XtraVAN489_May172012

BEYOND GRINDR A comprehensive g guide uide to gay h hookup ookup apps ›12

TORONTO’S O RO N TO S G GAY AY & LESBIAN N NEWS N E WS

#719 MAY 17, 2012

XTRA

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READS

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featuring

JOHN IRVING In person

ALISON BECHDEL A graphic life

MATTILDA B SYCAMORE Fear of faggotry + a tribute to

MAURICE SENDAK

›INSIDE! index

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Unhealed Augusten Burroughs seeks the hard truths in new memoir ›19

COMMENT 6 XCETERA 7 NEWS 9 OUT IN THE CITY 15 XPOSED 26

MORE AT XTRA.CA

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XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

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Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

CONTACT US Address: 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, ON, M5B 1J3 Office hours: 9am–6pm, Mon–Fri Phone: 416-925-6665 Fax: 416-925-6674 Website: xtra.ca General email: info@xtra.ca FOR DISPLAY ADVERTISING rates or information call 416-925-6665 or 800-268-XTRA or email ads@xtra.ca. Display advertising deadline for the May 31 issue: Wed, May 23, 4pm.

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SEND A COMMENT to the editor: mail Xtra, 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, ON, M5B 1J3, Canada, fax 416-925-6503 or email comment@xtra.ca. Comments must include the writer’s full name, which is published, and telephone number, for verification only. We may edit comments.

SUBMIT A LISTING to Out in the City: oitc@xtra.ca. Listings deadline for the May 31 issue: Wed, May 23, 5pm.

SUBSCRIBE Call 416-925-6665 or 800-268-XTRA, or email subscriptions@xtra.ca. $77.81 for one year (26 issues). $69 (US) in the United States; $125 (US) overseas. HST included where applicable. Xtra is free in metropolitan Toronto; elsewhere, retailers may charge up to $1 to cover transportation costs.

GET DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION or suggest a distribution outlet: email craig.palmer@xtra.ca.

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THIS JUNE, GET SMARTER, HEALTHIER & SEXIER. A leadership workshop for young gay and bi guys, taking place June 2, 9, 16 and 23.

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Issn 0829-3384 Printed and published in Canada. ©2012 Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every two weeks by Pink Triangle Press.

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XTRA! MAY 17, 2012 TORONTO’S GAY& LESBIAN NEWS

Roundup #719

Ulma Lee, from the Rose of Sharon Mission, holds the “Don’t Confuse Me” ad from the Institute for Canadian Values that appeared in the National Post and Toronto Sun during the Ontario fall election campaign.

Lee does not want gay support groups in Ontario schools.

ANDREA HOUSTON

MAY 17, 2012

SAME-SEX LEGAL ISSUES JANICE P. WARREN BARRISTER & SOLICITOR

416-323-7767 jwarren@tcn.net Immigration: Same-Sex Sponsorship Applications from Canada & Overseas U.S. Work Permits

CYNTHIA BOROVOY WARREN BARRISTER & SOLICITOR

416-964-0900 cbw@cbwarrenlaw.com Domestic Matters: Domestic Agreements Real Estate: Purchase, Sale & Mortgages: Estate Planning: Wills and Powers of Attorney

NEWS

Opposing GSAs Religious groups and parents argued strongly against gay-straight alliances before a provincial committee examining two anti-bullying bills. The groups believe GSAs are “sex clubs” that promote a “radical sex education agenda.”

›11

NEWS

COVER STORY

New Village park?

Augusten Burroughs

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam is hoping to team with the province to create a new urban green space at the corner of Wellesley and Bay streets. The vacant area has been closed off for more than a decade. ›9

The popular American writer is about to release his first selfhelp book. He chats with Alistair Newton about why the genre is so appealing. › 19

FEATURE

Hundreds of hookups With so many options for mobile cruising apps, how is a modern gay man to know which is the best?

Xtra’s Rob Salerno took to the streets of Toronto with smartphone in hand to find out which app locates the most hot men. › 12

OUT IN THE CITY

Xtra reads The season of sunshine, beach days and cottage trips is upon us.

Xtra suggests several summer reading options, including the latest from John Irving and Alison Bechdel. › 15-22

ONLINE

Inside Out launch party Xtra joined hundreds of queer revellers at the recent film festival launch party. Our crew also chatted with Inside Out’s new director of programming about this year’s diverse lineup. › xtra.ca

Russian intolerance In a special report, Xtra’s Natasha Barsotti chats with Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev.

Alexeyev was recently convicted under a St Petersburg law that prohibits “gay propaganda” for holding up a sign outside city hall that read, “Homosexuality is not perverted.” › xtra.ca

REGULARS

Comment ›6 Xcetera ›7 Xposed ›26 Index ›28 Classifieds ›28 COLUMNS

Editorial ›6 Fraser’s Edge › 14 Porndoggy ›30 LISTINGS

Leisure & pleasure › 18 Art & photography › 20 Health issues › 20 Music ›23 Stage ›25

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Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

editorial › feedback › debate

Comment Glimmers of hope Editorial Danny Glenwright

Y

EARS AGO MY FAVOURITE gay-themed film was a little number called Edge of Seventeen. It was released the year I turned 18 and it had a huge impact on my life. Its on-screen coming-out story (what I would now call cookie-cutter, gay coming-out film fare) shared similarities with my real-life story.

At least that’s what I thought at the time. Back then there were precious few films that even came close to mirroring my life. Gay people rarely appeared in the media, and Ellen had only just come out.

And so it used to be that if a young homo wanted to see himself represented on the big screen, he needed to sneak away to a gay film festival like Toronto’s Inside Out. Gay films spoke mainly to three issues — coming out, HIV/AIDS and parents dealing with kids coming out.

These days there are myriad gay themes in film, and in real life you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a gay person. And gay issues have been percolating to the surface in some of the strangest, most emboldening ways. Western politicians now openly and excitably call on developing world leaders to decriminalize homosexuality; the president of the United States supports gay marriage; and Mitt Romney — the US presidential candidate for the party whose supporters (and members) wrote the guidebook on homophobic bullying — was recently forced to apologize to a gay high school classmate he once picked on.

Attitudes, too, are changing. Angus Reid recently found that 81 percent of Canadians under age 30 support same-sex marriage. That number is 48 percent in the US. On the surface it may even appear to some as if we’re hogging the spotlight. Up here in Canada, rightwing commentator and Rob Ford lap-dog David Menzies recently accused Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke of wrapping himself in the rainbow flag for PR purposes. That’s right: a straight hockey magnate using gay issues to get attention — positive attention.

While I don’t believe for a second that Burke’s You Can Play campaign is anything but a very touching tribute to his dead gay son — and a genuine attempt to make sports more inclusive — the fact a commentator can posit that it might be speaks volumes. It used to be the only public figure who proudly wrapped herself in a pride flag was Cyndi Lauper.

Yet as our gay star rises — and the most remarkable people are accused of hitching their wagons to it — we still don’t have to look far to see those who continue to reveal their true homophobic colours.

Gays and lesbians may have gained some rights and visibility in many parts of the Western world, but our counterparts in the developing world are increasingly seeing them taken away.

There are also worrying signs in our own country of a similar trend.

It used to be the only leaders in the Americas who proudly supported gay rights were found in Canada. Not so anymore. President Obama may openly support same-sex marriage, but Canada’s current leader and the mayor of our largest city do not.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s provincial legislature has been entertaining the views of dozens of bigots who claim instituting gay support groups in publicly funded schools is tantamount to slavery. These people have the ears of the opposition Progressive Conservatives and many like them recently sent their children to march on Parliament Hill to protest a woman’s right to choose.

So yes, as the 22nd Inside Out LGBT Film Festival opens, some of the plots and storylines are all too familiar to those who have been tuning in for many years. Yet like life, there will also be some surprises along the way.

Some of us may still buy a ticket because we enjoy watching our gay life played out on screen; others will attend hoping Grindr finds them a hot someone a few rows over. Still others realize buying a ticket for Inside Out is one small way to advance gay film and gay rights — here in Canada and in places around the world where seeing a gay movie may give lost closeted gay teenagers that small glimmer of hope that there are people out there just like them.

Most of us remember how important that first glimmer was.

Danny Glenwright is Xtra’s assignment editor.

“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.

INBOX Alexander St TIP OF THE HAT TO XTRA AND Rob Salerno for covering neighbourhood issues in the Village [“Residents Divided Over Alexander St Redesign,” Xtra #718, May 3]. I now hope to read more about what’s happening at the other end of Alexander St, at Yonge, where the whole block will be razed and replaced by two 58-storey towers. Our Village will be much less vibrant when restaurant patios (Pi-Tom, Kokyo Sushi, Cocina Lucero) are replaced by a wall of glass and concrete. It will be much darker when the gigantic towers cast their shadows on it. It will be much less walkable when the traffic increases threefold. New buildings can be a good thing, but they need to enhance their surroundings. The current proposals are not community-friendly and the developer, Lanterra, has little credibility. It is responsible for the infamous Murano tower on Bay. Glass fell from that building, injured a passerby, paralyzed the streets and made the owners’ lives miserable. The razing of the Yonge-Alexander block will affect the social fabric of our community.

That’s much more important than the removal of a couple of benches. Let’s look at the big picture and unite to stop greedy and irresponsible developers.

Now that would make a terrific frontpage story, no?

Alex Brassard Toronto, ON

Bill 13 battle THE PCS WILL CONTINUE TO oppose Bill 13 [“End of AntiBullying Battle?” Xtra #718, May 3].

While the bill doesn’t mandate GSAs (I disagree with your article on this point), it prevents schools from banning students from starting clubs that “promote awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” That in itself is unacceptable to the PCs. This is the party who not even a year ago ran homophobic and transphobic ads in their election campaign.

This is the party that voices support for the “freedom” to discriminate and marginalize kids in this province’s religious schools.

Julien McArdle Ottawa, ON

Pride planning THE ARTICLE STATES THAT Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam applauded Natalie KouriTowe’s advice and encouraged her to volunteer for a WorldPride 2014 committee [“Pride Toronto Planning Two Festivals at Once,” Xtra #718, May 3].

It’s not surprising that Wong-Tam (as the former owner of QuAIA’s website) would promote a QuAIA supporter like Natalie Kouri-Towe. Based on her writing, Kouri-Towe is no ally of Pride and is just another divisive QuAIA supporter. She is opposed to the socalled corporatization of Pride and the

A SUPPORTIVE GAY COMMUNITY SHOULDN’T PRESSURE SOMEONE TO BE SOMETHING THEY AREN’T.

Send your correspondence by mail to 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto M5B 1J3, email comment@xtra.ca, or log in to xtra.ca and comment directly. We may edit letters.

so-called homo-nationalism of Pride.

According to Kouri-Towe, homo-nationalism is the process where LGBT people gain acceptance and status in North American society through consumerism, economic mobility and the securing of individual rights, such as same-sex marriage. In other words, Kouri-Towe is opposed to the values of most of the LGBT people who attend Pride and the sponsors who help pay for it.

Ron Jacobs Toronto, ON

PC member supports GSAs THE ISSUE ISN’T ABOUT allowing GSAs [“Ontario PC MPP Throws Support Behind GSAs,” xtra.ca, May 9]. It’s about enforcing the existence of these clubs in areas (ie schools) where the “gay lifestyle” is truthfully and openly talked about as unhealthy and harmful to society.

GSAs in university use language such as “sex positive” to “celebrate differences” in sexual behaviour. That means if you openly talk about how you’re not okay with HIV-positive people failing to disclose their condition to sexual partners, then you’ve just been labelled “not sex positive” and you’re treated with the term “hate.” You’re socially isolated. No kid wants to be labelled that way. Why are politicians, such as Lisa MacLeod, failing to look at the real issue here? She knows what people are talking about. She just cares about getting reelected.

Rej Bauer Ottawa, ON

Fear of faggotry A SUPPORTIVE GAY COMMUnity shouldn’t pressure someone to be something they aren’t [“Fear of Faggotry,” xtra.ca, May 3]. I understand where you’re coming from, but you’re going against a main principle of our community. I’m not a flamboyant femme; why should I feel like something’s wrong with that? I’m not suppressing gayness; I’m fully out and open. I say, think and do exactly what I want. As far as the race card goes — I’m getting tired of being labelled “racist” simply because I’m not attracted to certain ethnicities. I understand their appeal and why others like them; I have nothing against them as people, but I’m not attracted to them. Why do I have to be made to feel guilty? As far as “Gay men are increasingly citing strong, hairy, tall, muscular men as their type and eschewing the wispier, willowier among us” – what’s wrong with that?! Why am I not allowed to be attracted to what I want? I understand what you’re trying to say, but you’ve gone about it all wrong — at the end of this article I feel like you are doing exactly the thing you are complaining about, just in the opposite direction.

Michael Fels Vancouver, BC

THE ARTICLE QUOTES SYCAmore as saying, “The modern gay man must be fit, wear the right clothes, know the right people and, of course, be straight acting. Anyone who doesn’t fit into these moulds falls into the margins.” Ever since I came out in Toronto and ventured into the visible LGBT community here, I have seen Pink Triangle Press (and its organs like Xtra, fab, Squirt, etc) act as the main propagandist in the Toronto gay male community for such values of body fascism, consumerism and false elitism. Every single issue of Xtra and fab features articles and numerous ads with pictures of fit, muscular men consuming things (eg gym memberships, bathhouse sex, phone sex, internet sex, clothes, cars, vacations, condos, porn, alcohol, drugs, escorts, expensive charity events, anti-HIV medications, etc).

Every issue features pictures from the bar/party scene showing half-naked, fit muscle boys consuming. Countless cover photos and travel stories have done the same. Every issue covering Pride features pictures of fit, muscle boys on floats. So, it’s a little odd for an Xtra columnist to complain about decades of Xtra’s publication history.

Jeff Hanson Toronto, ON I HAVE TO SAY I’M A LITTLE surprised by how much people seem to take offence at this article by Mattilda. My take-away from the article was that the gay community is not all-inclusive anymore. I can see that as a simple fact living in NYC. She’s not saying that everyone is supposed to be femme or queer or transgender-queer, just that those types are not included in the mainstream gay culture today, when they should be. There is plenty of room for all types. There shouldn’t be one dominant character trait touting itself as what is normal to be gay. If you love shopping and ordering martinis and going to clubs, that’s fine. Just let’s not make it like it’s the only way to be.

I’m a sorta-straight-acting white gay man who loves diversity.

William Robinson New York, NY ONCE AGAIN, XTRA COMpletely misreads its readership [“Fear of Faggotry,” xtra.ca, May 3]. We are thinking people with minds and lives of our own. We don’t need some self-appointed moral authority to come in and tell us how to be authentically gay. It is also pretty deceptive. He says he wants an “honest conversation.” But what he really wants is to lecture and browbeat others to embrace his way of living over their way of living. If Sycamore wants to be a “faggot” who spends his life prattling on about “desire,” then he should go for it. Let others live their lives and pursue their dreams.

David Bastian Vancouver, BC

For more on Mattilda B Sycamore’s book, see page 22.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

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noteworthy › updates › ephemera

Xcetera

Compiled

by Jeremy Feist

SLIPPERY SLOPES

Radio hosts mock gay sponsor

POTENT QUOTABLES

It’s not made up.

It’s not a lack of decision.

It’s not being greedy.

R. BOYBUTTE

The hosts of the Opie and Anthony Show, on SiriusXM radio, found themselves in a bit of hot water recently after they mocked one of their sponsors, Boy Butter, live on air. Despite claiming to be pro-gay, the shock jocks ridiculed the product while lamenting that they couldn’t find a more stereotypically straight supporter. Chick-fil-A, perhaps?

COM

BUZZ

SEXUAL HEALING

TOP 5

— Oscar-winner Anna Paquin talks to Zooey magazine about her bisexuality. “For a bisexual, it’s not about gender. That’s not the deciding factor for who they’re attracted to.”

1 2 3 4 5

PHOENIXPSBGBM.COM

Stories on xtra.ca in April

Hamilton morning show interrupted by gay porn Rob Salerno

Ontario trans rights decision makes Canadian history Andrea Houston

Gay man murdered in Halifax Simon Thibault

Catholic students asked to support motion to criminalize abortion Andrea Houston Oshawa publisher continues homophobic tirade Justin Ling

Hypersexuality not a disorder Even though the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychological Association and due out in May 2013, will classify bad handwriting as a mental disorder, the APA has concluded that hypersexuality, or sex addiction, is not. Although it will, reportedly, be included in the appendix, where it will be read by absolutely no one.

WALLPAPERS.FUNMUNCH.COM

CRIME WATCH

Hate crimes highest against gay men RATE OF CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS

ANTI-JEW

5 IN 100,000

ANTI-GAY

26 IN 100,000

ANTI-LESBIAN

ANTI-AFRICAN AMERICAN

10 IN 100,000 Source: williamsinstitute. law.ucla.edu/research/ violence-crime/ comparison-hatecrime-rates-update/

A UCLA Williams Institute study has found that gay men are subjected to the highest rate of hate crimes in the United States. Out of a sample of 100,000 gay men, 26 reported being victimized by hate crimes. This is higher than the rate for lesbians, bisexuals, Jews and African Americans.

5 IN 100,000 ANTI-BISEXUAL

1 IN 100,000

MEN IN BLACK TIGHTS

I’M SUPER,THANKS FOR ASKING THERYNOSHORN.COM

The Dark Knight has never been a stranger to homoerotic undertones, to the point where most see Robin less as a sidekick and more as a live-in boytoy. In an interview with Playboy, DC comics writer Grant Morrison pretty much confirmed those suspicions, saying “Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it.” Is gay marriage legal in Gotham yet?

Source: bleedingcool.com/2012/04/26/gayness-is-built-into-batman-grant-morrison-in-playboy

BREAKING NEWS › ONTARIO TRANS RIGHTS BILL GETS ALL-PARTY SUPPORT › RUSSIA’S PUSH TO CRIMINALIZE GAYS COULD BACKFIRE › TORONTO WRITERS UP FOR LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS › CUBA TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE WHILE UK BACKS AWAY MORE AT XTRA.CA

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XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

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XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

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dispatches › issues › opinion

Upfront NEIGHBOURHOOD

I PERSONALLY DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH STUDENTS HAVING CLUBS, AND [FOR THEM TO] CALL IT WHATEVER THEY WANT TO CALL IT, KIDS MAKING THAT DECISION. PC MPP Lisa MacLeod › 11

PRIDE NEWS

Wong-Tam wants residents to ‘occupy’ Wellesley Park Rob Salerno SOME PROVINCIAL MINISTERS are quietly working toward creating a large urban park on the provincially owned lands at 11 Wellesley St W, a two-acre site that stretches to Breadalbane St between Yonge and Bay streets.

The vacant area has languished behind construction hoarding for more than a decade but was once home to a beloved city skate park. The province took over the site in the 1980s in order to build a magnificent opera building, but that project was cancelled.

Parcels of the land were later sold to developers who built skyscrapers on its Bay St side. The remaining land is now co-owned by the province and Morguard, who have been mired in a legal dispute over further development.

Toronto Centre MPP and cabinet minister Glen Murray says he’s successfully lobbied cabinet to remove the site from the province’s for-sale list, but there remains considerable skepticism

But Wong-Tam says any compromise can’t involve the city being forced to pay for the land.

“Asking us to pay for it is ridiculous. All we want is a little park,” she said. “We have the money to design, build and maintain the park if the province will unlock that land.”

Wong-Tam publicly advocated for residents to force the issue by occupying the park themselves.

“If residents want to take charge, I say take down that fence,” she said. “For 10 years we’ve lived with that hoarding. For 10 years we could’ve had a park.”

Support for turning the site into a park is strong among community groups, Murray said. The plan has been endorsed by several neighbourhoood associations, including Church-Wellesley, Bay-Cloverhill and Greater Yorkville.

Murray said residents who want the site turned into a park should email him a testimonial that he can show to his cabinet colleagues.

He said some other cabinet ministers, including Municipal Af-

Kevin Beaulieu says Pride Toronto is back on track and ready to deliver a great festival this summer. ANDREA HOUSTON

Full speed ahead New Pride executive director readies for 2012 festival Andrea Houston

Toronto Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam and Provincial MPP Glen Murray want the lands at 11 Wellesley returned to the public. ROB SALERNO

about turning the site — which he estimates could be worth $150 million — into a public park.

“The battle royale is going on in my own government on 11 Wellesley,” Murray told a Church-Wellesley Village community planning meeting he cohosted with Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam on May 7.

“Mostly, the battle is getting the development community engaged to step back,” Murray said. “Part of the challenge is how to disengage the partnership with Morguard, and part of that’s with reasonable agreements elsewhere.”

Murray later said that could involve the city or province allowing Morguard to develop properties elsewhere.

“It’ll take generosity on all sides to make it work,” he said.

fairs Minister Kathleen Wynne and Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli have expressed support for turning the land into a park.

Murray noted that the province is contributing to new park space along Toronto’s waterfront and in the developing West Don Lands neighbourhood, which he says will be 25 percent green space. He also noted that the province owns lands at Dundas and Jarvis streets.

Wong-Tam told attendees at the meeting that funding for renovations to Cawthra Park, next to The 519, has been raised from $500,000 to $1 million, which will include improvements to the entrances, the AIDS memorial, the dog run and more pavement over the current grassy area.

TWO YEARS AGO PRIDE TORONTO (PT) was embroiled in a censorship scandal, on the verge of financial collapse and appeared disconnected from a large portion of the queer community.

Kevin Beaulieu is now at the helm of PT as the new executive director, and in many ways it seems the organization is finally able to bring this rocky chapter to a close.

Six months into the job, Beaulieu sat down with Xtra to discuss plans for Pride 2012 and WorldPride 2014. He says PT has taken a major turn in the right direction.

And while planning for this summer’s festival is kicking into high gear, the first controversy Beaulieu had to face was a familiar one. Mayor Rob Ford has, once again, declined Pride’s invitation to attend the parade.

“Whether or not an elected official is trying to send a message with their acceptance or non-acceptance of the invitation, it will often be perceived that way,” Beaulieu says. “We all remember how hard we struggled to gain acceptance. We’re not interested in going back to a time when we have to be ashamed of who we are, so it’s important that the people who represent us electorally understand the importance of connecting with our communities.”

Others at PT are more frustrated. On May 10, board member Roy Mitchell uninvited Ford.

“Consider this the un-invite you should have gotten long ago. The continued contempt you show for the community I belong to and work for is ugly

and would be out of place for anyone, let alone the mayor of Canada’s largest city,” Mitchell wrote in a letter shared on social media.

Beaulieu — formerly Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam’s executive assistant — says he understands the frustration, but he is focused on the task at hand, planning the massive 10day festival less than two months away.

“I would say we are on schedule,” he says, noting PT is not yet ready to announce any of the headlining artists

IT’S IMPORTANT THAT THE PEOPLE WHO REPRESENT US ELECTORALLY UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING WITH OUR COMMUNITIES. —Kevin Beaulieu, Pride Toronto executive director who will perform on five stages. “We are quite excited about a new stage up on Church and Wellesley, which will be programmed with trans artists.”

Within the community, he says, PT has worked hard to mend old wounds.

Beaulieu credits the board and interim executive director Glen Brown for pulling the organization back from the brink.

Financially, PT is in “a very good” position Beaulieu says, compared to last year, when PT faced a $431,000 deficit. Its audited financials, released

in January, showed a $211,000 surplus.

Beaulieu says cuts were made across the board in order to balance the books.

The number of staff members has gone from 10 to five over the last two years.

Beaulieu says that working to strengthen trust in the local community is an ongoing process, noting that much of the current stability can be credited to the Community Advisory Panel, which wrapped up in February 2011.

Its report, containing 133 recommendations, included a process to ensure disputes are resolved fairly, such as the 2010 controversy surrounding the involvement of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) in the Pride parade.

The group chose not to march in 2011.

Last year, debate about QuAIA put city funding in jeopardy — about $123,807 in cash, as well as roughly $250,000 of in-kind services such as garbage cleanup and policing.

“Pride stands in solidarity with all of our communities. It’s important that they feel welcome at Pride and that they have a place at Pride and we support them,” Beaulieu says, noting PT is closely monitoring activity at city hall. Beaulieu thinks there’s so far no reason to be concerned that future funding is at risk.

PT is also busy looking ahead to 2014 and planning for WorldPride, an international party that will turn Toronto into “Pride City,” according to Beaulieu, who will lead a Toronto contingent to WorldPride in London, England, this summer.

“By international standards we already deliver a pretty big festival,” he says. “Toronto will be the first WorldPride in North America and the fourth time it’s ever been held. We are helping to define what that is, and I find that very exciting.”

For a video interview with Kevin Beaulieu, visit xtra.ca.

10

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

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NATIONAL NEWS

TORONTO NEWS

Will Canada get gender-neutral passports?

No PFLAG flag-raising for Ford

PASSPORT CANADA IS MULLING over changes that would allow Canadians to make their passports gender neutral, according to documents obtained by La Presse.

The gender identity 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 either “male” or “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 For more on this story, visit xtra.ca.

FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE year, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has declined an invitation from PFLAG to attend its flag-raising and proclamation to mark International Day against Homophobia. The annual event takes place outside City Hall in Nathan Phillips Square on May 17 over lunch break. It runs for about 30 minutes.

Ford’s decision came days after homophobic remarks by commentator David Menzies went unchallenged by the mayor on his weekly radio show and amid criticism of Ford’s refusal to commit to attending any Pride Week events for the second consecutive year.

A PFLAG representative says she thought the group would be a suitably positive space for Ford. City council-

lors regularly march with PFLAG at Pride and Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke will be in attendance at the event on the 17th.

PFLAG Toronto president Irene Miller was hopeful the mayor would attend and expected he would. The organization coordinated with Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam to give the mayor’s office adequate notice.

Despite the disappointing response, Miller is keeping the door open. “Toronto PFLAG would be open to meeting with the mayor anytime. If he would like to speak, we are always here and available.”

— David Hains For more on this story, visit xtra.ca and see Fraser’s Edge on page 14.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Obama supports gay marriage US PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA declared his support for same-sex marriage in a May 9 interview with ABC News. He is the first sitting American president to do so.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to affirm same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said.

The statement came days after his vice-president, Joe Biden, and his secretary of education, Arne Duncan, threw their unequivocal support behind same-sex marriage — and just five months after his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, delivered a 30-minute “gay rights are human

rights” call to arms at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day. The president’s record on gay rights has been strong, with the dismantling of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; passage of hate crime legislation; support for same-sex hospital visitation rights; and a halt to defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, but it seemed to be asterisked because he would go only as far as supporting same-sex civil unions, not full marriage rights.

— Natasha Barsotti See xtra.ca for Hillary Clinton’s UN speech.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

11

ONTARIO NEWS

Breaking rank on GSAs PC MPP endorses gay support groups as religious activists cry foul at Queen’s Park committee Andrea Houston THE SPONSOR OF BILL 14, THE PROgressive Conservative anti-bullying bill, told Xtra May 8 that she has “no issue” with students forming gaystraight alliances (GSAs).

In saying this, PC MPP Lisa MacLeod appeared to break with her party’s stand on the issue and contradict statements made by other members of her caucus.

“I personally don’t have a problem with students having clubs, and [for them to] call it whatever they want to call it, kids making that decision,” MacLeod said. “If kids want to have a club, they should choose the name.”

MacLeod made the comment at the end of the second day of presentations at the standing committee for social policy. The committee is examining Bill 13, the Liberals’ Accepting Schools Act, and Bill 14, both of which will likely be merged before third reading.

Bill 14 does not mandate support for queer students, whereas Bill 13 would make it law that schools establish welcoming environments for queer youth and provide supports, such as GSAs. Religious groups and parents have argued strongly against GSAs before the committee, with some referring to them as “sex clubs” that promote a “radical sex education agenda.”

For more than a year, students in Catholic schools across Ontario have been asking to start GSAs, but they have been denied repeatedly. When asked whether Catholic schools should continue to be allowed to deny GSAs, MacLeod said she supports students.

“Far be it for me to tell [Catholic schools] what to do, because they are protected under the Constitution.

That’s also important,” she added. “I don’t think anyone wants to deny students the ability to go to groups. Jamie Hubley wanted to start a rainbow club.

Kids should be able to have clubs, and I personally think they should choose the name themselves.”

However, after Xtra reported these remarks on May 9, the office of the leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party emailed to clarify MacLeod’s position.

Christine Bujold, press secretary for PC Leader Tim Hudak, said, “The following accurately describes MPP MacLeod’s position regarding the Ontario PC Party position on Bill 13/ Bill 14: ‘I believe all publicly funded schools should have groups to support students. However, the Liberal bill that focuses exclusively on GSAs has proven to be divisive. I do not believe we should entrench GSAs in legislation. I never have. That is one of the reasons we oppose the Liberal bill and have moved forward with our own antibullying bill.’”

For NDP MPP Peter Tabuns, who also sits on the committee, MacLeod’s comments were unexpected. “I’m surprised and pleased,” he said.

Many PC MPPs have spoken out strongly against GSAs, and on May 3 Liberal MPP Glen Murray told Xtra that PC whip John Yakabuski yelled,

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KIDS SHOULD BE ABLE TO HAVE CLUBS, AND I PERSONALLY THINK THEY SHOULD CHOOSE THE NAME THEMSELVES. —MPP Lisa MacLeod “No to GSAs” in the legislature after Bill 13 passed second reading. MacLeod at that time joined her caucus to vote unanimously against Bill 13.

At an anti-GSA rally held at Queen’s Park in March, PC MPP Rick Nicholls told protesters that he is “a believer” who thinks people should “hate the sin, but love the sinner.” He also said he strongly supports Bill 14, not Bill 13.

“There are far-reaching repercussions if Bill 13 is passed because it’s just one agenda after another after another,” Nicholls said.

Tabuns wouldn’t speculate as to whether MacLeod’s comments could affect the outcome of the legislation.

“There is certainly a lot more to Bill 13 than that one section on GSAs, although that has been the most contentious,” he said. “There are some people [within the PC party] who are vehemently opposed to GSAs.” MacLeod, who distanced herself from many of the statements made by religious speakers who spoke before the committee, said public hearings often shape legislation, and changes may be made by MPPs based on presentations.

During the first day of presentations, about 20 religious groups and parents told the committee that Bill 13 will “promote the gay lifestyle.”

Charles McVety, president of Cana-

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Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod thinks Ontario students should be allowed to have gaystraight alliances. ANDREA HOUSTON

da Christian College, said Bill 13 “embraces a radical sex education agenda” and children will be taught “about oral and anal sex.”

“My daughter is a precious little 14-year-old girl. I beg you not to do this to my daughter,” he said. “This bill goes against the Bible. The Bible is a very important document.”

Ekron Malcolm, director at the Institute for Canadian Values, called Bill 13 “a form of slavery” because students will be exposed to positive messages about being gay. “You are forcing your ideas on my family values, my black family values . . . How dare you take away my right to teach my children my heritage.”

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, from the Chabad Flamingo synagogue, said the government is forcing schools to go against religious doctrine. “I was bullied in school. I don’t believe sexual orientation is a cause of bullying.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who didn’t attend the hearing in person, told Xtra afterward that the committee was a “very unpleasant space for a lot of people.

“People came out of there just reeling today, and I think it really speaks to why we need to have this bill in the first place,” she said.

Tabuns agreed. “It can be emotionally very difficult,” he said. “I think a number of us have been really shocked at the misunderstanding at these meetings [about] what’s really going on.

That’s one of the reasons we have been asking people: ‘Where in the bill do you find these things about sex?’

There must be a lot of people out there spreading a lot of misinformation.”

For more on this story and to see a copy of the legislation, visit xtra.ca.

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12

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

TECH

Life beyond Grindr Can any other app compare?

For some gay men, the mobile cruising app Grindr has become a de rigueur accessory — almost as important as owning a smartphone itself. And with more than 3.5 million users in 192 countries, Grindr has certainly earned its reputation as the most popular gay cruising app.

But why limit yourself to the 100 nearest guys on one cascade? There are plenty of other cruising apps out there to increase your odds of hooking up . . . err . . . networking with other “men seeking men.”

We’ve compared some of them against the big daddy to see who and what we’re missing out on by focusing on Grindr.

Rob Salerno

A4A 4A Radar LINK: K: radar.adam4adam.com FEATURES: The US dating site Adam4Adam m has been around since 2003, although its popularity is declining. ining.

BUGS: Maybe we’re ’re slow, but we couldn’t get et this app to display y more than 16 guys. Which is a definite bug.

Gaydar

Jack’d

LINK: gaydar.net

LINK: jackd.mobi FEATURES: Kind of like Grindr for gym queens, but don’t worry — there’s no BMI test required to join. This network seems to have a lot of users in Toronto. It can be filtered by distance and by city, or you can chat with whoever’s online around the world.

Profiles can contain a lot of information and up to three pictures. Users can filter the cascade by age, online status, ethnicity, availability of pictures, scene and how recently someone’s joined the network. Users can even browse a list of users who’ve viewed or “favourited” them. The whole app appears to run by donation.

BUGS: Jack’d seems to have combined the best aspects of all the other cruising apps.

The only downside is that profiles and pictures sometimes take a long time to load, and the interface doesn’t allow sideswiping through profiles or pictures.

FEATURES: RES: The South African/UK-based cruising website e has been around since 1999 and has more recently y moved into the mobile market. Profiles can include e multiple pictures, and there’s lots of room to get detailed tailed and informative in your profile.

BUGS: Gaydar was always more popular in the UK than North orth America, and it doesn’t seem like the mov move ve to mobile ile has been hugely successful this side of the pond. nd. A recent “nearby” search brought up men who were ere 100 miles away in less than 50 users. The cascade e can’t be filtered by interest. Users who have free guest est accounts can send messages, but they can’t initiate chats unless they subscribe to paid member accounts, ts, which begin at $9 per month.

Scruff LINK: scruffapp.com FEATURES: Billed as a kind of Grindr for bears, Scruff users will find the app fairly familiar if they’ve used Grindr before. But there are a number of additional features, including options to make your profile more detailed, link it to your Facebook page or website, and save photos that users send you. The cascade can be arranged to display only those nearby, or the “global” function allows you to chat with users thousands of miles away or to search specific cities. There’s also a function that lets you rate users on whether or not you’d be interested in them. If that user rates you similarly, you’ll both get messages alerting you. While the profiles are generally more hirsute than Grindr’s, users seem to come in all shapes, sizes and furriness.

For an additional fee, you can increase your maximum number of blocks to 1,000, which still sounds like a small number.

BUGS: In the middle of our trial, Scruff developed some kind of connection error that took out the service and the Scruff website.

That doesn’t bode well.

Squirt rt Mobile LINK: squirt.org t.org FEATURES: The popular gay cruising site doesn’t have a mobile app, only a mobile-friendly version of its website. While this makes the site somewhat less one users, it frees it from Apple’s puritan restrictions. convenient for smartphone In practice, this means you ou get to see a lot of other users’ cocks and anuses. The rb by website will still use yourr GPS to tell you who’s nearest and to give you lists of nearb nearby cruising spots. bership for $6.95 per week or $89.95 per year allows membe ers Upgrading to full membership members to view more profiles and d more profile details. Free members can view only paid members, while paid members embers can see both paid and free members.

BUGS: To get the most of this site, you really have to upgrade to full membership. her apps we tried, Squirt does cut right to the chase.

But compared to the other FULL DISCLOSURE: Squirt irt is operated by Pink Triangle Press, which publishes Xtra.

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more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

Bender LINK: benderapp.com FEATURES: Hi-larious name.

Allows multiple pics.

BUGS: Not nearly enough users to b worthwhile. be

13

BoyAhoy LINK: boyahoy.skout.com FEATURES: Kind of a more cruisey Facebook, BoyAhoy profiles include a wall where a history of profile pics, status updates and gifts from other users are displayed. Your BoyAhoy profile can even be linked to your Facebook. The platform allows users to display multiple pics. Users buy or earn points to find out who’s checking them out, give gifts or save pics of other users (which must be vitally important for users who don’t know how to capture screenshots from their phones).

BUGS: The search function is pretty wonky, and only the “near” option is of any use.

You can search users in your city, state, country or globally, but it can’t be targeted any further. And the city function has a funny habit of displaying users 40 to 60 miles away.

Grindr

Recon LINK: recon.com FEATURES: Like a Grindr for the fetish community. A recent search turned up lots of users, and because of the nature of the site, you know that you’ll already share a mutual interest.

BUGS: Profiles can’t get very detailed, although a metric for how active or passive you consider yourself is a required field on every profile. You can upload only one public picture. Non-members reach their maximum profile views very quickly.

LINK: grindr.com FEATURES: Grindr has the most active use users and has become a cultural touchstone for gay men the world over.

By using a smartphone’s GPS, it finds the 1100 nearest browsing. users and arranges them in a cascade for easy e Users can chat in real time, send unlimited pics, block up to 10 users per day, and maintain a “favourites” “favourite list of users who’ll always be at the top of the cascade. For $2.99 per month, users can subscribe to Grindr Xtra, which puts an additional 200 users in the cascade, allows unlimited blocks enhancements. and adds a number of navigational enhance

GuySpy LINK: guyspy.com

BUGS: Limiting the cascade to simply the 1100 or 300 nearest users privileges geography over m mutual interests or types. Grindr doesn’t allow much profile space for users to describe themselves, so it’s impossible tto browse users by interest. Grindr allows only a single profi profile pic. All this combines to guarantee that every convers conversation will have some variation of “Hey, what’s up? Great h headless torso.

Got more pics? What do you do? I mean for fun. I mean sexually for fun . . .”

FEATURES: This Vancouver-based upstart claims more than 300,000 members since launching in October 2010. It’s a cross-platform service that includes an app and a web version that is also trying to become a cultural hub with event listings and bloggers. The cascade seems to max out at around 260 guys, but they don’t appear to be arranged geographically. A somewhat stalker-y function allows you to browse users by their exact locations on a Google Map. For $1.99 per month, GuySpy+ enables travel mode, which allows users to browse in other cities. It also increases the number of guys users can see and cruise, and enables a function that notifies you when your favourite guys go online.

You can filter users by age, but not by wh what they’re looking for on the site. You’ll also quickly fin find that you see the same guys on Grindr all the time if you’re always logging in from the same place at the same time, especially if you check in from particularly gay locatio locations, like anywhere a ywhere in downtown Toronto. an

BUGS: That map function sure is creepy. You can disable your exact location from showing, however. Since GuySpy’s cascade isn’t ordered geographically and can’t be filtered by interest, it seems to combine the worst aspects of Grindr with the non-immediacy of web-based cruising.

Manhunt LINK: manhunt.net

Speed Flirt LINK: dating.speedflirt.com FEATURES: Can’t say. This one wouldn’t load after we downloaded it from the app store.

FEATURES: Manhunt has a history with the gay community, having survived more than a decade since it was founded as a phone chatline in 2001. With more than four million users, it is the largest gay cruising website in the world. The mobile app combines web users with mobile users, allowing you to maximize your cruising. But mixing in desktop users eliminates geographic targeting. The app allows you to filter users by ethnicity, body type and sexual activity. For a fairly steep fee — $5 for a week, $9 for a month or $85 for a year — you can view more user pics and keep longer buddy lists.

BUGS: It’s an imperfect marriage of mobile and web platforms. Mobile profiles can’t display a lot of information (it’s a lot of “age/body type/position” profiles). Basic-version users can see only grainy thumbnail pictures of users. The mobile app doesn’t seem to have penetrated the market. In Toronto’s Village, we found only four mobile users within a mile.

Lack of a real-time chat function means users must rely on a messaging function instead.

14

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

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The inevitable Rob Ford column Fraser’s Edge Brad Fraser

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TRANS PRIDE 2012 – -AY PM 3HERBOURNE 3T Calling All Trans, Genderqueer & Two-Spirit performers/artists of all abilties, and ages! Help us celebrate our communities with pride! It’s our party!

If you have writing, movement, ďŹ lm, skits, art or music that make you proud, this is an event for you!

Please email us at LIVINGTRANSPRIDE GMAIL COM to let us know what you’d like to share and if you have support and/or technical/space requirements. Allies are welcome! Sign up to participate as soon as possible! Space and time are limited! 7E WILL CLOSE REGISTRATION ON &RIDAY -AY 3UPPORTING /UR 9OUTH 3/9 SEEKS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR ,'"4 YOUTH UP TO THROUGH THE ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF ADULTS WORKING TOGETHER WITH YOUTH 7ORKING WITHIN AN ANTI OPPRESSION FRAMEWORK 3/9 DEVELOPS INITIATIVES THAT BUILD SKILLS AND CAPACITIES PROVIDE MENTORING AND SUPPORT

AND NURTURE A SENSE OF IDENTITY AND BELONGING

s 777 3/94/2/.4/ /2'

HEY QUEER & TRANS YOUTH! PINK INK is an informal creative writing drop-in for queer, trans and 2-spirit youth aged 14-29. )T RUNS WEEKLY FROM PM ON 3ATURDAYS 2OOM 3HERBOURNE (EALTH #ENTRE You don’t have to identify as a writer and you don’t have to worry about spelling. Everybody’s story is important. Nobody can tell your story but you. LEARN solid writing, editing, performance and publication skills. Come have FUN, CREATE, WRITE, and CHILL! Snacks and tokens will be provided. &2%% #ALL OR EMAIL VPINKINK GMAIL COM FOR MORE INFO

FRUITLOOPZ PRIDE youth stage is back again this year. We provide a safe space for LGBTQ and differently abled youth to autonomously and creatively express themselves. Come out for an amazing youth showcase! We are also currently accepting submissions for volunteers and performers!

0LEASE DIRECT ANY INQUIRES TO FRUITLOOPZ SOY GMAIL COM Let’s connect.

ALPHABET SOUP: If you are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, 2 Spirited or Questioning, under 20 years old and in school or planning to return to school, check us out!

4UESDAYS PM 3HERBOURNE (EALTH #ENTRE 3HERBOURNE 3T #ONTACT *OHN FOR MORE DETAILS AT JCAFFERY SHERBOURNE ON CA OR X NEWCOMER IMMIGRANT YOUTH PROGRAM (EXPRESS) : A safe and supportive space where newcomer and/or immigrant queer youth ďŹ nd a safe space to gather, share ideas, questions, and most of all HAVE FUN! Interested? 4UESDAYS PM 3HERBOURNE (EALTH #ENTRE 3HERBOURNE 3T %MAIL 3UHAIL SOYNEWCOMER SHERBOURNE ON CA OR CALL BLACK QUEER YOUTH (BQY): A safe space for Black, Mixed, African/Caribbean Youth under 29, who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual and questioning. Come chill, learn and socialize, free food & drinks - Spread the word! 7EDNESDAYS PM 3HERBOURNE (EALTH #ENTRE 3HERBOURNE 3T %MAIL ,ORELEI BQY SHERBOURNE ON CA OR CALL

TRANS_FUSION CREW: A warm, inclusive space for transgender, transsexual, intersex, two-spirit, gender-questioning youth and our allies to chill out, make art, share information, get connected with referrals and work on amazing activist projects.

4HURSDAYS PM EMAIL TFC SHERBOURNE ON CA OR CALL 9ASMEEN AT

T

HAT TORONTO’S CURRENT mayor, Rob Ford, is an A-one ignoramus was established well before he became mayor.

Whether it was drunken bullying at sporting events or racist and sexist slurs levelled against citizens and peers, there was more than enough evidence to suggest that he was not the best candidate to be running the T-dot. However, a misleading campaign that promised everything in a few simple mottos, a pair of lameass competitors and the cynical manipulation and exploitation of many people’s most base natures has not only made him mayor, but has also made Toronto an international joke.

When he’s not firing or punishing those who don’t tell him what he wants to hear, warring with certain journalists for the same reason, or coming up with harebrained schemes for the city based, apparently, on some vision he had while drunk, his contributions have been either negative or non-existent. He is, in fact, the representative contemporary politician. He’s great at pointing out what he thinks doesn’t work, but he seems to have absolutely no idea how to achieve a positive accomplishment.

What’s even scarier about this creep is how much certain members of the Toronto media not only enable his lack of professionalism, but actually seem to forget their own journalistic obligations as well.

Whether it’s CP24 breathlessly reporting on every stupid PR move the mayor makes without ever mentioning his lame job performance, the National Post taking the Toronto Star to task for doing the job the Post refuses to do, or Ford’s ass-licking toadies at the Toronto Sun going through the most embarrassing ethical and intellectual contortions in order to justify and champion his idiocy, what’s become clear is that some of the Toronto media, like Mayor Ford himself, have put their rightwing ideology ahead of the welfare of Canada’s largest city and its citizens.

If this weren’t true, they would occasionally challenge Ford on his increasingly loony claims that he knows “what everyone in Toronto wants� because he spoke to some people at a suburban Tim Hortons or got a couple phone calls from constituents. But, for the most part, Ford’s outlandish claims, like his infantile behaviour, are glossed over by those who have a stranglehold on media in this country.

Which brings us to the really important question: why, after he rudely refused to attend the Pride festival last year, would those in charge of said festival invite Ford back a second time?

The mayor has shown nothing but contempt for the LGBTQ community, despite the fact this festival, which is now attended by an equal number

of straight people, brings millions of dollars into the city each year. He attends many other religious and community functions without complaint, but when it comes to officiating even one Pride event over an entire week, Ford is completely unavailable. It’s pretty clear. Ford’s homophobic and he is our enemy.

The apologists all rushed to Pride’s defence, claiming an invite to the mayor is unbreakable tradition, that Ford’s refusal just made him look bad all over again, and that it is our job to “do the right thing.�

I take issue with each of these excuses.

Pride has evolved over the last 30some years, and the idea that it has any traditions that are unbreakable is ridiculous. It’s a Pride festival, people.

Issuing invitations to those who hold you in contempt for simply being who you are isn’t something that inspires pride; it’s something that indicates a serious self-esteem problem.

INVITING HIM [TO PRIDE] AGAIN A SECOND YEAR DOESN’T MAKE FORD LOOK ANY WORSE THAN HE ALREADY DOES. IT DOES, HOWEVER, MAKE THOSE WHO INVITED HIM LOOK PERVERSELY NEEDY. Inviting him again a second year doesn’t make Ford look any worse than he already does. It does, however, make those who invited him look perversely needy. It also suggests to those watching that everyone in the community was fine with this invitation, when, in fact, there is a huge percentage of us who saw it as a profound betrayal of everything we’ve fought for.

Framing the invitation as being the “rightâ€? thing to do allows the powers that be at Pride to do the politically correct thing in inviting the mayor and saves them from having to do the dangerous thing, which would be to take a stand, denounce the mayor as unďŹ t to lead Pride in any way and deal with the fallout. There was a time when that was exactly what this festival was about. That it has now become a government-funded bureaucracy that pretends that doing the easy thing is taking the high road — well, that probably says everything that needs to be said about Pride’s current incarnation and where its true values lie.

And that’s almost as sad and frightening to consider as the deteriorating state of our lovely city under Rob Ford and his malicious cronies.

Brad Fraser is a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. Fraser’s Edge can also be found at xtra.ca.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

15

arts › entertainment › leisure

Out City IN THE

ON STAGE

THE NATURE OF THE GAY MOVEMENT HAS MADE DESIRE INTO A DEAD END . . . IT’S NOW ABOUT FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO KILL OR GET HITCHED. Mattilda B Sycamore ›15

XTRA

READS

Kreesha Turner to headline antibullying event

in PERSON Matt Mills

Katie Toth KREESHA TURNER IS AN AWARD-WINNING MUSIcian with two hit albums under her belt. She’s also a budding anti-bullying advocate who wants to help bring attention to the issue of homophobic harassment in schools.

That’s why she’ll be performing at Proud FM’s Climax, an anti-homophobia benefit for PFLAG. “It’s about getting people to be aware of the issues,” she explains. “And then putting their foot down.”

As a quiet kid with a Jamaican mom and a Canadian dad, Turner was also bullied as a teen. “I went to an arts school when I was in Edmonton, and at the time, I was probably one of the very few ethnic people in my school.” She remembers feeling alienated in the dance program surrounded by all white bodies. “Because of my mixed ethnicity, I’m shaped differently than the average dancer. When I stood in the mirror with all the other dancers, I was much curvier than the rest of them.”

Turner later moved to Jamaica and finished school there, which she says left her feeling isolated again.

“The moment I got there I experienced culture shock,” she says. “I didn’t understand why people treated me so differently there because of my skin colour . . . it was almost as if I’d never fit into either of the race categories.”

That’s why Turner wants kids to know that it’s okay to feel different. “Part of standing up against bullying is saying . . . it’s okay to not be like anybody else,” she says. “Whether it’s in regards to homophobia, or it’s in regards to skin colour or the colour of your hair, it shouldn’t be a factor. We should all stand up for each other.”

Going from Canada to Jamaica, which Turner calls “one of the most homophobic nations in the world,” had a profound effect on her. She quickly saw the harsh reality that many gay people there face. “I’ve had peers and teachers and friends who are gay my whole life, and I’d never seen them as different,” she says. “It was such a shock because I didn’t understand why people had such a negative stance on it . . . I’d never experienced such strong opposition against somebody’s life choices.”

Turner, who is straight and identifies as an ally, always had music and performing as an outlet when she felt isolated. But she also credits her parents for being there for her: “I’ve always been able to talk to someone.”

She wants youth who are being harassed to do the same. “Speak to somebody you trust . . . and don’t allow whoever is doing the bullying to get away without punishment, because if nobody knows, nothe deets body can punish them or know that they’re CLIMAX being inappropriate,” Presented by Proud FM and BMO Financial Group she says.

Sun, May 27, 3–7pm “And adults need Berkeley Church to let their kids know 315 Queen St E that it’s unacceptable. proudfm.com/climax That’s where it starts.”

John Irving’s smart new novel intersects sexuality and gender

J

OHN IRVING BECAME A HOUSEHOLD name with his 1978 novel, The World According to Garp. He solidified that success with The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and many others. He has, for those works, conjured characters of variously ambiguous gender and sexuality, but he’s never published a novel in which sexual outlaws and the glorious sexual and gender differences among people are centrally featured.

He’s never published a truly queer story; that is, until now. His 13th novel, In One Person, is just that.

Readers first meet protagonist Billy Abbott in 1955 when he is a 13-year-old budding writer and sexual being who finds himself almost overwhelmingly attracted to his librarian, Miss Frost, an older transgender woman. When asked by Miss Frost what sort of stories he would most like to read, Billy replies, “Do you know any novels about young people who have dangerous crushes, crushes on the wrong people?”

Billy’s crushes develop, including one that comes with a desire to fuck the star bully of his school wrestling team. Billy and Miss Frost become closer in the following years until he graduates from high school.

As he matures, Billy self-identifies as bisexual, rejects monogamy and has sexual and romantic relationships with men, women and MTF trans people. We find him in LA in the late ’60s; he lives some years immersed in the gay culture of ’70s New York and some years more in gender- and sexually fluid Vienna. He even briefly visits a dying friend at Toronto’s Casey House. He returns in the end to live in his hometown, First Sister, Vermont, the setting for his formative years and early friendship with Miss Frost. Though obviously not without its tragedies, Billy’s is a meaningful, industrious and seemingly satisfying life.

Through his characters, Irving demonstrates a startlingly sophisticated understanding of human sexuality: that it is as diverse as individuality. The descriptions — written in the first person — of Billy’s lusts, fears, hopes, peeves and regrets will likely resonate especially well with gay and bisexual men. It’s also a hot read for anyone interested in the intersections of gender and sexuality. Life is hard in reality and perhaps harder in fiction, yet Irving has a way of presenting the characters of In One Person as complex and nuanced human beings, sometimes victimized but never accepting “victim” as an identity.

“People are so very different, and our sexual identities matter, especially when they are hard to earn, especially when we have been made to feel that we are a minority and we have to struggle to assert who we are,” says Irving in a face-to-face interview with Xtra.

“Miss Frost, I think, is also right that it’s not for other people to put those labels on us . . . That’s what she means when she says, ‘Don’t put a label on me. Don’t make me a category before you get to know me.’ . . .

Both sexuality and gender are mutable.”

In One Person, as a story about sexual differences among people, has real potential to help effect positive change for gay and trans people, especially in the US.

MATT MILLS

This is the novel I selfishly wish Irving had written 25 years ago. He says he’s had the sketch for it in his mind, along with outlines for several other stories, for more than 12 years. But, he adds, one of the factors that pushed In One Person over the threshold from idea to publication is his son Everett.

“I did not know when I laid out the architecture for this story that I would have a gay son,” Irving says.

“When I began writing this book in 2009, I very much knew that my youngest son is gay. I was very proud of him for coming out. While it would be utter bullshit to say I wrote In One Person because I have a gay son, I was very much aware of having him as my ideal reader.

He knows it very well: the person I most wanted to read this book is Everett.”

IN ONE PERSON John Irving Random House $35 See this story at xtra.ca for a series of video interviews with Irving, including a reading from In One Person.

The degree to which people want to be engaged in the most intimate and private decisions of others has always amazed me.

16

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

22ND ANNUAL INSIDE OUT

TORONTO LGBT FILM

MAY 17-27, 2012 GALA PRESENTATIONS

OPENING GALA

CENTERPIECE GALA

CLOSING GALA

THURSDAY MAY 17, 8PM

TUESDAY MAY 22, 9:30PM

SUNDAY MAY 27, 7:30PM

MY BROTHER THE DEVIL

KEEP THE LIGHTS ON

BYE BYE BLONDIE

Visually rich with edge-of-your-seat plot lines, My Brother the Devil is a slick, propulsive drama set amongst gang life on the streets of East London. The film is assured, authentic, and fastpaced—a coming-of-age story about the love between two brothers who must find themselves and their own way in life.

Keep the Lights On is a deeply personal and emotionally raw examination of the volatile decade-long relationship between two addictive personalities that is in equal measure loving and destructive. Nonetheless, both are prepared to fight for their happiness together.

Canadian Premiere. World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic, Sundance Film Festival, 2012. Europa Cinemas Label, Berlin International Film Festival, 2012.

Canadian Premiere. Teddy Award for Best Feature Film, Berlin International Film Festival, 2012.

Director in Attendance.

When Frances’ career begins to falter while her husband is preoccupied with writer’s block, she summons Gloria to stay with her in Paris, and they attempt to pick up where they left off three decades before. Bye Bye Blondie presents a poignant look at the intensity of youth and the nostalgia of middle age.

Sally El Hosaini UK 2011 112 min

Ira Sachs USA 2012 101min

Virginie Despentes France 2012 97min

North American Premiere.

WOMEN’S SPOTLIGHT Kiss Me

FRIDAY MAY 25, 7:15PM

CLOUDBURST

Thom Fitzgerald Canada 2011 93min A big-screen adventure that deftly updates Thelma and Louise to the same-sex marriage debate, making the run-away couple elderly to boot. Acclaimed actresses Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker shine as the leads, with a star-making turn from Ryan Doucette as a young hitchhiker who accompanies the in-flight duo.

Best Feature, Image+Nation Montreal International LGBT Film Festival, 2011. Best Canadian Indie, Edmonton International Film Festival, 2011. Michael Weir Award for Best Original Screenplay and Audience Award, Atlantic Film Festival, 2011.

FRIDAY MAY 25, 9:30PM

KISS ME

Alexandra-Therese Keining Sweden 2011 105min Thirtysomethings Mia and Frida meet at a party to celebrate the engagement of Mia’s father and Frida’s mother. Mia is initially jealous and resentful of free-spirited Frida, although her attitude changes abruptly during a trip to a remote island cottage. Already a favourite at festivals around the world, this film is destined to become a lesbian classic.

Canadian Premiere. Breakthrough Award, American Film Institute Festival, 2011. Lorens Award, Gothenburg International Film Festival, 2012.

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

FESTIVAL HOW TO BUY TICKETS ONLINE www.insideout.ca

BY PHONE 416.599.TIFF (8433) Toll-free: 1.888.599.8433 10am to 7pm daily

IN PERSON TIFF Bell Lightbox Reitman Square, 350 King Street West 10am to 10pm daily All screenings at the TIFF Bell Lightbox

FESTIVAL PARTIES

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS: SCANDINAVIA She Monkeys

Some of the year’s most exciting works, Scandinavia covers it all, with themes of jealousy, redemption and coming out.

SATURDAY MAY 19, 9:30PM

THURSDAY MAY 24, 9:30PM

SATURDAY MAY 27, 2PM

THE CROWN JEWELS

SHE MONKEYS

IMMEDIATE BOARDING

North American Premiere.

Canadian Premiere. Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film, Gšteborg International Film Festival, 2011.

SUNDAY MAY 20, 4:30PM

Ella Lemhagen Sweden 2011 120min

THURSDAY MAY 24, 7:30PM

Lisa Aschan Sweden 2011 83min

THE MOUNTAIN

SATURDAY MAY 26, 2:15PM

Canadian Premiere.

Lasse Neilsen and Ernst Johansen Denmark 1978 91min

Ole Giæver Norway 2011 73min

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Ella Lemhagen Sweden 2003 89min

BOY SCANDINAVIA SHORT FILMS MONDAY MAY 21, 4:45PM

LADY SCANDINAVIA SHORT FILMS

THURSDAY MAY 17, 10:00PM

OPENING GALA PARTY

OCAD Great Hall, 100 McCaul St (South of Dundas St W) DJ Shane Percy. Performances by Yura.

Tickets: $10 general public / $8 members.

Free with your opening gala screening and party ticket.

SUNDAY MAY 20, 10:00PM

TRANSPLANETARIUM AFTER PARTY

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W (West of Dufferin St) DJs Nik Red and Kaleb Robertson. Projections by Syrus Ware. Free admission.

TUESDAY MAY 22, 6:30PM - 8:30PM

ICON DOCUMENTARY SERIES Must-see documentaries capturing the life and times of revolutionary queer icons FRIDAY MAY 18, 5PM

SATURDAY MAY 26, 4:30PM

HIT SO HARD

JOBRIATH A.D.

P. David Ebersole USA 2011 103 min Hole drummer Patty Schemel.

Jobriath A.D.

Kieran Turner USA 2011 107 min 70s glam rock star Jobriath.

CENTERPIECE GALA RECEPTION

Urbanspace Gallery, 401 Richmond St W, Suite 117 (Corner of Spadina Ave) Admission with a centerpiece gala and reception ticket.

THURSDAY MAY 24, 10:00PM

LOCAL HEROES PARTY

Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St (2 blocks north of Carlton St, east of Yonge St)

SUNDAY MAY 20, 5PM

VITO

SHE SAID BOOM!: THE STORY OF FIFTH COLUMN

DJ Mama Knows. Performances by Kidstreet and ManChyna. Tickets $6, available at the door or free with your Local Heroes screening ticket stub.

LGBT Activist Vito Russo.

SUNDAY MAY 27, 10:00PM

SATURDAY MAY 26, 7PM Jeffrey Schwarz USA 2011 93 min

Kevin Hegge Canada 2012 64 min

SATURDAY MAY 26, 7:15PM

80s Toronto post-punk band Fifth Column.

Country music star Chely Wright

WISH ME AWAY

CLOSING GALA PARTY & AWARDS

Hotel Ocho, 195 Spadina Ave (North of Queen St W) DJ Cozmic Cat. Tickets: $10 general public / $8 members.

Free with your closing gala screening and party ticket.

17

18

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYER “Mr. Penney made me feel at ease with his reassuring words and his professional attitude. He took the time to explain everything in words that I could understand which greatly reduced my anxiety. His friendly attitude gave me strength knowing that he was on my side. I’m sure that any other lawyer would not have been able to negotiate the same deal with the Crown Attorney as Craig was able to accomplish.”

Emily, Markham (over-80 charge withdrawn)

CRAIG PENNEY

205 – 120 CARLTON ST 416.410.2266

To read why Emily’s drinking-and-driving case collapsed and to review over 80 testimonials and 150 case profiles, please visit:

www.CraigPenney.com

v

ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN

ALBERT NOBBS ON DVD! Award winning actress Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Mia Wasikowska, Aaron Johnson and Brendan Gleeson join a prestigious, international cast that includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Janet McTeer, Brenda Fricker and Pauline Collins.

Send your name and contact information to contest@xtra.ca; contest closes May 30th.

Only winners will be contacted.

AVAILABLE ON DVD, BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD MAY 15TH

SEASON GRAND FINALE AT KOERNER HALL!

B r u n o We i l , G u est D i re c to r

TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, The Royal Conservatory, 273 Bloor Street West

Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, “Eroica”

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 in A Major, “Italian”

Tickets: 416.408.0208 | tafelmusik.org Season Presenting Sponsor

Baroque Orchestra Jeanne Lamon, Music Director

Inside Out Opening Gala Party Celebrate 11 days of queer film and video screenings, panel discussions, cruising and connecting. Featuring local DJ Shane Percy and a performance by Viva Cabaret’s Yura. Thurs, May 17, 10pm. OCAD Great Hall, 100 McCaul St. $10, $8 members, free with opening gala screening and party ticket. insideout.ca

It Came from the Deep Spinning wheels and girl-on-girl action as the GTA G-Stars take on the Lake Effect Furies from Buffalo. Sat, May 19, 6pm.

Ted Reeve Arena, 175 Main St. $12 advance, $15 door. gtarollergirls.com

Women’s Arm Wrestling Throw down and help raise much-needed funds for Plan Canada’s Because I Am a Girl foundation. Featuring Scarlett O’Terror, Faye Tality, LumberJackie, Alison Hell, Pussy Galore, The Marvelous Madgeisco and others.

Sat, May 19, 8pm. 751, 751 Queen St W. $5–10. becauseiamagirl.ca

Trans Pride Sunday Services

BEETHOVEN EROICA KOERNER HALL

A book launch and readings by author Brian Dedora, featuring writings detailing 1970s gay Toronto. Thurs, May 17, 7:30–9pm. Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Exhibition Gallery, 34 Isabella St. Free. clga.ca

Spring gives way to summer heat as Tarna helps send Mr Leatherman Toronto 2012, Alex Canning, off to compete with the big boys. Sat, May 19, 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. Free. torontoleatherpride.ca

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

For more listings, go to xtra.ca

LEISURE & PLEASURE A Few Sharp Sticks Launch

Spring Fever: International Mr Leather SendOff Party

“…a composer whose music they seem… destined to play.”

Thurs May 24, Fri May 25, Sat May 26 at 8pm Sun May 27 at 3:30pm

listings ›

Practise and celebrate your faith in this trans-positive congregation.

Sun, May 20; services at 9am, 11am and 7pm. Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, 115 Simpson Ave. mcctoronto.com

Leather Brunch Dine, cruise and booze with fuzzy, butch men and send memories of Saturday night back into oblivion. Sun, May 20, 11am–1pm.

O’Grady’s, 518 Church St. Free. torontoleatherpride.ca

Kickass Karaoke Carson hosts a spit-in-my-mouth party of raunchy karaoke. Sun, May 20, 9pm. The Rivoli, 332 Queen St W. Free. rivoli.ca

Making the Date Vixen and flirting impresario CoCo La Creme offers sound advice for overcoming nerves and picking up in style. Tues, May 22, 7pm.

Good for Her, 175 Harbord St. $33. goodforher.com

Playing with Dominance and Submission Give and get what you want with confidence and creativity.

Sauci Calla Horra performs at the Outlaw Strippers Ball on May 25.

Cary Gray leads a workshop on unleashing your inner top or bottom. Thurs, May 24, 7–9:30pm.

Good for Her, 175 Harbord St. $33. goodforher.com

The Outlaw Strippers Ball Skin Tight Outta Sight Rebel Burlesque presents a burlesque extravaganza, with the illustrious Keith Cole as MC. Dazzling performances by Mahogany Storm, Miss Cherry Temple, Fionna Flauntit, Lena Love and more. Fri, May 25, 9pm. The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St W. $25, $20 advance. skintightouttasight.com

Masturbate-A-Thon Come As You Are commemorates National Masturbation Month with its annual fundraiser for Maggie’s: The Toronto Sex Workers Action Project. Participants raise funds by pledging money for each minute spent pleasuring themselves on National Masturbation Day. Sat, May 26, all day long. Come As You Are, 493 Queen St W. comeasyouare.com

OSPCA Friends for Life Walk-A-Thon Grab those poodles, bulldogs and other four-legged creatures and participate in a 3-kilometre walk in the park. Contests for loudest bark, face painting and more.

Register online. Sat, May 26, 9am.

Coronation Park. ospcawalk.ca

Naked Dance Skin your inhibitions, get buff and dance until the lights come on. Sat, May 26, 8pm. Goodhandy’s, 120 Church St. $8, $5 members, $4 students. goodhandys.com

Lights Out Black out and get off in this pitch-dark playground. It’s always best when the lights are off. Sun, May 27, 8pm–3am.

Spa Excess, 105 Carlton St. Regular rates apply. spaexcess.com › continued on page 20

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

19

XTRA

READS

the heart of the

Would you say that the power of the book is about a searing, razor introspection?

MATTER

Augusten Burroughs looks inside Alistair Newton

‘T

HE MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember about George Orwell,” remarked the late Christopher Hitchens, “is that he was not a genius.” Though one of the great moral centres of 20th-century letters, Orwell never attended university and managed to produce his prodigious output without the luxury of a higher education. What Orwell did possess, Hitchens concludes in his study of the author, was the “X-factor [of ] intellectual honesty.”

Like Orwell, Augusten Burroughs never attended university and is in possession of a similarly invaluable X-factor. Burroughs’ career was launched with the publication of his memoir Running with Scissors. Although Burroughs convinced himself the book would be a flop — even downloading applications for a nursing program at a community college with the aim of becoming a hospice nurse —Scissors established him as an internationally acclaimed memoirist. The success was followed by the memoirs Dry, Magical Thinking, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry, each book typified by Burroughs’ mordant wit, pitchblack humour and searing introspection.

In his new book, This Is How, Burroughs borrows a line Orwell wrote in an essay for the London Tribune: “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” When I ask if Orwell is an influence, Burroughs chuckles and, with typical unpretentious candour, admits, “You know what? I’ve never read anything by George Orwell except for that quote.”

With This Is How, Burroughs expands his oeuvre into the oft-maligned world of self-help. However, anyone expecting tidy platitudes and warm affirmations should be cured of that illusion by the book’s subtitle: Help for the Self: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude and More for Young and Old Alike.

I spoke with Burroughs in the lead-up to a book tour that will bring him in contact with his loyal — and enormous — fan base.

Burroughs, a self-taught polymath, is able to wax poetic on many subjects, and our conversation touches on chemistry, the nature of time, quantum physics, literary fame — “I don’t ever fucking think about it” — the importance of truth, and even the existence of god. “Maybe there’s many heavens and maybe there’s not,” says Burroughs, “but I think people need to live as though there’s not.”

It does require absolute honesty with oneself, and that’s not a difficult thing to do for anybody, but it can be very uncomfortable, and you can be fooled into thinking it’s difficult. In my own life, when I’ve been lying to myself about something and I pause to consider my circumstances and think about ‘Why am I still fucked up in this area?’ the answer I often come up with is no answer at all, and when I have no answer at all, that’s my clue. Whatever the answer is, it’s so obvious I can’t see it. The truth can be so close that you refuse to see it or it just seems too painful to see, but that’s why you have to keep hammering away at it.

I get the sense that you don’t believe in this tidy notion of closure.

Yeah, even the word itself annoys me. It’s so pat, and there’s very little in the world that is that pat and that absolute. I don’t think that for the majority of people in the majority of circumstances closure is realistic. Certainly in the break-up of a relationship you’re not going to have closure. Closure is also vague; it doesn’t say specifically anything, so I think that when someone decides to seek closure, that’s when I want to say, “Hmmm . . . what is closure?” Vagueness is unhelpful. Healing is another word that’s bullshit — what does that even mean? If your child dies you’re never going to heal. So what is “heal”?

You might get this question a lot, so I apologize if it’s a bit of cliché, but do you believe in catharsis?

I don’t write with catharsis in mind. That’s not the goal of it, but it’s different things.

When I sit down to write a collection of essays, I often have nothing in my head at all, and I can’t remember a thing. I have to really get into a place in my head that I can just slide back into at will, which I enjoy. It’s like having a shoebox at the back of your closet that you put there 15 years ago and forgot about. So there’s that aspect of it, which is nice, but I don’t necessarily think it’s particularly cathartic.

But is a part of your goal to try to help people? Is there a therapeutic element to your work?

That’s my whole goal. I look at it myself as almost a career change. I’m not going to write more memoirs and short-story collections about me; this is what I want to do. It weighs more, it matters more, it’s more satisfying. It’s something I’m good at and it’s something I care about. I think of this book as not a collection of stories about “Look at all I’ve survived; look at all these things I’ve made it through!” It’s about how I made it through those things, and there is a definite application to other people and their own lives.

Burroughs’ first book, Running with Scissors, established him as an internationally acclaimed memoirist. AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS

XTRA: Your fans tend to speak about you as though they know you personally. Do you get that a lot from people?

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS: I do get it a lot and, you know, it’s true. People who’ve read my previous work really do know me. I mean, they don’t know all of me, but they know a lot of what goes on in my head because I don’t really filter.

People feel as though you’re really speaking to them.

I think that’s a great compliment because, at least in my experience, I don’t write for an audience; I don’t have a particular person in mind or a group of people in mind. I think if I did have such imaginary people in mind, I would end up speaking to nobody.

So, I really write for myself. Even with the new book, which is about you — the collective you — I end up explaining things in ways that make sense to me. I’m going through my thought process or I’m explaining how I have solved issues and what I have

Are there any overarching themes that you find yourself coming back to?

come to believe about certain things. When I am able to communicate with myself — in other words, when I’m able to get to the truth of what I feel or think or believe — that resonates with people because it rings bells within them as well.

You seem to have invented a genre — the memoir-self-help book.

It’s a different kind of self-help book. It’s not going to work for everybody because some people aren’t going to want to do that kind of work. When you’ve got problems or obstacles in your life, or things that you need to get over or move beyond, or emotional baggage, you can get rid of it, but there’s also often a price to pay. Sometimes the price you pay is the dismantling of some part of your world that you are not ready to dismantle or that you don’t want to believe you have to dismantle. So, not everyone is going to leap right in, but those who do, I think, will find some success with it because it’s worked for me.

The truth can be so close that you refuse to see it or it just seems too painful to see, but that’s why you have to keep hammering away at it.

I’ve never really reflected on it, but I just try to live my own life as honestly as I can because every time I lie to myself I get disappointed or stuck. So, my whole life — since I was a kid — has always been about trying to get to the root, to the essence of the truth, to the core. It’s just my nature.

So I guess if there’s any kind of theme, it’s just getting to what is the truth, no matter how ugly it is, because if you know what the truth is you can clean it up and deal with it. If there’s something rotten at the inside, you’re going to stink.

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS AT OPEN BOOK: TORONTO Wed, May 30, 7:30pm Harbourfront Centre, Brigantine Room 235 Queen’s Quay W harbourfrontcentre.com

THIS IS HOW Augusten Burroughs St Martin’s Press $24.99

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Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

XTRA

a tribute to

MAURICE SENDAK G David Hains

AY AMERICAN WRITER AND illustrator Maurice Sendak died from complications following a stroke on the morning of May 8 in Danbury, Connecticut. He was 83.

Sendak came out publicly at age 80 in a 2008 New York Times interview, revealing a secret his parents never knew. “I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business . . . All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew,� he said.

Sendak lived with his partner, Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years.

Glynn died in 2007 from lung cancer.

The prolific artist illustrated more than 100 books and wrote 20. Best known for Where the Wild Things Are, which had sold more than 19 million copies as of 2009, he also created opera and ballet sets and TV shows. He worked on the Canadian TV co-production Little Bear and with the National Film Board on a short film.

Born in Brooklyn on June 10, 1928, to immigrant Jewish parents, Sendak spent much of his childhood in bed with health problems. It was there that he developed his love of storytelling and illustration, in part from hearing stories of his father’s Polish homeland that bridged fact and imagination.

These moments made him focus on mortality. As his extended family was dying in the Holocaust in Europe, his father’s mythical tales became foreboding and haunting to the bedridden son. He expressed his youthful sense of delight, mystery and sadness through his art, as reected in inuences as varied as Disney’s Fantasia and Pinocchio, Emily Dickinson and William Blake.

These interests allowed Sendak to escape his limited Brooklyn experience. He told journalist and author Jonathan Cott that he was “miserable as a kid . . . I couldn’t make friends, I couldn’t play stoopball terriďŹ c, I couldn’t skate. I stayed home and drew pictures. You know what they all thought of me: sissy Maurice Sendak.â€?

With the support of his elder brother

He was unique, grumpy, brilliant, gay, wise, magical and made the world better by creating art in it.

AUTHOR NEIL GAIMAN

Jack — they collaborated on stories growing up — Sendak got through this period.

But coming out in pre-Stonewall New York was not in the cards, particularly for a children’s author.

Sendak got his start doing technical illustrations for textbooks and window displays for New York toy store FAO Schwarz.

At the fabled store he spoke with the book ordering manager and was put in touch with an editor at Harper Row. It became his publisher for the next 60 years.

As his career took off, Sendak maintained his generous spirit toward children.

He made a policy of returning every letter received from his young fans, often with ornate drawings on the envelopes. Kids devoured his work, sometimes literally.

In an interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, Sendak described one of the best compliments he ever received, when a child got a postcard from the author with a drawing of a Wild Thing and ate it. “That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.�

University of Florida professor Kenneth Kidd, a specialist in children’s literature, argues that the unique and queer imagination of Sendak fostered the same sensibility in a mass audience. “Where the Wild Things Are has a curious status, belonging to everyone and celebrated as a universal story, but with an intensely personal origin . . . [Max] is queer to some degree — hard to manage, independent, animal-identiďŹ ed.â€?

This universal sense of individuality inspired other artists and creators. On Twitter, Neil Gaiman wrote, “He was unique, grumpy, brilliant, gay, wise, magical and made the world better by creating art in it.� Children’s author Judy Blume added, “I cannot put into words what I am feeling, what he and his work meant to me.�

Sendak leaves behind no immediate family, one dog and millions of readers ready to continue his wild rumpus.

MAURICE SENDAK TRIBUTE Fri, May 18, 7:30pm Glad Day Bookshop 598A Yonge St gladdaybookshop.com

listings › › continued from page 18

ART & PHOTOGRAPHY Sissies & Psychopaths Acclaimed artists Peter Kingstone and Daryl Vocat exhibit a collaborative series of prints that examine queer sexuality through the eyes of a child. Opening reception Fri, May 25, 7–9pm. Runs till Sat, June 23. George Gilmour Members’ Gallery, 401 Richmond St W. Free. openstudio.on.ca

HEALTH & ISSUES The Toronto Bisexual Network

BLANSHAY & LEWIS

Coming out as bi has its own challenges. Find support and resources at this peer discussion group. Thurs, May 17, 8–10pm. The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church St. Free. torontobinet.org

Canadian Immigration Lawyers Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Immigration / Refugee Law

Free consultations available for certain immigration categories.

Bisexual Men of Toronto

ROBERT ISRAEL BLANSHAY, Barrister & Solicitor JACQUELINE M. LEWIS, Barrister & Solicitor “iTendremos el agrado de asistirle en espaĂąol!â€?

– CARLOS SEBASTIAN: 905-939-9233

“It’s all been great, Robert. Your firm has been remarkable in its ability to exceed expectations. Next time I see one of our senior HR people, I’ll tell him about how you thoroughly kick other firms’ butt.�— Dave

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228 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario M5A 2E8 5 t ' E: robert@apply2canada.com www.apply2canada.com

A peer-facilitated discussion group for bisexual, curious and questioning men. Find resources and connect with others. Tues, May 22, 8–9:30pm. Sherbourne Health Centre, 333 Sherbourne St. Free. bimot.ca › continued on page 23

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LIFE

Alison Bechdel’s latest novel is all about mom

PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

David Hains

F

OR AL ISON B E CH DE L, 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.

“ONE OF THE YEAR’S BEST FILMS.” “Glenn Close delivers one of the year’s standout performances.”

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

ALBERT NOBBS

ELENA SEIBERT

“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 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

NOW AVAI BLE

ON DVD, BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

22

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

XTRA

READS

fearof

FAGGOTRY Author Mattilda B Sycamore thinks gay culture has lost its way Daniel Zomparelli

M

ATTILDA B SYCAMORE thinks it’s time for an intervention.

Gay culture has become obsessed with normalcy, sanitized by assimilation and increasingly soulless, Sycamore says.

For a community founded by desire, this decline is particularly discouraging. “Desire is what started us — in terms of our love and our community building and our visions of intimacy,” says the editor of the new anthology Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?

Not to mention the desire “for full selfexpression” in a world that often wants gay men to simply disappear. “There was a sense of communal struggle,” Sycamore says, especially in the 1990s, when being a gay man meant being surrounded by death.

But that struggle has since been muted by shifting desires.

“The nature of the gay movement has made desire into a dead end,” Sycamore says. “The desire just means buy this cocktail, wear these clothes, go to these bars, look like this — it’s all about creating a consumer identity.”

How could our desire have veered so off-track?

Sycamore blames the desire itself.

“Desire is what brought us to this sort of gay culture that either is obsessed with normalcy at any cost or this sort of closethe-blinds . . . lack of accountability or communal care,” she says.

“It’s now about fighting for the right to kill or get hitched,” she says, referring to the gay marriage battles and the push to end the US military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. “I think there was a little more

Mattilda B Sycamore, editor of Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots?, says gay culture has “internalized the emptiness of straight normalcy.” JAMES LOEWEN

space in the early ’90s for flamboyance and for challenging political decisions. In San Francisco, there is a history of radical alternatives to community, family and sexuality. And since then, those cultures [and radical ideas] have been marginalized.”

Today’s focus, she argues, is shaped by mainstream ideas of family and marriage.

These ideals have become so dominant that there is no room for any alternative.

“Now, you turn on the TV and you see vapid, hyper-consumer, pointless representations of gay identity, and you’re supposed to relate.”

For Sycamore, that’s worse than turning on the TV and seeing no gay representation at all.

“In the early ’90s, gay identity was represented by straight homophobic representations, but now we have gay people articulating straight, homophobic representations. Is that better? We’ve internal-

ized the emptiness and violence of straight normalcy and we project that as our own goal and representations,” she says.

“The question for me is what would be an intervention for that kind of morass.”

As alarming to her as the sanitization of our healthy desire is the hyper-calculated, almost brutal, desire that smoulders underground, callous and unchecked.

Go into any chatroom and you’ll find that scorn has become “just a preference,” lack of respect is assumed, and lying is a given, Sycamore says.

“Under 30 only, no blacks or no Asians, or no femmes or fatties — these are universally articulated norms. In so many ways, our gay culture has become about who is excluded.”

As someone who grew up being called a “sissy” and a “faggot,” Sycamore knows what it’s like to feel excluded, particularly from an aggressively masculine world.

Now, you turn on the TV and you see vapid, hyper-consumer, pointless representations of gay identity, and you’re supposed to relate.

“What I find so tragic about mandatory masculinity in gay culture is that gay men are desperate to embrace the exact same thing that oppressed, and continues to oppress, so many faggots and sissies growing up — not to mention women, queers, trans people and yes, even straight men, the ones who can’t or aren’t willing to measure up either.”

Gay men are increasingly citing strong, hairy, tall, muscular men as their type and eschewing the wispier, willowier among us.

The modern gay man must be fit, wear the right clothes, know the right people and, of course, be “straight acting,” Sycamore says. “Anyone who doesn’t fit into these moulds falls into the margins.”

“So gay neighbourhoods are defined by who is not allowed,” she continues. “It’s sad because gay neighbourhoods started because gay men were trying to find ways to express themselves openly, where you can hold hands in public. And now, gay neighbourhoods are more based on — like San Francisco, where gay people have become part of the power structure. And you see gay people evicting people with AIDS, and gay people voting against the construction of a queer youth shelter . . .”

This hyper-consumer norm pervades gay male sexuality, as well, she believes.

“In the sexual realm, it’s about what you can get, how you can get it, and throwing it in the trash. That norm, that hyperconsumer norm, is so dominant that it’s overwhelming.”

Sycamore would like to see gay culture re-broaden itself to welcome femininity and flamboyance — and risk.

Risk leads to growth, she says, whereas risk-aversion leads to stagnation. Or worse.

“What if the risks people are avoiding are the risk of femininity, or talking to someone who has HIV, or the risk of intergenerational contact?” she asks. “Those are the risks that are going to give us the answers to the questions that we need, to find the connection that we’re hoping for. Those are the risks that gay culture is afraid of.”

The possibility of a successful intervention lies in honest discussion, she believes.

“For me, the hope lies in opening up the possibility for an honest conversation that talks about the places where we failed, that talks about messiness, that talks about the problems, that talks about the places where our dreams become nightmares, the places where what we thought was going to lead to greater possibilities for intimacy or love or community . . . leads into walls.

“We’re never going to get anywhere else unless we can talk about these complicated spaces of failure, which also lead to more dreams,” Sycamore says.

WHY ARE FAGGOTS SO AFRAID OF FAGGOTS? Mattilda B Sycamore AK Press $19.95

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Every Friday until June 22, 6 – 11 PM*

Drink, dance, and explore galleries throughout the Museum FRIDAY, MAY 18 – Inside Out Film Festival sneak peek and a performance

by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. PLUS, c5 Lounge ticketed Swank Cabaret event with Christian Jeffries. Call 416.586.7928 for cabaret reservations.

www.rom.on.ca/fridays #FNLROM * Galleries close at 9:30 PM, but the party goes on. Last call is 10:15 PM.

MEDIA PARTNER

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MUSIC Vincent Wolfe The jazz and cabaret man performs songs from his favourite movies in his aptly titled new show Addicted to TCM. Fri, May 18, 9pm.

The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament St. $15, $10 advance. pubaret.com

Stiletto Flats The Elana Harte–fronted band picks classic fruit from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, as well as dishing out original music. Sun, May 20, 7–10pm. Slack’s, 562 Church St. $5. elanaharte.com

M Factor Elana Harte hosts this weekly showcase of local and independent artists. Featuring performances by Trish Robb and Random Order. Mon, May 21, 7pm. The Old Nick, 123 Danforth Ave. Free. elanaharte.com

Andrea Ludwig The mezzo-soprano diva interprets 100 years of cabaret, featuring the Toronto debut of Rodney Sharman’s Cabaret Songs. Fri, May 25, 7:30pm.

Lower Ossington Theatre, 100 Ossington Ave. $25. lowerossingtontheatre.com

Alex Samaras Indulge in a night of sin with this monthly cabaret series, featuring the impossibly handsome jazz vocalist. Sun, May 27, 8pm. The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament St. $10. pubaret.com

Jeffrey Straker performs May 30 at The Cameron House.

Jeffrey Straker Live The acclaimed singer, songwriter and pianist touches down during his 20-show cross-country tour in promotion of his upcoming record. Wed, May 30, 8:30pm. The Cameron House, 408 Queen St W. $10. jeffstraker.com › continued on page 25

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

23

DANCE

Hurry up cowboy, don’t be slow Triangle Squares celebrates 25 years of do-si-do Johnnie Walker TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, HUEY Lewis declared that it was “hip to be square.” Meanwhile, the newly formed Triangle Squares LGBT square dancing club was proving him right. Today, Mr Lewis has faded into obscurity, but the Triangle Squares are still going strong.

At the end of May, the group will host a silver anniversary convention, or “fly-in.”

Some Xtra readers may be surprised that square dancing is still a thing people do. Are you picturing women in crinolines and men in cowboy hats and bolo ties do-si-do-ing while someone calls out “Swing yer pardner”? Well, at a Triangle Squares event, people usually skip the crinolines. Except for the drag queens.

“We’d been influenced and inspired to dress up after seeing beard-drag, as done by the Buxom Beauties from Cleveland, who’d been attending our fly-ins in those early years,” says Don Cheff, a seasoned square dancer and a long-time member of the Triangle Tarts, Triangle Squares’ resident drag troupe. “Americans were heavily into the beard-drag thing, always including lots of crinolines, big hair and crazy eye makeup.”

Going drag is a choice at Triangle Squares, not a requirement, as is taking a “lead,” “follow” or even “bi-dansual” role on the floor. “In gay square dancing, you don’t have to come with a partner or

wear a uniform, and anyone could dance the lead or follow role,” explains Brittany Harris, a university student and recent convert. “There is also different ‘fluff,’ which are the little add-ons people tack on to moves to make them look nicer or to add a little humour.” Harris was first introduced to square dancing in high school, and while many members of Triangle Squares have past experience with the form, some come to it fresh. “Did I grow up with square dance? No, I had never danced before and didn’t start until I was about 60 years old,” says Colleen Dodd, who’s been with Triangle Squares for 10 years.

“I was looking for something Triangle Squares is hosting its silver that didn’t require a partner anniversary at the end of May. BYRON GODFREY and would exercise my brain I went by myself, a little self-conscious, as well as my body.”

For Bob Hynes, chair of this year’s because I was still pretty much in the fly-in, square dance also has a per- closet. The caller told us to form pairs sonal significance. “In 1996, I moved and take the hand of the person beside to Toronto after six years in northern us. I reached out and took the hand of Saskatchewan,” he says. “It was in this the man beside me. It was electric! It community of 700 that I learned to was the first time I held the hand of ansquare dance. I noticed an ad in one of other man in public. I don’t remember the gay newspapers for an introduction who the man was, but that electricity to square dancing for gays and lesbians. stayed with me all these years.”

the deets SILVER BELLES AND BEAUS FLY-IN Thurs, May 24–Sun, May 27 Various events trianglesquaresflyin.wordpress.com

INTRODUCTION TO SQUARE DANCING Jesse Ketchum Public School Wed, May 30, 7pm Crinolines optional

24

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Men in tights The allure of One Million Comix Serafin LaRiviere COMING OUT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT for me. It took a lot of courage and months of deep introspection and engendered a fear of rejection that I found positively crippling. But then that fateful day arrived, when I stood up at a friend’s house party, put down my fruity mixed drink and announced to a group of gay men, “My name is Serafin, and I have an inventory of comics and superhero collectable action figures that would make William Shatner wet himself.”

Thankfully, there are plenty more like me. It seems that queers and comics are truly a match made in heaven — a hypothesis reinforced during my weekly visit to One Million Comix. On any given Wednesday (that’s when the new issues arrive) the savvy homo can spot such gay Toronto glitterati as Brad Fraser or Scott Dagostino browsing the aisles.

“I see a lot of my gay comic friends there,” Fraser says. “It’s a real change from when I was a kid and we were all ashamed to be seen in the comic shop.”

Fraser has been patronizing One Million since its early days in a smaller storefront just south of its current Yonge and Wellesley location. He says his habit is a combination of artistic appreciation and fond nostalgia.

“I first got into them because it was one of the few things I had in common

with my father,” he says. “Also, we moved every year until I was 14 years old. But no matter where we went, there would be a drugstore with that round, metal, turning stand, loaded with comics. They were a kind of stabilizing influence.”

Although he recently divested himself of an expansive collection, the playwright still keeps tabs on his favourites of the spandex crowd. His current read list includes the Marvel titles X-Statix (an off-shoot of the X-Men series) and The Avengers, as well as more indieminded fare — Mark Waid’s Irredeemable series and Garth Ennis’s The Boys.

Fraser says he’s stayed loyal to this local shop not only out of convenience (he lives nearby) but also because of the friendly, accepting atmosphere. “The feeling I get from all of them is that they don’t judge you. They’re respectful and friendly. That’s not true in all comic stores.”

Certainly the guys that run One Million have upped their gay cred over the years, particularly after a brief stint onscreen as the local comic shop in the Queer as Folk series.

“Yes, that probably bumped it [gay patronage] up a bit,” says Alex Giancoulas, who owns the store with his brothers Chris and Kostas. “And over the years we’ve seen tourists coming in because they saw us on the TV shows.”

The Giancoulas boys keep a massive

One Million Comix co-owner Alex Giancoulas keeps archived issues, comic-related toys, games, DVDs and clothing in the shop. ADAM GLEN

IT’S A REAL CHANGE FROM WHEN I WAS A KID AND WE WERE ALL ASHAMED TO BE SEEN IN THE COMIC SHOP. —Brad Fraser

xtra.ca The definitive news source for gay and lesbian Canadians

ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN WIN a pair of vouchers to the 22nd annual Inside Out, Toronto’s LGBT Film Festival. Inside Out runs from May 17 - 27 at various participating venues. See insideout.ca for complete listings.

To enter, send your name & contact info to contest@xtra.ca

by May 11th.

Only winners will be contacted.

stock of archived issues along with a comprehensive selection of comicrelated toys, games, DVDs and clothing. Comic companies recently began offering same-day digital releases of their series, but Giancoulas feels One Million offers perks that will attract the cost-conscious customer.

“We offer a lifetime membership where you get 20 percent off practically anything in the store,” he points out. “It’s a one-time fee of $19.95, and it

includes a pull service in case you can’t get in to pick up your regular comics.”

That’s a great plus, but for me the main appeal will always be that sense of cozy wonder I get while perusing racks of brightly coloured books about heroic people doing magical things. As Fraser puts it so perfectly, “I become a very young person again.”

One Million Comix is located at 531 Yonge St. onemillioncomix.net

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JAMES AND JAMES/Toby Salvietto

PRESENTS

AROUND THE WORLD

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Xtra writer Johnnie Walker in Redheaded Stepchild May 27. › continued from page 23

STAGE Amateur Night at the Beaver Shannon McDonough and Michael Mclean host an evening showcasing some of the most dangerous upand-coming comics in the city. Dinner available before, during and after the show. Thurs, May 17, 7:30pm.

The Flying Beaver Pubaret, 488 Parliament St. Free. pubaret.com

“Pam has the audience in the palm of her wellmanicured hand“ –Time Out NY

JUNE 14TH - MONTREAL, 8PM Le National www.admission.com, TH

JUNE 16

(514) 845-2014

- VANCOUVER, 8PM

Vancouver Playhouse www.ticketmaster.ca, ST

ND

JUNE 21 /22

(855) 985-5000

- TORONTO, 8PM

Panasonic Theater www.ticketking.com, facebook.com/pamannairhostess

(416) 872-1212

www.pamann.com

Bolshi Ballet Performs Swan Lake The world-famous Russian ballet company performs one of dance’s most beloved classics. Try not to think Barbara Hershey. Runs till Sat, May 19, various showtimes.

Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, 1 Front St E. $79.50–263.50. sonycentre.ca

A Florentine Tragedy/ Gianni Schicchi The fast and loose double bill opens with the unfinished Oscar Wilde play and closes with Puccini’s comedy about a family consumed by its own greed. Runs till Fri, May 25, various showtimes. Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St W. $45–318. coc.ca

Redheaded Stepchild Nobody’s Business Theatre presents a one-night only performance of the hilarious and poignant play by writer and performer Johnnie Walker. Rock musician Henri Fabergé treats the audience to a post-show set of live music. Sun, May 27, 7pm.

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St. $25, $20 advance. nobodysbusiness.ca

26

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

XPOSED Anna Pournikova

You can’t really tell in this picture, because Johann is slouching, but she’s the tallest drink of water I’ve seen in forever. Tall, handsome, thin. The triad of beauty. And she has hot friends, as evidenced by Ainsley Kerr to her right.

And if that wasn’t enough to make you green with envy, Johann also has good taste — she has a locker in the Vintage Conservatory, aka the wine club that was hosting a sexy little art party I stumbled into on oh-so-unassuming Lombard St.

Sisters My-Tu and Cam-Tu put together this lovely art show and auction called From the Heart, which was a fundraiser for Vietnam. It was well attended by family, friends and pillars of the west-end electronic community in a sa-weet art gallery on Harbord. Charities are my absolute favourite!

Oooooh, Christina, you foxy minx, you.

I’ve known this lovely lady for years, and she doesn’t age. Not a day. She’s got that hot-as-fuck Flashdance Afro and she’s always in something micro-label in leather. There’s a real ease about Christina that not just everyone has.

Some serious OG shit right here, people.

As I have been trying my best to mix some “normal� people into this column, I went to this art show and wine tasting in search of normies.

Look at these fine gentlemen I found. Shane, Anthony and Alex were normal in every way, except for their dashing good looks, great dinner conversation and penchant for manners — those were all extraordinary.

Inside Out launched to the same roomful of ear-to-ear smiles that it does every year.

Winnie Luk, who’s been with the Toronto LGBT Film Festival since, well, as long as I can remember (which is at least five years), was one of those smiling revellers at the Burroughes Building. These annual events do such a good job of bringing old friends out of the woodwork, it was hard not to smile myself.

I thought her name was “Fluppy,� I really did. And I never sass-talk a lady of drag. Nuh unh. That’s how you get your weave ripped out on a float at Pride.

We’ve all seen that ish go down. So I just wrote down, “Fluppy SoufflĂŠ.â€? Luckily, Miss Fluffy SoufflĂŠ caught the mistake and was a great sport about it (my weave is still just as gnarly as the night is young).

She is the diva pictured on the Inside Out flyer, aka a star burning very, very bright. And all stars should be flanked by pretty girls like Andrya and Kate.

As I scanned the room looking for babes, my eyes fell on Michele and Kyle chatting in the corner.

I beelined for them and asked, “Can I take your picture for Xtra?� before I even introduced myself.

They stood there, staring at me with blank faces. Feeling I was shot down, I was about to turn away when Kyle said, “Sorry, I thought you said, ‘Can I have your number?’� We all laughed ’cause that would have been the boldest beeline in the history of my column. Clearly they are happier getting their snap taken than doling out digits to me.

The Burroughes hosted another fine bash for Inside Out, where it wasn’t hard to get people like Alex and Lauryn to smile for photos at all. In fact, they were having such a nice time they barely stayed to give me their names. Normies are not caught up in their images or egos at all — they just wanna dance!

Presented by

Kirk J. Cooper

Paddy Jane had her show for the Contact photography festival at Cabaret. The subject of the exhibit was “boudoir,� and they were gorgeous.

Not slutty, not vampy, not too butch — just really beautifully put-together photographic images of super-babes in interesting locations. The frames alone were conversation-worthy. Anyone who wants a sexy gift they can hang in the dining room should handle this immediately.

B.A., LL.B.

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xtra.ca The deďŹ nitive news source for gay and lesbian Canadians

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

NIGHTCLUB LISTINGS world. 9pm. Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com

THURS, MAY 17 Inside Out Opening Gala Party kicks off the queer film festival, with performance

by Yura. DJ Shane Percy spins. 10pm.

OCAD Great Hall, 100 McCaul St. $10 public, $8 members. No cover with opening gala screening and party ticket. insideout.ca

DJs Dave & Gerardo sizzle the decks with hot music and hotter bodies.

10pm–4am. The Hoxton, 69 Bathurst St. $10, no cover for Prism all-access passholders. prismtoronto.com Freedom liberates, with DJs Carl Cox and Deko-ze. 10pm–7am. The Guvernment, 132 Queen’s Quay E. $25. theguvernment.com

FRI, MAY 18 Iggy Azalea raps her nasty rhymes and shows the crowd her pu$$y. 8pm.

Wrongbar, 1279 Queen St W. $20–23. ticketweb.ca Zodiac is where Aries rams it up Leo, with DJ Diego Bros spinning oldschool hip hop and R&B. 10pm. Parts and Labour, 1566 Queen St W. $5. partsandlabour.ca Underbear Party, with DJ The Robotic Kid spinning the underwear/jock night in support of the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation. 10pm. Black Eagle, 457 Church St. No cover. blackeagletoronto.com Ax-A-Gogo Mayday! Mayday! revs it Asian style, with performances by songster AJ Libramonte, drag diva Sofonda and the Ax Maximus Go-Go Dancers. DJ Alex on decks, VJ Gary White in the Lounge.

10pm. fly, 8 Gloucester St. $5 before 11pm, $10 after. meetmeatax.com

SAT, MAY 19 Cherry Bomb pops it for queer women and friends, with DJs Cozmic Cat and Denise Benson. 9pm. Andy Poolhall, 489 College St. No cover before 10pm, $7 after. andypoolhall.com Sodom: Hollywood Gutter and Glam gets the Inside Out afterparty raunchy, with New Zealand drag sensation Judy

TUES, MAY 22

Sodom: Hollywood Gutter and Glam is on May 19 at Goodhandy’s.

Virago and DJ Sumation. Hosted by Myles Sexton. 10pm. Goodhandy’s, 120 Church St. $7 before 11pm, $10 after, $5 students. sodom.ca Fit: 2nd Birthday Party celebrates the terrible twos, with DJs Kris Steeves and Phil V coaching the tunes and gym-queen Daytona Bitch steppin’ it.

10:30pm. The Beaver, 1192 Queen St W. $5. beavertoronto.ca Purplelectricity, the all-Prince video dance party, celebrates eight years with the release of the “Dance 4 Me” remixes. DJ Doctor Baggie on decks.

11pm. Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St W. $10. purplelectricity.com

SUN, MAY 20 TransPlanetarium, the official Inside Out afterparty, blasts off, with DJs Nik Red and Kaleb Robertson taking it out of this

T-Girl Lust has the ladies strutting on stage and in booths, with DJ Todd Klinck and Mandy Goodhandy on the main bar.

8pm. Goodhandy’s, 120 Church St. No cover. Booth membership is $10 for day, $25 for month. goodhandys.com

WED, MAY 23 Donavon LeNabat takes the stage for a night of music and fun. 9pm. Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover.

THURS, MAY 24 Smirnoff Best Chest Contest, with the Ladies of SAS – Nicolette, Mahogany and Tynomi — and DJ Mark Falco, plus $300 in cash prizes. Midnight.

Woody’s, 465 Church St. No cover. woodystoronto.com

FRI, MAY 25 The Outlaw Strippers Ball teases the crowd. Presented by Skin Tight Outta Sight Rebel Burlesque. 9pm.

The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St W. $20 advance, $25 door. outlawstrippersball2012.eventbrite.com

Mighty Real, with DJs John Caffery and The Robotic Kid spinning acid, disco, funky house and gothic, followed by Jenna Syde’s drag hilarity at midnight.

9:30pm. Cold Tea, 60 Kensington St. No cover.

Shag Retro Dance Party, with DJ Cory Activate taking it back to old-school beats. 10pm. WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. $5. waylabar.com

SAT, MAY 26 Pop Machine: The Brit(ish) Pop Edition has DJs Alessandro and Shane Percy union jacking the decks. 10pm–3am.

WAYLA, 996 Queen St E. $5 before 11pm, $10 after. whatareyoulookingatbar.com Glow illuminates the dancefloor, with DJs Deko-ze, Mark Oliver and Mazone & Strong spinning for all the guys in the black light. 10pm–7am. The Guvernment, 132 Queen’s Quay E. No cover before 1am with glow wristband or neon attire. theguvernment.com What Is House? gets the shirtless boys showing well-constructed bods, with DJs Alain Jackinsky (Montreal) and Jamal on decks. 10pm. fly, 8 Gloucester St. $10 before 11:30pm, $15 till 1am, $20 after. flynightclub.com Trash bashes the beat, with DJs Joe Blow, Sigourney Beaver and Winnie spinning the grooves. 10pm.

Henhouse, 1532 Dundas St W. No cover. henhousetoronto.com

27

& Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com HOT Mess @ The Barn: Flawlez Edition, with DJs Torus and daVinci and performances by R&B duo O Nouveau. 10pm. The Barn, 418 Church St. No cover before midnight, $5 after. thebarnnightclub.com

MON, MAY 28 Glitz and Glam Monday, with Carlotta Carlisle and Candice Kelly, gets devious at 9pm; Devine Darlin and Nikki Chin get dirty at 11:30pm. Crews and Tangos, 508 Church St. No cover. crewsandtangos.com Dirty Bingo gives out special naughty prizes, with strip rounds and general mayhem. Hosted by trash-mouthed trailer-park twins Lena Over and Gloria Hole. 9pm. Zelda’s, 692 Yonge St. No cover. zeldas.ca Singularsensation Mondays musical theatre open-mic night, with Jeny and Donavon. 9pm. Statlers, 487 Church St. No cover.

TUES, MAY 29 Mile High Tuesday is all first-class cocktails and cockpits, with DJ daVinci piloting the decks. Boutique Bar, 506 Church St. No cover. boutiquebar.ca

For complete listings on the go, scan the QR code below or visit xtra.ca.

SUN, MAY 27 Drag Race 2012 Kickoff, hosted by Farra N Hyte and judged by Heroine Marks and Devine Darlin, at 9pm; Farra N Hyte and Kera Keys at 11:30pm. Crews

Out in Schools wants to hear from youth!

YAAH we do!

Join our Youth Steering Committee If you are under 25, and want to get involved with Out in Schools, join YAAH

(Youth Allies Against Homophobia) today! Details at OutinSchools.com

Founding Media Sponsor

28

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

Toronto’s online directory of gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses

indexdirectory.ca

indexdirectory.ca ACCOMMODATIONS - BRITISH COLUMBIA The Eagle’s Nest B&B

FIREPLACES 866-766-9350

ACCOMMODATIONS - ONTARIO Holiday Inn 416-542-6008 Neill-Wycik Summer Hotel 416-977-2320 Trinity House Inn 1-800-265-4871

ACCOUNTANTS Hema Murdock C.A.

416-696-6653

ADULT Stag Shop

416-323-0771

ADVERTISING Raymond Helkio Advertising /Design

raymondhelkio.com

AIDS/HIV RESOURCES Canadian Seed Exchange Medical Compassion Clinic

416-850-3795 647-291-0420

ALTERNATIVE HEALTH My CannaMeds

mycm.ca

416-920-7200

FLOORING Craftwood Flooring

416-750-9097

Crewman & Co 905-824-2557 416-266-4674 416-929-7222

Helmutt’s Pet Supply

LJ’s Laser Hair Removal Clinic 647-971-9855 Hamilton location 289-237-7089

The Village Pharmacy

Ragga Hair and Beauty Salon 416-368-8113

647-348-0104

HEALTH & PERSONAL CARE

PHYSICIANS Dr David W Grossman

ARTS & CRAFTS

Front Door Organics The Big Carrot

416-201-3000 416-466-2129

Wise Daughters Craft Market 416-761-1555

HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING

AUTOMOTIVE SALES & LEASING

360 Living Inc

BMW Autohaus

905-886-3380 xt 17309

BANKRUPTCY MNP Ltd

416-515-3836

BARS & CLUBS (TORONTO) Fly Nightclub Woody’s / Sailor

416-410-5426 416-972-0887

BUTCHERS St Jamestown Steaks & Chops 416-925-7665

CARPENTERS The Cliffside Carpenter

416-266-4674

CHEESE SHOPS Leslieville Cheese Market

HOME IMPROVEMENT & REPAIRS Bryant Renovations G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service Newbright Construction

REAL ESTATE

Meticulous Inspections, Inc

Lee Caswell Leon Belov Louis Amaral

INSURANCE

INVESTMENT SERVICES

416-465-7143 416-913-5170

Juice Box

416-924-4671

LASER EYE SURGERY 416-406-6228

CINEMAS 416-494-9371

CLEANING & MAID SERVICES 647-448-5213

COMMUNITY GROUPS & SERVICES 416-777-2755 416-392-6646

COMPUTER SALES & SERVICE Around The Clock I.T. Solutions Contemporary Computers

416-657-4395

CONCRETE - CONTRACTORS G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service

CONSTRUCTION G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service Newbright Construction

St Jamestown Steaks & Chops

416-913-5170 647-955-0723 647-330-2539

416-925-7665

MENTALIST scienceofillusion.com

416-966-0117 416-534-9991 647-350-3501

Agility Moving & Storage Ltd Avery Moving & Storage Manhattan Movers

416-920-7387

gesund

416-654-5029 416-239-9565 416-259-2181

Front Door Organics

416-260-0818

SEX SHOPS 416-596-7515 416-323-0772 416-201-3000

SPA SERVICES LJ’s Laser Hair Removal Clinic 647-971-9855 Hamilton location 289-237-7089 Gemini Tees Afterglo Tan Bar

416-922-5511 416-201-3000

PROUD LIVES

Christian Healing Service For HIV-positive people, their friends, family, and caregivers.

Eucharistic liturgy including sacrament of anointing of the sick.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church (Sherbourne north of Wellesley). Wheelchair accessible.

Saturday, May 19th, 2012 - 7:00pm

416-768-5755 647-350-8456

Commemorate those who have recently passed away. This space is donated by Xtra. Call 416-644-5214 for more info.

Please limit text to 50 words or less. Ideally, photos will be digital images at 2” x 3” with a resolution of 250dpi.

REAL ESTATE ›

EMPLOYMENT ›

Homes for rent

Office

ROOM FOR RENT Country home. Furnished room in gay house near Lindsay. Parking, TV, phone & internet. Share one bathroom, kitchen, Liv/ Din, Rec Room. $400.00 Monthly (1st & last).

705-786-9835

TRAVEL › International travel

SHOPPING

PUERTO VALLARTA MEXICO

BOANA-TORRE MALIBU Condo Hotel. Largest pool in gay Vallarta. Located by gay beach. boana@pvnet.com.mx Call 011-52-(322)222-099-9 Direct line Montreal: 514-800-7690 BOANA.NET

Accountant

A STAFF ACCOUNTANT/BOOKKEEPER is required for a small accounting firm at Yonge & College. Job responsibilities include the compilation of financial statements for small and mediumsized corporations; regular bookkeeping for specific clients; answering client inquiries and providing client solutions; and preparation of personal and corporate tax returns. The successful candidate will have experience with accounting, bookkeeping, financial statement preparation, and personal and corporate tax preparation.

He/she will also have a working knowledge of Quickbooks and Simply Accounting, strong analytical skills, a commitment to meeting deadlines; the ability to work independently and in a team environment, and great client service abilities and written communication skills. Please respond with a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to info@russellvert.ca. No phone calls, please.

Modelling AMATEUR MALE MODELS Cute young guys (age 18-25) needed for work in the adult industry. SOLO J/O SHOOTS PAY $600 CASH - M/M SCENES START AT $900 CASH! Visit image-scout.com for more info.

Adult

THE GREAT CANADIAN MALE

will be in Toronto to discover fresh new faces for its adult website.

Must Be 19-50 Email: applications@ thegreatcanadianmale.com Call for info: 289-948-0084

Call about upgrade options.

Bold, all caps and colour

TAX SERVICES CJH Tax Services

647-270-8057

THEATRE Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 416-975-8555

TRAVEL AGENCIES Travel ABC

800-665-3769

TREE SERVICES Kelly’s Tree Care Ltd Sunset Beech Tree Care

416-462-0007 647-989-3509

Re-Wrap Custom Upholstery 416-214-6400 416-469-1121

WATERPROOFING G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service

905-824-2557

WEBSITES 416-913-5170

ORGANIC FOOD 416-972-9500

416-801-9265 416-720-6611

C’est What? Brew/ Vin Pub Restaurant 416-867-9499 Cora Breakfast & Lunch Carlton St 416-340-1350 Wellington St 416-598-2672 Fire on the East Side 416-960-3473 Hair of the Dog 416-964-2708 The Blake House 416-975-1867 The Churchmouse & Firkin 416-927-1735

Front Door Organics

Please visit our website: www.gayfathers-toronto.com

All welcome to join with us, third Saturday of every month.

VETERINARIANS

OPTOMETRISTS Dr Jason Hershorn

905-373-2236 416-703-0600 416-200-0969

RESTAURANTS & CAFÉS

Condom Shack Stag Shop

Our meetings are informal, confidential and very helpful. We’re here to support you on your journey.

Spiritual services 416-625-6665 416-925-6665 416-925-6665

RENOVATIONS & RESTORATIONS

Blue Cross Animal Hospital

NATUROPATHY

416-921-6112

647-989-1555 416-598-4888 416-921-8629

UPHOLSTERY

MORTGAGES MOVING & STORAGE

ENTERTAINMENT Village Vapor Lounge

MASSAGE CERTIFIED/REGISTERED

416-429-0150

DRAG Take a Walk on the Wildside

416-410-2266

Ontario-Wide Financial Corp 416-925-3974

DOG & CAT GROOMING Tailspin Dog Spa

Craig Penney

Dr Robert Ing

647-989-1555

TANNING SALONS

MEATS & DELICATESSENS

DENTAL SERVICES Adelaide Dental Dr Kevin Russelo & Associates Galleria Dental Yonge & Bloor Dental

416-504-8888

416-968-6437 647-989-1555 416-827-7578 416-944-1291 416-557-7312

416-968-6437

T-SHIRTS

Doc’s Leathers & Motorcycle Gear

905-824-2557

COUNSELLING Becky Liddle Change4U2 David W Routledge Phillip Coupal Counselling

Abrams & Krochak 416-482-3387 xt 22 Adam Weisberg 416-603-3344 Cynthia Borovoy Warren 416-964-0900 David M. Cohn 416-777-1100 Harvey L Hamburg 416-968-9054 Janice P Warren 416-323-7767 Kirk J. Cooper 416-923-4277 Law Office of El-Farouk Khaki 416-925-7227 Michael Battista 416-203-2899 Morzaria Law 647-259-1990 Paul T. Willis 416-926-9806 Robert G Coates 416-925-6490 Zubas + Associates Employment Law 416-593-5844

gesund Patrick Reilly, RMT The Power of Touch.com

COSMETIC SERVICES Dr David W Grossman

LAWYERS

LEGAL SERVICES 905-824-2557 416-985-8639

CONTRACTING & RENOVATIONS G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service

416-445-8439

LEATHER LIFE 905-824-2557

Gaelen Patrick Joe Sipione,

Gay Fathers meets at 8 PM the second and fourth Thursday of each month:

647-918-6369

REAL ESTATE AGENTS

Bryant Renovations

JUICE BARS

Clearview Institute

Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives (CLGA) Enterprise Toronto

647-287-1962

Kenton Waterman, Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

CHURCHES

CondoFresh

905-824-2557 416-985-8639

HOME INSPECTION SERVICES

Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto Rainbow/Carlton Cinemas

PUBLICATIONS Fab Magazine Pink Triangle Press Xtra (Toronto)

MARRIED? DIVORCED? GAY? BI? HAVE CHILDREN?

The 519 Church Street Community Centre Room 304

PSYCHOTHERAPY Becky Liddle Bruce M. Small Jude Johnston

Notices

416-967-9221

PSYCHOLOGISTS Becky Liddle

416-260-0818

Kenton Waterman, Investors Group Financial Services 416-860-1668

CHIROPRACTORS gesund

416-920-7200

416-504-1265

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Front Door Organics

ANNOUNCEMENTS ›

416-699-9955

PHARMACIES

Michael Mooney Photography

416-201-3000

416-920-7387

PET STORES & SUPPLIES

HAIR REMOVAL

HAIR STYLISTS & BARBERS

416-843-1318

PET MORTUARIES & CREMATORIES Pets At Peace

GARDENING Davenport Garden Centre

647-588-1774 416-985-8639 416-449-6204

PET CARE Tailspin Dog Spa

FURNITURE - CUSTOM The Cliffside Carpenter

CM Painting & Decorating Newbright Painting Performance Painters

PARTY PLANNERS

FOUNDATION REPAIRS G J MacRae Foundation Repair Service

HEALTH FOODS & NUTRITION

ART GALLERIES Akasha Art Projects

PAINTING

360 Living Inc

To place an ad, call 416-925-6665 xt 0 or book your line classified at xtra.ca

Guidemag.com Squirt.org Xtra.ca

guidemag.com squirt.org xtra.ca

Index and Xtra, a winning combination. Call to book for the fall edition now, 416-925-6665 x214

NEXT CLASSIFIED DEADLINE:

(FOR ISSUE #720) MON, MAY 28 @ 1PM

more at xtra.ca

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

29

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES › Cleaners

Counselling

Leather

DETAILED CLEANING AND Organizing for Home’s & Condo’s, BONDED AND INSURED call Tomas at 416-878-9527 email: info@EcosCleaning.com ecoscleaning.com www.ecoscleaning.com SQUEAKY CLEAN Domestic Cleaning Services.

Your Neighbourhood Cleaner (prices and estimates available on request).

Call Mark: 416-924-1951 (Res.) 416-347-3951 (Cell) e-mail: copelandf@rogers.com

droutledge@rogers.com s

JACKETS PANTS & CHAPS from $99 Movers

M A N H AT TA N

MOV I NG

AGGRESSIVE CRIMINAL DEFENCE

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416.410.2266

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El-Farouk

Khaki Barrister & Solicitor

BEST OF TORONTO

2009

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BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Painting

.EWBRIGHT 0AINTING

NO MESS, NO FUSS, JUST SUPERIOR WORKMANSHIP

Commercial/Residential, Interior/Exterior Painting l Design & colour consultation Light Reno’s and Repairs l Window Cleaning l Better Business Bureau Celebrating 11 years in Xtra l References provided on request

Sean 416.985.8639

Good things come in small spaces Call 416-925-6665 xt 0 to book your classiďŹ ed or book online at xtra.ca

HEALTH & FITNESS ›

BRENT ROUSSEAU RMT For treatment of muscle injuries, pain and stress management, and enhancement of physical health and well being. Day, evening, and weekend appts. available. Insurance coverage, Visa accepted, free parking, 416-708-3996.

Broadview/Danforth. brentrousseau.com

Massage certiďŹ ed KEVIN SHORTT MASSAGE and Yoga Therapy: sensual, intimate bodywork with stretching. $15 o First Time Clients! Check out my website: www3.sympatico.ca/kshortt 416-961-8064

Registered massage

1EWWEKI 8LIVET] ˆ 2EXYVSTEXLMG 1IHMGMRI 'LMVSTVEGXMG ˆ %GYTYRGXYVI ˆ 2YXVMXMSREP 'SRWYPXEXMSR ;IMKLX 0SWW (IXS\ ERH 7QSOMRK 'IWWEXMSR 4VSKVEQW -RWYVERGI VIGIMTXW MWWYIH JSV EPP XVIEXQIRXW

638 Church Street Phone: 416.913.5170 Email: info @ gesund.ca

Book online: www.gesund.ca Massage certiďŹ ed

General

My CannaMeds

YOUR ONLINE COMPASSIONATE CLUB Organic medical marihuana shipped quickly, discreetly to your door. Several varieties to choose from.

mycm.ca

Harmony Hands (OLISTIC -ASSAGE s 4HAI 9OGA -ASSAGE &OOT -ASSAGE 2EFLEXOLOGY s 3OUNDWORK Jennifer Gillmor C N H P s C Y T

Ask about our frequency discounts

Motivate Xtra readers.

$OWNTOWN LOCATION AFFORDABLE RATES

ARR ARRESTED? CHA CHARGED?

This category is restricted to Registered Health Care Practitioners

Add features such as boxes, borders and bolding to get your ad noticed.

...helping you become the person you have always wanted to be

WWW.GANYMEDE.CA Professional hair removal by certiďŹ ed specialist. Waxing, electrolysis and laser. Clean, private, downtown location. By appointment only. Call Darcy at 416-979-8801.

Registered massage

Grab attention.

PSYCHOTHERAPIST

Hair/skin & beauty

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Be descriptive and concise.

Include all the vital details in your listing to ensure readers have enough information.

DAVID W. ROUTLEDGE MSW, RSW

TAROT CARD READINGS

by JAMES. Questions answered REGARDING LOVE, LIFE, WORK & FINANCES. $20/individual, $15/groups of 3 or more.

Call or text (416)901-8586

Refugee & Immigration Law

Clarity is key.

416-921-8629

General

Legal services

HELPFUL TIPS

Jude Johnston, MSW, RSW, Psychotherapist.

Compassionate and Experienced.

Relationships, addictions, anxiety, depression, grief, sexuality, HIV, trauma.

Discover emotional balance, joy and confidence.

416-899-3342 s jen@harmonyhands.ca s www.harmonyhands.ca Parkdale, Kensington, Home Visits MAKE YOUR BODY SING!

HELMETS & VESTS from $89 LUCKY 13 from $29

Include limited-time oers, special bonuses and discounts for acting now in your line classiďŹ ed.

To place an ad, call 416-925-6665 xt 0 or book your line classiďŹ ed at xtra.ca

GET ALL THE INCHES YOU WANT!

Call 1-800-268-XTRA to book your classiďŹ ed or book online at xtra.caa

30

Toronto’s gay & lesbian news

XTRA! MAY 17, 2012

PERSONAL › Erotic massage

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Porndoggy Jeremy Feist

M

ARCUS MOJO MAY VERY WELL be one of the hardest working men in gay porn. No, that’s not just a lame pun; I literally mean the guy can do anything and is more than happy to do it for his fans.

While certain performers do a handful of scenes, then immediately think they’re king shit, Mojo is charmingly humble.

Not only that, but he’s versatile in every sense of the word: as a Next Door Studios exclusive, he performs with both men and women and as both a top and a bottom. In show business, he’s what’s known as a “quadruple threat.â€? “DeďŹ nitely no complaints over here,â€?

Mojo says. “To be completely honest, I think when you are versatile and open to new things, it makes you easier to work with. But that’s just my opinion. You all know I’m up for anything.�

See what I mean about humility?

Mojo recently performed at Celebrities nightclub in Vancouver as part of NDS’s The Pornstar Next Door tour. “It has been nothing short of amazing,� he says. “Being able to travel all across the United States and Canada has been a blessing, and being able to meet fans and

actually interact with them in person is a great feeling.�

Of course, the tour isn’t just about hot boys doing dirty things. Earlier this year, Marcus performed in Denver to raise money for its GLBT Community Center. “It puts a warm feeling in my heart. Being able to give back to the community with not just my help but with the help from others.�

It never hurts to give back to the community that supports you. And occasionally, that means signing so many autographs that you get a case of writer’s cramp that would make Stephen King shit a brick. “It was at Spin nightclub in Chicago,� says Mojo of his favourite interaction with a fan. “A man came in with over 100 pictures of me to sign for him, all from when I started to the present.

Talk about a trip down memory lane!�

I’m not going to lie: after the interview I spent a good hour trying to nail down what exactly it is that makes Mojo stand out. It isn’t just the fact that he has a hot body or that he is a hard worker. It all came down to the fact that Mojo is just a really nice guy. As simple as that sounds, it’s an underrated quality in porn models.

And fuck it — if a guy is willing to sign 100 pictures for one person, that has to count for something.

Jeremy Feist is a Toronto pornstar. Porndoggy appears in every issue of Xtra.

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