be exactly who you dreamed of being, or being an audience member and watching someone not care about what the world thinks of them. It’s inspiring and ICONIC!

If you weren’t doing drag right now, what would you be doing?

I guess still hosting kids’ TV?!??!?!! [Editor’s note: Priyanka’s alter ego, Mark Suknanan, was a host of YTV children’s series The Zone.] Or trying to pursue an out of drag music career LOL what?!

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

“I am constantly WERKING and thinking of bigger and better ways to entertain people.”

What’s the one piece of advice someone gave you that has really made a difference to you?

Oh wow, well, during my reign, as AMAZING and INCREDIBLE as it was, there were plenty of growing pains with friends, family… everyone, it felt like. The one piece of advice I always carry with me is, ‘I know you do this because you love people so much, but you will never really ever be able to protect yourself from bad people out there. Don’t let negative thoughts and people slow you down; always remember the little kid who used to dance in his bedroom with big dreams.’ I’m living those dreams! The doubts that you have are fictional obstacles you’re putting in your way to make it easier for the people around you to be content with what they have. Dream Big!

What is your advice to people who are looking to you as a role model?

I always say, WORK SO HARD YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. I am constantly WERKING and thinking of bigger and better ways to entertain people. I mean, look at this magazine cover – I

I have an addiction to Ajisen Ramen. My order is Spicy Beef with mala broth, spicy pork, extra egg, udon noodle and corn, ALSO NO SPROUTS – UGH I HATE SPROUTS.

Last question. What’s next for you?

I wouldn’t say it’s NEXT, I would say it’s NOW! Pop Music World Domination, Baby!!

Icesis Couture

Winner of Season 2 of Canada’s Drag Race, which premiered on October 14, 2021

MAKEUP: Icesis Couture

HAIR: Drag Daddy

OUTFIT: Suki Doll

JEWELLERY: Suki Doll

STYLING: Icesis Couture

Tell us something about your experience on your season of Canada’s Drag Race that we might not know.

While filming snatch game, Suki Doll had a roll of toilet paper and got up from the table and wrapped Brooke Lynn Hytes in the paper as Yoko Ono. Just one of the hilarious moments that I cherish from my time on Drag Race that did not make it to TV!

Would you ever make a return to the Drag Race world on an All-Winners season or similar?

Absolutely! I’ve always said ‘never say never,’ and even though currently I may still not be ready to immediately jump right back in after doing two season back to back, the opportunity to return in front of RuPaul for an All-Winners season would be a dream!

There is so much chatter about drag right now, especially south of the border. I’m wondering: what is drag all about for you at its core? What does it mean to you?

Drag at its core to me is a true expression of who I am as a person, and who I aspire to be in the world. My love of fashion, beauty and art is the culmination and form of who Icesis Couture is. It’s everything, both beautiful and ugly, about me. Drag helped me figure out who I am, and genuinely helped me through some of the hardest times in life. Drag has truly saved my life – to me drag means everything.

If you weren’t doing drag right now, what would you be doing?

I’ve got two answers! 1: Obviously something in the creative fashion field! Whether that be designing, directing, curating, etc. 2: A vet, or running a dog shelter. I have such a love, respect, connection and admiration for animals that I would love to dedicate my life and time to helping animals in need, any way I can!

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

I’m actually a pretty open book when it comes to the aspects of myself and my life I care to share. There is not anything at this current moment that you don’t already know…well, save the rest for a book! Lol

Last question. What’s next for you?

“It’s okay to put your well-being first! It is not an act of selfishness; it’s actually quite the opposite!”

As always! Continuing to travel the world, putting my best foot forward and working harder than I did the day before to help spread Canadian drag as the mecca of the art form of drag! And we have lots of secret projects currently in the works that I’m super, super excited about and can’t wait to share with the world!

What’s the one piece of advice someone gave you that has really made a difference to you?

Never stop learning, growing and pushing yourself to be better than you were yesterday, and use what you’re learning to make a difference!

What is your advice to people who are looking to you as a role model?

It’s okay to put your well-being first! It is not an act of selfishness; it’s actually quite the opposite! You must put your happiness and health first before you can be of help to anyone else! Kindness and understanding to yourself goes a long way!

Gisèle Lullaby

Winner of Season 3 of Canada’s Drag Race, which premiered on July 14, 2022

MAKEUP: Gisèle Lullaby

HAIR: Hugo Lamoureux

OUTFIT: Cluc

NAILS: Funeral Face Nails

JEWELLERY: Gisèle Lullaby

STYLING: Gisèle Lullaby

Tell us something about your experience on your season of Canada’s Drag Race that we might not know. One of the things I was excited by was, they gave us each a journal to track our thoughts and experiences and plans day to day at the hotel! Funny thing was, when I checked in I received two in error, which helped me to sort my thoughts for sure! By the end of the season, one looked like a novel of good times, and the other was filled with only desperation and doubt –that one ended up in the garbage at the airport on my way back home after wrapping lol!

Would you ever make a return to the Drag Race world on an All-Winners season or similar?

Of course! I love Drag Race, and the concept of all the winners together competing for a crown without elimination would make for a super exciting time! I would say yes right now! Yes!

yesterday! And thirdly, you can have the same dream as someone else, and celebrate their accomplishments at the same time. There’s a beautiful community here, and we can all win together, whether or not you get the crown!

There is so much chatter about drag right now, especially south of the border. I’m wondering: what is drag all about for you at its core? What does it mean to you?

Honestly, for me: beauty, freedom, truth and love!!! At its core, drag is meant to entertain, inspire, and at its core bring queer joy!

If you weren’t doing drag right now, what would you be doing? Wow, good question! Growing up poor, I feel like I’ve literally already done every job possible haha! But for real – I think I’d be a reporter, TV journalist or news anchor.… Even though I’m dyslexic, it would be so much fun!

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

I love to eat!! Touring around the world has been amazing for the food!! Discovering so many new flavours! I did a tour across Europe last spring with La Big Bertha from Drag Race France, and we had only one mission: eating! Best tour ever!

Last question. What’s next for you?

“The concept of all the winners together competing for a crown without elimination would make for a super exciting time!”

What’s the one piece of advice someone gave you that has really made a difference to you?

Practise, and take the time to learn your craft! Practise your number and dedicate the time in your schedule to rehearse and challenge yourself to be better. Practise your makeup and learn your face – being this gorgeous takes time and is a process to learn, so don’t rush it!

What is your advice to people who are looking to you as a role model?

First, thank you! Second, tomorrow can ALWAYS be better than

Since last summer, I am now engaged, so focusing on my wedding plans. I’ll be a blushing bride before you know it! As well, a lot of touring, and I’m starting to write a top-secret film project… which I can’t wait to share more about! I’m really excited for everyone to see what I’ve got coming up next!

Venus

Winner of Season 4 of Canada’s Drag Race, which premiered on November 16, 2023

MAKEUP: Venus

HAIR: Marc-Andre Levac

OUTFIT: Evan Clayton

NAILS: Jo Durée

STYLING: Venus

Tell us something about your experience on your season of Canada’s Drag Race that we might not know.

I’m the only queen in Canada’s Drag Race herstory to win the crown without having to lip-sync for her life. The only time I lip-synced was for the win in Episode 1 and for the crown in the finale. But you already knew that ;-) #FemmeTopDomination

Would you ever make a return to the Drag Race world on an All-Winners season or similar?

Yes…in due time.… I want to let things marinate for a little longer, though.

What’s the one piece of advice someone gave you that has really made a difference to you?

Gisèle was one of the first people I saw after my win. I went straight from the crowning to DragCon UK, and she said to me, ‘Now that you’ve won, sometimes you might feel like you have to change yourself to fit other people’s ideas of who they think you should be. Pay no mind to that – remember who you are and that that’s the reason you won. Change only for yourself.’ I’ll carry that with me forever.

What is your advice to people who are looking to you as a role model?

Be your own role model.

There is so much chatter about drag right now, especially south of the border. I’m wondering: what is drag all about for you at its core? What does it mean to you?

Drag is love. Drag is about pure, authentic self-expression. It’s a way for queer people to connect and form community with a chosen family who understand you on a deeper level. I think people need to realize the humanity behind drag artists and that the intention of this art form comes from a place for love.

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

I used to be a flight attendant with Air Canada. I left with the intention of getting on Drag Race (and winning). So, I’d probably still be serving it 35,000 feet in the air. I looked really cute in the uniform too.

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

I know I said on the show that I don’t pluck my eyebrows like it was some sort of flex, but I now wax my brows and will never look back. And that’s what? Growth.

Last question. What’s next for you?

I’m about to have the biggest performance of my career in March… that’s all I can say for now. Follow me @legallyvenus to stay up with all things Venus. There’s so much on the horizon that I can’t wait to share with y’all.

“I used to be a flight attendant with Air Canada.… I looked really cute in the uniform too.”

Brooke Lynn Hytes

Host of Canada’s Drag Race

MAKEUP: Viktor Peters

HAIR: Kirsten Klontz

OUTFIT: Art de Fashion

JEWELLERY: Icesis Couture

STYLING: Brooke Lynn Hytes

Tell us something about your experience hosting Canada’s Drag Race that we might not know.

It’s really hard and stressful! But at the same time the most fun.

Would you ever make a return to the Drag Race world on an All-Winners season or similar?

Never say never ;)

What’s the one piece of advice someone gave you that has really made a difference to you?

Comparison is the thief of joy.

What is your advice to people who are looking to you as a role model?

Don’t! Just kidding. I would say, Thank you for the love and support. I do my best.

There is so much chatter about drag right now, especially south of the border. I’m wondering: what is drag all about for you at its core? What does it mean to you?

Drag to me is about expression, transformation and, most of all, JOY!

If you weren’t doing drag right now, what would you be doing? Trophy wife.

What do you want people to know about you that they might not already know?

I’m a big introvert.

Last question. What’s next for you?

So many fun things in play I can’t talk about yet!

Self -Composed

By Elio Iannacci Photos by Reece Owens

Singer-songwriter-film composer Casey MQ opens up on the intricacies of intimacy on his sophomore album, Later that day, the day before, or the day before that

Every time I think of composer, musician and vocalist Casey MQ, my mind conjures a memory of his performance in Montreal on October 26, 2016. I had been invited by chance to the concert, which had several emerging artists on stage, each experimenting with their own solo sets. It was emceed by Chilly Gonzales – the producer famous for co-creating Feist’s iconic Let It Die album. As soon as MQ sat at his grand piano and began to play his ballad, “Hysteria,” it was clear that his presence and musicality outshone all the acts that came before and after him. It was the very definition of what a Hollywood publicist would hyperbolize as “a big break” since his performance emitted something so profoundly intimate on a large scale. As MQ’s hands took to the keys, his grace and force delivered notes that completely hushed the audience and echoed the spiritual energy of the environment he sang in – a baroque Roman Catholic church named Le Gesù.

“It’s been almost 10 years since I did that – can you believe it?”

MQ asks in disbelief via Zoom from a music studio in Brooklyn. Actually, it has been exactly eight years since that spellbinding MQ Montreal moment, and in that period the Toronto-based/constantly touring talent has kept busy. He’s gone on to compose soundtracks for more than 10 films, remix the likes of Christine and The Queens and Anna Clendening, release three EPs and a solo album of his own (babycasey of 2020). With the amount of musical projects he’s produced, one would assume that MQ would balk at looking back at his fledgling artist days, but that isn’t the case at all.

“My new album is a complete return to what ‘Hysteria’ represents,” he says of the piano-driven structure and soulful vocality of the ballad. “These recent songs are like brothers and sisters and cousins to ‘Hysteria’ because they share so many of the same musical references, tones and sentiments. I still think it is one of the most important songs I’ve written, and even though I wrote it in 2014, it’s so connected to my new body of work.”

What MQ is referring to is his sophomore disc, Later that day, the day before, or the day before that. The album, slated for release June 7, may connect to his past but it is a vast departure from his 2020 debut, babycasey, which explores the sonic ecosystems of ’90s and 2000s boyband and girl group culture through a gay and queer lens. If you have yet to hear babycasey, it is a sonic trip, liberally revisiting two DayGlo eras of scrubs and ballers by giving subtle shout-outs to the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls and Aqua.

In comparison, Later that day lives in a dimension of its own, reflecting MQ’s maturity in songcraft. “These new tracks are like a pack of love letters written for past loves, future loves and, of course, me,” he says. A prime example of MQ’s most current introspection is “Grey Gardens,” a track completely unrelated to the classic film documentary. MQ says the song blatantly juxtaposes his first album by way of its meticulously tender keyboard work. One of the most poignant lyrics from the track – “remembering is not the opposite of forgetting” – is fuelled by Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time, which MQ spent months reading, rereading and annotating. “It is so important to cite Proust when talking about this album because it’s a queer book that took me the full year to absorb,” he says. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Proust’s words, so they’ve consciously and subconsciously made their way into the music.”

Other influences on the album include the work of French writer and film director Chris Marker, who famously made a documentary in 1983 called Sans Soleil. Marker’s highly unorthodox documentary discusses the intricacies and fallacies of human memory, perception and self-creation.

“I met a new boy / he’s not like you / he isn’t terrified.”

“The way I’ve been slowly churning new songs is a response to my first album, babycasey,” MQ says, noting that he’s had to plot a series of past pilgrimages to finish the disc. “My first album was about wanting to be in a boy band – even though it was an impossibility for me. I do think that with all the production, big electronic sounds and coloured lights, there was always something melancholy underneath babycasey – there’s a lot of soul in it. This new album is about diving right into that soul with memories of my own. So much of it is me at a piano or keyboard, excavating the layers of the relationships I’ve had.”

A track called “Tennis Man” has MQ digging into a part of his life which examines a past romantic connection shaken due to a lover who felt too afraid to embrace who he was or what MQ offered. The opening lyric of the song, “I met a new boy / he’s not like you / he isn’t terrified,” conveys a hard, familiar truth for queer individuals who are in the closet or are in love with someone who is. “I spent forever writing and rewriting the song, but I knew what needed to be said, and it was coming through me at a moment that I could allow for it,” MQ says. “I felt like I was finally in an uncompromised space where I could look back clearly. He doesn’t know I wrote this about him, but I tried to talk about the limitations we had in the most loving way.”

A song called “Is This Only Water” sounds like an internal monologue where MQ self-interrogates through poetic images and lyrics that question heterosexual, monogamous templates of relationships. “That song is really an inventory of thoughts that look at all the hurdles you get when you’re born into an artistic life, a queer life,” he says. “It’s a song where I address how I start to struggle with truth when it appears in love. I wanted it to speak to the things that I wanted and work through how I couldn’t tell if I actually wanted them.” The song includes the lyrics: “Long before I heard the chorus sing / I was asking dreams for prophecy.” That line came from what MQ states were many long discussions he had with an ex-lover. “We talked about it for so long…the

idea that a dream might be an opportunity to give us some clues or answers for the future,” he says. “Asking dreams for prophecy is a way of calling for hope.”

One of the most quixotic and chaotic songs on the album is the stunning “Me, I Think I Found It,” where he coos and croons to “a love that is untold” and one that “feels like home.” As one of the album’s core love songs, the track is devoid of clichés and seems to test MQ’s emotional IQ.

“I’ve been overwhelmed by people who make brilliant music and art,” he says. “Now I hope I can be the one who overwhelms.”

“Understanding my relationship to being gay is obviously an ongoing aspect of my life,” he says. “‘Me, I Think I Found It’ was about me wanting to express something intense to someone who was far away – someone I wanted to be as close as possible to. Even in my alone state, I felt closer to him.

“I was in that relationship for eight years, so I was actively participating in love. I was giving it so much and I felt it back, and I was writing about how it can leave a deep impression even when you’re not in the same country.”

More than anything else MQ has released as a solo artist, Later that day, the day before, or the day before that blends his pop sensibilities with his experiences writing and producing songs for films such as Learn to Swim (a project he won a Canadian Screen Award for). The songs from Later that day also present themselves like parts of a score (perhaps to MQ’s own biopic?), particularly in synth-laden cuts such as the album’s first single, “The Make Believe,” as well as songs such as “Dying ’Til I Was Born” and “See You Later” – both of which, with their ethereal structure, could easily be placed in flashback sequences in work by auteurs like Sofia Coppola or Todd Haynes.

Regardless of his affinity to cinema and all its glory, MQ’s love of cross-cultural artists who have each shifted the zeitgeist can be heard in spades throughout Later that day . His mainstay inspirations – painter/singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, the late great gay cellist/composer/disco producer Arthur Russell, classical music titan Claude Debussy, Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and English singer-songwriter-composer Mica Levi – are heroes who have kept his aspirations going. “I’ve been overwhelmed by people who make brilliant music and art,” he says. “Now I hope I can be the one who overwhelms.”

CREATIVE DIRECTION & STYLING: Aram Eginliyan

PHOTOGRAPHY: Colin Gaudet

MODEL AND MAKEUP: Viktor Peters/Verushka

HAIR: Alan Ovalles

NAIL ARTIST: Natalia Dolzycki

Master Of The MUG

Verushka (a.k.a. renowned Canadian makeup artist Viktor Peters) steps in front of the camera for a little glam lesson

From stepping on the stage in Toronto earlier this year with Madonna on her current Celebration Tour to gracing the main stage of Canada’s Drag Race, Viktor Peters and his drag alter ego Verushka (name inspired by the iconic ʼ60s and ʼ70s fashion model) has been carving and contouring their own lane when it comes to both drag and the true mastery of makeup artistry.

Both in and out of glam themselves, makeup is a fundamental part of what makes Viktor and Verushka such a rare creative artist. Most queens really know their own faces to a tee, but Viktor has painted some of the most famous drag faces in the industry, and has developed a style of glam that is so technically flawless that it is no surprise that she’s been able to translate not only the perfect face into Verushka but as a vintage fashion aesthetic that is truly unparalleled when it comes to drag in Canada. Both as Viktor and Verushka, their artistry knows no bounds, and their stamp on makeup – both in Canada and internationally – are something to keep your eye on!

COLOUR BLOCK ’80S SUIT: Vintage by BB’s Vintage World SHOES: L’intervalle

VEST: Vintage by BB’s Vintage World

SHORTS: L’Uomo Strano

SHOES: L’intervalle

BLACK PLEAT GOWN DRESS: Vintage by BB’s Vintage World

The Profane And Raunchy Christ Of Anthony Oliveira’s Dayspring

IN Magazine sat down with the Canadian author to talk about his upcoming debut novel

By Paul Gallant

A few dozen pages into Anthony Oliveira’s debut book Dayspring (Strange Light/Penguin Random House Canada), out April 2, I was sure that Oliveira had been an altar boy when he was young. A former altar boy myself, I know how to spot one. Only someone who was raised Roman Catholic would write a book narrated over the course of centuries by “the disciple Christ loved,” recounting the disciple’s conjugal relationship with Christ, including explicit depictions of their sex life. “…i am holding you as you shake and you pull me backwards to the other side of the tree and push me down into your unzipped jeans….”

When I interview Oliveira this winter, he confirms my suspicions. He grew up in an Azorean Portuguese family in Toronto, was an altar boy and, of course, attended a Roman Catholic boys’ school, St. Michael’s College. He describes this upbringing, where many of his family members would have been delighted if he had become a priest, as traumatizing, and his coming-out process as a seismic shift that prevented him from becoming “a very different, a very awful kind of person.” Being queer and having queer sex has been liberating, empowering – a great blessing.

“Christianity is a religion that has allowed itself sometimes to think about the world and the body as being sinful and dirty, something to be thrown away,” Oliveira tells me. “But what you find when you read the Gospels is that Christ is very insistent on the body’s importance, taking care of it, loving it, enjoying it. So I thought that sex in the book was important in that dimension. Sex is also how this narrator comes to Christ – that is how this

character loves this person. And that is how I have come to love people in my life.”

I’m unsure about what to call Dayspring. A novel in prose and verse? A poem? A collection of poems, some of them other people’s? Christ’s words are in a red font, like in a fancy Bible, making his utterances special, even when they’re banal or profane: “please do not ask me stupid fucking questions.” Oliveira wrote some sections, which he describes as tiles, as a precocious teenager, when he was obsessed with Satan, and reading John Milton’s Paradise Regained. “I wanted to write a contemporary version of that, like a closet drama, like a one-act scene of a stage play.”

Though various parts of the book have been written throughout his life, Oliveira wrote much of it, and gave it shape, during the pandemic, being careful not to cull too much from his original efforts – he wanted Dayspring to have sharp edges, to be something that could be read in fits and starts, dipped into for inspiration, much like the New Testament itself.

…with my face in the ancient carpet stains you whisper like they are first words fuck i love you and pull me up to kiss you backwards like a beast of myth like some terrible atomic monster fused bruised flesh of adam….

Though Oliveira reinvents Christ’s life – even going so far as depicting him in contemporary situations that would be recognizable

Photo by Mike Meehan

as, say, a love affair between young men in Toronto’s gay village, where Oliveira worked for a time at Glad Day bookshop – he was careful to avoid writing anything that directly contradicts what’s in the New Testament. That is, the Christ that the Bible gives us (as opposed to the Christ that organized religion has cooked up over the past 2,000 years) is capable of saying and doing everything in Dayspring. This Jesus is capable of a love story, which is rare in the Bible.

“People are asking me, ‘Why are all these superheroes in this comic speaking in passages from Paradise Lost?’”

This might sound very capital-s Serious, something that will be reviewed in capital-s Serious Literary Journals. And it’s true that Oliveira has a PhD in 17th-century literature, “specifically the aesthetics of secularization, how European culture found a way to structure itself in a way that let God go.” His academic background definitely affects the vibe. The language of Dayspring has all the tense drama of a 17th-century Baroque painting: vivid colours, dramatic lighting, characters caught in moments of realization that seem like they belong on stage. But there’s also something very of-the-moment. Oliveira also writes comics for Marvel, is a pop

cultural commentator and is programmer of Toronto’s Dumpster Racoon Cinema, a film series that screens disparaged and cult films like Cats and Flash Gordon and provides an opportunity to host conversations about the trashiest of contemporary pop culture. Oliveira and Dayspring are also cheeky, quipping bastards. A riff on American feminist writer Rita Mae Brown’s “An army of lovers shall not fail” appears in red as the words of Christ. There’s a hoarder’s lifetime worth of pop cultural references here.

“When I was working on my academic work, very often what annoyed people was my habit of bringing in ‘low’ culture,” he tells me. “Like thinking about the way that the TV show Mad Men functioned in many ways like a Shakespeare play functioned, like the way that the culture uses its art to negotiate what its values are. That can be quite annoying at 9 a.m. at a literary conference. But now the opposite thing is happening. People are asking me, ‘Why are all these superheroes in this comic speaking in passages from Paradise Lost?’”

And there is something about this Christ that is influenced by our modern pop-culture superheroes. There’s the iconic simplified version of Christ – the IP. But that IP can be presented in many ways, used to tell many stories, the superhero inhabited by performers who might be of different demographics and backgrounds. The Miles Morales Spider-Man is no less a Spider-Man than the Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield Spider-Man. The Christ of Dayspring is no less than the Christ of some Bible Belt homophobe.

Contemporary queer culture has an awkward relationship with Christianity and many reasons to scorn the Roman Catholic Church as an institution, what with its sexual abuse scandals, its role in decimating Indigenous populations and diminishing Indigenous culture, its view of homosexuality as a sin – the list goes on. Letting the church shrivel into oblivion is one of the kinder takes you’ll hear. But what of Pope Francis’s decision this winter to allow Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples? Is it a yawn, an eyeroll, something to cheer?

“I’m interested distantly in Vatican politics because it governs so many other people, and it informs the beliefs of people who are personally close to me, my mother, my aunts,” says Oliveira. “What the pope says still matters to them and therefore it has impacts for me and my community. But I’ve gotten older to think that that’s just a guy who has a really nice house who could really effect change in this world if he wanted to, but for various reasons doesn’t. I regard the pope as a president who I regard with the same sort of loathing and hopeful expectation as most people would.”

In making Christ the protagonist of a great love, Dayspring avoids this kind of politics. But as a reframing of the Christian IP, it’s a very revolutionary act.

OLÁ Lisbon! A 2SLGBTQI+ TRAVEL GUIDE TO PORTUGAL’S CAPITAL CITY

Portugal has a ton of charm and an array of activities for travellers to enjoy

By Stephan Petar

A picturesque destination, Portugal is known for its architecture, food and natural beauty. Whether it’s the epic sunset and sunrise views from various viewpoints (miradouros), the cafés displaying the deliciously golden pastéis de nata or the ceramic tile-clad buildings bringing pops of colour to the winding streets, it’s hard not to fall in love.

Portugal is also one of the most LGBTQ+-friendly destinations, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, and one that has been making progressive strides for LGBTQ+ rights.

Most people start their journey in Lisbon, a city full of history and cultural sites like Carmo Convent, LxFactory, Feira da Ladra, the Alfama district and more. For 2SLGBTQ+ travellers, online searches will suggest Beach 19, one of Europe’s largest gay beaches, along with bars, clubs and bathhouses in the Bairro Alto and Príncipe Real neighbourhoods.

For those planning a trip to Lisbon, add these LGBTQ+-owned or -friendly businesses and experiences to your list. Whether you want to stay active, dance in a former palace or have a mystical dining experience, there is something for everyone. And here’s a small tip: have WhatsApp, Meetup, Eventbrite and Shotgun downloaded, as many places use these apps to share information and tickets.

Alex’s Queer Lisbon

Praça do Príncipe Real 18

Passionate about LGBTQ+ history, Alex hosts a half-day and treasure hunt tour exploring the Príncipe Real and Bairro Alto areas. Learn

about LGBTQ+ life in a historical and modern context by visiting a 17th-century cruising site, lost venues and current nightlife hotspots. Hear stories about queer life under the Inquisition, the “altar of the spilled seed” (oh my!), spies and more. For the treasure hunt tour, get ready to be quizzed on what you’ve learned. Those who book also receive Alex’s Long List – LGBTQ Guide with helpful information on navigating Lisbon.

Avó Yvonne

Avenida Ressano Garcia 43A

There is nothing more nostalgic and homey than a grandmother’s cooking, which is why you should visit Belgian coffee and pastry shop Avó Yvonne. Its owner serves recipes by his grandmother, Yvonne, who amalgamated her delicacies into a cookbook for her family to enjoy and share. Try one of the cakes, pies, sweets and waffles – made on site and by hand – and pair it with Belgian beer for a lovely and unexpected surprise.

SailTagus Sunset Tour (courtesy of SailTagus)

The Late Birds Backyard (Courtesy of The Late Birds)

Drama Bar

Rua Damasceno Monteiro 75B

Located in the Graça-Arroios area (an up-and-coming spot for queer businesses), Drama Bar is a cultural hub. It hosts an array of programming including dance workshops, basement parties, drag and burlesque performances, markets and Drag Race viewing parties (where the host may pull you up for a lip-sync battle).

Gala Cricri

Calçada do Duque de Lafões 1

This immersive, eccentric, futuristic and queer experience is held at Palácio do Grilo, an 18th-century palace that belonged to the Duke of Lafões. Gala Cricri is curated by Brazilian duo Venga Venga, who host themed nights with performances and DJ sets that will have you dancing among historic frescos and contemporary art. The venue has a large garden in the back with a secret grotto, and gives off major Saltburn vibes.

The Late Birds

Travessa André Valente 21

This 15-room gay urban resort concept is in the heart of Bairro Alto. The restored 18th-century building feels like a home with custom furniture and two cats, as well as pieces related to Lisbon’s history and art from LGBTQ+ artists. Its backyard is an oasis, repelling the city noise for a relaxing environment where guests can swim and sunbathe. The Bird’s Lounge and Lobby is where you’ll make international friends of all ages, some of whom will become long-lasting, according to the staff. If the rooms are booked, don’t fret, as they also host events for the community.

LGBTQ Hiking Portugal

Various meetup points

This Meetup will help you get in your daily step count and make friends! Describing itself as a “social group that hikes,” it has events for all levels that take you around Lisbon and beyond.

Mystical Drag Dinner with Lady Irina

Address revealed after booking

This Airbnb Experience dinner party is hosted by drag queen Lady Irina Ganache, who invites travellers from all over the world into her home for a magical and unforgettable night. Guests are invited to her boudoir to undergo a quick drag transformation, where they’re dressed in colourful wigs and vintage style accessories. For dinner, enjoy a homemade four-course tasting menu and custom cocktails, and have your tarot cards read.

Queer Lisbon Tour

Night tour: Miradouro do Barros

Day tour: Praça do Príncipe Real by the Juniper Tree

Attracting a younger crowd, this tour has two options. Its night tour immerses you in Lisbon’s queer nightlife, visiting queer-owned or -friendly restaurants and bars in the Graça-Arroios neighbourhood. Its day tour is a five-kilometre trek from Príncipe Real to Graça – wear comfortable shoes – that uncovers the city’s history with stops at The Memorial to the Victims of Homophobic and Transphobic Violence. You’ll also discuss topics related to trans rights and the impacts of colonization on Indigenous cultures. Also check out its free Queer Lisbon Guide.

SailTagus

Doca da Marinha

Category is…nautical realness. Set sail down the Tagus River on the Xalabar, a restored 1938 sailboat. Guests can choose from a 45-minute (Express Ride) excursion or one up to 2.5 hours (Afternoon or Sunset Ride). The longer option sails past Ponte 25 de Abril to give passengers a different perspective of famed Belém area landmarks, and includes wine, beer, water or soft drinks.

Side Bar

Rua da Barroca 33

This pretty in pink Bairro Alto bar is super camp, with a ceiling full of disco balls and other knick-knacks. Grab a drink and spill out onto the streets to people-watch and bask in the pink glow. Locals say it’s situated on “the corner of the world,” because you’re bound to make international friendships.

Valsa

Rua Angelina Vidal 13-25

This venue is a queer-friendly space, delivering memorable performances, DJ sets, art…and delicious pizza. In 2021, it joined forces with two other small Lisbon businesses – Café Mortara and Artesanalis Bottle Shop – to create Coral, a collective that promotes and supports independent artists and creators, with cultural and gastronomic programming. Valsa is considered a laboratory for creators, who are invited to experiment with new formats, meaning you’ll never know what to expect.

STEPHAN PETAR is a born and raised Torontonian, known for developing lifestyle, entertainment, travel, historical and 2SLGBTQI+ content. He enjoys wandering the streets of any destination he visits, where he’s guaranteed to discover something new or meet someone who will inspire his next story.

Photo by Julian Dik on Unsplash

Tranquility InMont-Tremblant

The beating heart of the Laurentian Mountains offers diverse skiing, irresistible charm and a mountain of great food

By Doug Wallace

Photo by Tourism Mont-Tremblant

I’m at the top of the lookout tower of Sentier des cimes Laurentides, a treetop observatory overlooking the hills of the Laurentian Mountains, about 90 minutes north of Montreal. My view of the countryside is dizzying – as is the giant, suspended net covering the centre of the tower. We’re 40 metres up, and I have to hold my breath to walk across it. “I can see the ski hill from here,” I blurt out, then dial it back with, “but it looks kind of small.”

What I’m actually looking at is the Mont-Blanc ski hill, not MontTremblant, the fabled resort and town that are farther down the road, and our intended target. We arrive there as it is approaching dark, yet can clearly see that this four-season paradise is much bigger – evidently, with more than 300 hectares of 100 ski trails across four mountains. I can’t wait.

After unpacking our skates and skiwear at the Fairmont Tremblant, and being kitted out with gear for the next few days, we ease into the aprèsski scene. And what a scene: skiers bunch around gas firepits, wrapped in fuzzy blankets with glasses of champagne in hand, celebrating the fact they’ve had a little exercise. I spy expensive sportswear. There’s a glass dome filled with more of the same. We edge to the hotel’s new outdoor pool terraces and sink down up to our toques in 38ºC water. This is all a precursor, an amuse-bouche before the delicious Choux Gras Brasserie experience that awaits us inside. I get lost for several minutes salivating over the menu, but there’s no rush.

Mont-Tremblant is no stranger to hospitality, having had years of practice – and this is one of the main reasons that it feels like home. The first ski lift started sending people up the mountainside in 1939,

and today, it is consistently named one of the top ski resorts in the North American East by all the right magazines. The region’s popularity began in the 1960s, and continued to boom through the 1980s. Homes now range from $200,000 to $9 million, a mélange of condos, townhouses, cottages, log homes and mansions.

The European-style pedestrian village was built in 1991, with new buildings woven around the old. Taken together, the colourful roofs house almost 2,000 rooms in more than a dozen lodges, along with more than 75 restaurants, plus boutiques and sundry shops, even a casino. When they’re not skiing, visitors can go skating and crosscountry skiing, fat biking and e-fatbiking, ice climbing and ice fishing. Summer is busy with golf, cycling and hiking, lots of paddling and sailing, music festivals and Ironman competitions (woof!).

The crowd is a mixed bag. We’re told that about half hail from Montreal and Ottawa, with the rest a soupçon of Ontarians, Europeans and Americans. Eavesdropping on the gondola rides becomes a sport all its own, and the fashion sense – and lack of it – makes for prime people-watching. I read somewhere that famous visitors include Céline Dion, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, a Saudi prince and the Bronfman family. I wonder out loud if they know each other and have a WhatsApp group.

Tucking into the terrain – and the gastronomy

I like ski hills that don’t take a whole day to figure out. A couple of things give Tremblant an easy edge: the base is focused squarely on the one gondola lift, supported by a multitude of high-speed chair lifts. For those arriving by car, a sub-gondola ferries people and all

Photo by Mystikopoulos Photography

Photo by Doug Wallace

their stuff from the parking lot to the base of the hill. The other simplicity is that the top of the hill is, well, the only top – and the only way is down. The big bonus here is that you can ski down both the south and north sides of the mountain, which opens you up to a wide variety of terrain. Most of the single black diamond and blue runs are groomed. And while this is not totally a beginner mountain, the green runs are plentiful and the longest of the lot. We get a variety of blues and greens going, easily switching from south to north faces, with the maps and app (and the yellow-clad info people) making it easy to navigate the day.

I’m always eager to get going early, taking advantage of the pristine grooming before the crowds start to carve it up. That way, if I want

to leave lunch until 1 or 2 p.m., I can maybe knock off then. Because when we’re not skiing or skating or lolling about in hot tubs, we’re eating.

As the big lodge at the top of the mountain is rather chaotic and overpriced, the real value can be found in the village restaurants – most are a fairly easy walk from the gondola. Many have small storefronts that belie the expanse you find inside. These include A Mano Trattoria, where a traditional Italian open kitchen throws together fresh pastas and handmade pizzas, all washed down with a decent wine list. After the cheesecake, one of the dozen grappas by the glass can finish things off.

Raclette- and fondue-lovers head to the chalet-styled La Savoie, which has been offering a Swiss-tinged French food experience for 30 years.

Photo by Scandinave Spa

Photo by Tourism Mont-Tremblant

We boil scallops, shrimp and vegetables in a pot of broth that sits on a burner right on the table. A side dish of melted cheese is quickly sopped up with potatoes and bread. I lose count of the sauces we have to choose from or which mouthful they’re meant for. We skip the chocolate fondue, but it looks incredible.

DOUG

The food, of course, fuels the ski furnace, which provides us with an excuse for guilt-free meals. On our last morning, the temps have risen and a thick fog settles in. Hoping that the sun will burn it off, we delay our trip up the hill, settling into seats among the wood panelling at La Maison de la Crêpe. A sausage, cheddar and poached apple crêpe covered with béchamel fortifies in a manner that will definitely preclude lunch.

Later, I am glad to have the sustenance, as the visibility on the hills causes us to brace our way down, going slow, making frequent stops to scrape the ice off our goggles. It’s better in the lower slopes, so we stick mainly to those. We’re goggle-less at the end of the day, yet still intrepid, our faces now numb to the ice.

Happily, the brain freeze abates down the road in the Nordic baths at Scandinave Spa. We follow the traditional thermal cycle: 15 minutes of hot water, a few seconds of cold, and 15 minutes of rest. The rule of absolute silence is awkward to follow at first, but we manage, moving from wood-fired sauna to cold waterfalls to hot pools to steam rooms. Little rest areas with heat lamps and loungers are set up to face the woods. I almost fall asleep staring into a fire pit, my bare ankles wrapped in faux-fur comfort.

The experience is the best punctuation mark – a few days of exercise with plenty of R&R, raclette and recovery. The Norse may have invented skiing, but the Québécois have clearly perfected it.

Photo by Tourism Mont-Tremblant

Photo by Doug Wallace

FLASHBACK

The First Memorial To The LGBT Victims Of The Nazis Is Unveiled (May 12, 1985)

On May 12, 1985, a pink granite monument was unveiled at the site of the former Neuengamme concentration camp in northern Germany. The stone monument bears the inscription “Dedicated to the Homosexual Victims of National Socialism. 1985,” and was erected by a group called the Independent Alternative Homosexuals.

According to the group, the memorial stone was the first monument at a former concentration camp to recognize the “forgotten” group of homosexual victims killed in Nazi concentration camps – at least 250,000 people – whose suffering was not publicly discussed until more recently. Homosexuals, who were rounded up by the Nazis, were forced to wear triangular pink badges and were put to death in the same death camps where six million Jews were killed.

As part of the Nazis’ attempt to propagate an “Aryan master race,” they condemned homosexuals as “socially aberrant.” Soon after taking office on January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler banned all gay and lesbian organizations, and brown-shirted storm troopers raided the institutions and gathering places of homosexuals.

Morris Kight, a Los Angeles researcher on Nazi persecution of homosexuals, said it is difficult to calculate precise estimates of how many people were labelled “mentally defective” – often used as a euphemism for homosexual – and sent to death camps. He said at least a quarter of a million homosexuals died at Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Tilsen, Buchenwald and other Nazi concentration camps. About 10 per cent of those killed were lesbians.

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