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WOMEN’S SOCCER E 13
Why are gay teens nearly six times more likely to use steroids? E10
’ROID RAGE
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Raging homos Has the gay lobby become the bully? Edailyxtra.com Editorial Lessons from the Parti Québécois By Robin Perelle E4 Feedback E4 Xcetera E5
Upfront BC sued over law school But law society will accept future Trinity Western grads E7
on dailyxtra.com E Anti-gay activists
arrested at University of Regina E St Petersburg gay
clubs adapt to Russian anti-gay laws E Ethiopia: Bill to make
gay sex a non-pardonable offence dropped E Alberta: School with
anti-gay policy sparks outrage
Are gay seniors lonelier? E8 Queer Arts Festival funded E8
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Cover story Mass appeal Why are so many gay and bisexual teenagers taking steroids? E10
Out in the City Equal Play for women’s soccer Lesbian Hall of Famer calls for fairer funding as FIFA approaches E13 A tale of two Normal Hearts Raving Theatre says AIDS stories still need to be told E15 Blitz & Shitz The reincarnation of Ff By Raziel Reid E17 Xtra Living E18 What’s On E19 Real Estate E19
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Lessons from the Parti Québécois EDITORIAL ROBIN PERELLE
When Pierre Karl Péladeau pumped his newly anointed Parti Québécois fist for sovereignty in March, he might as well have been talking about sexual liberation. Not that Péladeau has given any indication that he supports sexual liberation. But like sexual liberation, sovereignty is both the end game and potentially the greatest liability of a cultural movement that has earned enormous gains without managing to ultimately dislodge the governing social system. When the Parti Québécois stepped onto the political scene in 1968, it was the product of profound social upheaval. The Quiet Revolution was barely eight years old but had already transformed a conservative, Catholic Church–driven, anglophone-dominated province into a more modern, more egalitarian state with access to education and healthcare and a reemerging sense of pride in being French Canadian. The revolution’s lead architect, Liberal premier Jean Lesage, had, with his natural resources minister, René Lévesque, nationalized foreign-owned hydroelectric plants throughout the province and begun training francophones to take over engineering and other positions previously held by anglophones. Wealth and decision-making power finally began to shift, though a royal commission inquiry in 1963 would
find that francophones, representing 80 percent of Quebec’s population, still earned only 64 percent of their anglophone counterparts’ salaries. Carving spots in places of power was essential but not enough. Nurturing French Canadian culture and breathing new life into its language became paramount, especially as it became clear that francophones submerged in English-speaking Canada outside Quebec were rapidly losing their language. Lévesque soon parted with the Liberals and launched the Parti Québécois, committed both to strengthening Québécois language, culture and independence within the province and, ultimately, to creating a separate state no longer outnumbered by anglophones in the rest of Canada. In the years since, the party has made enormous gains within the province: Québécois culture is strong and pervasive; francophones are now better educated and have access to the highestpaying jobs; music, films and even the most vacuous homegrown TV shows celebrate and reflect Québécois realities. Yet as a direct result of these significant gains, the separate state now seems unnecessary and nearly impossible. To even suggest it during an election campaign is political suicide. Not unlike sexual liberation. Once a goal of the gay liberation movement — to transform society as a whole to embrace all forms of sexual pleasure and relinquish its uptight fixation on
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.
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sin — we have settled largely for carving spots for ourselves, and to some extent our culture, within existing institutions. Rather than challenging marriage, for example, we demanded our share of its sanctioned rights and responsibilities. Nothing wrong with demanding our due, whether it’s equal access to education, jobs and decision making in Quebec or equal access to job protection and spousal benefits in straight society. But is it enough? What happens when a cultural movement wins significant gains without transforming the overall structure that surrounds it? The latest incarnation of the Parti Québécois shows what can happen when a movement that has made huge gains loses direction. How do you keep nurturing the culture you were created to protect once you’ve strengthened it enough to survive in a world where it’s still, nonetheless, a minority? Do you try to squash others to further strengthen your own position? Do you keep pushing for transformational change in a world now prepared to recognize your existence and even, occasionally, to shift some of its norms to acknowledge your own? Or do you keep carving and nurturing the spots within, content to contribute, slowly, maybe, to reshaping the bigger picture over time? As the cultural revolutions born in the 1960s win impressive gains within potentially greater losses, it’s no wonder many of us find ourselves at a crossroads. Robin Perelle is the managing editor of Xtra Vancouver.
FEEDBACK Soon to be 30/60? Mission school district will have the honour of bringing the number of antihomophobia policies up to 30 [“Patchwork of Progress,” Xtra #538, April 10]. We are in the final stages of turning 10 years of words and paperwork into something far more tangible. I have a concern, however, that our policy does not end up on a shelf in a binder. A comment from a wellmeaning colleague (who was definitely not volunteering to help) sums it up for many of us in outlying districts (and the Fraser Valley is outlying in many ways): “Now YOUR real work has just begun.” My real work? Not our real work? Really? Would anyone say that now regarding racism, sexism or First Nations initiatives? I offer a heartfelt and tired sigh. ZOOMRUNNER (DAILYXTRA.COM)
ted northe was 74 I have learned, too late to be able to change it in the last print edition of Xtra [“Queen of the Silver Dollar,” Xtra #538, April 10], that we had been misinformed about the age of gay rights pioneer and Empress of Canada ted northe. Ted was actually born in 1939, not 1937, and was therefore 74, not 76, at the time of his death on March 30. Though the wrong date appeared in many sources, and my column was vetted by several sets of informed eyes, the error was not caught until after press time. I apologize to ted’s friends, fam-
ily and loyal subjects for the mistake. Whatever his age, ted left us far too soon. I hope many Xtra readers will join us June 14 at the Vancouver Art Gallery for the Empress Ball, for a celebration of ted’s life and work and the coronation of his successor. KEVIN DALE MCKEOWN VANCOUVER, BC
Terribly old Partway through Craig Barron’s column [“Terribly Old,” Xtra #537, March 27], this terribly old codger (86 in June) thought I should write a letter to Xtra. When I came to the reference to Peter Flinsch, whom I knew from 1958 to 1960, I had to write. I was introduced to Peter by Vancouver’s Irving Guttman, the father of opera in Western Canada. After a party at Peter’s, I spent the night with a ballet friend of his. I moved from Ontario to Salt Spring Island in 1990 at age 62. Always single (lots of pets), by the time I was 80 I realized that ageism is stronger and more prevalent in the LGBT community. In spite of founding Gays and Lesbians of SSI (GLOSSI), endowing an annual anti-homophobia award at our local Gulf Islands high school and in 2009 endowing an undergrad and grad scholarship at the Mark S Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at U of T, almost all GLOSSI members forget I’m still alive and often quite lonely. I’ve just adopted an 11-year-old black cat, and a straight woman friend will take him if something happens to me. Being very old with many health problems definitely sucks, something I no longer get a chance to do. JACK HALLAM SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC
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Upfront
Sex is good for everybody at every single age.
Maureen McGrath E8
BC sued over law school But law society will accept future Trinity Western graduates EDUCATION JEREMY HAINSWORTH
British Columbia’s government is facing a lawsuit from lawyers who say its approval of Trinity Western University’s (TWU) proposed law school would discriminate against people based on sexual orientation and religious grounds. Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby told Xtra April 10 that the Ministry of Advanced Education’s December approval of the degree program at the Fraser Valley school violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the BC law that allowed the university’s founding in 1969. To be admitted to TWU, students must sign a covenant agreeing to uphold Christian biblical teachings, including no premarital sex and no homosexuality. Failure to uphold these commitments, according to the student handbook, could result in discipline, dismissal or a refusal to readmit a student to the university. Ruby says TWU’s school would impose a “queer quota” on incoming law students. He estimates that there are approximately 1,600 seats in Canadian law schools and says that the 60 new places proposed by TWU would be offlimits to openly gay students. “This kind of bigotry is not to be blamed on freedom of religion,” he says. “The government is responsible for this bigotry and the harm that flows from it.” Trevor Loke, 25, is named as the plaintiff bringing the suit against the government, with Ruby and other lawyers behind him. He is currently a Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation commissioner and is studying public administration at Thompson Rivers University with an eye on law school in the future. “Trevor Loke is a Christian,” Ruby says. “He’s a Christian who doesn’t believe being gay is a sin. They discriminate against that class of Christian.” Loke tells Xtra the Charter exists to protect all people equally and should MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM
If I were to go to school there, they would ask me to stop being who I am. Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation commissioner Trevor Loke, who hopes to one day study law, is suing the BC government, with support from a team of lawyers, for approving Trinity Western University’s proposed Christian law school. JEREMY HAINSWORTH
be applied in cases where people are going to be trained to be public servants, including lawyers. He says the BC government’s decision to allow TWU, with its covenant, to grant law degrees excludes gays and lesbians. “They certainly wouldn’t allow someone like me who has been in a relationship for four years,” Loke says. “If I were to go to school there, they would ask me to stop being who I am, ask me to break off my relationship for the time I am at school there.” He says there is no place for a law school that believes it is exempt from the Charter.
In 2001, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld TWU’s right to teach Christian values to would-be teachers and to insist that incoming students sign its covenant. The court found that graduates of the university’s teacher-education program are entitled to hold “sexist, racist or homophobic beliefs” as long as they don’t act on them in the public-school classrooms to which they might be assigned. “The factual circumstances are almost identical, and the Supreme Court of Canada has not changed its interpretation of either administrative law principles or balancing of rights in such a manner as to justify the Supreme
Court reversing itself,” TWU president Bob Kuhn told Xtra in January. On April 11, the Law Society of BC agreed. Though many directors expressed concern about TWU’s covenant, a majority voted to admit its law graduates to the BC bar, saying the Supreme Court ruling still applies. “I do not think we can bar TWU from a law school even though the covenant may be abhorrent to me,” director Miriam Kresivo said. Director Joe Arvay asked what the law society would do if the covenant dealt with interracial marriage. He was incensed by his fellow directors’ assertions that they had to follow the 2001 ruling. “I don’t recognize that law,” he said. “We are the law. We are the lawmaking body.” “The law is never frozen in time,” he added. “It is always evolving.” Director Cameron Ward agreed. “A case decided by the Supreme Court 13 years ago may well be decided differently today,” he said. “We’re elected to be leaders, not followers.” “Is sexual orientation a somehow more equitable basis for discrimination?” asked director Jamie Maclaren. He and the other dissenters were in the minority, however, as directors discussed balancing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provisions on freedom of religion and equality. Kuhn was pleased with the outcome. This is an important decision for all Canadians, he says. “It says that there is room in a democratic country like Canada for a law school at a Christian university.” Other provincial law societies are still debating whether they’ll admit future TWU law graduates to their regional bar associations. Kuhn tells Xtra the lawsuit is not unexpected, as Ruby has been discussing it for some time. “They can’t stop the BC law society, and they’re going after the government. I find it difficult to believe.” He says TWU still plans to open the school despite the suit. XTRA! APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 7
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Are gay seniors lonelier? Gay and lesbian seniors experience more isolation and loneliness in residential care facilities than their straight counterparts because of a lack of acceptance, education and lower intake numbers, local health experts say. “One of the biggest issues is that a lot of queer seniors may go into a home without a partner,� says sexual health expert and radio personality Maureen McGrath. McGrath was the keynote speaker at an April 8 BC Care Providers Association seminar on seniors and sex in residential care homes. The loneliness factor is “tremendously negative,� she says. Alan Herbert, creator of the Gay and Grey group, thinks the rate of loneliness among gay seniors is particularly high. He Of the 154 seniors in residential care at Vancouver’s Haro Park Centre, executive says residential care facilities director Catherine Kohm says, only 20 need guidelines for caring for identify openly as lesbian, gay, bisexual or gay seniors. transgender. SHAUNA LEWIS “We have some residents who are terribly homophobic,� agrees ably the worst issue they face because Catherine Kohm, executive director there is a smaller cohort of out LGBTQ of Haro Park Centre, which includes people in the homes,� she says. independent housing, assisted living More must also be done to support and residential care for seniors in the safe and consensual sexual relationWest End. ships in care homes, health experts say. Kohm, too, thinks gay seniors face “Sex is good for you. Sex is good far more isolation than straight resi- for everybody at every single age,� dents. “I would say loneliness is prob- McGrath says. — Shauna Lewis ARTS
Queer Arts Festival funded Having lost, then regained, threequarters of its federal funding last year, Vancouver’s Queer Arts Festival (QAF) organizers are welcoming increased funding from the BC Arts Council. In a letter addressed to the society that runs QAF, the arts council praised the annual festival for its “incredible work and great aggressive programming.� QAF sets the bar “very high on artistic achievement,� the letter says, and engages “a very healthy, broad demographic.� While the BC Arts Council has funded QAF in the past, this year’s grant marks a transition from year-toyear project funding to a more stable operating grant. Rachel Iwaasa, QAF’s acting artistic director, says the grant nearly doubles the festival’s provincial funding. “And we got an increase from the city as well,� she adds.
The festival’s provincial grant now totals $12,000; its city grant is $15,000. QAF is still waiting to hear about its funding application to the federal Department of Canadian Heritage. Last year, Heritage cut QAF’s annual $44,000 grant unexpectedly because, a spokesperson wrote in a letter to organizers, the festival no longer met the sponsorship criteria to deliver “measurable and tangible results, to optimize available funds, and to meet the needs of Canadians.â€? Two days after QAF went public about its funding cut, Canadian Heritage quietly reinstated 75 percent of its grant, without explanation. Iwaasa says QAF ended 2013 with a deďŹ cit because of the federal funding cut, but private and corporate donors have helped mitigate the consequences.— Shauna Lewis For more on these stories, go to dailyxtra.com. VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
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COVER STORY
Why are so many gay and bisexual teenagers taking steroids?
Mass appeal BY NIKO BELL
hen Dr Aaron Blashill, a researcher and clinician at Massachusetts General Hospital, first saw how many American gay teenaged boys were using steroids, he assumed he had made an error. He guessed the number would be high, maybe as much as two or three times normal, but this, he thought, could not be correct. He went back and rechecked his analysis, then rechecked it again, and again. The numbers told him the same thing: out of a sample of 17,000 American teenagers, nearly six times as many gay and bisexual boys had used steroids as their straight counterparts. When Blashill and a team of researchers at The Fenway Institute, an LGBT health research centre in Boston, published their work in February, they demonstrated a long suspected but little understood link between gay men and anabolic steroids. Only four percent of straight teenagers in the study said they had ever used steroids, but among gay and bisexual teens the rate shot up to 21 percent. Gay and bisexual boys were also more likely
10 APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 XTRA!
to use steroids heavily: four percent said they had used more than 40 times, compared to only 0.7 percent among their straight peers. The conclusion was clear. Gay teens are injecting themselves with anabolic steroids much more than any others, and that likely means that gay men are as well. Although we still don’t know how many adult gay men use steroids, most lifelong steroid use begins among young men in late adolescence and the early 20s. Somewhere in the numbers lay the reason.
STEROID USE BY ADOLESCENT MALES Any steroid use Moderate use (>10 times) Severe use (>40 times)
Heterosexual
0.7% 4% 1.5%
Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are a family of hormones that include the natural male hormone testosterone and a broad family of synthetic relatives. Steroids bind to hormone receptors in the body, causing both androgenic effects — male characteristics, such as body hair — and, more importantly, anabolic effects: muscle growth. When a man ingests or injects artificial testosterone, the brain signals the pituitary gland to shut down production of natural testosterone and sperm, causing the tes-
ticles to shrink. At the same time, the rush of testosterone signals muscles to increase in size, and almost any intense exercise produces dramatic growth. Steroids act just like testosterone but the effects are vastly multiplied: they quite literally make you more of a man.
Sexual minority
21%
8%
4%
SOURCE: SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND ANABOLIC-ANDROGENIC STEROIDS IN US ADOLESCENT BOYS BY DR AARON BLASHILL
For Cameron, a 20-year-old artisan from Ottawa, it all started when he got sick. (Xtra agreed not to use his last name for this story.) Cameron was fit and healthy until a year of illness and school stress tore 40 pounds off his body. Standing five foot 10, at 118 pounds, he struggled to buy clothes, and his ribs showed through his chest. That’s when he turned to his roommate’s boyfriend, a local steroid dealer. He liked the man’s confident professionalism and was comforted that his years of steroid use seemed to have had no consequences. On top of that, the drugs were delivered right to his door, along with clean needles and personalized advice. He didn’t have to worry about anything.
“I just wanted to get back to normal,” he says. Cameron started on pills, 12 to 14 a day of the common synthetic steroid methandrostenolone, the street name for which is “d-bol.” He was afraid of needles, he says. Oral d-bol was hell on his liver, though, and after too many rough hangovers, he switched to a cocktail of injectable testosterone, a few d-bol pills and another injectable called Nolvadex that prevents the growth of breast tissue associated with steroid use. Cameron doesn’t know much about what all the drugs do or how they work. He trusts his dealer for that. His drugs came in pill bottles and 10 millilitre vials, and he took them as directed. And they worked. Within two and a half months, Cameron says, he was back up to his normal weight. He grew in a thick beard and new hair on his chest where the old had been lasered off. He felt more aggressive, and his friends noticed he was more intense, more serious and smiled less often. But he also had the body and the muscles he wanted. While Cameron started injecting steroids to get back to his normal weight, they are
VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
called “gay-related immune deficiency,” was identified in North America; second, an American bodybuilder named Dan Duchaine published The Underground Steroid Handbook and brought practical knowledge about anabolic steroids out of the elite world of sports and made it available to everyone. Steroids had been used experimentally by athletes as early as the 1930s, but in the 1980s, steroid-fuelled bodies were suddenly everywhere: on television, in magazines, on action figures and in porn. The synchronicity of these two events became immediately meaningful for gay men. In an attempt to avoid the stigma of muscle wasting associated with HIV, they eagerly took steroids to show their muscularity, and thereby their health. From this, gay men’s affinity for steroids was born. At least that was the story until now. We don’t know very much about how steroids affected the HIV-epidemic generation — now in their late 40s, 50s and 60s — and until someone conducts a survey like Blashill’s on men over 50, the link between HIV and steroids is no better than educated speculation. Either way, the HIV story probably does not apply to the teens in Blashill’s study. The teenagers of today were not even alive during the plague years of the HIV epidemic and likely have never been exposed to the fear of wasting and thinness that pervaded the 1980s and ’90s. So why are they so eager to bulk up? Body image and sex appeal: squeezed between two cultures that rank masculinity as a hot commodity, more than one in five gay and bisexual teens are turning to steroids. THINKSTOCK
now a regular part of his routine. He takes one or two cycles of drugs a year, often topping out at a lean 185 pounds, 15 pounds heavier than his original weight. Steroids are a balancing act, he says; holding on to the ideal steroid body too long has consequences. Last year, he ran one cycle too long and found himself breaking out in acne and feeling sick, exhausted and hormonal. “My advice is to remember that it’s temporary,” he says. “It’s going to be up; it’s going to be down.”
According to the traditional story, steroids and the hypermuscular gay image appeared in the 1980s as a reaction to HIV. In the 1970s, masculinity meant a very different thing. Skinny men wore mustaches and athletic socks in gay porn. The Village People advertised for new band members with an ad that read “Macho types wanted” and scored a cowboy and an Indian with narrow jawlines and slender biceps. Then, in 1981, two things happened almost simultaneously: first, a new disease, initially
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For David Brennan, a professor of social work at the University of Toronto, Blashill’s results make sense. In 2008, he asked 380 gay men at Toronto Pride about body image and behaviour, and the results illuminated a web of factors that help to explain the Fenway study. Gay men, he discovered, were more likely than straight men to suffer from eating disorders and to be dissatisfied with their bodies. Eating disorders, in turn, were associated with depression, anxiety, internalized homophobia, substance abuse and the desire to gain muscle. All the pressure of bullying, homophobia, an image-conscious gay culture and the constant questioning of their identities as men, Brennan found, wears at gay men’s self-esteem and builds a desire for muscular, masculine bodies. This stress, he thinks, may be driving them to testosterone. “Over the last couple of decades, the pressure on young men to fit in and have a certain kind of body is just growing exponentially,” he says. Brennan believes gay men are particularly likely to choose testosterone because they feel pressure from both sides. On one side, a majority heterosexual culture pushes gay men to fit in and project a masculine image to avoid negative stereotypes of effeminacy and weakness. It is telling, he thinks, that gay men who feel worse about being gay are
SURVEY SAYS
Via squirt.org, Xtra asked men who have sex with men if they use steroids.
Have you ever used steroids or other performanceenhancing drugs?
6% 3% 5%
more likely to want to be muscular. On the other, gay men must fit into a gay culture where manliness is a valuable commodity. Photo-centred dating and hook-up apps make a good-looking body even more important. Since the appearance of steroids, men in gay porn and media have followed the trend of hulking muscularity. A mustache and leather chaps are no longer enough for a man to be a man; he needs pecs. “Just look at the imagery,” Brennan says. “Look at any ad. Look at any website or
Cameron is now 25 and still uses steroids. He likes them and has no intention of quitting. If he could afford to add higher-end, more expensive products to his regimen, he says, he would. “I don’t know how long I’ll do it,” he says. “As long as I have the money to afford it. I don’t have any problem stopping.” A few of Cameron’s friends roll their eyes when they hear he uses steroids, but most shrug it away. In fact, he says, since he’s
No, but I’m considering
Yes, I’m using
Yes, in the past
IT’S NO DIFFERENT THAN GETTING MY HAIR DYED. IT’S JUST WHAT IT IS. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE THAT LIFE AND YOU’RE VAIN, THEN GO FOR IT. CAMERON, STEROID USER
If yes, what have you used?
profile pic. What are people drawn to? What do the models look like in the ads in Xtra? That’s really powerful stuff.”
50% Testosterone supplements 14% Human growth hormone 36% Anabolic steroids
Why did you start?
27% Health 40% Appearance 33% Performance
Were they prescribed by a doctor?
36% Yes 64% No
Sure enough, when Blashill took a closer look at his numbers, they showed pressures similar to those identified by Brennan. Blashill tracked how likely the teenagers in his study were to feel unsafe or victimized, use other drugs or suffer from depression. Not only did he find that gay and bisexual teenagers scored higher on each of these metrics, but each was also associated with higher use of anabolic steroids. In other words, a substantial part of gay teens’ steroid use was not directly related to being gay. Instead, the teens were feeling depressed and anxious because of the strain of being a sexual minority. As a countermeasure, they were taking steroids. Even when Blashill controlled for all these external pressures, however, gay teens were still more likely than straight teens to use steroids. What was the missing factor? Like Brennan, Blashill thinks it is body image. It would be easy to imagine that under these conditions, older gay men would turn to image-enhancing drugs to keep up with the younger crowd. In this respect, however, Brennan’s research offers a ray of hope. His survey showed that gay men actually become progressively less likely to suffer from disordered eating and poor body image as they grow older. Instead of comparing themselves to the younger generation, Brennan says, older gay men seem to be getting comfortable with their aging bodies, muscle loss and all.
started using, he notices more and more of the tell-tale signs of use in other men, gay and straight — not just the huge arms and bowling-ball shoulders, but the perfect hair and masculine swagger of men who care how they look. It’s all part of the steroid life, he says. “I do like my look when I’m on them, but I realize that it’s just vanity,” he says. “It’s no different than getting my hair dyed. It’s just what it is. If you want to live that life and you’re vain, then go for it. If you don’t, then you don’t have to.”
Perhaps the greatest irony of gay men’s dalliance with steroids is that one of the first uses of synthetic testosterone was the medical treatment of homosexuality. As early as the 1920s, Viennese urologist Robert Lichtenstern was implanting pieces of human testicle into gay men in an attempt to cure them. Despite the obvious failure of the testosterone cure, the theory persisted into the 1940s, when it was at least partly put to rest by Alfred Kinsey. It became apparent, after a number of court-ordered testosterone treatments for gay men, that the injections were only making gay libidos stronger. If Blashill and Brennan are right, however, steroid use among gay men continues to have everything to do with manliness. Between two cultures that both reward macho, the lure of masculinity in a syringe is obvious. Next in Xtra’s series on steroids: are they really as dangerous as we were once told?
XTRA! APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 11
12 APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 XTRA!
VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
Out in the City
When we started 10 years ago, almost every other gay theatre company and two-thirds of all gay movies were about AIDS. David Blue E15
Equal Play for women’s soccer Lesbian Hall of Famer calls for fairer funding as FIFA approaches
It seems like all the money, all the funding, is back into the men’s game. It’s not right. CARRIE SERWETNYK, EQUAL PLAY FC FOUNDER
SPORTS DENISE SHEPPARD
As Vancouver prepares to host its share of next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup games, the first female inductee into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame wants to harness the occasion to challenge the sport’s gender inequalities. Carrie Serwetnyk says girls and women now constitute 47 percent of registered soccer players in Canada yet receive less than 10 percent of the funding. Women also account for less than one percent of paid decision-makers on national and provincial soccer boards and are nearly invisible as professional coaches in Canada, she says. “It seems like all the money, all the funding, is back into the men’s game. It’s not right,” says Serwetnyk, who in 2014 founded the non-profit organization Equal Play FC to bring awareness to the gender gaps in Canadian soccer. “My hope is that we can create new equity policy where girls and women’s sport gets 50 percent of funding across the country,” she says. “We are constantly hearing the message ‘You’re important, but not important enough,’” she continues. “It hurts people. It affects them.” Despite the gender imbalance, Serwetnyk says women’s soccer is gaining momentum both in Canada and abroad. Not surprisingly, she credits American soccer player Brandi Chastain with one of soccer’s most defining moments for women, when, in 1999, she kicked the winning goal in a FIFA World Cup final match, whipped off her shirt and was photographed, muscular body fully flexed, in triumphant victory. “It was one of those moments where everyone could remember where they were,” Serwetnyk says. “It shifted things. It was a celebration for women, but it was also a shifting for the minds of men.” Today, she says, Canada’s national team “is full of women’s role models that we can dream about,” she says. She is particularly impressed with openly gay soccer players like Erin McLeod, whom she MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM
respects as a “great goalkeeper” and an “amazing role model,” both as a player and as a person. “She must send such a ripple of hope for many female athletes who might live in fear of their sexuality.” It was a different era, Serwetnyk says, when she played on Canada’s national women’s team from 1986 to 1996. Back then, being openly lesbian could have cost her sponsorships, she says, and maybe even her spot on the team. It was “almost the worst word you could use,” she says, describing the word lesbian as a weapon. “Now it is 2014; it’s different, but in my time period, I definitely had that fear.” These days, McLeod describes a “very liberal and accepting environment” on the women’s national team. She is out to the team and, in December, told Xtra that coach John Herdman is supportive. “It really helps that there’s an understanding with your coach. Even if he’s addressing the group, he’ll refer to spending our time off with girlfriends or boyfriends instead of just assuming we all have boyfriends. It’s a safe zone,” she says. McLeod says she understands that not all athletes feel as comfortable as she does being open, but she hopes others will continue to share their stories and lead by example. “I’m not necessarily screaming from the top of buildings that I’m gay and this and that, [but] with everything I do, I try to be a role model for young girls in my sport,” EQUAL PLAY FC LEGACY KICK-OFF she says. “Part of my problem growFeaturing Brandi Chastain ing up — I didn’t know anyone who and former prime minister was gay, or any gay athletes.” Kim Campbell Sat, May 10, 7:30pm With the FIFA Women’s World Vogue Theatre Cup just a year away, Serwetnyk 918 Granville St is determined to shine a spotlight, $20 and up equalplayfc.com both on the women who so ably play the game and on the more equitable treatment she believes they deserve. “We can use the World Cup to create legacy changes,” she says. “They’re expecting 1.5 million people to buy tickets. Let’s make it more than just a soccer tournament. It can be bigger With Canada hosting the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Carrie Serwetnyk sees an important opportunity to celebrate women’s soccer — and challenge its inequalities. COURTESY OF CARRIE SERWETNYK than that!” XTRA! APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 13
indecency
GROSS
The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
May 8-17, 2014
CAROUSEL THEATRE STUDIO (1411 Cartwright Street, Granville Island, Vancouver BC)
TICKETS: $25-$35 / PREVIEW: $15 For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ghostlightprojects.com MEDIA SPONSORS:
14 APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 XTRA!
VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
A tale of two Normal Hearts Raving Theatre says AIDS stories still need to be told ny and other nations to stop Dachau and the American government and gay community’s lack of reaction to the While HBO is poised to release Glee AIDS crisis, Kramer stepped out of his co-creator Ryan Murphy’s small- self-imposed retirement to write the screen adaptation of Larry Kramer’s play. In it, he explores the struggles of 1980s AIDS drama The Normal Heart, AIDS activists at the beginning of the starring Julie Roberts, Mark Ruffalo pandemic trying to get the message and Jim Parsons, Vancouver’s Raving out to the gay community and to an Theatre will present the original stage indifferent government and media. production just two weeks before the The Normal Heart marks the first television movie debuts. time Raving Theatre has tackled a Calling it the “biggest labour of show about AIDS, something Blue says love” of his career in an interview was deliberate. with Entertainment Weekly late last “When we started 10 years ago, alyear, Murphy said the play is as much most every other gay theatre compaa civil rights story as an ny and two-thirds of all AIDS story. He also called gay movies were about THE NORMAL HEART it a great love story, someAIDS,” he says. “There Fri, May 9–Sun, May 18 thing Raving Theatre’s were other stories out PAL Studio Theatre David Blue echoes. there that needed to be 581 Cardero St ticketstonight.ca “The love story betold, and it is almost the HBO premiere tween Ned and Felix is so exact opposite now.” Sun, May 25, 6pm strong,” Blue says. “Ned Calling it the antihbocanada.com alienates himself from thesis of their last proso many of the people he duction, the fluffy My loves, but we see the difference that Big Gay Italian Wedding, Blue says it Felix makes in his life and how that was time to get a little more serious relationship changes him.” to finish their anniversary season. Kramer wrote The Normal Heart, “We wanted to do something poiwhich is set at the beginning of gnant and serious to contrast that the AIDS crisis in New York show,” he explains. “It reminds between 1981 and 1984, after us where we came from and a visit to Germany’s Dachau shows a younger generation just concentration camp. Seehow we survived and what we ing a parallel behad to go through. So many tween the lack of young people today think action by Germaof AIDS the same way they do any other controllable disease and James Sandman not a plague that Wilson plays Ned decimated our Weeks, and Joel community.” Semande plays ONSTAGE MARK ROBINS
Felix Turner in Raving Theatre’s production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart. RAVING THEATRE
MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM
XTRA! APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 15
Namibia: Refugee official says gay Ugandans can’t seek asylum dailyxtra.com
L AW R E N H A R R I S
Vera's Top Ten Slogan List - The Countdown
C A N A D I A N V I S I O N A RY
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verasburgershack.com VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
The reincarnation of Ff Looking forward to Dreaddy’s next destination BLITZ & SHITZ
RAZIEL REID
As any good party promoter will tell you, it’s all in the details. For â€œďŹ nal ight,â€? the third and last installment of the Ff trilogy, Adam Dreaddy, Mark Kenna and Edward Vint made sure everything took off. Even the event cover photo was designed to look like a boarding pass for a ight taking you from YVR to LUX. Lux Lounge (which in one former incarnation was styled The Helm, a venue Yaletown gays made happen once a month) was done up like the interior of a plane, with rows of seats that looked ripped straight from a jet, bartenders and go-go dancers dressed as slutty ight attendants, and beats from DJs Dreaddy, Quest, Sollors and Blondtron that had the crowd dancing like they had wings. The original Ff launched before I started this column and has kept coming back in the years since because of the promoters’ ability to reinvent themselves. Originally called “Fag Fridayâ€? and hosted at Oasis, the party has come a long way. “It started as an idea to take ownership of the term ‘fag ’ and celebrate individuality and diversity despite any labels or social norms,â€? Dreaddy wrote on the Facebook event page. “As political and controversial as it became, the party continued. However, by focusing on the party we changed the name to Ff and people could put the politics aside and set their sights on what really mattered. We gave Ff to you, put it in your hands, and let you decide what you wanted it to be.â€? From Davie Village’s most popular
weekly party to a monthly event for muscle boys wearing baseball caps and pink lipstick to its â€œďŹ lthy freshâ€? 2014 reincarnation of three sold-out events, Ff lost the excess baggage to focus on what really matters — the guests. There were so many hot men at Lux Lounge, I wanted to join the mile-high club with every single person there, not just the 75 that I had time for. Needless to say, I enjoyed the ight very much — I haven’t been that high in a while — and am looking forward to Dreaddy’s next destination.
The resurrection of Alig Easter has come and gone, but this spring the resurrection that has nightlife abuzz is Club Kid don Michael Alig’s potential release from prison on May 5. He has been serving his sentence for killing fellow Club Kid and drug dealer Andre “Angelâ€? Melendez, with Robert “Freezâ€? Riggs, since 1996. The legendary murder involved a drug debt, a hammer, duct tape and a syringe ďŹ lled with Drano. Alig has been eligible for parole since 2006 but has been consistently denied, in part, perhaps, because of the portrayal of his life and crime by Macaulay Culkin in the cult ďŹ lm Party Monster,
NO FLIP JUST SAY NO
based on the book by James St James. According to Alig’s friend Steve Lewis, another friend checked the prison site and seems to think Alig might be paroled this time. “He will be staying with a close friend and has been recruited for creative jobs by many,â€? Lewis claims. “His transition to the real world will be eased by a support group who, for the most part, have stuck by him for more than a decade and a half. Michael has never used a computer or cellphone, but he has remained keenly aware of the world we live in.â€? Although unfamiliar with modern modes of communication, Alig has stayed connected to the outside world via Twitter, most recently in this message, posted by the editor of his forthcoming memoir on April 16: “19 days of punishment left and then it’s upwards & onwards on the road to redemption.â€? When St James was in Vancouver for a special screening of Party Monster at The Rio last year, I interviewed him backstage, and he said Michael should be released so that he could serve his ďŹ nal sentence. “I have a feeling that the real court of opinion is public opinion,â€? St James said, “and that’s where he’ll really feel it the most.â€?
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Health - Men’s HIM – Health Initiative for Men checkhimout.ca
Healthcare Services HIM – Health Initiative for Men checkhimout.ca Sound Hearing Clinic 604-687-1488 STOP HIV/AIDS Team 604-838-1331 Vancouver Coastal Health 604-736-2033
THE BEST OF GAY & LESBIAN VANCOUVER
Hearing Aids Bedding
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Mr Mattress 604-255-2113
Aarm Dental Group 604-647-0006
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Harbour Air 604-274-1277
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Daher Orthostyle – Dr Sam Daher 604-662-3290
Amherst Funeral and Cremation Services Inc 604-831-3023
Addictions
Business & Professional Organizations
Orchard Recovery 604-947-0420
AIDS/HIV Resources AIDS Vancouver 604-893-2201 AIDS Vancouver Island 250-384-2366 1-800-665-2437 ANKORS 1-800-421-2437 Dr Peter AIDS Foundation 604-608-1874 HIM – Health Initiative for Men checkhimout.ca Positive Living 604-893-2200 Vancouver Coastal Health 604-736-2033 STOP HIV/AIDS Team 604-838-1331
Alternative Health Ignite Smoke Shop 778-786-0977 Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary 604-255-1844 My CannaMeds mycm.ca YoGuy Men’s Yoga 778-995-1970
Apartments Capreit caprent.com
Archives Vivo Media Arts vivomediaarts.com
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Bakeries Andy’s Bakery 604-251-5667
Beauty Enchante 604-669-9166
Dr Dean Wershler 604-688-4080 Dr Langston Raymond 604-687-1008
West End Business Improvement Association 604-696-0144
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iRepair.ca 778-987-2571
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Clinics Travel Clinic 604-736-9244
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Education & Instruction Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association 604-873-8378 Vivo Media Arts vivomediaarts.com
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Ballet BC 604-732-5003
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Museum of Vancouver 604-736-4431
Community Organizations Community Based Research Centre 604-568-7478 Vivo Media Arts vivomediaarts.com
Construction
PlayLand Amusement Park 604-253-2311 The Dance Centre 604-604-6400
Financial Services DeVie Business Solutions 604-298-4148
Valley View Funeral Home 604-596-8866 Richmond Funeral Home 604-273-3748
Media
Edward Sandberg, Counsellor/Therapist 604-728-6569
Men’s Services BC Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse (BCSMSSA) 604-682-6482
C&C Communications 604-664-8995
Counselling BC counsellingbc.com Iosono Counselling Services – Ron Paviglianiti, RPC 604-290-1445 Joe Ramirez Integral Counselling 778-227-9423 Lehmann Counselling Service 604-614-8121 Monique Silverman, MA, RCC, CCC 778-228-8456 Tricia Antoniuk, MSW, RSW 778-378-2633 Willow Tree Counselling 604-521-3404
Couriers Mail Box Plus 604-683-1433
18 APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 XTRA!
Studio Space Scotiabank Dance Centre 604-604-6400
Xtra (Ottawa) 613-986-8292
Bruce Eyewear 604-662-8300
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Pet Care
Real Estate Agents
Kitty Kare 604-813-4239
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Ian Eggleton, RE/MAX 604-773-1443
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Instant Bedrooms 604-270-BEDS(2337)
Lawyers Dahl & Connors 604-687-8752 barbara findlay 604-251-4356
Safeway Davie: 604-669-8313 Robson: 604-683-6155
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Libraries
Liquor West End Liquor Store 604-689-3100
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Farmers’ Markets Vancouver Farmers’ Markets 604-879-3276
Publications Pink Triangle Press 1-800-268-9872
Happy Pups Quality Pup Clothing 604-770-365
Theatre Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival bardonthebeach.org
Transportation Harbour Air 604-274-1277
Black Rock Oceanfront Resort 877-762-5011 Tourism Harrison 604-796-5581
Websites
Pets First 604-590-7387
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Tisol 14th & Main St: 604-873-4117 12th & Arbutus: 604-730-1768 Grandview Hwy: 604-436-3001 Gilley Ave, Burnaby: 604-434-2812
Maison D’Etre Build Inc 604-484-4030
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Joe’s Grill 1031 Davie St, Vancouver: 604-682-3683 948 Denman St, Vancouver: 604-642-6588
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squirt.org squirt.org twospiritwolf.com 604-688-6648
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Restaurants & Cafés Gallery Café & Catering 604-688-2233
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Helijet International 800-665-4354
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VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS
WHAT'S ON FOR MORE LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM
Thurs, April 24
Sisters in Sync Vancouver’s lesbian dragon-boat team is recruiting. If you’re interested in joining an energetic group of 20- to 70-something women, email info@sistersinsync.ca. Liberace vs Dickslap RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 star BenDeLaCreme performs, with DJs Nark (Seattle) and Lisa DeLux. Doors at 10pm. Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. Tickets $10 at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie St, or celebritiesnightclub.com. Helicopter The Junction’s new night features the strippers of fantasymen.ca. Doors at 11pm. The Junction, 1138 Davie St. $5. junctionpub.com Rainbow Support Group BC’s Alzheimer Society offers a support group for LGBT caregivers and those caring for LGBT people with dementia. Call 604-675-5153 or email kturner@alzheimerbc.org. Timberline Vancouver’s country-western dance group meets every Thursday. Dancers of all levels are welcome. 7pm. St Paul’s Anglican Church, 1140 Jervis St. $10 donation partially benefits A Loving Spoonful. timberlinedance.org Gay and Bisexual Men’s Bereavement Support Group This support group for men grieving the loss of a samesex partner meets the second and fourth Thursday of every month. 7–9:30pm. Qmunity, Room 610, 1033 Davie St. Free. qmunity.ca
Fri, April 25 Conflict Resolution for Couples Presented by psychotherapist Randy Boychuck, this weekly skillsbuilding course is designed for gay couples who want to work on their communication and relationship skills. Runs until Fri, May 17. 7:30–9:30pm. Health Initiative for Men, 1033 Davie St. checkhimout.ca Friday Yoga Drop-In The Health Initiative for Men offers yoga sessions every Friday night. Bring your own yoga mat.
7–8:15pm. Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St. Free, but donations gratefully accepted. checkhimout.ca Queer Women on the Drive This women’s activities- and crafts-based get-together takes place the last Friday of each month. 7pm. Britannia Community Centre, Seniors’ Lounge, 1661 Napier St. For more info, contact generations@qmunity.ca.
1081 Burrard St. Free. positivelivingbc.org The Bobbers The queer improv-comedy troupe is back in the Davie Village with a whole new show. 7–9pm. Heaven’s Door, 1216 Bute St. No cover. heavensdoor.ca BiFocus This peer-led social and support group for bi- and pansexual people meets the second and last Monday of every month. 7–9pm. Qmunity Generations, 1033 Davie St. Free. qmunity.ca
Tues, April 29 Men on Men A weekly discussion group for men who love or have sex with men. Every Tuesday, 6:30pm. Gordon Neighbourhood House, 1019 Broughton St. checkhimout.ca
Sat, April 26
Wed, April 30
Truckerdisco: Moroder Moustache Party Truckerdisco celebrates the music and influence of pioneer producer Giorgio Moroder, in honour of his 74th birthday. 9pm–2am. Heaven’s Door, 1216 Bute St. $10. truckerdisco.com
Spring Awakening Fighting Chance presents the Tony Award–winning musical about teenage sex, masturbation, suicide and abortion. 8pm. Runs until Sat, May 17. Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery St. Tickets $20–30 at fightingchanceproductions.ca or ticketstonight.ca.
VGVA Queen Vicki Tournament The Vancouver Gay Volleyball Association tournament kicks off tonight, 7–9:30pm, with registration at the Fountainhead Pub, 1025 Davie St. Playoffs take place Sunday, 8am–5pm, at the Harry Jerome Sports Centre, 7564 Barnet Hwy in Burnaby, followed by an awards ceremony. vgva.com
Sun, April 27 Vancouver Pride Society AGM Join the VPS at their annual general meeting. Checkin at 1:50pm; meeting begins at 2pm. Executive Suites, thirdfloor boardroom, 1080 Howe St. vancouverpride.ca Joan-Eleveneightyone
Joan-E hosts an evening of drag fun and special guests, followed by DJ Mumbles. 10:30pm–3am. 1181, 1181 Davie St. No cover. facebook. com/1181lounge
Mon, April 28 Long-Term Survivors A discussion group for people who have been HIVpositive for more than 15 years. 6:30–8pm. St Paul’s Hospital, Room 549,
BenDeLaCreme performs at Liberace vs Dickslap — Celebrities, Thurs, April 24
Gay & Grey Join this group of gay senior men every Wednesday for friendly, supportive discussions. 7pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, second-floor boardroom, 181 Roundhouse Mews. Bingo for Life Joan-E hosts this weekly Friends for Life fundraiser, with prizes, cheap drinks and snappy drag queens. 8–10pm. Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. $10 donation at door for bingo cards. celebritiesnightclub.com
Thurs, May 1 Cocky Thursday Anniversary Celebrate four years of sexy beats, featuring DJs Dreaddy, Kasey Riot and Jared Keen. 9pm–3am. 1181, 1181 Davie St. No cover. 1181.ca Vancouver Men’s Chorus #1 Hits Tickets go on sale today for the June 5 to 14 show. Act quickly — they always sell out. $35 at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie St; Scotiabank Coal Harbour, 591 Cardero St; or vancouvermenschorus.ca. Y2K Dance Party Peter Breeze and Derrick Barry host a Britney Spears/Spice Girls party. 9pm–1am. Fortune Sound Club, 147 East Pender St. $12 advance at ticketzone. com. Search “Y2K Dance Party” on Facebook. Gay Poz 30-Something Positive Living hosts a discussion group for
30-something, HIV-positive gay men. Discuss strategies for disclosing, legal obligations and the best options for meds. 6:30–8pm. Positive Living, 1107 Seymour St. Free. positivelivingbc.org The Sundown The Cobalt hosts a laid-back clubhousestyle night for queer women every Thursday. 9pm. The Cobalt, 917 Main St. $3–6. thecobalt.ca
TO ADVERTISE CALL 604-684-9696
Fri, May 2 Backdoor Returns The house-heavy party resurfaces at a new, secret location in East Van, with DJs Lisa Delux, Kasey Riot, Adam Dreaddy, Mattilda Ho, Siavash and Dre Morel. $15 advance at Stratosphere Hair Salon, 1259 Granville St, or JD’s Barbershop, 235 Abbott St. Location will be posted on matttroy.net/backdoor. Leather Den for Men Vancouver Men in Leather meet the first Friday of every month. 8pm–2am. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. $15, includes locker. 8x6.ca AJ’s Café Join other HIVpositive gay men every Friday for this free social support group sponsored by Positive Living BC. 3–6pm. The Junction Pub, 1138 Davie St. positivelivingbc.org
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Spiked The Vancouver Gay Volleyball Association brings back its signature party, featuring the Mr Spiked pageant. 8–10pm. Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. $10 advance at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie St, or $15 door. vgva.com
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Janet vs Whitney Sad Mag and Electric Circus present their first diva showdown. 9pm–3am. The Cobalt, 917 Main St. $9–18 at eventbrite.ca. Search “Janet vs Whitney” on Facebook.
Sun, May 4 Pride Legacy Awards The VPS honours community heroes. 6–11pm. Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews. $25 at eventbrite.ca. More info at vancouverpride.ca. Grab Your Basket Vancouver Jax hosts jack-off parties for guys who enjoy masturbating together. 2–5pm. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. $10, includes locker. 8x6.ca
7 YEARS IN A ROW!
Wed, May 7 Queer Active AGM Queer Active (formerly Team Vancouver) invites you to hear what they’ve got planned for this year. 7–9pm. Qmunity, Meeting Room 2, 1170 Bute St. Free. queeractive.com
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