Xtra, Ottawa's Gay and Lesbian News

SEX AND SCIENCE

MOVE OVER, VAGINAS

Minister turned off by jerk-off video › 8

Here’s The Bullying There’s something Monologues › 17 about England › 23–26

OTTAWA’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

GUIDEMAG TRAVEL

#244 JUNE 7, 2012

SNAPPED

FREE 17,000 AUDITED CIRCULATION

Indie band Hidden Cameras bring their distinct sound to town ›13

FESTIVALS & FUN >13–16

Summer Sizzle

›INSIDE! index

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

COMMENT 4 XCETERA 5 NEWS 7 OUT IN THE CITY 17 XPOSED 21

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Photo by Julianna Harbec.

Summer Solstice – Pride in the 1000 Islands – June 22, 23, 24, 2012

FRIDAY – Rainbow Rendezvous at the Gananoque Inn & Spa. Evening at the 1000 Islands Playhouse (including a pre-show mixer on the deck) www.1000islandsplayhouse.com.

SATURDAY EVENING – Free concert at Joel Stone Park including Jarvis Church, Suzie McNeil and on stage with Circus Orange and their amazing pyrotechnics and acrobatics.

SATURDAY – Spend the day in the islands and take advantage of special kayaking packages, guided hikes, Gananoque Boat Line cruises, shopping or cycling.

SUNDAY (Noon-3pm) – Rainbow Family Day at Joel Stone Park featuring local entertainment and motivational speakers.

For festival updates visit www.1000islandstourism.com or call 1-800-561-1595.

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

Roundup JUNE 7, 2012

#244

dentist

WE CATER TO VANITY Sex worker Monica Forrester talks about her work as part of our feature on sex-related laws. N MAXWELL LANDER

FEATURE

Sex crimes

Canadian law has often viewed sex through a moralistic, Christian lens. With several important sex-related cases before the Supreme Court, from polygamy to sex work, Xtra takes a look at what’s at stake and why we should pay close attention.

›9

NEWS

ONLINE

Masturbation exaggeration

Gay minister vies for top job

A jerk-off video in a sex exhibit at the Canada Science and Technology Museum has been deemed too salacious by Heritage Minister James Moore. The museum edited the collection after Moore’s visit. › 8

Reverend Gary Paterson, of St Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver, is one of 15 nominees from across Canada being considered for the position of moderator. He’s one of three openly gay candidates. › xtra.ca

SUMMER SIZZLE

The Hidden Cameras’ Joel Gibb The gay indie musician calls his group “gay church folk music.â€? The band is headlining this summer’s Westfest music festival. › 13

REGULARS

Comment › 4 Xcetera › 5 News › 7 Xposed › 21 Index › 20

OUT IN THE CITY

COLUMNS

Alison Bechdel

Editorial › 4

One of literature’s most famous dykes to watch out for is back with a new book about her mother. › 17

LISTINGS

VIDEO

Marcus Mojo Recently, Xtra proďŹ led the quadruple threat pornstar. View a video interview with Marcus Mojo from Next Door Studios. › xtra.ca

COVER PHOTO BY NORMAN WONG

Art & photography › 20 Film & video › 20 Health & issues › 20 Leisure & pleasure › 22 Music › 22 Print & readings › 22 Stage › 22

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Comment Censoring sex

GSAs and Bill 13

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XTRA

Editorial Bradley Turcotte

Published by Pink Triangle Press PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF BRANDON MATHESON ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MATT MILLS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR DANNY GLENWRIGHT MOBILE JOURNALIST BRADLEY TURCOTTE COPY EDITOR LESLEY FRASER CREATIVE DIRECTOR LUCINDA WALLACE PRODUCTION MANAGER LESLIE MILLER GRAPHIC DESIGNERS ANDREW TRAN, DARRYL MABEY, BRYCE STUART JUNIOR ADVERTISING DESIGNER ASHLEY CALLA ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR KEN HICKLING NATIONAL SALES MANAGER JEFFREY HOFFMAN ACCOUNT MANAGER LORILYNN BARKER NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER DERRICK BRANCO ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR GARETH KIRKBY DISTRIBUTION & COMMUNITY RELATIONS COORDINATOR CRAIG PALMER CLIENT SERVICES & ADVERTISING ADMINISTRATOR EUGENE COON CUSTOMER SERVICE JOHN WEBSTER ADVERTISING COORDINATOR CASSIDY PHILLIPS

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Luna Allison, Michael Burtch, Matthew DiMera, Jeremy Feist, Sanita Fejzic, David Hains, Jeremy Hainsworth, Andrea Houston, Justin Ling, Aefa Mulholland Issn 1195-6127 Printed and published in Canada. Š2012 Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every month by Pink Triangle Press.

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INBOX

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HE CANADA SCIENCE AND Technology Museum in Ottawa recently bowed to pressure from members of the public and Heritage Minister James Moore and censored an educational show called Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition. The same exhibit ran unedited in Montreal and Regina.

The museum removed a video animation depicting men and women masturbating and upped the age limit for entry from 12 to 16.

Moore said he respected the museum’s independence but didn’t think children under the age of 16 should be exposed to such material without their parents’ consent.

By the time I was 12, the only sex education I had received was one very uninformative class in which the instructor illustrated the proper use of conditioner and deodorant. I vaguely remember a male teacher telling the boys in my class that masturbation was “when you rubbed your penis on the wall.�

Even educators can get it wrong.

Once, my mother did attempt to ask me if I wanted to know anything about sex. I met her noble gesture by saying “no� about one thousand times in an attempt to send her screaming from the room. What she didn’t know was that 12-year-old me had been sneaking encyclopedias late at night, one book at a time, to reference any questions I had about sex and the human body.

I did not want my budding sexuality to intermingle with my parents in any way.

I’m certain there are a handful of kids under 16 who are able to discuss sexuality with their knowledgeable parents without wincing as if they’d just eaten a raw lemon. However, I’m also certain most kids that age would love to be able to visit this exhibit without their parents.

Experiencing the frank and honest depictions of sexuality found in Sex: A Tell-All in the presence of parental units might be even more uncomfortable than sitting through The Talk. (Or as uncomfortable as sitting through an episode of The Talk.)

It is true that studies have shown kids who get comprehensive talks from their parents put off having sex until later in life and have fewer sexual partners. But this exhibit could easily stand in for The Talk, letting both kids and parents breathe a collective sigh of relief.

I’m not trying to discourage parents from informing their kids about sexuality, but there is also evidence that The Talk is frequently inadequate or comes too late.

A 2009 study by The Journal of Pediatrics found that 40 percent of teenagers had already engaged in sexual intercourse by the time their parents sat them down for The Talk.

Some parents are reluctant to have The Talk because they believe that if they mention sex to their child, he or she will immediately run out and bang the ďŹ rst person in sight, which, as we know, is utterly false.

Meanwhile, issues affecting queer teens frequently get left out of sex education altogether, along with abortion and proper condom use.

The exhibit does not address abortion, but it does deďŹ ne samesex relationships and thoroughly explains how to use a condom.

A 2001 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that gay, lesbian and transgender youth who received gay-sensitive instruction reported fewer sexual partners, less frequent sex and less substance abuse before having sex than those who endured traditional sex education classes.

So imagine a few queer 13-yearolds, some mix of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans. When they sit through a traditional sex education class, their speciďŹ c sexual identities will not be addressed. Their parents, most likely, will not know how to discuss issues around sexual orientation during The Talk. Moore is saying these teenagers should not have the freedom to be educated without the awkwardness of having an older person around.

If 12- to 15-year-olds were permitted to enter the exhibit solo, some would snicker; a small number might even be horrified and flee the museum. Yet those who are clamouring to understand their bodies, without sneaking encyclopedias past their parents’ rooms at night, would be thankful that Canada is a progressive and honest country that values their intelligence.

Sex education is a contentious issue, but I believe kids gripped by the unforgiving storm of puberty should have access to all information if they choose, especially when it comes to their own bodies.

One thing we can all agree on: removing an animated ďŹ lm about masturbation is not going to stop kids from doing just that. It’s the one constant not even the minister of heritage can rub out.

Bradley Turcotte is Xtra’s mobile reporter in Ottawa.

www.andrex.ca “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.

LET’S NOT GET DISTRACTed [“Religious Groups Blast GSAs,� Xtra #243, May 10]. This is at the core of this issue: it is the year 2012 and Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic schools are still violating fundamental Charter rights by treating gays as non-persons. Lose the Mississippi-style discrimination or lose the funding. Period. Can you think of any other public service anywhere in the free world that can get away with denying you employment for your skin colour or your sexual orientation? Welcome to Ontario.

Ontario, it’s time to dump this anachronistic BS. If not, then the world ought to know that we are no better than 1952 Alabama, and prospective foreign investment ought to treat us accordingly.

Robert Ottawa, ON

Carleton student FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN Canada is different from the US [“Carleton Student Target of Online Hate Campaign,� xtra.ca, May 24]. It is guaranteed, but with limits.

One of those limits makes it illegal to “publicly incite hatred against people based on their colour, race, religion, ethnic origin and sexual orientation.� This can very well be considered inciting hatred based on his sexual orientation.

Kevin Ottawa, ON

Gaybashings IT’S A TRANSFORMATIVE time we live in [“Stats Canada: Vancouver First Again in Reported Gaybashings,� xtra.ca, May 22].

With my job I have the opportunity to see many different cities. I recently had multiple layovers in NYC, maybe the epicentre for the gay rights movement currently in the States. The energy is different; something has changed. Just walking the streets seemed to have a profound effect on me. It brought back memories from when I was attacked in 2008.

It was a feeling of how far we have come in just a few years’ time. The spotlight on gay rights in America is at the forefront of our collective psyche. Having the president of the United States stand up for gay rights may be the most important thing that’s happened in a generation. It will be a tough road ahead, but we are changing the hearts and minds of the world. I’m proud to be part of it.

Jordan Smith Vancouver, BC

Send your correspondence by mail to PO Box 70063, 160 Elgin St-Place Bell RPO, Ottawa, ON K2P 2M3, email comment@xtra.ca, or log on to xtra.ca and comment directly.

We may edit letters.

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

noteworthy › updates › ephemera

Xcetera

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COVER ART

INSPIRED Bob Staake’s recent New Yorker cover illustration, titled “Spectrum of Light,” was a response to President Obama’s declaration in support of same-sex marriage.

Staake says, “I am honoured to be doing this cover. It’s a celebratory moment for our country, and that’s what I tried to capture. I don’t especially like those rainbow colours, but they are what they are — I had to use them.

I wanted to celebrate the bravery of the president’s statement — a statement long overdue — but all the more appreciated in this political year.”

Sadly, Stephen Harper has yet to publicly state similar support even though gay marriage has been legal here since 2005.

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1. Megan Amram, writer & funny lady @meganamram 2. Tegan and Sara, singer/ songwriters @teganandsara 3. Brandon Wilde, porn actor & model @brandonwildexxx 4. Jack Mackenroth, designer & athlete @jackmackenroth ANSWERS: A4, B2, C1, D3

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BREAKING NEWS › MAGNOTTA TRAIL LEADS TO RACIST WEBSITE › ADAM LAMBERT TOUCHES DOWN IN TORONTO › THOUSANDS MARCH FOR SLUTWALK 2012 MORE AT XTRA.CA

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dispatches › issues › opinion

Upfront NEWS

THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT WE ARE IN AN AREA OF FLUX RIGHT NOW WHEN IT COMES TO SEXUAL FREEDOM. Micheal Vonn › 9

WINNER

Project Acorn seeds bright futures

HAND ME MY LEATHER Alexandru Sonoc claimed the title of Mr Leatherman Kingston 2012 on May 19, in the first-ever MLK contest. DON MACPHERSON

Participation deadline draws near for queer youth camp Bradley Turcotte FOR MANY QUEER YOUTH, THE summer camp experience can sear like sunburn.

If you’re seeking shade from the heat of social pains, Project Acorn promises to be a soothing alternative by providing a safe and liberating summer camp space for young adults to be themselves.

Founded in 2004, Project Acorn is a sister program of the Ten Oaks Project, a weeklong sleep-away camp for queer youth ages eight to 17; Acorn is exclusively for queer youth ages 17 to 24. Both camps were

NOT ONLY ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN, YOU ARE GOING TO LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT YOURSELF AND OTHERS, —Myron Khatheer BRADLEY TURCOTTE PHOTO

created in response to the lack of summer programming for queer youth.

Although Acorn is touted as a camp for queer youth and youth from queer families, attendees will never be asked to state their sexual or gender identity; staff members say the retreat is for everyone.

Acorn’s theme this year is Weaving Our Way, with the goal of entwining participants from varied backgrounds into one complete community.

“This year will take on the old idea of Project Acorn but with a new twist,” says Kamilla Riabko, a member of the

Acorn youth advisory committee (YAC). “We’re all coming from different places but still weaving our way together as one community. That will bring a new and different spark to the magic of Project Acorn.”

Entrants will have the opportunity to attend talks by knowledgeable speakers and workshops that address such issues as queer activism and gender identity, as well as participate in traditional Canadian summer camp pastimes.

When Myron Khatheer first attended Project Acorn, he says, he didn’t know what to expect. “The first year was just so magical. The first day there are such intense emotionally bonding activities that by the fourth day you’ll feel like you’ve known each other forever.”

Khatheer says the experience changed his life. He now works as a YAC member at the camp and urges anyone considering branching out with Acorn to apply.

“A lot of people don`t have a community where they are safe to explore their identities, explore their styles, explore different people or explore their relationships,” he says.

“At Project Acorn it really empowers us to explore, play and have fun.”

Campers are encouraged to challenge themselves but, unlike most summer camps, will never be forced to participate in activities, Khateer says.

“We empower you to take risks because where else are you going to be this safe and this supported? It’s really up to you what you want to get out of it. It’s there for you to engage in. I think it’s the most empowering experience LGBTQ youth or youth from a LGBTQ family can experience.”

The deadline for applicants is Friday, June 1 at 5pm.

Follow the Project Acorn link on the Ten Oaks site to apply. tenoaksproject.org

the deets PROJECT ACORN Thurs, July 19–Sun, July 22 Camp Bonnenfant, Dunrobin projectacorn@ tenoaksproject.org

CAMPUS NEWS

Carleton student target of online hate campaign Student had suicidal thoughts after lack of administrative support Bradley Turcotte OTTAWA POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING an alleged hate crime committed against an accomplished Carleton University student.

Perpetrators manipulated a photo of openly gay undergraduate Arun Smith and created dozens of image macros on the website Quickmeme. The texts the offenders superimposed over Smith’s picture were homophobic, lewd and frequently violent.

John Medeiros, the Ottawa police officer in charge of the force’s diversity and race relations department, could not go into detail regarding the status of the investigation. However, he did say that if police determine the accused did in fact commit a hate crime that person will be charged accordingly. Medeiros acknowledges that some individuals are using legitimate electronic platforms to commit hate crimes.

When Smith first became aware of the memes on April 4, he says, he initially thought they would be simple juvenile jokes. When he viewed the images and saw they dealt with homophobia and sexual assault, his position immediately changed.

“We have had eight sexual assaults over the past few years here at Carleton. This speaks to a greater internet culture; rape and sexual assault aren’t funny. They are never funny,” Smith says.

Although Smith found several allies and supporters on campus, he met with resistance from some faculty members and admits the lack of support drove him to have suicidal thoughts.

“The [Carleton University Students’ Association] vice-president of student life was having none of my frustration. I felt very much like he and another student

A selection of the hate memes created against Smith.

were attacking me, and it caused me to spiral out of control,” he says.

Recognizing that he might hurt himself, Smith called a friend and requested the friend call police as a preventative measure.

“I tied myself down to my couch because the plan was to jump off the balcony.

When the police knocked on my door, I had already managed to untie myself and was halfway to the balcony door,” he says. “If that had occurred, we wouldn’t be having any conversation. But the conversation that would be happening would be very different.”

Ryan Flannagan, Carleton University’s director of student affairs, acknowledges the severity of these crimes and the impact homophobic actions have on gay and lesbian students. He says Carleton

is striving to make next year different.

“Moving into the fall we’re going to get more proactive in terms of talking about cyber bullying, talking about the responsibilities our students have as it relates to being on the internet and communicating with their friends,” Flannagan says. “We’re also looking to do an awareness campaign, specifically, during the fall that talks about these issues.”

When Carleton’s Graduate Student Association (GSA) learned about the memes it immediately issued a statement denouncing any form of homophobia. The GSA’s vice-president of finance, Elizabeth Whyte, says Carleton’s GSA has noticed hateful memes popping up more frequently, and it is something her organization is concerned about, as the memes tend to be harassing, oppressive and intolerant.

Whyte went on to praise Smith for his solid contributions to campus life.

“He’s been a strong advocate for safer spaces on campus and progressive causes.

He’s a very impressive young man,” Whyte says.

Smith has become the campus coordinator for the Canadian Federation of Students’ Challenge Homophobia and Transphobia campaign, a joint initiative with the Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line.

It debuted May 24 with the goal of building a broad-based coalition to understand how best to advance the campaign on Carleton’s campus; the coalition hopes to stage events in the future. The campaign’s main message is that queer students need to fight back against discrimination.

“These are our identities. Our lives are being attacked viciously with violence and hate. It’s not something we can let continue,” Smith says. “Recognize that you are who you are and that’s something to be proud of; it doesn’t matter if people attack you for it — and people will. Not everyone has the capacity to fight back, and I understand that, which is why those of us who do have the capacity to do so have to do it.”

8

Ottawa’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

CENSORSHIP

Masturbation video removed from Ottawa exhibit Heritage minister recommends scitech museum censor educational work Bradley Turcotte AN EDUCATIONAL SEX EXHIBIT AT the Canada Science and Technology Museum has been edited after Heritage Minister James Moore deemed a video animation portraying masturbation too racy.

The display, titled Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition, was conceptualized by the Montréal Science Centre in 2010. Sex was previously exhibited uncensored in Montreal and Regina, where it generated no controversy.

The interactive presentation addresses a variety of topics, including proper condom use, information on sexually transmitted infections and same-sex relationships. It also features floor-to-ceiling photos of nude models and a short film explaining orgasms.

Moore attended a preview of the exhibit along with school board and public health officials. It was the negative feedback the museum received after these previews that influenced the decision to remove the masturbation video and increase the age of admission from 12 to 16. Children under 16 are allowed entry if they are accompanied by an adult.

Another source of contention is a question-and-answer board that addresses anal sex. The question asks participants why so many boys want to have anal sex; the answer informs listeners that anal sex isn’t for everybody, but they should try anal intercourse to see if it is for them.

Olivier Bouffard, media relations officer for the Canada Science and Technology Museum, says that although the museum removed the masturbation video and raised the required age for entry, the question regarding anal sex will remain part of the exhibit despite calls for it to be removed.

“There were a certain number of people who made their views known, unfavourable views of this exhibition,” Bouffard says. “Judging and gauging by the reaction that we got, that’s why we made the decisions we made. The museum stands by those two decisions.”

Bouffard went on to say that the museum has received 100 complaints, versus 60 compliments, regarding the

The Sex exhibit was previously showcased in Montreal and Regina. It runs in Ottawa until 2013.

BRADLEY TURCOTTE

content of the exhibit. Attendance has doubled since the censorship was enacted.

When asked about this issue during a press conference for the 10th anniversary of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, MP Libby Davies criticized Moore’s suggestion that the exhibit be censored.

“I think very simply that if science doesn’t include sex, then what other things are we going to exclude from science?” Davies said. “We’re talking about diversity here today, but certainly sex and science would go together just like any other topic in science. It seems transparently obvious that the scientific world includes sex;

I THINK VERY SIMPLY THAT IF SCIENCE DOESN’T INCLUDE SEX, THEN WHAT OTHER THINGS ARE WE GOING TO EXCLUDE FROM SCIENCE? —Libby Davies that’s what the museum is all about.”

Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition runs at the Canada Science and Technology Museum until January 2013.

LOCAL NEWS

Hubley, OSPN honoured at Community Builder Awards

Balancing breath, mind and body… …in our busy lives ottawamensyoga.ca

Gay Minnesota man beaten after saying he’s gay

The News Roundup.

On xtra.ca.

MORE THAN 900 PEOPLE ATTENDED this year’s Community Builder of the Year Awards Gala at the Ottawa Convention Centre on May 17 to cheer on family, friends and colleagues whose work was being recognized by the Ottawa branch of the United Way. “We’re celebrating 12 organizations,” said Michael Allen, president and CEO of United Way Ottawa. “This group of individuals and organizations and government departments that we’re recognizing cover the waterfront in terms of the way you can contribute and the way you can move issues along.”

The event was on the same day as the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, hon-

ouring, among others, Kanata South Councillor Allan Hubley and the Ottawa Senior Pride Network (OSPN).

Hubley, who lost his gay son, Jamie, to suicide last year, received the Speak Up Award for his work in raising awareness about bullying and homophobia.

OSPN received this year’s Take Action Award for their communitybuilding work, which addresses the social, financial and care needs of Ottawa’s queer seniors. Among other things, OSPN looks at the care and services that these seniors receive — or don’t receive.

— Luna Allison For more on this story, visit xtra.ca.

Mulcair calls for an end to discrimination OFFICIAL OPPOSITION LEADER Thomas Mulcair held a press conference May 17 on Parliament Hill to speak out against discrimination on the 10th anniversary of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

Backed by openly gay NDP MPs Dany Morin, Libby Davies, Philip Toone, Randall Garrison and Craig Scott, Mulcair called upon leaders of all Canadian political parties to set an example by implementing policies that remove barriers that block participation across party lines.

The theme for this year’s anti-discrimination day is sexual diversity in the workplace. Mulcair spoke of his hope that Canadian politics will become more diverse in the future.

Mulcair also cited Egale Canada’s National Climate Survey on Homophobia in Canadian Schools, which revealed that 70 percent of students reported hearing homophobic or transphobic comments while at school.

“LGBT people in Canada face harassment, discrimination and violence. The Statistics Canada report on police-reported hate crimes in 2010 showed that hate crimes based on religion and race had decreased by 20 percent, whereas the rates of hate crimes based on sexual orientation held steady. What’s more important is that these hate crimes show that they are twice as likely to be violent in nature,” Mulcair said.

— Bradley Turcotte

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

SEX CRIMES

Our model, Monica Forrester, talks about being a sex worker on page 11.

N MAXWELL LANDER

Legalunease With an unprecedented number of sex laws facing challenges in the courts, will judges find a backdoor way to uphold the old moral code?

Marcus McCann Lesbian pornographer Susie Bright spoke without notes, off the cuff, pacing the stage of a lecture hall tucked into the basement of a staid, stone building at the University of Toronto.

The ostensible subject was Bright’s recently released memoir, Big Sex Little Death, and her life as a pioneering publisher of the US porn magazine On Our Backs. Just three days earlier, a little further south on University Ave, the Ontario Court of Appeal had released a ruling on the constitutionality of three of Canada’s more perverse sex laws. The Bedford ruling had found prohibitions on bawdyhouses and living off the avails of prostitution unconstitutional but upheld the prohibition on communicating for the purpose of prostitution.

Bright couldn’t resist. How could she? She applauded the decision while acknowledging its limits. She lauded Canada generally — the land of gay marriage and relaxed drug laws — for its sexual freedom.

And while sexual freedom is important in its own right — as in, why should the government tell people what to do with their bodies? — Bright also said it’s a proxy for other kinds of freedoms. If you want to see how seriously a country takes its civil liberties, look no further than its sex laws. When there’s a clampdown on sex, it’s usually a portent of other bad things to come.

Later, in an interview with Xtra, Bright elaborated.

“It’s the first thing to go,” she says. “If you took the whole world, and looked at their legal and public policy and compared them to the general state of democracy in the nation, you would notice that how draconian the society is correlates with the amount of freedom they have to conduct their sexual lives how they want.”

continued on next page ›

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Ottawa’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

Legal unease › continued from previous page

Sex, harm & Canadian courts “There’s no doubt that we are in an arena of flux right now when it comes to sexual freedom,” says Micheal Vonn, policy director at the BC Civil Liberties Association.

Legal and political battles over sex work, polygamy, HIV nondisclosure and abortion could redraw the boundaries of our sexual lives. Meanwhile, our privacy is under attack, Vonn says, making our private sexual lives more open to government scrutiny than ever before.

Canada’s polygamy law illustrates the point. The law is part of a suite of antiquated sex laws — like bans on immoral theatrical performances and sending scurrilous material through the mails.

These laws are rarely used. In the case of polygamy, there hasn’t been a prosecution in 60 years.

But the law has received renewed interest from the BC attorney general over the past five years, as pressure mounts on the government to arrest the polygamous men of Bountiful, BC. The problem is, the law is so broad that gay people in open marriages or straight people who have mistresses could ostensibly be caught. The attorney general asked the BC Supreme Court to rule on its constitutionality.

Justice Robert Bauman’s 300-page decision shows Canada on the razor’s edge. The courts face a tough choice: should they uphold these old, morality-based laws, or should they employ a more secular analysis?

Over the past 20 years, the courts have increasingly turned away from what they call the “community standards test,” a kind of public — read Christian — morality and toward what they call the “harm” test, says Kevin Kindred, a lawyer in Halifax and a volunteer with the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project. The Supreme Court used this model to analyze cases that challenge everything from marijuana to corporal punishment of children.

The results have been mixed. Especially when sexual freedom is at stake, the courts have shown themselves reluctant to strike down laws outright.

Still, at times, courts have criticized the method of their enforcement. For instance, in a challenge to importation bans on SM porn, border guards were chastised for singling out and confiscating gay erotica destined for Little Sister’s bookstore in Vancouver. At other times, they have upheld the challenged law, while redefining its scope, as was the case in the Montreal swingers’ club ruling in 2005.

“In the swingers’ club ruling, it became very clear — and there’s a clear dissent — that any law that regulates people’s sexual liberties, it has to be based on harm,” Kindred says. “That’s progress.

But there are a lot of different ways of looking at harm. There’s a whole lot of subjectivity built into it.”

Because there are many ways to interpret “harm,” courts have a lot of leeway in ruling on sex laws. Courts have found leather and kink harmful to women. They’ve found public performances of sexuality potentially dangerous to children. And in so doing, they’ve upheld laws enacted out of Victorian moralism as being, essentially, good for us.

The polygamy decision follows that trend.

“It was painted as a terrific victory for polyamory, since it carved out an exemption for polyamory.

Bathhouses, bars & the law Gay bars and bathhouses have been the frequent targets of police raids. The Bedford decision declared the bawdyhouse law unconstitutional, which further weakens the provisions used to prosecute staff and customers of bathhouses and makes future raids less likely. In April, the federal government announced it would appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.

— Marcus McCann

However, if you look at the whole decision, it’s far from clear that they are exempted,” Vonn says.

“Even if you agree with the ultimate outcome of the polygamy reference — and reasonable people can disagree about it — the logic of the decision is troubling,” Vonn says. “The court looked at problems with the law and said, ‘That’s okay because we’re protecting the Western idea of monogamous marriage.’”

All of that will weigh heavily on the Supreme Court as it considers prostitution. In April, the federal government announced it is appealing the Bedford case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

We’re at least a year away from resolution from the Supreme Court. Another challenge to the sex laws — a BC case — could also play a role.

The Bedford case also underscores the limits of winning change from the courts, according to Patrizia Gentile, a Carleton University professor and co-author of The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation. After all, Bedford decriminalizes sex work for those who can afford to work from hotels or from home.

The law most often used to target street-level sex workers — communicating for the purpose of prostitution — was upheld.

“When we have human rights successes, or what are perceived as human rights successes, what we often don’t realize is that it only affects sectors of our communities,” Gentile says.

And that means that lower-income queer, trans and minority sex workers will continue to face the brunt of enforcement — which is already the case.

The failures of the missing women’s inquiry, with its focus on street-level sex work and indigenous women, underscore this point.

Another contentious case — called Mabior, which asked the court to reconsider prosecutions for partners who don’t disclose their HIV status before having sex — was argued before the Supreme Court in February. A decision is due in the next few months. It will likely address whether HIV-positive people who use condoms or who have low viral loads are required to disclose their health statuses to partners. If they don’t disclose, they could face serious assault charges, some of which carry maximum sentences of life in prison.

The court could go either way. But its decisions on HIV nondisclosure and sex work — as well as an inevitable, eventual challenge to Canada’s polygamy law at the Supreme Court — could prove a tipping point. Will Canadian courts reject sex laws unless they cause demonstrable harm, or will they find backdoor ways to uphold the old moral code?

Harper’s war on sex Meanwhile, over the past five years, Parliament has had a constant diet of new sex laws to consider.

Indeed, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delights in teasing voters with new and stronger forms of sexual regulation, if only as a way to torment the opposition.

Lest we forget, when Harper was elected prime minister in 2006, he faced seemingly insurmountable challenges. Chief among them was the reality of a minority Parliament. He was forced to either cooperate with the Liberals or browbeat them into submission. He was also confronted by his socially conservative base.

Their desires clashed with middle-of-the-road voters, who feared another culture war and who

Legal

WILLING PARTICIPATION PPUBLIC PU UBBL UBL UB BLIC BLI LIC ICC SE SSEXUALITY EXU XUUA XUA UAL ALI AL LIT ITY TYY Dancing

Cruising

Swinging

Private sex clubs Video booths Porn cinemas

Bathhouses

Nudity in some situations

On-stage sex acts

EEXCHANGE EX XXC XCH CCH CHA HAN HA ANG AN NGE NG GEE OF OF MONEY M MON MO OONNE NEY NEY EY Making, selling & buying porn Hooking & escorts

AAGE GGEE

Body-rub parlours

Buying unrated porn

Non-exploitative madams

In-calls*

Private fantasy material with underage Teens taking characters photos of themselves

Sex between teens of similar ages

KIN KINK KIN INK INKK

Sexual fantasies Vanilla sex

Sex toys

BDSM

Chastity belts

Piss play

Scat play

Poppers Orgies

HEA HEALTH HEA HE EAL EAL ALT LTH LT THH

Poz people who have sex that is not “a significant risk of serious bodily harm” or who disclose their HIV status first

* While the Bedford ruling struck down the bawdyhouse law, it does not take effect until spring 2013.

were so important to a future majority victory.

And finally, Harper had to contend with his own undisciplined and shallow caucus, many of whom were agitating on divisive issues such as gay marriage and abortion.

Drafting new sex laws solved all these problems.

After all, with new “protections” always a few votes away, opposition could be framed as sympathy for the perverts. Meanwhile, his socially conservative base — and caucus — could be rewarded in a way that middle-of-the-road voters could tolerate (and would ultimately reward). Moreover, unlike NDP and Liberal platform planks such as childcare or the Kelowna Accord, which cost money, passing new criminal laws doesn’t affect the budget bottom line, at least not immediately.

It’s just one symptom of a hyper-partisan Parliament, says Casey Oraa, political action director for Queer Ontario, and it’s not going away.

First, Harper raised the age of consent, from 14 to 16, over the objection of youth groups, Planned Parenthood and CLGRO, the predecessor to

Queer Ontario. Age of consent was renamed “age of protection.”

It was followed by a barrage of anti-immigration bills: two anti-stripper bills (2008’s C-17 and 2009’s C-45) were introduced but floundered; however another bill, framed as the cure for human trafficking, passed later that year.

The Conservatives followed up with the measures that ultimately formed the backbone of C-10, the omnibus crime bill. It imposes new mandatory minimum sentences for some sex crimes and makes it harder for those convicted to have their records suspended.

“It comes from a socially conservative angle,” Oraa says. “They use marginalized groups, groups on the fringes, as scapegoats. It’s typical.”

In April, Conservative MP Joy Smith successfully navigated a private member’s bill through the House of Commons that would add sex trafficking to the list of extra-territorial offences that Canadian police can investigate abroad. Police — whose budgets are already stretched thin — were

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Four women at Toronto’s Brunswick Tavern sing “I Enjoy Being a Dyke.”

Police are called and the women are charged with obstruction of justice.

Police raid Montreal’s Sauna Aquarius, charging 36 patrons under the bawdyhouse law.

Montreal’s Club Baths and Neptune are raided. Police take the Neptune’s 7,000name membership list.

A Montreal gay bar, Truxxx, is raided.

Nearly 150 people are arrested and subjected to mandatory testing for sexually transmitted diseases. The next night, 2,000 Montrealers take to the streets in a noisy, tense protest.

Police raid the Barracks in Toronto, arresting 28.

In the wake of the raid, the Right to Privacy Committee is established to fight the charges.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

11

Further reading on xtra.ca

Illegal

SEX WORK

UNWILLING PARTICIPATION

Adult incest Sex with a dead body Sex with animals

Sexual assault

Nudity in other situations

Human trafficking

Meeting a minor online for sex Publishing stories or drawings of teens having sex

Selling porn to minors

Sex between a teen and a person in a position of trust

Creating porn using actors under 18 or who appear to be under 18

ABORTION Catholic students asked to support motion to criminalize abortion bit.ly/Jsnint

Taking the temperature of the nation

Porn that is “degrading” or “dehumanizing” Importing some BDSM materials Importing videos of people pissing into mouths, vaginas or assholes

Some information varies by province. Not intended as legal advice.

given no extra resources to conduct such investigations, so the bill may have more to do with optics than justice.

And it’s optics — symbolic politics, according to Oraa — that are driving another private member’s bill. In May, Parliament had the first hour of debate on Conservative Stephen Woodworth’s private member’s bill that calls for a special committee to discuss when life begins.

An incremental approach to reopening the abortion debate was also put forward by Conservative Ken Epp in 2009, when he proposed that killing a fetus should be a distinct crime from killing a pregnant woman.

“Religious lobby groups are being heard and are being invited to the table,” Gentile says. “There has been a real mobility of the religious right in a way that we can’t ignore.”

Politicians, hemmed in by partisan politics, a squeamish electorate and socially conservative lobbyists, can turn too easily to sexual regulation as an easy win.

Supremely intimate: Canada’s top court could change the way you have sex bit.ly/y79Drz

An odd thing happened. Political commentators, opposition politicians and the public didn’t buy it. Instead, Toews was chastised for going too far — for trying to stifle debate with childish name-calling.

“Happily, people went nuts,” says Vonn. “They said, ‘We’re not going to take that label.’”

Lorne Gunter wrote in the National Post that Toews “confirmed civil libertarians’ fears” about lawful access. Andrew Coyne referred to the “general climate of hysteria” in Ottawa. In an unsigned editorial, the Calgary Herald described Toew’s comments as “absurd, insulting and offensive.”

The Vancouver Province declared itself “disgusted” with the bill.

For the first time in recent memory, Canadians refused to accept a sex-panic narrative to justify an intrusion into civil liberties.

Exploitative pimping

Communication for the purpose of prostitution

Poz people who don't disclose their HIV status before having sex that is “a significant risk of serious bodily harm”

POLYGAMY BC court upholds polygamy ban, says polyamorists should be free to have multiple relationships bit.ly/KDHl4B

HIV CRIMINALIZATION

NATURISTS Ontario judge upholds public nudity law: ruling won’t affect TNT!Men or Pride bit.ly/zirAWu

THE VILLAGE Bringing sexy back to the Church St Village: is Toronto in the midst of a sex boom? bit.ly/JNfjmr Note: URLs are case-sensitive

Coercion

“Public indecency”

Sex with someone passed out from choking

Federal government to appeal Ontario sex-work ruling bit.ly/Kyobdl

“It’s such an easy, infantile distraction,” Bright says. “They may have terrible economic practices, they may be facing corruption charges, there may be problems with the justice system, but just start shouting about children watching something shocking on television — it’s very juicy.”

Strains of resistance But not always. The Conservative government, long accustomed to justifying its agenda as a war on perverts, in February tried to frame debate on an internet surveillance bill in similar terms.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, in response to a question from Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia about the lawful access bill, retorted that the MP could “either stand with us or with the child pornographers.”

Legal analysis of sexual freedom takes you only so far. One can be free to engage in sex but still remain inhibited — because of social codes or other societal pressures.

“I don’t want to overemphasize the effect of the state and the law in the way people live their lives,” Kindred says.

Oraa and Gentile agree. Education, popular media, policing and the intersection of sexuality with gender identity, race and income all have a huge effect on how free people are to express their sexuality.

Moreover, even during crackdowns on sexuality — when the morality-based laws are strictly enforced — people find ways to resist, Gentile says.

“Our communities are really resilient. No matter how disciplinary or regulatory things get in the legal or social context, our communities are really resilient. We will always find pockets — or larger projects — where we can empower ourselves. Our communities constantly resist,” she says.

So what about Bright’s invocation of sexual liberties as the canary in the coal mine? For Kindred, the litmus test is not sexual regulation, but whether or not there is active opposition to it.

“The level to which a society is prepared to resist the regulation of sexual liberties is a good barometer for the sophistication of the civil liberties cultures generally,” Kindred says.

If so, the country’s reaction to the internet surveillance bill may be a good sign, Vonn points out.

“It’s really about dusting off our hands and saying, ‘We have work to do,’” Vonn says. “We have serious work to do.”

Lady Justice speaks up Monica Forrester still loves being a sex worker.

During her 30-year career, she has seen the industry change from a street-based world of fear and shame to a job she works with pride.

After her Xtra cover shoot, Forrester talked with Andrea Houston about the legal fight facing sex workers and her place at the front of the local movement.

Forrester has worked for Black CAP and Toronto’s 519 Church St Community Centre and is currently the community engagement coordinator at Maggie’s Sex Worker Action Project. In 2003, she led the first ever Trans Pride Toronto contingent, an organization she founded.

“In the ’80s there were no transfriendly spaces. Everyone would go to the street to meet up and engage, talk and socialize. There’s far more awareness and visibility for trans people now.”

XTRA: What is the single most important demand that sex workers have?

MF: Decriminalization. We want recognition by the wider public that this is a valid form of work . . . It’s legitimate, and people are being drawn to it. You can set your own hours. There is a dangerous side to sex work, but there are many jobs people take on a risk. That’s exactly why this is so important. We need safety. We need the system to work. We need to know we can call police when needed or have a security guard with us when needed. We need to know we can work in clean, safe spaces or within our homes without the fear of being charged.

How can we, as a culture, stop looking at sex work with a moralistic lens?

So much of the problem is religion. For sex workers, and everyone, acceptance is really important. When you have family that accepts you, nothing else really matters. That’s something that a lot of sex workers lose. They lose their community because they can’t talk about it. And it’s usually because of religion.

Some sex workers want to hold on to their culture and religion, but they don’t feel welcome in their church or ethnic-specific communities. So that’s really hard. So many sex workers never go home.”

— Andrea Houston

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1981

1996

1999

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2004

Police raid the Hot Tub Club in Toronto’s fledgling gaybourhood.

Police raid four Toronto bathhouses in one night, arresting more than 250 men as found-ins at a bawdyhouse. Gays riot, igniting the political consciousness of Toronto’s gay community.

Police raid Remington’s, a Toronto strip club, to stop Sperm Attack Mondays, an evening in which the dancers jack off on stage.

Police arrest 19 men at the Bijou, a Toronto porn bar. They are charged with committing indecent acts because of the bar’s glory holes.

Nine male police officers raid a women’s bathhouse event in Toronto. They lay charges for liquor licence violations. The organizers, a feminist collective, fight the charges and win.

Police in Calgary raid Goliath’s, a bathhouse, and charge owners, managers and staff with keeping a common bawdyhouse.

An investigation sparked by a post on a gay cruising website leads Hamilton police to raid the Warehouse Spa and arrest two patrons.

12

Ottawa’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

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Will Canada get gender-neutral passports?

PASSPORT CANADA IS CONSIDERING changes that would allow Canadians to make their passports gender neutral, according to documents obtained

by La Presse.

The gender identities Canadians list on their passports became a subject of interest after Transport Canada introduced new rules last year, effectively banning transsexual or transgender people from boarding airplanes in Canada.

“An air carrier shall not transport a passenger if the passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents,” the regulations read.

Allowing Canadians to reject the labels “male” and “female,” it seems, would be a way around this issue.

Australia, which lets citizens list “X” as their gender, has already made that move.

Right now, the only way Canadians can change the gender listed on their passports or birth certificates is to undergo sex reassignment surgery and submit proof to the government. That’s discriminatory, say trans activists, and it excludes a broad section of those who have changed their gender identity but do not wish to undergo surgery.

The documents obtained by La Presse do not contain any details of the proposed changes, saying only that there may be some.

— Justin Ling

Vancouver first in gaybashings again

common-law couples will now be liable for half of all the family debts of their partner, including credit card debts, incurred from the time they started living together until the time they separate.

“There was a legal and personal distinction between the choice to be married and the choice to remain unmarried,” Dahl says. “What they’ve done now is taken that all away.”

Dahl stresses that aside from the changes to common-law relationships, the act is largely positive. He points to the act’s redefinition of who can be called parents, specifically accommodations that have been made for families using assisted reproduction.

— Matthew DiMera

VANCOUVER REMAINED CANADA’S capital for reported gaybashings in 2010, despite an overall 18 percent drop in hate crimes in Canada’s biggest cities and a drop in gaybashings of 5.6 percent, new Statistics Canada numbers show.

While Toronto had more individual gaybashings than Vancouver — 35 compared to 30 — Vancouver’s percentage of gaybashings out of the total number of hate crimes was more than twice as high.

“Any hate crime is disturbing,” says Vancouver West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, “but to see statistics [like that] is really disturbing.”

In other parts of Canada, Ottawa reported 15 gaybashings, Montreal 13, Edmonton seven, Quebec City five, Calgary five, Hamilton four and Winnipeg one.

Overall, Canadian police services reported 178 hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2010, compared to 188 in 2009, 159 in 2008, and 71 in 2007.

Sexual orientation accounted for 15.5 percent of all reported hate crimes in 2010, ranking third after race/ethnicity and religion.

Though a lower percentage, compared to previous years, of gaybashings in 2010 were violent, they were still more likely to result in physical injury than other types of hate crimes.

— Jeremy Hainsworth

BC’s new Family Act redefines common-law

Box Office: 613 925 5788 www.stlawrenceshakespeare.ca

RECENT CHANGES TO BC’S FAMILY law will have unexpected consequences for many queer commonlaw couples, warn two local lawyers.

Under the new Family Law Act, there will no longer be any difference between married people and common-law couples in BC, according to Vancouver family law lawyer Dennis Dahl.

Once common-law partners have lived together for two years in a “marriage-like relationship” they will have an automatic half interest in all property accumulated during the relationship and in the increase in value of all property brought into the relationship.

Additionally, both married and

For more on this story, visit xtra.ca.

Anti-bullying bill moves to final reading THE ONTARIO LIBERAL GOVERNment’s Accepting Schools Act passed the committee stage on May 29 and moved to a third and final vote at Queen’s Park.

The bill was recently amended to ensure that schools in the province, including Catholic schools, must allow students the option of choosing the name gay-straight alliance (GSA) for support groups.

For the past month, the standing committee for social policy has been looking at two anti-bullying bills, Bill 13 and the Progressive Conservatives’ Bill 14. During two days of clause-byclause reading of Bill 13 on May 28 and 29, PC education critic Lisa MacLeod became visibly upset when several of her motions to include portions of Bill 14 were defeated. She says Bill 13 has sent a “chill” through religious communities.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo says she was “disgusted” by the testimony of some groups and takes offence at those who claimed to speak for all religious people.

Mississauga Catholic student Leanne Iskander, whose demand for a GSA at her school in March 2011 sparked a provincewide student movement, was thrilled that Bill 13 is in the home stretch.

“It means schools won’t be able to censor our identity anymore,” she says.

— Andrea Houston For more on these stories, visit xtra.ca.

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

Summer Sizzle

Ottawa area festivals & fun

13

An Xtra Special Section

HOT TICKET Hidden Cameras to headline Westfest

“I’m planning a show. Some music.

Some musicians.

I’m going to sing and jump around.”

— SINGER JOEL GIBB The Hidden Cameras are bringing their classic sound to this year’s Westfest on Friday night.

NORMAN WONG

Luna Allison

T

HE HIDDEN CAMERAS are about to install themselves in Ottawa.

This powerhouse ensemble of horns, vocals, strings and, more often than not, go-go boys, is headed up by gay indie musician Joel Gibb and will be headlining at Westfest 2012.

Gibb does everything from the songwriting to the cover art and has put his quirky, queer stamp on the group from the get-go.

Although it has been active since 2001, Canadian shows by the self-professed “gay church folk music” group have become more of a rarity since Gibb moved to Berlin almost seven years ago. While the Hidden Cameras have put in appearances here and there over the past few years, this summer marks the group’s first Canadian tour since releasing Origin:Orphan, their acclaimed fifth CD, in 2009.

“Every time we tour Canada, we tour in November for some reason,” Gibb says, laughing. “So, I was like, we should do a summer tour of Canada. I think that would be a lot better.”

The tour kicks off in Ottawa at the city’s biggest outdoor multidisciplinary arts festival, Westfest, where the Hidden Cameras headline on the Friday night of the weekend-long event.

While Gibb is remaining pretty tightlipped about what he has planned for the Westfest show, he promises a fun romp for Ottawa fans.

“I’m planning a show. Some music. Some musicians. I’m going to sing and jump around,” Gibb says playfully. “We’ll do lots of different material. One new song, perhaps. Don’t really know what’s going to happen until we get there, but it’ll be a

WESTFEST HIGHLIGHTS FRI, JUNE 8 Cougar Chick Tribute Band Silkken Laumann Hidden Cameras

SAT, JUNE 9 Westfest Spoken Word Haybirds Liam Titcomb Steven Page

SUN, JUNE 10 Tara Holloway Riot Police Peter Joynt The Cooper Brothers

full band with some horns.”

This “new song” adds to the good news for fans of the group. Word is that Gibb has been writing and recording a new Hidden Cameras album that will be released sometime next year.

Other stops on the tour include Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Sudbury, Halifax and St John’s — where the Hidden Cameras will do a couple of shows.

“Once you get to St John’s, you have to play at least two shows because, you know, it takes two days to drive there,” Gibb says.

“I would love to put on a show in New Brunswick, too. We don’t have a show there

yet. Maybe we should go camping and play in the woods on our day off ?”

Fans of Origin:Orphan will be excited to hear that the album has recently been made into a musical. In fact, a first version of the new show is hot off the presses, and Gibb is excited to find venues for it.

Outside of the upcoming tour, a CD in the works and the new musical that’s soon to be unleashed, Gibb is also busy with a new band, which debuted in April at the Camp/Anti-Camp festival in Berlin. The band’s first international gig will be at London’s Meltdown festival during the Olympics this summer.

THE HIDDEN CAMERAS Westfest 2012 Fri, June 8, 9:15pm Domicile Mainstage Corner of Richmond Rd and Kirkwood Ave Westboro Village westfest.ca

“It’s a band with Vaginal Davis — a drag queen from LA,” Gibb says. “We just debuted, and we’re called Tenderloin. It’s Vag and me and two young German guys — a keyboard player and a bass player who plays guitar sometimes. I’m drumming in it and singing, and Vag is singing, too.

We also taught her the glockenspiel, so hopefully she’ll play more glockenspiel.

If you just type Tenderloin and Vaginal, it should come up.”

The new project will certainly make its way to our fair city at some point. In the meantime, Ottawa has a rockin’ gay dance party to look forward to.

14

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

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Summer Sizzle Marchers at the 2009 Pride parade.

CHRISTOPHER GARY CANNING

KINGS & QUEENS Kingston Pride evolves Bradley Turcotte

since Kingston Pride’s inception, the calibre of the festivities has ebbed and N A HUMID SATURDAY owed, mostly due to a splintering of afternoon in June 1989, the city’s gay community.

However, the eight individuals 12 Kingston residents gathered in a parking tasked with planning this year’s event lot behind city hall. The are dedicated to mending those brosmall group made its way down Prin- ken ties and making this year’s Pride cess St carrying one banner that read the loudest and proudest the city has ever seen. “Lesbian and Gay Pride Kingston.�

Committee member Kevin WilOnlookers were stunned into silence. The marchers didn’t need liams is a lifelong Kingston resident piercing whistles or a catchy chant. and remembers the difficult years during the ’80s and ’90s In small-town Ontario when the queer commucirca 1989, their mere KINGSTON nity remained disparate presence was enough of PRIDE and unconnected. He says a statement.

Fri, June 1– that although seven of the In the 23 years since Sat, June 16 eight members are new those courageous queers kingstonpride.ca to the committee, their took to the streets of collective devotion to the Kingston, Pride celebrations in the town known as the Lime- cause makes this year unique. “I think the community connection stone City have undergone a massive in the past wasn’t as strong as it is metamorphosis.

The ďŹ rst official Pride Day in Kings- now,â€? he says. “People became a little ton was implemented in 1995 by then- disenchanted with trying to pull it mayor Helen Cooper; the current together. We have a good committee mayor, Mark Gerretsen, recently pro- this year, and because of that more claimed June to be Pride month. Yet people are being drawn in.â€?

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In addition to attracting more individuals, the committee has succeeded in securing the participation of more local businesses and organizations than ever before. Queen’s University, The Sir John A Macdonald Foundation and Kingston’s HIV and AIDS Regional Services (HARS) represent a small sample of the dozens of establishments proudly lending a pink-gloved hand this year.

By day, Tegan Boyce works as HARS’ administrative resource and events coordinator. She moonlights as the Pride committee’s events coordinator and is elated that her organization is taking part in this year’s celebrations.

HARS will be throwing a $5 dance; Boyce emphasizes that the low cost of the shindig reects her employer’s inclusive philosophy. “It’s really important to us that everybody can be included in a HARS event,â€? she says.

Big-ticket events this year are varied; they include a Pride-themed art show, a picnic in the park, the Out on the Queen boat cruise and Reelout’s Hollywood Pride movie nights at The Screening Room. Committee members say they deliberately planned assorted adventures to appeal to all facets of the community.

The community in Kingston, queer or not, is heavily influenced by the Canadian Forces. CFB Kingston has historically played an integral role in the city by the Seaway’s development.

2012 will be the ďŹ rst year members of the Canadian Forces are permitted to don their uniforms while marching in the Pride parade. However, there was no controversy surrounding being granted the permission to do so, says Captain Les Champ, from CFB Kingston. This year just happened to be the ďŹ rst that members of the Forces requested to do so.

In addition, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. To pay homage on this landmark occasion, Champ asked the very person who brought about that signiďŹ cant change to take part in this year’s celebrations.

Ottawa-born human rights activist Michelle Douglas joined the Forces in 1986, and despite her exemplary record of service, she was dismissed in 1989 because of her sexual orientation.

Immediately before Douglas’s case was

Ottawa area festivals & fun to progress to trial, the Canadian Forces abandoned its policy barring gays and lesbians from serving. “In recognition of her achievements and the anniversary, I asked if Ms Douglas would like to participate with us, and she responded that yes, she would be willing to participate,� Champ says. “I almost cried when I got that response because she is a personal hero of mine.�

With a queer icon in attendance, a

15

An Xtra Special Section

reinvigorated committee and a zombie dance, among other attractions, Champ reminds Ottawans that small-city gays and lesbians are just as proud as their urban-inclined neighbours. “If Pride is a celebration of diversity and of our culture, in my opinion we have moved from being a sexual orientation to a fully edged cultural community. We as a culture should support each other,â€? he says.

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arts › entertainment › leisure

Out City IN THE

ON STAGE

DESIRE AND VIOLENCE ARE CLOSELY LINKED. MAYBE THEY ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME THING, AFTER ALL. Mathieu Laca ›19

IN PRINT

The Bullying Monologues

a graphic

Adaptation of famous play will be used as educational tool in schools Luna Allison FIRST THERE WERE THE VAGINA Monologues, then came The Abortion Monologues, and, very soon, The Bullying Monologues will spring to life.

As part of an innovative project by the bilingual Ottawa theatre company Troupe de la Lune, which is associated with Jer’s Vision, high school students from across the country will soon have a show they can produce in their own schools in order to make the realities and consequences of bullying more concrete.

“I am so excited that youth in our community are using creative ways to talk about bullying,” says Jeremy Dias, the founder of Jer’s Vision. “This will not just be another curricu-

AN 86-YEAR-OLD MAN TOLD ME HIS STORY ABOUT BEING BULLIED BACK IN THE 1940S. IT’S NOT A NEW PROBLEM AT ALL. —youth volunteer Marie Robertson lum resource, but one that can be used in classes, extracurricular activities and community youth groups to start a dialogue on what bullying is, how and why it manifests, and [the] solutions.”

Marie Robertson, 29, who has been a youth volunteer with Jer’s Vision since 2007, is spearheading the project. She put out a call for bullying stories a couple months back and is now compiling these real-life accounts into a series of monologues that will run the gamut in terms of bullying issues.

“I’m just trying to gather as many stories and experiences as possible. I know that there’s a subset of kids that, if you just talk to them, they’re like, ‘Whatever . . . I’ve heard this a million times before,’” says Robertson about the project, which aims to include stories about disability, sexual orientation, fat phobia and gender policing. “I’m hoping this will attract another group of kids and reach them on a different level.”

Before this project can be launched, Troupe de la Lune will need money to underwrite it.

That’s why they will be producing a fundraising show in this year’s Ottawa Fringe Festival to raise money for what they hope will be a fall 2012 premiere in Ottawa — acted entirely by local high school students.

“We may end up premiering it in a high school if we know a group that’s interested. Or a [theatre] venue,” Robertson says.

“The end goal is obviously to have a script that can be produced anywhere. I’ll be able to give this to any high school or youth group that wants to do it and say, ‘Make it your own.’”

The Fringe show is a play called Ex Cathedra, which was written by Ottawa playwright Lawrence Aronovitch. Aronovitch offered the play to Troupe de la Lune in order to help them amass capital for the premiere of The Bullying Monologues later this year.

Ex Cathedra is a two-hander that takes place in an alternate universe where homosexuality is illegal. The two main characters are a female commander of the security services who tracks down and kills homosexuals and a Catholic nun who helps to run a sort of lavender railroad that protects homos from the clutches of murderous officials.

As it turns out, the two used to be lovers. The show is an apt choice for its purpose, as it proffers a story of bullying on a global level.

“I want to get to a point where [we recognize] that everyone has a story to share, and we remove any and all stigma about bullying. That’s a long-term goal,” Robertson says. “An 86-yearold man told me his story about being bullied back in the 1940s.

It’s not a new problem at all, but it’s finally getting the attention it deserves.”

Keep your eye on Xtra for news on The Bullying Monologues as the project develops.

the deets EX CATHEDRA Runs Thurs, June 14–Sun, June 24 Studio Léonard-Beaulne 135 Séraphin-Marion St University of Ottawa ottawafringe.com

F

LIFE

Alison Bechdel’s latest novel is all about mom

David Hains

OR ALISON BECHDEL, MAKING graphic memoirs is a journey to create meaning. “I love trying to make stories out of the raw material of everyday life, which is basically chaos,” she says. “I don’t believe, intellectually, that my life has meaning, but I love trying to find meaning within it.”

This introspection defines her career.

For 25 years Bechdel looked at queer issues in her landmark comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For (where the Bechdel Test first appeared) and then earned a big breakthrough with her 2006 memoir, Fun Home. That book, named the best of the year by Time magazine, was equally autobiography and a biography of her father, Bruce, a closeted gay man who committed suicide months after Bechdel came out.

While Bechdel’s mother, Helen, is a background player in Fun Home’s family drama, she takes centre stage in Bechdel’s new book, Are You My Mother? Through the lens of Donald Winnicott’s psychoanalytical theories, the memoir unpacks Bechdel’s relationship with her mother and what that means for Bechdel’s sense of self. “I know she’s not happy with this kind of work — it’s painful for her to have this part of her life exposed. But at the same time, she has a certain respect for the creative process. She understands I need to do this.”

Helen is portrayed as somewhat cold and distant in the book, a figure more at home on a community theatre stage than as a nurturing mother. But there are incidents Bechdel can connect to, like a rare shared viewing of a TV show or help with her childhood journal. In other words, art mediates Bechdel’s relationship with her mother.

But not all art is universal. In a moving three-page passage, Bechdel calls her mother to ask for money when she starts to create Dykes to Watch Out For. Despite her disapproval — she’s worried about what people will think — her mother sends the money and supports her daughter financially for nine months.

Bechdel cries, her ability to speak limited, but she understands: “Whatever I wanted from my mother was simply not there to be had. It was not her fault.”

While Helen didn’t understand the content of the comics, she recognized the need to have an emotional outlet to tell one’s story, something Winnicott refers to as a “playspace.” If Helen couldn’t provide that emotional space, she could provide it materially to foster her daughter’s growth.

“I feel like people who are driven to tell stories are just trying to get something they’re missing,” Bechdel says. She adds that this process is more about the journey

I feel like people who are driven to tell stories are just trying to get something they’re missing.

ELENA SEIBERT

in finding meaning than the result. If the gaps in understanding are the spaces for meaning to be formed, then this is what excites Bechdel.

“Telling these stories about both of my parents has involved a process of transformation, in that Joseph Campbell sense.

That’s something you really can’t control, but you can submit to.”

At the end of Are You My Mother? the author plays a game with her mother in which they pretend Bechdel is a disabled child. It’s one of those rare

instances in which they connect, but Bechdel chooses to walk away. She writes that in the absence of certain support, “[Helen] has given me the way out.” And with that, Bechdel exits stage right to create stories and meaning for herself.

ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Alison Bechdel Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $25.95

18

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

Ottawa’s gay & lesbian news

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

ON DISPLAY

Desire & violence Painter Mathieu Lacaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work embraces both Sanita Fejzic MONTREAL ARTIST MATHIEU LACA IS a unique voice in Canadian art, with work strong in homoerotic and symbolic content.

Laca is represented in Ottawa by Patrick John Mills Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, where he held an exhibition titled Porn Is Not Art last year. His latest work is part of a group exhibition, Naked! Naked! Naked! Laca will return to the gallery in November for another solo exhibition, tentatively titled Balls to the Wall. Xtraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sanita Fejzic recently chatted with Laca.

Xtra: Your work is very symbolic and uses a lot of imagery. In the painting Thanksgiving, we have blood, animal heads on human bodies, body parts cut oďŹ&#x20AC; â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these seem to be recurring themes in your body of work. What do they mean to you?

ML: I want to paint works that make a strong impact. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I charge them

the deets MATHIEU LACA Naked! Naked! Naked!

Until Sat, June 30 Vernissage: Thurs, June 7, 6â&#x20AC;&#x201C;9pm, artist in attendance Patrick John Mills Contemporary Fine Art Gallery 286 Hinchey Ave patrickjohnmills.com

with such heavy symbols. As to what they mean exactly, I can hardly tell.

And in fact, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more or less important because paintings have a visual meaning, not a literary one. But I can tell you this: when I paint, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very receptive to the unexpected. Very little is planned, and I make decisions solely based on what excites me at the precise moment.

I can start to paint a simple two-headed ďŹ gure and then decide to chop the two heads if it seems right to do so. Painting is very much like gambling. At every point, you have to be willing to lose everything for a fresh new gain.

You often talk about the relationship between desire and violence. Why is desire necessarily violent?

Desire and violence are closely linked.

Maybe they are two sides of the same thing, after all. Some people are repelled by a so-called violence in my work. The thing is, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see it as violence. The word violence bears a moral judgment.

I see it more as intensity. If there is violence, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a real violence but rather a violence that occurs in the mind of the viewer, triggered by my use of strong symbols that you pointed out. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a violence that takes place on the imaginary level. Just like the violence we ďŹ nd in Greek tragedies or tales. Not the â&#x20AC;&#x153;DisneyďŹ edâ&#x20AC;? tales, though; I mean the genuine tales, like those of the Grimm brothers, where Cinderellaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sisters cut their toes to ďŹ t the shoe.

Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve said in the past that erections can be powerful ammunition and a strong expressive symbol. Can you develop this a little further and explain how your use of erections as symbol has evolved over the years?

Michel Houellebecq, in his novel Plateforme, writes that every war could be understood as a battle to possess the vaginas of the opponentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s young women. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very strong thought. It underlines how sexuality is important in human behaviour and human history. Yet we ďŹ nd almost no artworks showing erect penises in the Western world after the ancient Romans. Why? The Christian disease that still endures today, even in art. To take pleasure in the sight of an erect penis is still very subversive in the high world of painting, a world shaped by centuries of white, Christian, European, heterosexual gaze.

So, to choose to ignore that taboo and to work only from your personal inclinations like I do often creates quite a stir.

I understand you make your own frames. Why and how do they interact with your paintings?

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very bound to tradition. I used to grind all my colours, and I recently did a series of portraits of old masters using only the pigments those painters were using in their time. Framing is part of that general process, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entirely the work of my dear husband, Jean. He carves wonderful traditional patterns

in wood and gilds them with gold leaf.

He then ďŹ xes them on very modernlooking shadow-box frames, which creates the same contrast I pursue in painting between a traditional and a more contemporary approach. So, the frames are inseparable from the works.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;To take pleasure in the sight of an erect penis is still very subversive in the high world of painting,â&#x20AC;? says Laca, who painted Rodeo (above). MATHIEU LACA

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Tivoli Florists

Capital Fiat Romantic Fireplaces & BBQs Inc

Rideau Optometric Clinic

Dr Lina Charette

Cambridge Design Gallery

BARBECUES

613-216-6076 613-232-8586

POLITICIANS

AUTOMOBILE SALES & LEASING 1-866-581-5047

Eyemaxx Optical Studio Optical Excellence

613-728-2693

FLORISTS

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613-791-3224

OPTICAL SERVICES

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APARTMENTS Minto Apartments Limited

613-722-1500

Jamie Anderson

FILM & VIDEO Youth Shorts and Docs The Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival presents an evening of indigenous film that starts with youth shorts and ends with three documentaries on indigenous life in Canada. Q&A to follow. Tues, June 19, 6pm. Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St. 613-730-3403. $10. asinabkafestival.org

Grease SingAlong Movie The hugely popular 1978 moviemusical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John is back with a brand-new sing-along version.

Fri, June 22–Sun, June 24, various showtimes. Bytowne Cinema, 325 Rideau St. 613-789-3456. $17. bytowne.ca

Rocky Horror Picture Show Grab your gays and put on your scandalous outfits for a screening of this classic, featuring the Absent Friends shadow cast. Sat, June 23, 10:15pm. Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St. 613-730-3403. $10–15. mayfairtheatre.ca

HEALTH & ISSUES The Living Room The Living Room is a free space for poz people and their loved ones.

Food bank, free laundry facilities, internet, counselling, workshops, advocacy and support groups.

Contact the Living Room to make an intake appointment. AIDS Committee of Ottawa, 251 Bank St, 7th floor. 613-563-0851. aco-cso.ca

Women for Sobriety A confidential and anonymous selfhelp recovery program for women.

Every Sunday night, 7–8:15pm, at the Christmas Exchange Program, 1390 Prince of Wales, 4th floor. All women welcome. Free. 613-2203588. w.f.s.in.ottawa@gmail.com

Weekly Yoga at GayZone Free weekly yoga classes for gay men. Open to everyone, from beginners to advanced students.

Thursdays, 5:15–6:45pm.

Centretown Community Health Centre, 420 Cooper St. Free. acocso.ca/gayzonegaie

Dyke March Meeting The Dyke March needs volunteers!

Sign up at this open meeting and share all your thoughts and ideas for this summer’s march. Wed, June 20, 7:30pm. Venus Envy, 320 Lisgar St. 613-789-4646. venusenvy.ca

QPOC Group at PTS Pink Triangle Services has launched a monthly drop-in group by and for queer people of colour. Drop by for fun, discussion, socializing and support. Last Tuesday of each month. Tues, June 26, 7–9pm. Pink Triangle Services, 251 Bank St, Suite 301. ptsottawa.org

Post-Adoption Support Group For queer- or trans-identified adoptive parents who want a nonjudgmental space to talk. First Thursday of each month. Thurs, July 5, 6:30–8:30pm. Centretown Community Health Centre, 420 Cooper St. Free. For more info, email celeste.taylor@hotmail.com. › continued on page 22

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

XPOSED

21

By Michael Burtch

WE ARE LOOKING FOR BOARD MEMBERS! CCHC serves the communities of Centretown, the Glebe and Old Ottawa South. We want our board to represent the diversity of our communities with particular attention being paid to francophone and aboriginal representation.

You will have the opportunity to learn more about volunteering on the CCHC board at an Open House on May 23rd from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

If you would like more information, please phone Alison De Linden at 613-233-4443 ext. 2106.

New directors will be elected at CCHC’s AGM on June 21, 2012.

To be on the ballot, nomination applications must be received

by June 8, 2012 at 4:45 p.m.

Centretown Pub bartenders Gavin McIver and Matthew Zelenak enjoy the sun on the bar’s patio on May 30.

A sunburned Simon H (left) and drinking buddy Sarah Duff mug for the camera at Swizzles on a recent Wednesday afternoon.

Every One Matters.

HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario’s John Norquay (left) poses with AIDS Committee of Ottawa employees Haoua Inoua and Grant Cobb after giving a presentation on the controversial Bill C-31 and how it will affect refugee claimants living with HIV. Hours later, John gave the same workshop again, this time to the African and Carribean Health Network of Ottawa.

420 rue Cooper Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2N6

Slaughter Daughter roller derby fan Sarah Gaudreault cheers the team on to a 241 to 74 victory over New York’s Hellions of Troy on May 12 at the Barbara Ann Scott Arena.

Titan Rain’s Jaret Ross, Fabien Melanson and Steven “Sven” Poll (from left) perform for a loyal crowd at The Brass Monkey on May 18. Their next album, 111, is due in the fall.

From left: Billy Aurthor, Daniel Abadie, Jonathan D’aoust, Michael Tattersall, Genna Giampaolo and Adam Sassi pose at Centretown Pub’s annual Leather Fetish Night. While Michael and Jonathan came out in cowboy attire in accordance with the night’s country-and-western theme, the rest of the group dressed in character to promote Next Company Theatre’s Rocky Horror Show production, June 14 to 17 at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre. For more information, visit nextcompanytheatre.com.

DIFFERENT? SO ARE WE. By youth for youth.

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Nicolaas Sont wins his second game of pool in a row, on the main level of Centretown Pub.

Sudbury’s Breast Action Coalition– supporting roller derby team The Tatas gather for a photo before taking on Ottawa’s Riot Squad in an intense bout.

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Ottawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

listings â&#x20AC;ş â&#x20AC;ş continued from page 20

LEISURE & PLEASURE Hump Night Mid-week debauchery at its ďŹ nest.

I Love 2 Hump features the Eva Darling Drag Show and DJs Martin and Grace spinning hip hop, electro and house. Wednesdays, 9pm on.

Mercury Lounge, 56 Byward Market Sq. 613-789-5324. ilove2hump.com

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Join the Rideau Speedeaus Swim Club on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays for some wet fun.

Ottawa U Pool, Montpetit Hall, 125 University St. To inquire about or register for Learn to Swim, email lts@rideauspeedeaus.com. 613562-5789. rideauspeedeaus.com

Westfest rocks out in Westboro Village for the ninth year. Friday nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s headliner is gay force of nature The Hidden Cameras.

All-local showcase on Sunday.

Interactive art by Andrew Gayed & Cara Tierney. Free. Fri, June 8â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Sun, June 10. Richmond Rd and Kirkwood Ave. westfest.ca

Ottawa Wolves Rugby The gay and bi menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rugby team holds twice-weekly outdoor practices. New recruits are welcome to join anytime! The season ends the ďŹ rst week of September. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8pm.

Springhurst Park (oďŹ&#x20AC; Lees Ave). ottawawolves.ca

Ottawa Knights Join the Ottawa Knights Gay Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Denim and Leather Club for their monthly night of fun and debauchery. This monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme is Collars & Leashes, Puppies and Boys. Sat, June 9, 10pm. Cellblock, 340 Somerset St W (above CPs).

Free. ottawaknights.com

Seniorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Night Out Join this 50-and-over crew on the ďŹ rst and third Wednesday of the month. Meet new friends and reconnect with old friends over drinks and snacks. Wed, June 20 and Wed, July 4, 7:30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;closing.

Burgers on Main, second ďŹ&#x201A;oor, 343 Somerset St W. Free admission, cash bar. ospn-rfao.ca

Frontrunners Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Run Join the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contingent of the queer running group, Frontrunners, the ďŹ rst Saturday of every month.

Sat, July 7, 9am. Meet at the Lisgar St entrance to City Hall, 111 Lisgar St. Free. ofr@ottawafrontrunners.org

Femme Family Tea Party Ottawa Femme Family is a local group for femme-identiďŹ ed people to talk about all things femme, feminist and fabulous. Femmes of all genders welcome! The cafĂŠ and its bathrooms are wheelchair accessible. Sat, July 7, 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4pm. Alpha Soul CafĂŠ, 1015 Wellington St W. Free. 613-761-8000.

LOG Annual Picnic

squirt.org

MUSIC Westfest 2012

Ottawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own gay and lesbian softball league is up and running for the season! Interested? Contact them at registration@ottawaqball. com. ottawaqball.com

The Lesbian Information Exchange has revived its monthly coďŹ&#x20AC;ee meeting for lesbians to socialize and network. Mon, June 18, 6:30pm.

Michel-Ange CafĂŠ, 35 Laurel St. Free. girlswanttoknow.com

Your next hookup is closer than you think.

Park, Trolley Station. Free for LOG members, $10 for non-members.

Call 613-564-1070 for more info. lesbianoutdoorgroup.ca

Ottawa QBall

LIX Monthly CoďŹ&#x20AC;ee Meeting

The all new

For more listings, go to xtra.ca

Connect with other outdoor enthusiasts at the Lesbian Outdoor Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual picnic.

Food is provided for everyone.

Wed, July 11, 6â&#x20AC;&#x201C;9pm. Britannia

Rae Spoon performs with Geoff Berner on June 22.

Rae Spoon in Concert GeoďŹ&#x20AC; Berner and Rae Spoon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; two Blacksheep favourites â&#x20AC;&#x201D; appear together. Fri, June 22, 8:30pm.

Blacksheep Inn, 753 Riverside Dr, WakeďŹ eld, QC. $15 advance.

Available at 1-888-222-6608 or ticketweb.ca. theblacksheepinn.com

EDM Stage at Bluesfest For the ďŹ rst time, Bluesfest includes a stage that features nothing but electronic dance music. Come celebrate the (very) gay roots of this music form. Wed, July 4â&#x20AC;&#x201C;Mon, July 9, various showtimes. LeBreton Flats.

Multishow packages available. For more info, visit ottawabluesfest.ca.

PRINT & READINGS Creative Writing Play Date A drop-in writing group facilitated

by Sean Zio. Poetry, ďŹ ction and nonďŹ ction writers welcome. Tuesdays, 8â&#x20AC;&#x201C;10pm. Mother Tongue Books, 1067 Bank St. Suggested $5 donation. creativewritingplaydate.com

Voices of Venus Faye Estrella and Allison Armstrong organize this series that showcases women writers, with a focus on spoken word poetry. Wed, June 13.

Open mic at 8pm, featured artist at 9pm. Venus Envy, 320 Lisgar St. 613-789-4646. venusenvy.ca

Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Oprah Book Club The June edition of Agitateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book club will feature A Map of Home, by Randa Jarrar. It is the story of Nidali, a young woman of mixed parentage who grows up in Kuwait, ďŹ&#x201A;ees with her family to Egypt and ďŹ nally settles in Texas. Wed, June 27, 7pm.

Bridgehead CoďŹ&#x20AC;eehouse, 366 Bank St. Free.

A World of Gay Adventure

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

23

Manchester England’s sexy northern city Story & photos by Matt Mills

S

OME OF THE MOST LIVABLE and visitable cities in the world are those with histories of profound socioeconomic decline from formative periods of unbridled prosperity. It’s in those places, often in the looming shadows of greedy metropolises, in which gay travellers are most likely to find innovative expressions of art and culture by interesting and welcoming locals. Manchester, in North West England, is one of those cities. It rebuffs the glamour and gravitas of London and so may not be a destination that springs immediately to mind for gay travellers planning sojourn in the United Kingdom. But as a city in the midst of rejuvenation, or for those looking to become truly acquainted with authentic British culture on an intimate level, Manchester really is worth a stop. It just might be among the most gay-friendly places you’ll visit.

The hearth and home of Manchester’s gay community lies along and around Canal St in the city’s core. It’s here that the original 1999 television series Queer as Folk was set and shot, which is perhaps why this charming and tidy cobblestone street with its contiguous string of spacious gay bars

Canal St, above, is the epicentre of gay nightlife in Manchester.

Manchester Pride 2011 grand marshal Pam Ann and her flight crew before the parade.

At right, handsome ruggers in the 2011 Manchester Pride Parade.

Mixologist Ray demonstrates the Smokey Old Fashioned at The Alchemist, far right.

and clubs feels so familiar even to the first-time visitor. This is not by any measure a gay village or community in decline. The place hops at weekends, with a selection of nightlife for every taste. There is also a complete and mature gay community apparatus — the Western gay franchise system of rainbow flags, community centres and organizations, historical markers and Pride celebrations.

Central Manchester is very walkable. Following the city’s Lesbian and Gay Heritage Trail is a great way to find the lay of the land. On foot, grab a copy of the Manchester Gay and Lesbian Village Guide from the Manchester Visitor Information Centre on Piccadilly Plaza. Then from Canal St, spot and follow the rainbow-flag tiles embedded in the pavement. Following the whole route could take a couple of hours, but you’ll likely get pleasantly distracted along the way. Tap into Manchester’s gay zeitgeist quickly by picking up a copy of local publication Outnorthwest or by tuning in to Gaydio at 88.4 FM or online at gaydio.co.uk. You’ll find Mancunians friendly and eager to know and welcome visitors, especially those from Canada. › continued next page

24

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

Manchester › continued from previous page

“Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker, victim of prejudice,” reads the dedication on the Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park, above.

Above, a reveller in the 2011 Manchester Pride parade. At right, vibrant graffiti near Piccadilly Gardens.

Snapshot At Via, a large for-everyone social venue on Canal St my first night in Manchester: “Fancy a snog?” asked the gorgeous and smiling young guy with the tattooed arms.

I stood out as a stranger in the city, and likely as Canadian. He intercepted me on the way to the men’s room.

I thought I knew what a snog is but didn’t want to be wrong.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m not from around here. What’s a snog?”

He rolled his deep brown eyes, glanced away and back.

“A French kiss,” he dared with curled lip and raised eyebrow.

It was a soft and brief encounter, a warm, sincere and welcoming kiss between strangers, one of those tiny but unforgettable travel highlight moments. And it embodies the friendly cheekiness and swagger of Mancunians. That’s not to suggest spitswapping is a customary greeting. The story is merely a titillating example of a sentiment expressed in myriad ways to visitors: random conversations on street corners, sample tastes in shops, friendly smiles and ribbing from those who overhear your accent.

Culture Football has been the most popular sport in the United Kingdom since the 1860s, and it is Manchester’s beating heart. Home to Premier League teams Manchester United and Manchester City, as well as the National Football Museum, the city revolves around the

FROM

game. The season runs virtually all year, and even if you’re not a sports fan or know nothing about soccer, the spectacle ought not to be missed.

For the theatre buff, the architecturally fascinating Royal Exchange Theatre offers a seemingly perpetual roster of affordable programming and community events. It’s also a good place for a quick coffee or tea when you’re out and about during the day.

A book lover? Chetham’s Library is a remarkable example of 15th-century architecture, bearing distinction as the oldest working public library in the English-speaking world. It’s also the site of early collaboration between Communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Call ahead for access, tours and reading-room time.

Interested in artistic expression as activism and shaper of popular culture? Manchester Art Gallery has a great collection of pre-Raphaelite works. Admission is free.

Make a brief visit to the Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park. You’ll remember Turing as the genius who broke the Enigma Code, allowing Allied forces to predict the movements of German U-boats during the Second World War, and who laid the foundations for modern digital computing.

Despite his contributions, he committed suicide in 1954 following his conviction and public humiliation for gross indecency after admitting to having had sex with another man.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Turing’s birth, and there’s something about using your iThing to snap and

face-tweet a picture of that statue that smacks of sweet justice and the circle of life.

Cuisine One of the most tiresome clichés about the UK in general and Manchester in particular is the pork-pie and takeaway curry reputation for bland, boiled and batter-fried food. Mancunians seem to preemptively and apologetically insist they have been trying really hard to build their in-kitchen brain trust. And honestly, it’s not at all peculiar when in Manchester to squelch hunger pangs by simply wolfing down whatever street meat you happen upon.

Cuisine just isn’t as central to cultural expression as it is in some cities — nor is hockey, snorkelling or bullfighting — and that’s just part of the practical charm. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some real resto-gems to be found in Manchester. Australasia offers a world-class dining experience.

The décor and vibe are modern-chic, the service is incredible and the menu of Euro-Asian fusion delights is todie-for. Every detail is topnotch here, making it easily worth a splurge. For a more casual choice, Smoak Bar and Grill offers a delicious selection of beef dishes that might be described as British-American fusion. The place has great atmosphere.

For a truly unique cocktail bar experience, take your friends to The Alchemist. Aside from fine food and amazing cocktail concoctions, this place offers a cocktail master class in which resident

mixologists will teach your group of six or eight how to make some of the amazing drinks offered at the bar. It’s a lot of fun and you get to drink your work. Try the Smokey Old Fashioned; it’s more experience than cocktail.

Pride Manchester Pride, which falls in the second half of August, is a fantastic spectacle. This is a well-developed and -attended, star-studded celebration that seems to be by, about and for gay people. In 2003, having wrestled with the corporate-sponsorship-versuscommunity-constituents conundrum and in the face of a looming financial crisis, the Manchester Pride organization took an initially controversial but ultimately effective approach to liberating itself and ensuring its future stability. Rather than relying entirely on corporate sponsorship and government support money to pay the bills, Pride’s constituents — its communities of gay people and festival attendees — became its financiers.

Manchester Pride charges a cover fee — not for stage areas or beer gardens, but for general festival admission.

The gay village is entirely fenced off for the duration of the event, a period of days, and admission is restricted to those who have purchased the requisite wristbands. Attendees actually pay for Pride, quite modestly, on an individual basis. The notion of paying for Pride may be something of a bitter pill, but Manchester Pride is not beholden to the whims of corporate sponsors or

conservative politicians; it is run by gay people, it puts on an amazing celebration, and donates tens of thousands of pounds to local gay and lesbian organizations each year.

Inside the gates, the bars and clubs of Canal St do a swift trade. You can walk freely in the streets with a drink in your hand. The atmosphere is electric. It’s one of the best Pride experiences to be had.

For complete listings and more information on the Manchester gay scene, visit guidemag.com.

To start planning your trip, go to visitmanchester.com.

on the web Outnorthwest ›lgf.org.uk/outnorthwest Visit Manchester ›visitmanchester.com Chetham’s Library ›chethams.org.uk Manchester Pride ›manchesterpride.com Manchester Art Gallery ›manchestergalleries.org Via ›viamanchester.co.uk Australasia ›australasia.uk.com Smoak Bar and Grill ›smoak-grill.com The Alchemist ›thealchemist.uk.com National Football Museum ›nationalfootballmuseum.com Royal Exchange Theatre ›royalexchange.co.uk

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XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

A World of Gay Adventure

London

25

DAVID LLIFF. LICENSE: CC-BY-SA 3.0

A city of colourful and confident character

‘‘W

Aefa Mulholland

H E N A MAN IS tired of London,” proclaimed Samuel Johnson, “he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

Dr Johnson, that pernickety old snark, had putdowns for pretty much everywhere else, but he was a fierce champion of his chosen city. When his companion James Boswell countered, “The only disadvantage is the great distance at which people live from one another,” the doctor was swift to rally to London’s defence, “Yes, Sir, but that is occasioned by the largeness of it, which is the cause of all the other advantages.”

London is certainly large; there are 7.83 million crammed into the city and more than 12 million in the metro area. The size and sheer human density can be daunting, but, as Dr J pointed out, such largeness does lead to an abundance of “other advantages.”

Sometimes ostentatious and stylish, sometimes honest and earthy, London has grandeur, grit and every gradation in between. Another great champion of the city, two-time prime minister and lifelong Londoner Benjamin Disraeli, proclaimed that his hometown offered “a roost for every bird,” and this collection of completely eclectic components gives the city its colourful, confident and often contradictory character.

This year, London is even more colourful — and it’s got a distinctly celebratory air as the city gays up for an exciting summer. The city hosts WorldPride from June 17 until July 8, with a crowd of more than a million expected for the celebration.

And, of course, for those counting down the days till Antwerp’s Outgames in 2013 and Cleveland’s Gay Games in 2014, the city also hosts a small sporting event this summer: it’s London’s third time hosting the Olympics and Paralympics, July 27 to August 12.

On first visits, sashaying around major sites is obligatory. You have to cross those legendary spots off your bucket list — Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, the London Eye and the wealth of world-renowned museums. The Underground makes this easy to accomplish in a few days. If the weather’s on your side, go “overground”; central sights are often closer than you’d think looking at the maps. But, lest you spend your time solely in the centre, London has plenty more to offer than just palaces, pomp and pageantry. Leave behind the traffic-clogged arteries, long lines of tired tourists and commuter-jammed Tubes and you’ll find a kaleidoscopic array of roosts for queer birds of every feather.

The River Thames has shaped London’s history, geography and personality since the first Romans settled here in the first century. On a nice day, or on a budget, an excellent way to take in many of the big

AEFA MULHOLLAND

AEFA MULHOLLAND

sights, including the London Eye, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Shakespeare’s reconstructed Globe Theatre, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern, with bonus photo opportunities of Big Ben and Westminster, is to walk along the Thames’s South Bank. The laid-back bars at the British Film Institute Southbank (bfi.org.uk/southbank), site of the annual London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, make a perfect mid-saunter stop for a coffee or drink.

COLM HOWARD-LLOYD

Clockwise from top: Night settles in on the River Thames; One of the other queens of London; More than one billion people use the London Underground each year; Pimm’s o’clock at Borough Market.

› continued next page

Be YOU in Manchester

Find out why YOU should be at Manchester Pride? Voted ‘Best Pride’ for the last five years by the UK’s Pink Paper, isn’t it time YOU booked a trip to Manchester! visitmanchester.com/lgbt

26

A World of Gay Adventure

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

London

Clouds (passingclouds.org), situated in a former print works in Dalston, to get the ambiance of the east.

Women who time their visit right can coincide with the BFI’s Southbank Surfing (southbanksurfing.com) night, where, if you’re solo and let the hosts know in advance, they’ll introduce you to people.

The rest of the month, Soho’s Candy Bar (candybarsoho.com) packs in the girls.

For bar and club listings, check Gingerbeer (gingerbeer.co.uk).

› continued from previous page

When it heats up, Londoners take to the slew of parks and gardens around the city. Gay-popular parks include Princess Diana’s former home, Hyde Park, and St James’s Park, a gay cruising ground since the 1700s (when it was noted that men would “signal to each other . . . then retire to satisfy a passion too horrible for description”). These days, London’s gays and lesbians also head north to Hampstead. Something of a local secret, Hampstead Heath’s separate men’s and women’s swimming ponds become a mecca for sunning, swimming and picnicking gay men and women whenever the sun shines. The spring-fed ponds are just two of 30 in the 320-hectare park. Nearby, in Hampstead Village, the 200-year-old King William IV (kingsboutiquehotel. co.uk) came out as a gay bar in the 1930s.

Book ahead for Sunday lunch; it’s become an institution.

London offers a smorgasbord of eating experiences, from cheeky gastropubs, perfect for pints or a Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, to quintessentially British afternoon tea spots. It’s hard to choose between Devon cream scones at Kensington Palace’s Orangery, celebrity haunt The Berkeley’s (the-berkeley.co.uk) figureconscious treats, or Fashion Afternoon Tea (with pink meringues and Royal Doulton china) at The Mandeville (mandeville. co.uk). The Mandeville also does a burly afternoon tea with whisky and games. Who said afternoon tea had to be delicate?

Guidemag.com

ACCOMMODATION

Pretty in pink at London Pride 2011. COLM HOWARD-LLOYD

For something more substantial, Thursday through Saturday, stroll Borough Market (boroughmarket.org.uk), under the arches of London Bridge station, for an ostrich burger or fish and chips with mushy peas. The white-hot Dabbous (dabbous.co.uk), in Fitzrovia, is next to impossible to get into but worth the effort, with its stripped-back fine dining and strikingly modern décor.

BARS AND CLUBS Nestled between Chinatown, Charing Cross Road’s dusty bookstores and the high-street shopping of Oxford St, Soho is London’s traditional gay hub. At night, the narrow streets around Old Compton

Glenda Guilfoyle at the Follies. NED REDWAY

St fill to overflowing with gay men, tourists, bicycle rickshaws and impatient cab drivers.

While Soho is London’s main gay village, there’s also a raunchy club scene in Vauxhall; in South London; various queer spots in North London, including Camden, home of the famed Black Cap (theblackcap.com); and Stoke Newington, where you’ll find several predominantly lesbian pubs. Increasingly, hip Shoreditch shenanigans pop up on the iCals of the city’s gay and straight scenesters. Try Dalston Superstore, home of über-cool gay nights such as Sissy Sports and Hot Boy Dancing Spot, achingly hip Jaguar Shoes ( jaguarshoes.com) or Passing

The flamboyant Haymarket Hotel (firmdalehotels.com) pairs design and spacious rooms in a fantastic West End theatres– adjacent location. The Langham (langhamhotels.com) is a grand old meringue of a hotel where Oscar Wilde attended literary salons, 20 minutes’ walk from Soho.

The Cadogan (cadogan.com) offers Green Carnation packages, in homage to the carnation-wearing Wilde, arrested in room 118 in 1895. Budget stays can be had from $60 at easyHotel’s six no-frills locations (easyhotel.co.uk) in Victoria, South Kensington, Earls Court, Paddington, Barbican and Heathrow. Another wallet-friendly option, Outlet (outlet4holidays.com), lists gay-owned/gay-friendly apartments and rooms, and, for those who really love London, long-term lets.

Trip advisor BARS & CLUBS Admiral Duncan The Hoist

LODGINGS Astors Hotel Grim’s Dyke Hotel

SAUNAS & SEX CLUBS Chariots Vauxhall Pleasuredrome

SHOPPING & SERVICES London Eye Clone Zone For information on more than 200 gay and lesbian places of interest in London, visit guidemag.com.

on the web London Tourism ›visitlondon.com UK Tourism ›visitbritain.com Pride London & WorldPride 2012 ›pridelondon.org

Visit guidemag.com for city profiles on other popular destinations in England, such as Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Bristol and Liverpool. Read about Manchester on page 23.

Last-minute getaways LA CAGE IN LAUDERDALE

La Demence takes its party to the Mediterranean.

FROM HIGH ALTITUDE TO HIGH CAMP Five must-dos in Palm Springs PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM What began as a museum about the desert in 1938 has evolved into the centre of the desert’s art community. The Palm Springs Art Museum focuses on modern and contemporary painting and sculpture, including works by historically significant West Coast artists and contemporary native American artists. › psmuseum.org

PALM SPRINGS FOLLIES A campy, Broadway-style night out.

Starting its 22nd season in July, the Palm Springs Follies is a classic variety act featuring music and dance of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s — performed by “a cast old enough to have lived it” and occasional guest stars. Lorna Luft, the other Garland daughter, will perform for a month starting in November. › psfollies.com

PALM SPRINGS AERIAL TRAMWAY The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, the “world’s largest rotating tramcar,” offers a breathtaking journey up the sheer cliffs of the rugged Chino Canyon. Starting at Valley Station, on the north edge of

Palm Springs, the 5873-foot ascent toward the snow-capped peak of Mount San Jacinto takes 10 minutes. It’s a oneof-a-kind experience that guarantees spectacular views, no matter the season. › pstramway.com

MOUNT SAN JACINTO STATE PARK Known for its magnificent granite peaks, subalpine forests and fern-bordered mountain meadows, most of the Mount San Jacinto State Park is a designated wilderness area beloved by hikers and backpackers. With its dramatic landscapes and ever-changing light, it has long been an inspiration to artists and writers. The park has two drive-in campgrounds near the picturesque town of Idyllwild. › parks.ca.gov

JUNGLE RED It’s big, it’s long and it’s hard. If you’re in the mood you can sit on it. It’s also Palm Springs’ most recognizable public sculpture. Installed in 2008, sculptor Delos Van Earl’s Jungle Red graces the entrance to Warm Sands, the most vibrant gay neighbourhood in Palm Springs. Read more about Jungle Red in our Palm Springs city guide at › guidemag.com

EURO PARTY & CRUISE La Demence is an infamous monthly party in Brussels, known for attracting as many as 2,000 gay men of all ages and styles: “leather boys, fashion victims, muscle queens, drags, young and old,” according to organizers.

Dress code–free, it draws heavily from France, the Netherlands and Germany; many make the trip on chartered buses from Cologne and Paris. Hot Italian, Swiss, Spanish, British and American boys round out the crowd.

Each July, La Demence also organizes a gay cruise, featuring nonstop pool parties. There’s still space available for next month’s voyage aboard the 700cabin Horizon.

The cruise is scheduled for Sunday, July 22 through Sunday, July 29. It departs from and returns to Marseille, with stops in Naples, Taormina and Ibiza, where the ship stops overnight.

Cabin prices start at $1,332 euros per person, double occupancy.

More information at lademence.com.

US PRIDE HOTEL DEALS The Millennium Hotels and Resorts group is offering a special Pride rate of 15 percent off the best available rate at many of its US hotels. Here’s a sampling: Cincinnati: June 23–July 1 Minneapolis: June 23–24 St Louis: June 23–24 Boulder: Sept 16 Check the website for a complete list of locations and dates. Book online using the special rate code “PRIDE” at millenniumhotels.com, or call 1-866-866-8086.

Hop down to Fort Lauderdale to visit the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District and catch the permatanned George Hamilton in a stage production of La Cage aux Folles.

George Hamilton stars The Be Grand, Be in La Cage aux Folles.

Fabulous La Cage Escape includes a three-day/two-night stay at The Grand Resort and Spa, Fort Lauderdale’s largest gay men’s resort; two orchestra-level seats at a performance of La Cage at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts; daily continental breakfast for two; and a one-day unlimited-privileges pass for two on the Water Taxi.

Package rates start as low as $134.50 per room, per night, excluding taxes. Book until June 24. For reservations or more information, call 1-800-8181211 or visit grandresort.net.

The Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District features more than 1,000 events each year, attracting more than 1,000,000 visitors. Check out riverwalkae.com for more info.

Hamilton will also star in La Cage Aux Folles in Toronto, Oct 10–Nov 18, 2012. Visit mirvish.com for more info.

Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! JUNE 7, 2012

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Side effects affecting your plans?

Talk to your doctor about managing your HIV. Visit the Canadian AIDS Society at cdnaids.ca/CanWeTalk to learn more.