#766 MARCH 6–19, 2014
30 YEARS OF
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MEMORIES & MUSINGS FROM KAMAL AL-SOLAYLEE | JIM BARTLEY | BRIAN FRANCIS BRAD FRASER | SONNY MILLS | MAUREEN PHILLIPS | JEFFREY ROUND DAVID WALBERG | LUCINDA WALLACE + CLASSIC COVERS, LETTERS, ADS & MORE
2 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Frankie meets the censors! And Mary Brown can’t relax over their videos Xtra #15, Oct 6, 1984
Doing it with poodles General Idea at the AGO Xtra #30, June 1, 1985
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 3
XTRA
PAUL T. WILLIS B.A., LL.B.
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Casey House Board of Directors Seeking applicants to join the Board and Board Committees Marking 25 years of compassionate care in our community, Casey House is a specialty hospital with community programming that serves people living with HIV/AIDS who are medically complex. This dynamic healthcare organization is developing a new model of care for clients in collaboration with dedicated staff, volunteers and the broader community for whom compassion is a calling. The Board of Directors is reaching out to potential volunteers to invite applicants to ďŹ ll a limited number of positions on our Board of Directors and Board committees (i.e. Quality, Finance, Redevelopment and Foundation). This year, our search is focused on candidates with health care management experience, construction/architecture experience and/or a commitment to fundraising. The ideal candidates are committed to Casey House’s mission and strategic directions, and also have the following knowledge, skills and experience: s Understanding of board governance practices s Experience on corporate or non-proďŹ t boards Casey House welcomes applicants from all communities and particularly encourages people living with HIV/AIDS to apply.
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Successful Clients 4 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
David LeBlanc, Bruce Ferreira-Wells, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants RCIC – ICCRC
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Safe sex for lovers Unsafe sex with your lover could be riskier than tricking around Xtra #50, April 19, 1986
Roundup
Ŕ TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
#766 MARCH 6–19, 2014
30
MILESTONES
YEARS OF
A look back on 30 years of the little paper that could
Editorial While we weren’t looking By Ken Popert E6 Feedback E6 Xcetera E8
Upfront Rainbow crosswalk to be painted at Church and Wellesley E11 History Boys Meet you at Woody’s By Jeremy Willard E12
Out in the City Arts roundup Downton Toronto E25 Toronto at Night Beating the winter blues in a bathhouse By Ryan G Hinds E26
ADAM COISH
E15–23 What’s On E27 Club Scene E28 Deep Dish By Rolyn Chambers E30 Xtra Living E31
Daily Xtra Travel Catrinas & cliff diving Courting la muerte in Mazatlán E32 California’s Pacific Coast Experience the Golden State’s natural wonders E34 Classifieds E36 Xtra Hot The very first Xtra Hot column By David Hawe E37
online at dailyxtra.com E Disney World
withdraws funding from Boy Scouts of America E Opposition parties
shy away from sex-work debate E Community activist
organizes Village games night
TAYLOR DAYNE MARCH 27 8 PM Hammerson Hall
E Former Miss Kentucky
comes out as queer E Ex-Mormon
www.livingartscentre.ca
masturbation
905.306.6000 X 1.888.805.8888
Easy come, easy go Why have so many lesbian bars come and gone in TO? Xtra #80, July 17, 1987
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 5
Comment
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While we weren’t looking EDITORIAL KEN POPERT
We really should have seen this coming. The birth of Xtra in 1984 neatly punctuated an important transition in the history of our communities. The forces that had exploded onto Toronto’s streets in 1981, in the wake of the legendary bathhouse raids, changed course, flowing as much into the courts as onto the pavement. For three decades, the reassuring rhythm of Xtra’s biweekly publication matched the steady tempo of battles fought and mostly won. But our history tells us — and Xtra has often reminded us — that the steady advance of our movement is not inevitable, that there is no assurance of an endless summer. Our struggle has been born more than once, has grown, made progress and changed minds . . . only to be brutally crushed and extirpated, first from society and then from memory. But, unlike that unlucky gay movement in Germany a century ago, we have the opportunity to learn from history and take steps to avoid repeating it. On the 30th birthday of Xtra, after 30 years of progress, that awareness of our history authorizes us to formulate uncomfortable questions about the political weather: Is the temperature dropping? Is winter coming? True, the gay movement displays an astonishing vitality and now touches every inhabited continent of our world. At the same time, it shows signs of flagging in its North American birthplace. In the United States, the movement seems to be permanently mired, reduced to begging for scraps like marriage. And often not winning even those. Here in Toronto, a city that has been a beacon of hope for our people around the world, the animosity of city council toward Pride, simmering for years just beneath the surface,
is symptomatic. What other city festival has to jump through as many hoops as Pride to retain its funding every year? What other festival has its participants scrutinized by a camera-wielding city councillor looking for evidence with which to discredit it? Why are a dozen or so naked men in our parade an intolerable offence in a city that chuckles at the Naked Bike Ride, an event that sends hundreds of naked people on a tour of much of the downtown core every year? How was a howlingly unsuitable candidate able to storm into the office of mayor, shouldering aside a seasoned candidate who happened to be gay? How have we come to have a mayor who builds political capital by shunning us like a colony of lepers? Most soberingly, what does it mean that we have a chief magistrate who is also the mentor of a man charged with participating in the brutal killing of a young gay man he didn’t even know? Toronto’s chattering classes seem to regard Rob Ford as an abomination, yes, but an aberration; once he’s gone, they let us believe, our political system will recover its equilibrium and banality will reassume its traditional place as ballast. I fear that this is a comforting delusion. I fear that Ford is a prototype, a trial buffoon, a demagogic monster assembled behind the scenes by a committee of political Dr Frankensteins. I fear that they will learn from their mistakes and we will see Ford 2.0. Maybe not this year — the making of monsters takes time. But when he or she appears, Ford 2.0 will be armed with the same neo-conservative agenda and will be looking to reignite the same destructive passions that carried the original into office. But this time the surgeons’ seams will
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.
6 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
be tucked neatly out of sight and the ugly bolts discreetly concealed. Ford 2.0 will be much more acceptable at dinner parties. I fear that the political left does not recognize that the rules have changed, that genteel, take-the-highroad campaigns, faced with hatefuelled divisive politics, will meet with annihilation. I fear that the left will fail to see that Ford’s constituency is an angry but clueless mob, there for the taking by either the left or the right. And I fear that Ford Nation is not going away. With their demagogue gone, there will be no cult of personality to obscure the political alchemy that has conjured his followers into a congealed ball of carefully nurtured rage. And we ought to know by now that one element of that alchemy is homophobia. We ought to understand enough Fordnationese by now to know that, when their leaders target “downtown latte-sipping, bike-hugging elitists,” they mean us. Others as well, but certainly us. Years ago, I saw a disturbing painting by a local gay artist. It showed a grim ghostly figure circulating unnoticed in a Pride Day crowd on Church Street; the revellers were joyful, unaware of the danger lurking unseen in their midst. It was a reference to the early days of AIDS, to HIV striding among us, an unrecognized serial killer. The painting was titled While We Weren’t Looking. Today, it takes on another meaning. Ford Nation may be stalking us. We can’t afford not to look. So, as Xtra enters its fourth decade, we gaze upon a changing and perhaps challenging terrain. Our communities could be facing the end of 30 years of progress. I’m looking at Ford and looking at a possible future. That future does not look friendly. But it is just one possibility; if we start looking, the future can still be ours to make. Ken Popert is the president and executive director of Pink Triangle Press.
FEEDBACK Naked at Pride I think this editorial by Xtra’s Danny Glenwright is all just for show [“Let’s Get Naked,” Xtra #765, Feb 20]. It’s simply a political response to the latest statements by Rob Ford about the Pride parade. I doubt very much that we will see Danny Glenwright naked on Yonge Street during the Pride parade on June 29, 2014 — or at the street fair on Church Street after the parade. His genitals will be covered. After all, if he were to go totally nude, the photographic evidence could hurt his future career aspirations in the non-profit sector or journalism. Furthermore, I don’t think you will even see him wearing only a thong on Yonge Street. I even doubt that he’ll bare down to wear only a skimpy Speedo at Pride. I think this Xtra editorial is just another case of do as I say, not as I do. ALEX S TORONTO, ON
I think the human body is a beautiful piece of work. On canoe trips with lesbians, I’ve gone naked and dived into rivers and streams. This is where I draw the line. Gay pride is exactly this: pride. I do not wish to see naked bodies prancing before children or other adults who have come to delight in our creativity. Most of them support our cause. The nakedness that I observe is lewd and provocative. I do not wish to see straights pretending to hump women, either. I think we are not showing the public a “body beautiful spectacle” but rather we are projecting sex as a public orgy on display. PAULA KEY TORONTO, ON
Village rainbow crosswalk Wellesley Street is a major street, but it’s not a particularly gay-friendly street [“Rainbow Crosswalk To Be Painted at Church and Wellesley,” dailyxtra. com, Feb 21]. Stretching from Bay to Parliament, Wellesley is one of my least favourite thoroughfares in Toronto. East of Jarvis is a gay no-man’s land, and it’s very sketchy also around Yonge. At Church and Wellesley there is only one actual remaining gay business to my knowledge (a well-hidden bathhouse). There is a gay-friendly wine store, barbershop and pharmacy, but that should be expected at this point in Toronto. As for the rest of the businesses in the area, unfortunately, it’s highly questionable how they really feel about their gay customers. No gay employees, no “happy Pride” from them. Just north of Wellesley resembles a tent city on some days, and with the park closed it’s like a dead zone. If you asked gay village residents where is the true gay intersection, Church and Maitland would be the more accurate answer. RYAN TORONTO, ON
I took Danny Glenwright’s editorial as a tongue-in-cheek response to Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug’s recent comments. I don’t have a problem with naked men marching in the parade, old or young. I have read Paula Key’s comments and feel she doesn’t know what she is talking about in regard to the TNT group marching in the parade. They are not totally nude; following rules of the law they wear shoes and socks, just as queer women can be bare-breasted when they march, if they wish. I think a half million people come to watch the annual Pride parade because it isn’t the Santa Claus Parade of Sensibility.
I always have mixed feelings about rainbows. Sometimes I think they’re stupid and mass-produced nylon flags in sweatshops. Sometimes, though, when people say disparaging comments, I want to remind them: you know people died for waving rainbow flags, right? They often made them from scraps of fabric and waved those simultaneously pitiful and majestic flags in revolt. They wanted a sexually liberated future. So, yes, critique the appropriation of this symbol. Critique the consumerism and neoliberalism of Pride. However, try to have some respect for what this symbol meant and who was killed and hurt only for the symbol to be appropriated by a neoliberal agenda.
MICHEL F PARÉ TORONTO, ON
SERAN GEE (FACEBOOK) TORONTO, ON
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Killing us softly A new AIDS drug waits while Ottawa yawns Xtra #90, Dec 11, 1987
Assistant Editor Pink Triangle Press is looking for an Assistant Editor for our print and online news and entertainment products Xtra and DailyXtra.com. Together with the Managing Editor, the person in this position is responsible for effectively implementing editorial directives and objectives and ensuring that content is relevant and thought-provoking.
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Come work with us… Note: This full-time position overlaps with PTP’s Managing Editor and includes weekend hours. If you are the right person for this role, you are capable of providing a critical perspective that engages readers in thoughtful discourse. Your editorial standards are impeccable (factual accuracy, consistency with editorial directions, fairness and full cognizance of obscenity and libel law), and you are able to identify, research and present topics that reflect the zeitgeist of Canada’s lesbian and gay communities. You will have additional proven skills and experience, including, but not limited to, the following: higdc\ ZY^idg^Va _jY\bZci ZmXZaaZci ZY^i^c\ VcY lg^i^c\ h`^aah i]Z VW^a^in id Wj^aY VcY bV^ciV^c ZY^idg^Va cZildg`h and contacts within the community and to make connections within appropriate movements, communities, organizations and businesses ZmeZg^ZcXZ ^c hjeedgi^c\ VcY bdc^idg^c\ hiVø$ freelancers to achieve objectives higdc\ XdbejiZg h`^aah0 eg^ci VcY ZaZXigdc^X publishing, internet, social media `cdlaZY\Z d[ IdgdcidÈh fjZZg Xdbbjc^i^Zh! sexual politics and cultures i]dgdj\] `cdlaZY\Z d[ _djgcVa^hb egVXi^XZh and standards and all related laws (copyright, obscenity, libel, et cetera)
Visit “Work With Us” at dailyxtra.com for more information.
The Normal Heart — are there lessons for TO in this new AIDS play?Xtra #94, Feb 12, 1988
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 7
A Proud Representative of the Gay Community
XCETERA
30 YEARS OF
FROM THE ARCHIVES
I enjoy expressing myself, and if I think someone’s being a pussy, I say it.
Craig Head, ABR
Sales Representative 2IÀFH 416.481.6137 www.CraigHead FD Bosley Real Estate Ltd., Brokerage
— from our exclusive interview with a young pop star named Madonna in Xtra #172, published May 10, 1991
Specializing in Condos Throughout Yorkville & Downtown
When people are on the dancefloor, their Fallopian tubes are open and they can receive some hot messages! — from our exclusive interview with budding drag queen RuPaul in Xtra #216, published Feb 5, 1993 (For a recent interview with RuPaul, go to dailyxtra.com.)
to all of our
fundraisers, sponsors, donors & volunteers for making the bowlathon a success! Please keep an eye out for all of the different events we will be having throughout 2014 to celebrate
OUT ON THE STREET BY KYLE BURTON
Is there still a need for a gay newspaper?
40TH YEAR! TORONTO’S GAY& LESBIAN NEWS
8 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
@trccmwar Chris
Chantelle
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Is there a need for any newspaper?
I’d actually like to see a daily gay column in Metro or 24 Hours. Instead of secluding ourselves, we should be including ourselves.
Yeah, there is. We have a couple LGBT papers at U of T, and it’s nice to pick those up when I’m commuting.
Yes, there is. There always was, and it’s sad when I see some of the publications not in circulation anymore.
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Tah-tah to our rights Britain outlaws the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality Xtra #101, May 27, 1988
Sushi
A BIWEEKLY HELPING OF POP CULTURE, SERVED À LA CARTE This special edition of Sushi highlights the gayest events of 1984, the year the first issue of Xtra was published. Prince Had the numberone song: “When Doves Cry.”
SAME-SEX LEGAL ISSUES
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‘All the Nice Boys Love Sea Men’ Headline on the quarter-page ad for “Relax” published in a British newspaper. Places in the Heart Sally Field wins an Oscar for her role in the film and proclaims, “They really like me!” Cyndi Lauper Releases “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
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MTV Video Awards Lauper wins for Best Female Video at the inaugural show.
‘Like a Virgin’ Madonna performs her song live at the MTV Awards, rolling around in a wedding dress. Mark VII The Ford Motor Company rolls out a Versace-designed Lincoln Continental. It was discontinued in 1985. Vanessa Williams Penthouse publishes nude photos of the first African American Miss America; she surrenders her crown.
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Stages Legendary Toronto gay bar closes. The Cosby Show Premieres. Wham! “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” becomes a number-one hit.
Rights precedent Gay couple wins family status Xtra #123, April 28, 1989
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30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: City fails to block bathhouse Spa on Maitland becomes the first gay commercial bath to receive legal sanction Xtra #153, July 27, 1990
Upfront
The AIDS crisis was huge. We lost a lot of friends, a lot of staff. Woody’s general manager Dean OdoricoE 12
Colourful crossings Rainbow crosswalk to be painted at Church and Wellesley for WorldPride COMMUNITY NEWS DYLAN C ROBERTSON
Sections of the crosswalk near Church and Wellesley streets will be painted in rainbow colours in the run-up to June’s WorldPride festivities. Toronto City Council approved the decision Feb 20, with only Mayor Rob Ford and his brother Councillor Doug Ford voting against the motion. “The rainbow flag is a sign of welcoming for our community, and we’re welcoming the world,” says Kevin Beaulieu, executive director of WorldPride. “When you see the flag, you know someone values you and respects you.” The entire $50,000 cost is being covered by allocating funds from a nearby developer. Known as Section 37 funds, developers pay the city extra NEWS BRIEFS
World Bank puts hold on loan to Uganda The World Bank has said it is putting on hold a $90 million loan earmarked for Uganda’s health system because of recently enacted and widely condemned legislation that calls for harsh penalties against gay people, including life imprisonment for the offence of “aggravated homosexuality.” In an email, a World Bank spokesperson said the project is being reviewed to ensure that its objectives aren’t compromised by the measure that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently signed into law, Reuters reports. According to the report, the World Bank’s president, Jim Yong Kim, also wrote to staff, saying discriminatory acts against people because of their
fees when their projects exceed normal city-planning guidelines. The city then uses the funds to develop nearby parks, infrastructure or streetscapes. In this case, the developers of 66 Isabella St contributed $450,000 in order to almost double the building’s size. Paint will likely not hit the pavement until spring — Beaulieu says to expect the rainbow road to appear in the days leading up to WorldPride. He says the city will work out logistics, including whether crosswalks or nearby roads will be painted. He also says that he’s heard it’s easier to paint asphalt for long-term use than cement, which lines the crosswalks at Church and Wellesley. “No paint on the roads last forever, but it will be there for a while,” Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, who proposed the motion, said on Twitter.
sexual orientation “cannot be tolerated” and fly in the face of the institution’s staff principles. He adds, “Institutionalized discrimination is bad for people and for societies. And as we know well in this institution, widespread discrimination is also bad for economies.” The World Bank’s decision to delay approval of the loan follows decisions by Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark, which have signalled that they are suspending or redirecting aid to the African country because of the enactment of the law. The US and Canada have both said that they will be reviewing their relationships with Uganda. But Museveni continues to thumb his nose at threats from the West while praising Russia for respecting his country’s sovereignty over its internal affairs. Russia has also faced condemnation for its passage of so-called gay propaganda laws, which its leaders continue
Sections of the crosswalk near Church and Wellesley streets will be painted in rainbow colours in the run-up to June’s WorldPride festivities. COURTESY OF PRIDE TORONTO
to defend. At the recent commissioning of a Russian-built flight simulator in Entebbe, Museveni said, “The Russians work with us; they don’t mix up their politics with our politics. They just do what we agree on.” — Natasha Barsotti
Feds seek public input on sex laws In a letter to his Ottawa counterpart, Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan has outlined his views on what Canada’s new prostitution law should look like, after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the existing laws last year. Swan believes the new law should target demands for sexual services while helping sex-trade workers get addiction counselling, mental-health services and training to get out of street-based sex work.
“Canada needs to consider a new approach that focuses on reducing the demand for the purchase of sex, and assisting the victims of sexual exploitation,” Swan says in the Feb 5 letter. “Without demand, there will be no incentive to coerce others to engage in prostitution or human trafficking.” He thinks that what is often referred to as the Nordic model should be examined for Canada, noting in the letter that the “essence of the Nordic model is not to make it illegal for a person to sell their sexual services but to make it a criminal offence to purchase sexual services or to procure sexual services for another person.” Vancouver lawyer Katrina Pacey says continuing to criminalize aspects of the sex trade won’t solve anything. Pacey, of Vancouver’s Pivot Legal Society, represented sex-trade workers in the BC challenge to the laws and was part of the Supreme Court hearings. She tells
Council proclaims Pride Day Toronto city council proclaims the last Sunday of June Lesbian and Gay Pride Day Xtra #161, Nov 23, 1990
Xtra that discussions with sex workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside show that the criminalization of those buying sex would expose sex workers to dangerous conditions, as those customers would seek to have rushed transactions in dark alleys, away from the eyes of police and better-lit areas where sex workers might be safer. “They’re describing very scary conditions right now as a result of the criminalization of clients,” Pacey says. On Feb 17, the federal government launched an online consultation to ask Canadians for their input on the prostitution laws. Canadians can access a web page on the Department of Justice’s website to provide their input. The online consultation will be live from Feb 17 to March 17. — Jeremy Hainsworth For more on these stories, go to dailyxtra.com. XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 11
Meet you at Wood Eric Williams
Looking back at a Toronto landmark
history boys jeremy Willard
While perusing early issues of Xtra, I found a 25-year-old advertisement for the opening of one of Toronto’s oldest gay bars: Woody’s. It’s a full-page ad, with the words “NOW OPEN. The right place . . . The right time . . . The right guys” across the top, and the rest is a sort of collage of men’s faces. As I gazed at those faces, most drooping beneath the weight of ugly mustaches, it occurred to me that most queer men in Toronto have experienced Woody’s to some degree. Whether or not it became a regular haunt for all of us, it’s hard to imagine the Village without it. To learn more about the history of Woody’s, I interviewed two people who’ve worked there since the beginning — its general managers, Steven Clegg and Dean Odorico. When owner Alex Korn opened Woody’s in July 1989, he didn’t want it to be simply a bar, but an establishment that helped the community. Consequently, the bar opened with a benefit for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. “The AIDS crisis was huge. We lost a lot of friends, a lot of staff,” Odorico says. Over the years, Woody’s has maintained this mandate, raising well over $100,000 for the AIDS Committee of Toronto. They’ve also given their support to organizations like Casey House and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and have sponsored a variety of queer sports teams. When Woody’s opened, there were plenty of queer clubs in the city, along with a few bars, but there were very few on Church Street itself. The area was home to the CBC offices and steakhouses that catered to rowdy, mostly heterosexual hockey fans en route to games at Maple Leaf Gardens. Because Woody’s wasn’t a dance club, but just a bar, many people thought it wouldn’t last very long. Not only did Woody’s last, but when the CBC and later the hockey and hockey-related business moved away, the success of Woody’s most likely served as encouragement for other businesses to move to the area. 12 March 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
Woody’s popularity grew with what Odorico describes as the “Pride explosion.” By the mid-1990s, Priderelated tourism was huge and the crowds were dangerously large. Odorico recalls one occasion: “There were women with babies out in front of the bar. The parade was over, and everyone was starting to move up Church Street. The women couldn’t move anywhere, so they had to pass their babies to our security and we took them in and let them out the back door.” Queer as Folk gained Woody’s international attention. The show was set in Pittsburgh but shot in Toronto, and Woody’s was one of its bars. Woody’s was also used as another bar for the show, called Moosie’s, for which they had to alter the exterior. “A lot of people would come and get their picture taken on the front steps. There was also bus tours, where
An ad announcing the opening of Woody’s that ran in Xtra #129, released June 29, 1989.
30 years of Headlines: Our very own festival Toronto’s first independent lesbian and gay film and video festival (Inside/Out) launches Xtra #167, Feb 22, 1991
30 YEARS OF
GENERAL MANAGER DEAN ODORICO
you’d get taken to all the places on the show,â€? Odorico says. Woody’s was such a hit that during the late 1990s its beer sales were among the top ďŹ ve in the entire province. In addition to helping shape Church Street and its ongoing contributions to charity and local organizations, Woody’s was very important in the early 1990s as a place to ďŹ nd other guys. Before online dating sites and smartphone apps, people mostly had to go to bars and clubs to hook up. With changing social media and increasing social acceptance, many people have moved away from the Village and queer-speciďŹ c venues, but Woody’s remains popular. Odorico is happy with many of the changes that have occurred: “At one time, gay bars were the centre of the universe for gay people, and they’re still important, but it’s okay to be gay now, and I’m glad to be whatever small part of [the community] we are. I love when I see two guys walking down the street holding hands. That wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago. It’s beautiful to see the acceptance.â€? Woody’s will celebrate its 25th anniversary this summer, and while the date and party details are not yet ďŹ rmed up, Odorico says it will involve some kind of “look backâ€? at the long history of this queer landmark.
I N S I D E O U T F O U R - PL AY S C R E E N I N G S ER I ES
Reaching for the Moon (Flores Raras) ROBERT G.COATES,
B.SC, LL.B, TEP BARRISTER, SOLICITOR & NOTARY CERTIFIED SPECIALIST (ESTATES & TRUST LAW)
Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s provides the stunning backdrop for Reaching for the Moon, which chronicles the passionate yet tempestuous love affair between Pulitzer prize-winning American poet, Elizabeth Bishop, and Brazilian architect, Lota de Macedo Soares.
VALERIE A. CHANG, B.A., J.D. BARRISTER & SOLICITOR
Best Feature Film Audience Award - 2013 Toronto LGBT Film Festival & 2013 Frameline Film Festival. Outstanding Dramatic Feature Film Audience Award - 2013 Outfest Film Festival **Portuguese with English subtitles**
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12 7:30PM TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. W.)
R.G. COATES ESTATE LAW P.C. 120 Carlton Street, Suite 307 Toronto, Ontario M5A 4K2 Tel. (416) 925-6490 Fax (416) 925-4492 web: www.rgcoates.com email: robert@rgcoates.com email: valerie@rgcoates.com
E
1981
Single Tickets - General $12 | Members/Seniors/Student ID $10 For more details or to purchase tickets online, visit:
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At one time, gay bars were the centre of the universe for gay people, and they’re still important, but I’m glad to be whatever small part of [the community] we are.
SI N
y’s
BT 4 LG AL 201 V O , I T T 1 ON FES NE R U TO ILM O J F 2T 2 AY M
History Boys appears in every issue of Xtra.
The AIDS Memorial The AIDS memorial committee announces a design for a permanent memorial Xtra #175, June 21, 1991
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John Brac, %(G 2&7 06: 56: www.growingheart.ca XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 13
9MJ =YWF 9TZHM (JQJGWFYNSL ^JFWX NS 5WNSY 2JYWTQFSI 2JINF ,WTZU NX YMJ UWTZI 5WNSYJW TK =YWF Contact Steve Renaud for your printing requirements: srenaud@metroland.com or 416-493-1300, ext:204 FSC certified products available upon request
We would like to express our sincerest congratulations on your 30th Anniversary. You have inspired our community for 30 years. You have displayed exceptional courage and determination in the face of resistance and adversity. You have helped, educated and guided those around you. This accomplishment is something that you should take great pride in. We truly appreciate the opportunity to have been a small part of your success, and we wish you another 30 years of prosperity.
BeneďŹ t from Our Strategies U 877-362-5500 U www.consultinghouse.com 14 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Lesbian porn bust The OPP charges Glad Day, queers charge back Xtra #197, May 15, 1992
30 YEARS OF
All Photos of xtra issues by Adam coish
The little paper that could
Thirty years. Where to start? How to begin to convey the impact that Xtra has had over three decades of activism and journalism? Digging through the stacks of editions in our archives, I’m looking for the “search” function to help me tell the story of this one-of-a-kind publication. But there are no shortcuts, no filters, just pages and pages of old-fashioned paper and ink, assembled with hard work, resolve and plenty of laughs. continued next page •
School gays, school gays The Board of Education introduces gay-positive curriculum Xtra #201, July 10, 1992
XTRA! March 6–19, 2014 15
• continued from previous page
I joined Xtra as a designer in 1994, and the job instilled in me a lifelong passion for editorial design. Although I left in 2001 to broaden my work experience, a little part of me always remained at Pink Triangle Press. When I returned in 2011 as creative director, I felt like I was coming home. A lot has changed in the publishing industry since Lucinda Wallace, circa 1998, I started that first job nearly two decades ago; like with the same “press-day face” any publication today, the print edition of Xtra faces that she has today. increased competition for eyeballs and ad revenue. Our revamped website, dailyxtra.com, is breaking all sorts of PTP records, in terms of both readership and advertising sales. But it’s not always an effective tool to convey a picture of what is going on at a given moment in time. We can’t go back and read xtra.ca as it appeared when it was launched in 1998 and, quite frankly, who would want to? Websites don’t age well. Digital files, coding and hyperlinks can become fractured and obsolete as time passes. And yet here are these old Xtras, exactly the same as the day they rolled off the press, if a bit yellowed. Each provides a striking snapshot of what was happening in queer culture at the time. For all the speed and efficiency that online publishing promises, there is still a permanence that only print provides. And there is still a demand — our pick-up rates are close to 90 percent, remarkably high for a “niche” publication. The future is uncertain, but at PTP there are a few things that can be relied on: The constant deadlines. The resolve to tell the stories that matter to us. The opportunity to work with wonderful colleagues who believe in what we do — and to have a lot of fun while we do it. It’s nice to be home. Lucinda Wallace is the creative director at Pink Triangle Press. She was the advertising designer and then production manager of Xtra from 1994 to 2001.
Special delivery Maureen Phillips I was acquainted with Xtra from its early days, of course, but things took a serious turn in 1986 or 1987: my relationship with the paper got very hands-on at that point. You see, I got to deliver the paper to all the bars, bathhouses, bookstores, coffee shops, guesthouses, restaurants, churches (okay — MCC was the only church) in Toronto. Every second Thursday, I would rent a car, show up at the Wolseley Street office, pick up the papers and spend the evening driving around the city on my grown-up paper route. It was great to check out the boy bars; as a lesbian, the concept of a veritable buffet of choices when it came to bars and clubs wasn’t something I was familiar with. Back in that particular day, if you wanted to hang out with a lot of lesbians, you could go to the old bar or you could go to the new bar, provided it was still in business. The fact that there were specialty bars for men — denim, leather, butch, dance, piano, pubs — was nothing short of astonishing. Running in and out of the gay bars was fascinating for me, and the arrival of the new issue of Xtra was certainly hailed as an event, especially at around 7 on Thursday night. I was happy to provide that small highlight, but I certainly hope that it wasn’t the highest point in the evening. For me, the highlight was always dropping off the paper in the bathhouses; there was almost always a hilarious comment from a guy who was checking in — and it wasn’t about my package, I can assure you.
the arrival of the new issue of Xtra was certainly hailed as an event, especially at around 7 on Thursday night.
A portrait for Maureen Phillips’s book review column, Lesbian Lines. Jake Peters
16 March 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
Maureen Phillips delivered Xtra between 1986 and 1988. She wrote a monthly book review column for the paper from 1991 to 2008 and was a board member from 1993 to 2012.
aN Xtra timeline
1984 In January, Pink Triangle Press (PTP) gives birth to a four-page bar rag called Xtra. Intended as a promotional tool for The Body Politic (TBP), as well as a way to reach more people (and a different audience) than TBP ever could, Xtra soon outstrips its parent in advertising revenues and, eventually, in circulation.
1986 Sexual orientation is added to the Ontario Human Rights Code. In November, TBP celebrates its 15th birthday, but the collective becomes concerned about its financial health. The collective and staff decide to suspend publication of TBP and keep PTP alive by focusing on Xtra.
1987 PTP forges on with Xtra as its new flagship brand. The collective votes to terminate its own existence shortly after appointing president and collective member Ken Popert as interim publisher of Xtra. Popert remains president and executive director of PTP to this day.
1988 In February, Xtra moves to 484 Yonge St and reaches a circulation of 17,000 28-page copies. The Dec 30 issue includes, for the first time, a year-end AIDS memorial page called Proud Lives, an idea picked up from Vancouver’s former Q Magazine. It later becomes a regular feature.
Coming out on a cover Brad Fraser On March 30 it will be exactly 30 years since my play Wolfboy opened at Theatre Passe Muraille, starring a young Keanu Reeves, who, unlike the rest of the cast (which included Carl Marotte, Joanne Vannicola, Beverly Cooper, Shirley Douglas and Bob Collins), was not all that great. Lovely boy to work with though. Xtra interviewed me and put me on the cover of the pamphlet-sized tabloid that was inserted inside The Body Politic. It was my first appearance on the cover of anything and I was thrilled. Sadly, the show was an enormous flop, got terrible reviews and made me no money. My boyfriend at the time turned out to be a steroid-fuelled asshole. I lost my job at a then-popular restaurant in a dispute over the tip pool. The writing on the wall seemed clear; Toronto was not the place for me. So after three years of living here I pulled up stakes and retreated back to my home town of Edmonton to reevaluate my life — vowing never to return to Toronto, a vow I kept for nearly 10 years. During that time in Edmonton I decided I should probably come out to my mother. (I wasn’t in the closet at all and hid nothing; I just hadn’t told my family yet.) At lunch I dropped the bomb. Mom picked at her salad, looked surprisingly calm and said, “I know.” I was shocked. “How do you know?” Mom said, “One of the gay guys at church told me. Apparently you people have some magazine for gays that you were recently on the cover of.” And that was that. So thank you, Xtra. You’ve never been perfect, but you’ve always been important to the community. You’ve featured me on a couple of covers, you’ve done a number of stories on me, you’ve printed a great many stories by me and they’ve all been helpful to my career and my life. But, most of all, thank you for saving me that painful conversation with my mother. I appreciate that more than anything else. Here’s to another 30 years.
thank you, Xtra. You’ve never been perfect, but you’ve always been important to the community.
Brad Fraser is an award-winning Canadian playwright. He has contributed to Xtra at various times over the years, including the column Fraser’s Edge, which ran from 2012 to 2013. Xtra #2 (top) featured Brad Fraser on the cover and was published on March 17, 1984. Above, the ad for Wolfboy, that appeared inside, showing Carl Marotte and Keanu Reeves about to engage in a kiss.
3o years of Headlines: Equal, at last An Ontario human rights tribunal rules that gay and lesbian partners are in ‘conjugal relationships’ Xtra #205, Sept 4, 1992
30 YEARS OF
1989 In June, for Pride Day, Xtra sports its first fullcolour cover, on 18,000 48-page copies.
Fighting for our rights David Walberg The bloodstained sidewalk at Church and Maitland marked the spot of the vicious attack for days to come. My friends and I were strolling up Church one night when we stumbled upon the source of the blood — freshly spilled from a gay man, beaten to a pulp and cocooned by a quickly assembled crowd. The attackers were still on the scene. My friends and I leapt into action, blowing whistles as we pursued them. It was a time when so many gaybashings plagued the Village — then known as the Gay Ghetto — that many of us carried whistles. Others joined community patrols and roamed the streets at night. I caught up with one of the alleged bashers and a minor scuffle ensued, resulting in each of us charging the other with assault. The first story I would write for Xtra was an account of the assault trial. The charge I had laid was meant to be a placeholder for the real bashing. We postered the neighbourhood and ran announcements in Xtra, but the victim did not surface. The whistles in question had been distributed by Queer Nation, a group formed locally by maybe a score of us, a group that quickly attracted hundreds to meetings and demonstrations, thanks in no small part to coverage in Xtra. I had been with the paper only a number of months at the time, but Ken Popert graciously offered the use of Xtra’s production facilities, including its photocopier and paper supplies, for our efforts. Xtra was the paper of record for Queer Nation’s activities, and not always uncritically, as the group became mired in political correctness and hierarchies of oppression. But Xtra was also a valuable resource for the group, playing the role of both Top, David Walberg and his backer and critic in a way that defines our particular friend Bruno at a Queer Nation demo, circa 1990. Walberg’s long brand of advocacy journalism. with PTP began I was acquitted of assault; my combatant received involvement with a story he wrote for Xtra a sentence of community service. And to this day, #175 (released on June 21, 1991, I do not know the identity of the bloodied man on pictured above) and continues to this day. the Church Street sidewalk.
The whistles in question had been distributed by Queer Nation, a group that quickly attracted hundreds, thanks in no small part to coverage in Xtra.
David Walberg is the CEO of digital media at Pink Triangle Press. He began working at Xtra in 1989 as the production assistant.
November sees the premiere of XS, a supplement to Xtra with lesbian author Jane Rule on the cover. The supplement runs 43 issues before being discontinued in 1993.
1990 PTP enters the world of audiotext (telepersonal chatlines), eventually creating Xtra’s Talking Classifieds and Cruiseline. The Church Wellesley Review, a showcase for new lesbian and gay writing, debuts as a supplement to Xtra.
1991 PTP turns 20. The Dec 27 issue of Xtra is 22,000 40-page copies.
1992 In Toronto, demonstrators block Yonge and College streets after Glad Day Bookshop is charged with obscenity for carrying lesbian sex mag Bad Attitude. With June Rowlands as the new mayor, the City of Toronto finally proclaims Pride Day. The crowd for the subsequent party numbers 100,000.
The coolest job Sonny Mills 1984. Oh my god. Or, as the kids say today, OMG. I had the coolest job at The Body Politic, was living in Chris Bearchell’s House of Lesbian Porn and had my first serious girlfriend. She was in the army. Not fucking kidding — I’ll tell you about that sometime. Whatever that building is now on the southeast corner of Bathurst and Queen that used to be the Big Bop was the Holiday Tavern, the strip joint I hung out in on my lunch hours. The dancers seemed to enjoy their dyke regulars: we were good tippers and weren’t there to objectify the ladies. Sometimes we’d tell them to put some clothes on because they looked chilly. My job was to organize the events listings (which I assume takes a team now) and to come up with little entertaining bits for Xtra, The Body Politic’s new one-page free bar rag that we had started to try to generate some advertising income. Basically, I was getting paid to stalk Lorraine Segato. I wasn’t a writer yet. Man, I got away with some dumb shit. Thank goodness I had lots of artist friends whose gigs desperately needed free press, especially since my personal goal was to make sure lesbian events got space. Ken Popert once said to me, “How come every time Beverly Bratty sneezes she gets her name in the paper?” My understanding is that Ken is still an ass. The Xtra experiment worked. That “bar rag” generated both income and interest, and the collective had to make the sad decision to close TBP and concentrate our efforts on the new publication. Congrats to everyone who made it through all these years. Not all of us have! My thoughts on this anniversary are with Chris Bearchell, Rick Bébout, Paul Baker . . . the parties are less fun without you. PS: By the time this is published, my tits’ll be gone.
My job was to organize the events listings . . . and to come up with little entertaining bits for Xtra. Basically, I was getting paid to stalk Lorraine Segato.
Sonny (Sonja) Mills started as a volunteer at The Body Politic in 1983 (to meet girls) and was employed in 1984 as an editorial assistant, partly to help facilitate this new Xtra thing. Mills also wrote a column called Dark Triangle — sometime in the 1990s, an even unclearer blur than the ’80s.
1993 Cruiseline gains in popularity, leading to a bountiful year for PTP. Xtra West begins publishing in Vancouver in July, Capital Xtra in Ottawa in September. PTP also expands its audiotext division to serve gay and lesbian people in the nation’s capital.
Top, Xtra #13 from Sept 1, 1984 featured a story by Sonny Mills (then Sonja) about the Parachute Club. Above, the portrait for Mills’s column, Dark Triangle, which ran in the 1990s. Jake Peters
Mission accomplished Michelle Douglas wipes out the Armed Forces’ ban against lesbians and gay men Xtra #209, Oct 30, 1992
XTRA! March 6–19, 2014 17
The ChurchWellesley Review
1994 Xtra turns 10. PTP purchases Malebox, the slutty little brother to the Xtra publications.
Jeffrey Round In the fall of 1989, I broached the idea of a literary review at Xtra. My intention was to broaden the paper’s readership by injecting culture into the politics and news items that were then its staples. I was pleasantly surprised when the idea was approved — with curiosity by some, but with gusto by others, particularly advertising rep Colin Brownlee and then-designer David Walberg, later the paper’s editor (who won a design award for the 1992 edition of the Church-Wellesley Review). Wanting to launch the review with pizzazz, I invited author Timothy Findley to write an introduction. When I contacted him, he seemed wary. He and his partner, Bill Whitehead, were volunteering at Casey House, not far from the Xtra office. I decided to pop over with co-editor Peter Hawkins for a chat. Findley was courteous but non-committal, which brought out my persistent side. I told him of my passion for literature and how difficult it was to find publishers for LGBT-themed writing. Somehow, I convinced him. On reading his introduction, I understood his hesitation: he’d been involved in a similar project where the editor’s choices were based on sexual rather than literary merit; neither a prude nor anti-erotic, he was simply disappointed in the writing. Our selections did not disappoint. The issue proved a hit with readers when it appeared on April 27, 1990. Coincidentally, we had founded Canada’s first LGBT-themed literary review. The CWR ran annually to 1999 as a print publication and, in the last few years, branched into an online quarterly (now in Archives Canada). For a decade, we published poetry, fiction, drama and memoirs. Many of the writers, unknown then, have since become favourites. They include Elizabeth Ruth, Brian Francis (see this page for Brian’s recollections on Xtra), Daniel David Moses, Debra Anderson, Jim Nason and RM Vaughan. Others, like Peter McGehee and Gordon Stewart Anderson, would be far better known now had they outlived the AIDS decade. We were also among the first to publish Michael V Smith, Dale Peck, Derek McCormack and Billeh Nickerson. Novelists Paul Russell, Patrick Roscoe, Sky Gilbert and David Watmough, as well as poets Chocolate Waters and Achy Obejas, had already made their marks and we were happy to Above, the cover of the first include them. Church-Wellesley Review, from Subsequent introductions were provided by newXtra #147, April 27, 1990. comers Shyam Selvadurai and Marnie Woodrow, as well as established writers like Jane Rule and Douglas LePan, the latter a two-time Governor General’s Award–winner who came out in his 70s. We had four assistant editors, numerous proofreaders and several designers, each of whom contributed to making the review a continued success right to the end. Until recently, I thought the Church-Wellesley Review was a page from my past. Then, in 2010, I was approached by the University of Saskatchewan to contribute copies to the Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity. Further interest came from the Pride Library at the University of Western Ontario. The requests sent me scurrying to my basement to uncover copies I had diligently stored away, only to find them damaged by mice. I was ultimately able to put together two full collections and the better part of a third, which I completed with a scanner. Happily, these literary footnotes are now available for future-generation fans and historians of LGBT writing.
For a decade, we published poetry, fiction, drama and memoirs. Many of the writers, unknown then, have since become favourites.
Lambda Award–winner Jeffrey Round’s latest novel is Pumpkin Eater. He continues to contribute to Xtra and was the editor of the Church-Wellesley Review from 1990 to 1999. 18 March 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
PTP moves its head offices to 491 Church St on Oct 27 — 23 years, to the day, after the publication of the first issue of TBP. Ontario Bill 167, which would add provisions for same-sex couples to dozens of laws, is defeated in the Ontario legislature, leading to outrage across the province and a 10,000strong protest march in the streets of Toronto.
1996 The audiotext division of PTP branches out to Edmonton and Winnipeg.
Xtra moves from a folded to a tabloid format. Malebox leaves Ottawa for Toronto, getting a facelift and a new name: Canadian Male. It runs for two more years, ceasing publication in 1998. In late October, PTP turns a happy and healthy 25.
1998 Xtra.ca goes live, covering Toronto only.
1999 In September, PTP takes its first tentative steps into interactive web content. Squirtpersonals.com gets its first hit. Xtra conducts its first formal reader surveys.
Letters, lett Outrage, shock, revulsion, anger and sometimes appreciation — Xtra readers have never been shy about letting us know what they think. In 30 years it’s one thing that’s not changed. Here’s a selection of reader letters from the early days of Xtra. Xtra’s first letter
“It’s important to shock people about who you are,” headlines singer Micah Barnes. “His sexual ambiguity is arresting and deliberate,” simpers writer Robert Wallace. The inescapable conclusion, of course, is that Micah Barnes is sexually ambiguous. Maybe, maybe not. It may (eventually) not be all that important. What is important is that a publication of The Body Politic, a “magazine for gay liberation,” once again has printed an interview with a “sexually ambiguous” entertainer. We would be delighted to find writing in TBP or Xtra that questioned the centrality of sexual orientation in our self-definitions — but we don’t think we have yet. Until we do, we’re inclined to read “sexual ambiguity” as “gay is poison in the media market.” How simpleminded of us, how unenlightened, how un-80s. Brian Pronger, Gerry Oxford, David Sanders Toronto, ON May 19, 1984
Declaring Pride Day
Sexual orientation is a private matter. Mayor Art Eggleton City of Toronto 1989 After trying for years to get the City of Toronto to declare a Gay and Lesbian Pride Day, it is an insult to learn that a Muppet Babies Day is declared in Metro Toronto . . . Grow up, Art. Anonymous Toronto, ON 1989
Out of the closet and into the gutter
I am writing to express my concerns about Xtra Issue 145, which clearly showed two naked individuals on the front cover. I don’t think I should have to tell you that this front page was in very poor taste and that I hope this type of photography will not be repeated on the front page in future issues of your newspaper. Chris Korwin-Kuczynski Toronto City Councillor, Ward 2 1990
Shameful Pride
The scene of Pride Day was one of sadness and disgust. Is it a day to don ridiculous outfits and crotch watch? The whole scenario at Cawthra Park reminded me only of a circus show. Is being gay a reason not to be wholesome? Devan A Toronto, ON 1990
For women only
I am sick of reading about door problems at The Rose and the seemingly increasing enmity between lesbians and gay men. Lesbians and gay men do happen to be people capable of carrying on human relationships. Robert Malcolm Toronto, ON 1991 If the men who go to lesbian bars and to designated “dyke nights” were as enlightened and politically correct as they think they are, they’d know that there’s hardly anywhere in this city for women — straight or les-
bian — to go, to be with other women only. Z Sonia Ostrowska Toronto, ON 1991 I am not a feminist. I am an individualist. I am not anti-men. But I really enjoy being able to go to a bar that is filled with just gay women. I am sure I am not the only lesbian who feels this way. M Rogers Toronto, ON 1989 As a lesbian, I am quite aware of the prejudice and misunderstanding straight people have acquired concerning homosexuals. Talking, educating and including the straight people in our community is the only way to relieve this prejudice. How will any of us succeed if individuals in our community are as prejudiced as some heterosexuals? Mickey Harry Toronto, ON 1989
What’s hot
We would like to express our sincerest and deepest appreciation for providing us with such a hot, erotic, mindboggling, clitoris-tingling, nipple-rousing photo of the last issue’s Xtra Hot woman. Two winnable lusting leather lesbos 1991 What I really want to know is this: who is the hunk that had lunch with AIDS Committee of Toronto executive director Steve Manning in the front window of Pints Friday, April 5? Anonymous Toronto, ON 1991
30 years of Headlines: Pat Burns needs coaching Maple Leafs boss says gay men have no place on hockey teams Xtra #224, May 28, 1993
ters, letters Less than burning issues
Sometimes a new label on an old product helps its sales. The terms “sexuality” and “sexual orientation” should be removed from the English vocabulary and replaced with “sexual individuality,” incorporating lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual and transsexual. Paul Clemens Hamilton, ON 1992 I find it troubling that bars such as Woody’s and The Barn now charge four dollars for a bottle of beer. H Gerald Wittenberg Toronto, ON 1992
Moral vision or night vision?
I have personally witnessed (from several inches away) many cases of men ejaculating into other men’s mouths and having anal sex without condoms, in saunas and in parks. After they finished, they went their separate ways — in silence — without even a “thank you.” Charles Fisch Toronto, ON 1992
Reaching out
It is well known within the diverse queer communities that Xtra panders primarily to white, middle-class gay males. Lesbian Youth Peer Support Toronto, ON 1993
Those federal elections will fuck you up
I dreamt I was having an affair with this gorgeous older woman. With, of all people, Kim Campbell. I won’t get into any details, but let’s just say that nature took its course. Last time it was Sheila Copps. Chloe 1993
Beige kettle
I suppose it’s always good in a roundabout way when the global online community gets some press. But in Randal Oulton’s column on the cute “taglines” people on [the] internet append to their online messages, is it really so much to ask that he refer to them by their correct name[s]? They are called .sigs (with a dot), a contraction of .signature, the Unix file name most people’s .sigs are stored under. And to think Oulton exhorts us to “get with the program.” This is the biggest case of the pot calling the kettle beige since letterwriter Brian Mossop called me pretentious. Joe Clark Toronto, ON 1994
Street harassment
I have another suggestion for dealing with assholes yelling from the safety of their cars. Yell back! A friend and I once yelled back, “Suck my cunt!” and “Eat my pussy!” And this to great effect. I’ll let lesbians come up with their own genderbending obscenities. Garth Barriere Toronto, ON 1995
Bar life
The owners of Toronto’s gay bars are self-serving hypocrites. On one hand, they all make a big fuss about raising money for people with AIDS, while they utterly and completely fail to look after the health of any of their patrons, let alone those with HIV. Not one bar in Toronto has even the most minimal of ventilation. This means that high levels of cigarette smoke accumulate. Which in turn means high levels of carbon monoxide and dioxide. Terry Gaudio Toronto, ON 1995
Rainbow flag
Is the rainbow flag now just a bunch of pretty colours and no longer a symbol of diversity — real diversity — and not just the diversity approved by the A-list gays? Stephen Grandison Toronto, ON 1996
I have attended Pride Day for many years and this was the most disappointing display of filth I have ever seen. In our minds, this sort of exhibitionism only adds fuel to the straight community’s ideas of what gay life is actually like. We as proud gay men and women should avoid at all costs this type of foul, vulgar antics. Ron Forster and Tom Jacobs London, ON 1996
Focusing on the family
The traditional married family has been consistently shown to be the safest and most satisfying living arrangement for not only women and children, but for men, too. In fact, it’s in the amorphous web — unfortunately championed by Xtra and much of the activist homosexual community — that most abuse is documented to occur. Judy Anderson, President, REAL Women, Ontario chapter 1996
YEARS OF
2000 Squirt.org, a site that allows gay men to swap cruising tips and tricks, launches.
Pride Week
Pride Week was a blast, eh? But what about commercialism? Whew! Rampant, wasn’t it? How long till we see a luxurious convertible entered in the parade with some cute old coot seated in the back, waving and smiling — and plastered on the side is a banner that reads “Molson’s proudly presents Toronto’s oldest living cocksucker”? Phil Shaw Toronto, ON 1996
30
Xtra publishes a news-flash warning that police have raided Toronto’s Bijou porn theatre. Police charge 18. The charges are dropped months later.
PTP launches a glossy magazine, Go Big. It runs three issues before being discontinued in May 2001. Toronto police raid the Pussy Palace and the Bijou.
2001 Xtra covers samesex marriages at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto.
2002 Xtra covers Marc Hall’s fight to take his boyfriend to the prom; the libel ruling against Toronto councillor Kyle Rae, for comments he made about the conduct of seven police officers during the Pussy Palace raid; and the arrest of seven members of the Totally Naked Toronto Men contingent in the Toronto Pride parade. PTP produces the first season of gay travel show Bump! It airs on PrideVision, a Canadian digital specialty television channel.
2003 PTP joins a consortium of investors in the purchase of PrideVision. The channel is rebranded as OUTtv. The press will eventually build an almost 25-percent stake in the enterprise. Squirt.org becomes a member-paid site.
Ottawa gay couple adopts child Same-sex couples have no status, so only one dad is legal Xtra #226, June 25, 1993
Tea lights and pride Brian Francis I often compare my years working at Xtra to living in an all-gay dorm. There was loud music, lots of drama and dirty pictures posted in the bathrooms. There were a ton of good stories, too. From the erotic masseur who demanded we refund the cost of his classified ad after we accidentally typed that his services included “prostrate” massage to the unsuspecting wives who called to inquire about the Cruiseline charges on their phone bills. You’d think Canada’s premier queer publication would go all out for Pride, but it was the opposite. I don’t know whether we were all so exhausted by the time the Pride issue came out or if Pride was something seen as work rather than play, but there were no big whoop-dee-dos at the office. True, we did have an office party. We’d put tea lights in Mason jars and cover the tables with newspapers. Someone would put on a CD (likely Ani DiFranco). There might be a tray of cheese cubes or, at the very least, a bowl of Doritos. When I look back at my years at Xtra, I’m proud that I was a part of something. It was an exciting time to be working at a queer newspaper. National advertisers were just beginning Top, Brian Francis with then-publisher to come onboard. I remember Absolut com- David Walberg and the Absolut ad missioned us to do their advertising (I played that Francis played a part in. Above, wedding guest in the “Absolut Commitment” Francis and colleague Ali Drummond ad). It was rewarding to be part of something that flee from a monstrous Christie Cameron on the cover of Xtra #356, was constantly in motion, to build a paper every published on June 18, 1996. two weeks only to tear it down and start all over. Maybe this was the reason that our own Pride party wasn’t a big deal. All of us working there — from the editors to the sales reps to the receptionists — were focused on the bigger picture. Pride came around once a year, but it was in our post-Pride lives, after the parade and celebrations, after everyone went back to their usual routines, that Xtra forged ahead.
When I look back at my years at Xtra, I’m proud that I was a part of something. It was an exciting time to be working at a queer newspaper.
Brian Francis is the author of the novels Fruit (a finalist for Canada Reads in 2009) and Natural Order. He worked at Xtra from 1995 to 1998, first as a sales rep and later as marketing coordinator.
XTRA! March 6–19, 2014 19
30 years of covers With 766 issues under our belts, it’s impossible to show
Micah Barnes
Divine
Jennifer f Holliday
The Communards
Don Hannah
#5, May 5, 1984
#28, May 4, 1985
#61, Oct 18, 1986
#67, Jan 3, 1987
#98, April 15, 1988
Marc Leduc
Jane Rule
Wayson Choy h
#266, Jan 6, 1995
#300, April 25, 1996
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Keith h Cole l
#260, Oct 14, 1994
DJ Deko-ze k
Kent Monkman k
#513, June 24, 2004
#547, Oct 13, 2005
20 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
#322, Feb 27, 1997
#354, May 21, 1998
Sasha h Van Bon Bon
Rick Mercer
Mariko Tamaki
#564, June 8, 2006
#598, Sept 27, 2007
#610, March 8, 2008
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Coming out on computer Bulletin board services are creating a hot, hi-tech queer community Xtra #226, June 25, 1993
you all the best covers in one spread. Here, a selection from each year since 1984.
Svend Robinson
Mitchell ‘Mitch’ Bailey
Jack Layton
kd lang
Quentin Crisp
#119, March 3, 1989
#147, April 27, 1990
#184, Nov 8, 1991
#188, Jan 10, 1992
#229, Aug 6, 1993
Patricia Rozema
Thom h Allison ll
Gaill Maurice & Columpa l C Bobb bb
Kelly ll Clipperton l
d’bi d b young
#393, Nov 18, 1999
#415, Sept 21, 2000
#445, Nov 15, 2001
#469, Oct 17, 2002
#489, July 24, 2003
30 YEARS OF
Will ll Munro #753, Sept 5, 2013
Xavier Dolan
Hunter Valentine
Sofonda f d Cox
Kristyn Wong-Tam
#649, Sept 9, 2009
#664, April 8, 2010
#696, June 30, 2011
#730, Oct 18, 2012
The London kiddie porn ring that isn’t Of 37 arrests, only two were charged with possessing child porn Xtra #259, Sept 30, 1994
For more covers, follow us on Facebook at Dailyxtra.
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 21
2004 The Toronto Women’s Bathhouse Committee reaches a settlement with the Toronto Police Service over the 2000 Pussy Palace raids.
Starting out in my writing career Kamal Al-Solaylee I still remember how much I got paid for my first story as a journalist and what I did with the money. For the princely sum of 50 bucks, Xtra’s then arts editor, Gordon Bowness, asked me to write a feature on a book about women and style and the role gay designers played in turning public figures into sartorial icons. For an unemployed, relatively new immigrant — I had been living in Toronto for only about eight months — the money meant a week’s grocery bill plus a satisfying number of pizza slices and falafel sandwiches when I felt like splurging on a meal out. But food be damned. I needed new clothes to help me get laid. The preppy look wasn’t cutting it. Even though my need for sensible winter clothes to get me through my first Canadian winter was greater, sex trumped necessity, as it always did for me. (How I would have loved to end the previous sentence on the present tense — “as it always does for me” — but practicality and lower sex drive came with my soonto-be-over 40s.) I picked up my cheque from the old Pink Triangle Press headquarters on Church Street, deposited it, immediately withdrew $50 and walked to the Gap on Queen Street West, where I had my eye on a pair of khaki pants that I then paired with a hand-me-down black sweater from my roommate’s boyfriend. If this sounds like an immigrant rags-to-riches tale, that’s because it is. Clichés and narrative tropes exist for a reason. That first byline in Xtra in January of 1997 marked the beginning of my career as a journalist (and now professor of journalism) in Canada, and for that I remain extremely grateful to this publication and aware of the role it plays in shaping and reflecting the diverse communities it addresses. I’m always stunned by the number of stories Above, Kamal Al-Solaylee and filmmaker in it that I can’t find anywhere else BH Yael were featured in Xtra #316, Dec 5, 1996, for their perspectives on queer Arab art. in mainstream or indie media. Gay magazines exist for a reason, too. Starting out in the gay press meant never having to write from the closet as a journalist, even when working for a national newspaper. That made me at once cavalier — I often inserted references to The Golden Girls and Barbra Streisand songs in my Globe and Mail theatre reviews that only diehard queens would get and no copy editor ever did — and careful not to be thought of just as a gay writer. The balance between identity politics and personal ambition marked (and still marks) my life as journalist and author. Thank you, Xtra.
I’m always stunned by the number of stories in xtra that I can’t find anywhere else in mainstream or indie media.
Kamal Al-Solaylee, associate professor at Ryerson’s School of Journalism, is the author of Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, winner of the 2013 Toronto Book Awards. He was a regular contributor to Xtra from 1997 to 2003.
22 March 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
The mad old ads In the early days of Xtra, the main advertisers were gay bars and gay-owned businesses. But as acceptance of gay rights increased, so too did companies looking to court the exclusive “gay dollar.” A look back at some of the old ads is almost as evocative as the articles themselves.
2005 Canada fully embraces same-sex marriage, with the passage of the Civil Marriage Act. PTP provides office space and sponsorship for Canadians for Equal Marriage.
2006 PTP purchases long-running US gay publication The Guide, which will later be transformed into a travel-focused publication and transition from print entirely to web in 2010.
Trax nightclub #67, Jan 3, 1989
The AIDS Memorial Committee
2007 PTP produces the first of its ongoing annual Toronto International Film Festival television shows, Out@TIFF.
2008 PTP buys the assets of Toronto’s fab magazine (which it discontinued in 2013). The magazine’s final issue of the year features a cover and interview with Lady Gaga, who subsequently goes on to some success as a pop star.
#195, April 4, 1992
Absolut milestones In 1995, Xtra approached Absolut Vodka about advertising in the publication. At the time, there were few large corporations brave enough to directly target the gay and lesbian market. We proposed to develop a special series of ads based on Absolut’s well-known “bottle” ad campaign. Below, the original marker rendering. Right, the finished ad.
2009 Christopher Skinner is beaten and crushed to death under the wheels of an SUV just blocks from Toronto’s gay neighbourhood. His killers remain at large.
30 years of Headlines: Is Buddies ready for the good times? Premier queer theatre maintains flamboyance in new digs Xtra #259, Sept 30, 1994
Woody’s
2010
#229, Aug 6, 1993
Xtra undergoes a redesign, which includes a new logo.
Moving forward, going global
30 YEARS OF
Jim Bartley Xtra covers the Pride Toronto censorship controversy.
2011 PTP flees its longtime second-storey digs at 491 Church St for a swanky new space at 2 Carlton St.
The Cellar #255, Aug 5, 1994
2012 Xtra undergoes another redesign, moving to a square format.
2013 Black Eagle #264, Dec 9, 1994
PTP launches a new website called Daily Xtra at dailyxtra.com. The new site incorporates the travel site Guidemag into a new section called Daily Xtra Travel. Toronto police arrest several people in connection with the murder of Christopher Skinner, including a five-time team captain for the Don Bosco high school football team who was coached by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
2014 The Absolut Pride campaign was a huge success. They wanted more ideas, so we went back to the drawing board. Since Xtra is often seen in rapidly diminishing stacks around the city, we had the idea of creating a very large stack in the shape of a bottle. Above, the Polaroid test from the photo shoot, featuring staff members as hand models. At right, the resulting Absolut Xtra ad, photographed by Tony Fong.
Anal-sex law overturned Judge rules legislation is unconstitutional Xtra #269, Feb 17, 1995
Mayor Ford attempts to remove a Pride flag that officials had raised at city hall to show solidarity with LGBT athletes and LGBT Russians during the Sochi Winter Olympics. Ford, who has never attended a Pride event, confirms he will not attend WorldPride in Toronto in 2014, noting, “I’m not going to change the way I am.”
I can’t say I’ve been an avid or extensive traveller in my life. If I get on a plane it’s usually to visit a handful of friends in foreign places or do research for a writing project. Starting about 14 years ago, I began a series of trips to the Balkan lands once known as Yugoslavia. That first trip in 2000 presented me with a young man hitchhiking on a rural Bosnian roadside. Even before he got in the car I was 90 percent sure he was gay. Once he was sitting beside me, the shared vibe was unmistakable. As we improvised a lively chat in our minimal facility with each other’s language, he invited me to visit his grandmother in their nearby village. That encounter began my first glimpses of what “gay” means in a place where the only word for it in general use is peder — as in child molester. Our community is spread across the world, but that world is very often not our friend. Choose anyplace anywhere and we’re there, scattered like raisins embedded in a vast cake, our very existence and self-acceptance threatened by heteronormative families and cultures, some fairly liberal, others ranging from censorious to downright horrific. It’s this universal embedding, while being isolated from one’s own kind, that makes sexual minorities unique. It’s also what makes reaching out to one another, knowing one another, so difficult — and so necessary. Nine years after I met Damir on the roadside, Xtra editor David Walberg heard I was about to head off for three weeks in Bosnia. He urged me to write a piece. The timing was right. A handful of Bosnian activists had just managed the herculean and dangerous task of creating the first Queer Sarajevo Festival. The article became the first substantial appearance of Bosnian LGBT activism in Canadian media. More important, it was just a small part of a rapidly growing commitment to international coverage that has arguably made Xtra and dailyxtra.com the North American leader in global LGBT news. Since 2000, stories and mentions of other countries and continents have surged hugely in the pages of Xtra, in print and online. Managing editor Danny Glenwright has been a prime mover in Xtra #711, Jan 26, 2012, featured a cover story this. To pull a few representative num- on gay refugees seeking asylum in Paris. bers: In 1999, we published only one It was just one of the many articles on global issues published both in the magazine reference to Russia. By 2010 we totted LGBT and online in recent years. up nearly 100 for the year. In 2013, the year Putin glowered from the cover of Xtra, we had more than 200 articles about Russia or articles that mentioned it. African news items totalled 110 in 2013; the United Kingdom, 150. In the past five years, more than 1,500 articles have mentioned Africa, Russia and the UK. Similar coverage of other countries, from Europe to Asia to South America, reflects Xtra’s ever-broadening horizons. The heartening trend underscores that among cultural differences, we remain one global LGBT community, in a multifaceted struggle to free our love — just as Toronto WorldPride will demonstrate this June.
Our community is spread across the world, but that world is very often not our friend.
Jim Bartley serves on the board of Pink Triangle Press. He made his debut with PTP as a news and occasional feature writer for The Body Politic in the 1980s. In 1998, he began 11 years as a books columnist for Xtra. He has served on the board of directors of PTP since 2001. XTRA! March 6–19, 2014 23
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30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Gay hustler suspended Ryerson investigates journalism professor Gerald Hannon Xtra #290, Dec 8, 1995
OutintheCity
There are not many gay and lesbian voices in the art world in Ukraine, so I just don’t have the right to be silent. Anna Mikhailova Edailyxtra.com
A shitload of comedy Gavin Crawford’s colon will once again spew forth comedy gems as he performs his solo show Sh**ting Rainbows at the ninth annual Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival. Crawford often performs at standup clubs and festivals, where he’s usually the odd man out with his trademark sketches and character monologues — he’s basically a one-man comedy troupe. “It’s always a little weird to be a lone sketcher in a field of standups, and so it will be nice to be part of something that’s just about sketch,” Crawford says. The festival is an 11-day smorgasbord of performances and parties focused on sketch comedy, which the festival website defines as “any funny performance that is written, rehearsed and performed by a cast of comedians. It’s like Saturday Night Live . . . and no, it’s not funny pencil drawings.” Sh**ting Rainbows has evolved since Crawford performed it at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre for Pride 2013.
He’s been to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe — handing out flyers while “dressed like a chunky Australian girl” — and a lot of wacky things have happened in the world, providing him with plenty of fodder for new material. “One thing I’m working on has to do with these people who are co-opting bullying — like when religious people say they’re being bullied by atheists. There’s something inherently funny in that to me,” he says. “Oh, and there will be hot dancing boys in this show.” The festival will also include a live staged reading of the 1996 film Brain Candy performed by all five members of the Kids in Gavin Crawford ALEJANDRO SANTIAGO the Hall; a panel discussion of the TV show Slings & Arrows, featuring its creators, Susan Coyne, Mark McKinney and Bob Martin; and a performance by British Teeth, the duo that comprises Allana Reoch and Filip Jeremic. — Jeremy Willard The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival runs Thurs, March 6–Sun, March 16. torontosketchfest.com
Celebrating weakness Paul Verhoeven may have the most oddly inconsistent catalogue of any filmmaker in the last three decades. Though he’s the eye behind celebrated films like Total Recall and The Fourth Man, it’s perhaps his worst-received works, Basic Instinct and Showgirls, that went on to be his best known. The twin tales of a bisexual, possibly murderous writer and an ambitious, possibly bisexual stripper form an odd mirror in the effect they had on their female leads. The former saw unknown actress Sharon Stone briefly flash her pubes, igniting an ultimately Oscar-winning career. The latter saw Saved by the Bell star Elizabeth Berkley completely naked most of the picture, tanking her attempt at career relaunch. She ultimately became an advice guru for teenaged girls. But recently, critics are giving these films a second look. “Both have a deep relationship with cinema history,” says Jesse Wente, head of film programs at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and curator of the current Verhoeven retrospective. “Basic Instinct is a film noir, complete with the femme fatale, and Showgirls most obviously recalls All About Eve, which lends itself to critical rethinking. Showgirls is also unique, in that it’s become celebrated for its inherent weaknesses and it’s had a critical rebirth as a result of those weaknesses.” TIFF is a venue known for showcasing the
Elizabeth Berkley gives a good pole lickin’ in Showgirls. PAUL VERHOEVEN
world’s top cinema, so doing a series on Verhoeven could seem an odd decision. But Wente doesn’t see it that way. “It wasn’t a hard choice,” he says. “We’ve been asked to do Verhoeven by our audience on a number of occasions. With the new critical thinking happening around his cinema, it seemed the ideal time to revisit his diverse and remarkable career. There’s still much that could be debated
about his movies, but I don’t think there’s any questioning that, seen as a whole, Verhoeven’s work is fascinating and extremely rich.” — Chris Dupuis Flesh + Blood: The Films of Paul Verhoeven runs until April 4 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St W. Basic Instinct screens Thurs, March 13, at 9:15pm and Showgirls screens Fri, March 14, at 10pm. tiff.net
Broken condom no defence House of Commons considers a bill that would make the transmission of HIV a criminal offence Xtra #292, Jan 4, 1996
The Dowager Countess.
DOWNTON TORONTO While Downton Abbey’s Crawley family struggles with endless historical-eventinspired crises, their clothing — including, perhaps, the outfit worn by Lord Grantham when he stood up for the homosexual Thomas and one of the large purple hats the Dowager Countess wears when going into battle against Isobel — is making its way to Toronto. Built in the mid-to-late 19th century and restored to how it looked in the 1920s and ’30s, the charming mansion known as the Spadina Museum is the ideal setting for a Downton Abbey exhibit. Last year the museum started doing Downton Abbey–themed tours. Museum administrator Karen Edwards explains: “As you went through the house with a staff person, they would link the themes and stories of the fictional Crawley family with the real-life things that were happening in Toronto and at Spadina Museum in the same time period, including the changing roles of women, increased technology and the impact of the First World War.” Linking the museum to the show turned out to be a great way to get people interested in Spadina House and in Toronto’s history. “It operated as a way to start a conversation with people that isn’t very threatening and made people feel like they didn’t have to be history nerds to visit the museum,” Edwards says. The tours were such a success that it was decided to put on a full-blown Downton Abbey exhibit, featuring 20 costumes actually worn in the first three seasons of the show (complete with stains, aka “real Downton Abbey dirt”), period-appropriate dresses and accessories from the City of Toronto collection, and the now-quitepopular themed tours. — Jeremy Willard Dressing for Downton: Costumes from Downton Abbey runs Tues, March 11–Sun, April 13, at Spadina Museum, 285 Spadina Rd. spadinamuseum.streamintickets.com
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 25
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AT KOERNER HALL
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Beating the winter blues Shake off the shame and don a white towel TORONTO AT NIGHT RYAN G HINDS
“Gurrrrl. I need some dick tonight or else imma die!” This was the text I got on a recent Saturday night. My amorous friend was openly seeking sexual congress in a lascivious manner. In vulgar parlance? He wanted to get good and fucked. Seems like he had a bad case of what I like to call February Fever, which is like cabin fever, but with horniness. Post–St Valentine’s Day Blues adds a layer of pressure to pair off, the winter chill starves us all for warmth, and we all want a peek under the parka of that cutie on the streetcar. Just as the best way to get over a guy is to get under one, the best way to get warm during winter is to share body heat . . . and luckily, we live in a sexually open city. Or do we? Back to my frisky friend. He didn’t want to hit a bar or club, and trolling Craigslist would “only bring out the trolls.” He was late on his cellphone bill, so Grindr and Hornet and Jack’d and Scruff and Growlr were not options. I suggested a visit to one of our city’s finer bathhouses and received a pearl-clutching “No! Omg, how could I? I’m not a freak!” Now, remember this is a person who not five minutes earlier needed a man on pain of death, yet the mere mention of a bathhouse turned him into a shrieking sex-negative prude. It always surprises me to learn how many people out there in our nightscape share a similar view. What is it about openly pursuing sex that makes us all blush? Toronto the Good boasts four bathhouses, a couple of queerpositive sex clubs and a bunch of other places where guys can go to get off, all of them perfectly legal. Why should we be coy about enjoying them? Some of the sluttiest (said with love, gentlemen) guys I know are the ones who are most anti-bathhouse, imagining them to be dens of homeless people, drugs and disease, reeking of shame; so, in the name of “research” I convinced my friend to go. He begged me to tag along to one of the bigger bathhouses, where he was greeted by name and was asked if he wanted his usual locker preference. Busted! There is a weird, wonderful, horriblesexy “Orpheus in the Underworld” feel-
Toronto boasts four bathhouses, a couple of queer-positive sex clubs and a bunch of other places where guys can go to get off. THINKSTOCK
ing once you enter. It’s like being in a casino: impossible to tell the time, easy to get lost and no way to tell what’s going on in the outside world. After very quickly losing my friend down a dark hallway, I determined to chat (and only chat!) with a few strangers throughout the night, even though an odd code of silence reigns. Looks, sounds and touching stand in for words here. It’s a social-justice warrior’s nightmare: consent is more often implied than explicitly given, and one person I talked to said, “If I really want a guy, I’ll say no. It makes him work harder to get me, and it’s hot to be chased a bit before giving in.” If you see a celebrity or someone you know or work with (and I’ve seen all the above at bathhouses), it’s de rigueur to pretend that you don’t know each other. Talking, if it must be done, happens in low voices and whispers, á la the library. There are free condoms and safesex info everywhere, and it mystifies me that some people think having sex at a bathhouse is any more or less dangerous than meeting a guy at a bar or online. Most bathhouses also take a hard stance on open drug use on the premises, but as one out-of-country repeat visitor said, “This is my first time being here sober. Weird.” They are also strangely democratic places: although there is some worshipping of worked-out bodies, there’s a Dionysian element of openly enjoying
whatever kind of guy you like. Looking around at who is pairing off with whom gives lie to the idea that gay men go after only versions of themselves: “traditionally” attractive guys get with those who aren’t, guys who may struggle to get picked up in a bar suddenly find themselves being worshipped midorgy, and all manner of age, racial and “type” pairings happen. Whether it’s twink with bear (the slim, lithe twink said, “And no, I don’t have daddy issues; I just like how bellies feel!”), football-gear fetishist with senior citizen, bookish nerd with crossdresser, or someone who isn’t easily classified, everyone either finds someone to like or is that someone getting liked. Sure, you run into the occasional meanerthan-necessary rejection or attitude problem, but welcome to life! Brush it off and chill in the sauna. I never did find my friend again that night, but every single person I talked to expressed a need for connection. Sometimes it was a fun need and sometimes it was a sad need, but connecting with another human being is something we should never feel shame about. Until the weather gets warm again, if you find yourself needing to get rid of your February Fever, shake off the shame and don a white towel — you’re guaranteed to find someone to connect with. Toronto at Night appears in every second issue of Xtra.
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Down with downtown Proposed megacity hurts homos and our habitat Xtra #319, Jan 14, 1997
WHAT'S ON The Wanderers — Buddies, runs until Sun, March 23 TANJA-TIZIANA
HEALTH & ISSUES The 519 Legal Clinic A free, accessible service for lowincome people. Volunteer lawyers provide legal advice, referrals and help with forms and letters. The confidential and private visits are first-come, first-served. Bring any necessary documents. Every Thursday; registration 6–6:30pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org
Bisexual Women of Toronto A peer-support and discussion group focused on community and solidarity. Thurs, March 6, 8–10pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. torontobinet.org
FTM Support Group Trans men share their experiences in a supportive environment. Takes place the first and third Friday of each month. For more information, contact ftmtoronto@yahoo.ca. Fri, March 7 and Fri, March 21, 7:30pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. the519.org
SOY Monday Night Drop-In Queer youth ages 14 to 29 gather to watch movies, participate in art projects and special workshops, and seek the support of Supporting Our Youth’s community mentors. For more info, contact jcaffery@ sherbourne.on.ca. Every Monday, 5:30–8pm. Sherbourne Health Centre, 2nd floor, 333 Sherbourne St. Free. soytoronto.org
LGBTQ Newcomer Youth and Allies Arts Fair FOR MORE EVENT LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM
COMEDY & CABARET Paul Bellini’s Liar Liar Pants on Fire Guests tell dubious tales, and audience members are challenged to decide whether the stories are true. Thurs, March 6, 7:30pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. No cover. pubaret.com
Nice Girls Benefit An all-female singing and standup extravaganza, featuring Lucy Conte, Jana Peck, Annie Bradley and more. All proceeds go to Anduhyaun Inc, a shelter for aboriginal women. Sat, March 8, 7pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $10 advance, $15 door. pubaret.com
Gay Trivia Drag divas Gina Hamilton and Bunni Lapin host a night of outrageous trivia and fabulous prizes. Every Tuesday, 9pm. O’Grady’s, 518 Church St. Free. ogradyschurch.ca
Queer Cab Queer youth 25 and under have five minutes each to flaunt their special talents — anything from drag to juggling — at this monthly
open-mic. Wed, March 12; 7:30pm sign-up, 8pm show. Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. PWYC. buddiesinbadtimes.com
120 Wednesdays Standup comedian Mandy Goodhandy presents a weekly open-mic comedy night. For more info, contact toddklinck@gmail. com. Every Wednesday, 8pm–1am. Club120, 120 Church St. No cover. club120.ca
GAYMERS TOG Board Games Night This month’s featured board game is Ticket to Ride, with a host of other games also on hand, including Resistance, Candy Land and Settlers of Catan. Sat, March 8, 7pm. Glad Day Bookshop, 598 Yonge St. $6. torontogaymers.ca
Play Again? Gaming geeks gather to play Super Mario and Tetris on a big screen, as well as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Galaga and Frogger. There are also such board games as Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Every Tuesday, 7pm– 2am. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. Free. henhousetoronto.com
An afternoon of food, music and art for queer newcomer youth aged 13 to 24 and their allies. For more info, call 647-529-4211. Wed, March 12, noon–5pm. Oriole Community Centre, 2975 Don Mills Rd.
of horny hecklers. Fri, March 7, 10:30pm–2am. Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. $10, free for competitors. buddiesinbadtimes.com
Feminist Art Conference 2014 Artists, academics and activists come together to consider feminist issues through art. Registration required. Sat, March 8, 11:30am–7:30pm. OCAD University, 100 McCaul St. PWYC–$10. factoronto.org
Queer Slowdance: Early St Patrick’s Gay Edition Butt wigglers set up dances with one another using dance cards, while designated dancers coax out the wallflowers. Sat, March 8, 9:30pm–3am. Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt Rd. $10 admission includes dance-card booklet.
Dressing for Downton: Costumes from Downton Abbey Along with Downton-themed tours of the historic Spadina Museum, fans can view several costumes actually worn on the show. See page 23 for more details.Tues, March 11–
Great Canadian Tease — The Libertine, Sun, March 9 ANGELA MCCONNELL
Sun, April 13, various times. Spadina Museum, 285 Spadina Rd. $25. spadinamuseum.streamintickets.com
Spearhead’s 44th Anniversary Dinner The gay community organization holds its annual dinner. For more info and tickets, contact craig. goodenough@gmail.com. Sat, March 15, 5:30–9pm. Fran’s Restaurant, 20 College St W. $40 advance. spearheadtoronto.com Belle’s Boudoir Burlesque — The Flying Beaver, Sun, March 8 ANGELA MCCONNELL
THEATRE A Beautiful View Daniel MacIvor’s play explores a decade-long, difficult-to-categorize friendship between two young women. Runs until Sun, March 9, various showtimes. Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst St. PWYC–$25. factorytheatre.ca
The Wanderers A father and son escape the horrors of war in Afghanistan, only to be haunted by a mysterious presence that reminds them of the devastation they escaped. Runs until Sun, March 23, various showtimes. Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. PWYC–$37. buddiesinbadtimes.com
Marry Me a Little Songs cut from Stephen Sondheim’s better-known musicals are spliced into a dialogue-free musical about the relationship between a man and woman. Runs until Sun, April 6, various showtimes. Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. $21–53. tarragontheatre.com
The Vagina Monologues Meets The F Word
A peer-led support group for gay men working through substance abuse issues. Takes place the first and third Tuesday of each month. Tues, March 18, 6–8pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. pr2r.org
This sexy, controversial and powerful show combines pieces from The Vagina Monologues and The F Word. Proceeds go to Nellie’s Shelter and the Centre for Women’s Studies and Education. Fri, March 7– Sun, March 9 and Fri, March 14–Sun, March 16, various times. Buddies in Bad Times, 12 Alexander St. $16–26. buddiesinbadtimes.com
LEISURE & PLEASURE
SEX & BURLESQUE
Queer Confessions: An LGBTQ Memoir Reading Series
Belle’s Boudoir Burlesque
Positive Routes to Recovery
Various community members tell their tales, including David Bateman and Ricardo Rodriguez. Takes place the first Thursday of each month. Thurs, March 6, 7pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. queerconfessions.com
Strip Spelling Bee: Set Phasers to Stunning Edition It’s much like strip poker, but it’s a spelling bee and there’s an audience
Police crackdown More police raids force closure of gay cinema Xtra #384, July 15, 1999
Performers Johnny B Goode, Zilly Lilly, Fawn Doe and Belle Jumelles herself warm folks up in Belle’s boudoir. Sat, March 8, 9pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $15 advance, $20 door. pubaret.com
Great Canadian Tease Burlesque Brunch Brunch, followed by something sweet and steamy. Features performances by Mysterion, Tanya Cheex, El Toro and Fionna Flauntit. Sun, March 9, 12:30pm–2:30pm. The Libertine, 1307 Dundas St W. $15. greatcanadianburlesque.com
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 27
CLUB SCENE Thurs, March 6 Coven Diane Obomsawin launches her new graphic novel, On Loving Women. Co-presented by Drawn & Quarterly and The Beguiling. Readings at 9pm, dancing to follow. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Kink 101 Join BDSM players and educators, with free hands-on coaching for individuals and couples/play partners. Floggers, restraints, rope, spanking bench and cages available for use. 9pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com Pussy Party Acid/homo/porno/ techno/T-girl party, with DJs Boy Pussy & Vindik8. 11pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. No cover. beavertoronto.com The Smirnoff Best Chest Contest Georgie Girl and Cassandra Moore perform, then get the men to show their pecs for a chance to win $300 in cash prizes. DJ Mark Falco spins. Midnight. Woody’s, 465-467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com
Fri, March 7 Flying B Friday DJ Jacqie Jaguar spins dance beats for women in Fly’s lower level. 8pm. Flying B, 8 Gloucester St. facebook.com/ theflyingbbaratfly Brighter Days DJ Mike B throws down classic and Chicago house beats, with Lexi Tellings and her gogo boys performing live. 10pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. $5. facebook.com/ waylabarnounge Fly Pop DJ Sumation spins top 40, house and dancefloor faves. 10pm. Fly, 8 Gloucester St. No
cover before midnight, $4 after. flynightclub.com Big Primpin’
Hip hop for homos, with DJs Max Mohenu, Craig Dominic and Phil V. 10pm. Wrongbar, 1279 Queen St W. $5. wrongbar.com Bump N’ Hustle DJs Paul E Lopes and Mike Tull spin soul, funk, house, disco and boogie tunes. 10pm–3am. Rivoli, 332 Queen St W. $10. rivoli.ca The Gay Squad Remix DJ AVS spins house in the steamed-up venue. 11pm. Byzantium, 499 Church St. No cover. byz.ca
Sat, March 8 Belle’s Boudoir Burlesque Burlesque performances by Johnny B Goode, St Stella, Zilly Lilly, Fawn Doe, Audrey Dwyer, Chris Tsujiuchi and Mlle Belle Jumelles. Belle’s Bootie Bounce to follow. 9pm. The Flying Beaver, 488 Parliament St. $15 advance, $20 door. pubaret.com Business Woman’s Special DJs Sammy and Nino Brown spin, with a special drag performance by Tynomi Banks. 10pm. Round Venue, 152A Augusta Ave. $6. roundvenue.com
Hosted by Judy Virago and Igby Lizzard, with performances by House of Filth, Connie Lingua (Montreal) and Matthew Lindholm. 10:30pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $7, no cover in TrAnime drag. beavertoronto.com
Bad Tuck: TrAnime DJs Sarin and Boy Pussy spin for the manga and hentai honeys decked out as their favourite anime characters.
Woody’s Sunday Hollywoody Broadway Show, co-hosted by Scarlett Bobo and Sapphire Titha Reign, with Truvy Robbins, at 6pm; Old School, hosted by Georgie Girl, with Michelle Ross and D’Amanda Tension, at 9pm; Five Smokin’ Hot Divas, hosted by Georgie Girl, with Devine Darlin, Sofonda Cox, Cassandra Moore, Katinka Kature and DJ Blue Peter, at 11pm. Woody’s, 465-467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com
Mon, March 10 Drag Race Viewing Party Scarlett Bobo and Daytona Bitch host a dinner and bitchfest every Monday, with Bradley serving up food and libations. 8pm. The 8th Deadly Sin, 6 Gloucester St. No cover. the8th.ca Singular Sensation: A Musical Theatre Open Mic Amateur crooners perform their favourite show tunes with a live band every Monday night. Hosted by Jennifer Walls. 10pm–1am. Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover.
NightCubbing — Henhouse, Sat, March 15 ANDREW AWESOME
Tues, March 11 Play Again? Geeks and gamers plug in for the weekly games night, featuring Nintendo on the big screen, an arcade game table and classic board games. 7pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com
Wed, March 12 Toronto Drag Kings Tyler Uptight, Cameron, Kenny and Chase Manning perform in the weekly drag-king show. 11pm–2am. Zipperz/ Cellblock, 72 Carlton St. No cover. facebook.com/zipperz
KRIS STEEVES
28 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
monthly for this puppy-play event. Bring your own pup hoods, squeaky toys, collars, tails and leashes (limited gear available to borrow). No dress code. 9:30pm. The Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com
Jockstrap DJ Neill MacLeod spins for beefcakes and jocks; hosted by Dale C and Chris Munro. 11pm. Marquis of Granby, 418 Church St. $10. marquisofgranby.ca
Crews & Tangos Thursday DJ Craig Dominic in Tangos, and Vocal Rehab karaoke, with Elyse, in the Zone. 10pm. Crews & Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com
Go Hard: Glamity DJs Blackcat and Pleasure spin old- and new-school reggae, soca, R&B, hip hop and mashups. 11pm. Harlem Lounge, 67 Richmond St E. $10 until 1am, $15 after. harlemrestaurant.com
Fri, March 14
Sun, March 16
That Time of the Month DJs Alex and Devon spin feminine soul and R&B grooves. 10pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com
Lesbian Tea-Dance Hang out with the sweethearts for an afternoon delight every Sunday. 4–7pm. Flying B, 8 Gloucester St. facebook.com/ theflyingbbaratfly
Cub Camp DJs Nita Aviance (NYC) and Scooter McCreight spin for the hairy boys. 10pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $7. beavertoronto.ca
Sweat DJ Blackcat spins house, new disco and top 40 remixes for the Spearhead Toronto LDSC party. 5–10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com
The Dirty Hustle The DJ spins hiphop dance beats for the west-end crowd. 10pm–2:30am. The Steady, 1051 Bloor St W. No cover. facebook. com/thesteadycafebar
Sat, March 15
Rock & Retro DJ Chris Steinbach spins, while Lee turns the Bad Boy Prize Wheel. 8pm. Woody’s, 467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com
Fit — The Beaver, Sat, March 15
JAMES LOURENÇO
Sun, March 9
Bush Beat DJ Shoegayz and Pony spin for the ladies’ dance party. 10pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com RVM Rave Factory DJs Shok, Paul Savage, Edwin Somnambulist, Saiyan and Sprout spin hardstyle, dirty electro, industrial and jump beats. Recommended theme wear: rave, glowsticks, gas mask, chem suits. 10pm–4am. Club120, 120 Church St. $5 before 11pm, $10 after. club120.ca
Big Primpin’ — Wrongbar, Fri, March 7
Thurs, March 13 Pup Night Pups, handlers, spectators and dirty dogs gather
Men of Steel St Patrick’s Day Celebration More than 25 hot men will strip to their shillelaghs for the Kiss Me, I’m Irish night. 5pm–2am. Remington’s, 379 Yonge St. No cover before 8pm, $10 before 11pm, $15 after. remingtons.com Trade DJs The Carry Nation (NYC) and residents David Picard and Scooter McCreight spin deep, tech house for the bearded bad boys. 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. $5 before 11pm. blackeagletoronto.com NightCubbing DJs Andrew Awesome, dyslexia and Fforeplay spin house, disco, electro and remixes at this one-off event for bears, boys and furry friends. Performances by ladybear extraordinaire Fay Slift and House of Filth’s Nancy Bocock. 10:30pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com Fit DJs Kris Steeves and Phil V spin sweaty beats alongside Donnarama, in her Beaver debut. 10:30. The
Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $5. beavertoronto.com
Fooftastic Karaoke Foofer hosts the east-end singing and dancing event. 10pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. No cover. facebook.com/ waylabarnounge
Wed, March 19 Club120 Wednesday Open-mic for comedians, magicians, illusionists and burlesque performers (show up before 8:45pm), hosted by Sasha Van Bon Bon and Rob Testa and featuring a performance by Mandy Goodhandy. 8pm. Club120, 120 Church St. $8, $5 guest list (toddklinck@gmail.com). club120.ca
Trade — Black Eagle, Sat, March 15 INKED KENNY
Mon, March 17 WAYLA’s ’90s Trivia Night Kaleb Robertson and Miss Fluffy Soufflé take turns hosting the retro quiz event, with dance moves, audio clues and more. 7pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St W. No cover. facebook. com/waylabarnounge, kalebrobertson.ca Luck of the Irish DJ Green Peter spins to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. 8pm. Woody’s, 465-467 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com
Tues, March 18 Dinner and Drag Race House of Filth hosts a viewing of RuPaul’s Drag Race, followed by Untucked and finishing with a live performance. 9pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com
Submit your event listing to listings@dailyxtra.com. Deadline for the March 20 issue is Wed, March 12.
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Happy not horny How party drugs are changing the gay club scene Xtra #401, March 9, 2000
where words & music meet
creature to creature A 21st-century Bestiary March 16, 3:30 pm & March 18, 8:00 pm Trinity St. Paul’s Centre tickets $35/$25/$15 CPY PGGJDF q VPGUUJY DB
www.taliskerplayers.ca
Volcano presents
A BEAUTIFUL VIEW By Daniel MacIvor
Starring Becky Johnson and Amy Rutherford Directed by Ross Manson Presented in association with BeMe Theatre, Munich
Factory Studio Theatre $25 full price $20 students, seniors & arts workers PWYC March 4
#news #arts #travel #events Everything gay, every day.
DAILY dailyxtra.com
Rock out Will Munro and Miss BarbraďŹ sch slather you with Vaseline Xtra #402, March 23, 2000
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 29
DEEP DISH
1
BY ROLYN CHAMBERS PHOTOS BY TONY FONG & ROLYN CHAMBERS
BlackKnight SAT, FEB 15 @ THE COURTHOUSE
Ever had cop-porn flavoured popcorn? Neither have I, but it would really be a perfect complement to the events unfolding around me at Courthouse. The cruising, the whispers, the stares, the drooling: it’s all worthy of its own HBO reality series — Real Leathermen of TDot County. Aside from an unfortunately small coat check, Montreal’s Fétiche Armada’s first Toronto party, BlackKnight, is a big success, bringing out meaty men from both cities. And from in between. “I wanted to say ‘hi,’” Joe from Ottawa says, shaking my hand as I eyeball his crotch. “I always say hi to the one or two other black guys who come out to these events.” And here we all are, gathered in our finest leather, rubber and fetish wear. But I have always found that having a leather party in a sterile, pristine environment like this makes me feel like I should be buying Tupperware over tea. The leather community needs to find a space worthy of its (and my) kinky outfits. A leather party should not be held in the same space where filmfestival parties take place and 905ers start fights as a result of roid-rage. But this is Toronto, and we have horrible liquor laws that limit our venue choices. At least this one allows us to scope out men (including the yummy yellow-Speedo guys) from the second-floor balcony as DJ Jack Chang spins or cozy up to the stage to drool over pornstars Dirk Caber and Jesse Jackman (who, by the way are married — damn) or smell the leather as it flogs willing backs. Some more buttery lube on your cop-porn popcorn? This is the good part. 1E Dirk Caber & Jesse Jackman 2E Real leathermen of TDot County 3E Dirk Caber & Jesse Jackman at it again 4E DJ Jack
Badass Bitches of High School SAT, FEB 22 @ THE BEAVER
Ever had dark-meat-flavoured chicken breast? Neither have I, but it would indeed be an interesting mixture. Kind of like the combination Ryan Arthurs is giving us at his birthday-party blowout at The Beaver tonight. With his new three-foot-long dreads, this little white boy is pulling off a Milli Vanilli. Tonight’s Badass Bitches of High School party is a combination of his high-energy crew and regulars who have no idea that a birthday party of Mean Girls proportions is about to be thrown down. Drink up, losers, we’re going snorting! While snorting drinks with party photographer Sarah Clayton Nesbitt, party poster-boy Simon David and resident Beaver cutie Robin Sharp, many important world issues are discussed, including this: “If you have spacers, by law you should always be required to wear them.” “Because if you don’t, your ears will look like saggy vaginas?” “Exactly. Illegal!” And this: “If you’re gonna get ghetto, please have some coin in your bank account.” “Otherwise you’re not ‘getting’ ghetto, you actually are ghetto?” “Exactly. Trash.” This, of course, all happens while DJ Aeryn Pfaff plays eclectic tracks that perfectly soundtrack our worldly observations, like Danny Elfman scoring a Tim Burton film. This is also before birthday boy Ryan is led onstage and serenaded by the talented Miss Barbie Jo Bontemps, whose mega-song mashup culminates with Riskay’s oh-so-jaunty “Smell Yo Dick.” Does it smell like dark-meat-flavoured chicken breast? That’s the best part.
2
3
4
5
6 8
5E Glammy, Ryan & Barbie Jo Bontemps 6E Ste & Matthew 7E Ameena & Simon 8E Igby & Cody 9E Kathryne & Kai
Chang & organizer Ghislain Rousseau Deep Dish appears in every other issue of Xtra. For this week’s Xposed column, by Anna Pournikova, visit dailyxtra.com. 30 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
7
9 30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: I do Commons passes historic bill Xtra #540, July 7, 2005
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EDITION!
Love’s frontier Brokeback Mountain braves dangerous terrain Xtra #551, Dec 8, 2005
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XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 31
A world of gay adventure
Travel
Catrinas & cliff diving Courting la muerte in Mazatlán BY NATASHA BARSOTTI
Blanch-faced, dressed to the nines and ornately adorned with plumage, flowers and sugar skulls, las Catrinas sashay along Mazatlán’s crammed Plaza Machado to frenzied drumming, piercing trumpeting and firecrackers. The pleasantly macabre signature characters of the annual Dia de los Muertos move among the sea of humanity that converges on the central plaza to jumpstart the carnival in honour of beloved departed relatives and friends, flirtatiously thumbing their noses at death or delighting in it. The image of La Catrina, skull and bones wrapped in fine period fashion and elaborate head-wear, is associated with turn-of-the-20th-century Mexican illustrator José Guadalupe Posada,
whose satirical work provided sharp commentary about race, making fun of Mexicans who aspired to be European in appearance and culture. But it was artist Diego Rivera who took Posada’s image and turned her into “an icon of Mexican-ness,” geography professor Juanita Sundberg says. “That was what his work was about, creating this idea of a Mexican national identity, situated in its pre-Columbian and folk roots. He is reportedly the one who called her La Catrina.” As Posada and Rivera have demonstrated, the Catrina image can be leveraged to make an array of statements, political and otherwise. From the sidewalk patio of the Plaza Machado’s bustling Pedro y Lola restaurant, I wonder if I’ll see any genderbending Catrinas. I don’t have to
wait long to spy one or two amidst the promenading heteronormative calavera (skull) couples, some rushing — plastic cups in the air — to catch up with the burro-drawn carts of free beer that the “bartenders” are dispensing hand over fist. “You can see how the image would lend itself to drag. It’s supposed to be all about playing with costume and playing with your identity. That’s what Posada was talking about, even though he wasn’t commenting about gender identity or sexuality,” Sundberg says.
The dead are very much part of life, and they have it made, at least on the first two days of November — Dia de los Angelitos (Day of the Innocents) followed by Dia de los Muertos, the day of KFENGLER
32 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Hot town DJ Blackcat kicks up Caribana a notch Xtra #591, June 21, 2007
Clockwise from far left: literally throwing caution to the wind, cliff divers plunge into the churning waves; a freshly painted gravesite at Panteón El Quelite, to the northeast of Mazatlán; this Catrina couple joined hundreds who took to the Plaza Machado and surrounding streets for the annual parade commemorating Dia de los Muertos; a panoramic view of Olas Altas beach. NATASHA BARSOTTI
remembrance for adults who have died. Walk into restaurants, artists’ studios, businesses or homes and altares de muertos (altars to the dead) are front and centre, decorated with banderillas (small flags), bread of the dead, tequila, fruit, skulls of sugar and clay, and specific effects treasured by the deceased. In Mazatlán’s historical centre, the storefronts of flower shops, some almost three generations old, are a riot of blooms, including cempasúchil — otherwise known as the Mexican marigold — touted as the ideal flower to adorn loved ones’ final resting places. As Dia de los Muertos approaches, the panteones (cemeteries) are anything but sites of sadness and regret to be avoided. They are a flurry of preparation and anticipation: children run in and among the graves, which have been swept, weeded and given fresh coats of paint. Entering the cobblestoned, colonial city of El Quelite, about 40 kilometres northeast of Mazatlán, a handful of families are in vigil mode in the local panteón, patiently awaiting the arrival of recent or long-gone loved ones whose favourite foods, drink, books and other personal items are laid out to entice them to a celebration of their lives. “It’s about saying, ‘We honour the dead.’ It’s saying that our dead are with us, and we memorialize them,” Sundberg says.
The seeming absence of fear of the hereafter, or of mortality itself, extends into everyday life.
Situated along the six-and-a-halfkilometre seawall, Olas Altas, is a 14-metre rock where cliff divers literally throw caution to the wind that whips around its height and crevices. Below, the churning waves submerge and expose the rocks below. Timing is everything, the story goes. As the waves come in, there is ideally just over two metres of water to execute a safe, head-first dive. Absent the “right” wave, the depth is a little more than a metre. A mini-figurine of Mary and some flowers are tucked into the mid-section of the outcrop in memory of the last diver who, in 2006, did not emerge alive. It serves as a reminder, but hardly a deterrent, to fellow divers, who carry on — for the right price. Approached at night, both rock and diver are shrouded in darkness, except for the fiery flares the latter brandishes to induce takers. Guadalajara-born Mario Gonzalez Aguilar, 76, first flirted with cliff diving in 1962. He has taught almost every diver in Mazatlán the tricks of the trade. While he stopped diving — for health reasons —four years ago, he is eager to take the plunge again. Perched on a ledge on the landward side of the cliff he has mastered, Aguilar, with pet iguana astride his left shoulder, shrugs off questions about the risk of his profession and rejects any notion of fear. He has no logical answer to give. It’s just his life and a way to make a living.
NATASHA BARSOTTI
SQUAWK7984
Homo Milk Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk biopic Xtra #628, Nov 20, 2008
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 33
A world of gay adventure
Travel
California’s Pacific Coast Experience the Golden State’s natural wonders ROB SALERNO
San Francisco and Los Angeles may be among the world’s top LGBT travel destinations, but there’s much more to California than The Castro and West Hollywood. With its lush scenery, sparkling blue ocean and quirky seaside towns, the Pacific Coast Highway route between these two cities can form the spine of a wonderful adventure on which journey is the destination. The highway takes many different names along its route — Route 1, US 101, Coast Highway, Shoreline Highway, Cabrillo Highway — but by any marker it’s one of the most scenic drives in the United States. The best approach is by car, allowing for stops along the way. Experienced cyclists can conquer the route by bicycle. In both cases, travelling south is the best option — you’ll get better views, and the wind will be in your favour. By car, you can complete the trip in a day, but give yourself two or three to make the most of stops along the way. Your journey begins before you leave San Francisco. The iconic Golden Gate Bridge is a part of Route 1, and the best way to experience its 2.7-kilometre span is on foot or by bicycle. For a different perspective, hop aboard a Blue & Gold Fleet cruise at Pier 39, on which you’ll learn the history of the bridge’s construction while passing underneath it. Back on land, indulge in the touristy shops and restaurants along the pier. Make your first stop on the road at Año Nuevo State Park, in San Mateo County, home to a colony of marine mammals, including elephant seals, sea otters and sea lions. The best time to visit is from December to March, when the seals arrive for mating season. Hordes of tourists come every year to watch the males fight for dominance and the females give birth. (Reservations are strongly recommended.) A more casual elephant seal refuge is further south, near Piedras Biancas Light. You’ll see signs for a lookout over a cliff down to the seal colony. 34 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
Bixby Creek Bridge, in Big Sur, is one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world.
The highway bypasses the Monterey Peninsula, but it’s worth turning off to visit Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row, a street of repurposed factories named for the Steinbeck novel. The nods to California’s maritime history and ecology include America’s only remaining whalebone sidewalk and one of the country’s largest aquariums. On a three-day journey, Monterey or the nearby artist colony of Carmel are good places to spend the night. South of Carmel, you enter Big Sur country, a sparsely populated region known for its stunning views of and from the Santa Lucia Mountains, which rise dramatically from the ocean. On this stretch, the highway alternately runs right along the coast or along sheer cliffs up to 300 metres above the water. Drive carefully — it’s easy to get distracted by the gorgeous vistas. Luckily, there are strategically placed turnoffs to stop and snap pictures. Take note of the picturesque Bixby Creek Bridge, one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world. Halfway through this stretch, you’ll
find the tiny hamlet of Lucia. Meals at the roadside Lucia Lodge are only soso, but the cliffside patio overlooking a crystal-blue bay is a major attraction. Big Sur has little in the way of amenities, but that can be part of its charm. As long as you stock up on supplies — fill up your gas tank before you leave Carmel — the Big Sur River Valley is a great spot away from the bustle of the cities to rent a rustic cabin or pitch a tent for the night. As accommodations are limited in the region, be sure to book ahead. Next on your itinerary is the must-see Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Built by publishing magnate William Hearst, on whom the film Citizen Kane was based, the sprawling 90,000-square-foot estate is a pastiche of styles inspired by — and in some cases, structures imported wholesale from — Hearst’s travels in Europe. The building houses thousands of antiques and artifacts from Hearst’s private collection, which was donated to the state of California after his death. There are several tour options elaborating various aspects of the grounds, including the gardens and the grand rooms.
DAVID ILIFF
South of San Simeon, the highway veers inland slightly to the sleepy San Luis Obispo. Even if you’re not staying the night, stop at the Madonna Inn, a lavishly adorned motel with 110 themed rooms, including Love Nest, Rock Bottom or Cayucos Queen. Check out the rockwaterfall urinal in the men’s bathroom. Wander San Luis Obispo’s quaint downtown, with its pedestrian-only streets. Don’t miss Bubblegum Alley, on Higuera Street, where the walls are lined with thousands of pieces of chewed gum. The town also makes a good base for an afternoon exploring the many small wineries in the Edna Valley. Your next major stop is Santa Barbara, with its well-preserved Spanish colonial architecture and wharf, sandy beaches and luxury attractions. Take in the view from the courthouse tower, check out the brown pelicans at the end of Stearns Wharf, and sunbathe at Arroyo Burro Beach. A few miles west is More Mesa Beach, popular with nudists and gays. You’ll enter Los Angeles County through Malibu, where the highway hugs the beach for the town’s entire length.
Some of the county’s most beautiful beaches are here, as is one of California’s most famous surf spots, Malibu Lagoon. A short drive through Highlands Park will bring you to one of the best seaside views in LA county. From the cliff, you can see as far as Palos Verdes and watch surfers and dolphins below. You’ll enter LA proper via Santa Monica. After your time on the road, it’s worth unwinding in the capital of the gay party scene, West Hollywood. The Ramada Inn WeHo has surprisingly posh rooms right on Santa Monica Boulevard, a stone’s throw from the best gay bars and clubs, as well as Sunset Boulevard’s comedy and music scene. In the morning, make up for your partying with a little history: Out & About Tours offers bus and walking tours of the city’s queer history. From LA, the Pacific Coast Highway continues to Orange County, from which you can head on to San Diego or Mexico. Or you can turn east to explore the inland mountains, deserts and forests. With enough time and a car, the possible routes to explore the Golden State are endless.
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Fighting the criminalization of HIV How punishing poz people is making everything worse Xtra #653, Jan 5, 2009
The Dinah: A five-day lesbian bacchanalia As temperatures in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere continue to lurk determinedly at the cold end of the thermometer, we’re desperately in need of a blast of heat. And it doesn’t get hotter than The Dinah, the world’s biggest lesbian event, hitting Palm Springs for five days of parties, pools, poker, comedy and film from April 2 to 6 this year. What started out as simply a few gay women meeting when the Dinah Shore Golf Tournament came to town grew bigger and bigger with each passing year. In 1991, promoter Mariah Hanson, seeing a golden opportunity, took a risk, booked out a hotel and hired talent — and The Dinah was born. Now in its 24th year, the gargantuan girl extravaganza lures thousands of women to the desert town each spring for what Hanson, who still produces the energetic event, memorably describes as “a five-day bacchanalian whirlwind of lesbian delight.” While some sources put numbers at 15,000 pool- and partygoing women, Hanson prefers not to dwell on figures, choosing instead to focus on delivering the best entertainment possible to however many thousands and thousands descend. “We produce an event that rivals any in the country, straight or gay, which is not always the case with lesbian events. I don’t skimp on entertainment or production. We try to outdo ourselves each year. It’s a good recipe for delivering a five-star event,” she says.
When the going gets tough, the tough find a really nice place to recharge. Some sources put The Dinah numbers at 15,000 pool- and partygoing women. KURFEW
This year, Canadian lesbian heartthrobs Tegan and Sara headline and are responsible for what is set to be the Dinah’s largest audience yet, with a substantial influx of Canadians due to join the hordes. “This year we’ve got a lot of Canadians coming because of our headliners, of course,” Hanson says, “but predominantly, it’s women from the western US states, although we get folks from all 50.” In the last few years, the fame of The Dinah has been spreading beyond
the continent; Hanson credits both word of mouth and the event’s starring roles onscreen. “We’ve had an international audience all along, but the L Word TV shows have definitely been instrumental in spreading the word — both the original L Word when they filmed an episode here in Season 1 and The Real L Word. They’ve now filmed here three times.” — Aefa Mulholland
ON THE WEB More details at thedinah.com.
Saturday gay beach party in Vegas Opened in 1957, the Tropicana is one of the few original hotels remaining on the legendary Las Vegas strip. Now, after a $200 million renovation, “The New Tropicana” resort is promising to revolutionize the day-club experience for LGBT tourists. Starting in the spring (the launch date has not yet been announced) the Tropicana Beach Club will be home to Xposed — the only Saturday gay pool party on the strip. It’s billed as the “ultimate Saturday beach party” for LGBT travellers, promising “sun-kissed go-go dancers, celebrity guest performers and DJs spinning all the latest hits.” “From attending all major-city gay pride celebrations nationwide to hosting Sin City Shootout, the largest LGBT sporting event in the world, and the 2013 launch of TropLV GLAM, we support the community wherever we can,”
says Fred Harmon, chief marketing officer for The New Tropicana. “Xposed is the next phase in our property’s LGBTQ initiatives, and we look forward to providing the ultimate Las Vegas day-club for LGBTQ travellers.” The all-new Tropicana Beach Club features breathtaking waterfalls, palm trees, luxury daybeds and cabanas, alongside two Olympic-sized sand volleyball courts, two heated pools and a high-rise stage for live entertainment. A food menu will feature handcrafted cocktails and light bites. And for Abba fans, starting in spring 2014 (tickets are on sale now), the Tropicana Theatre will be home to the smash Broadway musical Mamma Mia.
Direct flights to…
Like no place else.™
VisitGayPalmSprings.com
Disney World withdraws funding from Boy Scouts of America
ON THE WEB The all-new Tropicana Beach Club. TROPLVGLAM.COM
Protesters muzzled by Pride Toronto Xtra #668, June 3, 2010
More details at xposedlv.com, troplvglam.com.
dailyxtra.com XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 35
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30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Jack Layton 1950â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2011 A tribute Xtra #700, Aug 25, 2011
LOOKING BACK
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Xtra, we give you the first-ever Xtra Hot column, from Issue #134, which hit the streets Oct 13, 1989.
30 YEARS OF
STOREFRONT
BODY BREAK
WITH
Checking in with Jeremy: Week 8 Exercise is all about sex. Well, not entirely. There is a not inconsiderable part of me that wants to get in shape to fit into clothing better — clothing is not made for chubby people — and to defend myself against the violent blunderings of Ford Nation. But there’s another, probably stronger, part that just wants better sex. Just to be clear, I call that part my penis. After six weeks, I’m already seeing improvements in my sex life. I’ve lost about 14 pounds so far, which is enough for my boyfriend to notice, and he frequently grabs my butt possessively while making satisfied animal noises. These compliments cause my confidence to rocket. Which causes my rocket to rocket, too. To be clear, my rocket is my penis. Obviously, he was also attracted to me when I was chubbier, but he supports my efforts to get into better shape — in a very “this is something important to you, so I support you” sort of way, rather than a “you need to lose weight, you bulging dirigible” way — and my changing body is an exciting new experience for him. My increasing physical strength also helps with sexy times. My boyfriend is quite slim, and when we’re rolling around in bed, it’s nice to be able to
Keep things hot while the temperature drops. Bring a little Stag Shop home.
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Jeremy’s increasing physical strength helps with sexy times. EVOLUTION FITNESS
reach down with one arm, lift him and just move him to where I need him to be, rather than awkwardly muttering, “Can you scooch over? Just scooch? Yes, just over there! Fine, good enough.” We’re also making plans for when I’m a bit stronger. One involves benchpressing him; I’m not sure how that
constitutes sex, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out. The other is lifting him into my arms while standing and just sliding into him. Clearly, the slide-y part is my penis. For more information about Evolution Fitness and its team of experts, visit personaltrainerstoronto.co.
Xtra and Talisker Players bring you a chance to win a pair of tickets to Creature to Creature: A 21st-Century Bestiary at Trinity St Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St W, for either Sunday, March 16 at 3:30pm or Tuesday, March 18 at 8pm. To enter, send your name and phone number to contest@dailyxtra.com before Tuesday, March 11. Some restrictions apply. Only winners will be contacted. to contest@dailyxtra.com be
StagShop.com Game changer Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke takes on homophobia in sports Xtra #715, March 22, 2012
XTRA! MARCH 6–19, 2014 37
38 MARCH 6–19, 2014 XTRA!
30 YEARS OF HEADLINES: Victory How we won the battle for GSAs in Catholic schools Xtra #721, June 14, 2012
Out at the Games Russia may not know it, but the Olympics have always been more than a little gay Xtra #758, Nov 14, 2013
XTRA! MARCH 6â&#x20AC;&#x201C;19, 2014 39
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