Xtra Vancouver #559

BLOOD FOR RESEARCH #559 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015

VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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2 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Roundup

XTRA

VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS #559 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015

Published by Pink Triangle Press PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Brandon Matheson EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Robin Perelle STAFF REPORTER Natasha Barsotti COPY EDITOR Lesley Fraser EVENT LISTINGS oitc.vancouver@dailyxtra.com CONTRIBUTE OR INQUIRE about Xtra’s editorial content: editor.vancouver@dailyxtra.com EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Sergei Bachlakov, Victor Bearpark, Niko Bell, Nathaniel Christopher, Tom Coleman, Tyler Dorchester, Jeremy Hainsworth, Shauna Lewis, James Loewen, Kevin Dale McKeown, Janet Rerecich, Mark Robins, Steve Vaccariello, Johnnie Walker ART & PRODUCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace DESIGNERS Darryl Mabey, Landon Whittaker ADVERTISING ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR Ken Hickling SALES ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Lexi Chuba SALES TEAM LEAD Lorilynn Barker DISPLAY ADVERTISING Corey Giles ONLINE ACCOUNT MANAGER Jessie Bennett ADVERTISING COORDINATORS Brad Deep, Gary Major

PROTEST

TALLULAH

Raziel Reid’s award-winning novel ruffles feathers 10

Editorial We’re still your paper

By Robin Perelle 4 Feedback 4 Xcetera 5

Upfront Giving blood — for science Deferred from giving blood to people, gay men urged to donate for research 7 Man found guilty in assault on MLA’s office 8 City still searching for new Qmunity site 9

on dailyxtra.com Video: Figure-skating great Toller Cranston dies at age 65

Still QQ From ink to pixels

By Kevin Dale McKeown 11

Out in the City

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The publication of an ad in Xtra does not mean that Xtra endorses the advertiser.

Storefront features are paid advertising content.

Action features are advertising intended to advance community involvement and political action.

Printed and published in Canada. ©2015 Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every two weeks by Pink Triangle Press. ISSN 1198-0613 Address: 501–1033 Davie St, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1M7 Office hours: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Phone: 604-684-9696 Fax: 604-684-9697 Website: dailyxtra.com Email: info.vancouver@dailyxtra.com

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Xtra Living 17 Blitz & Shitz Les Ballets Trockadero parodies dance with precision

By Raziel Reid 18

The Brotherhood

By Tyler Dorchester 21

Chasing hoaxes in war-torn Syria

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• Family law: conception agreements; cohabitation or marriage agreements; family disputes; collaborative family law; separation agreements • Wills & Estates: wills; representation agreements; power of attorney; probate

• Immigration: same sex spousal sponsorship; visitor visa; permanent residence; citizenship • Human Rights • Employment Law

1033 Davie St. 604-251-4356 | bjf@barbarafindlay.com XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 3

Comment We’re still your paper EDITORIAL ROBIN PERELLE

I won’t lie: I’m going to miss our print edition.

I’m going to miss our sturdy purple newspaper boxes marking our community’s presence throughout the West End and across Vancouver. I’m going to miss seeing our community’s faces in the windows of those boxes, announcing our presence and celebrating our culture to all who walk by.

I’m going to miss my colleagues, people I’ve worked with for years to tell our stories. People from whom I’ve learned so much, whose insight I’ve come to rely on, trust and cherish.

I’m going to miss the feel of newsprint between my fingers.

I’m going to grieve. And I know I’m not alone.

For the last 14 years, my life has revolved around the schedule of conceptualizing, creating and sending an issue to press every two weeks. Putting an issue to bed and picking it up, printed, the next morning never lost its thrill.

For others, the thrill has been discovering reflections of themselves in our pages.

How many times have I heard from community members that our paper was a critical component in their coming-out process? It’s been an honour.

I can’t replace the tangible feel of gritty, inked paper smearing our fingers, but I can, and will, continue to tell our community’s stories online. We’re not done sharing your stories; far from it.

Though the realities of mounting print costs have made publishing a print edition impractical, we’re making the heartwrenching decision to shift our storytelling entirely online now while we still can — while we still have the means to tell our stories.

Shifting entirely online is only an extension of the direction we’ve already been taking. Even as we published slimmer and slimmer issues in print, we never stopped reporting online. If anything, our coverage of local stories has only increased since we launched dailyxtra.com in July 2013.

In the last year and a half, we’ve published a fresh local story nearly daily online, be it a breaking Vancouver news

story, an arts piece, a feature, one of our regular columns, a photo gallery, a video or an editorial.

We’re already telling your stories online, and many of our readers — nearly double the readership of all three of our print editions combined — have already made the shift with us.

We’re still the same Xtra that followed Little Sister’s when it had the courage to stand up to censorship and take Canada Customs to court. We’re still the same Xtra that challenged the Surrey school board’s repeated attempts to ban gay books and has pushed school districts across the province to evolve ever since.

We’re still the same Xtra that followed Aaron Webster’s accused killers through every step of the court process and challenged the prosecutor who never said “gaybashing� — and ultimately convinced the attorney general to change BC’s prosecution policy on anti-gay crimes.

We’re still the same Xtra committed to reporting our community’s news, nurturing our growth, exploring our culture, celebrating our sexuality and setting our love free. We’re still your local community paper.

We’re also, in the space afforded to us online, reaching out to other communities like ours across Canada and around the world. What’s it really like to be gay in Russia right now? We had a correspondent in Russia for eight months last year, long after the cameras left Sochi. We got to ask LGBT people on the ground about their lives, their fears and their joys. That, too, has been an honour. And we’re just warming up.

Imagine the stories we can tell online, from Pride in Iqaluit to WorldPride in Toronto, from homophobia in South Korea to change in Colombia.

This is not a farewell editorial. It’s an invitation.

Here’s to many more years of telling our stories through whatever means necessary. Right now we’re moving our storytelling completely online to an already-evolving Daily Xtra. I sincerely hope you’ll continue to join us there.

Robin Perelle is the managing editor of Xtra in Vancouver.

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.

4 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA!

email comment@dailyxtra.com comment dailyxtra.com & facebook.com/dailyxtra tweet @dailyxtra

FEEDBACK Xtra enters new era It’s hard not to lament the passing of the print version of Xtra [“Gay Publisher Xtra to Embrace Digital, Close Print,� Jan 14, dailyxtra.com].

As with any dear old friend, we have bothered each other on more than one occasion over the years, but we have always dusted ourselves off, made up and carried on.

Although we are all conditioned and encouraged to “embrace change� and “adapt� to technological change, I remain less than thrilled at the loss of this particular old friend.

I remember the first time I picked up Xtra, when I was in high school.

To have a copy of a gay publication available at community centres and schools — that spoke about our community — was a real lifeline.

I got to know our community first through print, while I remained hidden in the closet. I’m sure many will have had similar stories and now, hopefully, many will online.

So we shall go forward with the exciting new and improved internet Xtra. I will continue to support it, participate in the debate, write letters and offer my comments when it strays, but I will miss the old gal, warts and all, and in print.

SPENCER CHANDRA HERBERT MLA VANCOUVER, BC

I’m sad about this, but I understand why. Most of us now get our LGBT news via our phones. Lately, I’ve been picking up the print issue of Xtra and then realizing that, of course, I’ve already read the stories online.

So wishing you lots of luck in reinventing yourselves as a digital “go-to� site. You’ve been amazing community builders in Canada these past few decades. Keep it up!

(No pun intended.)

I remember the first time I picked up Xtra, when I was in high school. To have a copy of a gay publication available at community centres and schools — that spoke about our community — was a real lifeline.

RE: XTRA ENTERS NEW ERA

Sorry to hear @dailyxtra @Xtra_VAN ceasing print editions; excited for digital growth. Important paper, long a voice for #GLBTQ communities.

MP HEDY FRY @HEDYFRY TWITTER

I’ll miss seeing @Xtra_VAN’s incredible covers around town. I think the visibility was important (although I’ll read online). #longliveprint SABRINA FURMINGER @SABRINARMF TWITTER

@dailyxtra was where I got my very first paid writing job. It meant so much to me as an emerging storyteller.

DAINTY SMITH @MISSDAINTYSMITH TWITTER

I just heard about @dailyxtra.

Thankful for all the support they gave to myself and hundreds, probably thousands of other independent artists.

SHARRON MATTHEWS @SHARRONMATTHEWS TWITTER

Going to miss seeing that purple @ dailyxtra box, queering these streets.

VIVEK SHRAYA @VIVEKSHRAYA TWITTER

They’re embracing digital media.

Will they embrace a definition of the queer community that’s not stuck in 1982?

DOUG KERR FACEBOOK

ARIEL TROSTER @ARIELTROSTER TWITTER

Sad to hear that @dailyxtra will be ceasing its print edition, but glad to hear they will be continuing online.

Sorry to see Xtra leave the print world, but I’m intrigued to see what @dailyxtra becomes online.

KEITH R @SLOTHRA TWITTER

NORM WILNER @NORMWILNER TWITTER

I’m so sad about the demise of @ DailyXtra in print . . . My heart breaks for everyone who lost their job.

Conflicted about @dailyxtra ending its print version. It’s the way of the world and I generally only read online — but it’s sad just the same.

RYAN G HINDS @RYANGHINDS TWITTER

Understandable but still sad @ Xtra_VAN newspaper among Pink Triangle Press’s three papers to embrace digital and close chapter on print Feb 12.

FRED LEE @FREDABOUTTOWN TWITTER

Family portrait defaced No one should ever think the fight for equality is over [“Chosen Family Plaque Defaced,� Jan 12, dailyxtra. com]. Prejudice is ugly. Vigilance and education in our community is paramount.

RON WILSON @CHEAPANDCHEERFUL TWITTER

#JeSuisCharlie

Good on Xtra! [“Nous Sommes Charlie,� Jan 8, dailyxtra.com] Xtra is showing more balls than some of the Canadian mainstream media, including The Globe and Mail and the CBC. 1DIZZY1 DAILYXTRA.COM

Not good enough While it’s great that blood can be used for other research, us fags are still being stigmatized by CBS, even though we’re supposedly “a motivated, healthy group of people who can provide blood.�

FRUITMACHINE DAILYXTRA.COM

DAVE FRASER @D_PHRASE TWITTER

VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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On Feb 12, the final print edition of Xtra will hit the streets.

Be a part of this important milestone in our evolution as Xtra moves entirely online, at dailyxtra.com.

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VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

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Upfront

Something else we lose with Xtra’s final print run is a city-wide visibility that was hard-earned and will be difficult to replace in other ways . Kevin Dale McKeown 11

Giving blood — for science Deferred from giving blood, gay men urged to donate for research HEALTH NATHANIEL CHRISTOPHER

Though sexually active gay men are still deferred from giving blood to potential recipients, they are welcome to give blood for research, Canadian Blood Services (CBS) says.

CBS’s research arm, netCAD, is hosting a Rainbow donor clinic and open house, aimed specifically at men who have sex with men (MSM), at its University of British Columbia facility on Feb 4.

The blood collected will be used to advance the science of transfusion medicine and transplantation and will never go to a patient.

The Rainbow donor clinic is the initiative of Chad Walters, a gay man who wants to show CBS and Health Canada that men who have sex with men are ready and willing to do what they can to help them achieve their objectives.

“I think that it’s important to do what we can today while waiting for what we may be able to do tomorrow,” says Walters, who has made 12 blood donations to date. “What can I do today? I can donate for research that can potentially impact millions of lives.”

The clinic will offer participants an opportunity to interact with CBS staff and scientists and to win prizes for the YMCA, Score on Davie sports bar, Masc Skincare and Topdrawers apparel.

In July 2013, Health Canada approved a new policy that allows men who refrain from having sex with other men for five years to donate blood.

This replaced a lifetime ban on men who have had sex with another man at least once since 1977.

Walters learned about the ban when he tried to donate blood. “When I was 18, I went to the clinic and knew nothing about this policy and was eventually asked to leave because of the policy,” he recalls. “That initiated something. I felt that there was something bigger here. I felt discriminated against because I didn’t understand anything.

I view it differently today.”

He subsequently denounced the ban in a newspaper editorial, which caught the attention of CBS officials who invited him to participate in an LGBT focus group in Ottawa.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM

with the communities affected by the gay blood donation deferral, with a vision of possibly changing the policy at some point in the future. “Gay men and MSM are important to netCAD because they are a motivated, healthy group of people who can provide blood to support our research and quality improvement projects, which ultimately benefit all Canadians,” says Tanya Petraszko, CBS’s associate medical director.

“These men can also help by recruiting their friends and families to donate either at netCAD or in Canadian Blood Services clinics. Recruiting from the gay/MSM community will help Canadian Blood Services identify a cohort of donors we could draw from for future research projects related to changing the MSM policy,” she says.

She notes that netCAD is the only clinic of its kind that accepts deferred donors and collects whole units of blood for research purposes.

“Right now, our donor base includes approximately 450 active netCAD donors,” says Patrick Loftus, CBS’s medical services coordinator. “In order to meet demands from our researchers and our Canadian Blood Services production colleagues, we hope to double that number this year.

Thus, when Chad came forward with his idea, we fully embraced it, as MSM are one of the donor groups we wanted to engage.”

Loftus also serves as a board NETCAD’S RAINBOW member for the CommunityDONOR CLINIC Based Research Centre for Gay Wed, Feb 4, noon–7pm University MarketPlace Men’s Health.

UBC, 207 – Walters hopes that CBS and 2150 Western Parkway Health Canada will eventually To book an appointment, call 604-221-5515 or email reduce the MSM deferral period researchdonations@ from five years to six months, blood.ca which is currently the policy for people who have given birth or gotten a tattoo or a body piercing. South Africa has a deferral period of six months for men who have had sex with men.

“On a personal note, I don’t think that being angry or feeling hurt is doing us any good,” Walters Canadian Blood Services’ research arm, netCAD, is hosting a Rainbow donor clinic aimed says. “There are ways we can save lives, and one specifically at men who have sex with men. THINKSTOCK of them was through research and bone marrow.

Many MSM don’t realize we can participate in “I did a lot of research, and through that re- 1980s after the national blood supply was con- the OneMatch program and donate marrow and search I learned a series of things,” he says. “I see taminated with hepatitis C and HIV, infecting white blood cells. We can save lives, but because why the deferral is important. One of the key more than 1,200 people with HIV and more than of anger many can’t see that.” points was the scar in Canada’s history. We’re talk- 25,000 with hepatitis C. The ban was enacted at a CBS’s OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Neting about the tainted blood scandal by transfusion time when HIV testing was less reliable, but new work registry matches stem-cell donors with eliHIV and hep C, so of course there was a resistance tests, such as pooled nucleic acid amplification gible recipients. According to CBS’s website, fewer to making changes because Canada had to really testing, can now detect the virus seven to 15 days than 25 percent of patients who require stem-cell face some challenges.” after infection. transplants are able to find a match within their The gay blood ban was implemented in the CBS, for its part, hopes to expand its dialogue families. The rest must rely on volunteers.

XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 7

Williams found guilty in assault on MLA Chandra Herbert’s office Judge finds insufficient evidence of anti-gay motive GAYBASHING JEREMY HAINSWORTH

Michael Melvin Williams, the man accused of mischief and assault in the Feb 21, 2014, attack at Vancouver West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert’s office, was found guilty of assault and handed a suspended sentence and one year’s probation by a provincial court judge Jan 15.

“The evidence clearly indicates Mr [Murray] Bilida was injured,” Judge David St Pierre said in his ruling. He found that Williams punched Bilida in the mouth, which constitutes assault.

But, he said, it is difficult to find “some form of anti-gay sentiment” as the motive for the assault.

St Pierre said Bilida, Chandra Herbert’s executive assistant, was working at the counter in the MLA’s Denman Street office when Williams entered, looked around and put his hands on the counter.

“Mr Bilida testified it appeared to him that Mr Williams was impaired by alcohol in some fashion,” St Pierre said.

He found that Williams had seen the MLA from outside the office and had gone in to speak to him.

Bilida testified that part of his job was to protect his boss from unpleasant visitors and therefore told Williams that Chandra Herbert was not in. “There’s no doubt, on all of the evidence, that was part of the reason Mr Williams became testy,” St Pierre said.

Bilida said that Williams had asked him what he thought of the “fucking flag across the street.” When Bilida asked Williams what he meant, St Pierre found that Williams responded, “‘Those fucking faggot flags on my library.’”

Williams also made comments about a Pride flag in the MLA’s office lobby, the judge found, though Williams testified he never used the words “fag” or “faggot” that day.

Bilida testified that he told Williams that it was likely best if the two agreed to disagree and asked Williams to leave. “‘What are you going to do if I don’t?’” the judge found Williams responded.

The judge said evidence indicated that Bilida then went into the office’s front lobby, closed a door behind him

Judge David St Pierre described Michael Melvin Williams, above, as “testy” and “unusually concerned” with the rainbow flag in his MLA’s office and at the library across the street. Williams was convicted of assault and given a year’s probation.

JEREMY HAINSWORTH

We hold no ill-will towards Mr Williams, and we hope that he finds peace in his life, and learns from this.

MLA SPENCER CHANDRA HERBERT

and pushed the button for the automatic front-door opener and asked Williams to leave.

St Pierre said Bilida’s evidence was that Williams then swung at him and hit a door instead. “The next swing did connect with his face, his mouth,” St Pierre said. “Mr Bilida went down to the ground at that point.”

The judge said it was then that Chandra Herbert came from the back, having heard yelling about “fucking rainbow flags” and hearing a loud bang. “Mr Bilida was holding his jaw and looking shocked,” the judge said. “He was upright at that point.”

St Pierre said Chandra Herbert also saw Williams leaving and the door open, suggesting the automatic door opener had been engaged as Bilida said.

Williams then stood on the street smoking a cigarette. Chandra Herbert told him to stay where he was as the police were coming, and Bilida photographed him. The MLA testified he heard Williams talking to another man about “fag flags.”

Constable Tom Hall arrived shortly after and was of the opinion that Williams had been drinking, St Pierre said.

Hall testified that Williams asked him if he was “Chandra Herbert’s boy.”

In assessing the evidence, St Pierre said Williams was clearly aggravated when he entered the office. The judge also said it was “probably not a good idea for a constituency assistant to lie in the fashion Mr Bilida did.”

St Pierre said the situation had developed when Williams talked to the MLA at some point earlier about the flag and thought a Vancouver city flag might be better. Neither was sure if there was such a flag. Williams later found out there was. He testified that he had gone to the MLA’s office to discuss the issue.

“Probably not a good decision in hindsight because the previous night he had consumed some 15 cans of Budweiser,” St Pierre said. “He agrees he is an alcoholic.” However, he said, Williams was “unusually concerned about this flag issue” and, given the amount of alcohol

consumed, “was in an ornery mood.”

He remarked on Williams’s “unusually strong concern” about the flag. “It’s beyond me,” he said.

Crown prosecutor Mark Jetté said that problems with substance abuse and anger control are at the core of the case.

Defence lawyer Terry La Liberte had suggested at trial Dec 18 and 19 that Chandra Herbert and Bilida were gay activists keen to show the incident as hate-motivated based on Williams’s offensive and pejorative language.

St Pierre said the suggestion was that Chandra Herbert wanted to be seen by constituents as tough on the issue. “Both the men denied there was any political overtone or motive in the prosecution,” St Pierre said.

Jetté suggested that the judge rule for a short incarceration to denounce an assault in an MLA’s office, where the public, MLA and staff should feel safe. La Liberte suggested a conditional discharge.

The judge noted that Williams has a criminal record consisting of impaired driving, mischief and assault from 20 years ago before giving him a suspended sentence and a year’s probation and ordering him to stay away from Bilida and the MLA’s office.

He said Williams could write to Chandra Herbert. “I don’t want to prevent a constituent from ever being able to contact their MLA,” he said.

In a statement to Xtra, Chandra Herbert says that the Pride flag will remain in his office and that he and his staff “will continue to stand proudly for love and equality and against violence.”

“We have always maintained confidence in our legal and judicial system, and we respect today’s court decision,” Chandra Herbert says. “While we believe it remains crucial to report such incidents to authorities, we hold no ill-will towards Mr Williams, and we hope that he finds peace in his life, and learns from this.”

Williams was also ordered to pay $225 restitution for the door and not to be intoxicated in public.

La Liberte said Williams has been attending a program to deal with his alcohol abuse. He has 30 days to appeal the decision.

8 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

City still searching for new Qmunity site ED Dara Parker hopes to begin community consultations in March COMMUNITY SHAUNA LEWIS

As the Vancouver city planning department continues its search for a site for a new queer community centre, Qmunity’s executive director, charged with stewarding the centre, says she has procured funds for community consultations on the new facility.

“Qmunity will facilitate a community dialogue in 2015,” says Dara Parker, adding that she hopes the consultations will “provide multiple opportunities to engage the queer community in input on the new facility.”

Parker says the funds for the consultation process came from a $45,000 grant from the Vancouver Foundation and a $20,000 grant from the Vancity Community Foundation. The money will go toward hiring a “neutral, professional, third-party organization to facilitate a community dialogue,” she says.

She says the consultations will be led by a project advisory committee made up of people from organizations that

Dara Parker (seen here hosting an information session in February 2014) says Qmunity will begin community consultations on a new centre in March. JAMES LOEWEN

serve the LGBT communty and will be assisted by the neutral organization hired for the task. Rebeccah Mullen, spokesperson for the Vancouver Foun-

dation, confirms that Qmunity was given a grant in December for “health and social development” and “community consultation.”

Parker said last year that she hoped a site would be secured before a consultation process would begin. But in a recent Qmunity newsletter, she announced that the community consultation would begin in March.

“Since we don’t have the site, we’ve shifted the time-line,” Parker told Xtra Jan 20. “We had hoped things would have happened sooner, but there have been delays on the part of the city in identifying a site for the new facility.”

“The staff are looking to secure a location, and that’s ongoing,” says Councillor Tim Stevenson. He says that he talked with the city planning department in mid-January and that “they are still attempting to find something in the Davie Village or close to it.”

City planner Kevin McNaney told Xtra Jan 22 that his department is still looking for a suitable site for the centre.

“The search is on, and we’ve been looking up and down the Davie Village and in and around that area.”

McNaney says the city is tasked with finding a site that’s either for sale, available or for sale through development

projects in the Village — no easy task when the real estate market is low, he says. “I’ve been working with real estate folks, and there hasn’t been much for sale in the Davie Village in a long time.”

Although Parker can’t say for sure yet when the community consultation will begin, she says it will be a two-pronged approach to collect input on the facility’s design and the kinds of programs and services people would like to see.

One service that may not survive to see the new centre is Qmunity’s library.

Parker says it’s “highly under-utilized,” and while Qmunity hasn’t yet decided whether it will eliminate the service entirely, its underuse will be taken into consideration when trying to decide how best to use the anticipated 10,000 square feet of the new facility.

“We’re in a constant state of looking at and evaluating our services in order to prioritize our limited resources,” she says.

Qmunity was allotted $7 million in December 2013 from Vancouver City Council for the creation of a new centre.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 9

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Some Canadians are angry that a novel about a flamboyant gay teenager won a Governor General’s Literary Award and have initiated an online petition to have the honour revoked.

When Everything Feels like the Movies, a young-adult novel by Xtra contributor Raziel Reid, also recently caught the attention of National Post columnist Barbara Kay, two months after the book won the award on Nov 18. “I’ve read the novel. What were they thinking? No, seriously, what were their criteria?” she wrote, expressing outrage that taxpayer dollars could go toward funding an award for a book she describes as “values-void.”

“The message I draw — and think young people will, too — is that the ‘authentic’ narcissism of queer/transgender identity exempts one from the obligation to mature.”

Kay’s column comes on the heels of a petition, posted Jan 11, asking the Canada Council for the Arts to rescind the Governor General’s Literary Award and give it to one of the other short-listed authors. On the petition’s website, a passage from When Everything Feels like the Movies is described as “vulgar.”

“We feel that this book damages the high standards we have come to expect of the Governor General’s Award,” it reads. “It is not what we as parents, grandparents, educators and fellow authors consider good literature for teens.”

Reid doesn’t deny his book is vulgar — far from it. “My book is vulgar,” he writes in an email to Xtra.

“So is Generation Y. That’s the point.”

While he says that Kay is entitled to her opinions, Reid clarifies some of the misconceptions in her article. For one, his lead character is not transgender: “Just because a boy wears lipstick and loves Louboutins does not make him transgender,” he says. He also notes that

Raziel Reid, whose young-adult novel, When Everything Feels like the Movies, won a Governor General’s Literary Award, agrees that his book is vulgar. “So is Generation Y. That’s the point.” ARSENAL PULP PRESS

Kay described another character as special needs, which was news to him.

Reid told the Ottawa Citizen that he’s depicting a culture rather than promoting one.

As the winner of the Englishlanguage children’s literature category, Reid was awarded $25,000. The novel is also part of the upcoming CBC Canada Reads contest; Elaine “Lainey” Lui, the blogger behind Lainey Gossip, will be defending the book.

Despite the more than 1,600 signa-

tures on the petition so far, Reid seems to be winning hearts on social media, where people are showing support for him and his novel. Author Tom Cho said on Twitter that it’s “sad that a national newspaper @nationalpost has run @BarbaraRKay’s rant on @ razielreid’s book.”

Author Michael Harris also took to Twitter to say that if Reid is stripped of his Governor General’s Award, he’d give his back, too.

For more on this story, go to dailyxtra.com.

10 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

The 24-hour White Lunch on Granville Street was where the gay scene welcomed the dawn after a hard night of clubbing in the 1960s and ’70s.

CITY OF VANCOUVER ARCHIVES/BC JENNINGS

Check out our columnists and bloggers on dailyxtra.com A sex worker’s tale

Trading a blowjob for 20 bucks and a half pack of cigarettes had brought me to a new level of debauchery.

Courtney Love would have been proud.

From ink to pixels Still more people to celebrate and old gossip to rehash online STILL QQ

KEVIN DALE MCKEOWN

Something I’ve noticed in the 45-odd years (some of them odder than others) since I first contributed a gay news column to the Georgia Straight is that change happens.

Through the decades, many publications have chronicled our challenges and achievements. Each has served its purpose in its own time and then given way to the next voice of community.

In the mid-1960s, the Association for Sexual Knowledge (ASK) was mailing its newsletter to nearly 100 subscribers, and in their first issue they wrote, “Some say that we do not live in the Dark Ages . . . but what of the homosexual who is dismissed from his job . . . simply because it is rumoured that he or she is homosexual? Could you afford, right now, to go to your employer and safely say, ‘I am a homosexual’?

ASK hopes that in not too many years the sexual variant will be able to do so without fear or recrimination or repercussion.”

It was a brave mission statement, and since homosexuality was still illegal at the time, how encouraging it must have been that almost 100 Vancouver homosexuals were willing to have their names and addresses appear on the subscription list of such a subversive publication!

I took up the task of sharing our stories with a wider readership in the 1970s in the Georgia Straight, with

QQ Writes . . . Page 69. Community papers such as Open Doors, Coming Out, The Gay Canadian and the somewhat more unabashed Your Thing and Thrust came and went throughout the decade, followed by The Northwest Fountain in the 1980s. And then came Angles, publishing from 1983 to 1998, finally giving way to the slicker production values and more nuanced editorial stands of Xtra West.

Regrets, I’ll have a few. I will miss the eye-grabbing front pages, and there is something about the look and feel of newsprint that loses something in the translation to cyberspace, at least for an old print guy like me. And I’ll be sorry to lose that small group of older readers who continue to resist the lure of the internet. Without even a passing acquaintance with Google or Facebook or even email, they will no longer enjoy these fortnightly stories of our shared misspent youths. I’m talking about you, James, and Jamie, and John and Mrs G! It’s time to take a seniors’ computer course at Barclay Manor!

I think that something else we lose with Xtra’s final print run is a citywide visibility that was hard-earned and will be difficult to replace in other ways. The presence of Xtra’s distribution boxes on downtown streets and the piles of copies displayed alongside other community publications in every library, coffee shop and community centre throughout the region have had an impact we can never really calculate. This day-to-day presence was a reminder to ourselves and

our allies of the gains we had made and the place in public spaces that we had claimed for ourselves. A subliminal comfort and encouragement to us and an in-your-face reminder to those who still would deny us our seat at the table that we were out and never going back into the closet. Are we, in effect, retreating to a cyber-closet of our own making?

I will leave it to a new generation of gay, lesbian and other voices to come up with ways to keep us in the public eye. As they come up with the answers, I’ll do my best to keep up with the technology. Only last week I had a chat with a journalist pal, a full 10 years my junior, who did her best to bring me up to speed on the phenomena of podcasting and convince me that this was a tool I should explore.

Because they are kind to animals and the elderly, the management of Xtra has decided to take me along on this segue from ink to pixels. There are still many stories to be told about our early days, when we greeted the dawn from the booths of the Granville Street White Lunch. You haven’t heard the last of Mrs G’s stories, and we haven’t even started on the Jamie Stevens legend, Jake Thomas’s and others’ memories of the earliest experiments with “gay theatre” or the pre-Bovines Ephemerals and others who paved the glitter-strewn way for our Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

There are time-lines to unravel, personalities to celebrate and old gossip to rehash. I’ll see you on the interwebs!

Adventures in gay parenting

It’s not that I don’t like Hot Wheels or Thomas the Tank Engine, but I can’t quite figure out my son’s predilection toward traditionally masculine pursuits.

History Boys

The Wonder Woman comics from the 1940s are rife with BDSM. On almost every page there’s kidnap, slavery or bondage.

Hooking up in public

When I find myself exploring a dungeon party on a Sunday afternoon, I know why I’m there. I’m on a journey searching for those connections.

Kevin Dale McKeown was Vancouver’s first out gay columnist in the early 1970s.

Email him at stillqq@dailyxtra.com.

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Out in the City

I don’t like a mean drag queen — I think that’s a very over-rated virtue. Alan Cumming • 14

Oscar Wilde coup UBC acquires two rare homoerotic novels from the 19th century LITERATURE JEREMY HAINSWORTH

The University of British Columbia announced Jan 12 that it’s the only library in the world to have original copies of two pieces of gay literature believed to have been penned by iconic gay author Oscar Wilde more than a century ago.

Teleny was first published anonymously in 1893, and only five known sets of the two-volume publication remain. The homoerotic novel follows the doomed love affair of two men, the title character, René Teleny, a Hungarian pianist, and his lover, Camille des Grieux.

Only three known copies remain of its rarely seen prequel, Des Grieux, published in 1899. Until now, the remaining copies were in private collections.

Justin O’Hearn, a PhD candidate in Victorian literature, tells Daily Xtra the acquisitions are a “huge coup” for those interested in queer and gender studies.

“UBC is the only place in the world where they can examine them side by side,” he says. “I would think because Teleny is a gay literature classic, I would think Des Grieux deserves to be part of that milieu.”

O’Hearn says that Wilde supposedly dropped the Teleny manuscript at a bookseller’s, where others came and added to the text.

“The book itself has been taken up as an early example of gay literature, something of a classic,” O’Hearn says.

“It was the first book to deal explicitly with homosexuality.”

He says the publishing of Des Grieux may have been an attempt to cash in on the notoriety of Teleny, which was very expensive to purchase in Victorian England. “It was porn. It hit all the buttons to make it totally indecent,”

PhD candidate Justin O’Hearn and professor Gregory Mackie celebrate UBC’s acquisition of two gay classics believed to have been written by Oscar Wilde.

says O’Hearn, who now hopes to republish Des Grieux. “You had to know someone in order to get it.”

Teleny is remarkable for the period in which it was published, given the graphic nature of its text: “He took hold of my rod and pressed it against his gaping anus,” the author (or possibly multiple authors) writes. “The tip of the frisky phallus soon found its entrance in the

It was porn. It hit all the buttons to make it totally indecent.

PHD CANDIDATE JUSTIN O’HEARN

hospitable hole that endeavoured to give it admission. I pressed a little; the whole of the glans was engulfed. The sphincter soon gripped it in such a way that it could not come out without an effort. I thrust it slowly to prolong as much as possible the ineffable sensation that ran through every limb, to calm the quivering nerves, and to allay the heat of the blood.”

“I felt it wriggling in its sheath like a baby in its mother’s womb, giving myself and him an unutterable and delightful titillation,” the paragraph ends.

Gregory Mackie, a professor of English literature at UBC, calls Teleny and Des Grieux important documents for the gay community.

He tells Daily Xtra that such books

were in demand in the “delicately concealed subculture” at the time. “One of the things that these books give us is access to how gay men’s lives could be conceived of, conceptualized, in the 19th century,” he says. “It’s not ancient pederastic tutelage or anything like that.

It’s two gay men. It’s a kind of homosexual representation that is demonstrably modern.”

Like O’Hearn, Mackie says it’s important to have Des Grieux in the library for scholars to access. “There’s no scholarship on it,” he says. “It’s a vast open field.

It opens it up.”

The texts were purchased for $39,000 ($23,000 for Des Grieux and $16,000 for Teleny) after a crowd-sourcing push

UBC/DON ERHARDT

by O’Hearn raised $3,000 from 56 backers toward their purchase at a Nov 18 Christie’s auction. UBC Library picked up the rest of the bill. The library’s contribution was taken from a fund earmarked for rare and special acquisitions.

The additions complement UBC Library’s Colbeck Collection of 19thcentury literature, which includes several rare Wilde texts.

Wilde is celebrated as the author of The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, The Picture of Dorian Gray and De Profundis. Following a scandalous trial, he was imprisoned for gross indecency in 1895. He was released from prison in 1897 and died in 1900 at 46.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 13

The star of stage and screen dishes on Broadway, his brave new book and, of course, Spice World

CUMMING ATTRACTIONS JOHNNIE WALKER PHOTO BY STEVE VACCARIELLO

“I

think if you’re going to be a drag queen, you should just know the words. Do you know what I mean?”

Alan Cumming asks the question while grazing on pomegranate seeds in a conference room at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.

Impeccably dressed in a pinstripe suit and round Harry Potter glasses, the 49-year-old actor, author and singer is in town in connection with TIFF’s Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition (remember him as the flirty concierge in Eyes Wide Shut?). After arriving the night before, Cumming caught a drag show in which he noticed the queens covering their mouths or turning from the audience when the lyrics seemed to escape them. But after his playful critique, he’s quick to add a compliment: “They were nice. I don’t like a mean drag queen — I think that’s a very over-rated virtue.”

Surely if anyone’s an authority on nightclub performance, it’s Cumming. While his acting resumé is as lengthy as it is eclectic, the Scottish performer is perhaps best known for his turn as the Emcee from Cabaret. In fact, you can catch him right now in the Broadway revival, returning to the iconic leather jacket and white suspenders he first wore more than 20 years ago.

His story about the drag queens makes him think of Emma Stone (his current “Sally Bowles”), who certainly knew the words in her epic lip-sync battle with Jimmy Fallon. If Cumming were asked to do battle with the Tonight Show host? “I’d have to do a slow song,” he says. “A Shania Twain ballad.” With a smirk, he reveals his favourite song from Shania’s catalogue: “From This Moment On,” in spite (or

perhaps because) of her unique phrasing. “She chooses to breathe in the middle of the word ‘because.’” And then the Tony Award winner puts down his pomegranate seeds and bursts into song: “My dreeeams came truuue be—” pausing for a gulp of air, “—caaause of yooou. Seriously, listen to it.

It’s a choice. But it’s not one that I approve of.” He gently skewers the Pride of Timmins, Ontario, in the same archly scolding tone he used on the forgetful drag queens.

It’s hard not to be charmed by Cumming. He’s handsome, well spoken and has a conspiratorial way of telling a story that makes you feel like you’re sharing a well-loved private joke. He’s funny, and when he laughs the deep dimples in his cheeks bring out a boyish, almost elfin quality to his face. On screen, he’s often doing an accent: Russian as a Bond villain in GoldenEye; German as the superhero Nightcrawler in X-Men 2; American as the acerbic Eli Gold on The Good Wife.

As a civilian, he speaks with a soft Scottish brogue and the same easy candour found in his memoir, Not My Father’s Son. Cumming’s second book is worlds away from your typical celebrity tell-all. While his wry Scottish wit is on full display as he describes, say, a funny story about auctioning off a duet

by Patti Smith and Mary J Blige that neither knew she had signed on for, at its heart his book is a mystery and a family saga, unfolding in a series of cliffhangers and dramatic twists.

The book is divided into alternating “Then” and “Now” chapters. In the “Then” chapters, Cumming describes his childhood in rural Scotland. It is difficult to read at times; he remembers the trauma of growing up with an angry, violently abusive father who terrorized him and his brother.

Meanwhile, the “Now” chapters track his experience filming

14 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

on the British version of the reality show Who Do You Think performances — I count them every day.”

You Are? in 2010. Cumming’s episode of the program (which It’s amazing that a production that premiered in 1993 investigates celebrities’ family trees) centred on his maternal feels as fresh, daring and vital as ever — even when things grandfather. Tommy Darling, who died in Malaysia sometime go wrong. “There were some drunk people in the other after the Second World War, had always been a question mark night,” Cumming says, “and obviously, there’s drinks, you’re for Cumming and his mother, Mary, who was only eight at supposed to be in a club . . . But there was this kind of ugly the time of her father’s death. What had he been like? Why scene afterwards with the audience saying how disrespectful they were being.” hadn’t he returned to Scotland? And how did he really die?

In a departure from the original staging, the Sam Mendes– In the midst of investigating these questions, the “Now” and directed production ends with the Emcee stripping off his “Then” threads converge as Cumming’s estranged father sexy leather jacket to reveal a concentration-camp uniform returns in the present with shocking revelations and longdisplaying both a pink triangle and a Star of David. “So I’m buried secrets. saying, ‘I’m going to a concentration camp; I’m gay; I’m Gripping and emotionally powerful, Not My Father’s Jewish; I’m dead.’ And these people are still laughing.”

Son reads like the late-night confession of a close friend.

While the experience was jarring for both the performers “I couldn’t stop talking about it,” Cumming says. “I literally and the audience, for Cumming, those kinds of reactions are was obsessed with it.” His need to share his stranger-thanimportant for the message of the show. “The audience were fiction story is almost tangible. “It was an urgent thing. I don’t horrified that these people were not respecting this terrible think you can have something like this happen to you without thing that happened, but of course, the whole show is saying expunging it in some way. It’s great for other people in the that you’ve got to be vigilant because there are those people world to share in the same kind of anger or amazement or who don’t get it and are going to be the ones who are going horror that you have experienced. It makes you calmer.” to let it happen. And so the whole thing sort of happened in While he doesn’t shy away from his harrowing relationship with his father, he also spends time describing the microcosm right there.” healthy relationships he shares with his mother and brother.

Here’s a game: open up Cumming’s IMDb page and scroll “People tend to focus on the more violent bits, but actually, through his credits. You’ve seen him in more things than ultimately it’s about three people who survived. I think that you realized, haven’t you? His artistic output is prolific and it’s quite uplifting. ” remarkably varied. He’s just as likely to pop up in highbrow While the writing process was cathartic, Cumming worried fare like Julie Taymor’s Titus or a Jane Austen adaptation as how his family would take the candid memoir. “I was nervous something deliciously lowbrow, like Josie and the Pussycats about it coming out because of the effect it was gonna have or Burlesque. on my mom, especially, and me,” he confides. “But actually, it But does someone who’s really “done it all” still ache for couldn’t have gone better. My mom asked for 10 new challenges or pine for the roles that got more copies to give to her friends. And I thought away? “Mostly it’s like, ‘Oh, I dodged that bulNOT MY let!’” Cumming says. “I’m not a yearner. People that was the best review I could have got!”

FATHER’S SON can waste so much time yearning or aspiring for Cumming hopes Not My Father’s Son can help

By Alan Cumming something. That takes up your energy. That takes others who have experienced similar abuse come HarperCollins you away from the present and closes you off to to terms with their past, or at least start that harpercollins.com what might happen. I feel I’ve tumbled through conversation. “Everyone’s got fucked-up families. life and really fascinating things have come to me.

I think that the word ‘dysfunctional’ is almost And I just do what I like. I’ve actually more often had a terrible irrelevant as a prefix to the word ‘family,’ because everyone’s time doing something that I really thought I was doing for my is. And so many people say, ‘Oh, I’m buying your book for my art rather than for my wallet. Because when you enter into mom.’ And I think, ‘Wow!’ As a family gift, I wouldn’t put it something because it’s a job to earn money, then you have at the top of my list. But I like it. I think it’s really making fun; you get on with people. But when you go into something people talk about things.” and your heart is in it, your soul is in it, and it doesn’t go well If exploring his past with his father was the most painful and people are dicks, then that hurts you more.” part of writing Not My Father’s Son, discovering the truth When asked about his appearance in the critically reviled about his grandfather Tommy Darling was perhaps the most Jaws 4, character actor extraordinaire Michael Caine farewarding. As he travels with a TV crew through France, the mously remarked, “I have never seen it, but by all accounts UK and, ultimately, Malaysia, he pieces together an idea of it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and the grandfather he never knew. it is terrific.” Cumming has an equally sanguine take on his “The thing with Tommy Darling was I actually felt so close less prestigious work. “You can actually trace my filmography to him, so like him, and I know that I can spot the genetic line through when I was either renovating a house or getting a much more closely from that side than from my father’s side. divorce by the films I’ve done; that’s absolutely true,” he And I think that’s also why I was so sad for him, ’cause I really admits. “And why shouldn’t I do that?” could recognize parts of myself in him.” His grandfather was Recently, on the BBC’s HARDtalk, host Stephen Sackur a combatant in some of the most brutal battles of the war, and asked Cumming if he regretted saying yes to certain roles. “He Cumming believes Darling’s traumatic experiences shaped named certain films, like The Smurfs and Spice World. And I the man he became. “I feel like I have a form of PTSD from was like, ‘No. Why do you think I should just do rarefied, arty my dad. So, learning all this stuff about him, it was so intense. things just because you would like me to, rather than do The I did feel this — not sympathy, but complete connection to Flintstones to earn a lot of money?’ And finally I said, ‘And him. And to be able to go back to Malaysia and take my mom actually, I think Spice World was really good.’ And he went, there — that was such a beautiful thing to be able to do.”

‘Oh, I’ve never seen it.’ And I said, ‘Then don’t cast asperIt’s fitting that Cumming is releasing a book that reflects sions!’ I love that film.” Besides, his role as a documentary on his past in the same year he returned to his star-making filmmaker following the every move of Baby, Sporty, Ginger, turn in Cabaret. Not that it was easy. “I am so fucking old!”

Posh and Scary made him an instant hit with co-star Emma he says with a laugh. “When I came back to doing it this time, Stone. “Emma Stone is a huge Spice Girls fan!” he says, with I couldn’t remember anything about it. I had to go to the a grin. “We have Spice Girls lip-sync battles in my dressing Lincoln Center Library and watch the video of it from last room with the Kit Kat Girls!” It’s probably safe to assume time to remind myself. But I have been doing it for 20 years. they know the words.

I did it in London, New York. I’ve only done . . . it’s only 660

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 15

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Rumours that the store caters to the fashion-model-sized make the two women laugh. Their clientele ranges in height from five feet two to six feet ten, Linda says, and some of her lines go up to 2XL. “State of Mind is about all shapes of bodies,” she says. “Everybody’s welcome.”

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Manscape Spa is celebrating its fifth anniversary in Victoria by launching a Wax Bar in Vancouver, scheduled to open in February in the Georgia Street tower of Pacific Centre. “If you own a penis, we will wax it — and you — from head to toe,” says Doug Hundza, the company’s director of business development. Manscape plans to focus on providing waxing services initially, before broadening its repertoire to include additional treatments in the future. For now, book any wax service under $75 before Feb 28 and get 20 percent off.

Book your appointment online or email info@manscape.co.

ANKORS 800-421-AIDS

ANKORS 800-421-AIDS

Airlines

1500-701 W Georgia St manscape.co

Community Groups & Services

AIDS/HIV Resources

Positive LIving 604-893-2200

Manscape Spa

Travel Clinic 604-736-9244

Community Based Research 604-568-7478

Health Initiative for Men 604-488-1001

THINKSTOCK

Clinics

Automotive Sales & Leasing

Counselling

Nesters Market 604-682-3071 The Health Shows 888-999-1761

Health – Men’s

Counselling BC 604-729-6059

Community Based Research 604-568-7478

Joe Ramirez Integral Counselling 778-227-9423

Health Initiative for Men 604-488-1001

Lehmann Counselling Service 604-614-8121

Healthcare Services

Willow Tree Counselling 604-521-3404

Currency Exchange Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange 604-685-1016

Andrea Martens, BScPT, CAFCI Urban Active Sport Therapy Clinic 604-669-8233 Health Initiative for Men 604-488-1001

OpenRoad Infiniti Langley 604-532-888

Dental Services

Sound Hearing Clinic 604-687-1488

Aarm Dental Group 604-647-0006

Health – General

Boat Cruises & Charters

Daher Orthostyle – Dr Sam Daher 604-662-3290

Waterway Houseboats 877-928-3792

Business & Professional Organizations Gastown Business Improvement Society 604-683-5650

Dr Langston Raymond 604-687-1008 Redtree Dental 604-873-3337

Device Repair iRepair 778-987-2571

Health Initiative for Men 604-488-1001

Vya Living 604-583-2212

RodRozen Designs 604-558-4443

Real Estate Agents

Ciao Bella Restaurant 604-688-5771

barbara findlay 604-251-4356

Gallery Café & Catering 604-688-2233

Massage – Certified/Registered

Lear Faye 604-484-9371

Linda Duncan RMT 604-630-0101

Seniors

Pacific Coast Massage Therapy – Christopher Robins RMT 604-687-4078

West End Seniors’ Network 604-669-5051

Sex

Rick Girardeau, RMT rickgrmt.com

Squirt.org squirt.org

Men’s Services

Studio Space

BCSMSSA 604-682-6482

The Dance Centre 604-606-6400

Handsome Hands handsomehands.ca

Television Installation

Health Initiative for Men 604-488-1001

Wall Mount Tronics 778-960-4447

Transportation

Naturopathy

Harbour Air 604-274-1277

Dr Reuben Dinsmore, ND 604-568-7655

Helijet International Inc 800-665-4354

Integrative Healing Arts 604-738-1012

Travel – BC Best Western Plus Chateau Granville Hotel & Suites & Conference Centre 604-669-7070

Pet Stores & Supplies Tisol 14th & Main: 604-873-4117 12th & Arbutus: 604-730-1768 Grandview Hwy: 604-436-3001 Gilley Ave, Bby: 604-434-2812 Market Crossing, Bby: 604-431-8458 #3 Rd, Richmond: 604-276-2254 Richlea Sq, #3 Rd, Rmd: 604-241-7586 Langley Bypass, Langley: 604-276-2254 152nd St, Surrey: 604-536-2330

Tourism Harrison 604-796-5581 Waterway Houseboats waterwayhouseboats.com

Travel – General Travel Clinic 604-736-9244

Websites Daily Xtra 416-925-6665 Squirt.org squirt.org

Weddings 2DQ Weddings 604-306-1340

Physiotherapy & Rehab Andrea Martens 604-669-8233

AY 2015

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Hearing Aids

THE BEST OF GAY & LESB IAN VANCOUVER

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To advertise, call 604-684-9696 or email advertising.vancouver@dailyxtra.com

XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 17 CANA DA’S GAY & LESB IAN NEWS

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Time Machine February 4-7, 8pm Presented with

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Mistresses of the ballet Les Ballets Trockadero parodies dance with skill and precision BLITZ & SHITZ

RAZIEL REID

There is nothing quite like sneaking backstage to get a shot with a drag queen. The mystical things I have seen! Sisterhood, sex, sequins and a heightened tension in the air that seems to say, “This is where I am most alive.” Assuming the drag queens backstage aren’t already overdosed . . .

It was intense backstage at Queen Elizabeth Theatre for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. The dancers were getting ready when I stepped into their dressing room. It wasn’t like ducking backstage at The Cobalt or any other bar where the real party is usually happening. The Trocks were more subdued. They went through the motions of getting into character almost as if in a trance. They stared into mirrors framed with light bulbs and applied their makeup with steely focus.

Watching them as they transformed felt like being in church. The only possible response was silence. To see someone onstage in the zone can be a profound experience, but seeing them during the process of transitioning from reality to the fantasy of their alter ego is a whole other level of show.

The Queen Elizabeth Theatre was nearly sold out, and the show had the packed crowd laughing from the open-

Raziel gets a sneak peek as Raffaele Morra transforms into his alter ego, Lariska Dumbchenko, before taking the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage with the rest of the Trocks troupe on Jan 24. SERGEI BACHLAKOV

styles,” according to the program. “The comedy is achieved by incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, accidents and underlying incongruities of serious dance.”

Men dance all the parts, which include swans, sylphs, water sprites, romantic princesses and angst-ridden Victorian ladies. The dancers as characters are a part of the show, and their bios set you up for the goofy spectacle you’re about to experience.

There’s Colette Adae, who was “orphaned at the age of three when her mother, a ballerina of some dubious distinction, impaled herself on the first

Watching them as they transformed felt like being in church. The only possible response was silence. ing monologue, delivered in a thick parody of a Russian accent ahead of the first act, a brilliantly funny rendition of Swan Lake.

The Trocks are a dance phenomenon.

They have a cult following around the world for their show, which consists of “male dancers performing the full range of the ballet and modern dance repertoire, including classical and original works in the faithful renditions of the manners and conceits of those dance

violinist’s bow after a series of rather uncontrolled fouette voyage.” Varavara Bratchikova’s repertoire “encompasses nearly all the works she appears in”; Sonia Leftova is “the Prune Danish of Russian ballet”; and Yakatarina Verbosovich, who “despite possessing a walk-in wardrobe so large that it has its own post code, remains a true ballerina of the people.” Lariska Dumbchenko’s “supreme agility aroused the interest of the Russian space program and in

1962 she became the first ballerina to be shot into orbit. Hurtling through the stratosphere, she delivered handy makeup tips to an assembled crowd of celebrities back on Earth, including the now legendary ‘Whitney Houston, we have a problem . . .’”

Costumes were by Mike Gonzales, aka the legendary “Cocoria Chanelsky” — and they were stunning. That’s the great success of the Trocks: it’s messy and ridiculous and you can’t stop laughing, but at the same time the costumes look exquisite and the choreography is impeccable. It takes a unique talent to dance so well while making so many mistakes. The Trocks have mastered their comic timing with the precision of a pirouette.

Beneath the laughter and razzledazzle of the Trocks lies a company with a big heart. Since its creation in 1974, the troupe has appeared at benefits of international AIDS organizations, including DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS) and Classical Action in New York City, the Life Ball in Vienna, Dancers for Life in Toronto, London’s Stonewall Gala and Germany’s AIDS Tanz Gala.

After 40 years, the Trocks have no intention of slowing down and plan to add new works to their repertoire.

The company will continue to reimagine everything you thought you knew about ballet while inspiring the masses to “keep on Trockin’.”

18 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

WHAT'S ON FOR MORE LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

Thurs, Jan 29

Sat, Jan 31

Whistler Pride and Ski Festival Celebrate community on and off the slopes at this winter festival, which runs until Sat, Jan 31. For a breakdown of events, visit gaywhistler.com.

Trans Gathering Join transidentified and gender-variant folks to connect, share, discuss and learn in a supportive environment.

Significant others and family welcome. 1–3pm. Room 610, 1033 Davie St. For more info, call 604-684-5307 x100 or email transgathering@qmunity.ca.

Lights Out A weekly event where the lights get turned low and the Steamworks men go into overdrive.

4pm–4am. Steamworks, 123 W Pender St. $6 and up, plus locker. steamworksbaths.com Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar The search is on. To compete, contact james@celebritiesnightclub.com.

9pm. Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. $10 at celebrities.electrostub.com.

Fri, Jan 30 AJ’s Café Join other HIV-positive gay men every Friday for this free group sponsored by Positive Living BC. 3–6pm. The Junction Pub, 1138 Davie St. positivelivingbc.org Furrocious Military Ball Don your favourite army, police, leather, construction-worker or sports gear.

10pm–2am. Whistler Conference Centre, 4010 Whistler Way. $40 at ticketzone.com and gaywhistler.com.

Furtrade Follow the Great Northern Trail to a time when men kept warm by the furs they collected, then add house music. 10pm–2am. Heaven’s Door, 1216 Bute St. $5; includes coat check. Search “Heaven’s Door” on Facebook.

Man Up: Bad Behaviour The meaning and image of “badness,” from mainstream ideologies to pop culture to queer politics, is the theme of this drag show, which features Ponyboy, Brokeback Brothers, Rose Butch and more.

Doors 9pm, show 11:15pm. The Cobalt, 917 Main St. $8 before 10pm, $13 after. facebook.com/ manupvancouver Gear Saturday: VML Join the Vancouver Men in Leather for their monthly gathering. Dress code: leather, rubber and fetish. 9pm.

PumpJack Pub, 1167 Davie St. No cover. pumpjackpub.com Absolutely Drag-u-lous Carlotta Gurl and her guests regale audiences every Saturday night with drag, live numbers and contests.

Show 11pm. The Junction, 1138 Davie St. $5. junctionpub.com

Sun, Feb 1 Sunday Service Make this your weekly religious experience to the beats of the city’s top DJs. 4–8pm. Steamworks, 123 W

Bearracuda — FiveSixty, Sun, Feb 8 SCOTT IVERSON

Pender St. $6 and up, plus locker. steamworksbaths.com

Mon, Feb 2 Condom-Packing Party Help the Health Initiative for Men package condoms and lube for distribution while engaging in lively conversation and enjoying some tasty eats.

6–9pm. HIM office, Ste 310, 1033 Davie St. checkhimout.ca Genderqueer A support and social group for people who identify outside the male/female binary that meets on the first and third Monday of every month. 6–7:30pm.

Qmunity, 1170 Bute St. qmunity.ca.

Hominum This group for gay, bisexual and questioning men that discusses the challenges of marriage, separation or single life meets every Monday. 7:30–9:30pm.

For info on meeting places and to register, go to hominum.ca.

Queer Prov Start your week off with some improv comedy shenanigans.

8–9:30pm. 1181, 1181 Davie St. No cover. 1181.ca

Tues, Feb 3 Men on Men A weekly, facilitated discussion group for all men who have sex with men. Every Tuesday, 6:30pm. Gordon Neighbourhood House, 1019 Broughton St. checkhimout.ca

Wed, Feb 4 Yoga in Surrey The Health Initiative for Men offers drop-in yoga sessions every week in Surrey. 7–8:30pm.

HIM Health Centre, #22010362 King George Hwy, Surrey. checkhimout.ca

Brain Candy — The Fox Cabaret, Sat, Feb 7 TALLULAH

Vancouver Men’s Chorus Auditions Bring a song you’re prepared to sing to the chorus’s last non-competitive audition.

7:30–10pm. Vancouver Academy of Music, 1270 Chestnut St. vancouvermenschorus.ca Bingo for Life A weekly extravaganza filled with brilliant prizes, cheap drinks and snappy drag queens. 8–10:30pm.

Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. $10 donation at door for bingo cards. celebritiesnightclub.com Queer As F**k This queer dance party takes place the first Wednesday of every month and features a rotating cast of DJs. 9pm.

The Astoria, 769 E Hastings St. $6.

Wear a mask and get in free before 11:30pm.

Thurs, Feb 5

Sat, Feb 7 Van-Pah Mosh Come romp, socialize or just explore. You’ll find pups cavorting, playing with toys and having a blast. 2–4pm.

Pumpjack Pub, 1167 Davie St. No cover. vanpah.com The Junk Yard A no-holes-barred sex party on the first, second and third Saturday of every month.

8pm–3am. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. $10; two for one before midnight.

8x6.ca Electric Circus ’90s Dance Party

A tribute to Michael and Janet Jackson, with performances by Beardoncé and Owen and music by DJ G Luv and a special guest. 9pm– 2am. The Cobalt, 917 Main St. $8; $4 if in ’90s gear. thecobalt.ca

Timberline Dance There’s always a partner available and a lesson included with Vancouver’s gay country-and-western dance group.

7–9:30pm. St Paul’s Anglican Church Rec Hall, 1140 Jervis St. A portion of your PWYC donation ($10 suggested) at the door benefits A Loving Spoonful. timberlinedance.org

Brain Candy Release your inner club kid at this monthly firstSaturday dance, rave, drag show and costume contest, hosted

by Shanda Leer. Prizes for the freakiest get-up. 10:30pm–1am.

The Fox Cabaret, 2321 Main St. $10. foxcabaret.com

Fri, Feb 6

Sun, Feb 8

Showtunes Night The Hopelessly Devoted edition celebrates the first anniversary of Showtunes Night with songs of love and heartbreak.

6–9pm. 1181, 1181 Davie St. No cover. facebook.com/showtunesyvr

Bearracuda DJ Ryan Jones (LA) makes his BC debut, spinning alongside Matt Stands for the first gear night. 9pm. Club FiveSixty, 560 Seymour St. $15 at Topdrawers, 809 Davie St, or bearracuda.com.

4Play Friday Show off your moves every Friday night with a stellar cast of DJs playing sexy, vocal house music. 9pm–2am. Lux Lounge, 1180 Howe St. $10. luxlounge.ca

Hershe Bar Come for the hybrid beats and rhythms of LA mixtress DJ Amara and a chance to win tickets to The Dinah in LA. 10pm–2am. Red

Leather Den for Men Wear your sexiest/sluttiest gear or no gear at all for this monthly play night. 9pm. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. VML members $10; memberships available at door. meninleather.homestead.com

Room Ultra Bar, 398 Richards St. $15 at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie St, or flygirlproductions.com.

Soho: New York This sexy party is back in one of the most seductive basement clubs. Berlin hosts, and Dreaddy strikes again. 10pm–3am.

Killjoy, 1120 Hamilton St. Cover TBA. facebook.com/killjoybar United Celebrate the Family Day long weekend with Big Roger Events. DJ Phil B (San Fran) returns for the first after-hours event of 2015; DJ Del Stamp starts the night.

1–7am. Encore Dance Club, 1058 Granville St. $30 at ticketzone.com. facebook.com/bigrogerevents

Tues, Feb 10 Philosophers’ Cafey Discuss thought-provoking themes with fellow thinkers on the second Tuesday of every month. 6:30– 8:30pm. 310-1033 Davie St. Free. checkhimout.ca The Dog Pound Human puppies come together to socialize and have fun away from any political organizations every Tuesday. 7pm.

Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. $7, with lockers available. facebook.com/ thevancouverdogpound

Wed, Feb 11 Connect with HIM A space for gay guys to meet other guys, discuss gay life and build community. ESL and students of all ages welcome.

Wednesdays, 6:30pm. HIM, 1033 Davie St. For more info, call 604488-1001 or visit checkhimout.ca.

Get in the FINAL ISSUE of Xtra Vancouver!

Deadline for the Feb 12 issue is Tues, Feb 3. Submit your event listing to oitc.vancouver@dailyxtra.com.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 19

Anderson Cooper, anti-gay cakes and the state of bisexuals

XPOSED

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dailyxtra.com

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GLITTER: WHISTLER PRIDE OPENING PARTY “The vibe, the music, the energy created good excitement for the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival,” says Sunil Sinha of Big Roger Events, which hosted the packed event at FiveSixty.

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6 20 JAN 29–FEB 11, 2015 XTRA!

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