JUNE 2016 ® ISSUE 150 • FREE The Voice of Alberta’s LGBTQ Community

Interview with MARIAH CAREY Manila Luzon Unabashed Creator

Lea DeLaria Butch Beneath Our Wings

PLUS: Rufus Wainwright Garrett Wang • Lena Dunham Lethbridge Pride 2016 Jinkx Monsoon Scan to Read on ...and more! Mobile Devices Making waves post Drag Race win

Business Directory Community Map Events Calendar Tourist Information STARTING ON PAGE 55 Calgary • Alberta • Canada www.gaycalgary.com

4 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Table of Contents JUNE 2016 ® 7 Words from the Publisher PublisherPublisher: & Editor: Steve Steve Polyak Polyak CopyEditor: Editor: Rob Janine Diaz-Marino Eva-Trotta 150th Edition, Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo, and Pride Sales: Steve Polyak Design & Layout: 11 Stage West’s Young Frankenstein is Rob Diaz-Marino,Steve Polyak Ara Shimoon Electrifying Writers and Contributors MercedesBrandon Allen, Schultz, Chris Chris Azzopardi, Azzopardi, Dallas Constable Barnes, AndyDave Buck, Brousseau, Dave Brousseau,Sam Casselman, Jason JasonClevett, Clevett, Krista Sylvester,Andrew Collins, Mikey EmilyRox, Myles Collins, Helfand, Rob Diaz-Marino, Romeo San 12 Lethbridge Pride Vicente,Janine Eva Steve Trotta, Polyak, Jack V.N. Fertig, Winnick, Glen Hanson,and the LGBTJoan Hilty,Community Evan Kayne, of Calgary, Stephen Edmonton, Lock, Neil and McMullen, Alberta. Colouring the streets in rainbow

Allan Neuwirth, Steve Polyak, Carey Rutherford, 12 PAGE Romeo San Vicente,Photography Ed Sikov, Nick Vivian and the GLBT CommunitySteve Polyak, of Calgary, Jeff & Brian Edmonton, and Alberta. Videography 13 Garrett Wang PhotographySteve Polyak Live from the Lethbridge EXPO Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino, SalesB&J Steve Polyak [email protected] Steve Polyak, Rob Diaz-Marino 15 Monsoon Season Legal Council Iconic queen on making waves post Drag Race win Courtney Aarbo,Printers Barristers and Solicitors North Hill News/Central Web General Inquiries 19 Discussing Community Safety GayCalgaryDistribution® Magazine Calgary2136: 17thGallant Avenue Distribution SW Domestic Violence Calgary,GayCalgary AB, Canada Staff T2T 0G3 [email protected]: Clark’s Distribution Other: Canada Post 13 PAGE Office Hours: By appointment ONLY Phone:Legal 403-543-6960 Council 20 Manila Luzon, Unabashed CourtneyToll Aarbo,Free: Barristers1-888-543-6960 and Solicitors Fax: 403-703-0685 Creator E-Mail:Sales [email protected] & General Inquiries GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine How food, fan art, and free drinks inspire drag’s most famous concept 2136This Month's17th Avenue Cover SW Main: MariahCalgary, Carey, photo AB, Canada by Denise Truscello. queen Top Right: Manila Luzon,T2T 0G3photo courtesy Producer Entertainment. Mid Right: Lea DeLaria, photo by OfficeNetflix. BottomHours: Right: By Jinkx appointment Monsoon, photo ONLY by 24 Deep Inside Hollywood Phone:Magnus 403-543-6960 Hastings Alan Cumming in ‘After Louie,’ Ellen DeGeneres, Teyonah Parris, Jessica Toll Free: 1-888-543-6960 Lange Fax: 403-703-0685 gazine E-Mail: [email protected] 26 HIV in America This Month's Cover ma Cher and Christina Aguilera courtesy of Sony Hatred and Acceptance Pictures; Annie Lennox courtesy of Mike Owen; ProudRex Members Goudie. of: Proud Members of: 27 The Unruly World of Rufus 15 PAGE Wainwright Singer-songwriter on being ‘the gay Elizabeth Taylor,’ giving up on Björk and not jibing with the LGBT community

International Gay & Lesbian 33 Lena Dunham Mans Up Travel Association Girls creator on recognizing ‘seemingly mundane’ LGBT issues, channeling masculinity and the influence of her sister’s queerness

National Lesbian & Gay Gay European Tourism Journalists Association Association PAGE 20 PAGE Continued on Next Page  www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 5 Table of Contents

 Continued From Previous Page

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37 7 Ways Social Media Has Made You a Sex Magazine Figures Monthly Online Magazine Addict Readership: Combined total of PDF and ISSUU 38 5 Reasons You Need to Stop Treating Your Downloads/Reads –100,000 copies Gym Like a Bathhouse Total Readership of PDF/ISSUU/WEB Readers Per Copy: 4.9 (PMB) Avg. Online Circulation: 310,000 readers 40 The Butch Beneath Our Estimated Total Readership: PAGE 27 PAGE >319,800 readers Wings Frequency: Monthly Lea DeLaria reflects on her landmark TV moment, talks ‘hero’ Bette Proof of monthly figures are Midler and making tough lesbians cry with Orange Is the New Black available on request. History Originally established in January 1992 as 44 The Heroism of Mariah Men for Men BBS by MFM Communications. Name changed to GayCalgary in 1998. Independent company as of January 2004. Carey First edition of GayCalgary.com Magazine Visions of love, bravery and bad hair through the lens of a longtime published November 2003. Name adjusted in November 2006 to GayCalgary ‘lamb’ and Edmonton Magazine. February 2012 returned to GayCalgary Magazine. February 2013, GayCalgary® becomes a 48 Queer Eye registered trademark. December 2014/ January 2015 is the last print edition. PAGE 33 PAGE 51 A Couple of Guys February 2015 is the first digital only edition. 52 News Releases Disclaimer and Copyright Opinions expressed in this magazine 55 Directory and Events are specific to the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of GayCalgary 60 Classified Ads staff and contributors. Those involved in the making of this publication, whether advertisers, Scan for this Issue: Scangazine for Latest Issue: contributors, or the subjects of articles or photographs, are not necessarily gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans. This magazine ma also includes straight allies and those who are gay friendly.

No part of this publication may be reprinted

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6 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Editorial Words from the Publisher 150th Edition, Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo, and Pride By Steve Polyak June, 2016, GayCalgary Magazine celebrates its 150th that were impacted by the fire. The planned interviews with edition. This is a pretty big milestone when it comes to LGBT the mayors of Edmonton and Calgary needed to be pushed Publications in Canada. Running the magazine for this many from the 150th Edition to the July edition due to their editions is not easy, but it does help having some great constantly changing schedules. Interviews with talent for writers and amazing editor plus, when I am in a crunch, Rob RuPaul’s Battle of the Seasons were also not coming together does help with other tasks. Sadly, all the other tasks, too easily, since it was a little hard to do interviews while they many to be named, do need to be done by me. were on tour. It surprises me still how much content has come together The plan was to celebrate the 150th edition as part of the to produce 150 editions. There are about 5,500 articles that Canadian International Rodeo and Music Festival weekend, have been written, plus about 135,000 photos in the online but when Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA) GayCalgary photo gallery, with about 250,000 waiting still cancelled the event, things changed. We lost all those to go online. The magazine also has about 20,200 digital interviews of performers that were part of the music festival subscribers, which is pretty impressive. We still have over and the exposure of the anniversary edition. More about 300,000 readers per month spending on average 25 minutes ARGRA later on in this article. on the site. So our 150th edition is still something special – regardless After doing 150 editions of the magazine, one would assume if it came together the way I wanted it to – but that is the that eventually it would get easier, but this one, especially, joy of being media in our ever-changing gay community. As went sideways on me. I started planning the 150th edition at long as each edition makes it way out, that is something to the start of the year, but just about everything changed on celebrate. me in the middle of May. It felt like a cascade of things were Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association creating challenges barring things coming together. In May, even though none of my writers were directly In May, ARGRA announced that they were cancelling the impacted by the fires in Fort McMurray, there was a trickle Canadian Rockies International Rodeo and Music Festival down effect; everyone was watching the news to see what the 2016 event. The announcement shook the gay community. current status was, or going out to help friends and family Continued on Next Page 

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 7  From Previous Page

ARGRA is a unique group in Canada. With Calgary being in cowboy country, it only made sense that Calgary would Online Last Month be the home of the only gay rodeo in Canada. This year would have marked their 23rd run, so it was a shock that a regular summer event was no longer happening. The rodeo and music festival was seen as the small gay version of the Calgary Stampede. Creep of the Week When Pride happens, the festival, parade and dance Ryan Anderson usually occur on one day, at several different locations. The Hello gay and lesbian readers. I’d like rodeo usually started on a Thursday or Friday and ran until to talk to you about your pathetic lives Sunday night. ARGRA had areas set up for camping/RV, devoid of friends or family. It’s hard when rodeo arena, dance hall, beer gardens, retail and the new the only way you know how to connect music festival area. This way people did not need to travel far with other humans... to go to different events throughout the day. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5125 There was always the rodeo during Saturday and Sunday Deep Inside Hollywood starting 8:30am, and it ran until 5 or 6 in the afternoon, depending on how many contestants and if there were any Billie Jean King, J.A. Bayona, injuries. Late at night, once everything else shut down, the Elle Fanning, ‘Noah’s Arc’ dances would start. Since people were camping just outside How many Billie Jean King movies, again? the entrance to all the events, they could sit back, drink, This is how it goes in Hollywood: a good socialize and take part of all the ARGRA events that they idea spawns copycat ideas. Sometimes, were interested in, in ease. ARGRA created something that these good ideas become competing brought people back year after year, where you could make projects rushing to... new friends, and embrace a sense of family. Attendees came http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5126 from around the world so, many times, it was the only chance you would get to see them. Creep of the Week Outside their rodeo weekend, members of ARGRA were Louie Gohmert present at just about every gay event throughout the Target. It’s kind of a weird name for province. You just looked for the group of people wearing a store. I mean, a target is something their cowboy hats and you knew that ARGRA was in the room. you shoot at. But say the word “target” They wanted to show their support in many ways, including anywhere in America and chances are fundraisers, dances, sports, annual general meetings and people will think,... more. They were there to protect other nonprofit groups when http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5130 outsiders wanted to bully their way in. They were also there Hear Me Out Rihanna, Cyndi Lauper, Margo Price, Lukas Graham Cyndi Lauper, Detour Girls just want to have... a country album? If you’re Cyndi Lauper and your repertoire is as delightfully ADHD as hers – the American Songbook, pop ear-candy,... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5131 Creep of the Week Ted Cruz’s Face Ted Cruz is creepy. That’s not only a widely held opinion, it’s scientific fact. George Washington University neurology professor Dr. Richard E. Cytowic wrote in Psychology Today,... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5140 Deep Inside Hollywood Morrissey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bret Easton Ellis, Quentin Lee Steven, take a bow In news marked “It Was Only A Matter of Time,” get ready for Steven, the biopic about England’s most quotable rock star, Morrissey. Did that time... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5141

8 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com when other nonprofit groups stumbled and needed a strong, helping hand and guidance. CANCELLED - Canadian After running as long as ARGRA has, maybe it is their Rockies International Rodeo turn to get a helping hand from the community, as they and Music Festival 2016 have lent to everyone else. When it was posted that the rodeo ARGRA Cancels Upcoming was cancelled, it was visible on Facebook that the help and support was there to, conceivably, bring them back. Event in Strathmore, Alberta Things have not been easy for them for several years now: ARGRA (Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo from moving the venue from inside the Calgary city limits Association) board of directors have to the town of Strathmore, to a tornado that hit close to the cancelled the upcoming CRIR 2016 which venue; to the rains that flooded Calgary the week before the was to happen on June 30th to July 3rd, rodeo happened so volunteers and organizers were stuck 2016 in Strathmore Alberta.... trying the put on an event and deal with friends and family http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5103 caught in the flood; to the current poor economy. It is not easy Queen Bey Reigns at for an outdoor event to endure something out of their control year after year. The ARGRA board and volunteers tried to put Commonwealth Stadium on a brave face, smiled, and persevered in keeping the event Beyoncé’s massive show running year after year. nearly flawless ARGRA tried to change with the times, as most groups have The list of performers that can sell a had to, making them more mainstream: adding things like a stadium show is small. The list of women music festival in the beer gardens, then expanding it to be a that can? Barely a handful. Beyoncé’s three-day evening event. They also introduced a community Formation World Tour brought the R&B carnival to allow other nonprofit groups to fundraise using Queen to Edmonton... traditional amusement park attractions like a dunk tank http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5105 or bake sale. These measures increased attendance from people who lived in Strathmore, and made it easier to get Creep of the Week sponsors that would usually only sponsor gay pride events. Michael Brown When GayCalgary reached out to the board for further My 6-year-old son has two moms. For information about what is going on, they were unable to Mothers’ Day (and, yes, that’s where we comment. We did make sure they understand that the put the apostrophe) he gave both my community is here for them as ARGRA was for them. At this wife (a.k.a. “Mommy”) and I cards with point we don’t know if ARGRA will reboot as something new, “coupons”... or if it will it be gone for good. The board and members are http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5145 still a strong part of what makes Alberta’s LGBTQ community. They won’t be able to talk about any of it, so maybe give them The OutField a hug, or buy them a drink or two, since the decision they Cheering on #EveryFan made was not an easy one. These people who volunteered Separated by only 11 miles – and both their time for ARGRA are instrumental to what we have as a proudly sporting the color blue – Duke community. University and the University of North Carolina enjoy perhaps the most intense Upcoming Events college athletic rivalry... July is a busy month in general, with Edmonton Pride http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5147 running from June 3rd to 12th. There is also Lethbridge Pride from June 1st to June 29th. Check out the ads we Curb Appeal – Making Your are running for the main events, plus some of the other Home Attractive to Buyers side events like Pure Pride, Bears in the Park BBQ, Pride Once a homeowner has decided to sell in Fashion, and more! The word is that Backwards is finally their home, one of the first things they do going to open before the end of the month, so check out their is start to clean up the property. Making Facebook page for details. basic repairs to the interior of your home, such as putting... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5122 http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5155 Creep of the Week View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments Steve King If you’ve never listened to Caffeinated Thoughts Radio, let me get you up to speed. It sounds a lot like one of those drive time morning shows with the chattering hosts who think... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5150 5 Reasons Why Being a Gay Extrovert Is Sometimes The Pits Being gay and an extrovert seems to go hand-in-hand. Many of us have an innate ability to connect with others that makes being outgoing look effortless, but the truth is, sometimes... http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5153

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 9

Stage West’s Young Frankenstein is Electrifying

 photo by John Watson

By Jason Clevett lines and songs that should be eye-roll inducing but deliver It has been a real pleasure the last few years seeing them in a way that delivers big laughs instead. There are a some of the big broadway comedies come to Stage number of Stage West regulars in the show such as Adam West. Recent presentations of shows like Avenue Q Stevenson – a chameleon whose talents have been shown in and Monty Python’s Spamalot brought new audiences multiple Stage West music reviews as the Monster and Kevin to the theatre and have been highlights of recent Rothery in multiple roles. seasons. It’s a risqué show – an elaborate and hilarious number Roll In While Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein, on stage until June The Hay had the audience in stitches while Please Don’t Touch 26th, doesn’t have the same name recognition as the previously Me has an entire verse about boobs. It’s part burlesque show, listed shows, this laugh a minute over the top production is a part homage to the musical genre, part slapstick comedy. It all must see. Whether a regular patron or someone who loved the works and is a wonderful evening. You do not have to have seen previous comedies, there is something for everyone. the movie to love the play. $10 from every ticket sold goes to Based on the 1974 film starring Gene Wilder, the stage Fort. McMurray relief. There are a number of summer promos musical opened on Broadway in 2007. It is the story of Dr. on as well, so take advantage, support a good cause and have a Frankenstein (Kevin Dennis) arriving in Transylvania after the great meal and lots of laughs with Young Frankenstein. death of his Grandfather Victor, the creator of the monster that terrorized a village. The doctor meets hunchback Igor (a brilliant portrayal by Greg Pember) and the mysterious Frau Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein Blucher (Jayne Lewis) – who try to convince him to join the family business. What unfolds is a typical story – boy meets lab Playing until June 26th, 2016 sexy lab assistant, boy and girl make a giant green corpse come Stage West Theatre Restaurant to life, boy’s fiancé shows up unexpectedly, and everyone sings Puttin On the Ritz. http://stagewestcalgary.com/ It is a ridiculously fun show, and part of why it works so well is that it is evident that the large cast of 19 is having an http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5133 absolute blast. Their enthusiasm is infectious. They take some View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 11 Lethbridge Pride Colouring the streets in rainbow

 Lethbridge Pride 2015, photo by GayCalgary

By Krista Sylvester month, ranging from movie nights to dance nights and everything It’s a first for Lethbridge and hopefully the advent of in between. many more to come. “I think there is something for everyone at this festival – The city’s first rainbow crosswalks – four of them in total, regardless of your orientation. Pride Fest is for everyone, and it is leading to Galt Gardens – were unveiled this week as part of a great place to come out to show support. If you’re questioning the festivities for this year’s Lethbridge Pride Fest. The event your orientation, or just want to sit in the beer gardens and sit is bigger and better than ever, according to festival board vice- in 30 above and enjoy your weekend, you can do that as well. We chair, Devon Hargreaves. are very accepting.” “It is really exciting for us, as a community, to have the mayor J.B Johnson and her partner have been attending Lethbridge come out and paint the sidewalk with our board of directors,” Pride events for the last six or seven years, and say they have Hargreaves says. watched it grow from a one day event to what is now a month- The four rainbow-painted crosswalks were paid for by long celebration. They couldn’t be prouder. Lethbridge Pride Fest and will serve as an entrance into Galt “It’s a really beautiful thing to watch something like this grow Gardens for Pride in the Park on June 25th, but will be on display from a grass-roots event, for a small group of people, to something for everyone to enjoy as part of the celebration this month. that is being celebrated by many people from all different types of “It’s a colourful and exciting time in the city,” he says. communities,” she says. “It feels a lot more open and accepting and it’s just really nice to see so many people involved.” This is a big step for a festival that began as a small barbecue eight years ago. Lethbridge Pride has now morphed into an entire Check out the Lethbridge Pride Fest Facebook group for a full month-long event with a variety of daily offerings for people of all schedule of all of the different events. ages to enjoy. “The organization has grown, the partnerships have grown, the number of people attending has grown, the community support Lethbridge Pride Fest has grown; everything is growing and I think it will continue to grow,” Hargreaves adds. http://lethbridgepridefest.com/ While Hargreaves acknowledges more events mean more work, he says it is worth it; more and more community sponsors http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5159 are jumping on board as well. This is the first time that the organization has been able to put on events every day of the View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

12 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Garrett Wang Live from the Lethbridge EXPO

 photos by Paramount Pictures Watch the video online: http://gaycalgary.com/a5156 

By V.N. Winnick CG: What sorts of stories and media were you into before being cast Back in 2014, the charming and gregarious Garrett Wang, on Voyager? of Star Trek: Voyager fame, gave us a tremendous interview GW: First fandom would be 1977 Star Wars... and then, after that, I covering: his experiences with Trek, both with official and fan- watched original Battlestar Galactica, and pretty much anything… sci- made productions; his geek-to-the-core nature and love of the fi or fantasy-based that would come out before I got onto Voyager. I convention circuit; and a deep-dive into his experiences as an followed it, I watched it. Asian man acting in Hollywood – including his good-natured GC: You had some really interesting perspectives on race in a lament on the fact that he wasn’t able to play Glenn on The previous panel – would you tell us a bit about your experience as an Walking Dead. Read on for a brief excerpt of the interview, and actor through that lens? check out the full video on our website. If you’re a fan of Star GW: [One of DW Griffiths’ early films] Broken Blossom was basically Trek, geek culture in general, or just handsome, friendly guys, a film about a Chinese man who falls in love with this Irish girland, you’ll love this dip into the GayCalgary vaults. before they can consummate their love, the father of the Irish girl finds the Chinese man, and kills him! So that just sort of set the precedent Garrett Wang: I love going to conventions and letting the fans see in Hollywood. I don’t know how to put it, other than, it has been the part of me that they’re not used to seeing – which is the real me, ‘unfortunate’ that Asian-American males, specifically, have not been you know? Everyone sees the very serious Ensign Kim on episodes of portrayed as sexual beings whatsoever. Voyager, so I like to show the other side. GC: So as fan of Star Trek, an actor and an Asian man, what did it Gay Calgary: Compared to an Avery Brooks or a Brent Spiner, you mean to you to see George Takei in the role of Sulu? seem to be a lot more willing to embrace the convention circuit. Where GW: It was really an eye-opener. Just a sense of pride knowing that, does that come from? look, that Asian male actor is not speaking with some crazy chop-socky GW: Being a geek first, probably? Being a science fiction, fantasy fan, accent; he is not delivering Chinese food... and he was really the only one before getting on Voyager, I think changes a lot of it. A lot of people don’t at that time who was allowed. So thank God Gene Roddenberry had the realize that, of the 44 or 45 living actors from Star Trek, including the vision and the foresight and the emphasis on IDIC – infinite diversity in cast from TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and JJ Abrams’ crew, infinite combinations – that was just so groundbreaking at that time.” there are only like four of us that are fans first, and that changes it big time. If you’re already into sci-fi, and then an actor on a TV show, going to conventions is a no-brainer. Like, yeah, of course! If I wasn’t an actor http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5156 on a show, I would be here anyway. View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 13 14 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Monsoon Season Iconic queen on making waves post Drag Race win

 photo by Magnus Hastings

By Brandon Schultz “People are really starting to respect the art form of drag in a When an interview starts with cabernet sauvignon and way they haven’t before, and that goes particularly for our gay ends next to the toilet, it can only be a Friday night with audience, too. I have been doing drag for 14 years and, when I RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5 champion, Jinkx Monsoon. started, there was definitely a negative stigma around being a Between her two improv cabaret performances at New drag queen that I don’t think exists in the same capacity today. Now even the butchest, most straight acting guy will watch York City’s Laurie Beechman Theatre, the tireless queen Drag Race and snap his fingers at the TV, you know?!” spared a few minutes for a sit-down with GayCalgary With success comes demand, especially for a queen crowned to discuss the RPDR Battle of the Seasons 2016 ‘America’s next drag superstar’ and, even four years after Extravaganza Tour, with comments on body shaming, filming, Monsoon is not wasting the opportunities that are Joan Rivers, and which drag queens should be shot. presented to her. “We never knew when we started doing drag that one day “Drag Race took what I used to do one day a week for a little we’d be performing in huge concert venues and completely extra cash and turned it into my career, and that’s what I’m so packing the place,” says Monsoon of Battle of the Seasons, the thankful for. I still do legitimate acting in plays and stuff, but epic drag variety show, and its unexpected success over the whenever I don’t have a big-time project to worry about I get to past three years. “Each year it gets a little bit bigger, and the create my own work, and slap a wig and a dress on, and bring audiences come out in droves to see each of us perform our new material anywhere that’ll take me. Or old material to be specific talents. It is really amazing for us!” rehashed in new places!” It’s a golden age for drag queens, who have found themselves On top of touring the world with Battle of the Seasons, guest exploding onto the mainstream entertainment scene due, in no appearances as an RPDR winner, performing her one-woman small part, to the reality TV contest that Monsoon won in 2013. cabaret, and building her YouTube channel, Monsoon performs However, like all queens who aren’t new to the game, Monsoon as her other, lesser-known characters when she can squeeze remembers a time when drag love wasn’t the norm. them in.

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 15 “I love being busy and I love creating new work, and whatever you have going on – and creating the I got into drag to do exactly what I’m doing. The most fully glamorized, fully realized version Vaudevillians features my character Kitty Witless, of it. who only exists in that show. I also have a “We celebrate plus-size drag queens, Southern medium character (I haven’t done her but we demonize skinny queens who put in awhile), and every year in Provincetown I do on weight, which is not okay. If you’re these shows as Aunt Cassiopeia. She’s Jinkx’s gonna celebrate plus-size drag queens, great aunt and she’s basically my rip-off of you have to celebrate all queens of all Bette Davis – but with orange hair.” weights; whether they are skinny, plus- She is mega busy – as a star should be size, or skinny and become plus-size. It – but she has felt the price of fame very happened to Joslyn Fox, it happened to personally. Adore Delano, it happened to me. It’s “The higher they put you on that pedestal, absolutely 100 per cent unacceptable. the more people there are watching to see Body shaming has no place in the how you’ll fall,” she lamented during her world of drag.” performance earlier that night. Taking on another hot button When I asked her to elaborate issue in the drag universe, Monsoon afterward, and why, specifically, she is equally outspoken about the fires back so regularly on Twitter relationship between drag and about her weight (even Michelle the trans community, and does Visage recently tweeted, in not personally identify as support, “WHY THE HELL DO cisgender herself (I refer to her YOU FEEL THE NEED TO in this article with the female DO THIS, JINKXY? YOU pronouns in reference to her ARE PERFECTION”) she drag character). explained: “I think it was about “It’s something two years ago that that I didn’t there were a lot used to do. of publicized I feel a issues around certain the word freedom ‘tranny’, now and drag that queens I’m using not the the word current reigning drag race superstar. specifically. If people have There was the right to give a lot of hate their stupid horrible toward drag queens opinions, then I because there was this absolutely have the right assumption that every to answer them. I try not drag queen is cisgender to get in fights with when out of drag. People anyone, and there have were saying drag queens been plenty of times don’t get to have an opinion where I had a little back on trans issues because and forth argument they’re not trans. with people, but “They are assuming it always ended every drag queen is with both of us cisgender out of drag, at least agreeing and that’s just not to disagree. true. There are lots of But lately there trans women who still have been a lot participate in the drag of comments world. Even though they about me gaining have transitioned, they weight. In the drag have roots in drag, community, and they have every there is right to remain drag absolutely queens if they want no room to. There are plenty for body of drag queens that shaming. don’t identify as The whole cisgender, or male, point of drag is taking  photo by Tim Harmon whatever you are –

16 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com  photo by Tim Harmon out of drag. There’s no reason to believe that we don’t get an “When I first starting working at the Laurie Beechman, Joan opinion. Rivers’s show would start at 7pm on Tuesdays, and my show “To be a drag queen you have to have one foot in the world would start at 9:30, so that meant there was a half hour between of being trans. No drag queen is completely ignorant to trans her show and mine where I just got to say, ‘Hey Joan, how you issues, and if she is she might as well be tied up and shot doin’? How’d your show go tonight?’ And she’d be like ‘Oh, it to death. Because then it’s just her own fault and her own was wonderful. But you know, I hate all the horrible people. ignorance.” You’re very funny so you keep working at it and someday you’ll The icy fans are a very small minority in Jinkx’s world, where hate everyone, too.’ That was amazing. She was such a legend it’s perennially Monsoon season. A quick glance around her and I got to share a theatre with her shortly before she passed. audience showed just how wide-ranging Monsoon’s reach is. “She watched my show one night and there was definitely a In front of me, a hot-pink-wigged 14-year-old superfan whose joke in there about her, because she was the earlier show and Twitter is dedicated to the drag superstar (@femaleJinkx). Next everyone knew she was doing it there weekly, so we could use to me, a gaggle of finger-snapping lesbians, and beyond them a that. The characters that we do in that show (The Vaudevillians) gentleman too ‘overwhelmed’ by Monsoon’s starpower to “name are characters that were frozen alive in the 1920s and just any musical” during a moment of audience (non)participation. recently thawed out, so we had this joke, like ‘Oh, and we’re It’s no wonder her audience is a cross-section of society: her performing in such a prestigious venue with the likes of Joan comedy crosses an almost paradoxical span of generations and Rivers! It’s so nice to see her again!’ When she came, I was so tastes, as does her cabaret repertoire. nervous about doing that joke, but I went through with it and “I like musicals and rock. And especially rock musicals!”. she loved it. She was the first one to stand and clap the night she came to see it. I have gotten to meet so many people like Monsoon’s insane schedule is packed to the minute, and this that – people I never in my lifetime thought I would get to meet – night was no different. Just after ordering orecchiette to eat and now I know them. That is really surreal to me.” between her own shows, we quickly had to clear the theater for a different show to begin. Impossible to fluster, the queen Hosted by Michelle Visage and featuring queens from across the years, famous for her self-assuring catchphrase, “water off a duck’s Battle of the Seasons tours worldwide and sashays through Calgary on back”, shrugged off the eviction, grabbed her glass of wine, and June 17th. suggested we continue elsewhere. Follow Brandon Schultz on Instagram @thebrandonalexandr “Let’s just finish this in the back on the toilet like we said we wouldn’t!” As we entered what amounted to a small closet with, indeed, a toilet in one corner, not unlike a miniature jail cell, Monsoon quipped, “welcome to my glamorous dressing room!” It was here that she revealed what she considered to be one http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5158 of the coolest experiences she has had as a drag queen, and View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments recalled a very special fan.

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 17 18 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Community Discussing Community Safety Domestic Violence By Constable Andy Buck Hello again everybody, it is always good to be able to How can I help someone I know who is being abused? speak with you. Unfortunately, it is with less positive Be there and listen, be non-judgmental, help your friend news than normal. First, as I am sure that you are or family member develop safety plans, help them contact by now already aware, is the fact that the ARGRA resources. rodeo in Strathmore has been cancelled. Of course, If you are a victim of domestic conflict or domestic this means that I now won’t have the opportunity violence, please have the confidence to confide in somebody, to interact with all of you wonderful people at this and please know that the Calgary Police Service are here event which is too bad. However, I know a number to help you. If needed, I can speak personally with you to of the board members from ARGRA, having had the discuss your options and help to reduce any fears you may have. I have lots of connections with resources and can chance to form a good professional relationship with point you in the right direction in terms of getting the help them over the past few years, and I know that this that you will need. It is important that you place value on is not a decision that would have been taken lightly. your own personal safety and recognize that it is not a sign They all have the best interests of the community at of weakness to ask for help. heart, and being responsible for making the decision The Calgary Stampede is only a few weeks away, so enjoy to disappoint many of you is something that weighs yourselves if you partake in the festivities there. Feel free heavy with them. They are all honourable people, to come and see myself or other Diversity Resource Team so please spare a thought for them. I know that members at the CPS tipi in Indian Village. it is easy to be critical when we feel that we are As always, look after yourselves and look out for each owed something, but I am convinced that the board other, and I will speak with you again soon. members of ARGRA will be working as hard as they can to try and come up with a satisfactory resolution http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5157 to this unfortunate situation. View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments Earlier this week we heard about the homicide unit investigating another murder, and it would appear as though the latest one is domestic related. I know that, on this occasion, it is not one that is connected to the community, but let’s not kid ourselves. Domestic conflict and domestic violence are prevalent within the community, and we here at the Calgary Police Service know that it is hugely under reported. The media released information recently about how these offences seem to be on the rise and I want to touch on a couple of things that I feel are important.

What is domestic violence? Domestic violence is defined as physical violence, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, stalking and harassment between family members or persons in a relationship or related by virtue of children, marriage, or adoption.

What are the warning signs of domestic violence? - Personality changes (angry, moody, agitated etc.). - Becoming withdrawn, closed, suddenly fearful or secretive. - Difficulty sleeping or abnormally tired. - Lower self-esteem, feeling negative about themselves. - Difficulty concentrating. - Neglecting personal hygiene or personal appearance. - Physical signs of injuries like bruises, sores and cuts. - Making excuses for injuries which seem implausible. - Hiding injuries with excessive make-up, sunglasses, extra clothing. - Appetite changes - weight loss or weight gain. - Starting to use substances or increasing in substance use. - Stops attending usual activities (church, gym, family and holiday gatherings).

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 19 Manila Luzon, Unabashed Creator How food, fan art, and free drinks inspire drag’s most famous concept queen

By Brandon Schultz “I just love the whole creative process from costumes to “I’ve been putting out crappy music ever since Ru Paul’s performances to videos. I love all of it,” she says. Drag Race and I’m working on even more, if that’s Famous for the attention to detail in her conceptual possible!” Manila Luzon, season three runner-up and ensembles, it comes as no surprise that Luzon was featured in returning favourite on the only All Stars season to date, the recently released Why Drag?, Magnus Hastings’s new coffee quips. The star hasn’t squandered any opportunities to table book that includes over a decade of the photographer’s interactions with legendary drag performers. No collection of create in the five years since she first exploded onto the the drag elite would be complete without her. national scene with her elaborate looks and over-the-top “Any time Magnus Hastings asks me, ‘Wanna do a shoot?’ antics. She may be through accepting challenges from I’m like, ‘YES!’ We’ve done so many shoots, and I’m really, really Ru for now, but Luzon’s perennial challenge is topping honoured that he chose some of my shots to be put into his herself, and nothing seems to excite her more than book. He shoots some of the most beautiful and fabulous drag finding ways to do just that. queens, and I’m just honoured to be part of that, in the book, During the New York City leg of the Ru Paul’s Drag Race forever. History!” Battle of the Seasons 2016 Extravaganza Tour, Luzon took a The book features not only photos of the queens, but their few minutes away from the VIP Meet-and-Greet to talk to Gay answers to its titular question. So what did lead Luzon down Calgary about becoming a drag queen, becoming too expensive her path to drag history? to afford herself, and becoming a plate of spaghetti.

20 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com “When I first moved to New York City, I was really young (like 21-years-old) and I’d go to the bars and clubs, and I was just another twinky boy in line. But when I would put on a dress I would go right up to the front, and the door bitch would be like, ‘Hey Manila, come on in! Here’s drink tickets!’ So I was like, ‘Well, I’m not leaving the house ever again unless I’m in drag’. That’s why I do drag. Skip the line and get some free drink tickets.” It wasn’t long before dresses brought her more than just drink tickets. Luzon cemented her standing in drag superstardom when she unveiled her now famous pineapple dress in a RPDR episode, for which she drew some heavy criticism from her co-

contestants for her potentially racist performance. The dress was so singular that she overcame the shade to take home the win that week, and high-end doll designer NiniMomo recreated the eye- catching look on a collectible Manila Luzon doll. “I don’t think it’s true that I’m the only RPDR queen with a doll of her – by the way, I didn’t write my fucking Wikipedia page! I have no idea who made that claim – but that doll was beautifully made and her dress had Swarokvski crystal beads. She cost more than the real pineapple dress. That doll was $700, so I don’t have one. I can’t afford me. But I have the actual dress at home. I am the doll.” What truly inspires her to create amazing looks isn’t the attention of doll-makers; it is love from her fans, and their dolls are the ones she treasures. “I’ve gotten to travel the world and meet all different fans of drag. I spend a lot of time in airplanes, but it’s really cool to travel and see different cultures and the way people live life, especially in the gay scene. It can be so different, and it’s really interesting. And a lot of my fans make me little dolls of myself that I love. I have such creative fans!” Luzon is quick to admit she is another girl out there trying to get a stocking-ed leg up in the world (“I don’t have a cause right now – I’m just out here makin’ some coins!”), but don’t let her comedic self-deprecation and jovial spirit fool you. There is nothing  photo by Kate McLaren www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 21 ordinary about her. Creativity is like oxygen for this queen, who relishes the opportunity to invent the looks for which she has become famous. When I challenged her to choose her next theme on the spot, she surprised even herself with how quickly she went from blank slate to show-stopping detail. “Oh my god, how could you ask me to do this?! I love costumes and I love a good theme to a costume, but I have this fight with myself all the time, trying to come up with inspiration. I really love food lately, so more food is probably coming up. The popcorn dress is my favorite, and the pineapple, of course. Food is always a good inspiration. You can go to Chinatown and be inspired to do a shrimp lo mein look, or Little Italy and do spaghetti.” I suggested meatballs as a hair bow. “Ooh, and two dogs sitting on my shoulders slurping a spaghetti wig like Lady & the Tramp! And a red and white checkerboard dress! Oh, hell yeah! Thank you so much for my next look!” I’m not sure whether it was the meatballs that she thanked me for, or simply indulging her mile-a-minute extemporaneous brainstorming sesh, but I gladly accept full credit for the forthcoming ‘Little Italy’ look from Manila Luzon. Hosted by Michelle Visage and featuring queens from across the years, Battle of the Seasons tours worldwide and sashays through Calgary on June 17th, when you will have your chance to see one of Luzon’s newest looks in person. Follow Brandon Schultz on Instagram @thebrandonalexandr

http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5160  photo by Andrew Werner View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

22 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 23 Gossip

David Drake, Justin Vivian Bond and Joey Arias. We wish them all the Kickstarter luck in the world, but could some power-gay producer just step in and handle this, please? You know who you are.

Ellen DeGeneres launches Ellen Digital Network While you weren’t paying attention, Ellen DeGeneres was gently promoting digital content on daytime TV, making YouTube, Vine and Snapchat understandable and accessible to an entire population usually ignored by those platforms. Who cares if some of it is remedial (like explaining Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” memes years after their inception)? The point is that she’s basically explaining the internet to people who didn’t know they wanted to care. And this is why her next step as an all-powerful mogul is so potentially lucrative. She’s launching the Ellen Digital Network, a programming slate that includes the Damn, Daniel kids, an animated series about her own pets called Ellen’s Pet Dish, new episodes of Dance Challenge, a user- generated content show called #MadeByYou, the Ellen Show game called Epic or Fail, and a content development deal with social media star Tyler Oakley. Bottom line: Ellen is taking your mom into the future with her, and you’ll know your own life has jumped the shark when she makes a show out of unicycling frog meme, “Here Come Dat Boi.”

Teyonah Parris: From Mad Men to Soldier Girl Still not sure who Teyonah Parris is? Then you’re not watching the right stuff. Already called the “Next Big Thing” by industry trade The Hollywood Reporter, Parris made a big impression as Dawn, the first black secretary hired onMad Men, before moving on to Justin Simien’s feature Dear White People and starring in Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq. And now she’s in talks to star in Buffalo Soldier Girl, to be directed by Christine Swanson (the upcoming TV movie The Miki Howard Story) from an original script by 2015 Texas Writer of the Year, author Sarah Bird. Set up by the production company Pantheon of Women, the script is based on the true story of a woman named Cathy Williams, who, disguised as a man, enlisted and fought with the African American post- Civil-War-era Buffalo Soldiers. The film is expected to shoot in  of Ellen DeGeneres, photo by Starfrenzy Texas this fall for a 2017 release. Be on the lookout for this one.

Jessica Lange v. Susan Sarandon in feud By now, if you even come close to other human beings Deep Inside Hollywood who have access to the internet, you’ve already heard about this one: Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange will play Bette Alan Cumming in ‘After Louie,’ Ellen DeGeneres, Davis and Joan Crawford, respectively, in Ryan Murphy’s new eight-part limited series, Feud. Murphy’s TV domination is an Teyonah Parris, Jessica Lange uncontested fact these days, recently bolstered by American Crime Story: The People Vs O.J. Simpson’s sweeping critical By Romeo San Vicente approval and great ratings. And this latest effort is going to be catnip to Baby Boomer and senior age gay men who grew up obsessed with the very real ongoing battle between Crawford After Louie wants to turn back time and Davis, two stars who loved to hate each other so much that LGBT film has moved past the moment when virtually all the their stunning early 1960s collaboration, Whatever Happened stories produced were about AIDS, but that doesn’t mean that to Baby Jane? felt more like real life than fiction. Our not-so- there aren’t many more stories to tell about the trauma and secret wish, though, is for some women on the writing staff devastation of the first wave of the disease. After Louie, a film to have a Marcia Clark-level of empathy for these two vintage by first-time feature director Vincent Gagliostro, co-written by Hollywood warriors. The last thing anyone needs is a typical gay Antony Johnston, will look at the perspectives of two generations male wallow in comic misogyny. Look, someone has to say this of men on either side of the timeline. Alan Cumming has been stuff out loud, you know? cast as an older artist and activist, a man who survived the ’80s Romeo San Vicente never feuds, he merely triumphs quietly in all ways. and ’90s, and who now finds himself in a relationship with a younger man (Zachary Booth) for whom the era is something only heard about second-hand. The film is in the middle ofa Kickstarter funding campaign, but the technical team and cast http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5151 are ready to go: attached in supporting roles are Wilson Cruz, View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

24 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 25 Lifestyle HIV in America Hatred and Acceptance

By Myles Helfand that HIV stigma and discrimination isn’t just acceptable, but “If you have a deadly disease, it is only proper that that it’s necessary. other people be warned against getting infected by It’s exhausting. It’s demoralizing. It can make resistance feel you,” the comment began. It went quickly downhill pointless. from there. And, I’m sorry to say, I don’t have any answers. “The HIV infected should be placed on a mandatory tracking Look, I realize I’m not remotely the first person to write about list and be tattooed with the BIOHAZARD symbol, just above how much HIV stigma sucks, and I unfortunately won’t be the genitals, as fair warning,” it continued. remotely the last person who’ll write about it either. I also don’t “They should also have a distinctive license and license plate pretend I’ve got a magic solution to the problem; if anything, I for the protection of LEO’s [law enforcement officials] they think it’s dangerous for us to pretend there is one out there, encounter,” it concluded, just for good measure. just waiting to be discovered. Doing so ignores the reality of All of this, ironically, was recently posted on an article on how wide a turning radius we often have as a society. TheBody.com entitled, “What Does HIV/AIDS Stigma Look Like We may be more interconnected as a species today than in Your Life?” we’ve ever been, but in many ways we’ve also become more I deleted the comment, of course; TheBody.com isn’t a fragmented, more easily distracted and more forcefully isolated place for people to beat each other down. But in a twisted (both online and off). We’re also more closed off from points way, I appreciated the commenter’s inadvertently perfect of view that might change our minds – as well as from people crystallization of what HIV stigma looks like in the U.S. today whose minds we might be able to change. – more than a generation after we learned what the virus is, I don’t think there’s an ideal way to counter stigma and how it works, and how dangerous it can be for all of humanity bigotry. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to acceptance. I’m when we ignorantly condemn a broad swath of society for living not even writing this article to offer advice; there’s plenty of that with it. already out there, on my website and those run by the other There’s so much about the comment that we could unpack writers who share this column (among many other people). and dissect, but the one that really sticks with me is the feeling I’m just writing this article to say that I know. I hear the it holds at its core that HIV somehow renders a person non- stigma, I see it, and I accept that it exists – and I hate that it human. That it makes them a thing: one of “the HIV infected.” does. I can wipe away a single destructive comment, but I can’t An object to be isolated, tagged as toxic, and cordoned off from make the stigma go away. Instead I acknowledge it. the uncorrupted. I’m just one person. But if you feel this way, too, then there’s I mean, I suppose I could try to address the comment by two of us in this boat. If you know another person who does, mentioning pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria, then we’ve got three. Maybe it’s not unreasonable to suspect hepatitis B or C, infectious diarrhea and the vast, varied there are a whole lot more, even though this fragmented world constellation of microbes that have attempted to use the of ours can often make it feel like there aren’t. human body as an incubator for as long as human bodies have Maybe, just maybe, if enough of us acknowledge HIV stigma, existed on Earth – and which the commenter is likely exposed and make the world aware that we acknowledge it, we’ll find to (or may even expose others to) on a near-daily basis. In some there are enough of us on this boat to help humanity slowly cases, exposure to that microbe occurs through the biologically turn away from it. imperative action of having sex. In others, it’s through the biologically imperative action of breathing air. Or maybe it’s enough, for some of us, just to know we’re not alone. That try as some might to label and judge, they can’t take Or I could try to explain why it’s kind of unlikely that a person away our humanity. with HIV who’s driving down a highway will have condomless Myles Helfand is the editorial director of TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO. sex with the police officer who stops them for speeding. Or that, com. Find him on Twitter @MylesatTheBody. This column is a project even if a porn video broke out in the middle of that traffic stop, of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, TheBody.com and Q Syndicate, the the officer still wouldn’t be at risk if the person was onHIV LGBT wire service. Visit their websites — http://hivplusmag.com, http:// treatment and had an undetectable viral load. positivelyaware.com, http://poz.com and http://thebody.com — for the Or I could ask what additional personal characteristics latest updates on HIV/AIDS. should warrant such a high level of warning for others who might encounter those people in the world. What level of abstract theoretical risk should trigger a tattoo- or license http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5161 plate-level notice? Just HIV? Maybe syphilis, too? All infectious View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments diseases, for good measure? How about mental illness? Epilepsy? Unstable blood sugar levels due to diabetes? Texting while driving? A part of me feels there’s not much point in responding, because any reply I make would be a rational response to a completely irrational train of thought. For more than 30 years, the global HIV community has tried to use research, science and education to counter presumption, ignorance and silence. Yet we still find ourselves surrounded by people who believe

26 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Interview The Unruly World of Rufus Wainwright Singer-songwriter on being ‘the gay Elizabeth Taylor,’ giving up on Björk and not jibing with the LGBT community By Chris Azzopardi “I’m not at the psychiatrist’s office.” Rufus Wainwright realizes that now, years later. There was a time, he acknowledges, amused by the notion, that interviews such as the one we’re engaged in passed as therapy. For that reason, the singer and composer is transparent, a book that never closes. That frankness has long marked his raw musings, windows into his life as a gay man, as a former drug addict, as a son, as a father. The personal catharsis of his latest work is less discernible. Featuring guest collaborators Helena Bonham Carter, Carrie Fisher, William Shatner, Florence Welch and sister Martha Wainwright, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets adapts the Bard’s work within noticeably non-traditional sonic structures, because this is a Rufus Wainwright album. Before we launch into a wide-ranging conversation – encompassing issues he sorted through while recording the Shakespearian project, how his “very wry” personality rubs  photo by Matthew Welch gay people the wrong way and the Benedict Cumberbatch conundrum – Wainwright says “don’t worry,” reassuring me that that’s a tradition that now I’m on both sides of (laughs). I’ve been even though this isn’t quite psychiatry, “I’m still pretty open.” a younger man and I am that older man now, and so I see it from GC: Just when I think you’ve reached peaked ambition, you both sides. To have a woman (Anna Prohaska) sing it is very release an album of Shakespeare sonnets set to music. Where interesting, because that takes it into a whole other mirrored do you think your desire to be so outside of the box comes from? image, which is what’s amazing about Shakespeare – how many RW: Well, I was never in the closet, I was never in the box… I reflections (we) can illustrate depending on how old one is or how was never in my right mind! I don’t know. This album, in a lot of young one is or what gender one is relating to at that moment. ways, is kind of a miracle in the sense that it’s nothing that I ever It’s a vortex of possibilities. really planned on or was working toward; it sort of made itself, GC: When it comes to aging, what has been your experience as and all in conjunction, of course, with the 400-year anniversary a middle-aged gay man who’s a public figure? of Shakespeare’s death. RW: The catch-22 is that in 20 years – I’m 42 now – I’ll It just so happens that many years ago I was working on a probably look back at this period as really my zenith, when I was project of the sonnets (Five Shakespeare Sonnets, in 2010) and probably the most attractive I’ve ever been. But now that I’m in somehow the work that I was doing with these poems really the middle of it, I’m looking backwards to when I was 22... and resonated with all sorts of people, whether it was the San when I was 22 I was really miserable! (Laughs) So it’s, “You don’t Francisco Symphony wanting arrangements of them or Songs know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” as Joni Mitchell said. But I for Lulu (his 2010 album grieving the loss of his mother, Kate think artistically in one’s 40s you do feel the joint rapture of both McGarrigle) or other singers performing them. In fact, there are a experience and still a sense of youth that can combine and really few dance choreographers now who have started to choreograph make you feel like you’re in the present. pieces to the work, so it’s just something that happened, and lo GC: Your cross-genre collaborations are constantly surprising and behold it fell right in line with this 400th anniversary. I just people, and there are some unexpected ones on this album. Who had to facilitate that as much as I could. What a lot of people is someone you want to work with that we wouldn’t expect? think is outside of my box is really just me following my brute instincts and going with that fully. I’ve never been able to work RW: The other day my sister Martha had her 40th birthday otherwise, so I suppose that will continue to be the case. and we had some people up to the house. One of them was Sufjan Stevens, who I’ve admired for a long time and, yeah, he’d GC: Yes, you seem a bit artistically restless. be fun to write a song with. I’ve given up on Björk. She’s not RW: Yes. Also, for me, music is where I really – I mean, taken my lead. (Laughs) I’m like, “Hey Björk, let’s do this” and speaking about being in a psychiatrist’s office – exorcise a lot of she’s, like, hanging out with aliens or something. my demons and emotionally confront issues, and in order to do GC: I saw you in Toronto in 2014 for If I Loved You: Gentlemen that I can’t really coast now. I have to crack the ice a little bit. Prefer Broadway, which was wonderful. That’s the way it is. RW: Thank you. GC: With this piece in particular, what issues are you confronting? GC: And I’ve seen you many times before, but not in that dynamic, with a bunch of men, many of whom were straight. So RW: I think a lot of this is centered around my mother’s illness I was watching you and, of course, admiring the performances, and death (in 2010), and also aging is in here. I think one of the but I was also noticing the way you interacted with the other reasons “A Woman’s Face” is repeated several times – it’s really fellas on stage and I’m like, “Rufus is such a shameless flirt.” about an older man kind of fawning over a younger man and

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 27 GC: I know you have a lot of opinions on today’s pop divas. So Lady Gaga, Adele and Beyoncé: Which would you fuck, marry, kill? RW: Fuck, marry, kill – oh boy. Dangerous. I guess I would marry Adele. Ahh, I would, you know, fuck Gaga and kill Beyoncé. GC: Did you not like Lemonade? RW: I just, ahhh...whatever. I was only given a few choices, so it’s not my fault. (Laughs) GC: You don’t have any tour stops in North Carolina, but what’s your take on how artists are handling the situation regarding House Bill 2, the “bathroom bill”? And if you did have a date there, what would you do? RW: This relates back to what I said before: I think that any kind of pushback against this rising wave of right-wing extremism coming from large sectors in the world is a positive act. What’s good about the North Carolina thing is, I mean, I think the artists are doing their part, which is great, but I think it’s also the business leaders who are really pulling the money out of the state that’s gonna really make a huge difference. It’s all people working in conjunction from all different fields that’s important. And yeah, I’d probably pull out.  photo by Matthew Welch GC: So, no North Carolina shows anytime soon? No, and I don’t have any gigs there. I’ll go to the ladies RW: (Laughs) I know! I’m terrible! RW: room one time in protest and scare everybody. (Laughs) GC: Have you always been that way? GC: You’re restaging Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall on RW: I have. I’m just built that way. I’m sort of a gay Elizabeth June 16-17 in New York and June 23-24 in Toronto. How will Taylor. the music and the show reflect the way the world’s changed in GC: When you’re singing a love song with Josh Groban, I can’t the last 10 years since you first performed it? blame you. RW: The main reason I’m doing the show again is to see what RW: Yes, yes. He’s a handsome man. condition my voice is in. I mean, I have an inkling that it’s at the GC: Did you get a chance to meet Benedict Cumberbatch top if its game, and the only way to really prove that is to sing while recording the BBC’s The Shakespeare Show: Recorded Live that material, so it’s more of a practical exercise for me to do this from the Royal Shakespeare Company? show again. I’ve been working very hard on my singing over the RW: Yeah! I’ve hung out with Benedict a couple of times. He’s... years and I want to show that off, but on a more philosophical he’s quite the figure. Most amazing thing is, I can’t tell if he’s level: I originally did this show because of my broken feelings gorgeous or incredibly ugly. (Laughs) It’s a weird combination. At toward the Iraq War. I needed something to remind me of how certain angles he looks like my aunt, and then at certain angles great America could be when it wanted to be, and sadly we’re he looks the man who’s gonna ruin my marriage. in the same predicament with Donald Trump and this racist, sexist blowback. I don’t know, it just seems to be something that A couple of years ago, I was surprised to hear you say you GC: occurs every 10 years in the United States and I’m happy that didn’t think you had a big gay following. I’ve been following you the Judy show is gonna be back out there again because it is all since “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” and I’m definitely gay. the good that this country can represent. RW: Aww! Well, thank you. I guess I just feel with the gay GC: Regarding your voice: Haven’t you already proven yourself community my kind of very wry and frank opinion on things can as a singer? be misinterpreted. Us queers are kind of a sensitive bunch, so sometimes there’s a bit of a tempest in a teapot (reaction) when I RW: Well, I’m a big opera fan and in the world of opera, you put out certain concepts. Some people enjoy the dialectic of that don’t really hit your stride until you’re in your 40s vocally. That’s and other people shy from it and, well, the gay community... it when you get all the big roles, so it’s just more of a personal can get a little insular. thing. I’m not trying to prove it to anybody; I’m just proving it to myself, and also just to be really on top of the material. I You never had to make a coming out announcement, GC: loved doing Judy the first time because it was this kind of mad so I wonder: How do you feel about famous people coming out rollercoaster ride that I just attached myself to with handcuffs making headlines in 2016? (laughs) and went along with, but this time I feel like I can hold RW: Yeah, well… I mean, it’s good that they’re doing it. onto the reigns a little better and just really nail it. (Hesitates) I don’t know. I just... it’s still to be applauded because GC: You’ve done Judy and Shakespeare. Which other legendary the sad truth is we are living in reactionary times now and whether figures intrigue you enough to make you want to dedicate an it’s Donald Trump or ISIS, there is this kind of tremendous entire album’s worth of material to their work? backlash to a lot of the advancements that have been made in the last 20 years, and so I think it’s probably harder in certain RW: The figure that’s kind of looming all of a sudden – I’m just places to be gay now than it was a while ago. The pendulum has hearing little squeaks of this in my psyche, but I’m a big (William) started to swing the other way. So, as long as people are coming Blake fan. I love Blake. Who knows. Maybe something like that. out and continuing the battle, then I think it’s good. I’d also like to do a French record at some point to just sort of, you know, loosen it in up a bit. (Laughs) And of course there are my own songs from my own life, so there are a lot of possibilities. GC: And the Shakespeare character you call your spirit animal? RW: Oh, gee. I would say I’ve always wanted to be Titania from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, because I’m a sad queen, really. (Laughs)

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28 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 29 30 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 31 32 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Lena Dunham Mans Up Girls creator on recognizing ‘seemingly mundane’ LGBT issues, channeling masculinity and the influence of her sister’s queerness

 photo by HBO

By Chris Azzopardi coming-of-age dramedy Girls, and being so gay adjacent she Suited is the perfect fit for Lena Dunham. calls her significant other, fun.’s lead guitarist Jack Antonoff, Producer of the thought-provoking documentary about the her “partner.” powerful relationship between fashion and identity, Dunham GC: I’m gonna try not to cry again just thinking about one knows firsthand that bending the gender rules by wearing a of the doc’s subjects, 12-year-old Aidan Star Jones. I’m not suit can be a transformative experience. During this year’s transgender, but I felt like I was watching a version of myself. annual Met Gala, the multi-hyphenate – actor, author, director, LD: That makes me so happy! And by the way, I’ve seen the social activist, feminist, out and proud proponent of the word movie a million times and I still weep every time I watch it. I “no” – rocked an androgynous look, sporting black-tie attire and weep every time my sister comes on screen. I just weep because slicked-back hair as if she were a GQ cover model. The masc I love that it’s kind of a feel-good movie. People are expecting moment was classic Dunham – meaning, yet another strong this gritty documentary and I’m like, yes, there are moments statement. Known for her Emmy Award-winning HBO series of that, but really it’s the family movie I would want to watch Girls, the 30-year-old has made it her life’s mission to tear down if I thought that queerness was more accepted in the world of societal standards. family movies, which I hope it will be soon. Backing Suited only seemed natural, then. During Jason GC: In what ways did you find yourself empathizing with Benjamin’s directorial debut, airing on HBO beginning June some of the people who visited Bindle & Keep? 20 (the film initially premiered in January at Sundance), LD: I don’t identify as queer in my sexuality, but I have a lot of transgender and genderfluid suit-buyers uncover a deeper really close relationships with queer people, and queer culture sense of self as they find garments that speak to their identity has been hugely influential. Like so many disenfranchised at Bindle & Keep, a Brooklyn-based bespoke men and women, queer culture has been a huge part of my coming of womenswear company. age. Dunham’s genderqueer sister, Grace, appears in the Like I said, I’m a straight girl, but what I really empathized documentary while on a quest for a “dark wool suit … to run with was the need to find yourself in fashion when there aren’t around in.” representations of you. I know that when I entered high school Dunham recently phoned for a candid conversation about and became a chubby girl – I’d always been a little skinny kid how Grace’s gender subversions have influenced her to and then suddenly I gained 40 pounds in four months and challenge Hollywood norms. During the interview, the actor didn’t know what to do with my body and didn’t feel like there also elaborated on the “strength” she gained from wearing her was a place (for me). I could either walk into a Lane Bryant own tailored suit, seeking to break stereotypes with her zeitgeist and sheath myself in something that didn’t make me feel like

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 33  photo by Mark Schafer/HBO  Still from Bindle & Keep. Courtesy of HBO myself at all or I could continue to wear my too-tight hot pink him for the day, it was a plaid shirt, jeans, sneakers; he just sweatpants. I didn’t feel like there was a place for my body to be thinks androgynous fashion on women is super cool. One of seen or known or understood. the first presents that he bought each of us: He got me a suit in So, for me, what’s been really powerful as an adult has been eighth grade; he got my sister a suit in high school. He would having my clothes tailored, which is something I only started really push the-ladies-in-suits angle. My mom came up in New doing once I started going to red-carpet events, and even though York in the ’80s wearing a power suit, so the idea of suiting as I’ve had that experience, I actually had a Bindle & Keep suit something that kind of already defies gender lines, I already felt made for our Sundance premiere. The experience of putting on like I had an understanding of. This (movie) obviously takes it something that just fucking fit was so remarkable, and I looked to a whole new level. in the mirror and there was this strength that came from not GC: How do you hope the stories that you are a part of telling, trying to hide any part of myself. So, I think we can all relate to such as Suited and your work as creator of Girls, can enrich that feeling of trying to find the look – of fashion being a way to and embolden the lives of the LGBTQ community? try and express yourself, and not feeling like there’s any place LD: I think my biggest hope – and my (creative) partner Jenni to turn in the commercial marketplace where your identity’s Konner’s definitely coming from the same place – is just that being accepted. In that way, fashion turns from something that these stories make people feel seen. That was always our goal is very superficial to something that is extremely emotional. with Girls. I went into HBO and said, “Hey, I don’t see any GC: Recently, I finally fit into a shirt that I’d been wanting to shows that represent my friends.” And then when we put it on, fit into for a long time, so I get it. and we got our own critiques about what we were representing, LD: It’s amazing. It’s so subtle but it’s so important. My dad we were going, “Wait, a bunch of other people feel that way too,” has always been into tailoring. He’s a real suit guy. My friends because I didn’t see kind of my weirdo, anxious chubby self will be like, “I saw your dad and I knew it was him from far on television. Other women didn’t see complex women of color away because he was wearing this super sharp suit at 10 a.m. represented on television; other women went, “Hey, I’m Asian on a Wednesday heading to the grocery store,” and this made and I’ve never seen a character who doesn’t just have her nose me really understand that part of the reason my dad does in a book and is playing the violin.” We’re always just trying to that is because it makes him feel that he can own his identity. push back against stereotypical representation or play with it Something that I love in our family is, my dad has all these in an intelligent way. suits and then my sibling, Grace, who’s in the movie, will take And what I loved about Suited: This is about an aspect of his old suits and tailor them to her body. queer life – we spend so much time thinking about, and It’s funny, when we were little girls my dad always wanted rightfully so, these huge issues like marriage equality, raising to dress us in a super androgynous way. If we were alone with families, job discrimination; this is a much more seemingly mundane issue. For the queer community and members of

34 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com the gender nonconforming community, it actually ripples to every part of their life. Because you see, if (doc subject) Everett (Arthur) doesn’t get a suit then Everett doesn’t feel confident and Everett’s not gonna get a job and Everett’s not gonna show that, hey, a gender nonconforming trans lawyer is an option in the South. It goes so far. I just hope people see it and go, “I’m seeing myself represented whether I’m queer or not in these characters, and this is a version of the queer story that I haven’t seen before.” GC: How has having a sister who identifies as a gender nonconforming person changed your perspective on yourself and your sexuality? LD: This is an overused word, but Grace is a really brave person. Grace very much came into the world – age 3 – being like, “I don’t wanna wear a dress and I’m being myself.” Grace always makes a joke that she was briefly straight from the ages of 7 to 10. She very much came into the world with this radicalized approach to being a woman. She did an interview recently in the New York Times in which she was having a conversation with her friend Nicole Eisenman, who is also a queer woman, and they asked Grace about her pronouns and Grace was like, I’m a gender nonconforming person but I’m OK with being called “she” because I like to really push the boundaries of what “she” can be, and that really resonated with me. Because even though I consider myself female and I have a more binary approach to my sexuality, I think that Grace’s idea about expanding the definition of what “she” can mean has really opened me up. Before Grace became so deeply embedded in her identity, I  photo by Craig Blankenhorn/HBO think that I was still thinking of the world as… I accepted the idea of transness but I felt like I didn’t understand the idea of a person whose gender and sexuality could contain elements of everything that they’d seen. It’s funny: You know, I wore a http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5163 tuxedo to the Met Ball this year and it was such a great feeling View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments to go to a big fashion event where you’re surrounded by girls in gowns and feel this kind of strength that comes from being feminine while owning some masculine attributes. GC: How did it feel to be the odd man out, so to speak? LD: It’s this very ineffable thing where you’re like, “I feel cool, I feel sexy, I feel like myself.” I felt a little bit at the Met Ball – I’d go up to ladies and be like (deepens voice to resemble a man), “You look great!” (Laughs) I was owning these kind of masculine clothes I had on and it felt really good, and I feel without Grace in my life I wouldn’t. I think, especially when you’re working in Hollywood, there’s a real pressure to conform to femininity in a traditional way, especially if you don’t look like what people think a TV star should look like. When I was first getting styled I’d go, “I just wanna wear a really pretty dress and really pretty makeup, so when I go to an event people think, ‘Oh, she’s way prettier in person than I thought she would be.’” That’s all I wanted. And now, Grace has made me feel like I can go in with a fucking suit with my hair messed up because the rules have changed. GC: I love that you’ve taken her lead. Speaking of people who’ve influenced your world, I talked to Jack a few years ago. LD: Mmm! My partner. GC: Yes, your partner. Is that what you call him? LD: (Laughs) I use partner because I like it. We’re not married, but also, he’s not my boyfriend. I feel like it’s another one where I’m like, I’m kind of down with the queer community. I have my partner! He’s my partner! GC: Your refusal to marry until your sister could was admirable, and you wrote a wonderful essay after the Supreme Court ruling last June. It’s been a year since the ruling. Have you thought about what you might have the queer people in your wedding party wear? LD: That’s an amazing question, and actually, Jack and I have talked about it and we’ve always said that when we get married we want our wedding party to just be our two sisters in tuxedos. Jack has a straight sister, I have a queer sister; they’d be our best men / women and we’ll call it a day. That’s our dream.

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 35 36 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Lifestyle 7 Ways Social Media Has Made You a Sex Addict by Mikey Rox Ten years ago, when Facebook was in its infancy and iPhones were but a glimmer in Steve Jobs’ eyes, you had to work hard to be a perv. Now, fulfilling your friskiness is just a flick away, and that’s not exactly a good thing. Social media has taken over our lives, both personally and professionally, and the dark underbelly of our online world is as dank and seedy as a dimly lit bathhouse. As a result, you may very well be a sex addict; here are seven ways to find out.

1. DM on Twitter and Facebook Has Gotten You in Trouble With Your Boo What starts out as innocent “likes” and flirty comments on Facebook and Twitter soon evolves into a deep-see-diving expedition into the object of your burgeoning affection’s profile, 5. You Bookmark YouPorn More Than Any Other Website left-swiping on the family and milestone photos but holding We all have a handful of super-hot vids saved that are our steady on the shirtless-vacay jackpot. Eventually one DMs the go-tos. But if you’ve got them bookmarked on your phone or other in an attempt to push the boundaries of social-stranger computer so you can have them at the ready whenever you’re etiquette – even though you know you shouldn’t – until a sordid ready – and they outnumber the more relevant and G-rated relationship of sexts and sweet-nothings arises. Which is all content you have stored – it’s time to pull up your pants, put well and good if it’s as innocuous as you say it is, but your the devices away and introduce yourself to the real world again. partner doesn’t believe you when you get caught (as well he shouldn’t since you’re being dishonest), and therein lies your 6. We Can All Agree That Snapchat Exists to Share Dick problem – likely one of many. Pics 2. You Spend Way Too Much Time on Grindr A friend of mine asked me a few months ago if I’m on Snapchat. My response? No, because I’m not a 17-year-old Thanks to social media – and very specifically Grindr with kid trying to sext undercover. I’m grown, and when I send you regards to our gay community – most of us have developed not my dick pic you get to keep it forever – because I’m confident only a need but, more dastardly, an affinity for 375-feet-away like that. But I digress. My point that Snapchat is strictly for validation and instant gratification. You open the app every 15 younger Millennials and high-schoolers to trade nudies with minutes to see if someone new has pinged you or, hopefully, that no cyber trail (even though that’s inaccurate) is proven by brick-bodied bro you’ve got your eye on has finally responded to this appropriately worded statistic from research firm Martin- your “Sup?” Friday and Saturday nights? Forget about it. What Wilbourn Partners: “Snapchat is now the third most popular were once bastions of freedom and nightlife exploration have social app among Millennials, with a 32.9 percent penetration devolved into afternoon-to-evening-long sessions of sitting on on the demographic’s mobile phones, trailing only Instagram the couch surfing headless thumbnails while Netflix plays in (43.1 percent) and Facebook (75.6 percent).” the background as you consistently turn down the so-sos and frequently get rejected or ignored by the more-sos. It’s cyclical, 7. You Visit Tumblr For Celeb Nudes and Homemade Sex and you can’t quit it – until you hit it, that is (and you’re almost Tapes always compromising, which makes the whole situation even sadder), ultimately ushering in a brief respite before ending up Does anybody even understand Tumblr? I don’t – except back at square one a few hours later. when I’m googling a celebrity’s junk or looking for amateur porn (because watching normal people do it as awkwardly as I do is 3. When There’s a Grindr Outage You Turn to Scruff comforting). That’s really all Tumblr is good for. Anybody who tries to tell you differently is either a liar or a 13-year-old girl, Gay Twitter loses it collective mind when Grindr experiences or probably both. an outage, like it did recently – at least on the West Coast Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose (and during the Palm Springs White Party, no less) – driving work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He hordes of Grindr loyalists to other apps like Scruff to fulfill their splits his time between homes in New York City and the Jersey Shore with insatiable desires. If you find yourself in a cold sweat, clamoring his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Twitter @mikeyrox. to connect nakedly with somebody – anybody! – nearby when the Grindr gods throw down the gauntlet, it’s probably high- time for reflection… and confession. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5127 4. You’re Really on Instagram for the Man-Butts View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments You’re kidding yourself if you think you’re on Instagram for the sweeping views and vistas of other people’s getaways, pics of kittens and your BFF’s brunch plate. Real talk, you’re there to scroll through the endless images of the buffed-out, swole-up models and meatheads you daydream about tossing you around like a rag doll. If you follow @seductionboys, @themuscleleague or @datbubblebutt, you might be a sex addict.

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 37 Lifestyle

about with their junk hanging out. Rather, it’s the older crowd that likes to walk around naked, stand at their locker for an extended period of time in the buff (sending minutes-long emails, no less), and generally move at a glacial pace drying off every nook and cranny of their bodies. Certainly that’s not a definitive statement – there are men of all ages trying to entice the rippling mass of man-flesh next to them with an ample showing of their own skin – but from my experience there’s consistently an age gap between those of us who from go from soaking wet post-shower to dry and draped in clothing in less than 60 seconds and those who could’ve had a three-martini lunch in the time it takes them to put on a pair of underwear.

3. Likewise, Most Guys Came to Workout and Relax – Not Hookup Your gym’s saunas and steam rooms exist to serve its customers with a place to unwind and loosen tight muscles after an intense workout. They were not installed for anybody to have sex inside them, despite popular opinion. But thanks to the bathhouse culture that’s deeply rooted within our community, we’ve come to regard any heated, clothing-optional area as a destination of desire. Sure, these spaces and situations can be sexy – exposed private parts have a way of getting a rise out of people, after all – but not all occupants are up for getting down. That’s not to say that two consenting adults can’t make a go of it, but you shouldn’t put anyone else out, run them off, or otherwise make them uncomfortable because you want to act out a fantasy. You have a bedroom for that. And if your 5 Reasons You Need to boyfriend is home – making a one-on-one tryst with a gym trick a no-go – that’s your problem and nobody else’s. Stop Treating Your Gym 4. What You’re Doing in the ‘Facilities’ is Unsanitary All that grimy sweat pooling on the benches and floors of steam rooms and saunas aside, the fact remains that not everyone showers before they enter; that’s issue number one, Like a Bathhouse and it’s pretty disgusting if you’ve just come from a five-mile by Mikey Rox run on the treadmill. Secondly, if you’re having sexual contact with another person in these rooms, you’re introducing a Visit a gym in any major city and you’ll quickly pick up whole host of other bacteria to the scenario that, personally, I’d on the local “culture.” You know what I’m talking about. rather do without – and I’m not alone. I’ve witnessed plenty of New York and Los Angeles, specifically, are notorious questionable activities happen here – from making out to oral sex to full-on penetration – and I’m never more disgusted (or for the goings-on in its gyms showers, steam rooms and run out of a room quicker) than when a guy blows his load all saunas. It’s become such a huge problem in certain over the wood or tile structures instead of his towel and quickly places that there are signs posted warning guests about exits without a second thought about cleaning it up. This is lascivious behavior, and a handful of locations have how things like death get spread, and it needs to stop. removed the locker-room relaxation stations altogether to discourage such activities. While I contend that 5. Performing Lewd Acts in Public Is Illegal exercising your demons to completion can be exciting While the after-exercise facilities at your gym seem like private and fun and – probably, the most appealing part of it – places – low lights and condensation-covered doors have a way anonymous, it can make other gym-goers uncomfortable. of suggesting to your subconscious that they are – they’re still Thus, five reasons you need to stop treating your gym very much public. As such, if you get caught performing lewd like a bathhouse – if you know what’s good for you. acts in public, you’re subject to the codes of conduct that help keep our world free from sexual predators – and that’s exactly 1. You’re Making Other People Uncomfortable With All how you’ll be defined, perhaps forever if you’re charged with a That Cruising criminal act. Now, most gyms will simply ask you to leave and revoke your membership in this case, but if you’ve offended or Although it may seem like everybody came to the gym to get touched someone else without their consent, it could mean big a “full body” workout – from your perspective, anyway – not trouble, and in the end that’s just not worth it. Which brings every guy in the joint is looking for play. Believe it or not, the me back to the bathhouse: If you’re feeling frisky, head over majority of dudes are there to get their lift on and go about their there. Otherwise, keep your love muscle to yourself at the gym day. Staring bros down with come-hither glances may work on and nobody gets hurt. some patrons, but there are a high percentage of people who Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose aren’t into it – at all. Of course, as gay men we think every hot work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He bloke pumping iron must be at least a little bit homo, but that’s splits his time between homes in New York City and the Jersey Shore with rarely the case. Do what you came to the gym to do – stay active his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Twitter @mikeyrox. and healthy – and save the cruising for the bars and bedroom apps where they belong, lest you become a homophobe’s new punching bag. 2. Most Guys Prefer Discretion in the Locker Room http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5142 It must be a generational thing, because when I’m in the View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments locker room I rarely see guys my age – I’m 35 years old – milling

38 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 39 The Butch Beneath Our Wings Lea DeLaria reflects on her landmark TV moment, talks ‘hero’ Bette Midler and making tough lesbians cry with Orange Is the New Black

 photos by Netflix

By Chris Azzopardi longtime collective acronym, LGBT? Read on as DeLaria reveals First the screwdriver, then the peanut butter. all. But Lea DeLaria’s love for Orange Is the New Black goes GC: Orange Is the New Black is now in its fourth season. Is beyond the craftiness of her shenanigans with both a hand tool that hard to believe? and a classic sandwich spread as a regular on TV’s Emmy- LD: It’s really shocking for me to believe it’s our fourth winning prison drama. Sure, Netflix has afforded the veteran season. I thought I’d have way more money by now! actress a deep cargo-pocket of outrageous antics, but Orange GC: What about this fourth season stands out from the past isn’t only here for your amusement. More importantly, the three? series and DeLaria’s riotous, randy character, Big Boo, are part LD: I think what people are going to find about the fourth of the show’s heralded inclusivity. season is that it’s darker than the other seasons. They really Breaking ground as the first openly gay comic to perform on explore some of the shitty things about being in prison. There’s American television, in 1993 on The Arsenio Hall Show, DeLaria a lot I can’t talk about. I think it’s going to be much darker is still carrying the torch on TV two decades later, representing than you’ve seen in the past. Still funny, but there’s definitely a a deeply unsung subset in the queer community on Orange: the darkness involved. But Boo is going to be Boo as Boo always is. butch lesbian. GC: You get to do some crazy stuff on this show. What’s your As the show embarks on its icy fourth season, the 58-year- relationship like with peanut butter at this point? old called in for a tell-all interview about the “lesser known” LD: Yeah, I can’t eat peanut butter at all, as a matter of fact. controversy surrounding her historical TV debut: How the Fox (Laughs) network was not fond of the actress’ lavish gayness and wanted to put the brakes on her groundbreaking Arsenio appearance. GC: Seriously? Who stepped in to fight Fox’s resistance to the landmark stint? LD: Yeah, I don’t really eat peanut butter. But yeah, I believe Why has the actress turned down so many gay roles since that the writers sit around and go, “What’s the fucking most then? And why does she think we should drop the community’s

40 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com insane thing we can think of? Let’s give it to DeLaria!” They know I’ll do anything for a laugh. GC: When it comes to acting, you’ve been at it longer than most people know. An eternity, right? LD: It feels like an eternity. GC: You don’t look like an eternity. LD: Good genes, I can assure you. It’s certainly not from taking care of myself, as anyone who’s seen me in the West Village, drunk on my butt at 4 in the morning, knows. GC: How is post-Orange life different from pre-Orange life? Are you recognized more often on the streets? LD: Oh yeah, I’m recognized nonstop. Before – first of all, not everybody was carrying their camera with them like they do now, so I would get stopped… I’d get stopped enough. I wouldn’t say frequently, and I wouldn’t say infrequently; it was somewhere in the middle. Generally, it’s “Hey, you’re Lea DeLaria; can I have your autograph?” Now I can’t even walk out of my front doorstep. It’s like, “Oh my god! Orange is the New Black!” It just goes on all day. GC: Can you still even go to gay bars? LD: All the time. I could never go to a gay bar before! I mean, before Orange that would be the one place everyone knew who I was. I made the decision very early on in my life that I’m going to live my life, and if people come up to me, I’m going to be friendly and charming the way I am. I don’t want to lock myself in my room. I just don’t want to do that, so I’m out all the time. GC: How does the treatment of LGBT characters and sexuality on Orange compare to your previous lesbian roles, both big and small? LD: What’s different about it more than anything else in the world is that it’s real. Believe me, as you’ve said, I played a lot of them, big and small, and I can assure you I’ve said “no” more than I’ve said “yes” to these roles. A lot of roles I say no to are because they’re just so completely stereotyped and bullshit that I won’t play them anymore. GC: You say “anymore.” What changed? LD: When I started out in the business, I played them because it was work. And then it just got to be ridiculous. I just said, “This is it. I can’t do this anymore unless someone is going to give me a real character.” Like the chick I played on Californication! If you’re going to give me a real character, I’m going to knock it out of the park for you. If you’re just gonna make it the same ol’ stereotypical bullshit butch, I’m not interested. But that’s what’s great about our show, and not just with the queer characters but with what it does with women, what it does for trans people – what it does for everybody. We’re real. We’re three dimensional. We’re honest. We cry. We laugh. We talk about life, you know? That’s the biggest difference. And not to mention the very warm, friendly, three- dimensional positive portrayal of a butch dyke that is incredibly unique and unusual, and so I’m loving doing that. GC: As a butch lesbian yourself, how do you think Boo is opening doors for the butch lesbian community? LD: I know that she is because I get direct messages on Instagram. I get, like, 150 of them a day from all over the world, from all these different women saying, “Thank god for Orange Is the New Black, thank god for Big Boo. I now know that it is OK for me to be www.gaycalgary.com who I am,” and they’re not just talking about being gay; they’re It was a big deal at the time; now it’s ho-hum. But back then talking about being a butch. I get constant messages about it. it was huge. You gotta remember, Ellen (DeGeneres) wasn’t out Constant! And then people come up to me on the street. I’ve had yet. Rosie (O’Donnell) wasn’t out yet. None of these guys were really hard-ass butches cry when they talk to me, which is… out yet. trust me, it’s hard for us to cry. So finally somebody is putting GC: Shifting gears: Let’s talk about your cameo in one of the out there who we actually are. I feel like Season 3, episode gayest classics of all time, First Wives Club. What’s an onscreen four, which is the Boo backstory episode – I believe that’s done scolding from Bette Midler like? as much for butches as Season 1, episode three, did for the LD: Just like an offscreen scolding! (Laughs) transgender community. GC: Wait wait, there’s a story there. GC: Do lesbians send you letters from jail? LD: I gotta say, you must be about my fiancée’s age because LD: I don’t get letters from people in jail. What I do get are the everybody of her generation – she’s 31 – loves that movie. That’s conversations with them after they’re out. I hear from guards, her favorite movie. I’m like, mine’s Rebecca. I’m just saying, from COs, from wardens, from assistant wardens and from ex- First Wives Club is your favorite movie?! prisoners on the street telling me how much our show hits the nail on the head. It’s very real. It’s very much like that. I think The best thing about First Wives Club, though, beyond the that’s a really intense compliment. I’m not that kind of actor. fact that I got to be in it and beyond the fact that Paul Rudnick Like Taylor (Schilling), who is an amazing actor, she went to a wrote that for me, which was very cool, was getting to work with women’s prison. Kate Mulgrew went to a women’s prison. To Bette, who is my hero and one of the reasons I went into show look at, to get the feel, to get the backbone of their character. I business. But more than that was becoming friends with Goldie watched Lockup. (Laughs) Hawn. Goldie is just an absolute unbelievable doll. Talented. Brilliant. Charming. Just a lovely human being. I had a blast GC: What’s your earliest memory of subverting gender doing First Wives Club. norms? Were you a tomboy? GC: More recently, you called out a preacher while on the LD: Yeah, I was what we called a tomboy back then. It’s very New York subway. interesting… when I went to a thrift store and got my first suit and put it on for the first time, it was like putting on my own LD: That guy? It’s an insult to preachers to call him a skin. I was 17. preacher. He’s just a homophobic asshole. GC: When did you get the “butch” tattoo on your forearm? GC: It went viral. LD: It must’ve been the ’90s. LD: It went viral so fast I couldn’t believe it, in fact. I was on TMZ within a half hour. That was the thing: I was on a GC: What’s the story behind it? subway on my way to the studio – we were filming – so what had LD: I like tattoos! I’ve got a lot of ’em. I just wanted it to say happened, I got out of the subway and I called my manager. I “butch,” and I went in and told (the tattoo artist) what I wanted. said, “Look, I had a confrontation. Somebody pulled out their After we got done, I couldn’t see it because of the angle, and he phone and they videotaped it soooo there might be something goes, “It’s fantastic! It says ‘bitch’ perfectly!” And I went insane. on social media.” Twenty minutes later, he called me and said, “YOU PUT BITCH ON THERE?” And he laughed – he got me so “You’re on TMZ.” It was hilarious! It just went nuts. good. He laughed soooo hard at me. He totally got me. But he GC: You famously dropped out of Michigan Womyn’s was just messing with me – he knew better than to put bitch Music Festival in 2014 because of their womyn-born-womyn my on arm. stipulation, which discourages transgender people from GC: So 1993 comes around and you’re the first openly gay attending. And you’ve spoken many times on the topic of comic to break through the late night talk-show circuit with an “infighting,” saying once, “We queers need to find a way to stop appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. this fighting and work together towards our common goal.” In LD: It was more than that – I was the first openly gay comic the years since canceling your MichFest appearance, have you to perform on television, period, in America. I mean, it was late- seen any noticeable change regarding the unification of the night, which was really huge, but yeah. Nobody. It was me. queer community? GC: What were you feeling in that moment? LD: Absolutely not. I speak at universities now because LD: Scared as shit! Terrified, just terrified. All I could think apparently I’m a role model (laughs). It just makes me laugh. was, “What if I bomb?” And I had 20/20 following me. So I Like, honey, if I’m a role model, queers are in a lot of fucking wasn’t just doing The Arsenio Hall Show – I was also doing trouble. I speak about it a lot, but when we come together and fucking 20/20. It was craziness because it was such a big deal. don’t infight we get a lot done. That’s how we defeated DOMA, I’m not sure how it happened but the universe aligned and the that’s how we defeated Prop 8, that’s why the SCOTUS decision planets aligned perfectly and I killed. It was nine and a half happened. minutes of television gold, so yeah, I was lucky. Could’ve gone But in the midst of all that I still find myself constantly dealing either way. The audience could have hated me. I was not lightly with the more conservative queers and the more radical queers gay, if you know what I mean. I wasn’t gay-lite. I was as queer like myself, and as I said in the statement when I pulled out of as it gets. MichFest: How fucked up is it when I’m the voice of reason? They did an article in The Advocate right after it happened. You’ve got to be kidding me that you guys can’t see this. When They taped it and apparently I said the words “dyke,” “fag” and Lea DeLaria and Larry Kramer are the voices of reasons, people “queer” 47 times. I mean, it was the second sentence I uttered: are fucked. ’Cause we’re the two biggest bitches on the planet! “Hello everybody, I’m Lea DeLaria. It’s the 1990s, it’s hip to be We’re little brats. We scream and yell until people listen to us, queer and I’m a big dyke.” that’s who we are. GC: We needed somebody to be that person. This is the biggest issue we have in the queer community to date and will continue to be the biggest issue until we learn LD: I think that was probably right. It was the early part of the ’90s, so we were having that rift about the words queer and to accept our differences, and that’s the issue. And part of dyke and fag. The lesser known story is that they almost didn’t me believes that this inclusivity of calling us the LGBTQQTY- air it because I said queer and dyke and fag. The lawyers called whatever-LMNOP tends to stress our differences. And that’s Arsenio in and said, “We don’t think you should let this go out.” why I refuse to do it. I say queer. Queer is everybody. They were trying to pull it and Arsenio – again this is the lesser story that people don’t know – had a fit and said, “She’s a dyke. If she wants to call herself a dyke then it’s none of your fucking business.” He fought for it and got me on the air. The lawyers at Fox were saying, “Noooo.” http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5162 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

42 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 43 The Heroism of Mariah Carey Visions of love, bravery and bad hair through the lens of a longtime ‘lamb’

 photos by Denise Truscello

By Chris Azzopardi and has always been a palpable affinity to Mariah’s courageous and I told my mom I interviewed Mariah Carey and she encouraging life story. cried. “I know how much this means to you,” she said, The story of an emancipated 27-year-old woman asserting verklempt. independence. The story of a broken-winged 31-year-old woman who, a decade into her illustrious career, hit rock bottom, entered rehab for She knows Mariah saved my life. I was 10 and confused and gay “exhaustion” and more than made it through the rain – four years later, when I first heard her voice. It was one of those meant-to-be moments: in 2005, “We Belong Together,” the second single off The Emancipation A friend eagerly, and thankfully, played me the cassette single of of Mimi, held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks. For “Emotions.” That voice, all seven octaves, captivated me, changed me. Mariah’s ever-faithful “lambs” who, too, have experienced, or are still Years later, when I heard the curly-haired, hand-wavey songstress experiencing the outside, it’s her inspirational narrative they’ve clung singing pick-me-ups like “Hero,” “Make It Happen” and “Can’t Take to with undying devotion. That Away (Mariah’s Theme),” I was lifted beyond those signature high notes. Nearly 25 years after first hearing her voice on cassette, my phone rings. It’s Mariah Carey, the sales-crushing icon with a whopping 18 In 1997, I was 15 and still confused, on the brink of self-discovery, No. 1 singles, the five-time Grammy winner, my childhood lifeline, without a role model. The parallel wasn’t lost on me – Mariah was our ally. As we speak, I’d be remiss not to acknowledge the roots of coming into her authentic self, channeling the artist she never could our connection, so I do. We also, of course, talk about Vegas, where be on the triumphant confessional Butterfly, a metaphorical nod to she’s headlining The Colosseum at Caesars Palace with her hits show, the newfound freedom she was feeling after years of professional and Mariah #1 to Infinity, now armed with more “confidence,” she says, personal captivity. The album, which turns 20 next year, ended on a to go on vocal “tangents.” Naturally, her lingerie collection comes up. deeply intimate note with “Outside,” where she referenced the inferior Furthermore, Mariah elaborates on the “unconditional love” she’s feelings she harbored as a biracial child. experienced from the LGBT community, which she emphasized when As a gay adolescent internalizing the “feeling there’s no one GLAAD recently recognized her with an Ally Award for all the lives completely the same,” as the song goes, my already-strong bond to she’s changed. An honor she received, in part, and most admirably, by the chart-topper, the diva, the survivor – my musical salvation, my changing her own. “it gets better” – was strengthened. It was more than music. It is GC: You can’t see me right now but I’m bowing down. MC: Awww! I’m bowing down right back.

44 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com GC: I’m going to start with the GLAAD Media Awards because what You know! It’s just like different moments. Even a friend of mine when a big moment for me, too, as a gay man to finally see you honored I was growing up, her mom was in a relationship with another woman for being an ally. You acknowledged the “unconditional love” from the and they lived together and the whole thing, but she didn’t know – she LGBTQ community, and it’s true: I’ve never had anything less than didn’t understand it. But because I had such an open-minded mother that for you. To be completely honest, you and your music were why I who explained that kind of stuff to me, I wasn’t gonna out her mother followed my dream of being a writer who one day wanted to interview to her. I was just like, “OK, fine.” you. And here we are. Anyway, Lamb 4 Life right here; not even kidding. GC: You’ve been a lifeline for many of your LGBT fans, including MC: Oh, wow; that’s amazing! L4L! Seriously – that’s such a great myself, because you’ve showed us that even an outsider can find his thing to hear; thank you for telling me that. or her place. When was the first time in your life you were exactly the GC: What did you mean when you said you haven’t experienced person you wanted to be? much unconditional love outside of the gay community? And why do you think the gay community in particular has stuck by you through thick and thin? MC: What I was trying to express – and it was all so fast and it wasn’t the world’s greatest speech ’cause I just wanted to try and speak from my heart and, you know, sometimes there’s so much going on and it’s not the best representation of what I really wanted to say, which would’ve been simpler. Which is basically: Some of the songs that I have written, like I have a song called “Outside” that a lot of people from the gay community have always said they grew up listening to and were like, “That helped me come out to my family.” Different things. And so, as a songwriter, I wrote that song about me feeling like an outsider, about being biracial and a lot of other things in my life. I like to leave it open so people can relate it to their own lives, and a lot of my fans tell me, “This song helped me get through having to talk about being gay with my family and with my friends,” and stuff like that. There are other songs, too, because I kind of come from that place of feeling different or not accepted, and so that’s what I meant. GC: For me, as a teenager, “Outside” really resonated. Those lyrics – “ambiguous, without a sense of belonging to touch” – are ingrained in my head, and they had a big influence on my own life. “Looking In” as well. When were you first aware that you were kindred spirits with the gay community? MC: The whole thing in terms of me feeling really comfortable around all different types of people, including different races, religions, gay, straight, whatever, started as a kid. Most kids that I grew up around had never even met anyone gay, but my mom was always very theatrical and she had a lot of gay friends, so I grew up with her two best friends who were guncles before people knew what that was. And yeah, they were great to me. They really treated me well as a little girl. Obviously gay marriage wasn’t, you know, like it is now – it wasn’t legal – so they weren’t married. But they lived together and they were my example of a really great couple. They stayed together for as long as I knew them, and so to me, that was just normal. I wasn’t like, “Oh, wow, this is weird; my mom’s friend is gay.” I guess I was just always comfortable because they were kind to me, and cool. And so then when I grew up I would always naturally gravitate toward the fun gay guy in school, you know what I mean?

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 45 MC: Wow. The first time I can think of, and this is a great thing GC: We’ve seen a lot of greats pass away in the last several years: that actually incorporated work and fun and being free and music, Prince, Whitney and David Bowie. In what ways do their untimely was when I made the video for “Honey” (in 1997), and I went swimming deaths have you reflecting on your own legacy and what you want that in the shoes. It was just… I always wanted to have the freedom to be to be? myself and I wasn’t in a situation where that was OK; I wasn’t allowed to MC: It’s really interesting: I loved Prince and I still do. I love his because of that, uhh, first relationship (to ex-husband and then-Sony music, and I’ll always have it, and I grew up listening to Prince, ya Music head Tommy Mottola). I had to overcome a lot to get through know what I mean? I was lucky enough to get to know him, but before that, but that video – prior to that, I always had to settle for less than I knew him I was listening to his music as an adolescent, as a kid, so I wanted to be, and I wasn’t allowed to be who I was. And it really took his passing was very… I really felt like he was one of those people who a lot of courage. It wasn’t just like, “I’m gonna make a video.” It was, “I would be around for a really long time because he just was kind of am moving on with my life, and I have to for my own self because I’m ageless in a lot of ways. trapped in a situation.” But in terms of me reflecting on my legacy? I’m not at that place right GC: I know what you’re saying – I’ve been there. I mean, I’ve not now. I’m still very much doing fun, creative things that, you know, I made a music video... don’t want to go into a long, drawn out thing about, but a lot of different MC: (Laughs) Treat the music video as “I had a great time projects. Some movie things. I’m getting ready to go back in the studio somewhere!” But it included me doing work and making a video, which really soon, and obviously I’m doing this residency in Vegas. It’s really for me, that’s not really work if it’s fun. And then also just all the fun, but I’m not trapped there. I can do other things. We just got back elements that I love: the beach, the water, the freedom, the whole from the European tour, which was amazing audiences, and then we narrative of the thing. But yeah, it took a while to get there. went to Africa, so it’s like, all that stuff is great. GC: You’re doing some of your earliest songs during your Vegas But what do I think my legacy will be? It’s really hard for me to residency. How has your voice and your approach to singing these answer that. I just hope the fans who’ve been so supportive of me songs, some of which are over 20 years old, changed? throughout my whole career will have my music and it’ll make MC: You know what, certain days I’m like, “Oh, this is a really good a difference in people’s lives as you told me it did for you, which is day for me; I had a lot of vocal rest today and blah, blah, blah,” and amazing, because not everyone knows songs like “Outside” or “Looking some days for me I have to be a little bit more experimental and play In” or “Close My Eyes.” around on stage because maybe it’s not as strong for that minute. GC: “I was a wayward child”… trust me, I know those words by Really, I just think I’ve become more confident and more experimental heart. in a good way, if you know what I mean, in using different parts of my MC: Trust me, I do too. “...with the weight of the world that I held voice and things. I always did it, but I was more “stick to the script” and deep inside.” “don’t go off on a tangent.” You know, I think that people kind of like GC: Is the weight lifted? the tangents that I have! (Laughs) Singing tangents. Breaking a high heel on stage tangents; whatever the case may be. MC: You know what – is the weight lifted? Ahhh, I think that it’s different now. It’s just different. ... I don’t want that to be misinterpreted; You in your lingerie making pizza tangents – all of it. GC: I don’t want you to misinterpret that. I just mean like, in a lot of ways MC: (Laughs uproariously) It was real! That’s what I walk around in! there are other things that are the “weight of the world” to me. Like my I barely own any clothes! All I have is friggin’ lingerie. life now, I have other responsibilities. I was really writing that about GC: How have you made yourself feel at home in Vegas? the child version of me; I really did have the weight of the world on my MC: I just bought a lot of lingerie! (Laughs) shoulders as a kid, that’s how deep it felt for me. GC: What do you think 1990 Mariah would think of 2016 Mariah? GC: Thanks for clarifying so nobody takes that out of context. MC: (Ponders; tongue sputters) Ah, I don’t knoooow! I was such a MC: (Groans dramatically) I knooooow. kid, just in over my head, but I knew that I was gonna do this for my GC: Mariah, I so deeply appreciate this moment and it means more life and soooo: I probably would’ve been like, “Who does your hair and than you’ll ever know. I hope our paths will cross again at some point makeup?” (Laughs) ’Cause they had me with some people who didn’t soon. know what they were doing and I knew it wasn’t really good and I’d just MC: I really thank you so much. I thank you for talking about the be like, “Who does your lighting, hair and makeup?” is what I’d ask her. music. Really – I appreciate that. I adore you, daaahhhling! GC: They liked to put you in a lot of black. MC: They diiiiid. It was just like, ahhh, such a long story. You don’t even wanna know. http://www.gaycalgary.com/a5164 View Bonus Pics/Videos • Share with a Friend • Post Comments

46 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 47 Photography

ISCWR - School’s Out at Evolution, Edmonton ISCWR - Let’s Duet at Woodys, Edmonton photos by B&J photos by B&J

48 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Photography

ISCWR - Draggin’ Dizney at the Unitarian Church, Edmonton 36th Annual Sandy Page Campout, Wayne Alberta photos by B&J http://gaycalgary.com/pa1162

Fairytales Film Festival, Calgary http://gaycalgary.com/pa1163

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 49 50 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 51 News Releases

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52 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com News Releases

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Calgary based filmmaker Toronto Pride at the announces Season 2 of Gaystone 2016 The Girls Guide to be As one of Toronto’s key LGBTQ landmarks, the produced in August 2016 Gladstone Hotel has been a creative hub... Justine Stevens, writer and director of the award http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2202 winning 8 episode series The Girls Guide, along with creative collaborator Kara... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2209 NSFW - Steam Room Stories: What’s your fetish? Everyone’s tastes are different and a turn on for Strong Support for Transgender one person can be a turn off for another. The Students in Alberta latest episode of Steam Room... In a new Leger poll conducted in the latter half http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2203 of May of 2016, 67% of Albertans said they support “initiatives to protect... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2210 Inaya Day Celebrates 20 Years in Club Music with “One Night In Heaven” NSFW - NEW Andrew Christian A Re-Make of the 90’s Dance Classic Produced VIDEO: Breaking Free PRIDE 2016 by Powerhouse DJs Toy Armada and DJ Grind MODELS: Cory Zwierzynski, Uriel Ramirez, Cory Inaya Day celebrates twenty years in... Lee, Austin Watie, Jon Pastor Join us as our models open up, and share their... http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2204 http://www.gaycalgary.com/n2211

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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 53 54 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events

DOWNTOWN CALGARY

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1 Calgary Outlink------Community Groups 5 Goliath’s------Bathhouses 9 Dickens Pub------Bars and Clubs 13 The Pint------Bars and Clubs 2 HIV Community Link----Community Groups 6 Twisted Element------Bars and Clubs 10 Flames Central------Bars and Clubs 15 The Blind Monk------Bars and Clubs 3 Backlot------Bars and Clubs 7 Broken City------Bars and Clubs 11 Local 522------Bars and Clubs 4 Texas Lounge------Bars and Clubs 8 Cowboys Nightclub------Bars and Clubs 12 Ten Nightclub------Bars and Clubs

7 Broken City  http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/  613 11th Ave SW  403-262-9976 group.albertasocietyforkink FIND OUT!  [email protected] Apollo Calgary - Friends in Sports  http://www.brokencity.ca  http://www.apollocalgary.com LGBT Community Directory 8 Cowboys Nightclub------ http://www.myapollo.com  421 12th Avenue SE  403-265-0699 A volunteer operated, non-profit organization serving  http://www.cowboysnightclub.com primarily members of the LGBT communities but open to all GayCalgary Magazine is the go-to source for information about members of all communities. Primary focus is to provide Alberta LGBT businesses and community groups—the most 9 Dickens Pub members with well-organized and fun sporting events and  1000 9th Ave SW  403-233-7550 other activities. extensive and accurate resource of its kind! This print supplement  [email protected] contains a subset of active community groups and venues, with  http://www.dickenspub.ca • Western Cup 31 premium business listings of paid advertisers.  http://www.westerncup.com 10 Flames Central------• Badminton (Absolutely Smashing) ...... Wheelchair Accessible  219 8th Ave SW  403-935-2637  http://www.flamescentral.com  6020 - 4 Avenue NE  [email protected] Spot something inaccurate or outdated? Want your business or 11 Local 522------organization listed? We welcome you to contact us!  522 6 Ave SW  403-244-6773 • Boot Camp  http://www.localtavern.ca  Platoon FX, 1351 Aviation Park NE  [email protected]  403-543-6960  1-888-543-6960 12 Ten Nightclub (closed)  1140 10th Ave SW  403-457-4464 • Bowling (Rainbow Riders League)  [email protected]  Let’s Bowl (2916 5th Avenue NE) 15 The Blind Monk------ [email protected]  918 12th Ave SW  403-265-6200  [email protected] • Curling http://www.gaycalgary.com/CalgaryTravelRSS  http://www.blindmonk.ca  North Hill Curling Club (1201 - 2 Street NW) http://www.gaycalgary.com/EdmontonTravelRSS  Mon-Sun: 11am-2am  [email protected] Local Bars, Restaurants, and Accommodations info on the go! 13 The Pint • Golf  1428 17th Ave SW  403-384-9777  [email protected]  [email protected] • Lawn Bowling http://www.gaycalgary.com/Directory  http://www.thepint.ca/calgary  [email protected] Browse our complete directory of over 750 gay-frieindly listings! 14 Vinyl & Hyde (CLOSED) • Outdoor Pursuits  213 10 Ave SW  587-224-5200  [email protected]  http://www.vinylandhyde.com If it’s done outdoors, we do it. Volunteer led events all 6 Twisted Element summer and winter. Hiking, camping, biking, skiing, snow  1006 - 11th Ave SW  403-802-0230 Bathhouses/Saunas shoeing, etc. Sign up at myapollo.org to get updates on CALGARY  http:.//www.twistedelement.ca the sport you like. We’re always looking for people to 5 Goliaths lead events. Bars & Clubs (Gay)  308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911 Bars & Clubs (Mixed)  www.goliaths.ca • Running (Calgary Frontrunners)  Open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day 3 Backlot------These venues regularly host LGBT events.  YMCA Eau Claire (4th St, 1st Ave SW)  209 - 10th Ave SW  403-265-5211  [email protected]  Open 7 days a week, 2pm-close Bodega Community Groups East Doors (directly off the Bow river pathway). Distances  318A 10th Street NW  403-475-9227 vary from 8 km - 15 km. Runners from 6 minutes/mile to 4 Texas Lounge  [email protected] Alberta Society for Kink 9+ minute miles.  308 - 17 Ave SW  403-229-0911  http://www.labodega.ca  403-398-9968  Open 7 days a week, 11am-close  [email protected] • Slow Pitch  [email protected] www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 55 Directory & Events

Fetish Slosh------ Evening Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm Saturdays Calgary Events At 3 Backlot  2nd  Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW Coffee------ 10am Mondays Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm By Prime Timers Calgary Buddy Night------ 6pm-6am  Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) Karaoke------ 7pm  Midtown Co-op (1130 - 11th Ave SW) 1227 Kensington Close NW At 3 Backlot At 5 Goliaths Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm ASK Meet and Greet------ 7-9:30pm Wednesdays Fridays  Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW  Bonasera (1204 Edmonton Tr. NE) Communion Service------ 12:10pm ISCCA BBQs------Dinner See Knox United Church By ISCCA at 3 Backlot  2nd Sundays Inside Out Youth Group------ 7-9pm See 1 Calgary Outlink Student Night------ 6pm-6am Illusions------ 7-10pm Worship Time------ 10am See Deer Park United Church Tuesdays At 5 Goliaths See 1 Calgary Outlink  1st Calgary Networking Club------ 5-7pm Mosaic Youth Group------ 7-9pm Womynspace------ 7-9pm Worship------ 10:30am See Scarboro United Church See 1 Calgary Outlink  1st  Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) See 1 Calgary Outlink  2nd Beers for Queers------ 6pm Thursdays New Directions------ 7-9pm Sunday Services------ 10:45am See 1 Calgary Outlink  3rd See Hillhurst United Church By YYC Badboys at 13 The Pint Lesbian Seniors------ 2pm  Kerby Center, Sunshine Room  3rd Student Night------ 6pm-6am Heading Out------ 8pm-10pm Worship Services------ 11am 1133 7th Ave SW See Knox United Church At 5 Goliaths See 1 Calgary Outlink  4th Uniform Night------ 6pm-6am Between Men------ 7-9pm Alcoholics Anonymous------ 8pm Church Service------ 4pm At 5 Goliaths See Rainbow Community Church See 1 Calgary Outlink  2nd, 4th  Hillhurst United Church (Gym Entrance) 1227 Kensington Close NW Lesbian Meetup Group------ 7:30-9pm Karaoke------ 8pm-12:30am Flashlight Night------ 6pm-6am At 1 Calgary Outlink  1st At 5 Goliaths At 4 Texas Lounge

 Calgary Contd. Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range/Future),  = Sponsored Event • Squash • Peer Support and Crisis Line 2 HIV Community Link------Parents for Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)  Mount Royal University Recreation  1-877-OUT-IS-OK (1-877-688-4765)  110, 1603 10th Avenue SW  Sean: 403-695-5791  [email protected] Front-line help service for GLBT individuals and their family  403-508-2500  1-877-440-2437  http://www.pflagcanada.ca All skill levels welcome. and friends, or anyone questioning their sexuality.  http://www.hivcl.org A registered charitable organization that provides support, education and resources to parents, families and • Tennis • Calgary Lesbian Ladies Meet up Group • Telephone Support individuals who have questions or concerns about sexual  [email protected] • Between Men and Between Men Online  M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm orientation or gender identity. • Heading Out • Yoga Hillhurst United Church Positive Space Committee  Robin: 403-618-9642 • Illusions Calgary  1227 Kensington Close NW  4825 Mount Royal Gate SW  [email protected] • Inside Out  (403) 283-1539  403-440-6383 • New Directions  [email protected]  http://www.mtroyal.ca/positivespace Alberta Rockies Gay Rodeo Association (ARGRA)  http://www.hillhurstunited.com  www.argra.org • Womynspace Works to raise awareness and challenge the patterns of HIV Peer Support Group silence that continue to marginalize LGBTTQ individuals. • Monthly Dances  403-230-5832 Pride Calgary Planning Committee  Arrata Opera Centre (1315 - 7 Street SW) Calgary Queer Book Club  [email protected]  Weeds Cafe (1903 20 Ave NW)  403-797-6564  www.pridecalgary.ca Calgary Expo ISCCA Social Association Primetimers Calgary  http://www.calgaryexpo.com Deer Park United Church/Wholeness Centre  http://www.iscca.ca  77 Deerpoint Road SE  403-278-8263  [email protected] Imperial Sovereign Court of the Chinook Arch. Charity Calgary Gay Fathers  http://www.dpuc.ca  http://www.primetimerscalgary.com  [email protected] fundraising group.. Designed to foster social interaction for its members  http://www.calgarygayfathers.ca Different Strokes Knox United Church through a variety of social, educational and recreational  http://www.differentstrokescalgary.org activities. Open to all gay and bisexual men of any age, Peer support group for gay, bisexual and questioning  506 - 4th Street SW  403-269-8382 respects whatever degree of anonymity that each member fathers. Meeting twice a month.  http://www.knoxunited.ab.ca FairyTales Presentation Society desires. Calgary Men’s Chorus  403-244-1956 Knox United Church is an all-inclusive church located in  http://www.calgarymenschorus.org  http://www.fairytalesfilmfest.com downtown Calgary. A variety of facility rentals are also Queers on Campus------Alberta Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. available for meetings, events and concerts.  279R Student Union Club Spaces, U of C • Rehearsals  403-220-6394  Temple B’Nai Tikvah, 900 - 47 Avenue SW • DVD Resource Library Lesbian Meetup Group  http://www.ucalgary.ca/~glass  http://www.meetup.com/CalgaryLesbian Over a hundred titles to choose from. Annual membership Formerly GLASS - Gay/Lesbian Association of Students Monthly events planned for Queer women over 18+ such Calgary Sexual Health Centre is $10. and Staff.  304, 301 14th Street NW as book clubs, games nights, movie nights, dinners out,  403-283-5580 Gay Friends in Calgary and volunteering events. • Coffee Night  http://www.calgarysexualhealth.ca  http://www.gayfriendsincalgary.ca  2nd Cup, Kensington A pro-choice organization that believes all people have the Organizes and hosts social activities catered to the LGBT Miscellaneous Youth Network right and ability to make their own choices regarding their people and friends.  http://www.miscyouth.com Safety Under the Rainbow sexual and reproductive health.  www.sutr.ca Girl Friends • Fake Mustache A collaborative effort dedicated to building capacity 1 Calgary Outlink  [email protected] • Mosaic Youth Group and acting as a voice for the LGBTQ community, service  Old Y Centre (303 – 223, 12 Ave SW)  members.shaw.ca/girlfriends  The Old Y Centre (223 12th Ave SW) providers, organizations and the community at large  403-234-8973 For queer and trans youth and their allies. to address violence. For same-sex domestic violence  [email protected] Girlsgroove information, resources and a link to our survey please see  http://www.calgaryoutlink.com  http://www.girlsgroove.ca Mystique our website.  [email protected] Mystique is primarily a Lesbian group for women 30 and Scarboro United Church up but all are welcome.  134 Scarboro Avenue SW  403-244-1161  www.scarborounited.ab.ca • Coffee Night An affirming congregation—the full inclusion of LGBT  Good Earth Cafe (1502 - 11th Street SW) people is essential to our mission and purpose. NETWORKS Sharp Foundation  [email protected]  403-272-2912 A social, cultural, and service organization for the mature  [email protected] minded and “Plus 40” LGBT individuals seeking to meet  http://www.thesharpfoundation.com others at age-appropriate activities within a positive, safe environment.

56 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events

 Calgary Contd.

Spectrum Volleyball Calgary Cruiseline Pumphouse Theatre------Buck Naked Boys Club  http://www.spectrumvolleyball.ca  Calgary: 403-777-9494  2140 Pumphouse Avenue SW  780-471-6993  [email protected]  Edmonton: 780-413-7122  403-263-0079  http://www.bucknakedboys.ca Join us for recreational, competitive or beach volleyball.  Other Cities: 1-877-882-2010  http://www.pumphousetheatres.ca Naturism club for men—being social while everyone is  http://www.cruiseline.ca naked, and it does not include sexual activity. Participants do Unity Bowling Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY. Stagewest------not need to be gay, only male.  Let’s Bowl (2916 - 5th Ave NE)  727 - 42 Avenue SE  403-243-6642  [email protected] DevaDave Salon & Boutique (closed)  http://www.stagewestcalgary.com Camp fYrefly  810 Edmonton Trail NE  7-104 Dept. of Educational Policy Studies Wild Rose United Church  403-290-1973 Theatre Junction------Faculty of Education, University of Alberta  1317-1st Street NW Cuts, Colour, Hilights.  Theatre Junction GRAND, 608 1st St. SW Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2G5  403-205-2922  http://www.fyrefly.ualberta.ca Ellen Embury  [email protected] Restaurants & Pubs  403-750-1128  www.DBBlaw.com  http://www.theatrejunction.com Edmonton Expo Bodega Fellow, American Academy of Reproductive Technology  http://www.edmontonexpo.com See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed). Attorneys Third Street Theatre  #3 306 20th Ave SW  403-703-4750 Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS) 10 Flames Central------Hardline  http://www.thirdstreet.ca  http://www.edmontonpride.ca See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).  Calgary: 403-770-0776  Edmonton: 780-665-6666 Vertigo Mystery Theatre------Edmonton Prime Timers 13 The Pint  Other Cities: 1-877-628-9696  161, 115 - 9 Ave SE  403-221-3708  [email protected] See Calgary - Bars & Clubs (Mixed).  http://www.hardlinechat.com  http://www.vertigomysterytheatre.com  www.primetimersww.org/edmonton Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY. Group of older gay men and their admirers who come from Webster Galleries Inc. diverse backgrounds but have common social interests. Retail Stores Hot Water Pools & Spas  812 11 Ave SW  403-263-6500 Affiliated with Prime Timers World Wide.  Adult Depot (CLOSED)  2145 Summerfield Blvd  403-912-2045 http://www.webstergalleries.com  http://www.hotwaterpoolsandspas.ca  T-S: 10am-6pm, N: 1-4pm Edmonton Rainbow Business Association  140, 58th Ave SW  403-258-2777  3379, 11215 Jasper Ave  780-429-5014 Gay, bi, straight video rentals and sex toys. Interactive Male  http://www.edmontonrba.org Adult Source------ 403-355-3335 Primary focus is the provision of networking opportunities  10210 Macleod Tr S  403-271-7848  http://www.interactivemale.com EDMONTON for LGBT owned or operated and LGBT-friendly businesses in the Edmonton region.  #102 2323 32nd Ave NE  403-769-6177 Lorne Doucette (CIR Realtors)  1536 16th Ave NW  403-289-4203  403-461-9195 Bars & Clubs (Gay) Edmonton Illusions Social Club  4310 17th Ave SE  403-273-2710  http://www.lornedoucette.com  780-387-3343  http://www.adultsourcecalgary.ca 3 Buddy’s Nite Club (CLOSED)  groups.yahoo.com/group/edmonton_illusions MFM Communications  11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6636 Best Health  403-543-6970 2 Edmonton STD  206A 2525 Woodview Dr SW  403-281-5582  1-877-543-6970 6 Evolution Wonder Lounge  11111 Jasper Ave  [email protected]  http://www.mfmcommunications.com  10220 - 103 St  780-424-0077  http://www.besthealthcalgary.com Web site hosting and development. Computer hardware  http://www.yourgaybar.com Edmonton Vocal Minority and software.  780-479-2038  [email protected] La Fleur (closed) FLASH (CLOSED)  www.evmchoir.com  403-266-1707 NRG Support Services  10018 105 Street  780-938-2941 Florist and Flower Shop.  Suite 27, Building B1, 2451 Dieppe Ave SW  [email protected] Fellowship of Alberta Bears  www.beefbearbash.com The Naked Leaf------ 403-471-0204  780-922-3347 UpStares Ultralounge (CLOSED)   #4 - 1126 Kensington Rd NW  403-283-3555 [email protected]  4th Floor, Jasper Ave and 107th Street  http://www.nrgsupportservices.com GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club  http://www.thenakedleaf.ca  780-474-8240  [email protected] Organic teas and tea ware. 4 Woody’s SafeWorks  11725 Jasper Ave  780-488-6557 Free and confidential HIV/AIDS and STI testing. HIV Network Of Edmonton Society------Priape Calgary (CLOSED)  9702 111 Ave NW 780-488-5742  1322 - 17 Ave SW  403-215-1800 • Calgary Drop-in Centre Bars & Clubs (Mixed)  www.hivedmonton.com  http://www.priape.com  Room 117, 423 - 4th Ave SE Provides healthy sexuality education for Edmonton’s LGBT Clothing and accessories. Adult toys, leather wear, movies  403-699-8216 These venues regularly host LGBT events. community and support for those infected or affected and magazines. Gifts. by HIV.  Mon-Fri: 9am-12pm, Sat: 12:15pm-3:15pm Hooliganz Pub (CLOSED) Pushing Petals • Centre of Hope  10704 124 St NW InQueeries  1209 5th Ave NW  403-263-3070  Room 201, 420 - 9th Ave SE  [email protected]  http://www.pushingpetals.com 7 The Starlite Room Student-run GLBTQ Alliance at MacEwan University.  403-410-1180  Mon-Fri: 1pm-5pm  10030 102 St [email protected] • Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre  http://www.starliteroom.ca Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose Services & Products  http://www.iscwr.ca  1213 - 4th Str SW  403-955-6014 8 Yellowhead Brewing Co. 6th and Tenth - Sales Centre  Sat-Thu: 4:15pm-7:45pm, Fri: Closed  10229 105 St Living Positive Society of Alberta  633 10th Ave SW  403-239-5511 • Safeworks Van  [email protected]  #50, 9912 - 106 Street 780-424-2214  http://www.6thandtenth.com  http://www.yellowheadbrewery.com  M-W: 12-6pm, R: 2-7pm, S-N: 12-5pm  403-850-3755  [email protected]  Sat-Thu: 8pm-12am, Fri: 4pm-12am  http://www.facebook.com/LivingPoz Barry Hollowell Bathhouses/Saunas Living Positive through Positive Living.  403-819-5219 Wheel Pro’s  http://www.bcbhcounselling.com  4143- Edmonton Trail NE 5 Steamworks • HIV Support Group  403-226-7278  11745 Jasper Ave  780-451-5554  [email protected], [email protected] Calgary Civil Marriage Centre  http://www.wheelpros.ca  http://www.steamworksedmonton.com Support and discussion group for gay men.  403-246-4134 (Rork Hilford) “Experts in Everything for Wheels”  Men’s Games Nights [email protected] Community Groups  Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) Marriage Commissioner for Alberta (aka Justice of the Peace Theatre & Fine Arts  780-474-8240  [email protected] - JP), Marriage Officiant, Commissioner for Oaths. AltView Foundation ATP, Alberta Theatre Projects  #44, 48 Brentwood Blvd, Sherwood Park, AB OUTreach Christopher T. Tahn (Thornborough Smeltz)  403-294-7402  http://www.ATPlive.com  403-398-9968  11650 Elbow Dr SW   University of Alberta, basement of SUB 403-808-7147  [email protected]  [email protected]  [email protected] Fairytales  http://ww.altview.ca  http://www.thornsmeltz.com  http://www.ualberta.ca/~outreach See Calgary - Community Groups. For gender variant and sexual minorities. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender/transsexual, Queer, Questioning and Straight-but-not-Narrow student group. Courtney Aarbo (Barristers & Solicitors) One Yellow Rabbit------Book Worm’s Book Club  3rd Floor, 1131 Kensington Road NW  Big Secret Theatre - EPCOR CENTRE  Howard McBride Chapel of Chimes  403-571-5120 Pride Centre of Edmonton------ 403-299-8888  www.oyr.org 10179 - 108 Street  10608 - 105 Ave  780-488-3234  http://www.courtneyaarbo.ca  [email protected] GLBT legal services.  [email protected]  http://www.pridecentreofedmonton.org  Tue-Fri 12pm-9pm, Sat 2pm-6:30pm

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 57 Directory & Events

DOWNTOWN EDMONTON 1

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1 Pride Centre of Edm.----Community Groups 3 Buddy’s------Bars and Clubs 5 Steamworks------Bathhouses 7 The Starlite Room------Bars and Clubs 2 Edmonton STD------Community Groups 4 Woody’s------Bars and Clubs 6 Evolution------Bars and Clubs 8 Yellowhead Brewing Co.-----Bars and Clubs

Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm Women’s Social Circle------ 6-9pm QH Youth Drop-in------ 2-6:30pm Edmonton Events See 1 Youth Understanding Youth See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton  2nd, 4th See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton Mondays Counseling------ 5:30-8:30pm Book Club------ 7:30pm Monthly Meeting------ 2:30pm Boot Camp------ 7-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See BookWorm’s Book Club  3rd By Edmonton Primetimers  2nd See Team Edmonton  Unitarian Church, 10804 - 119th Street Knotty Knitters------ 6-8pm Martial Arts------ 7:30-8:30pm TTIQ------ 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See Team Edmonton Bowling------ 5pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton  3rd See Team Edmonton QH Craft Night------ 6-8pm Intermediate Volleyball------ 7:30-9:30pm HIV Support Group------ 7-9pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See Team Edmonton Sundays See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton  2nd Cycling------ 6:30-7:30pm Fridays Running------ 10-11am See Team Edmonton See Team Edmonton Tuesdays QH Youth Drop-in------ 3-8pm QH Youth Drop-in------ 3-8pm Yoga------ 7:30-8pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton Yoga------ 2-3:30pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See Team Edmonton See Team Edmonton QH Anime Night------ 6-8pm Martial Arts------ 7:30-8:30pm Thursdays See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton Men Talking with Pride------ 7-9pm See Team Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton QH Youth Drop-in------ 3-8pm Movie Night------ 6-9pm Swim Practice------ 7:30-8:30pm See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton Ballroom Dancing------ 7:30-8:30pm See Team Edmonton See Team Edmonton Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm Men’s Games Nights------ 7-10:30pm Wednesdays See Youth Understanding Youth See Men’s Games Nights  2nd, Last Soul Outing------ 7pm  Robertson-Wesley United (10209 123 St)  2nd GLBTQ Bowling------ 1:30-3:30pm QH Game Night------ 6-8pm Youth Sports/Recreation------ 4pm See GLBTQ Sage Bowling Club See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See Youth Understanding Youth Monthly Meetings------ 2:30pm  Unitarian Church (10804 119th Street) QH Youth Drop-in------ 3-8pm Swim Practice------ 7-8pm Saturdays See Edmonton Primetimers  2nd See 1 Pride Centre of Edmonton See Team Edmonton Naturalist Gettogether See Buck Naked Boys Club  2nd

 Edmonton Contd. Legend:  = Monthly Reoccurrance,  = Date (Range),  = Sponsored Event We provide a safe, welcoming, and non-judgemental • TTIQ Women’s Drop-In Recreational Badminton. $40.00 season • Gymnastics, Drop-in drop-in space, and offer support programs and resources A support and information group for all those who fall or $5.00 per drop in.  Ortona Gymnastics Club, 8755 - 50 Avenue for members of the GLBTQ community and for their families under the transgender umbrella and their family or  [email protected] and friends. supporters. •Ballroom Dancing Have the whole gym to yourselves and an instructor to  Foot Notes Dance Studio, 9708-45 Avenue NW help you achieve your individual goals. Cost is $5.00 • Counselling • Women’s Social Circle  Cynthia: 780-469-3281 per session.  780.488.3234  [email protected] Free, short-term counselling provided by registered Women’s Social Circle: A social support group for all • Blazin’ Bootcamp • Hockey counsellors. female-identified persons over 18 years of age in the GLBT  Garneau Elementary School  [email protected] community - new members are always welcome. 10925 - 87 Ave • Knotty Knitters  [email protected] • Martial Arts Come knit and socialize in a safe and accepting Seniors Association of Greater Edmonton  15450 - 105 Ave (daycare entrance) environment - all skill levels are welcome.  780-474-8240 • Bowling (Northern Titans)  780-328-6414  [email protected]  Ed’s Rec Room (West Edmonton Mall)  [email protected] • Men Talking with Pride  [email protected]  [email protected]  [email protected] Team Edmonton $15.00 per person. Drop-ins welcome. Support & social group for gay & bisexual men to discuss  [email protected] current issues.  http://www.teamedmonton.ca • Cross Country Skiing • Outdoor Pursuits Members are invited to attend and help determine the  [email protected]  [email protected] • Movie Night board for the next term. If you are interested in running for Movie Night is open to everyone! Come over and sit back, • Curling with Pride • Running (Arctic Frontrunners) the board or getting involved in some of the committees,  Granite Curling Club, 8620 107 Street NW relax, and watch a movie with us. please contact us.  Kinsmen Sports Centre  [email protected]  [email protected] • Queer HangOUT: Game Night • Badminton (Mixed) • Cycling (Edmonton Prideriders) All genders and levels of runners and walkers are invited to Come OUT with your game face on and meet some  St. Thomas Moore School, 9610 165 Street join this free activity. awesome people through board game fun.  Dawson Park, picnic shelter  [email protected]  [email protected] New group seeking male & female players. • Slo Pitch • Queer HangOUT: Craft Night  Parkallen Field, 111 st and 68 ave Come OUT and embrace your creative side in a safe space. • Dragon Boat (Flaming Dragons) • Badminton (Women’s)  [email protected]  [email protected] • Queer HangOUT: Anime Night  Oliver School, 10227 - 118 Street Season fee is $30.00 per person. $10 discount for players Come and watch ALL the anime until your heart is content.  780-465-3620 • Golf from the 2008 season.  [email protected]  [email protected]

58 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com Directory & Events

Red Deer Events Wednesdays LGBT Coffee Night------ 7pm See CAANS  1st Friday, August 15th

 Edmonton Contd.

• Snowballs V  January 27-29, 2012 Products & Services  [email protected] Cruiseline LETHBRIDGE MEDICINE HAT Skiing and Snowboarding Weekend.  780-413-7122 trial code 3500 • Soccer  http://www.cruiseline.ca Community Groups Community Groups Telephone classifieds and chat - 18+ ONLY.  [email protected] GALA/LA HIV Community Link  403-308-2893  356 - 2 Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB • Spin Robertson-Wesley United Church  10209 - 123 St. NW  780-482-1587  http://www.galalethbridge.ca  403-527-5882  1-877-440-2437  MacEwan Centre for Sport and Wellness  [email protected]  www.rwuc.org Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Lethbridge and Area. 109 St. and 104 Ave  Worship: Sunday mornings at 10:30am • Telephone Support  Wednesdays, 5:45-6:45pm People of all sexual orientations welcome. Other LGBT • Monthly Dances  M-F, 8:30am - 12:30pm + 1:30pm - 4:30pm Season has ended. events include a monthly book club and a bi-monthly film  Henotic (402 - 2 Ave S)  [email protected] night. As a caring spiritual community, we’d love to have Bring your membership card and photo ID. 7 classes, $28.00 per registrant. you join us! • Monthly Potluck Dinners • Swimming (Making Waves)  McKillop United Church, 2329 - 15 Ave S ALBERTA  NAIT Pool (11762 - 106 Street) • Soul OUTing  Second Sunday every month, 7pm GALA/LA will provide the turkey...you bring the rest. Please  [email protected] An LGBT-focused alternative worship. bring a dish to share that will serve 4-6 people, and your Community Groups  http://www.makingwavesswimclub.ca own beverage. • Film Night Alberta Trans Support/Activities Group • Tennis  http://www.albertatrans.org  Bi-monthly, contact us for exact dates. • Support Line  Kinsmen Sports Centre  403-308-2893 A nexus for transgendered persons, regardless of where they  Sundays, 12pm-3pm • Book Club  Monday OR Wednesday, 7pm-11pm may be on the continuum.  [email protected]  Monthly, contact us for exact dates. Leave a message any other time. • Ultimate Frisbee • Friday Mixer Theatre & Fine Arts  Sundays Theatre & Fine Arts  The Mix (green water tower) Alberta Ballet Summer Season starts July 12th 103 Mayor Magrath Dr S Exposure Festival  http://www.albertaballet.com  [email protected]  Every Friday at 10pm Frequent productions in Calgary and Edmonton. E-mail if interested.  http://www.exposurefestival.ca Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival. Gay & Lesbian Integrity Assoc. (GALIA) • Volleyball, Intermediate  University of Lethbridge  [email protected]  Amiskiwacy Academy (101 Airport Road) The Roxy Theatre (closed) GBLTTQQ club on campus.  [email protected]  10708 124th Street, Edmonton AB CANADA  780-453-2440 • Movie Night • Volleyball, Recreational  http://www.theatrenetwork.ca  Room C610, University of Lethbridge  Mother Teresa School (9008 - 105 Ave) Community Groups  [email protected] Gay Youth Alliance Group Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition  Betty, 403-381-5260  [email protected]  P..O. Box 3043, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 3S9 • Women’s Lacrosse  Every second Wednesday, 3:30pm-5pm  Sharon: 780-461-0017 BANFF  (306) 955-5135  Pam: 780-436-7374 Lethbridge Expo  1-800-955-5129 Open to women 21+, experienced or not, all are welcome. Community Groups  http://www.lethbridgeexpo.com  http://www.rainbowhealth.ca Call for info. HIV Community Link Lethbridge HIV Connection Egale Canada • Yoga  102 Spray Ave  1206 - 6 Ave S  8 Wellington St E, Third Floor  Lion's Breath Yoga Studio (10350-124 Street)  PO Box 3160, Banff, AB T1L 1C8 Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1C5  [email protected]  403-762-0690 PFLAG Canada  1-888-204-7777  www.egale.ca  1-888-530-6777 Egale Canada is the national advocacy and lobby Womonspace  [email protected] organization for gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans-  780-482-1794  www.pflagcanada.ca identified people and our families.  [email protected] JASPER  http://www.womonspace.ca Pride Lethbridge Products & Services Women’s social group, but all welcome at events.  [email protected] Accommodations Squirt Youth Understanding Youth  http://www.squirt.org  780-248-1971  www.yuyedm.ca Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Website for dating and hook-ups. 18+ ONLY! A support and social group for queer youth 12-25.  Old Lodge Road  1-866-540-4454 RED DEER  http://www.fairmont.com/jasper • Sports and Recreation Theatre & Fine Arts  Brendan: 780-488-3234 Whistlers Inn Community Groups  [email protected]  105 Miette Ave  1-800-282-9919 Broadway Across Canada  [email protected] Central Alberta AIDS Network Society  http://www.broadwayacrosscanada.ca  http://www.whistlersinn.com  4611-50 Avenue, Red Deer, AB Restaurants & Pubs  http://www.caans.org OUTtv  http://www.outtv.ca 12 The Central Alberta AIDS Network Society is the local Woody’s Community Groups charity responsible for HIV prevention and support in GLBT Television Station. See Edmonton - Bars & Clubs (Gay). Jasper Pride Festival Central Alberta. Retail Stores  PO Box 98, 409 Patricia St., T0E 1E0 LGBTQ Education  [email protected]  [email protected] Passion Vault  http://www.jasperpride.ca  http://LGBTQeducation.webs.com  15239 - 111 Ave Red Deer (and area) now has a website designed to bring  780-930-1169 various LGBTQ friendly groups/individuals together for fun,  [email protected] and to promote acceptance in our communities. “Edmonton’s Classiest Adult Store” Pride on Campus  [email protected] A group of LGBTQ persons and Allies at Red Deer College.

www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 59 Classifieds

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www.gaycalgary.com GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 61 62 GayCalgary Magazine #150, June 2016 www.gaycalgary.com