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#276 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015
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2 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Strange customs Refining the art of censorship Issue 1, Sept 24, 1993
Published by Pink Triangle Press PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brandon Matheson
#276 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015
EDITORIAL ADAM COISH
Roundup
XTRA OTTAWA’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
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Looking back at the people and places that shaped the paper •11
PINK TRIANGLE PRESS Founded 1971
DIRECTORS Jim Bartley, Gerald Hannon,
Editorial Xtra’s digital universe is expanding By David Walberg •4
History Boys NYC politician Murray Hall was a man with no whiskers By Jeremy Willard •22
Xcetera •5
Ask the Expert By Pega Ren •24
Upfront Why Xtra is moving entirely online •7 Questions remain about Capital Pride Committee closed off to new members •8 John Baird’s complicated LGBT legacy •9 Thinking outside the box What Xtra’s future means for queer visibility •10 Refreshing the page Daily Xtra gets a makeover, launches new mobile site •15 Sponsored An Xtra Special Feature Jer’s Vision celebrates 10 years with new directions •17
Out in the City Evalyn Perry’s Spin, Tone Cluster and Midori’s sex workshops •27 Xposed By Zara Ansar •28 COVER PHOTO BY ADAM COISH
on dailyxtra.com ȯȯ How to speed through 10 dates ȯȯ Berlinale preview 2015 ȯȯ Garlic Garden serves it fresh
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Defiant voices CRTC to rule on accusations of spreading hatred Issue 5, Jan 28, 1994
XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 3
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Xtra’s digital universe is expanding EDITORIAL DAVID WALBERG
David Walberg: Just a brief note to let you know how much I appreciated you printing my letter. I was so thrilled I wanted to rush over and do your hair. — letter from playwright and author Tomson Highway, Aug 31, 1997 Who doesn’t love receiving a letter? Or the promise of a new hairdo, for that matter? I once received a letter from a Catholic priest in Saskatchewan. There was no local café or bar where he could collect his Xtra, so he had taken the bold step of purchasing a subscription. In those days, Xtra was mailed in plain brown envelopes, discreet as the kinkiest porn, because in some musty corners of Canada, a mere interest in gay news might destroy one’s life. The priest expressed gratitude for the lifeline Xtra presented. A few weeks later, I received another letter, this one from a bishop ordering me to cancel the priest’s subscription. We continued to mail the brown envelopes and were saddened when they came back to us marked return-to-sender, having being intercepted by the Catholic Stasi. Gay news was hard to come by in those days. Connecting to a community was even harder. Writing letters to the editor was a way even those in the closet or the boondocks could make contact and participate. Missives took the form of angry screeds (these have proliferated, sadly, as trolls highjack the comments sections of websites everywhere) but also poetry, cartoons, homemade stickers, even lovingly crafted chapbooks. For many scribes, the thrill of publication was greater than the rush of a hailstorm of Facebook likes. Tomson Highway, a Cree from northernmost Manitoba, captures it in the quote above. Today, priests in Saskatchewan have a world of online gay connections at their fingertips. Gay news, porn, chat and hookups are available to all. These days, perhaps Tomson Highway is doing Arianna Huffington’s hair. What does this crowded, chaotic queer virtual reality mean for Xtra as we focus our efforts on the digital universe? Fortunately, we enjoy some unique positioning. We have deep roots in our traditional core communities in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa, and we intend to continue to strengthen those ties. We 4 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA!
Xtra celebrates its 200th issue back in 1992, with David Walberg standing on the right.
JAKE PETERS
We hunger not for an equal slice of a stale heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. already publish significantly more local journalism on Daily Xtra than we did in the Xtra print editions. At the same time, we look to the wider world. Last fall, during the Toronto International Film Festival, the producers of a queer film from Kenya visited our offices. Fearing reprisals, they had submitted the film to TIFF anonymously, and we were honoured to interview them as they chose to publicly come out to the world. “I am not afraid to go home,” producer George Gachara told Daily Xtra in a video interview. “Shit can happen, but I want to go back home.” Gachara was arrested when he returned to Kenya and is now out on bail. More recently, a video interview we shot with a lesbian Kenyan judge threatened to become headline news and the subject of parliamentary debate there. We have begun to participate in international rights struggles, with all the risk and responsibility this involves. Our times are truly revolutionary for
queer people around the world, and we are inspired to support these struggles. It’s noteworthy many of these stories are breaking on video. We are one of the only consistent producers of queer video journalism in the world. Our videos are gaining in popularity across numerous platforms. Last year, we released a video documentary called Wham, Bam, mr Pam. It’s the story of the lone major female producer of gay male porn. The doc provides a behind-the-scenes look at how one woman forms her own community in a subculture generally sensationalized for exploitation, drug addiction and suicide. The film has screened at queer film festivals in Toronto, San Francisco, Copenhagen and Atlanta. This month, it will play to houses at Sydney’s Mardi Gras, and it has just been invited to a major European film festival. Once it completes its world tour, our doc will likely be broadcast on TV in vari-
The outcome that we seek is this — gay and lesbian people daring together to set love free. Xtra is published by Pink Triangle Press, at 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, M5B 1J3.
ous countries, as our past video productions have been. And then you’ll see it on our own channels on Daily Xtra, YouTube and Vimeo. Our multichannel approach to video provides a model for expansion that we will extend to our journalism in other media — text stories, photos, audio, graphics — as we seek to broaden our reach. Pink Triangle Press has a unique mission and editorial voice. For more than four decades, we have solidly championed sexual freedom and freedom of expression. We hunger not for an equal slice of a stale heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. Along the way, we have challenged conventional wisdom. When queer activists fought for hate speech legislation, author and journalist Irshad Manji questioned in Xtra whether such laws were a form of thought policing. When gay couples started taking their vows, our former board member Brenda Cossman advocated for revolutionary relationship recognition not exclusive to couples who fuck. Whether practical or provocative, these positions have sparked debate and expanded our thinking around key issues of the day. These unique perspectives have saved us from aspiring to mediocrity in favour of creating communities that best suit our fabulous realities. Over the years, we’ve also distinguished ourselves by tackling our not-so-fabulous realities, including drug abuse, HIV transmission and community infighting, or as Sharon Tate says in the film Valley of the Dolls, why “fags can be so bitchy.” For our communities to be strong, we believe we need to speak candidly about hard issues, especially as some media prefer to present a whitewashed façade in exchange for mainstream acceptance. We’ve delved into seemingly intractable disagreements between some radical feminists and trans communities. More recently, in 2013, we produced a video series about PrEP, the controversial HIV prevention treatment that critics warned would promote new sexually transmitted epidemics among gay men. That story was so underreported at the time that we garnered a Best Web Series nod at the Banff World Media Awards. Arouse debate. Nurture communities. Incite action. Our mission statement implores us to work to these ends. We honour the legacy of Xtra and The Body Politic before it by continuing these efforts in the digital realm. Please join us. David Walberg was Xtra’s publisher in Toronto from 1994 to 2005. He is now CEO of digital media at Pink Triangle Press, which publishes Xtra.
21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Broken promises Robinson slams Rae government for ignoring queers Issue 6, Feb 25, 1994
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Read between the lines The saga of Ottawa’s two women’s bookstores Issue 18, Feb 24, 1995
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XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 5
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6 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA!
21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Reading the election tea leaves The gay vote does exist, while straights proved our rights weren’t an election issue Issue 22, June 30, 1995
Upfront
Now is the time to invite the people who are minorities, who want to be part of the process of not volunteering for Pride, but building Pride. Bia Salles • 8
Why Xtra is moving online What Squirt, our YouTube channel and the new epicentre of activism share MEDIA NIKO BELL
When I heard Xtra was shutting down its print operations, I instantly thought of my hometown paper, the Nelson Daily News. The News published valiantly, if sloppily, for more than a century before it was bought out by a competitor in 2010 and promptly closed its doors. By that time, I was in journalism school, watching Halifax’s Daily News go down in flames. Everywhere, the story repeats: subscriptions dive, advertising evaporates, costs expand, and the web has no business model. So when you, like me, heard on Jan 14 that Xtra will soon be taking its print papers off the streets, you probably felt you had heard this story before. I know I did. At the request of my editor, however, I spent the last two days talking to some of the top decision-makers at Xtra and digging through all the documents they gave me. It left me more optimistic that Xtra’s story is not the story of the Nelson Daily News. Take what I say with a grain of salt if you like; after all, I freelance for Xtra. Nevertheless, this is what I learned. It’s not because the papers weren’t doing well. In fact, they were more popular than ever. As of today, Xtra prints about 70,000 copies between its three markets of Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa. According to an independent audit commissioned by Pink Triangle Press (PTP) last year, an enviable 89 percent of those papers were picked up, a four-percent rise from 2013. And yes, publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon Matheson says that print ad revenues were slipping but not at the precipitous rate of other newspapers. If anything, Xtra’s papers were the victim of the web’s success. Xtra’s digital media head, David Walberg, told me that traffic to dailyxtra.com grew by about 30 percent in 2014, and the website’s readership is now estimated to be double that of the three print papers combined. In the same year, interest in Daily Xtra Travel doubled. It was clear,
The final issue of Xtra Ottawa will hit the streets on Feb 12.
Matheson told me, that Xtra’s audience was migrating to the web in droves. Print was costing money and serving a rapidly narrowing slice of Xtra’s audience. “This is the economic reality of newsprint. Xtra is not immune to all the negative factors that other print media have been encountering,” he says. “When we looked at the number side and the financial side, and when we looked at the human resources side, it became clear that our best strategy was to reach more people, to be more timely, to be able to do things online that you can’t do in print. It just made more sense to proceed with a digitalonly strategy.” If you want a good example of Xtra’s burgeoning web presence, take a look at its YouTube channel. At the beginning of 2012, it was pulling in a few hundred views a day. Then Xtra’s web team started to focus seriously on video content, and by the end of the year, 15,000 videos were being streamed daily. In 2014, the
channel averaged nearly 40,000 views a day. To put that in perspective, for every person who picked up a copy of Xtra on the street, seven people watched a video on Xtra’s YouTube channel. “We’re building a pretty incredible archive of what gay life is like in our times,” says Frank Prendergast, who runs Xtra’s video operations. “Also, video is an emotional medium. It’s able to transmit excitement, anger. All these emotions can be reported in print or online, but there’s something about video that’s well equipped for emotion.” One of the most promising things about Xtra’s YouTube channel, he says, is how international it’s become. Canadian viewers come in only fourth on the source traffic charts, behind the United States, Brazil and the UK. Even Russia and the United Arab Emirates have racked up more than 100,000 views since Xtra hit YouTube in 2007. As bullish as Daily Xtra’s prospects are, however, the real reason for hope in
Ruffling the crinoline Life with Ballet Trockadero is always a drag Issue 30, Feb 23, 1996
the future is Squirt (squirt.org). According to Walberg, 90 percent of PTP’s revenue now comes from the web, and the bulk of that comes from Squirt membership fees. As PTP’s self-described “gay sex cruising hookup site,” Squirt gives Daily Xtra a business model the envy of almost every newspaper struggling for life in today’s online-news hunger games: revenue without advertising. Squirt’s 700,000 active members make it a behemoth compared to Xtra’s readership, and its revenues subsidize Xtra’s news gathering, which in turn flows back into Squirt as shared content. It’s a little poetic, really: Xtra advocates for people’s freedom to have gay sex, and gay people’s desire to have sex keeps Xtra’s presses running. Squirt’s success, in fact, was an inspiration for Xtra’s digital-only transformation, Matheson says. The press had had to go through one technological shift already, when phone hookup service Cruiseline was overtaken by Squirt.
“In some ways, what Squirt is to Cruiseline, Daily Xtra is to the print edition,” Matheson says. So what now? In the following months, PTP will roll out a new mobile site, followed by a revision to Daily Xtra in the spring. The new release will collapse the Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, Canada and World pages into one customizable front page. Other improvements, like a makeover of the comments section, which Walberg admits is less than adequate, are in the pipes. Despite the disappearance of papers from the street, he promises that Daily Xtra will produce more local content than ever and stay true to its gay village roots. The final print editions of Xtra will appear in their purple boxes on Feb 12 in Vancouver and Ottawa and on Feb 19 in Toronto. At the same time, the press will cut 12 employees across Canada, two in editorial and the others in advertising and production. Five new digital positions will be filled. I still don’t know whether Daily Xtra’s new model will work, whether Squirt’s revenues will continue to sufficiently sustain Daily Xtra’s storytelling, or whether a new generation of queer people will be interested in reading a website like Daily Xtra. But even as it changes, the new Xtra will still have something in common with its 1970s roots. Like its parent paper, The Body Politic, before it, Xtra has always been a proudly activist paper, and now, as always, it will be publishing in the same medium where activism is happening. The first gay activists in Canada handed out leaflets on courthouse steps. Today, protests are organized in Facebook groups. “The two things that we do as an organization are to try to create debate in the community and to encourage activism,” Walberg says. “And debate and activism are two things that are predominantly happening online now. And I don’t mean activism in terms of clicktivism; I mean organizing realworld activism. So that’s really a good space to be in if that’s what you’re trying to accomplish in the world.” XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 7
Questions remain about Capital Pride Advisory committee closed to new members, attendees told PRIDE NEWS ADRIENNE ASCAH
Community members called for more diversity and transparency at the public meeting held Jan 20 to discuss the future of Pride in Ottawa. While many expressed gratitude that the Bank Street Business Improvement Area (BIA) is willing to assume responsibility for financial expenditures and provide infrastructure for the 2015 Pride festival, some also raised concerns. The Jan 15 press conference at which Christine Leadman, executive director of the BIA, and Tammy Dopson, community-group spokesperson, announced their proposal for Pride 2015 came as a surprise to some members of Ottawa’s queer community. Many people expressed disappointment that the announcement was made in the media instead of being presented to the community members who had agreed to meet on Jan 20 to discuss the future of Pride in the wake of its bankruptcy. “From what I understood, tonight we were supposed to create a new group, but the group was already created,” Diego Sarmales told Xtra. “At the end, it was talking, talking, talking, but about what we could do for this group.” People want to see a fresh start, but instead of diversity and transparency, it looks like a repetition of old patterns, where an inner circle has power and others are left out in the cold, he said. During the meeting, which was attended by approximately 50 people, community member Bia Salles raised similar concerns. “My fear is that you guys are going
through the same steps as the [former Capital Pride] committee, where there’s a small group of people who are going to create the governance,” said Salles, who has volunteered with Capital Pride and the Dyke March. “Now is the time to invite the people who are minorities, who want to be part of the process of not volunteering for Pride, but building Pride.” During the meeting, attendees were told that the community advisory committee that is partnered with the BIA is currently closed to new members. This didn’t sit well with those who feel everyone should be allowed to play a role in building the new Pride organization. “I know they’re great people,” Salles said of the community advisory committee members. “I just feel that . . . I do identify as a person of colour; I do identify as an immigrant. I don’t see myself represented on the committee right now.” Dopson wasn’t able to attend the meeting, but Brodie Fraser spoke on behalf of the community advisory committee. “I think that our efforts have been ongoing to ensure that every segment of the community is heard and included,” Fraser told Xtra when asked about the lack of people of colour and youth on the committee. “I would hope after tonight, many of the gaps that were there are filled. I’ve had several people come up to me, including a youth representative, Lyra Evans, who volunteered for the community advisory committee. Through this process, we want to be able to have every voice that we can represented.” While Fraser says the committee
Community members raised concerns about Pride’s future at a public meeting held Jan 20. BEN WELLAND
wants to hear everyone’s concerns, he says there’s good synergy among the current members, who were chosen strategically. Some of the community advisory committee members attended, including Jay Koornstra; Sarah Evans; Lori Peever; William Staubi; George Hartsgrove, from the Ottawa Senior Pride Network; Doug Saunders, a longtime community volunteer; Kevin Martin, from Glowfair Festival and the BIA; and Christine Schulz, from the Ottawa Police Service. Others, like trans activist Amanda Ryan, were not able to attend. “It started with Tammy Dopson and I reaching out to carefully selected members of the community,” Fraser says.
“These people were selected for their skill sets. Also, we didn’t necessarily approach the heads of organizations. We didn’t necessarily approach the warriors in the organizations because we felt that we needed a forum for discussion with the diplomats of the organizations, and that’s how the community advisory committee was formed.” Asked about Salles’s point — that she wants to help build the new Pride organization, not simply volunteer once others have built it — Fraser says this is a “critical juncture” in terms of being able to acquire funding for a 2015 festival. “In terms of people joining the com-
mittee, we aren’t looking for the warriors still at this point,” he says. “What we want, ultimately, is a festival operations committee that is representative of the community as much as possible, and much of the work that the community advisory committee will do from now until the [festival operations] committee is formed will be reaching out as broadly as possible to ensure the voices that felt they weren’t heard tonight are going to be heard.” Not being a member of the community advisory committee won’t hurt a person’s chances of being on the festival operations committee, Fraser says. During the meeting, Peter Zanette, who served as treasurer for the purpose of filing bankruptcy papers on Jan 7, raised the issue of Capital Pride property, including the Pride flag, being left in a storage locker. Until the company is paid approximately $800, it won’t release the items, he said. Angus MacIsaac, from UsedOttawa.com, said he would try to get the items out of storage, which earned him a round of applause. Ultimately, everyone wants the same thing, which is to see a successful Pride festival in 2015, and with the BIA’s support, things are looking good, Fraser says. “We’ve managed to pull an incredible amount of support together in quite a short period of time,” he says. “The vision I have for Pride and the vision that I’ve held for all my years volunteering for the [Capital Pride] board in 2009, 2010, 2013 and then working for them in 2014 was that Pride doesn’t seek to represent you. It seeks to facilitate a space for you to represent yourself.” The community proposal for Pride 2015, along with Tammy Dopson’s contact information, can be found on dailyxtra.com.
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21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Proud and strong A record rainbow celebration marches on Parliament Issue 35, July 26, 1996
John Baird’s complicated LGBT history Prominent Conservative never discussed his sexuality, but should it even matter? POLITICS HG WATSON
John Baird, the Conservative member of Parliament and minister of foreign affairs who announced his resignation on Feb 3, will be remembered for many things, but he’ll also be remembered as the man who fuelled the debate over whether an MP’s sexuality matters. The rumour mill has swirled for years about several Conservative politicians. If you believe the gossip, an alleged “gay mafia” made up of single, white, male politicians — Baird among them — runs the upper echelon of Canada’s ruling party. But as political writer Justin Ling has pointed out repeatedly, the rumours are generally just that. A man can be single and friendly with other gay men, as many Conservatives are, but it’s not evidence that he is gay himself. By that same logic, Jason Kenney, minister of national defence, should secretly be a welder, or Latvian — according to his social media accounts,
resigned, Pamela Taylor, a Conservative then running in a provincial by-election, outed Baird, citing him as an openly gay MP when asked to name one during CBC Toronto’s Metro Morning radio show. Baird has not broached the subject of his sexuality since the allegation was made public, and the story has not been widely reported outside LGBT media. But the statement did lend credence to the rumours about Baird, leading some to speculate that he lives in a glass closet. Further compounding the rumours is the fact that Baird has been the most outspoken Conservative Party member on LGBT rights. He was openly critical of laws in Uganda that criminalize homosexuality and spoke out against similar laws in Russia and Kenya. His position caused him to butt heads with REAL Women of Canada, a conservative group with close ties to the party. After he announced his resignation, members of both the NDP and the Liberal Party commended Baird’s record of defending
It’s true: had Baird come out publicly, he would have been the most prominent Conservative MP to do so. he’s at the very least shaken hands with one of both in the last several months. Baird’s circumstances go beyond simple speculation, however. In 2010, almost exactly four years before he
gay rights worldwide. Baird was also among the Conservative MPs who voted to include gender identity in the Canadian Human Rights Act and was against opening the de-
John Baird, pictured hugging Prime Minister Stephen Harper, stepped down from office on Feb 3.
bate on same-sex marriage, earning accolades from his Liberal colleagues in an op-ed in The Globe and Mail. And when a gay, 15-year-old Ottawa student committed suicide, Baird offered condolences in the House of Commons. In 2010, Xtra editor Marcus McCann expressed his disappointment on Baird’s silence regarding his sexuality, especially in contrast to his reputation as an outspoken politician. And after Baird criticized homophobic Russian laws in 2013, Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo and activist Roy Mitchell asked him to come out publicly, saying the news would have international impact.
Mitchell told Xtra reporter Andrea Houston in 2013 that Baird’s sexuality was no longer personal — it was political. “Having a gay foreign minister should be a sign of how progressive we are,” he was quoted as saying, adding that he believed it sent mixed messages that Baird would support LGBT rights in other countries while not being out in Canada. It’s true: had Baird come out publicly, he would have been the most prominent Conservative MP to do so. He would have been someone for LGBT conservatives, or any politicians-to-be, to look to for inspiration.
DEB RANSOM/PMO
But his stance on LGBT rights isn’t lessened by his silence. He still stood up, in front of MPs he knew would probably be against his positions, and defended LGBT rights worldwide. Baird won’t be remembered for being an out-and-proud politician, but he doesn’t have to be. That’s a choice people can make about their sexuality in 2015. But he did, unintentionally, begin a dialogue about what sexuality means for politics in a country where people are often unwilling to broach the topic. It’s on all of us to continue the discussion.
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God’s work? Allan Sharpe continues his crusade against Capital Xtra Issue 41, Jan 24, 1997
XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 9
Thinking outside the box Community groups contemplate future visibility COMMUNITY JP LAROCQUE
For Jeremy Dias, community director at Jer’s Vision, the end of Xtra marks a turning point for queer visibility. “The hardest part is losing the physicality of having a community newspaper on the streets,” he says. “For so many LGBTQ people, being ourselves is tough. The big purple boxes represent space that we are part of the community and physically present, [that] we are not mainstream, not lost, not blended into heteronomativity. That we are here, out and proud.” Since Pink Triangle Press (PTP) announced that it would be shuttering its print division, notfor-profit organizations like Jer’s Vision have had to assess how the move will affect their ability to reach Ottawa’s LGBT communities. “The paper is mandatory reading for staff and volunteers, allowing us to learn more about the countless efforts, lives and experiences of our community,” Dias says. “[But now] the community will have to step up and look at new ways to build community space.” When PTP launched the Ottawa edition of the paper in 1993, Xtra’s mandate offered many organizations a platform to discuss issues pertaining to LGBT people that were often ignored by mainstream media outlets. And at a time when the community was disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, the paper acted as a valuable resource for those looking for programs and services that could improve their quality of life. “The HIV/AIDS movement started as a real grassroots social movement, an LGBTQ community response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the ’80s,” says Khaled Salam, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Ottawa. “This movement had challenges gaining traction in the mainstream
Khaled Salam, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Ottawa.
years ago, I was in high school facing extreme incidences of homophobia. When I tried to address it, I was ignored, so on the advice of a friend, I sued my school.” “No local papers would touch the story, but Xtra did. And as a result of the media attention, local and national papers covered the story, and pressure from the community helped me win my lawsuit. The financial settlement was used to start
The HIV/AIDS movement started as a real grassroots social movement. — KHALED SALAM media, so queer news outlets like Xtra played a pivotal role in raising awareness around HIV/ AIDS and related issues.” “The paper has definitely been successful as a means of outreach to the LGBTQ community,” he adds. Dias is also grateful for the role the paper played in raising awareness for his organization. “Ten
Jer’s Vision,” he says. “If it wasn’t for Xtra, I may have never won.” Since then, the organization has grown to a team of 10 staff members who work across the country to challenge homophobia, transphobia, bullying and discrimination in schools and communities. According to the most recent study by research agency NADbank, newspaper readership remains
strong across the country, with 15.8 million Canadians reading some form of newspaper content each week. And print remains the popular format, with six in 10 Canadians preferring to read their news in printed versus online editions. Still, NADbank notes that online readership is gaining steadily on print, with one in three Canadians reading at least a portion of their news content online from established publications. “We recognize that with the rise of social/digital media, it is hard for print publications to keep up with breaking news and instant reporting,” Salam says. “Social and digital media has higher reader engagement, more readership feedback, better tracking and analytics and increased advertising flexibility.” “[We definitely use] social media such as Facebook, and Twitter is also used for educational outreach purposes and to promote events.” Meanwhile, PTP is restructuring its online platforms to encourage community outreach and activism in new and exciting ways. “In making our decision to go all-digital, we were well aware that we would be losing the tangible presence of the papers and, just as important, our very visible street boxes,” says Ken Popert, president and executive director of PTP.
“However, we hope to offset that loss by developing a more visible presence at community events compatible with our mission and by experimenting with other forms of street presence.” With its new social sponsorship program, PTP will use its existing digital channels to build relationships with various community members and groups interested in publicizing campaigns that are in line with the organization’s overall mandate. And by providing free or subsidized native advertising to these select causes, PTP hopes to help forge partnerships between community groups and individuals, organizations and businesses that can supply resources. “The program can be much more extensive and effective on the internet, where publishing space is abundant, delivery is easy and potential audiences are huge,” Popert says. “Basically, we’re freeing our advocacy of activism from the prison of print.” Still, even with the benefits of the online model, Dias can’t help but see the shift as the end of an era. “When the office first heard that the paper was shutting down, a student volunteering in the office asked if we could fundraise to save the paper. She said she would do anything to keep our stories alive. I think we all feel the same way.”
10 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Immigration review: Recognize same-sex couples Issue 53, Jan 23, 1998
DRAWN TO XTRA
ACO fires bookkeeper after Capital Xtra interview Issue 58, June 26, 1998
Illustration by Paul Dotey
XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 11
21 YEARS OF
HEADLINES Highlights of Xtra Ottawa’s local news coverage and covers over the years September 1993 After Stonewall bookstore owner David Rimmer is notified that 60 copies of Leather Folk have been detained at the Fort Erie Canada Customs office.
January 1994 Local queer radio show Defiant Voices, broadcast on CKCU, is accused of propagating hatred against Catholics by Catholic Civil Rights League curmudgeon Robert Eady.
February 1994 Another complaint is filed against Defiant Voices after Pansy Division songs featuring explicit lyrics are aired on the show.
June 1994 More than 100 people take to the streets of Ottawa an hour after Ontario MPPs defeat a bill that would have given same-sex couples the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals.
September 1995 After 21 years, the Association of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of
Ottawa reduces all services and operations because of overwhelming debt, turning the community hub into a “shell” organization.
February 1996 Canada Customs seizes 15 copies of International Leatherman magazine bound for After Stonewall bookstore.
The University of Ottawa’s Outlook organization is given the green light for a queer centre on campus.
Premier Mike Harris’s devastating budget cuts, which affect numerous LGBT organizations, coverage of sexreassignment surgery and access to AIDS testing.
August 1996
October 1999
After years of operating in the red, Pride Ottawa reports a $16,000 profit, though the organization will continue to struggle financially for years to come.
University of Ottawa activists are outraged by Canadian Blood Services’ discriminatory policies toward men who have sex with men.
September 1996 Capital Xtra sponsors Ottawa’s first Lesbian and Gay Consumer/Business Expo at the Jack Purcell Community Centre.
Activists are frustrated by the National Capital Commission’s clear-cutting in Remic Rapids Park, a well-known cruising zone, in response to complaints.
October 1998
January 2001
A group of gay protesters holds a march to protest
Venus Envy, a Halifax women’s bookstore and
May 1996
May 2000
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sex toy shop, opens a branch in Ottawa, at 110 Parent St.
GILMOUR GILMOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES SERVICES July 2003
Queer Teen Magazine, an Ottawa publication made by and for LGBT adolescents, releases its first issue.
October 2003
Zadek Ramowski, the owner of Helsinki bar, is fined by the city over the Big Cock Contest. He accuses the bylaw department of discriminating against a gay event.
October 2004
Ottawa Making Scenes Queer Film and Video Festival folds after the executive director moves to Montreal, leaving the organization thousands of dollars in debt.
Offering a Full Range Offering a Full Range of Psychological Services July 2004 of Psychological Services July 2005 Ottawa Pride hosts its first women’s day of programming, including the first ever Dyke March.
Pink Triangle Services celebrates 20 years of community work with an anniversary dance at the National Arts Centre.
Ottawa queer theatre company Act Out folds after accruing overwhelming debt.
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21 YEARS OF HEADLINES ‘Respectable’ issues only, please Censorship, sexuality and age of consent are not part of Egale’s self-defined agenda Issue 66, Feb 19, 1999
May 2007 Financial troubles force the board of the Women’s Voices Festival to end the annual event.
June 2007 After an altercation at the Centretown Pub leaves Michael Marcil (aka drag queen Dixie Landers) with severe injuries, the community voices frustration and anger about Marcil’s “second-class” treatment by police and paramedics. Former dance club Icon reopens as a gay-inclusive
Youth Services Bureau shelter for young men between the ages of 12 and 20.
May 2008 Christine Schulz becomes the Ottawa Police Service’s first transgender recruit.
Laurier and Place Bell — that if complaints aren’t addressed they will start making arrests.
Summer 2007
August 2010
May 2011
Three prostitution sweeps carried out by Ottawa police, in which 59 men and women are arrested, leave local sex workers, activists and supporters calling for decriminalization.
The Bank Street Party is delayed and then cancelled by the Bank Street BIA, effectively stalling Pride celebrations.
After a five-month investigation, police arrest 12 people and lay 84 drug-related charges. Three arrests are made at the Centretown Pub and Swizzles Bar, which are named “focal points” of the investigation.
April 2008 Trans support group Gender Mosaic celebrates its 20th anniversary with a ceremony at city hall attended by founding members and community supporters.
February 2010 The 200th issue of Capital Xtra hits the stands.
November 2010 While tensions run high over police involvement in the Trans Day of Remembrance ceremony, two are arrested for mischief at a guerrilla TDOR ceremony.
December 2010 Police inform owners of local cruising areas — including Sears in the Rideau Centre, Esplanade
June 2011 United Way Ottawa declines to renew funding to Planned Parenthood Toronto, among other organizations, affecting a number of LGBT-related programs and supports.
July 2011 The 40th anniversary of the We Demand demonstration is marked. The event, which saw 200 gays and lesbians descend on Parliament Hill, is recognized as one of the first public protests for gay rights.
November 2011 After being the gay community’s gathering place for years and the focal point of Pride celebrations, Bank Street is officially named Ottawa’s gay village and is designated with rainbow signs.
June 2013 The Bank Street BIA creates a subcommittee to manage the Bank Street Village area, led by local
gay business owners.
December 2014 Capital Pride declares
bankruptcy, citing accounting irregularities that led to a massive deficit.
mgennis@sutton.com www.focusproperties.ca 1530 Merivale Road, Ottawa, Ontario K2G 3J7
Direct. 613.858.8210 Office. 613.254.6580 Fax. 613.254.6581 Dyketopians to the rescue! Mythical amazons promote Ottawa’s Lesbian Week Issue 71, July 23, 1999
XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 13
DRAWN TO XTRA
14 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA!
Illustration by Ian Phillips
21 YEARS OF HEADLINES 13 Helens agree . . . sex for teens is illegal! Justice ministers want to raise the age of consent Issue 77, Jan 21, 2000
Refreshing the page
Daily Xtra gets a makeover, launches new mobile site
MEDIA NATASHA BARSOTTI
Clean, visually enhanced and tight are the words Xtra publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon Matheson uses to describe the new design of the Daily Xtra website that will be unveiled this spring. Matheson says Pink Triangle Press has learned a lot since its construction of Daily Xtra, which went live in June 2013. In reviewing the data about the interactivity of the site and how people use it, he says, it became clear that a lot of content went unseen. In a bid to address that issue, some of the content was then posted in more than one of the five markets — Canada, the world, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver — resulting in readers seeing the same stories in the different sections they browsed on the website. “It’s not a huge problem, but it’s just not your optimal user experience,” Matheson says. What’s been missing is a dedicated page where all the site’s content appears to the reader, he says. The new Daily Xtra will feature a stand-alone, customizable home page, meaning users will be able to select the content they want to see from the various markets and eliminate “the clutter.” “Somebody might only choose to see Vancouver and Canada news, or Vancouver and world news, and that’s what’s presented to them,” Matheson says. While there won’t be huge shifts in the content covered, Matheson says, it will be presented more cleanly and with enhanced visuals to engage more readers more easily. Community news from Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver will still be a key focus of dailyxtra. com, as will coverage of international and national news. There will also be a push to share Daily Xtra’s stories more effectively through social A preview of Daily Xtra’s soon-to-be launched mobile site.
Design mockups of the new Daily Xtra website, which will be launched this spring.
media and even to publish some content directly to social media channels, he says, since he doesn’t always expect readers to come to the website. “The same way we have used YouTube to reach audiences that do not visit DX,” he says, “we’re going to expand social media activity to eventually include some other types of social media content targeted to audiences, whether that be a special Instagram channel, whether it be a Tumblr feed, whether it be how we change and use Facebook.” Prior to Daily Xtra’s new release in the spring, a mobile version of the site will be unveiled; it will be an exact reflection of the desktop site. For readers who are concerned that the shift to a web-only presence means the end of investigative and feature pieces, Matheson says another site update following the spring launch of the new Daily Xtra is also in the works. “High on my priority list is to develop new story templates that allow us to do long-form journalism in the same sort of way,” he says. “We’ve never stopped doing that. Every piece of long-form journalism we’ve produced in the last number of years for the papers has also gone online, but I think there’s opportunities to find more engaging ways to tell or present stories to readers, because long-form stories do require a certain amount of commitment, and we have to find ways to make them work on mobile devices and websites.” One of the perennial challenges for Daily Xtra, and other media sites, is what to do with the rough-and-tumble nature of the online comments section, a source of frustration to many readers. “The one thorn in people’s side when it comes to comments is how fast the stream of comment around a story can veer away from that story — completely — to the point where it’s not even focused anymore on why people are there, and then overwhelmingly, some nasty tone emerges amongst people, and often about issues that are not connected to what the story is.”
Limber up before diving in Being a bottom may be hard on the back Issue 79, March 17, 2000
Matheson says he doesn’t have “a complete answer” regarding the future of the comments section. “That doesn’t make me feel bad because media organizations that have vast resources compared to us don’t have the answers either,” he adds. Queerty is spending large amounts of money to figure out the comments quandary, while heavy hitters like the Washington Post and the New York Times are also looking for their own solutions, he says. “It’s just one of the interesting elements of what is going on in the online world that nobody has really corralled and has come up with that magic of an amazing comments system that weeds out what you dislike about it and keeps what you like.” Asked if the comments section will eventually be dropped from Daily Xtra, Matheson will say only that he questions the value of having that element on the site and points to debates and discussions unfolding organically on social media platforms. He finds the tenor of the discussion on Facebook, for instance, more civil and of a better quality. He notes, however, that much of the commentary about stories is happening not on Daily Xtra’s Facebook page, but on the personal pages of people who are sharing content from Daily Xtra. “I think it takes a different tone, because everyone’s page is almost like another little community. Not that you don’t see people disagreeing, but it doesn’t usually devolve into the vitriol that often happens on a website.” He says he’s not concerned that social media sites like Facebook will eventually compete too directly with digital journalism. “It’s fine for stories to break or exist on social media and to have a certain level of
citizen journalism around it, but journalists doing what Xtra does will always bring other information, other aspects, other perspectives to the story.” What does concern him is the censorship imposed by corporations whose rules are not always in the best interest of the gay community. “Large corporations that run social media where a lot of the discussion and the debate is happening are controlling, to some degree, what people post and what they don’t allow people to post. I think, in general, that’s more problematic and [over] the long term may pose a larger risk than citizens who consider themselves to be citizen journalists, even if they don’t use that term to describe themselves.” Asked about die-hard print readers who may be reluctant to get their news online, Matheson says that sentiment doesn’t surprise him; he professes to be a print lover himself. Still, he argues, gay and lesbian publishing, which is already a marginal business, is not immune to what’s happening in the media landscape, including declining ad revenues and rising production costs. “A move to a completely all-digital strategy just makes sense,” he concludes, pointing out that the press has had an online presence for a long time. Daily Xtra replaced xtra.ca, which went live in 1998. Matheson says he’ll be sad to lose any print reader but points to the readers who are already “embracing us in digital,” some of them longtime print readers. “Xtra is still going to be there doing the work it’s doing with our unique content and our voice, and we hope that people come along for that.” Daily Xtra dailyxtra.com XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 15
Metroland Media has been the proud printer of Xtra for over 20 years. We thank all Xtra and PTP staff and alumni for their business and wish them all the best in the future. Contact Steve Renaud at Metroland for your printing needs: srenaud@metroland.com or 416-493-1300 ext 204 www.metroland.com/printing 16 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA!
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21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Hanging right Homosexuals help to build the Canadian Alliance Party Issue 86, Oct 13, 2000
COMMUNITY
VISION QUEST The evolution and transformation of Jer’s Vision MARCO VIGLIOTTI PHOTOS BY BEN WELLAND
A
Jeremy Dias, founder of Jer’s Vision, credits his co-workers for its continuing success.
Steamy, sexy, hot and buttered After 10 years, Queer Film Festival goes way out Issue 96, Aug 17, 2001
fter a decade of working to combat bullying, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination in schools and youth communities, Jer’s Vision has evolved beyond being a podium for its charismatic founder, Jeremy Dias. It has transformed, instead, into a platform for the creative energies of its diverse staff members, who are burnishing the group’s LGBT activism with their own feminist and decolonialist perspectives. That’s the message trumpeted by Dias. Jer’s Vision has evolved, but the challenges and successes of the group’s advocacy work over the past decade are monumental. Still, Dias remains humble. “I really haven’t achieved that much, to be honest,” he says. “I work with a really fantastic team — I just do payroll and government grants. Although I do get to do a lot of programming, which is fun.” Reflecting on the organization that bears his name, Dias says Jer’s Vision “isn’t about me anymore” and credits his co-workers for their efforts to improve it. To that end, his team is reportedly mulling a name change to the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity to better reflect its
shifting structure.“We have ‘Jer’s Vision’ on the wall, and we were breaking down what it meant,” Dias recalls of a recent board meeting. “One of the board members asked, ‘Whose vision is it anyway?’ And it hasn’t been my vision for a really long time.” Placing Dias as the creative leader of Jer’s Vision is an understandable impulse. In addition to serving as executive director, he’s the most recognizable public face of the organization and has made a number of high-profile television appearances, on Canada AM, MuchMusic, CTV News, Global News and CBC News. He has also served as a keynote speaker at an array of conferences and events. But Dias maintains that he is hardly a one-man show. “When you talk about the work that we do, and as soon as you say our name, everything gets placed at my feet, and it’s not my work,” he says. Much of the credit for the organization’s continuing success is owed to those he works with, he adds. Perhaps best known for organizing the annual International Day of Pink, where students are encouraged to wear pink to school as a symbol of support for anti-bullying measures, Jer’s Vision runs and supports a range Continued next page • XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 17
VISION QUEST THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF JER’S VISION • Continued from previous page
of workshops, educational programs and community initiatives. Its focus on promoting inclusiveness and tolerance in schools has won the group national and international attention, as pressure increasingly grows on school officials to fight youth bullying in the wake of several notorious incidents of students committing suicide after enduring harassment from their peers. It’s an issue close to Dias’s heart. After coming out as gay in his early teens, he regularly faced severe bullying and discrimination at his high school in Sault Ste Marie. His efforts to effect change were met with resistance from school administrators, leading him, at the age of 17, to file a claim against the school and school board with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Three years later, Dias emerged victorious and was awarded a financial settlement that he used to start Jer’s Vision. A decade later there remains much more work to do for the LGBT community, Dias says, even after high-profile victories like the legalization of samesex marriage. But he admits that driving that message home isn’t always easy. He describes a celebration party after the federal Liberal government passed historic legislation heralding marriage equality where he met then–prime minister Paul Martin, who, Dias says, asked him why he would start a queer organization after “all the issues are over.” “I remember looking at him and saying, ‘Well, because they’re not,’” Dias says. “We have yet to win the hearts and minds of Canadians. It’s great that you can get married, but if you’re a trans kid from Sault Ste Marie, getting surgery and hormones is really, really tough.” It’s tough, however, to downplay the strides made to improve tolerance and acceptance of LGBT people in schools across the country. Dias notes that a member of Jer’s Vision is actively preparing the group’s inaugural LGBT educators’ conference — to be held mere days after the International Day of Pink — to train and educate those affected by the Ontario government’s passage of the Accepting Schools Act.He cites a number of examples of positive efforts from those involved with the conference to improve the experience for LGBT students in the province, including creating gay-straight alliances in Catholic schools, instituting a gender-neutral bathroom at an elementary school and inaugurating a weekly Day of Pink event at a suburban school with an openly gay principal.“It’s amazing to see that it’s not just wearing a pink shirt; it’s living a pink pledge of values and behaviours about resolving conflicts and treating each other differently,” Dias says.
COAST TO COAST
Creating an accessible anti-oppression network
T
he teachers wanted what the students were getting. Jer’s Vision started out by delivering anti-homophobia, anti-bullying workshops for Ottawa students, but programming quickly expanded because adults wanted workshops, too. “Jer’s Vision grew into what we are today because teachers were like, ‘I want resources, too. You are telling our students stuff that I don’t know,’” founder Jeremy Dias says. From teachers to paramedics, police officers to firefighters, community groups and camps, adults and youth alike responded to the accessible, antioppression workshops that Jer’s Vision has become famous for. “Historically, our programs have focused on homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and communities,” Dias says. “Today, however, we have a broad range of programs. One of our coolest programs is working with LGBTQ service providers from across the country to share best practices and trade information.” Creating a network of diverse but like-minded organizations helps service providers to maximize resources and support each other’s work, he says. “We’ve seen our community partnerships grow from a couple dozen to now hundreds of community partnerships across the country,” he says. “One of our largest LGBTQ conferences is in Vancouver and another is in Sydney, Nova Scotia.” With conferences taking place from coast to coast, some organizations might open Jer’s Vision offices in other regions to help the organization grow, he says. But opening new offices is costly, and Dias prefers to create partnerships and train local organizations to offer anti-bullying, anti-oppression workshops and support services in their own communities. With training and ongoing support, local organizations have flourished and are leading the way
in their regions, he says. Lukayo Estrella, senior manager at Jer’s Vision, says it’s great to see the organization’s partnerships flourish. Estrella, who uses the pronoun they, says that as a spoken-word artist, they’re also proud of Jer’s Vision’s arts programs. The Day of Pink, an international day to stand up against homophobic bullying by wearing pink, is celebrated in Ottawa with Jer’s Vision’s annual gala. At last year’s gala, audience members applauded the spoken-word performers who had honed their skills in Rainbow Write, a writing mentorship program for queer and trans youth. “For me, it’s rewarding to be part of [Rainbow Write and see] kids who are there because they need a safe space and they never thought that they would ever be able to be out and have a career and meet other artists,” Estrella says. “As well, there are kids who are so ready to just start their career.” Jer’s Vision has also partnered with Branch Out Theatre for a March Break camp, taking place from March 16 to 20. Combining theatre and social justice, the camp is for queer, trans and allied youth aged 13 to 16. As Jer’s Vision looks to the future, Estrella would like to see the organization’s national partnerships become more formally recognized. “I think it would be great if Jer’s Vision became more of a national centre, like if it was a network or hub that united different organizations because we have so many connections,” they say. “We work nationally anyway, with school boards and community centres across Canada. We organized the summit that connected all those centres together, so if we had more of a hub, if we were able to . . . have all those resources flow from all those organizations into each other, I see a lot of potential for that.” Dias agrees that Jer’s Vision’s role as a national centre is an important aspect
IT’S THE VISION OF SO MANY PEOPLE
JEREMY DIAS
of its future. In fact, the organization’s name will formally change, likely in March, to reflect that. The effort and talents of hundreds of volunteers and community partners, along with staff members, participants and supporters, is no longer about one person’s vision, he says. “It’s the vision of so many people who are doing so many cool things, and I think the new name, the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, really reflects that,” Dias says. “It reflects the work that’s happening here, the research that’s being produced in this space, and it reflects research-based and research-evaluated programs that make a real difference in schools, communities and businesses across our country.” — Adrienne Ascah
18 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Class action Same-sex couple sues for CPP benefits Issue 100, Dec 7, 2001
IN THE CLASSROOM
Talking with students is key for activist Zoe Easton
I
Above, Jer’s Vision’s success is the result of many people working together. Back row, from left: Thea Belanger, Sarah Littisha Jansen, Tarah Douillon, David MacMillan, Zoe Easton, Kai Ip Wong and Kaitlynne-Rae Landry. Front row, from left: Pamela Walker, Jeremy Dias, Lukayo Estrella, Katie McCarthy and Sarah Heath.
n her position as an education coordinator with Jer’s Vision, Zoe Easton shares her experiences of being young and queer with high school students in an effort to better navigate the topics of gender identity and sexuality. Integrating personal experiences into the workshop she co-hosts, in which she is tasked with demystifying these issues, typically opens up a conversation with the students about what happens in their own school, Easton says. “Usually, what we do is we talk about [these issues] on a personal level, so what it was like coming out in high school and what it was like being young and queer,” she says. “[It’s] to give them something tangible to relate to, and usually that gets the kids to talk about . . . what they think their high school is dealing with.” Easton says the workshop also includes a segment where the presenters break down and explain each component of the queer acronym. Despite its ubiquity, most groups need assistance to fill in the blanks, she says. It’s perhaps a small example of the need for such educational outreach programs, even as strides are made to provide a more thorough understanding of sexuality and gender — beyond the narrow heteronormative standard — to schoolaged youth. It’s also not surprising that students’ responses to the workshop can occasionally be unwelcoming. Easton says it differs from group to group, with some requiring far more prodding than others to open up. An address to a rainbow alli-
WE TALK ABOUT THE POLITICS OF BEING YOUNG AND QUEER
ZOE EASTON, JER’S VISION EDUCATION COORDINATOR Kissing Jessica Stein An indie movie about sexual exploration Issue 104, March 29, 2002
ance usually generates a more receptive response, with members more likely to discuss their personal experiences and issues at school. “We’ll talk about individual experiences with bullying, and it kind of helps in the sense that they get to see that there are older versions of them that are doing all right,” she says. Some audiences are harder to engage than others, however. Easton recalls an impromptu presentation before a drama class at a suburban school that required a more stringent effort to jump-start conversation. The team from Jer’s Vision had just wrapped up presenting a workshop to another class when they were prevented from leaving by a lockdown that had been implemented at the school. With no other option but to wait until the order was lifted, Easton and her partner were invited to present again to another class. The students of this class appeared uneasy and somewhat antagonistic. As a result, Easton says, she and her partner needed to break down those barriers and let the students know that “there is no shame in asking questions.” One of the more successful tools employed by presenters to generate a response is to answer anonymously submitted questions from students randomly selected from a hat. “What I find is that kids are very curious; they want to know a lot,” Easton says. “They’re just a little bit afraid to speak out at first.” As for the most common questions asked by students, Easton says they tend to centre on her own experience of coming out and what it’s like being visibly queer in public. “My [workshop] partner and I have very different experiences being queer,” she says. “She’ll speak to what it’s like being in a non-monogamous relationship, and I’ll talk about being in monogamous relationships. We talk about the politics of being young and queer [and] which relationships are more accessible.” — Marco Vigliotti XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 19
Come out to the FREE Day of Pink Gala in Ottawa on April 8th, 2015 6:30pm at De la Salle (501 St Patrick St)
Join us at the 10th Anniversary Gala in Toronto on May 14, 2015 6pm at Fountain Blue (200 Princes' Boulevard)
Get Free resources at DayOfPink.org More info at JersVision.org 20 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA!
21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Courting for our rights on prom night Issue 105, April 26, 2002
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The mission to rescue Pride Board resigns, interim measures proposed Issue 116, April 10, 2003
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Check out our columnists and bloggers on dailyxtra.com A sex worker’s tale
Trading a blowjob for 20 bucks and a half pack of cigarettes had brought me to a new level of debauchery. Courtney Love would have been proud.
Adventures in gay parenting
It’s not that I don’t like Hot Wheels or Thomas the Tank Engine, but I can’t quite figure out my son’s predilection toward traditionally masculine pursuits.
History Boys
The Wonder Woman comics from the 1940s are rife with BDSM. On almost every page there’s kidnap, slavery or bondage.
Hooking up in public
When I find myself exploring a dungeon party on a Sunday afternoon, I know why I’m there. I’m on a journey searching for those connections.
He had no whiskers Murray Hall, a prominent NYC politician, lived as a man for more than 25 years
HISTORY BOYS JEREMY WILLARD
During one of my recent visits to the History Boys Archives (past the riddle-posing troll, across the drawbridge and beyond the courtyard full of tied-up slave-boys), I noticed a trend while poring over our columns. We’ve written about several figures who were assigned female at birth (ie, they were raised female) but later lived as men. An excitable modern queer conscience might say, “Yes, well, clearly they were transgender.” What I find interesting is that that’s not always clear. Sure, some people may have been transgender — if that term even applies to someone living in, say, the 16th century — but in other cases, it seems the person lived as male not out of desire to be (or be read as) male, but as a matter of utility (and may have identified as female in private): you often had to be male if you wanted to vote, do certain jobs, travel, own property — do virtually anything. Whatever the person’s motives, I always call them by whatever pronouns they seemed to prefer. So, while I don’t know what his motives were, I call Murray Hall “he” and “him.” When such a person was found to be living as a man, what would follow, especially in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were sensational headlines. When Hall died, age 70, the headline of a Jan 19, 1901, article in The New York Times read “Murray Hall Fooled Many Shrewd Men,” followed by “How for Years She Masqueraded in Male Attire,” “Had Married Two Women” and “Was a Prominent Tammany Politician and Always Voted — Senator Martin Astonished” (editors liked to bombard readers with lots of weirdly worded sub-headings in those days). The article, which calls Hall by female pronouns, says that he lived as a man for more than 25 years until the
Murray Hall drank, smoked cigars, was assertive, flirted with women, played poker and once gave a policeman a black eye. YIGI CHANG
“secret of [his] sex” was discovered when he died the previous Wednesday. Hall, who was a New York City politician, had breast cancer but failed to seek treatment out of fear of being exposed. Then, with death imminent, he saw Dr William Gallagher, who found that the cancer had spread and Hall had only a few days to live. He was married twice (his wives, at least, must have known his secret), and his sole heir was his adopted daughter, Minnie. The article quotes the reactions of some of Hall’s associates. They’re surprised, but many talk as though they now realize there were telltale signs. C S Pratt, a bookseller, says Hall was “somewhat effeminate in appearance and talked in a falsetto voice.” Senator Bernard Martin says Hall always wore “a coat a size or two too large” and now realizes “that was to conceal his form.” He adds, “His face was always smooth, just as if he had just come from the barber’s.” Many say flattering things in spite of Hall’s being, as they now think of him, a woman. I think this was, in part, to explain how they’d been, in their minds, duped: he was intelligent and influential — who could possibly have suspected he was a woman?
What’s even more offensive — and kind of funny — is that they go on to cite, as further evidence of Murray’s apparent masculinity, these traits: he drank, smoked cigars, was assertive, flirted with women, played poker and once gave a policeman a black eye. Joseph Young, a political colleague, says, “A woman? Why, he’d line up to the bar and take his whisky like any veteran, and didn’t make faces over it, either. If he was a woman he ought to have been born a man, for he lived and looked like one.” The author says it’s a mystery how Hall pulled it off, but I say, Was it that hard? It took strength, intelligence and luck to live as Hall did, and I suspect he was up for any challenge, but on many occasions it can’t have been that difficult to fit in with the rest of the guys. Not with the standard for masculine behaviour so low (modern-day standards aren’t much better). I like to imagine him on some poker evening, assessing his cards, sweltering away in his big coat, and chuckling to himself over how all he had to do to fit in was swear, gulp another whiskey and leer at the woman across the room. For more History Boys columns, go to dailyxtra.com.
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Are you the... As the concept of family evolves in our community, so does the definition of a foster parent. Foster parents come from a variety of different backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the children who need our care. The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) is always looking to grow and diversify the community of people looking to foster a child when they can't be taken care of at home. “We enjoy opening our home to children and youths with various needs,” says a single mother from the LGBTQQA community. “We learn about each other’s unique qualities and treasure the memories shared,” she adds, illustrating the positive impact fostering can have on everyone involved.
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My foreskin is too tight Should I get circumcised as an adult?
ASK THE EXPERT DR PEGA REN
Dear Dr Ren, I’m a 27-year-old gay man who has always had problems with my foreskin being tight. It’s been getting worse, and I’ve been considering getting circumcised to deal with the problem once and for all. What’s involved? I’m far from lean and work in an office at a computer. Will these things affect my healing? Mostly I’m concerned about how a circumcision will affect sex. What do I need to know? — Painfully Tight
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Dear Painfully Tight, About 20 percent of men worldwide (about 75 percent of them in the United States) are circumcised, though usually as newborns. Most doctors advise against adult circumcision unless necessary to correct a problem such as balanoposthitis (inflammation of the penis head and foreskin) or phimosis (difficulty retracting the foreskin), which you describe. These conditions are caused by chronic irritation and scarring. Interestingly, both of these problems occur with greater frequency in men with diabetes. You describe yourself as overweight, sedentary and experiencing increasing trouble with phimosis. You would be wise to monitor your blood sugar in case you have an under-
Before you agree to surgery, you may want to consider stretching the foreskin. THINKSTOCK
ritation recurs, circumcision becomes the treatment of choice. Before you agree to surgery, you may want to consider stretching the foreskin. You can find stretching techniques online. Ask your doctor for a prescription for Betamethasone .1% cream, which will help the skin soften. This technique requires patience and time, which you may not have if your condition is already painful. Adult circumcision can be performed under local or general anesthesia. There are two general types of incision: the slit and the sleeve techniques. Your physician will decide which is best for
Men cut as adults report longer times from arousal to ejaculation, which may not be a bad thing. But along with the delayed ejaculation comes decreased sensitivity, often marked. lying disease process exacerbating the problem. Get this checked out. There is a difference between tight and inflamed. If your dick head is sore, the first thing your doctor will do is try to clear up the infection by having you apply an anti-fungal or antiinflammatory ointment under your cape, which provides an ideal moist and warm environment for yeast to grow. This may alleviate the issue. If the ir-
you. Regardless, good aftercare is the key to successful recovery. Possible complications of adult circumcision include infection, bleeding, poor cosmetic results and a change in sensation during sex. This last is not insignificant. Men cut as adults report longer times from arousal to ejaculation, which may not be a bad thing. But along with the delayed ejaculation comes decreased sensitivity,
often marked. Researchers (Money and Davison) at Johns Hopkins reported that following adult circumcision, “changes included diminished penile sensitivity and less penile gratification.” One of those patients says it well: “The greatest disadvantage of circumcision is the awful loss of sensitivity when the foreskin is removed . . . On a scale of 10, the intact penis experiences pleasure that is at least 11 or 12; the circumcised penis is lucky to get to 3.” This loss of sensation is due to a process called keratinization, a sort of callous formation on the previously protected coronal ridge and glans of your penis, and the full effects of this permanent loss are not realized for five or more years. That said, surgery may be your only reasonable respite. Keep in mind that many who choose circumcision for religious or aesthetic reasons report increased satisfaction with the look of their penis and say they are pleased with their decisions. Motivation affects not only your decision beforehand, but your attitude afterward. Your first step is to find out why, at age 27, this problem is becoming worse. A thorough medical workup is indicated. Add good food and exercise, perhaps some medication and stretching, and maybe you can avoid surgery. If not, keep calm. When you’ve gathered all the necessary information, you’ll be able to make the correct decision. Ask the Expert appears monthly on dailyxtra.com
21 YEARS OF HEADLINES It’s the Charter, stupid! Capital Xtra’s special marriage issue Issue 139, March 10, 2005
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Going Down: A Guide to Fellatio
23 February 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Want to give your pal the blow job of their life, but aren’t sure where to start or what to do once you get going? This workshop is for you. From basic anatomy to tips for the advanced, we’ll cover a wide range of information about the fine art of giving head. Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale)
How to Hook Up
2 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm Hooking up can be hard. How do you know when they are interested, if you are interested, and how to move from any mutual interest to some consensual mutual touching? In this workshop we’ll talk online dating, pick up lines, confidence, and communication.We want you to feel comfortable hooking up, whether that means winking at someone from across a crowded room or hosting your very own sex party. The aim: to go forth and flirt. Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale)
Mouthing Off: All About Oral
3 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Many people have asked us for a session that talks about oral sex on anyone so here it is! Mouthing Off is all about fellatio and cunnilingus and includes info about anatomy, safer sex, positions, technique for mouths, lips, tongues, and hands. Great for anyone who wants to know more about going down, regardless of gender or sexuality. Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale)
Book Club! Book club is free and open to everyone! You can buy the book at a 15% discount at VE, or you can get it anywhere else you choose, perhaps even at the library. Expect great conversation, tea and snacks!
The Naughty Bits Book Club – Black Silk edited by Retha Powers! 19 February 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm A powerful collection of erotica from today’s leading black writers and fresh voices, BLACK SILK explores exciting territory in the
Hot Spots: G-Spot & P-Spot Pleasure
9 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Mystery and mis-information abound about these two powerful erogenous zones. Where are they? What are they? And what the heck do I do now? In this seminar for everyone, we share info, tips and techniques to help you find your lover’s hot spots... and what to do when you get there! Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale)
Art of Feminine Dominance with Midori
24 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Elegance, power and confidence... Do you want to know how to be a dominant without being a bad cliche? How do you find a sexy style of erotic dominance that’s authentic to you? Using a special technique she developed, Midori will help you to find your inner power femme archetype, allowing you to pursue erotic fulfillment of sensual power play. Not your typical how-to class, you’ll discover the difference between constructive and destructive desires and point you towards ways of bringing satisfaction in bedroom play for both you and your partner. Midori will share with you her secrets of the feminine art of dominance. She will discuss the psychology, practical exercises, techniques, fashion, how to discover what makes your partner weakkneed, and more. This class is not limited to a gender, but for all who harbor the powerful feminine within! Something for everyone from the novice to the experienced player. Partners and lovers of the dominant feminine welcome! Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale)
realm of the African American experience. From Eric Jerome Dickey’s rueful tale of lust to Lolita Files’s scorching account of insatiable adventuring...to Breena Clarke’s tribute to the strength of erotic imagination... to Camika Spencer’s encounters online and in the flesh...to Carolyn Ferrell’s story of intergenerational desire and discovery, this book sings of the power of the forbidden and the the transforming-with unforgettable characters who claim their pleasure and seek its ultimate limits. Never before published, never before available, these erotic short stories are a dazzlingly sensual meditation on the very soul of passion...
The Naughty Bits Book Club – Smut Peddler 2014 Edition edited by C. Spike Trohman 19 March 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm Smut Peddler, the big, dirty book that rocked the world in 2012, is back with more and better than ever! The 2014 edition of this award-winning ladycentric porn anthology features a dream team of artists and writers, an all-star cast of creators premiering the finest filth you’re going to find. Smut peddler: sex-positive erotic comics. By women for everyone!
Hands-on Rope Bondage with Midori
25 March 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm Everyone’s catching the rope fever! Bring the pleasures from Japan into your bedroom with easy, sexy rope bondage play. Learn simple, elegant, effective and sensual rope skills and thrill your lover. Know how to deepen pleasures and connections while avoiding risks and harm. Learn essential foundation techniques including four two-column restraints, safety, rope selection, and creative, erotic positions. Midori is an expert in the field and author of ‘The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage’. Enjoyed by many generations, sensual Japanese rope bondage is beautiful, sensual and sexually arousing. In this hands-on class Midori will introduce you to the versatility, elegance and pleasures of rope bondage. You will learn easy-to-remember techniques and how to sensuously bind and tantalize your lover. * Wear comfortable clothing. Bring rope of 20’ or so. There will be rope for sale at the store. No experience necessary, everyone welcome! Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale)
JoyStick Secrets: How to Thrill a Man with Midori
26 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Learn how to make him moan and writhe in unbelievable pleasure. Join internationally-acclaimed sex educator Midori for this in-depth training on orally pleasuring your guy. Using delicious practice props (think fruit!) you’ll learn all about the sucks, licks, swirls, strokes and touch secrets that will blow his mind. She’ll even cover tips on how to reduce discomforts or gag reflexes. What better gift is there than to show him your new techniques that very night? All genders and orientations welcome! Bring your guy with you for better “homework” later that night! Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale)
Sylvie Hill “Russell Square Station” Book Launch! 13 February 2015 - 8:30pm - 10:00pm COME CELEBRATE “Russell Square Station: mine the trash” for some pre-Valentine’s fun! Russell Square Station is the new book by Sylvie Hill: spoken-word poetry, featuring art by Dixon aka juan carlos noria. Designed by street-artist and textile designer Laura Fernandez, Barcelona (aka Olivia St-art). Watch the poems unfold through the visuals, paired perfect. Wait until you see this! “Russell Square Station: mine the trash” (2014) is a rare and fated story of one Woman and her male Muse in an explosive mess where the only way out of the wreckage was through words and the art of Juan Carlos Noria. 1-hr sharing/reading from the book with author Q&A emceed by Richard Andrew Kaulbars
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226 Bank Street. 613-789-4646. To order: 877-370-9288 or www.venusenvy.ca PTS backpedals on queer centre President suggests low-profile location is best for clients Issue 183, May 18, 2006
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21 YEARS OF HEADLINES City kills AIDS programs Pride, PTS, ACO implore councillors to spare services Issue 166, Feb 22, 2007
OutintheCity ntheCity ty
Photos from Homo Phono and Reelout Queer Film and Video Festival Xposed 28
SPIN ME
Better sex with Midori
RIGHT ’ROUND
Hone your skills with three tailored workshops
Evalyn Parry brings her bicycle musical to Ottawa
Evalyn Parry loves biking in Ottawa. But as she prepares to descend on the nation’s capital this month, she admits she’s probably not going to be using two-wheeled transport as often. “I’ve gotten a little softer in recent years,” she says. “January and February have become my months to slow down, walk and take transit. But my hats are off to all the hardy winter cyclists.” Parry is prepping for the Ottawa premiere of her bicycle musical, Spin. The long-touring show, first born at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in 2011, aims to reclaim the stories of some not terribly well-known cycling heroines and examine the history of a machine Parry dubs “the ultimate symbol of freedom.” After touching on some early leaders in the fight for women’s rights, Spin turns its focus to Annie Londonderry. Feminist pioneer and allaround shit-kicker, Londonderry was the first woman to cycle around the world after making a bet with two Boston-area businessmen. Fund-
Evalyn Parry dubs bikes “the ultimate symbol of freedom.” JEREMY MIMNAGH
ing her trip entirely with money she made along the way, she ended up selling advertising space on her body, making her the first example of a woman banking cash from sports endorsements. The bicycle isn’t just the centre of the story; it’s also a musical instrument. Parry and her collaborator Brad Hart have rigged a rusty 1972 CCM Galaxy with contact mics. Using sounds that originate from the bike when it’s brushed or tapped, the pair loops them through a series of effects pedals, producing a wide array of melodies. Storytelling is Parry’s focus, but she’s not shy about the show’s potential to inform politicians on the value of expanded bike infrastructure.
In bringing the show to Bytown, she’s hopeful it can provoke some discussion on making the promotion of cycling a national issue. “There are so many obvious connections between cycling and health, happiness and nonoil-dependent living, I could write a thesis on the subject,” she says. “Separated lanes in cities make things safer for cyclists and for drivers. It’s not debatable.” — Chris Dupuis Spin runs until Sat, Feb 21 at the Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Ave. artscourt.ca/events/spin
out SINGING
Tone Cluster invites high school choirs to stand up
Important social issues are often treated as fads, easily forgotten when the next hot topic appears. Before you know it, we’re on to the Sochi Winter Olympics, the race for Somerset Ward, Ebola or Stephen Harper’s machinations (and drop each of them in turn just as quickly as we took them up). So the primary objective of Tone Cluster’s upcoming concert, Words.3, is to remind people that there’s still work to be done when it comes to bullying. This is the third edition of the queer choir’s anti-bullying concert. “The issue is not going away, so we want to make sure people keep talk-
High school choirs and Tone Cluster practise for their upcoming anti-bullying concert, Words.3. TONE CLUSTER
ing about it,” says Kurt Ala-Kantti, one of the organizers. “You might sort of forget about bullying for a bit until you hear about another person taking their life. Maybe keeping it in the forefront of people’s minds could prevent something bad from happening.” Each year, Tone Cluster invites high school choirs to participate in the concert, and this year they will be joined by choirs from Glebe Collegiate Institute, Canterbury High School and École secondaire
publique De La Salle. With special guest director Scott Leithead at the helm, the concert will include pieces by each of the choirs individually, as well as two or three by all the choirs combined. When the choirs team up they will generate, as Ala-Kantti puts it, “massive sound.” One of the songs the combined choirs will sing is a traditional Zulu song called “Kwela Kwela.” “Scott Leithead is an African music specialist, so we could hardly do
Trans men loving gay men loving trans men Trans men’s love and lust ignites homo desire Issue 178, Nov 8, 2007
a concert without some African content,” Ala-Kantti says. “In this song, the word kwela [means] ‘Get up!’ It is an invitation to join the dance but also serves as a warning.” They will also sing “Don’t Be Afraid” in honour of Scott Jones and his antihomophobia campaign, also called Don’t Be Afraid. — Jeremy Willard Words.3 is Sat, March 28, 7:30pm, at École secondaire publique De La Salle, 501 Old St-Patrick St. tonecluster.ca
You want to be dominant but feel ridiculous in leather. Your bondage skills are so poor that you’re soon weeping while your partner lies there looking like something dredged up from the seafloor. When cock gets anywhere near your throat, you end up with tears streaming down your face and your mouth sounds like a much-abused toilet desperately trying to flush. There’s always room for improvement when it comes to sex, but it would be difficult to improve on Midori’s sex workshops. The internationally acclaimed sex educator is visiting Ottawa to give three not-to-be-missed classes at Venus Envy. The first session, The Art of Feminine Dominance, is for people of any gender “who harbour the powerful feminine within” and want to become better dominants. One thing the course teaches is that it’s important to get over “good-girl messages” (how society wants you to behave: kind, polite and cute) but not to feel obligated to become a crop-wielding, leatherclad, stereotypical dominatrix. “It’s not a uniform. What you wear is not the source of your power,” Midori says. “Your clothing should make you happy and confident.” Hands-On Rope Bondage gives a taste of what Midori offers at Rope Bondage Dojo, her two-day intensive seminar offered in San Francisco and Washington, DC. Attendees will learn the basics of Midori rope play, from safety to memorable techniques. “People make the mistake of thinking that the more complicated the rope looks, the more legitimate it is,” she says. “I teach that it’s not about the rope, but needs and desires. If your technique is complicated but you’re both bored, what’s the point?” Joystick Secrets is about sucking cock. People of all genders and orientations will practise their sucking, licking and swirling skills on fruit. Special attention will be paid to combating that pesky gag reflex. Midori shares the following tip: “If your chin is down, closer to your chest, that creates a bad angle, so you want to lengthen your neck. If you’re on your knees in front of him, instead of having your knees right up against his feet, just scooch back and it automatically lengthens your neck.” — Jeremy Willard The Art of Feminine Dominance is Tues, March 24, 6:30pm; Hands-On Rope Bondage is Wed, March 25, 7:30pm; and Joystick Secrets is Thurs, March 26, 7:30pm, at Venus Envy, 226 Bank St. venusenvy.ca XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 27
XPOSED
1
BY ZARA ANSAR
Homo Phono
On Saturday, Jan 24, Homo Phono, the “fresh and occasional dance party for queers and their pals,” was held at Raw Sugar Café. MC Straightedge and DJ All Star Aga spun classic house and R&B jams in a seriously packed venue. 1• Simmi and Shelley, modelling pirate-meetsdancehall realness, have nothing but love. 2• Katie Hurdon and Anne Dahl, the fine gals at Raw Sugar, man the bar. 3• DJ All Star Aga, left, and MC Straightedge spin some sexy tunes. 4• Kristen, an Amazonian vision in yellow, joins Diana, Colleen and Mer for a mid-dance group shot. 5• Alice Rose, left, and Yafa are chic and adorable in black. 6• Vanessa, in one seriously red scarf, and Amanda enjoy an evening of dancing and libations.
Reelout Queer Film and Video Festival
The 18 films chosen for this year’s Reelout Queer Film and Video Festival in Kingston all examine the battles of young queer people discovering their sexuality. On Friday, Jan 30, the documentary In the Turn was screened. The film follows Crystal Labonte, a transgender girl who finds acceptance in Vagine Regime, a queer roller-derby collective. 7• You wouldn’t want to mess with these ladies.
2 5
Karen Hutchison (Lady Danger), Crystal Labonte (Ima Ambushya) and Nathalie Banger (Banger Management) at the
screening of In the Turn. 8• Festival director Matt Salton at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts after the screening.
3 4 8
6
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21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Turfed trans candidate speaks out NDP cites behaviour as reason she got the boot Issue 181, Jan 9, 2008
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Cindy M. Duncan, AMP Broker/Franchise Owner 613-612-8400 cduncan@tmacc.com
George Hartsgrove, AMP Mortgage Agent 613-263-0609 ghartsgrove@mortgagealliance.com
Head Office 26-1010 Polytek St. Ottawa, ON K1J 9J9 licence # 10717 independently owned and operated franchise of the Mortgage Alliance Network
2014-11-17 11:45 AM
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1530 Merivale Road | Ottawa | Ontario | K2G 3J7
Suite 710, 1600 Scott Street, ON K1Y 4N7 Suite 710, 1600 ScottOttawa, Street, T: 613.722.1500, Ottawa, ONmannlawyers.com K1Y 4N7 T: 613.722.1500, mannlawyers.com
Direct. 613.858.8210 | Office. 613.254.6580 | Fax. 613.254.6581 mgennis@sutton.com | www.focusproperties.ca
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Ben Gunter and his Pharmacy Team are here to answer your questions and help you and your family achieve the best health possible. Come in and discover an array of services that can help make managing your health easier. Speak to a member of our Pharmacy Team today. Our Pharmacists are available from 9am to10pm, 7 days a week to provide health knowledge and advice and help you live well.
SPECIALIZING TO MEET YOUR NEEDS
Pharmacy Services Include: Medication Reviews, Smoking Cessation Counselling, Flu Shots and Personalized Adherence Counselling for Chronic Conditions
Your Local LGBT community Shoppers Drug Mart 455 Bank Street, Ottawa ON | 613-238-9041 *First 100 customers. Some conditions apply, see store for details. Bank and Gladstone location only.
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