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2 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Lesbian and gay pride day ’84 Time to celebrate! Issue 9, July 7, 1984 BIGGER PRESENCE. STRONGER VOICE. Breaking news. More impact. Global outlook. Local action. Join us @DailyXtra.com PREVIEW OF DAILY XTRA MOBILE (LAUNCHING SOON) (LAUNCHING MOBILE XTRA PREVIEW OF DAILY

Gay yuppies and little fags Checking out the prime-time come-outs Issue 22, Feb 2, 1985 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 3 UNLIKE ANYTHING ELSE Inspired award-winning architecture. Smart creative interiors. Extensive indoor and outdoor amenities.

“A pure vision of liberated design.” – Lisa Rochon ARCHITECTURE CRITIC,

Surrounded by beautiful new parks and awarded River City 1 with the much public spaces, and just minutes from coveted Best Residential Building of the downtown core, River City is unlike 2014, an honour given to RC1 through any other development in Toronto today. votes from the people of Toronto. Designed for excellent livability and maximum sustainability, it is the Spanning the area from King Street East to community for the 21st century. the new Corktown Common, and from the Don River to River Street, it is a vital part Winner of BILD’s Best Design Award, of the West Don Lands and the city’s River City is a four-phase, LEED Gold waterfront redevelopment that is well community of over 1,100 loft-style underway. condominiums, family-friendly townhouses, and ground floor retail. A continuation of success, the Pug Awards, known for celebrating the best in Toronto architecture and planning,

FROM THE LOW $200’S TO $1.4M PRESENTATION CENTRE+MODEL SUITE N QUEEN ST E RIVER ST King St East at Lower River > M-T 12-6pm S+S 12-5pm KING ST E X EXTREMEARCHITECTURE.CA 416.862.0505 Rendering is an artist’s impression. Specifications are subject to change without notice. E.&O.E.

4 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Indecent facts Huge of gay men are being picked off one by one Issue 44, Jan 18, 1986 XTRA Published by TORONTO’S PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF GAY & LESBIAN Brandon Matheson We help you make the change. NEWS EDITORIAL Confidential conversations. #791 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 Drinking? Roundup MANAGING EDITOR Matthew DiMera Practical tools. ARTS EDITOR Phil Villeneuve ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andrew Jacome COPY EDITOR Lesley Fraser Partying? STAFF REPORTER HG Watson Todd Kaufman, EVENT LISTINGS: [email protected] CONTRIBUTE OR INQUIRE Xtra’s editorial Too much Psychotherapist content: [email protected], 1.800.699.3396 [email protected], maybe? Call now: [email protected] info@ .com EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE GenesisSquared GOODBYE, Natasha Barsotti, Adam Coish, Devon Delacroix, Paul Dotey, Ryan G Hinds, XTRA WALLACE LUCINDA BY PHOTO Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, N Maxwell Lander, JP Larocque, Michael Lyons, ŔŔ Community members Mike Miksche, Ian Phillips, Sissydude, Eric Williams share their memories ART & PRODUCTION of the paper that could CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace GRAPHIC DESIGNERS E17 Darryl Mabey, Landon Whittaker ADVERTISING ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR Ken Hickling THE FUTURE SALES ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Lexi Chuba SALES TEAM LEAD Lorilynn Barker OF ACTIVISM RETAIL ACCOUNTS MANAGERS Brian Garrison, Phil Clowater Shining a light on CLIENT SERVICES & ADVERTISING ADMINISTRATOR Eugene Coon our community ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION E24 COORDINATOR Gary Major DISPLAY ADVERTISING: [email protected] 416-925-6665 or 800-268-XTRA LINE CLASSIFIEDS: classifi [email protected] SPONSORSHIP AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Kero Saleib, [email protected] The publication of an ad in Xtra does not mean that Xtra endorses the advertiser. Storefront features are paid advertising content. Action features are advertising intended to advance community involvement and political action. Printed and published in . ©2014 ROYAL LEPAGE REAL Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every two ESTATE SERVICES LTD., weeks by Pink Triangle Press. ISSN 0829-3384 BROKERAGE Address: 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, ON, M5B 1J3 Offi ce hours: 9am–5pm, Monday–Friday Phone: 416-925-6665 Fax: 416-925-6674 Website: dailyxtra.com Email: [email protected]

PINK TRIANGLE PRESS Founded 1971 DIRECTORS Jim Bartley, , Glenn Kauth, Didier Pomerleau, Ken Popert, Gillian Rodgerson Adam Coish photographs HONORARY DIRECTOR Colin Brownlee DHARMA FRIENDS issues of Xtra for the last cover. PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ken Popert CEO, DIGITAL MEDIA David Walberg LGBT Meditation Group CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Andrew Chang Invites you to join us for our Editorial Xtra’s digital universe is expanding Weekly sittings By David Walberg E7 Wednesday evenings 7:30 - 9:00 Looking back: Letters E8 Looking back: Xcetera E9 Beginners are welcome. DENTAL All are invited! Going beyond the box 177 Mutual Street (south of Gerrard St.) Community groups weigh in on what comes next E11 CARE Community Room (2nd Floor, buzzer code 270) Sex crimes HIV and AIDS in today’s world E12 The future of dailyxtra.com What’s in the works now that the paper is gone E15 Find us online at DharmaFriends.ca or at facebook.com/dharmafriends History Boys Before there was Xtra, there was Les Mouches Fantastique E34 DR. ELON GRIFFITH E36 Cosmetic & General Dentistry Toronto at Night UÊ “iÀ}i˜VÞÊ-irvice UÊ*>r̈Vˆ«>˜Ìʈ˜Ê-ÌÕ`i˜ÌÊ i˜Ì>Ê*Àœ}À>“ Hard Labour E38 416-923-3386 Looking back: Xposed E40 `À}ÀˆvvˆÌ JÀœ}iÀðVœ“ Looking back: Xtra Hot E43 25 >Àià -T°7Ê Toronto ON M4Y 2R4 E45 Hole & Corner BLOOR ST. W.

CHARLES ST. W. ONGE ST. BAY ST. BAY COVER PHOTO BY ADAM COISH Our Office Y

Beer garden saved Pride Day overcomes red tape Issue 49, April 5, 1986 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 5 SHERBOURNE HEALTH CENTRE 333 SHERBOURNE STREET TORONTO, ON M5A 2S5 416-324-4103 • WWW.SHERBOURNE.ON.CA GAELEN PATRICK Real Estate Sales Representative Buying? Selling? Pre-construction? LGBT HEALTH Proudly Serving Our Community! SIGN UP OPEN! THE B SIDE: EXPLORING BISEXUALITY The B Side is a 10-week group for people who are exploring their attraction to more than one gender. Give me a call or check out my social m 416.801.9265 • [email protected] Folks from across the bisexual, queer and questioning spectrum welcome. Wednesdays, March 25 www.gaelenpatrick.comm to May 27, 2015. Sign up, email [email protected] or call 416-324-5096.

Proud fi nancial supporter GENDER JOURNEYS of Community centre! Gender Journeys is an 11-week group for anyone experiencing changes across the gender spectrum. The group runs 3 times a year: winter, spring and fall. To register, contact Kusha at [email protected] or at 416-324-5078. MATURE TRANS SISTERS: TUESDAYS, 5:30-7:00PM Not intended to MTS is a drop-in group for Mature Trans Women to get together, talk and learn, share resources and Sutton Group Realty Systems Inc. Brokerage solicit those already under contract with support. The group is collectively run by participants and facilitators, and aims to create a safer space Independently Owned and Operated | 416.762.4200 Toronto another Realtor. for women of all types of trans experience and expression. The group is for women who are 45+. Please contact King at 416-324-4100 ext. 5083 or [email protected] for accessibility and other information. MEN’S TRAUMA RECOVERY AND EMPOWERMENT STARTS APRIL 1 (^LLRS`TPU\[LZLZZPVUZRPSSI\PSKPUN*);NYV\WMVYTHSLPKLU[PÄLKZ\Y]P]VYZVM[YH\TH Open to gay, bi, queer, and trans men. Wednesdays, 10am-12pm, April 1 to September 30. Contact Peter: 416-324-5058 or [email protected] TRANS WOMEN’S POST-SURGICAL SUPPORT GROUP The Trans Women’s Surgical Support Group is a biweekly group for trans women who are healing from or have completed bottom surgery. The group starts February 10 and will be ongoing every other Tuesday evening from 6-8pm. For info, contact Rebecca at 416-324-4100 x 5260 or [email protected]. DYKES PLANNING TYKES WEEKEND: APRIL 17-19, 2015 Weekend course at Sherbourne Health Centre for lesbian, gay, bi, and queer women who are considering parenthood. Run by Queer Parenting Programs at The 519 and the LGBTQ Parenting Network. Registration: http://lgbtqpn.ca/courses/

Supporting Our Youth (SOY) seeks to improve the quality of life for LGBT youth (up to 29) through the active involvement of adults working together with youth. Working within an anti-oppression framework, SOY develops initiatives that build skills and capacities, provide mentoring and support, and nurture a sense of identity and belonging. 416-324-5077 • WWW.SOYTORONTO.ORG SOY GROUPS! SURVEY FOR A NEW SOY WEBSITE! COMPLETE BY FRIDAY, FEB. 27 AND BE ENTERED INTO OUR DRAW! SOY is in the process of building a new website and we need your help! We’re collecting information that will help us design the new website and thus serve our communities better. Visit www.soytoronto.org for the survey link or drop by SOY for a paper copy. Questions? Contact Laura at [email protected] or 416-324-4100 ext. 5096. CLICK MENTORING PROGRAM SOY’S Mentoring Program seeks a diverse group of volunteer mentors. Are you 26 years old or older, interested in being a ‘queer or trans big brother or sister’, providing ongoing support, encouragement and acceptance to an LGBTQ youth? Please contact Leslie at 416-324-5082 or soymentoring@ sherbourne.on.ca to learn more about the program and the application process.

WANT TO KEEP Supporting @soy_toronto UP WITH SOY? Our Youth

6 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES History in the making Ryerson course to study growth of TO gay community Issue 72, March 14, 1987 email [email protected] comment dailyxtra.com & facebook.com/dailyxtra Comment tweet @dailyxtra Xtra’s digital universe is expanding

EDITORIAL ous countries, as our past video productions have DAVID been. And then you’ll see it on our own channels WALBERG on Daily Xtra, YouTube and Vimeo. Our multichannel approach to video provides a model for expansion that we will extend to our journalism in other media — text stories, photos, David Walberg: Just a brief note to audio, graphics — as we seek to broaden our reach. let you know how much I appreciated Pink Triangle Press has a unique mission and you printing my letter. I was so thrilled editorial voice. For more than four decades, we I wanted to rush over and do your hair. have solidly championed sexual freedom and — letter from playwright and author freedom of expression. We hunger not for an equal Tomson Highway, Aug 31, 1997 slice of a stale heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. Who doesn’t love receiving a letter? Or the prom- Along the way, we have challenged conventional ise of a new hairdo, for that matter? wisdom. I once received a letter from a Catholic priest When queer activists fought for hate speech in Saskatchewan. There was no local café or bar legislation, author and journalist Irshad Manji where he could collect his Xtra, so he had taken the questioned in Xtra whether such laws were a form bold step of purchasing a subscription. In those of thought policing. days, Xtra was mailed in plain brown envelopes, When gay couples started taking their vows, our discreet as the kinkiest porn, because in some former board member Brenda Cossman advocated musty corners of Canada, a mere interest in gay for revolutionary relationship recognition not Xtra news might destroy one’s life. celebrates its 200th issue back in 1992, with David Walberg standing on the right. JAKE PETERS exclusive to couples who fuck. The priest expressed gratitude for the lifeline Whether practical or provocative, these posi- Xtra presented. A few weeks later, I received an- tions have sparked debate and expanded our other letter, this one from a bishop ordering me to thinking around key issues of the day. These cancel the priest’s subscription. We continued to We hunger not for an equal slice of a stale unique perspectives have saved us from aspiring mail the brown envelopes and were saddened when heterosexual pie, but for a heaping portion of to mediocrity in favour of creating communities they came back to us marked return-to-sender, hav- that best suit our fabulous realities. ing being intercepted by the Catholic Stasi. sexual liberation, made to order from scratch. Over the years, we’ve also distinguished our- Gay news was hard to come by in those days. selves by tackling our not-so-fabulous realities, Connecting to a community was even harder. already publish signifi cantly more local journalism queer people around the world, and we are inspired including drug abuse, HIV transmission and com- Writing letters to the editor was a way even those on Daily Xtra than we did in the Xtra print editions. to support these struggles. munity infi ghting, or as Sharon Tate says in the in the closet or the boondocks could make contact At the same time, we look to the wider world. It’s noteworthy many of these stories are break- fi lm Valley of the Dolls, why “fags can be so bitchy.” and participate. Last fall, during the Toronto International Film ing on video. We are one of the only consistent For our communities to be strong, we believe we Missives took the form of angry screeds (these Festival, the producers of a queer fi lm from Kenya producers of queer video journalism in the world. need to speak candidly about hard issues, especial- have proliferated, sadly, as trolls highjack the visited our offices. Fearing reprisals, they had Our videos are gaining in popularity across numer- ly as some media prefer to present a whitewashed comments sections of websites everywhere) but submitted the fi lm to TIFF anonymously, and we ous platforms. façade in exchange for mainstream acceptance. also poetry, cartoons, homemade stickers, even were honoured to interview them as they chose Last year, we released a video documentary We’ve delved into seemingly intractable dis- lovingly crafted chapbooks. to publicly come out to the world. called Wham, Bam, mr Pam. It’s the story of the agreements between some radical feminists and For many scribes, the thrill of publication was “I am not afraid to go home,” producer George lone major female producer of gay male porn. The trans communities. More recently, in 2013, we greater than the rush of a hailstorm of Facebook Gachara told Daily Xtra in a video interview. “Shit doc provides a behind-the-scenes look at how one produced a video series about PrEP, the contro- likes. Tomson Highway, a Cree from northernmost can happen, but I want to go back home.” Gachara woman forms her own community in a subculture versial HIV prevention treatment that critics Manitoba, captures it in the quote above. was arrested when he returned to Kenya and is generally sensationalized for exploitation, drug warned would promote new sexually transmit- Today, priests in Saskatchewan have a world now out on bail. More recently, a video interview addiction and suicide. ted epidemics among gay men. That story was so of online gay connections at their fi ngertips. Gay we shot with a lesbian Kenyan judge threatened The fi lm has screened at queer fi lm festivals in underreported at the time that we garnered a Best news, porn, chat and hookups are available to all. to become headline news and the subject of par- Toronto, San Francisco, Copenhagen and Atlanta. Web Series nod at the Banff World Media Awards. These days, perhaps Tomson Highway is doing liamentary debate there. This month, it will play to houses at Sydney’s Arouse debate. Nurture communities. Incite Arianna Huffi ngton’s hair. We have begun to participate in international Mardi Gras, and it has just been invited to a major action. Our mission statement implores us to What does this crowded, chaotic queer virtual rights struggles, with all the risk and responsibility European fi lm festival. Once it completes its world work to these ends. We honour the legacy of Xtra reality mean for Xtra as we focus our eff orts on this involves. Our times are truly revolutionary for tour, our doc will likely be broadcast on TV in vari- and The Body Politic before it by continuing these the digital universe? eff orts in the digital realm. Please join us. Fortunately, we enjoy some unique positioning. The outcome that we seek is this — gay and lesbian We have deep roots in our traditional core com- people daring together to set love free. David Walberg was Xtra’s publisher in Toronto from munities in Toronto, and Ottawa, and 1994 to 2005. He is now CEO of digital media at Xtra is published by Pink Triangle Press, at 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, M5B 1J3. we intend to continue to strengthen those ties. We Pink Triangle Press, which publishes Xtra.

Double jeopardy for gays Has AIDS made coming out harder? Issue 75, May 2, 1987 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 7 LOOKING BACK is between Xtra and Council- spirit, a common hussy, roaming Next time I need to get some and fail to understand their at- lor . Or is it simply at will, scratching on any door real news covered by Xtra, I’ll tire, hairstyles and fake ’n’ bake that Eleanor Brown is a bad that feels right, only to vanish scribble something on a wash- tans. I’m sure many guys in their journalist? Her attack on Kyle like the dew in the early morn- room wall. 30s can understand where I am Rae in the Nov 27 issue seems ing light? KYLE RAE coming from. to be totally unfounded. What DAVID WALBERG CITY COUNCILLOR, TORONTO, ON PATRICK NEALS TORONTO, ON TORONTO, ON does “occasional street-level I wish to thank the young man grumbling” about Rae actually #317, Dec 19, 1996 with a white dog who came to #526, Dec 23, 2004 mean? Who’s grumbling? What my aid the night of Aug 21 at As somebody old enough to Recently, there has been a lot of precisely did they say? Who said 9:20pm at the corner of Jarvis LETTERS remember fucking and being talk about the problems in the Rae abandoned the gay commu- and Wellesley, where I was being Xtra fucked without a condom, and Church Street neighbourhood. Since the letters page first debuted in nities and when and how? The attacked. Again, thank you for as somebody who does both with The fact is, we can talk till we are Issue #10 in July 1984, our readers have badly written article offers no being there at the right time. The condoms now, I must say that blue in the face, but that won’t substantiation for the opening attack was reported to the police never missed the chance to see their com- in my experience, the idea that solve anything. You need to de- innuendo. later that night. unprotected sex is a lot more cide whether you want to be part plaints, rants and arguments in print. In Rae has been more than sup- ANTHONY SMITH portive of satisfying is a myth. People often TORONTO, ON of the solution or the problem. recent years, handwritten and postmarked idealize what is forbidden or Start by picking up litter even if Theatre’s [upcoming] move into #422, Dec 28, 2000 letters have dwindled to a mere trickle as 12 Alexander St. He has helped dangerous, but when it comes it isn’t yours; call the police if you comments have migrated to the web and secure this excellent facility for down to it, it really doesn’t feel So, Xtra publisher David Walberg see a crime being committed. If Toronto’s gay and lesbian in- all that different. Certainly not considers 50 “old,” does he? Like you don’t, who will? And most to social media. Here is one last hurrah to novative theatre. We have noth- different enough to die for. Madame Defarge knitting pa- of all, start by treating people TIM MCCASKELL some of the best, worst and most memorable ing but praise for Rae, and we TORONTO, ON letters from the last 30 years. can point very specifically to what he is doing for the queer As a “straight-identified” man Like Madame Defarge knitting community. myself, I agree strongly with #115, Dec 30, 1988 #163, Dec 28, 1990 Street-level grumbling has the theory that many straights patiently beneath the guillotine, are latently bisexual or gay and Your article regarding oral sex as Last month, two friends and I it that Xtra has some dark and I shall avidly await Mr Walberg’s are, for a multitude of social- being virtually risk-free greatly went to a women’s bar in down- mysterious reason for trashing ized reasons, repressing their concerns me. town TO. We were among the Rae (don’t ask me to substanti- 50th birthday. sexuality. I got my first sense Only because it was just one first to depart and soon were ate this; Xtra didn’t have to). Or of that during my long tenure article on this most relevant sub- standing at a street corner near is Xtra just falling prey to that in, of all places, the Boy Scouts. tiently beneath the guillotine, the way you want to be treated. ject and yet a blanket statement the club. Suddenly, a man burst testy gay and lesbian affliction After 10 years of weekend camp- I shall avidly await Mr Walberg’s Drop the attitude, put on a smile to go ahead and enjoy yourself all from the club’s entrance. He known as the community “eat- ing, I’d seen more barely sub- 50th birthday. When at last that and be friendly. Not everyone is the way, with practically no risk, cut across the street, heading ing its own”? limated homoeroticism and dire day arrives, I shall spring up out to hurt you. And then maybe short of just having had major directly toward our group. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, BUDDIES eye-popping sex play than you as quickly as my arthritic hips we will have a neighbourhood we dental surgery that morning! “Cocksucker!” a woman IN BAD TIMES, TORONTO, ON could shake a stick at. Boy Scout will allow and cackle to him, can all be proud of. And since then, nothing fur- yelled. She too had appeared founder Lord Baden-Powell, “Your opinions no longer mat- GLEN HOKANSSON ther in Xtra or anywhere else on from inside the club and seemed #265, Dec 23, 1994 TORONTO, ON who wrote so earnestly a centu- ter! Your tastes are anachronis- the subject. What’s a girl to do? to be in pursuit of the feIlow I read the article “Spousal Rights ry ago about the need to remain tic! Your time is up!” #578, Dec 21, 2006 NAME WITHHELD fleeing. “What happened?” I for Threesomes” with bemuse- “morally clean,” obviously had JOHN FIRTH TORONTO, ON cried, but there was no answer. ment. I don’t really understand We know the youth of Church no clue about the energy field TORONTO, ON the problem. If same-sex rela- Street make much of not want- he was releasing. tionships are validated by the John Alan Lee explaining how ing to be ogled by some old fart, CLIVE THOMPSON young Asian fags date older I wish to thank the young state, then the member of the TORONTO, ON but Church Street exists because man with a white dog who group the Ottawa Bytown Bis white men because “elders are of us old farts, and before we will be able to sponsor her girl- #343, Dec 18, 1997 respected in some Eastern so- shuffle off to that gay village in cieties,” is like saying young came to my aid at the corner friend, a US citizen. If the woman “Queer” is not a word that has the sky we’d like to hear a round Asian dykes like me enjoy writ- is married to a man, then prob- ever been used by anyone to de- of applause. of Jarvis and Wellesley, where ing angry letters to the editor ably there’s not going to be a note something positive. Like TIM DEVLIN because I live a typically Asian, TORONTO, ON problem. The problem is not the word faggot, it has too many I was being attacked. sexually frustrated life. No. In- one of recognizing orientation, bad memories for too many gay #760, Dec 12, 2013 stead, I write angry letters to the but of recognizing polygamy. If people. It has been used against #139, Dec 29, 1989 editor because stupid comments As someone a lot older and hav- A moment later, the man had bisexual activists really believe us to imply there is something perpetuating Ori-fucken-ental ing been a counsellor for years, Some months ago, I requested dashed past us, escaping. From polygamy is a sexual orienta- odd, unnatural, wrong, unap- stereotypes sneak into what I this seems an expression of their you to send me a copy of Xtra. I bits and pieces of their conversa- tion issue, there’s not much I pealing, weird and generally no read. Stop decrypting my life discomfort with who they are or received a copy, but postal workers tion, we discerned that the man can do about it. But I oppose good about being gay. into bits of kung fu movies and internalized homophobia [“A in my country not only had spilt ink had punched a woman inside any attempt to derail the gains LAWRENCE SCHAFER on the photos, they also had torn the club. we are all making for the sake TORONTO, ON raw fish, okay? Forum for Gay Men Who Like some pages. I am very, very angry. We felt anger and regret that of increased visibility of a few KAREN BK CHAN ‘Guy’ Stuff,” dailyxtra.com, Nov #370, Dec 31, 1998 TORONTO, ON I cannot tolerate such a situa- this gaybasher had escaped, for, activists. 30]. The emphasis on traditional masculinity and the drinking tion. All the rules are against ho- as it happened, we could easily DANIELA KINSELLA We, of course, expect this level #434, June 14, 2001 mosexuality. Being gay or lesbian OTTAWA, ON of careless fact-checking and are self-repressive. Check with have stopped him. Thank you, RM Vaughan, for is equal to death. I have no pro- editing, axe-grinding and jour- them in 15 to 20 years, when they If you are pursuing an attacker #291, Dec 22, 1995 your amusing yet very true tector. Now, again, I request you nalistic incompetence from Xtra, have learned to balance and live or are yourself being attacked, rendition of the 30-something to send me only the torn page. If Xtra’s resident cat has been which never heard a rumour it with the masculine/feminine yell, scream or holler, but let Toronto gay man’s social life. I you decide to send it, you should missing since March 15. Kitty wouldn’t print. (androgynous) natures we, as people know what is going on! couldn’t relate more. I am 33 and send it in an ordinary envelope. Lang, known for her affection- JOE CLARK part of humanity, all have. Good People able and willing to help sometimes feel that I don’t really I enclosed the torn page so may be nearby. ate if somewhat plaintive pres- TORONTO, ON luck, Gaybros. fit very well in the many gay so- ADRIAAN DE VRIES (FACEBOOK) that you can find the page num- JJ LEE ence, has been with us for several #396, Dec 30, 1999 cial nightspots in Toronto. Many VANCOUVER, BC ber. I hope you reply to my letter TORONTO, ON years. Was she kidnapped? Has bars tend to attract too many very soon. she met with peril? Or has she You are becoming the bar-rag #213, Dec 23, 1992 sister of anonymous-fed scur- younger attitude queens, for HESSAMEDDIN AGAH merely become (as so many of us I’m not sure what the problem only dream of becoming) a free rilous rumour mags like Frank. which I have very little patience

8 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Easy come, easy go Why have so many lesbian bars come and gone in TO? Issue 80, July 17, 1987 XCETERALOOKING BACK COMPILED BY DARRYL MABEY

FROM THE ARCHIVES 35 YEARS AGO Issue 148 XTRA PREVIEW May 10, 1990 ISSUE JAN 27, 1984 Xtra arrives on the scene, and in it local fashion trendsetter Stephen Searle bemoans the “cloned out” nightlife. “If I see another plaid shirt, I’ll scream,” he says. “You don’t have to look macho to be male. Clones dress in a way that First proclamation of Pride Week. From screams they’re male. But men Issue 200, June 26, 1992 are supposed to be brave, so why don’t they make an individual statement?” — Michael Lyons

Issue 203 Aug 7, 1992

Issue 318 Jan 2, 1997

Issue 192 March 6, 1992

Issue 643 June 18, 2009 XCETERA LOGOS OVER THE YEARS Xcetera

Pride Day stays on Church Committee kills proposal to move Issue 91, Jan 1, 1988 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 9 www.CANFAR.com

10 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES No! No! No! Eggleton snubs Pride Day again Issue 102, June 17, 1988 The gorgeous and the gargoyles are still trying to make sense of the sexquake Upfront that shook us only 30 years ago. Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco E12 Thinking outside the box reading some form of newspaper con- Community groups contemplate tent each week and six in 10 preferring to read their news in printed versus future visibility online editions. Still, NADbank notes that online readership is steadily gain- COMMUNITY been great to work with a publication ing on print, with one in three Canadi- JP LAROCQUE that focuses on LGBTQ communities, ans reading at least a portion of their as we know we are reaching the right news content online from established For Matthew Cutler, director of devel- target market.” publications. opment and community engagement When PTP launched the paper in “As much as I think we will all miss at the 519 Church Street Community 1984, Xtra’s mandate offered many or- the print edition of Xtra, it is not a sur- Centre, the end of Xtra marks a turning ganizations a platform to discuss issues prise that a shift to digital is in order,” point for queer visibility. pertaining to LGBT people that were Cutler says. “The web began to be more “I used to travel out to Mississauga often ignored by mainstream media of a traffic point for us than print, and through Kipling Station and was always outlets. And at a time when the com- it gives us an even broader audience.” amazed to see the Xtra box there,” he munity was disproportionately affected He argues that while the physical says. “I think that sometimes folks in by the HIV epidemic, the paper acted as paper extended the organization’s reach the neighbourhood take it for granted, a valuable resource for those looking into the suburbs, the online version can [but] the presence of Xtra in physical for programs and services that could get the word even further. “We know form played a large part in telling that improve their quality of life. that even on our own website, we see story to a community that otherwise “One of the challenges throughout a large number — not a majority, but wouldn’t have heard about it.” the HIV epidemic has been the under- certainly in the 30- to 40-percent range Since Pink Triangle Press (PTP) an- representation of LGBTQ issues, and — of visitors from outside the GTA and nounced that it would be shuttering its specifically health issues, in the main- outside Canada in some cases.” print division, not-for-profit organiza- stream media,” says Chris Thomas, Thomas sees similar trends at his tions like The 519 have had to assess communications coordinator at the agency. “A lot of people looking to have how the move will affect their ability to AIDS Committee of Toronto. “Xtra’s sex in the LGBTQ community are using reach Toronto’s LGBT communities — audience is largely made up of folks online apps and other types of digital especially people who live in outlying from the LGBTQ community, so for platforms to meet each other. Accord- areas of the city. us it has been a no-brainer” to use the ingly, [ACT has] been increasing our “Although we have a geographic paper for outreach. presence on many of these sites to pro- catchment that calls us to serve the Cutler agrees. The 519 “would often mote safer-sex practices and strategies Village and the broader lesbian, gay, bi struggle to get mainstream media to for reducing the risk of getting HIV and and trans community in the city, the cover us because we were often mar- other STIs when having sex. Moving for- vast majority of our members don’t live ginalized as an LGBT agency. Even ward, we will continue to partner with here,” Cutler says. “[And] for many in as recently as five or six years ago, we Xtra digitally, should the opportunity poor and marginalized communities, would have to fight or really work hard present itself and the circumstances they simply can’t afford to live in this to get coverage in other outlets, while be mutually beneficial.” neighbourhood. So Xtra being out in the we could reliably turn to Xtra to tell Cutler is optimistic about the shift space helped us to draw those people in our story.” online and views it as an opportunity to and keep them up to date.” And while the paper was helpful in increase the breadth of representation Arti Mehta, LGBTQ coordinator at supporting organizations and advanc- and to be more precise in targeting spe- the Canadian Cancer Society, agrees. ing their issues, it also played a key cific demographics. He hopes that it will The biggest drawback of the paper’s role in holding them accountable to allow people to find information that is demise is losing “the visibility of the community at large. Matthew Cutler, director of Xtra would cover it,” Cutler says. “And specifically relevant to them. LGBTQ community issues in every- “I often think about decisions we development and community that, sometimes, is a measure for me “When you have a limited number day environments,” she says. “It has make or work we do in terms of how engagement at the 519 Church Street of where we might need to do more of pages, you have to be selective about Community Centre, is optimistic about Xtra’s shift online and hopes that work or something we’re doing needs what ends up in a paper. And that’s moving the conversation to the digital a little bit more attention. Xtra helped not to say that you don’t curate an on- Xtra helped to keep us thinking about world will allow for more diverse to keep us honest and keep us thinking line environment, but that you can be viewpoints. about how we’re intersecting with the broader because you’re not as limited how we’re intersecting with the broader N MAXWELL LANDER broader community in the work that in what you do. My hope is that as these we do.” conversations move more online, it will community in the work that we do. According to the most recent study by allow us to represent a greater diversity MATTHEW CUTLER, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT research agency NADbank, newspaper of our community and the people who AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AT THE 519 readership remains strong across the are in it — because we have more band- country, with 15.8 million width and space to play with.”

Benefits denied Ottawa couple loses grievance Issue 111, Oct 28, 1988 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 11 Sex crimes HIV nondisclosure and the post-epidemic landscape

AIDS/HIV flares up on my legs, a persistent side- FRANCISCO effect of chemo and radiation treatments IBÁÑEZ-CARRASCO for Kaposi’s sarcoma in the early 1990s, before HIV meds. When an HIV-negative “How come you wear a red ribbon?” asks guy wants to hook up with me — I’m in an my hunky, straight, Italian trainer from open-sex marriage — and I say no thanks, Stouffville. “I’ve only seen them pink.” often he replies, “You’re undetectable, The times I land at the St Mike’s ER in right? I’m cool with it.” I reply, “HIV is Author Francisco inner-city Toronto, young nurses ask, criminalized in Canada; you know that, Ibáñez-Carrasco. “What is KS?” when I deliver my patient- right?” Typically, I’m stonewalled there BECCA LEMIRE standard explanation of why cellulitis or insulted or, worse, ignored.

Gay men — and people in general to-do list. I think they mean that HIV — have narrow and short attention is commonplace but not normal. spans. I’m in the business of the HIV Older guys living with HIV watch, The 5th Annual movement, I wear ribbons, I memo- with some indignation, the Truvada rialize the lives of infectious gay men whores moving in on the sexual trade: in books. I have to be familiar with “We are progressive; we take pills public-health, scientific, legal and and fuck (good-looking) pozzies!” cultural arguments. I think of HIV as “Go fuck yourself,” spits a strapping Queering a chronic manageable, but episodic, 30-something barebacking bear I know disability with physical, emotional and in Winnipeg. “Where were you when I cognitive ups and downs over a life- was sad, lonely, horny and undetectable? time. Most guys don’t have to. Who’s You came up with a lame excuse, a ficti- to blame them? Who breaks the lusty tious partner or called me reckless!” Black groping with a come-hither of “Hey, Often, the looming spectre of criminal- hot bud, I have a nine-inch dick — and ization is eclipsed by the accumulated an episodic disability that I must tell historical pain and an inheritance of in- you about or you might charge me with complete and insincere conversations. criminal activity.” It’s a deal-breaker, Being gay in the neoliberal market History wouldn’t you say? makes us maquiladoras in the digital Some of it is TMI; some is impos- production of fuck. Daily, we feel the sible to remember because being gay pressure of producing spectacular seems guided by societal and self- sexual highs and lows; fuelled by meth, imposed rules and pressure (“I’m mus- aided by GPS apps, we interpret and Month cular, clean and sober, UB2”), denial, reframe the criminalization of the a hangover of fear and a shitload of nondisclosure of HIV in oblique ways. A celebration of Queer and Trans African, stigma and shame. We comply and swallow and resist and I touch down in different regions of make do. The Canadian law that crimi- Black, and Caribbean Communities Canada over the course of a year, chat- nalizes the nondisclosure of HIV, the Featuring ting and sexing it up with young men: inter-fag bullying of hypersexuality, complicated, guarded, curious but the sexual apartheid between pozzies Tiq Milan courageously giving it a go in a country and HIV-negatives and other social Friday, Feb. 27 Journalist, Activist, Trailblazer that tells them they are fully liberated maladies are not the first thing in mind Senior Media Strategist of National News at GLADD, and legally protected but whose queer or to be ethical about. Cyber life only contributing author to the anthology Trans Bodies, Trans culture whispers otherwise under the rarefies this Hello Kitty, pressure- 5:00PM Selves, and is the Co-Chair for the LGBT taskforce of the National Association of Black Journalists. proud maple leaf. They worry about cooker queer atmosphere. How come body image, making money, studying hook-up sites demand HIV disclosure SCC115, Student Centre, Patrisse Cullors and finding a man. They negotiate but have no checkmark for “Are you Ryerson University, 55 Gould St. Artist, Organizer, Freedom Fighter their kink amidst heteronormative nuts?” I applaud our efforts to put the As founder of Dignity and Power Now and co-founder of expectations that they should marry a criminalization of HIV on the queer #BlackLivesMatter, she has worked tirelessly promoting law decent, gainfully employed Canadian landscape, but the young and the help- Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible; ASL provided enforcement accountability across the nation. bachelor. Some tell me how relieved less, the gorgeous and the gargoyles they are when diagnosed with HIV but are still trying to make sense of the The Ryerson Students' Union strives to create accessible and inclusive spaces Other guests T.B.A. how frightening the prospect of tak- AIDS sexquake that shook us only 30 for all of its members. If you have any accessibility needs, please email ing pills is. They assure me that HIV years ago. Grappling with a legacy of [email protected] as soon as possible. Performances: Rainbow Ballroom Toronto is normal, but they will not tell their horror, neglect and disappointment families or the guys they are hooking will take more generations. up with, neither about fisting or fletch- For more info, email: [email protected] ing nor about their HIV status. The Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco is the criminalization of the nondisclosure author of Giving It Raw: Nearly 30 of HIV seems to be way down on their Years with AIDS.

12 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Out of the closet, out of a job A gay cop finds that he’s no longer one of the boys Issue 117, Jan 27, 1989 Immigration is for lovers!™ Complete immigration services. Competitive pricing Friendly, knowledgeable staff. Extraordinary success rates. Tips from a Not sure where to begin? drag queen to Call us today for a brief assessment 416-651-8889 land a date www.immigrationservices.ca

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Video gaymes Where to look for gay video in Toronto Issue 121, March 31, 1989 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 13 Marlone Zhang - Homelife St Jamestown Steak and Chops Landmark Realty St John’s Norway Cemetery Martin Abell Campaign PC St Michael’s Hospital A thank-you to our advertisers Menkes Development Steamworks Management Mercedes-Benz As Xtra moves entirely online, we want to acknowledge the vital contribution Stratford Festival of Canada Metroland Printing Tafelmusik of the people and businesses who choose to advertise with us. Metropolitan Talisker Players Community Church Publishing — in print or online — costs money, but thanks to our advertisers, Tangled Art + Disability Monroe County TDC we can keep you, our readers, informed. Also thanks to them, we can offer free TD Canada Trust Museum of Contemporary or discounted advertising to the volunteer organizations that are the building Canadian Art Terme blocks of our communities. Netflix The Big Carrot The Blake House Please complete the circle by supporting our advertisers, who have been with Nicholas Banks - iPro Realty Nissan Downtown The Cabaret Company us in print and are now joining us on the web, at dailyxtra.com. Notso Amazon Baseball League The Consulting House Olivia Chow Campaign The Ecumenical Chaplaincy at the 1000 Islands Church Bistro French Connection Open Air Productions - Accommodation Partners Churchmouse and (Canada) Limited Ryerson University The Great Travel Challenge 103.9 Proud FM Firkin Restaurant Gaelen Patrick - Sutton Group Ottawa Tourism & The Harlowe Inc 420 Smoke House City of Toronto - Economic Gardiner Museum Convention Authority The Little Army Store 5 St Joseph Development Ltd Development Genesis Squared Out and Out Inc The Living Arts Centre 519 Church Street Collective Concerts Gilead Sciences Canada Inc - Vancouver The Pleiades Theatre Community Centre Community Marketing Inc Queer Film Festival Inc The Power of Touch Abramian & Associates Condom Shack OUTtv Network Inc Growing Heart Counselling The Stag Shop Acanac Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism Cora’s Breakfast & Lunch and Psychotherapy The Time of the Month Paul T Willis AEG Live Corey Silver - Re/Max Hair of the Dog Drag Productions Hallmark Realty Peggy Baker Dance Projects AEGAL Harvey L Hamburg The Toronto Sisters - The AIDS Committee of Toronto Counterpoint Community Phil Villeneuve Productions Abbey of Divine Wood Orchestra Harvey Malinsky - Re/Max Allied Integrated Marketing Hallmark Realty Ltd Pink Triangle Press The Union Ltd Craig Head - Bosley Real Estate Artists for a Better Change Holiday Inn Pitbull Events The View from the Shard Avis Budget Group Inc Cynthia Borovoy Warren Pressnet Inc (Squirt) Throbbing Rose Collective Barrister & Solicitor Hot Docs Canada International Best Western Plus Quality Hotel Vancouver Tim MCaskell Dan Savage’s Hump Tour Ian Burney - Re/Max Chateau Granville Country Lakes Queer Bathroom Stories Tom Lebour -Royal BF Canada Dancemakers Iceberg Vodka Queer Confessions Lepage Real Estate Blackness Yes! Dermatology Center on Bloor INC Research Queer West Film Festival Tom States Bloor-Yorkville Business Designer Trips InDance Renobrigade.ca Toronto Book and Magazine Fair Improvement Area Dharma Friends Toronto Inflamax Research Robert G Coates Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival Brad J Lamb Realty Inc Downtown Automotive Group Inside Out Ron Hyde Toronto Kia Brandon the Hypnotist Downtown Hyundai International Day Roseneath Theatre Toronto People With Brian A Elder - Royal Dr Elon Griffith AIDS Foundation Lepage Real Estate Against Homophobia Ross Watson Gallery Dr Kevin Russelo & Associates Toronto Rape Crisis Centre Brock University - International Songwriting Roy Runions - Re/Max Dr Martin Sterling Leave the Pack Competition Hallmark Realty Ltd Touch of Pink Housekeeping Drake General Store Brussels Bistro Jackson Thurling - Sotheby’s Royal Ontario Museum Travel Gay Canada Dutil Denim BT/A Creates Janice Warren Ryerson Students’ Union Triumph Developments Eclectic Theatre - Howard Park Buddies in Bad Times Theatre Barrister & Solictor Salon One Egale Union Lighting & Furnishings Cabbagetown Group John Volpe - Cornerstone Sanofi Pasteur Softball League Elevation Pictures Real Estate Sarah Fraser UpCountry Cam Johnson Evolution Fitness Jones Pond Screen Lounge Urban Capital Red Quartz Inc Campground & RV Camp Canadian Cancer Society Exit 14 Advertising LLC Selby Developments Ltd Vinnette Mohan - Ontario Division Fair Trade Jewellery Kanetix Ltd Sexual & Gender Diversity Office Virgin Mobile Canadian Gay & Lesbian Ferreira-Wells Keith Cole Shea Warrington Real Volcano Theatre Chamber of Commerce Immigration Services Kirk Cooper Estate Homeward Wega Video Canadian Lesbian Fife House Foundation Inc LemonTree Creations Sheen Day Spa Woody’s on Church & Gay Archives Films We Like Linda Rudolph - The Shelter Furniture Worsley Dundonald Limited Canadian Memorial Mortgage Centre Chiropractic College First Media Group Inc Sherbourne Health Centre Yonge Cinemas - Life @ Yonge Lindsay Barlow - Sutton Casey House Fleshlight Canada SIN, Bearcode & YYZ Travel Distribution, ULC Group - Heritage Realty Underwear Party Centre for Interpersonal Relationships Fly 2.0 Live Nation Canada Sir Corp Centre Francophone de Toronto Fly Nightclub Luminato Soulpepper Theatre Company Christine Faihz Counselling Forte - Toronto Men’s Chorus Maple Leaf Quay Spa Excess and Psychotherapy Freed Development Mariana’s Esthetics Spartacus TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

14 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES The AIDS decade As we enter the ’90s, the joy of sex may be returning Issue 129, July 28, 1989 Daily Xtra gets a makeover, launches Refreshing the page new mobile site MEDIA NATASHA BARSOTTI

Clean, visually enhanced and tight are the words Xtra publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon Design mockups of the new Matheson uses to describe the new design of the Daily Xtra website, which will be launched this spring. Daily Xtra website that will be unveiled this spring. Matheson says Pink Triangle Press has learned a lot since its construction of Daily Xtra, which went live in June 2013. In reviewing the data about the interactivity of the site and how people use it, he says, it became clear that a lot of content went unseen. In a bid to address that issue, some of the content was then posted in more than one of the fi ve mar- kets — Canada, the world, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver — resulting in readers seeing the same stories in the diff erent sections they browsed on the website. “It’s not a huge problem, but it’s just not your optimal user experience,” Matheson says. What’s been missing is a dedicated page where all the site’s content appears to the reader, he says. The new Daily Xtra will feature a stand-alone, customizable home page, meaning users will be able to select the content they want to see from the various markets and eliminate “the clutter.” media and even to publish some content directly “Somebody might only choose to see Vancouver to social media channels, he says, since he doesn’t and Canada news, or Vancouver and world news, always expect readers to come to the website. and that’s what’s presented to them,” Matheson “The same way we have used YouTube to reach says. audiences that do not visit DX,” he says, “we’re go- While there won’t be huge shifts in the content ing to expand social media activity to eventually Matheson says he doesn’t have “a complete citizen journalism around it, but journalists doing covered, Matheson says, it will be presented more include some other types of social media content answer” regarding the future of the comments what Xtra does will always bring other information, cleanly and with enhanced visuals to engage more targeted to audiences, whether that be a special section. “That doesn’t make me feel bad because other aspects, other perspectives to the story.” readers more easily. Instagram channel, whether it be a Tumblr feed, media organizations that have vast resources What does concern him is the censorship im- Community news from Toronto, Ottawa and whether it be how we change and use Facebook.” compared to us don’t have the answers either,” posed by corporations whose rules are not always Vancouver will still be a key focus of dailyxtra. Prior to Daily Xtra’s new release in the spring, a he adds. in the best interest of the gay community. “Large com, as will coverage of international and na- mobile version of the site will be unveiled; it will Queerty is spending large amounts of money corporations that run social media where a lot of tional news. There will also be a push to share be an exact refl ection of the desktop site. to figure out the comments quandary, while the discussion and the debate is happening are Daily Xtra’s stories more eff ectively through social For readers who are concerned that the shift to heavy hitters like the Washington Post and the controlling, to some degree, what people post and a web-only presence means the end of investiga- New York Times are also looking for their own what they don’t allow people to post. I think, in A preview of Daily Xtra’s soon-to-be tive and feature pieces, Matheson says another solutions, he says. “It’s just one of the interesting general, that’s more problematic and [over] the launched mobile site. site update following the spring launch of the elements of what is going on in the online world long term may pose a larger risk than citizens who new Daily Xtra is also in the works. “High on my that nobody has really corralled and has come up consider themselves to be citizen journalists, even priority list is to develop new story templates with that magic of an amazing comments system if they don’t use that term to describe themselves.” that allow us to do long-form journalism in the that weeds out what you dislike about it and keeps Asked about die-hard print readers who may be same sort of way,” he says. “We’ve never stopped what you like.” reluctant to get their news online, Matheson says doing that. Every piece of long-form journalism Asked if the comments section will eventually that sentiment doesn’t surprise him; he professes we’ve produced in the last number of years for the be dropped from Daily Xtra, Matheson will say to be a print lover himself. Still, he argues, gay and papers has also gone online, but I think there’s only that he questions the value of having that lesbian publishing, which is already a marginal opportunities to fi nd more engaging ways to tell element on the site and points to debates and business, is not immune to what’s happening or present stories to readers, because long-form discussions unfolding organically on social media in the media landscape, including declining ad stories do require a certain amount of commit- platforms. He fi nds the tenor of the discussion on revenues and rising production costs. ment, and we have to fi nd ways to make them Facebook, for instance, more civil and of a better “A move to a completely all-digital strategy just work on mobile devices and websites.” quality. He notes, however, that much of the com- makes sense,” he concludes, pointing out that the One of the perennial challenges for Daily Xtra, mentary about stories is happening not on Daily press has had an online presence for a long time. and other media sites, is what to do with the Xtra’s Facebook page, but on the personal pages of Daily Xtra replaced xtra.ca, which went live in 1998. rough-and-tumble nature of the online comments people who are sharing content from Daily Xtra. Matheson says he’ll be sad to lose any print section, a source of frustration to many readers. “I think it takes a diff erent tone, because every- reader but points to the readers who are already “The one thorn in people’s side when it comes one’s page is almost like another little community. “embracing us in digital,” some of them longtime to comments is how fast the stream of comment Not that you don’t see people disagreeing, but it print readers. “Xtra is still going to be there doing around a story can veer away from that story — doesn’t usually devolve into the vitriol that often the work it’s doing with our unique content and completely — to the point where it’s not even happens on a website.” our voice, and we hope that people come along focused anymore on why people are there, and He says he’s not concerned that social media sites for that.” then overwhelmingly, some nasty tone emerges like Facebook will eventually compete too directly amongst people, and often about issues that are with digital journalism. “It’s fi ne for stories to break not connected to what the story is.” or exist on social media and to have a certain level of dailyxtra.com

Secret service Play traces British persecution of gay intelligence hero Issue 140, Jan 12, 1990 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 15 Introducing The First Five of Inside Out’s 25TH ANNIVERSARY RETRO SERIES

My Beautiful The Children’s The Wedding Show Me Love The Hanging Laundrette Hour Banquet (Fucking Åmål) Garden February 25, 2015 March 11, 2015 March 25, 2015 April 8, 2015 May 6, 2015 We are pleased to kick The 1961 classic The Ang Lee’s hilarious and Swedish auteur Lukas One of the most crucial off this series with the Children’s Hour, starring heart-warming The Wedding Moodysson knocked the Canadian films that Academy Award nominated Shirley MacLaine and Banquet was nominated for independent film scene on erupted during the New Stephen Frears classic, Audrey Hepburn, is still Best Foreign Language Film its back with his edgy debut Queer Cinema age: Thom My Beautiful Laundrette. Set as relevant as ever. When in 1994, establishing Lee as lesbian coming of age movie Fitzgerald’s The Hanging in a rough London suburb, the main characters are one of the generation’s most Show Me Love (yes, named Garden. Having won every a relationship begins to accused of having an important filmmakers. after the Robyn song). audience award possible at blossom between two ‘unnatural’ relationship, the festivals back in 1997, the friends. events that follow could have time felt right to revisit the been ripped from today’s story of Sweet William and headlines. his family. TH 25 ANNUAL All screenings 7:30PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox - 350 King St. W. (Toronto). TORONTO RETRO 1991 TICKET PRICE: $5.50 LGBT FILM FESTIVAL TICKETS NOW ON SALE MAY 21 - 31, 2015 Online: insideout.ca In Person: 10am-10pm daily Phone: 10am-7pm daily TIFF Bell Lightbox, PRESENTING SPONSOR 416.599.TIFF (8433) Reitman Square, insideout.ca Toll-free: 1.888.599.8433 350 King Street West

Through the Pride and Funding for Remembrance Run, the Foundation Retro Series provides financial support for projects an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario provided by: of registered charities that benefit the LGBTQ community.

16 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Sky Gilbert wins Dora Whore’s Revenge voted outstanding new play Issue 152, July 13, 1990 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA Looking back —

PHOTO BY ADAM COISH moving forward

Another triumph in Sodom North Vancouver City Council approves same-sex spousal benefits Issue 164, Jan 11, 1991 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 17 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: LOOKING BACK THE LITTLE MAGAZINE For more than three decades, Xtra has made its mark on our communities, just

There are plenty of other LGBT media entities out there, but there 31 Years are few with legacies like Xtra’s. of Xtra My favourite (and first) memory of Before the advent of the internet, Xtra was grabbing a fresh copy at The 1984 In January, Pink Triangle Bookshelf in Guelph when I was an art the publication was for many their Press (PTP) gives birth to a four-page bar rag called Xtra. student. I’d flip to the back page to read first contact with the gay and lesbi- Intended as a promotional tool Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out for The Body Politic (TBP), as For and Eric Orner’s Mostly Unfabu- an community. We don’t have nearly well as a way to reach more people (and a different audience) lous Social Life of Ethan Green. They enough time or space for all the than TBP ever could, Xtra soon outstrips its parent in advertising were such an inspiration to this fledg- memories, so we invite you to con- revenues and, eventually, in ling illustrator; queer stories and faces circulation. tinue the dialogue on dailyxtra.com. in print was a big deal to me back then. 1986 Sexual orientation is Paul Dotey, illustrator As Xtra moves completely online, added to the Ontario Human Rights Code. it’s time to celebrate the little paper In November, TBP celebrates its 15th birthday, but the collective that could — and did. becomes concerned about its financial health. The collective and staff decide to suspend publication of TBP and keep PTP alive by focusing on Xtra. Looking back 1987 PTP forges on with Xtra as its new flagship brand. The more than 20 collective votes to terminate its own existence shortly after years, I feel for- appointing president and collective member Ken Popert as tunate to have interim publisher of Xtra. Popert remains president and executive played a part at director of PTP to this day. such a critical 1988 In February, Xtra time in the gay moves to 484 Yonge St and reaches a circulation of 17,000 press — and so 28-page copies. The Dec 30 issue includes, early on in my career in jour- for the first time, a year-end nalism. I still remember working AIDS memorial page called Proud Lives, an idea picked into the wee hours of the morn- up from Vancouver’s former Q Magazine. It later becomes ing so we could publish a special a regular feature.

“news flash” issue after the de- 1989 In June, for Pride Day, Xtra sports its first full-colour feat of Bill 167, legislation that cover, on 18,000 48-page copies. at the time would’ve extended November sees the premiere of XS, a supplement to Xtra civil rights to same-sex couples. with lesbian author Jane Rule on the cover. The supplement Although I was the arts and en- runs 43 issues before being tertainment editor, it was working discontinued in 1993. on that hard-news story that 1990 PTP enters the world of audiotext (telepersonal PAUL DOTEY is an illustrator and graphic designer from Toronto with a passion for mid-century I am probably the most proud of. chatlines), eventually creating architecture, the films of Wes Anderson and outer space. He has designed for the Starbucks Xtra’s Talking Classifieds and Coffee Company, Indigo Books, Random House of Canada and the Hudson’s Bay Company. ALAN VERNON, EDITOR & WRITER Cruiseline. His first illustration for Xtra was published in January 2013.

18 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Immortalizing Church-Wellesley Peter McGehee’s first novel a first for Toronto Issue 167, Feb 22, 1991 THAT DID as they have made their mark on Xtra

The Church Wellesley Review, a showcase for new lesbian and gay writing, debuts as a The humour column supplement to Xtra. I wrote for Xtra in my 1991 PTP turns 20. The Dec 27 20s was my first real issue of Xtra is 22,000 40-page break as a writer. Gord copies. Bowness, and later Paul 1992 In Toronto, demonstrators block Yonge and College streets Gallant, gave me carte aft er Glad Day Bookshop is charged with obscenity for blanche and 200 bucks carrying lesbian sex mag Bad apiece for five years. Att itude. With June Rowlands as the The thrill of sharing new mayor, the City of Toronto my fevered whimsy with Xtra readers once fi nally proclaims Pride Day. The crowd for the subsequent party a month remains unparalleled, and the numbers 100,000.

invaluable practice of “loosing the kook” 1993 Cruiseline gains in against a deadline has propelled every popularity, leading to a bountiful year for PTP. book I’ve written since. I’d likely be insti- Xtra West begins publishing in tutionalized or nude and frozen forever Vancouver in July, Capital Xtra in in unknown tundra were it not for Xtra. Ott awa in September. PTP also expands its audiotext An Xtra coverboy in August 1996, Ian Phillips soon began illustrating fi ction by Greg Kramer and Greg Kearney, Author division to serve gay and lesbian Derek McCormack for the Church-Wellesley Review, the paper’s literary supplement. Over the people in the nation’s capital. years, he has designed art for Xtra newspaper boxes, the window blinds at Xtra’s former Church Street offi ce and even an Xtra Pride parade fl oat. He lives in Toronto with his boyfriend Alexx. 1994 Xtra turns 10. PTP purchases Malebox, the slutt y litt le brother to the Xtra publications. PTP moves its head offi ces to 491 Church St on Oct 27 — I loved dropping in 23 years, to the day, aft er the on Xtra’s Vancouver publication of the fi rst issue of The Body Politic. headquarters over Ontario Bill 167, which would add provisions for same-sex couples the years. There al- to dozens of laws, is defeated in ways seemed to be the Ontario legislature, leading to outrage across the province and cute and talented peo- a 10,000-strong protest march in the streets of Toronto. ple roaming the hall.

1996 The audiotext division of Someone was always PTP branches out to Edmonton in trouble for some- and Winnipeg. Xtra moves from a folded to a thing they’d writt en tabloid format. or said or drawn. And Malebox leaves Ott awa for Toronto, gett ing a facelift and a someone was always new name: Canadian Male. It runs for two more years, ceasing laughing about it. publication in 1998. It had that scrappy, In late October, PTP turns a happy and healthy 25. manic, “Let’s put on

1998 Xtra.ca goes live, covering a show!” feeling. Toronto only. MICHAEL HARRIS, AUTHOR

Equity for some Ontario’s proposed employment equity law may not include us Issue 186, Dec 6, 1991 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 19 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: LOOKING BACK

1999 In September, PTP takes I need to its first tentative steps into interactive web content. offer an Squirtpersonals.com gets enormous its first hit. Xtra conducts its first formal thank-you reader surveys. to Pink Tri- Xtra publishes a news-flash warning that police have raided angle Press Toronto’s Bijou porn theatre. and Xtra: Police charge 18. The charges are dropped months later. the first 2000 Squirt.org, a site that media or- allows gay men to swap cruising tips and tricks, launches. ganization PTP launches a glossy magazine, to take me Go Big. It runs three issues before being discontinued in seriously May 2001. as a per- Toronto police raid the Pussy Palace and the Bijou. former; two covers, including 2001 Xtra covers same-sex the Y2K issue; a five-year run marriages at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. for my Toronto at Night column.

2002 Xtra covers Marc Hall’s My PTP crushes over the years fight to take his boyfriend to the have ranged from the gorgeous prom; the libel ruling against Toronto councillor Kyle Rae, for former editor Gordon Bowness comments he made about the conduct of seven police officers to the equally gorgeous Darryl during the ; and the arrest of seven members of Mabey to the Julias (Gonsalves and the Totally Naked Toronto Men Garro), and I will bet anyone $100 contingent in the Toronto Pride parade. in cold hard cash that PTP had PTP produces the first season of the most good-looking people in ERIC WILLIAMS is a Toronto-based cartoonist and illustrator. His debut autobiographical work, gay travel show Bump! It airs on Hungry Bottom Comics, was nominated for the Doug Wright Spotlight Award and named a PrideVision, a Canadian digital Toronto media on their masthead. notable book of 2013/14 in the annual Best American Comics publication. He is currently working specialty television channel. on his first long-form comic book. His first freelance job was for Xtra, illustrating the issue that RYAN G HINDS, PERFORMER & WRITER commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Toronto bathhouse raids. He also illustrated the first 2003 PTP joins a consortium History Boys columns, which appeared in Fab magazine. of investors in the purchase of PrideVision. The channel is rebranded as OUTtv. The Anna Pournikova press will eventually build an almost 25-percent stake in the would like to thank In the early 1990s, enterprise. all the people who Squirt.org becomes a Woody’s expand- member-paid site. trusted me enough to take their photo and ed and added an 2004 The Toronto Women’s additional room. Bathhouse Committee reaches lightly roast them in a settlement with the Toronto this rag for nearly a We ran an ad in Police Service over the 2000 Pussy Palace raids. decade. Youare all Xtra featuring the 2005 Canada fully embraces stars for that, espe- amazing Crystal same-sex marriage, with the cially since it was a game of Russian roulette passage of the . Lite (pictured). PTP provides office space and before someone got called out for being a sponsorship for Canadians for The tag line was Equal Marriage. drunk, a slut or just straight ratchet. Also, “This room was thank you to Xtra for letting me continually 2006 PTP purchases long- not here 2 days running US gay publication push the envelope of what can be said in a The Guide, which will later be free mag. I’m still shocked you let me get ago . . .” which was transformed into a travel-focused publication and transition from away with “fudge packer” sometime around a takeoff of a popular Leon’s television ad. Someone print entirely to web in 2010. pinned it up in the warehouse, and it made its way to 2008. It’s been a big fat slice of glitter, anony- 2007 PTP produces the first mous blowjobs and questionable DJsets. their corporate office. They didn’t think it was funny of its ongoing annual Toronto International Film Festival Thanks for what amounts to the longest one- and threatened us with legal action: cease and desist! television shows, Out@TIFF. night stand I’ve ever had. You were great! DEAN ODORICO, MANAGER OF WOODY’S Anna Pournikova, Xposed Columnist

20 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Challenging customs Anti-censorship group takes Canada Customs to court Issue 191, Feb 21, 1992 GREEN SPACE FESTIVAL JUNE 25-28 2015 TORONTO

GREENSPACETO.ORG /greenspaceto SUPPORTED BY

Pride Day bashings The 519, cops and hospital prepare for violence Issue 199, June 12, 1992 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 21 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: LOOKING BACK

2008 PTP buys the assets I was the mar- of Toronto’s Fab magazine (which it discontinued in 2013). keting and The magazine’s final issue of distribution the year features a cover and interview with Lady Gaga, who manager in the subsequently goes on to some mid-1990s. Dur- success as a pop star. ing that period, 2009 Christopher Skinner is beaten and crushed to death I became Pride under the wheels of an SUV co-chair. We had just blocks from Toronto’s gay neighbourhood. to create Pride in six months. 2010 Xtra undergoes a redesign, which includes a new logo. Xtra generously Xtra covers the negotiated with censorship controversy. the committee 2011 An Xtra report reveals to allow me to the Halton Catholic board’s ban on GSAs. When asked about work on Pride during office hours.Xtra ’s pro- the ban, board chair Alice Anne LeMay compares GSAs to Nazi found commitment to community support groups and the story goes viral. should have come as no surprise, considering PTP flees its longtime that part of my responsibilities were to nego- second-storey digs at 491 Church St for a swanky new tiate with community groups. Xtra donated space at 2 Carlton St. thousands of dollars worth of free advertis- MPP Glen Murray promises Xtra that “LGBT support groups” ing space every year to groups that could will be allowed in Catholic not afford it. I had a wonderful time at Xtra. schools come September. Thank you for the wonderful memories! 2012 Xtra undergoes another redesign, moving to a square Michael McGaraughty, writer/performer format. The Liberals’ Accepting Schools Act (Bill 13) passes at Queen’s When I was a 16-year- JOHN WEBSTER is an artist/illustrator and an enthusiastic blogger. His work is predominantly Park. The law gives students collage-based (real and digital) and all about gender-fucking. On his Sissydude blog, Webster the power to name their old homo, Xtra was my shares vintage loveliness mixed with explicit porn/art. An Xtra illustrator since 1999, his favourite support groups. pieces were his first cover (for the 1999 Pride issue) and his 2007 Ultimate Pride Guide cover. guide to the gay world. 2013 PTP launches a new I could walk over to website, called Daily Xtra, at dailyxtra.com. The new site Church Street, grab incorporates the travel site Guidemag into a new section a copy of Xtra and I’ll always remember the proud called Daily Xtra Travel. learn all about what moment when Xtra, some 13 years Toronto police arrest several was going on in the people in connection with the ago,published an article about murder of Christopher Skinner, neighbourhood: what including a five-time team captain my underground club zine called for the Don Bosco high school bars to go to, what issues Ihad to fight for, Yumeee! I had dropped off letters football team who was coached what plays and movies I had to see, and to the editors of various publica- by ex-Toronto mayor Rob Ford. what pics of hot guys in the back section 2014 Mayor Ford attempts to tions and, very tongue in cheek, remove a Pride flag that officials I’d be staring at later that night. I didn’t had raised at city hall to show know then that I’d eventually spend nearly cut up their magazines through solidarity with LGBT athletes the eyes of my fictional editor, who I had named and LGBT Russians during the a decade writing for this magazine, but Sochi Winter Olympics. Ford, I knew that its existence was important Oral B (my name in the magazine was Circuit Boy). who has never attended a Pride event, confirms he will not attend to figuring out who I was. Well, the stoop Most publications got the humour. John Kennedy, WorldPride in Toronto in 2014, noting, “I’m not going to change is gone, Fab is gone, and now the print the editor of Fab, did not. He reported me to the the way I am.” magazine Xtra is gone, but I am glad that police and wrote a blurb about it in Fab, claiming 2015 Xtra unveils plans for a dailyxtra.com is continuing in its place. I had threatened to have him “assassinated,” and new mobile site and redesign of Daily Xtra. So I look forward to Daily Xtra being even Xtra wrote an article about the incident. Xtra’s Mathieu Chantelois is unveiled better positioned to reach the mass au- as the new executive director dience of young people figuring out who editors decided to title the piece “Circuit Boy Says of Pride Toronto. Drugs Are Good.” My mother was not as proud. they are and who they want to become. ROLYN CHAMBERS, DEEP DISH COLUMNIST Rob Salerno, Playwright, Actor & Journalist

22 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Haute drag Regal RuPaul prepares to ascend the throne Issue 216, Feb 5, 1993 Metroland Media has been the proud printer of Xtra for over 20 years. We thank all Xtra and PTP staff and alumni for their business and wish them all the best in the future.

Contact Steve Renaud at Metroland for your printing needs: [email protected] or 416-493-1300 ext 204

www.metroland.com/printing www.torstarprinting.com

Buddies loses complaint Press council sides with the Toronto Sun Issue 236, Nov 12, 1993 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 23 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: MOVING FORWARD THE FUTURE OF ACTIVISM A snaphot of the people in our community PHOTOS BY N MAXWELL LANDER

Activism and our communities — be they gay, of us have felt those forged collective bonds lesbian, queer or trans — are inexorably con- loosening. Do we still have a community? Are nected. Our histories are steeped in the sweat there still battles to be won? and tears of the trailblazers and warriors who Ask Toronto’s activists and you will hear a have bravely challenged the status quo, who resounding yes. In the pages that follow, you’ll have fought against injustices and who have find a small sampling of the artists, advocates, proudly stood up for who and what we are. entrepreneurs, educators, entertainers, stu- For so many of us, our communities have been dents, politicians, academics, scientists, writ- defined brightly by our activism. ers, volunteers and rabble-rousers who have As more rights to equality and against dis- made, and who continue to make, a difference crimination have been won, however, some in our communities.

PATRICIA WILSON is the bar manager at Buddies and lead SCOTT DAGOSTINO is the manager of Glad Day Bookshop, guitarist for Crackpuppy. MARK AIKMAN is the director of one of Canada’s oldest LGBT bookstores. development and communications at Buddies.

24 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Fighting the sin of silence A gay man’s inaugural speech to the United Nations Issue 243, Feb 18, 1994V TO WATCH INTERVIEWS WITH OUR ACTIVISTS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

ANDREW MURPHY, as director of programming at the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival in Toronto and Ottawa, challenges attitudes through film and video. Pockets of safety Documenting the advancement of LGBT rights has been, and will continue to be, a staple for Xtra. But despite the growing feeling of safety and acceptance many feel, there is always the need for MAURA LAWLESS is the executive director of the 519 Church spaces where queer folks can feel absolutely, unequivocally safe. Street Community Centre, a role she took on in 2007. “There are places in the city that now are supposed to be gay or gay-friendly, but you can’t hold your fucking boyfriend or girlfriend’s hand without getting harassed,” says Patricia Wilson, bar manager (and icon) of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Creating places where queer is normal — that’s the aim of a safe space. Inside Out caters to the LGBT community and puts our narratives in the limelight. “When [Inside Out] started back in 1991, it came out of a necessity for queer people to have a safe space and watch creative work on the screen, about them and by them,” says Andrew Murphy, director of programming at Inside Out. “I think now, even 25 years later, we’re noticing there’s a very crucial aspect to showing [these works]Z.\.\. there’s still something special about going to a cinema filled with 500 people from your community and seeing your own stories onscreen.” Videofag’s Jordan Tannahill and William Ellis can attest to the power of community in creating a safe space. “It was to be filled by the community,” Tannahill says of the gallery. “And what’s allowed it to survive is us creating the space, then sort of getting out of the way and allowing the community to take it on.” Not always bricks and mortar, safe spaces are often more conceptual than concrete. But Mark Aikman, Buddies’ director of development and communications, notes the importance of a physical place. “Safe space has a lot to do with trust and agency, but without the actual physical space that’s identified as a safe space — that goes so far for me, because physical space is so rare.” They’re rare, but they’re there. Glad Day Bookshop opened in 1970 and ever since has operated as a safe place for the LGBT community. “We’re an oasis of queer literature and queer activ- ism,” says Scott Dagostino, manager of Glad Day. “We cater to gay people, lesbian people, transgender peopleZ.\.\. people respond to that with such enthusiasm and kindness.” And, ultimately, what makes these places so safe is the culture Artists WILLIAM ELLIS and JORDAN TANNAHILL are the owners of Videofag, a gallery and of acceptance that is bred. “The building is important, but the performance lab that promotes queer work and artists. education is so important,” Wilson says. “The reason [Buddies] TK is the arts and culture manager of Pride Toronto and a is safe is because we educate everybody that what’s inside this consultant for the Queer Beer Festival. building is safe.” Andrew Jacome

Gay-studies course hits a snag Class on Audre Lorde is cancelled after a shouting match Issue 247, April 15, 1994 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 25 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: MOVING FORWARD Trans rights Susan Gapka smiles as she thinks about the progress on trans rights that she’s witnessed in the last 15 years. “We now have human rights protection at the provincial level, the legal ID, people can change sex on their record of birth, access to funding, Rainbow Health Ontario, access to healthcare — it’s not perfect, but those are the pillars for social inclusion for trans people, and I’ve gotten to be part of that struggle,” she says. “It’s going to give our younger generation such a better chance at life for the most part.” Nevertheless, she and other activists know there is still a lot of work to be done. Writer and activist Christin Milloy says that while more atten- tion on trans issues in the media has raised their profile, there is still work to be done at the ground level. “If Laverne Cox is on a magazine, it doesn’t change the fact that most of my friends can’t get proper healthcare, and it doesn’t change that many of the people I know can’t get their identification cards updated. So, it’s nice to see, but it doesn’t really help, apart from public awareness. Real work needs to be done, not just magazine photos.” University of Toronto law professor Brenda Cossman predicts that the next 10 years will bring a new battlefront for Canadian activism. “We often talk about how LGBT rights have been re- alized in Canada, and they haven’t. The L and the G rights have been realized, but B rights nobody even looks at or cares about, it seems, and the T rights are still completely unrealized.” She predicts that even once the federal and provincial govern- ments include trans protections under the law, there will still be many fights to win in the courts. “Even once you have protection I ALEX ABRAMOVICH is an academic and researcher on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, then how who specializes in the area of queer- and trans-youth that plays out in particular — individuals are going to end up homelessness. having to challenge practices where they’re being discriminated against.” Matthew DiMera

CHRISTIN MILLOY, a human rights activist and writer, helped lobby Queen’s Park to pass Toby’s Law in 2012, adding gender identity and gender Ward 27 Councillor KRISTYN WONG-TAM collaborated with SUSAN GAPKA is an LGBT activist who champions local, expression to the Ontario Human Rights Code. Toronto’s Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line to create the Will social equality. Munro award for LGBT youth.

26 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Fit for parenthood Children’s Aid Society supports adoption rights but can’t change its policies Issue 262, Nov 11, 1994 TO WATCH INTERVIEWS WITH OUR ACTIVISTS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

CHRISTOPHER KARAS has filed a case alleging homophobia and discrimination against his then Missisauga French Catholic high school with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. Community Reverend BRENT HAWKES officiated one of the same-sex weddings in 2001 that led to the successful legal challenge for gay marriage in Ontario. in religion Negotiating sexuality and gender identity in the framework of religion has always been a struggle for the LGBT community. For many, the answer has been to opt out of any faith and embrace an atheistic or agnostic approach. Others have migrated to the few churches that welcome queer parishioners. For those looking for a place in less accepting religions, the struggle continues. “Most denominations are struggling around the issue of and spirituality and sexuality,” says Reverend Brent Hawkes, the Metropolitan Community Church pastor who performed a mass LGBT wedding at WorldPride 2014. “Most churches don’t just have a problem with homosexuality; they have a problem with sexZ.\.\. The Christian church and other faiths have become very sex-negative.” He notes, however, that the conversation is changing, particu- larly among young parishioners. “I think I’m more optimistic [about Christianity] because there are some GSAs, there is the conversation; more and more students are speaking out,” he says. Christopher Karas made headlines in 2014 when he took his school, École Secondaire Catholique Sainte-Famille, to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, alleging that the board had thwarted his attempts to start a GSA. “I’m a Catholic myself, and I truly believe in love, respect and acceptance,” he says. “It’s important for us to challenge the systems and put in those [safe] spaces for ourselves and our peers.” The past year also saw Pope Francis make inclusive statements regarding gay and lesbian people. He called for the church to support parents with LGBT children and to recognize the merits of gay and lesbian people. His remarks were met with strong opposition from within the church, but for Hawkes, this is a monumental first step for Catholicism. “I’m very optimistic and hopeful with this present pope,” he says. “I think a number of different things he’s said or been involved MICHIKO BOWN-KAI is a queer and trans activist who works in — this is the most hope we’ve had in a long time. That somebody with the United Church of Canada. might actually move the church forward in terms of women’s is- sues, gay issues, freedom of choiceZ.\.\.” Andrew Jacome

Two Canadians detained UN security doesn’t like ‘lesbian rights’ banner Issue 284, Sept 15, 1995 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 27 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: MOVING FORWARD Let’s talk about sex For many activists, there’s a major problem with Ontario’s sex education curriculum — it doesn’t talk about sex, or at least not all aspects of sexuality. Carly Boyce, a project coordinator at Planned Parenthood Toronto, says the province’s sex education curriculum hasn’t changed since she was in high school. “Which was a long time ago,” she adds. “I think there needs to be some pretty drastic reform. Right now, the curriculum we have is failing all youth, but especially queer and trans youth.” Isabel Carlin, a sexual health educator, recalls that she didn’t know that being gay was an option until Grade 9. “I just thought gay meant stupid because that’s how people used it. That wasn’t talked about at all at my elementary school.” Ontario parents are being consulted on a new sex education curriculum, slated to be implemented in September 2015. Premier Kathleen Wynne has indicated that issues related to consent will be incorporated, but local activists are also hoping it will cover the whole spectrum of sexuality. John Maxwell, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), wants to ensure that students learn about gender identity and sexual orientation at an earlier age. “One of the challenges I think younger gay men face is that there isn’t really good sexual health education in the school system. We’re really hopeful that this new curriculum will actually help serve the needs of young people.” Carlin rejects arguments that sex education shouldn’t be in- troduced at the elementary school level. “Kids are going to learn about sex by the time they get to high school, no matter what you do. So I feel like rather than trying to introduce sex to younger ISABEL CARLIN is a student at the University of Toronto and kids, it’s about giving students a knowledge base to go through JOHN MAXWELL is the executive director of the AIDS volunteers at Planned Parenthood as a peer educator in their lives more safely.” Committee of Toronto and an active supporter of sex sexual health for queer and trans youth. Organizations like Planned Parenthood and ACT aren’t education and HIV history. waiting for the school system to catch up, instead offering their own education and outreach programs. ACT offers a leadership program called Totally OutRight that teaches young men about the history of HIV and community organizing. The goal, for these and other educators, is to give youth better tools to talk about sex and sexuality. HG Watson

MITCHELL MOFFIT and GREGORY BROWN are the founders CARLY BOYCE, a project coordinator at Planned Parenthood Artist/DJ LAUREN HORTIE created and hosts the popular of AsapScience, a popular YouTube blog that explains all Toronto, runs a sexual health education project for young Steers and Queers parties in Toronto’s west end. things science. queer and trans-identified women.

28 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Police brass surprised by Remington’s raid? Morality cops checked out strippers’ sperm for 10 weeks Issue 297, March 14, 1996 TO WATCH INTERVIEWS WITH OUR ACTIVISTS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

TODD KLINCK is co-owner of Club120 and a sex-work activist. Sexual freedom Sexual activism has been at the forefront of the LGBT movement since the beginning, and advocates say those fights still aren’t over. Law professor Brenda Cossman says that when the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms was introduced in 1982, MONICA FORRESTER is an activist who fights for LGBT rights a lot of activism shifted to the judicial system. TIM MCCASKELL is a founding member of AIDS Action Now and the rights and safety of sex workers. “It’s always best to go and lobby the legislature first and see if and a supporter of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. the legislature will do it,” she says. “But if not, then you go to the courts. You try to make a constitutional argument and get the courts to say the current law is not logical, not rational, violates equality rights. You try to get a court to strike it down when a legislature won’t touch it.” Sometimes after a court ruling, the government will respond and do the right thing, Cossman says, but other times, as with sex work, the legislature will introduce a law that is worse than the one that existed before. Trans sex-work activist Monica Forrester is disappointed with the Harper Conservatives’ passing of Bill C-36. She believes that street-based women will be hit the hardest by provisions preventing sex work near churches, community centres or daycare centres. “It’s totally not what the Supreme Court of Canada was want- ing from the Harper government, which was to make laws that keep sex workers safe. He’s actually brought back the old laws that were brought down and added more laws, so it’s really made it impossible for sex workers to actually work — indoor, outdoor — or advertise,” she says. In turn, she says, it will be harder for activists and outreach workers to ensure that sex workers are safe and that they have the harm-reduction materials they need. She is optimistic that the current sex-work laws will be chal- lenged in court again but anticipates it could take as long as a decade to gather the evidence and to strike them down. On other fronts, she predicts court challenges related to po- lygamy and polyamory. “Polygamy and, as a result, polyamory, are still largely criminal activities. The courts have tried to say, ‘Well, we don’t really mean polyamory. We only really mean po- lygamy,’ which, as far as I can tell from reading the laws, means, ‘Well, there are good poly people who we’re not going to punish and bad poly people who we are going to send to jail,’ and the STEPHEN PALMER and FRANCIS GAUDREAULT are the distinction isn’t very clear.” co-owners of The Men’s Room on Church Street and the “I think we’re just going to continue to see challenges around DJ SCOOTER MCCREIGHT is the creator of the club event organizers of Pitbull Events. Gaudreault is the new chair of the Cub Camp. Church-Wellesley BIA. sexuality when the state steps in and tries to regulate people’s intimate consensual sexual relationships.” Matthew DiMera

Spiked breasts are offensive? Pride reserves the right to censor floats Issue 329, June 5, 1997 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 29 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: MOVING FORWARD Free speech Recently, Scott Dagostino ordered a book that got held up at Canadian Customs. It may or may not have been because the cover has a big cartoon penis on it. The copies of Giving It Raw, a memoir of AIDS activism by Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, were held for only a few hours before they made their way to Toronto for their launch at Glad Day, the LGBT bookstore Dagostino runs. But it was a reminder for him that the battles over free speech are not over. “We’re still dealing with people who think because they disagree with something it should be banned.” Gay bookstores, presses and magazines — including Xtra — have been the source of some of the hardest fought battles over free speech in Canada. In fact, Feb 14 is Pink Triangle Day, a national gay holiday to celebrate the acquittal of The Body Politic’s pub- lishers for printing “immoral, indecent or scurrilous material.” The material in question was an article called “Men Loving Boys Loving Men,” a story by Gerald Hannon that profiled several men in sexual relationships with underage youth, published in The Body Politic in November 1977. In 1978, shortly after police raided their offices,The Body Politic’s publishers were charged for printing the article. “If we were tried today, we would probably lose,” Hannon says. According to Hannon, free speech has eroded and authors avoid topics like the one he wrote about because they fear the public outcry and shaming that can come as a result. “I’m often tempted to comment on things I see in the press and don’t,” Hannon says, “because it can turn your life into a living hell.” Law professor BRENDA COSSMAN teaches and researches Playwright Sky Gilbert, who has never shied away from any family law, law and sexuality, and freedom of expression. She’s topic, says political correctness has a double edge. the head of the Mark S Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity GERALD HANNON, journalist and sex-work advocate, Studies, which organized the 2014 WorldPride Human “Just because the public discourse doesn’t allow certain words doesn’t mean that racism, sexism and homophobia are famously wrote the Body Politic article “Men Loving Boys Rights Conference. Loving Men.” gone. That’s a big problem: a lot of people think that because they’re so policed in terms of their language that everything is okay,” he says. “And they resent the policing, and quietly, at the water cooler or whatever, talk about how they really feel — and they nurture their little prejudices. We don’t get to confront them.” HG Watson

SKY GILBERT is a playwright, actor and founding member Before moving to Toronto, LOU BOILEAU was the of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (and he has a lane named advocacy and equity supervisor at the University of Ottawa after him). RJ VANDRISH is a queer and trans writer and activist. Pride Centre.

30 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Dykes to die for? Alison Bechdel’s fans take her comic strip to heart Issue 359, July 30, 1998 TO WATCH INTERVIEWS WITH OUR ACTIVISTS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

JANE FARROW is an author and media personality, best known for her books Wanted Words and the Canadian Book of Lists and her role as the first executive director of Jane’s Walk.

DATEJIE GREEN and RUTH CAMERON are the founders of the Audre Lorde scholarship, which seeks to help black LGBT students. CLYDE WAGNER is the general manager of Luminato, Toronto’s annual celebration of arts and creativity.

Lesbians are evil I read it in the Sun, so it must be true Issue 391, Oct 21, 1999 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 31 THE EVOLUTION OF XTRA: MOVING FORWARD

ALLYSON MITCHELL is an artist whose work investigates sexuality, autobiography and the body by way of feminism and pop culture. Intersecting identities The members of the BLACKNESS YES! committee (from left, Nik Red, Syrus Marcus Ware, Thandy Yonge, Kyisha Williams, Race, ability and class may not always be at the forefront of queer Craig Dominic and Shani Robertson) work year-round to celebrate black queer and trans history. They also organize the struggles, but many Toronto activists think that could change. Blockorama stage each year at Toronto Pride. For Blackness Yes!, a committee that celebrates black queer and trans history, creativity and resistance and produces Block- orama, their thriving presence is a political statement in itself. “Our existence, our celebration, our survival is revolutionsZ.\.\. even us imagining ourselves alive now and forever in the future is super political,” one organizer says. When Ruth Cameron and datejie green ran into resistance creating a scholarship for black LGBT youth in Hamilton, they shrugged off their detractors and kept moving. “We’ve already had one young person tell us that they never dreamed in their lifetime that they were going to see something in Hamilton that was created just for them.” For Cameron, it means a growing need for activism around race and class — subjects she feels have been pushed aside for sexier ones. “When we’re fighting for other people, we’re fighting for ourselves, let’s face it,” she says. “I don’t think I necessarily un- derstand enough about everything to be a good ally with everyone, but when someone takes something a little more complex for me, I sit back, take it in and then think about how I can address that.” For Christin Milloy, the future of activism is a lengthy one. She says that while she faces challenges as a trans person, she benefits from being white and able-bodied with a good job. “If you want to talk about, say, trans rights or gay rights, you’re not finished telling that story until you have listened to your most marginal- ized voices,” she says. “So when I get my identification fixed, and when we’ve passed all of our [gender identity] laws, provincially and federally, and we have our human rights protections, that’s just chapter one. There are so many people who are trans and are poor and can’t get housing, can’t get a job. Because they’re trans? Yes, but also because they’re racialized or because they have a disability.” Longtime organizer Tim McCaskell thinks that class and socio- economic issues are a growing concern for the LGBT movement. ENZA ANDERSON is a journalist and media personality, a MANCHYNA is a Toronto rap artist who first started “I think we’re going to see more conflict within the community, former mayoral candidate, a trans activist and the supermodel performing at Steers and Queers. and it’s important that those conflicts be handled in ways that of our hearts. don’t rip us apart.” Matthew DiMera

32 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Hiding the evidence With court’s gag order nixed, we can now tell you what this ‘kiddie porn’ really is Issue 397, Jan 13, 2000 Fat-tastic! Allyson Mitchell makes fat fun and fashionable Issue 433, May 31, 2001 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 33 Check out our columnists and bloggers on dailyxtra.com Canada’s first gay rag A sex Almost 70 worker’s tale Trading a blowjob years before the for 20 bucks and a half pack of debut of Xtra, cigarettes had brought me to a new Les Mouches level of debauchery. Courtney Love Fantastiques was would have been proud. born in

HISTORY BOYS MICHAEL LYONS

Adventures Before Xtra, Fab, The in gay Body Politic or any of the parenting other LGBT publications that Cana- It’s not that I don’t da has seen, there was Les Mouches like Hot Wheels or Fantastiques. Thomas the Tank In the autumn of 1917, a young wom- Engine, but I can’t an named Elsie Alice Gidlow (later quite figure out my known as Elsa) was living with her son’s predilection large family in Montreal. She made toward traditionally a meagre living doing office work but masculine pursuits. longed for travel and the bohemian life. She published a letter in the Montreal Daily Star under a pseudonym, ask- Never take the words from the past for granted — they might be gone when you ing if there were any organizations of need them most. YIGI CHANG artists or writers in the city. A second History letter published under her own name to venerate. He nicknamed her Sappho, phobe, especially in his private writ- appeared a couple of weeks later, sug- and they became lifelong friends. ings, Lovecraft decried Les Mouches Boys gesting that the original inquirer (her- Early in their writing careers, Gidlow in his own self-published paper, The The Wonder self) and others interested should meet and Mills were very involved in the am- Conservative: “What words of beauty Woman comics at her apartment. ateur journalist community in North — pure Uranian beauty — are utterly from the 1940s are Only a few among the motley crew America, a loose network of organiza- denied them on account of their bond- rife with BDSM. On almost every page had any real promise. Most of the men tions and self-publishers. Canada was age to the lower regions of the senses!” there’s kidnap, who showed up were middle-aged and well into a bloody war, which Mills had While he likely never met Gidlow or slavery or bondage. looking to pick up, given the female escaped as a 4F — “physically, mentally, Mills, Lovecraft had a habit of self- name signed with the second letter, emotionally and morally incompetent publishing criticisms of the work of and left disappointed. The only man for the glory of killing,” he said — and other amateur journalists — much like who really stood out to Gidlow was this, along with their sexual radical- blogs today. the “most astonishing, elegant beingZ.\.\. ism and their weakening tolerance for did not a beautiful, willowy blond” named Christian patriarchy, coalesced into have a long run, as Gidlow and Mills Roswell George Mills, a financial-page Les Mouches Fantastiques (originally eventually left Montreal for New York, editor at the Star who also wrote a titled Coal from Hades). seeking greater freedom and more Hooking up pseudonymous female advice column The publication consisted mostly opportunities. in public — possibly Jessie Roberts’s What Girls of poetry by Gidlow about women, As a member of the naive, Google- When I find May Do. with translations, allegorical stories, everything generation, I casually sent myself exploring a Mills was unabashedly, flamboyantly dramatic writing and “articles on ‘the emails to the Toronto Public Library dungeon party on homosexual. “Roswell confided his intermediate sex’” by Mills, as well as Archives and the Canadian Lesbian a Sunday afternoon, personal crusade to me,” Gidlow wrote contributions that satirized society or and Gay Archives, assuming at least I know why I’m in her autobiography. “He wanted peo- panned the ongoing war. Gidlow as- one would be able to haul a stack of Les there. I’m on a ple to understand that it was beautiful, sumed the publication went out to only Mouches out of the vaults. Neither of journey searching not evil, to love others of one’s own a hundred of their fellow underground them has copies. The CLGA advised me for those sex and make love with them. Roswell writers, but she eventually received a that Les Archives Gaies du Québec has connections. had divined my lesbian temperament letter from a woman in Havana who a single copy, and historian Ken Faig Jr and was happy to proselytize; the veil was impressed with the work. A priest writes that the American Antiquarian of self-ignorance began to lift.” Mills and writer from South Dakota read Society has three issues and the Uni- introduced her to the work of Oscar Les Mouches, fell in love with Mills versity of South Florida has one. It’s a Wilde, Edward Carpenter, Verlaine and and moved to Montreal in the hopes sad reminder never to take the words modern psychologists who described of being with him. from the past for granted — they might homosexuality in more concrete medi- The radical publication drew the dis- be gone when you need them most. cal — rather than condemnatory mor- dain of many, including famed horror alistic — terms. She built on his reading writer and fellow amateur journalist For more History Boys columns, list and began to find her own authors HP Lovecraft. A xenophobe and homo- go to dailyxtra.com.

34 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Not being the oldest in the room The 519 opens seniors’ resource centre Issue 490, Aug 7, 2003 XTRA AND TALISKER PLAYERS BRING YOU A CHANCE TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO ON A DARKLING PLAIN: SONGS OF HOPE, LONGING AND THE QUEST FOR MEANING, FEATURING ILANA ZARANKIN, SOPRANO; JOEL ALLISON, BARITONE; AND MEMBERS OF TALISKER PLAYERS (STRINGS, WINDS, PIANO) ON EITHER TUESDAY, MARCH 10 OR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 8PM, AT TRINITY ST PAUL’S CENTRE, 427 BLOOR ST W.

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TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

Manitoba, submit Same-sex marriage takes two more provinces Issue 520, Sept 30, 2004 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 35 Last chance, readers Shining a new spotlight in new places

TORONTO AT NIGHT RYAN G HINDS

Bye, Felicias! Before the print version of Xtra follows vaude- ville, The Steps, Will Munro, The Barn and Joan Rivers out the door to eter- nity and beyond, I have some words. I never wanted my column to be about me, so won’t you indulge me briefly while I break that rule? What I have always loved about LGBT Toronto is the lack of stasis. Things change, people; they always have and they always will. What’s beloved isn’t forever; often something beautiful and new replaces what’s be- loved. When I interviewed him for this column, Rolyn Chambers said, “When I first started going out and meeting people, everyone was talking about In Ryan Hinds’s first Toronto at Night column, in 2010, he made the case that these clubs I’d never heard of because we were in a particularly rewarding time for queer Toronto. TRISTAN HARRIS they’d closed. Ten years later, I’m like that now, but there’s still places to go Five years on, do I still believe that’s me onstage somewhere! Dailyxtra.com out.” He’s right, and I’m applying what true? Unequivocally, I do. In fact, our (where I’ll continue to freelance) is he said to everyone’s predictions of belle époque glitters ever brighterZ.\.\. always worth your attention. I’m also doom and gloom about dailyxtra.com and for proof, all I have to do is look writing a book, built on my five years of and Pink Triangle Press. Although around at all the people I haven’t writ- columns! Much like Toronto at Night, I will totally miss being in printZ.\.\. ten about yet. you can expect spilled tea, rumours online is a new adventure! This was always a super fun job; I es- corrected, celebrity run-ins and proud For the five years this column ran, pecially loved seeing my infamous blind lives commemorated from my years of I tried hard to put a spotlight on those items in print. Last chance, readers: skipping from Toronto to New York who needed it. To me, local names Which Toronto writer is carrying on a City to Montreal to San Francisco to ON A DARKLING are just as exciting as internationally hot and heavy affair with which inter- to Vancouver and to Ot- famous ones. As fun as it was including nationally known male model? Which tawa. If you’re a publisher, ring me up. quotes from Betty Buckley, Catherine gay icon secretly doesn’t “get” trans Speaking of writing, I will definite- Zeta-Jones, Wanda Sykes, Dragon- people, which is especially shocking ly miss the reader correspondence. A basic rule for everyone in media, PLAIN except Barbara Kay, is “never read the What’s beloved isn’t forever; comments,” but those few times my curiosity got the better of me, I was often something beautiful and new usually impressed with the civility and Songs of hope, longing and generosity of spirit I found. Some of replaces what’s beloved. you opened up to me about incredibly personal things like alcoholism and the quest for meaning ette, Bianca Del Rio, En Vogue and since she’s gay herself? Who hooked up substance abuse, some of you requested my mentor Chita Rivera, it was just as with whom against a window at a Pink advice, and some of you threatened to fun talking to Rolyn Chambers, Vanja Triangle Press office party and gave the sue me. A tragic few even offered me Vasic, Bobby Hsu, Bobby Beckett, Mic people across the way quite the show? sexual favours if I would write about Carter, Eddie Barnette, Kevin Naulls, Who’s the Canadian media celebrity you or could get you into certain events. MARCH 10 & 11, 8:00 PM Carla Collins, Bronno and Hank, Sze- that I (along with a whole bunch of People I will never meet shared and Yang and Jelani Ade-Lam of Ill Nana/ Inside Out attendees) watched have a tweeted my writing, something that Trinity St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor Street West DiverseCity Dance Company, Dylan long alcohol-fuelled peeZ.\.\. while he was never failed to make me, someone who box office: 416-978-8849 / uofttix.ca Uscher, Michael Zoffranieri, drag nowhere near a bathroom? never studied writing, journalism or queens galore and countless off-the- If you’re curious about what the media a day in his life, grin like an idiot. www.taliskerplayers.ca record folks. In my first Toronto at future holds for yours truly, my day I thought (and will continue to think) Talisker Players Music Night column, in 2010, I made the job as a singer, actor and dancer will about all of you often. case that we were in a particularly continue to pay the bills. If the thirst is Until we meet again, friends — see rewarding time for queer Toronto. real and you really miss me, come see you in the dark.

36 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Pussies take a bite out of the cops Settlement includes money, more sensitivity training Issue 526, Dec 23, 2004 XTRA AND DANCEMAKERS BRING YOU A CHANCE TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO Celebrating Our 31st Anniversary! TWO ROOM APARTMENT Ontario’s 1st Certified Organic retailer. Specializing in local, organic, Non-GMO ON THURSDAY, FEB 26; and environmentally safe products. SATURDAY, FEB 28; OR SUNDAY, MARCH 1. Natural Food Market To enter, send your name and phone number to [email protected], with “Contest: Dancemakers” 416.466.2129 in the subject line, before Tuesday, Feb 24. Wholistic Dispensary Some restrictions apply. Only winners will be contacted. TORONTO’S GAY & LESBIAN 416.466.8432 NEWS 348 Danforth Avenue thebigcarrot.ca

Too loose or too tight How to get a trans bill passed Issue 528, Jan 20, 2005 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 37 Turning pro A newbie sex worker navigates his first date HARD LABOUR When I found out he was a part-time involve shaving a disabled middle-aged DEVON DELACROIX whore, I was shocked. If he could man’s pubes in an airport motel was get paid for sex, maybe I could, too, definitely not at the forefront. I try The first time I traded sex for money I thought. I snapped a couple of bed- to sound confident as I’m agreeing to involved an alley blowjob, 20 bucks and room selfies and put an ad online . . . meet him, keeping the air of a profes- a half pack of cigarettes. But I didn’t I get my first call two days later. sional who’s done this a million times actually enter the sex business for an- Terrance says he likes my photos before. But I’m sure my nerves are other seven years. Post–grad school, I’d and wants to meet. But his situation, obvious. Standing in the Kipling Sta- been struggling to make it as a writer he says, is complicated. A middle-aged tion parking lot, I’m buzzing. The alley and gradually racked up some debt. It married guy, he’s living with multiple blowjob could be chalked up to youth wasn’t anything major. I’d been lucky sclerosis. His dick is functional, but his and tequila, but what I’m about to do to get through on scholarships and legs are less so. He can still walk with is a conscious, informed decision and part-time jobs. I wasn’t a big spender the help of a cane and some braces, involves a fetish I never knew existed. or a party boy. But every few months, but he’s going to need some help with How the fuck did this become my life? cash had become tight enough that positioning during the session. We’re When he pulls up in his green mini- I’d needed to put groceries or some other necessity on my credit card. I was finally at the point where my profes- sional work was covering day-to-day The alley blowjob could be chalked needs, but there was nothing left at the up to youth and tequila, but what end of the month for debt reduction. Needless to say, Visa and I were not I’m about to do is a conscious, getting along. informed decision and involves a I wanted to be in the black, but I knew something drastic had to change. fetish I never knew existed. How I’d never considered sex work an op- the fuck did this become my life? tion. Frankly, I didn’t think I was at- tractive enough. The word “hustler” conjured rippling, sun-kissed muscles; supposed to meet at a motel near the van, I try to walk confidently, a little square, testosterone-infused jaw-lines; airport, but he offers to pick me up seductively even, toward it. Just re- and 10-inch dicks, none of which I had. at the subway. His fetish, he says, is member he wants you, I say to myself. The idea that a lanky, scruffy Ethan for shaving. He wants me to help him You are in control of this situation, and Hawke circa Reality Bites type could into the bathtub, lather him up and whatever happens you can deal with get paid for sex didn’t seem plausible. remove all his body hair with a dispos- it. Once I’m settled in the passenger But then I met Pierre. He was the able razor. seat, I realize he’s at least as nervous friend of a recent ex. Forty-something I don’t know what I imagined sex as I am. Pudgy, balding and dressed but in good shape, he had that grey- work was going to be like before I in a rumpled navy suit, he seems like haired daddy thing I’ve always liked. placed an ad. But the thought it would he’s worried I’m going to back out. He’s Asian, which he confesses is part of what’s making him nervous. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I’m an Oriental,” he says. “Is that okay? If you don’t want to see me I understand.” MADE WITH LOVE Suddenly the pieces start to fall into Custom designs. Ethically sourced. Made in Cabbagetown. place. It doesn’t matter how unat- tractive I might think I am, because for him this exchange isn’t about fucking an Adonis. It’s about him being with someone who won’t flat out reject him. I smile and give his thigh a squeeze. “Don’t worry,” I say. “I like all kinds of guys.” He tells me about how his MS Fair Trade Jewellery Co. 523 Parliament St. has been advancing, how he’s probably Toronto | 647.430.8741 going to be wheelchair-bound within three years, how hard it’s been on his wife. I try to smile reassuringly, but #madewithlove @ftjco | ftjco.com I have no idea what to sayZ.\.\.

Hard Labour is a first-person look at sex work. It appears monthly on the Ideas page of UBER TORUS TENSION-SET RING WITH SIRIUS STAR CANADIAN DIAMOND dailyxtra.com, where you can read the full version of this column.

38 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Big-league bigotry Canadian equal-marriage groups up against US-backed giants Issue 532, March 17, 2005 Aussie media links girl’s murder to cruising website Toronto-based Squirt.org calls for retraction Issue 568, Aug 3, 2006 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 39 LOOKING BACK

Shawn Syms, Paul Dunn and Claude Belanger. ISSUE 283, SEPT 1, 1995 XPOSED TONY FONG COMPILED BY DARRYL MABEY

Keith Cole. ISSUE 523, NOV 11, 2004 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO

Produzentin, Militia Milana and Mary Messhausen. ISSUE 635, FEB 26, 2009 ANNA POURNIKOVA

Chris Peterson, Dale Johnson and Jeff Dawson. ISSUE 318, JAN 2, 1997 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO

Patricia Wilson and Stephanie Horne. ISSUE 434, JUNE 14, 2001 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO

DXNY performer Jackae. ISSUE 267, JAN 20, 1995 MARA SUBOTINCIC

Joseph Vance and David Hawe. Councillors Kyle Rae ISSUE 231, SEPT 3, 1993 and Olivia Chow. JAKE PETERS ISSUE 340, NOV 6, 1997 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO

Anna Pournikova. ISSUE 674, AUG 26, 2010 ANNA POURNIKOVA Kathleen Pirrie-Adams, Lisa Kiss, Lynne Fernie, Kim Fullerton and Paula Gignac. ISSUE 371, JAN 14, 1999 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO

40 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Gay marvel The super sexy worlds of Patrick Fillion Issue 585, March 29, 2007 Will Munro. ISSUE 526, DEC 23, 2004 ANNA POURNIKOVA

Scarlett Fever. Ruth Johnston, Lisa Gardner and ISSUE 434, Gidget and Sassy, JUNE 14, 2001 Sandy Bowker of the Toronto Miss Draft 1994. JOHNNY Mighty Dykes hockey squad. ISSUE 264, DEC 9, 1994 PAPARAZZO ISSUE 254, JULY 22, 1994 DAVID HAWE ALLYSON LUNNY

Toronto Sun editor John Downing and N THREADS (1991), RELAX...IT’S JUST SEX (1999), CHUTNEY POPCOR mayoral candidate . OCHE (1991)(1991),, BELLE (1994),(1994), PARIS IS BURNING (1991)(1991),, MY LEFT BREA ISSUE 183, OCT 25, 1991 (2004),004),04 BULLHEAD (2012), TOUCH OF PINK (2004), TWIN BRACELBRACELECE T JAKE PETERS Y SUMMERUMMER VACATION (1995), ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH ((201 MONSTERNSTER (1998),(1998), BEAUTIFUL BOXER ((2005),2005), BUT I’M A CHEERLECHEERLEADA E T (1998),998), AIMEE & JAGUAR ((2000),2000), ANOTHER WAY (1992),(1992), 52 TUESDATUES Y THERNRN COMFORT (2001),(2001), UNITED IN ANGER: A HISTORY OF ACT UUP ( PINGNG THE VELVET (2003), YOSSI & JAGGER (2003), SAVING FACE (20 EAVENLYVENLY DELIGHTS (2007),(2007), LOVE IS STRANGE (2014),(2014), GUN HILL ROR A TOOKOK THE BOMP? LE TIGRE ON TOUR (2011),(2011), MY SUMMERSUMMER OF LOVELOV P TWINS:WINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS (2010), XXY (2008), SAVING FACEFACE (2 Dean and Dan NG AANNABELLENNABELLE (2006),(2006), A FOR LOVE (2008)(2008) 20 CENTIMETRESCENTIMETRE ( Caten sandwich TH Biko. BBLELE (2007),(2007), I DON’T25 WANT TO ANNUAL SLEEP ALONE (2007),(2007 ), WE WERE HEH R ISSUE 650, SEPT 24, 2009 TTYY TITTY COMMITTEE ((2007),2007), AGE 1.5 ((2009),2009), THE NORMAL HEHEARA T ANNA POURNIKOVA RIOR.R. LEATHER BAR. (2013), THE BABY FFORMULAORMULA (2009), WEEKEWEEKENDN REESES (2009), JOAN RIVERS:TORONTO A PIECE OF WORK (2010), HIT SO HAHARDR AN (1992), PATRIK (2009), VITVITOO (2012),H(2012),HOWLOWL (2010), CCALLALL ME KUKUCHC U THESEESE WALLSLGBT COULD TALK FILM 2 (2000), FESTIVAL REACHING FOR THE MOON (20 N THREADSHREADS (1991), RELAX...IT’SRELAX...IT’MAY 21S JUJUST - S31,T SEXS EX2015 (1999), CHUTNEY POPCOPOPC R OCHEHE (1991), BELLE (1994), PARIS IS BURNING (1991), MY LEFT BBRER A (2004),004), BULLHEAD (2012),(2012PRESENTING), TOUCH OF PINK (2004),(2004), TWIN BRACELETBRACEL Y SUMMERUMMER VACATION (1995),SPONSOR ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH ((201 MONSTERNSTER (1998),(1998), BEAUTIFUL BOXER ((2005),2005), BUT I’M A CHEERLECHEERLEADA E T (1998),998), AIMEEJoin us in & celebrating JAGUAR the (2000), past, ANOTHER 25thWAY Anniversary (1992), 52 TUESTUESDA Y THERNRN COMFORTembracing the (2001), present UNITED IN ANGER:Festival A HISTORY Launch Party OF ACT UUP ( PINGNG THEand VELVET shaping the(2003), future. YOSSI & JAGGER (2003), SAVING FACE (20 EAVENLYVENLY DELIGHTS (2007), LOVE ISThursday, STRANGE April 30,(2014), 2015, GUN7:30pm HILL ROR A St. James Cathedral Centre TOOKOK THEinsideout.ca BOMP? LE TIGRE ON TOUR (2011),65 Church MY St. SUMMERS (atUMMER King St. E.) OF LOVELOV P TWINS:WINS:W UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS (2010), XXY (2008), SAVING FACEC (2

Q-Files performers NG ANNABELLENABELLE(2006)AJIHADFORLOVE(2008)20CENTIMET (2006), A JIHAD FOR LOVE (2008) 20 CENTIMETRES ( The B-Girlz. BBLE (2007), I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE (2007), WE WERE HER ISSUE 367, NOV 19, 1998 JOHNNY PAPARAZZO TTY TITTY COMMITTEE (2007),an Ontario government agency AGE 1.5 (2009), THE NORMAL HEART RIOR. LEATHER BAR. (2013un organisme), du gouvernementTHE de l’Ontario BABY FORMULA (2009), WEEKEND

Mixed company How queer is Toronto’s group sex scene? Issue 623, Sept 11, 2008 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 41 Lawyers Pharmacies Newbright Construction Harvey L Hamburg Pace Pharmacy and 416-985-8639 416-968-9054 Compounding Experts 416-515-7223 Restaurants Ivan Steele Law Office & Cafés 647-342-0568 The Village Pharmacy Cora Breakfast & Lunch 416-967-9221 Law Office of El-Farouk Khaki chezcora.com 416-925-7227 Psychotherapy Hair of the Dog Massage–Certified/ Bruce M Small, Conscious 416-964-2708 Self-Integration Registered Lola’s Kitchen 416-598-4888 THE BEST OF GAY gesund lolaskitchen.ca 416-913-5170 Nick Mulé, PhD, RSW, Psychotherapist The Blake House & LESBIAN TORONTO - - Meats & Delicatessens 416-926-9135 416 975 1867 The Churchmouse St Jamestown Steak & Chops Publications 416-925-7665 & Firkin Accommodations Chiropractors Dr Iudita Costache – – Ontario Pink Triangle Press 416-927-1735 gesund Galleria Dental Naturopathy 416-925-6665 Holiday Inn 416-913-5170 416-534-9991 Tax Services gesund holidayinn.com Radio Stations Clinics Dr Kevin Russelo 416-913-5170 CJH Tax Services Accountants & Associates Proud FM 647-270-8057 Yonge Wellesley Medical Clinic 416-966-0117 Painting 416-213-1035 Ms Hema Murdock, CA 416-960-1441 Telecommunications Newbright Painting 416-696-6653 yongewellesley Dr Martin Sterling Real Estate Agents 416-985-8639 Acanac medicalclinic.com 416-923-8042 Susan Calverley, MBA, MSc, CMA Gaelen Patrick – Sutton 416-849-8530 416-605-1553 Galleria Dental, Personal Trainers Group Realty Systems Inc Community Groups Websites & Services Dr Iudita Costache SKLPT your body 416-801-9265 Advertising 416-534-9991 1-866-600-3428 dailyxtra.com City of Toronto, Economic Renovations Raymond Helkio 416-925-6665 Development Division & Restorations Advertising/Design Dog & Cat Grooming Pet Care toronto.ca/business Squirt.org raymondhelkio.com Tailspin Dog Spa Bryant Renovations Ltd Tailspin Dog Spa squirt.org 416-920-7387 416-920-7387 416-260-0818 Automotive Sales Counselling & Leasing Change4U2 Health Foods 416-827-7578 Ken Shaw Lexus & Nutrition 416-776-0055 David Moulton, MEd, Canadian The Big Carrot Certified Counsellor 416-466-2129 Bars & Clubs Gaelen Patrick davidmoulton.ca Real Estate Sales Representative Woody’s and Sailor Home Improvement David W Routledge (MSW, RSW) Buying? Selling? 416-972-0887 & Repairs Psychotherapist Thinking Pre-construction? woodystoronto.com 416-944-1291 Bryant Renovations Ltd Proudly Serving 416-260-0818 Our Community! Butchers Phillip Coupal Counselling Internet Contact me St Jamestown Steak & Chops 416-557-7312 416.801.9265 416-925-7665 Squirt [email protected] Dental Services www.gaelenpatrick.com squirt.org Cemeteries Adelaide Dental Proud Financial St John’s Norway Cemetery 416-429-0150 Juice Bars Supporter and Crematorium Juice Box Independently Owned and Operated Broadview Dental Clinic 416.762.4200 Toronto 416-691-2965 416-924-4671 Sutton Group Realty 416-466-6400 Systems Inc. Brokerage Not intended to solicit those already under contract with another Realtor. Knowledgeable. Experienced. Dedicated Service.

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42 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES The chastised prime minister Why a Harper minority still has teeth Issue 631, Jan 1, 2009 LOOKING BACK

XTRA HOTCOMPILED BY LANDON WHITTAKER

CHRIS ISSUE 197 MAY 15, 1992 GILBERTO

JOYCE ISSUE 185, DEC 27, 1990 DONNA FEBBO

KEITH ISSUE 187 GENE DEC 27, 1991 ISSUE 164 DAVID HAWE JAN 11, 1991 DAVID HAWE

IAN ISSUE 145 MARCH 30, 1990 DAVID HAWE

FREUD PHILIP ISSUE 160 ISSUE 185 NOV 9, 1990 NOV 22, 1991 DAVID HAWE DAVID HAWE

GISELE ISSUE 185 NOV 22, 1991 DONNA FEBBO

Vocal Katie Stelmanis, Pride Toronto and the politics of outsidership Issue 670, June 30, 2010 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 43 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COUNSELLING LEGAL SERVICES MOVERS

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44 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Target’s anti-gay politics coming to Canada US retailer that repeatedly funded homophobes wants your business Issue 685, Jan 27, 2011 To take or not to take PrEP A pill seems a small price to pay THANK YOU! MIKE MIKSCHE HOLE AND CORNER

My doctor had been against me taking the drug because of how serious the side effects can be. He asked why I’d want to take a pill to remain negative just so I wouldn’t need to take a pill if I became positive. “It’s a pill for a pill,” he said. PrEP doesn’t COME OVER TO offer full protection against HIV, so in actuality, the fantasy I had of becoming the city’s most notorious cum-hungry bottom wasn’t feasible. So if PrEP isn’t the start of some sexual revolution, what are the ben- efits? With HIV, one can still live a long happy life, have great sex and, with an Despite my fear of the stigma, I’d concluded that I’d been safe for years undetectable viral load, not pass it on and it seemed to be working. N MAXWELL LANDER to others. So is it all just the stigma? To me, it felt that being positive would I hate being pitied. pears after coming, so the man with jeopardize the thing I value most in “I’m single,” I told my doctor. “The the beard and I start talking. He tells life: the opportunity to connect with thing that worries me most is the stig- me his name is James; he is a banker people without fear of discrimina- ma, especially since I’m single.” To my from Toronto and he lived in Barcelona Bigger Presence. tion. I’d heard stories from positive surprise that’s all I had to say. He backed for a few years. I tell him that I lived friends who’d been rejected by one guy off and actually sympathized with me, there, too, and we start naming the Stronger Voice. after another simply because of their defending my situation. I got the pre- neighbourhoods we lived in and our status, all out of ignorance. Taking a scription right away. A few weeks later impressions of the city and its people. pill seemed like a small price to pay to when I returned to his office to review I can tell that he is a pervert just like avoid such things. the results of the blood test required me and wonder whether he is finding Whenever I’d get tested, no matter for the medication, I had had a change the journey as lonely as I am. During how safe I’d been, I’d play games of of heart. Despite my fear of the stigma, our conversation we kiss a little more, “What if?” What if I was so drunk I I’d concluded that I’d been safe for then he asks if I want to go home with forgot to put on a condom, what if that years and it seemed to be working. Why him. Of course I do. As we are about weird guy who I should never have slept add a new drug to my body that could to grab our jackets, he confesses that with slipped the condom off when I potentially cause complications? This he is HIV-positive but undetectable. wasn’t looking, and what if I’m that one time my doctor was the one insisting “Do you still want to come back with person who gets HIV through oral sex? that it was a good choice for me. “A fair me?” he asks. In all honesty, I am reluctant. I haven’t started PrEP yet, so it won’t To me, it felt that being positive would protect me. But protect me from what? I am always safe anyway and jeopardize the thing I value most in life: he is undetectable. What does this drug really do? “Yes, I do,” I say. the opportunity to connect with “Really?” He seems surprised. people without fear of discrimination. I don’t ask, but on the walk to his place he says that he isn’t sure how he got the virus and describes the entire Is that even possible? And can you get it percentage of gay men in Toronto are thing, jokingly, as a “murder mystery.” from swallowing cum? What if you have positive,” he explained. “If the medica- I laugh and follow him. Perhaps the a canker? Is low risk really just no risk, tion is covered by your benefits, there’s sexual revolution has already started but rather a doctor creating a fear to no harm in taking it.” but we’re too blind to see. avoid liability? What is the damn truth? At the play party several days later, Then I’d start thinking about my I wonder about the status of the two Hole & Corner is a first-person family and what they’d think. Would I guys I’m with, but it’s not the sort of look at public sex and the people even tell them? Probably not. They had place where you ask people. And it re- who enjoy it. It appears every a tough enough time with my sexuality. ally doesn’t matter; over the years I’ve Wednesday on the Ideas page of Would people discriminate against me learned to be safe, regardless, and treat dailyxtra.com, where you can also

at work? What friends would I tell? everyone like he’s positive. read Part 1 of “To Take or Not To SOON) (LAUNCHING MOBILE XTRA PREVIEW OF DAILY Would they just feel sorry for me? The boy with the spiky hair disap- Take PrEP.”

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46 FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 XTRA! 31 YEARS OF HEADLINES Wynne to reintroduce sex-ed New Ontario premier says she’s proud to be a role model, but ‘I’m not a gay activist’ Issue 738, Feb 7, 2013 Yes Yes Y’all Five years of dance-party diversity Issue 765, Feb 20, 2014 XTRA! FEB 19–MARCH 4, 2015 47