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facebook.com/dailyxtra facebook.com/dailyxtra Death by bigotry Leo Mantha was the last man executed in BC. Would a straight man have been spared?

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4 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS XTRA VANCOUVER’S Published by Pink Triangle Press GAY & LESBIAN PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NEWS Brandon Matheson #540 MAY 8–21, 2014 Roundup EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Robin Perelle STAFF REPORTER Natasha Barsotti Carl Meadows COPY EDITOR Lesley Fraser wins the Pride EVENT LISTINGS [email protected] Legacy Award for CONTRIBUTE OR INQUIRE about Xtra’s editorial volunteerism. content: [email protected] JAMES LOEWEN EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Greg Armstrong-Morris, Niko Bell, Bruce Bishop, Nathaniel Christopher, Tom Coleman, Tyler Dorchester, Erin Flegg, Danny Gray Fox, Jeremy Hainsworth, Shauna Lewis, James Loewen, Aefa Mulholland, Raziel Reid, Mark Robins, Keph Senett, Tallulah, Stacy Thomas ART & PRODUCTION CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Darryl Mabey, NEWS Bryce Stuart, Landon Whittaker ADVERTISING ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR Ken Hickling NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Jeff rey Hoff man SALES ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Lexi Chuba SALES TEAM LEAD Lorilynn Barker DISPLAY ADVERTISING Corey Giles, Teila Smart Honouring ONLINE ACCOUNT MANAGER Jessie Bennett ADVERTISING COORDINATORS Brad Deep, Gary Major DISPLAY ADVERTISING Call 604-684-9696 or email [email protected]. CLASSIFIEDS Call 604-684-9696 their impact or email classifi [email protected]. The publication of an ad in Xtra does not Second annual Pride mean that Xtra endorses the advertiser. Storefront features are paid advertising content. Legacy Awards recognize SPONSORSHIP AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT community leaders E10 Erica Bestwick, [email protected] Printed and published in Canada. ©2014 Pink Triangle Press. Xtra is published every two weeks by Pink Triangle Press. ISSN 1198-0613 Editorial Cover story Address: 501–1033 Davie St, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1M7 Jamaica’s long game Death by bigotry Leo Mantha Offi ce hours: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm By Natasha Barsotti E6 was executed; would a straight Phone: 604-684-9696 Fax: 604-684-9697 man have been spared? E15 Website: dailyxtra.com Feedback E6 Email: [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS $55 for one year (26 issues); Xcetera E7 $65 (US) in the US; $100 (US) overseas. Out in the City [email protected], 800-268-XTRA PINK TRIANGLE PRESS Upfront Artifi cial Cherry has bite Founded 1971 DIRECTORS Jim Bartley, Gerald Hannon, People can be so uptight about Glenn Kauth, Didier Pomerleau, Ken Popert, Pride events lost money the human body, poet says E19 Gillian Rodgerson last year But directors say HONORARY DIRECTOR Colin Brownlee Unforeseen possibilities organization is fi nancially PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ken Popert Brett Josef Grubisic’s new novel CEO, DIGITAL MEDIA David Walberg stable E9 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Andrew Chang is about a bookish prof and a Parks board approves sexual adventurer E20 trans-friendly measures E10 Blitz & Shitz Scientists warn against Party like it’s 1999 HIV injustice E10 By Raziel Reid E21 Use of ‘queer’ varies across What’s On E22 Canada NWT warming to it, Montreal indiff erent, Toronto Xposed divided E11 Mr Spiked DAHL&CONNORS By Danny Gray Fox E23 Jury’s out on steroid harm BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS Some men see a testosterone Real Estate E23 defi cit when they stop using Xtra Living E24 steroids E12 The Brotherhood Proudly serving Vancouver’s By Tyler Dorchester E25 GLBT Community for more ondailyxtra.com Daily Xtra Travel than 15 years. E BC law society will 8JMMT

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MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 5 email [email protected] comment dailyxtra.com & facebook.com/dailyxtra Comment tweet @dailyxtra

that score won’t translate into societal FREE 20,000 AUDITED acceptance. FEEDBACK CIRCULATION VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS TRINITY That’s long-game work, which is on- WESTERN LAWSUIT Jamaica’s long game going but proceeding in baby steps, E 7 APRIL 24–MAY 7, 2014 7, APRIL 24–MAY LONELY

whether it’s outreach to potential allies #539 SENIORS Steroid use E 8 in religious circles, convincing media to WOMEN’S I was saddened by your feature article SOCCER Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and eschew sensationalism for more bal- E 13 EDITORIAL entitled “’Roid Rage” [Xtra #539, April NATASHA BARSOTTI Gays (J-FLAG), he started an empower- anced reporting about LGBT people and ment session out of which four people their experiences, or working within 24]. I wonder why gay teens are six

times more likely to use steroids? @dailyxtra Jermaine, 23, Jamaican found jobs and another six went back and outside the community to address Why are gay teens nearly six times more likely to use steroids? E10 and gay, knows what it’s to school. the interconnected issues of margin- Flipping through your publication like to live on the streets. His “whoa” moment came when alization, under- and unemployment, and others, I noticed many ads pro- facebook.com/dailyxtra “You have to fi ght against the weather the United Nations Population and homelessness among men who have moting “body enhancements” like dailyxtra.com ’ROID RAGE More at at More — night cold, sun, rain,” he told me on Fund approved his request for $1.5 sex with men. Botox, non-surgical facelifts and an assortment of cosmetics, as well as a recent trip to Jamaica. “Hurricane million (Jamaican) to train 10 HIV- According to a 2012 University of If you look perfect, then the focus season come an’ ketch me on de road positive gay sex workers in health and the West Indies study on the attitudes full-page ads for Squirt, Cruiseline and Hardline. The time of year it is is on money and university degrees. a’ready.” employment-seeking strategies, using and perceptions of 1,000 Jamaicans Or vice versa. You are expected to be At 18, Jermaine often found himself a peer-education format. regarding same-sex relationships, these pounded into us during Pride, when one ad after another displays a model perfect in all aspects of life. Given that locked out of his home, his mother The government wasn’t falling over are the stats activists are up against: our dating choices are next to nothing telling him to “go back where mih a itself to help, so Jermaine started to “Approximately 88 percent felt that with a “perfect” body. The not-so- subtle message is if you want to be anyway (the two to four percent of come from,” while his father tried a help himself, and then his peers. male homosexuality was immoral, 83.7 the male population that identifies little harder to wrap his head around “I can’t tell you when, because you percent felt the same for female homo- accepted and attractive, this is what you need. The pharmaceutical indus- as gay), just fi nding someone is a long his son’s sexuality. are going to hold me [to it] if I give sexuality and 83.5 percent felt bisexual shot, despite more of us coming out. I “They didn’t understand about the you a timeline,” Prime Minister Portia relationships were immoral.” try has also been active promoting testosterone-replacement therapies, think a lot of us just want to feel good whole gay and all ah dat,” Jermaine says. Simpson-Miller recently told Jamai- These fi ndings represent a six to eight by looking good, since we get little to “They weren’t taught in school how to can media when asked about her 2011 percent increase in intolerance since and sales have soared. I realize that your publication no acknowledgment from within the handle situations like dat.” promise to review the country’s archaic 2011, the study shows. gay community. For two or three years, he led an itin- buggery law. Jermaine’s friend Christopher thinks and others depend on the revenue from these ads, so I especially want TORONTO416 erant street life, punctuated by sofa Simpson-Miller followed that serving change is more likely to occur “behind (DAILYXTRA.COM) surfi ng at the homes of sex-work cli- of political evasion with another slice doors.” The very people who think noth- to thank you for putting this forward ents and friends — until they wanted of obfuscation. “We are so busy trying ing of shouting homophobic slurs in for discussion. There are some very good leaders him out. to hold things and to see... whatever the streets will show a different side GORDON WASELNUK on Vancouver Island and Salt Spring (EMAIL) “Hygiene was a major issue,” he says. decisions we take — because we have of themselves when there is no public Island who are leading the charge “If you want a job, the way you look, the to take tough decisions — that it doesn’t to consume their venom, he suggests. As gay men we’re in a unique place: with gay men’s wellness. I’m not sure way you smell — the fi rst impression... impact in a very serious way the major- Even as he tries to embrace his sexu- the objectifi er and the objectifi ed. We if such a small community approach is didn’t cut it.” ity of our people.” ality and how to express it, Christopher often walk away from a fi rst date with possible in Vancouver given the large His first step off the streets was to What if Jamaica’s parliamentarians refers to himself as “gay and...” He’s neither guy interested in the other. city culture there. fi nd a reliable water source and cloth- legalized gay sex? It would certainly be trying to integrate into society as a Steroids and phentermine are easy Yes, there are downsides to ste- ing. Then came a job, classes in English, a sign of forward movement, but with “precautionary measure.” ways to get as close as possible to that roids, but there are also downsides to food preparation and other life skills. more than 80 percent of Jamaicans self- Jermaine says accessing education, ideal, heterosexual, college jock body, a lack of masculinity in our society, While volunteering at the Jamaica describing as homophobic, a victory on employment and housing with harass- even if we die trying. especially for gay men. Everybody ment is key. “This country still don’ You thought rejection and isolation has to judge for themselves what is best. The outcome that we seek is this — gay and lesbian reach dat level.” were bad when you were closeted around non-gay people? Just wait JOLLYROGER people daring together to set love free. (DAILYXTRA.COM) Xtra is published by Pink Triangle Press, at 2 Carlton St, Ste 1600, Toronto, M5B 1J3. Natasha Barsotti is the staff reporter at and see how awful other gay men are Xtra Vancouver. to you. You’ll never be good enough.

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6 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS NO or ? EST. FLIP TOP BOTTOM Mr. Mattress mattresses are VERSATILE!! 1964 JUST SAY NO TREKEFFECT.COM Padded on both sides. This means you can FLIP your mattress. Two sides, twice the life. XCETERA Sensible Prices s Friendly Service s Zero Pressure END OF AN ERA 1315 Venables St mrmattress.ca | 604.255.2113 Farewell, Giovanni’s A+ Rating Since 1975 “It has been a wonderful life for me, and it combines my best skills with my deepest interests . . . I know that thousands of people have used and cared about this store. It is very emotional for me.” — Ed Hermance, owner of Philadelphia’s Giovanni’s Room, which opened in 1973 and will close on May 17

DECAL DISCRIMINATION WE’RE IN KENTUCKY, TOTO The owners of Kentucky’s Herald Embroidery recently posted five stickers on their storefront, one featuring a rainbow flag with a red line across it, implying that LGBT people aren’t welcome. While there was outrage online, many waxed Janet Mock Alicia Menendez comical about the images: Kathleen: Personally, I love TURNING THE TABLES the fact that the handgun is pointed right at the Bible verse. 523 Parliament St. Gandolf the Gay: They’re Tel 647.988.489 “allowing” you to shop there Visit www.ftjco.com/custom TRY MY SHOES if you have a beard. tom_beauchamparnold: Duck Dynasty. Exact same beard. ON FOR SIZE Steven Leahy: What if you’re gay but have a beard and a gun? jakeinlove: The only thing missing from that lineup was an Author and activist Janet Mock gave Fusion icon of a brain with a red slash through it. TV’s Alicia Menendez a taste of what it’s like for metrored: So this is the place to get all your Tom of Finland transgender women to field invasive questions tees printed? in media interviews. A sampling of Mock’s The owners felt obliged to clarify their bigotry: questions: “Do you have a vagina?” “When was the moment you felt your breasts budding?” “Do you use tampons?” “Did you feel like a girl?” Menendez’s reaction after the interview: “That was awful!”

BROMANCING Homosocial heteros Number of straight male athletes at a British university who say they’ve cuddled 37/40 or spooned with another man. Number of straight male athletes at a British university who say they’ve shared 39/40 a bed with another man at least once. Actors Keegan Allen and James Franco take a bed selfie. — from a study entitled “Heteromasculinity and Homosocial Tactility among Student-Athletes”

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 7 8 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS When we launched it, we started using the word queer Upfront and had a little bit of a blowback. Nicole Garbutt E 11 Pride events lost money last year But directors say organization is financially stable

PRIDE SHAUNA LEWIS

Despite falling nearly $100,000 short in revenue and losing money on every ma- jor fundraising event it hosted in 2013, the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS), its directors say, was in better financial shape for April than it has been in the last three years. April’s revenue exceeded past years’ revenue in April because of early pa- rade entrance fees already collected, partnership funds and winter-event ticket sales. “We are way ahead of the game,” executive director Ray Lam reassured the VPS’s annual general meeting April 27. “We’ve started some changes al- ready,” president Tim Richards added. Richards describes last year’s revenue shortfalls as unexpected anomalies. “But since last fall, there has been a tremendous amount of work by the “You went to a third party to produce contract, or not.” New to the board of directors are operations team and the board to move the event, yet you’re still down in ticket Lam says the VPS receives reports Darren Ewert, Alan Jernigan, Tim Ell, us past where we were,” he said. “We At the end of sales. I don’t see where it’s beneficial from its third-party producers. The Jill Taylor, Herman Nilsson (returning) opened up the season right away, and the season, as we to the society to just contract it out to Davie Street Dance Party report “is and Azza Rojbi. that’s something we’ve never done in a producer. The society seems to be on available for any member to look at. It Richards says he is thrilled with the the past. It’s gone tremendously well.” worked through the bleeding edge of the risk,” Herman just wasn’t available at the time of the new board. “I’m really excited about the Last year, the VPS lost money on ev- our financials, Nilsson said. AGM,” he explained. new directors that stepped up today,” ery major fundraising event it hosted, Past VPS president John Boychuk Members asked that detailed sum- he said. with the Davie Street Dance Party ac- we started to said the VPS should demand greater maries from each VPS committee be “Diversity is key,” he added, noting counting for the biggest loss, at a 50 see anomalies. transparency and accountability from presented at the next AGM. the various business backgrounds, ages percent drop in ticket sales, which re- third-party contractors. He’d like to The VPS also saw an increase of and ethnicities of the new directors. sulted in nearly $83,000 less revenue It wasn’t what we see a detailed report from contractors more than $150,000 in general and “One of the strengths of the board, earned than the previous year, for a had expected. outlining expenses and revenue for any administrative expenses last year, and any board, is to have really diverse $16,403 loss. (In 2012, the street party events they produce. mostly going to staff wages and con- skill sets and backgrounds. I think that PRIDE SOCIETY PRESIDENT made $100,129 in revenue. In 2013, it TIM RICHARDS “I find it odd that you would not have tractor fees. makes a really strong organization be- brought in just $17,214.) a detailed report back from a third party Executives staying on for another cause you get better representation.” Organizers blame poor weather for who is providing services,” Boychuk term include Richards as president, The official lineup for 2014 Pride the huge loss. But a few of the 20 mem- Vancouver Pride Society president said. Chrissy Taylor as vice-president, Ber- events won’t be announced until the bers in attendance at the meeting won- Tim Richards (middle) is flanked “How do you know how to gauge nard Leclair as treasurer and Rick Leo- end of May, but the VPS has confirmed by new board members (from left) dered whether the VPS is benefiting Alan Jernigan, Tim Ell, Jill Taylor, the success of your partnerships?” he novich as secretary. Directors Emma that Gay Day at Playland, Picnic in the from having a third party produce the Azza Rojbi, Herman Nilsson and asked. “Especially if the VPS is going Lehto and Rhawnie Vallins will also Park and the Davie Street Dance Party, Davie Street Dance Party. Darren Ewert. SHAUNA LEWIS to be negotiating with them another stay on for a second season. among others, will continue.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 9 Honouring their impact Second annual Pride Legacy awards recognize community leaders

COMMUNITY TRANS RIGHTS STACY THOMAS

Unity, diversity and humility were the pervading themes of the Vancouver Parks board approves Pride Society’s (VPS) Legacy Awards on May 4. The recipients and finalists, trans-friendly measures ranging from 17-year-old Cory Oskam to local legends Mz Adrien and Chris Mor- All seven Vancouver Board of Parks Above, Vancouver park board rissey, were unanimously humbled and and Recreation commissioners ap- commissioners — from left, overwhelmed by their nominations. But proved a plan April 28 to make park Constance Barnes, Trevor Loke and John Coupar — listen to questions they were also inspired by each other’s facilities more trans-friendly. from Jamie Lee Hamilton. NIKO BELL efforts to bring Vancouver’s queer com- The proposal will mean more trans- munity into an age of equality and the awareness training for staff at parks, park board’s English Bay offices how knowledge that there is still much work pools and recreation centres; more the proposal could position Vancou- to be done. space for gender-neutral change ver as one of the world’s most trans- “While it’s easy to dwell on how much rooms in new park buildings; new friendly jurisdictions. further we have to go, Pride Legacy signs around change rooms, including Brown’s comments were followed Awards is about looking at what we’ve the phrase “trans people welcome” by a litany of support for the project, already accomplished,” VPS general below men’s, women’s and universal including from a doctor, a lawyer, a manager Ray Lam said. “My hope, leav- change rooms; more “all-body swims” veteran RCMP officer and the city’s ing here tonight, is that people start at local pools; and easier access to advisory committees for women and asking the question, What is our legacy? subsidized recreation passes. for children, youth and families. What are we going to accomplish to- “I’m elated right now,” said Drew The one real voice of dissent at the gether as a community?” nity leadership. “I look forward to the Dennis, a chair of the board’s trans and meeting was transsexual activist Ja- Now in its second year, the Legacy day when I am able to nominate and gender-variant working group, which mie Lee Hamilton, who, though she Awards were conceived by Lam as a way hopefully present one Legacy Award developed the proposal over the last supported the recommendations over- to highlight the outstanding work be- to one of the people who has arrived in year. “I feel very proud of the process.” all, argued that the report neglected ing done by queer community leaders, Canada as a refugee, who has become a The other chair of the group, Metha transsexual people and failed to pro- activists and volunteers, using the eight permanent resident, a Canadian citizen, Brown, told an overflowing room at the vide enough consultation. — Niko Bell colours and themes of Gilbert Baker’s and who also contributes to the work original rainbow flag as categories. and life of the LGBTQ community in HIV/AIDS “To be recognized for your 25 years Vancouver,” she said. of activism is something that beats the Morrissey thanked her partner of heart,” said Martin Rooney, Pink Award 37 years, Bridget, who now has de- Scientists warn against HIV injustice recipient for sexual health activism. In mentia and couldn’t attend the awards 2007, US Border Patrol picked on the ceremony. Criminal law is being used too broadly The statement, published in the Ca- wrong person when they barred Rooney, Lydia Luk, Andrew Shopland — who against people living with HIV in Can- nadian Journal of Infectious Diseases already an established activist, from received the award — and Justin Saint ada because of a poor understanding & Medical Microbiology and signed entering because of his HIV status. His had the unique experience of being of how the virus is transmitted, more by HIV physicians, medical research- efforts to protest the American ban on Top, Andrew Shopland (left) friends and finalists for the Purple than 70 scientists agreed May 2 at the ers and the Association of Medical HIV-positive visitors helped convince and Dave Deveau received the Award for youth. Shopland, who runs 23rd Annual Canadian Conference on Microbiology and Infectious Disease the government to lift it in 2010. Legacy Awards for youth and art, the Mpowerment peer-support pro- HIV/AIDS Research. Canada, says incorrect interpretation respectively. Above, Chris Morrissey “My doctor said to me, Sometimes received the Legacy Award for gram at YouthCO, urged the audience According to the scientists, HIV is of the science about HIV transmission legacy is being in the right place at the community leadership. JAMES LOEWEN to listen to the community’s youth and difficult to transmit sexually. Particu- may lead to miscarriages of justice. right time, and if you take that into ac- to support their initiatives. larly in cases where a condom is used, While the scientists note that count, I was in a place, at a time, that I Dave Deveau — playwright, drag or an HIV-positive person is taking some sexual acts are particularly could make a difference. So when that queen and event producer — received effective antiretroviral therapy, the challenging to study and that inter- difference is recognized, even seven it’s going to become only more impor- the Turquoise Award for art; Dean Nel- scientists say, the likelihood of HIV preting research related to sexual years later, it makes you valid,” he said. tant over time — that assemblage of son, WinterPride producer and Olympic transmission is “negligible.” transmission of HIV is complex, they Archivist Ron Dutton received the stories that are our story,” Dutton said. Pride House co-founder, received the “This consensus statement repre- say there is “broad consensus within Red Award for lifetime achievement for For her decades of work fighting Orange Award for sports; Carl Mead- sents our personal, professional and the scientific and medical communi- his decades of painstakingly collecting for queer immigration and refugee ows received the Yellow Award for his ethical responsibility to prevent any ties based on more than three decades and cataloguing historical artifacts and rights and, more recently, queer se- avid volunteerism; and Alex Sangha possible miscarriages of justice and of research.” —Natasha Barsotti documents from BC’s queer history. niors’ needs, Chris Morrissey received a received the Green Award for creating remove barriers to public health ef- “The reassembly of our story is very standing ovation as she took the podium safe spaces for South Asian and senior forts in Canada,” co-author Dr Mark For more on these stories, go to dailyxtra.com. much a personal passion of mine, and to accept her Blue Award for commu- LGBT people and their allies. Tyndall says.

10 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS Use of ‘queer’ varies across the country NWT warming to it, Montreal indifferent, Toronto divided

COMMUNITY ERIN FLEGG

Four years ago, Nicole Garbutt co- founded It Gets Better Yellowknife to provide information and services to LGBT youth. “We had a lot of people who said, This is great — Yellowknife needs something like this directed at youth with access to information and programs.” There was just one sticking point. “When we launched it, we started using the word queer and had a little bit of a blowback from people about it,” she says. Group members released a state- #news ment explaining their choice, focusing on queer as a term meant to encompass as many identities as possible, to wel- The word queer has no resonance with Montreal’s francophone community, come a broad range of people. says Fugues editor Yves Lafontaine. COURTESY OF YVES LAFONTAINE Garbutt says her research had shown #arts that “queer” was the word more often were more inclined to make fun of the selves,” she says. “It’s not simple.” preferred by youth. They seem to ap- new term than to use it to describe Rwigema says she identifi es strongly preciate it as an umbrella term, she themselves. with the word queer for its history as says, rather than something that might Lafontaine also points to a poorly an oppositional and anti-oppressive #travel force them to identify more specifi cally received tourism campaign a year and identity. She thinks the communities on the LGBT spectrum. Garbutt says a half ago aimed at bringing visitors in Toronto that refer to themselves “queer” felt immediately natural to to “Queer Montreal.” The word has predominantly as gay and lesbian tend her, too, when she came out. been scrapped from further marketing to be predominantly white. Controversy over the word arose strategies, he says. Victoria Schwarz grew up in cottage #events again a year later when organizers of In Toronto, Fab magazine’s last read- country outside Toronto and believes the fi rst Northwest Territories Pride ership survey, in 2010, found that only the word queer is a strong and unify- Festival used the word queer and some 19 percent of respondents use the word ing descriptor for a large and diverse gay men opted to boycott the festivities queer to identify themselves; most pre- group of people. But the word lesbian, as a result. fer gay. Though the magazine (owned she says, allows her to carve out a Yellowknifers have since warmed to by Xtra publisher Pink Triangle Press) space under that umbrella that better the word, Garbutt believes. ceased publication last year, its read- refl ects her femininity. Everything gay, Yves Lafontaine, editor-in-chief ership was primarily gay men in the “Even just identifying as a lesbian of Montreal’s French-language gay Toronto area. is a bit more pinpointed, a big more magazine Fugues, says the word queer Marie Jolie Rwigema has been living feminine and woman-centric,” she every day. scarcely makes an appearance in that in Toronto and calling herself queer for says. But she prefers to go one step city’s culture. Rather than a switch more than a decade. In a city the size of further, most often identifying as a from gay and lesbian to queer, he says, Toronto, she says, the LGBT commu- femme lesbian. he’s seeing a switch from gay and les- nity is split into smaller scenes, each “We’re assumed straight until prov- bian to LGBTQ. with its own set of values and language en elsewise,” she says. “Even in the gay DAILY “And for the francophone part, queer to describe itself. community it’s little bit like that, and has no resonance,” adds Lafontaine, “You can go to a party which is all I think that’s one of the reasons I call dailyxtra.com who identifi es as a gay man. black, you can go to a party that’s all myself a feminine lesbian, because There was a youth group that briefl y South Asian, you can go to a party that it’s an important part of my identity. attempted to get the word “allosexual” are all trans, and each of them will use I’m not just a lesbian. I’m a feminine to catch on, he notes, but he says people their own language to describe them- lesbian.”

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 11 Jury’s out on steroid harm Some men see a testosterone deficit when they stop using steroids

DRUGS NIKO BELL I’m tired of it. It’s Tom, a government employee from Alberta, was affected my health, 38, overweight, depressed and disliked his body. He had always lived a healthy life; making one and it’s been a exception for steroids wouldn’t hurt, he thought. At five feet 10 inches and 160 pounds, Tom (who constant struggle asked Xtra not to reveal his last name) had always to purge myself. felt small. On steroids, he swelled to a fit, muscular 220 pounds. Better yet, testosterone was a rush. TOM, STEROID USER He felt young and energetic. His libido surged. At his peak, he took a gram of testosterone a week, as much as many professional bodybuilders. testosterone are more likely to suffer the ill effects. “It’s like putting a teenage person inside your Many gay men, Pope points out, are moderate body,” he says. users — they want to look more like Adonis and But being a teenager has downsides. He became less like Hercules. angry and unpredictable and had risky sex that A greater risk for light steroid users is hypogo- damaged his long-term relationship. Now, seven nadism. Even moderate doses of steroids signal years later, Tom says he is fighting to rid himself the brain to shut down fully the body’s natural of steroids. production of testosterone. When some men, “I’m tired of it. It’s affected my health, and it’s especially older men, stop taking steroids, their been a constant struggle to purge myself,” he says. bodies fail to pick up the slack. The resulting deficit If gay teens are using steroids much more often of testosterone leaves them exhausted, depressed than straight teens, as Xtra reported last issue, and short on sex drive and erectile function. then stories like Tom’s could be a warning. But The solution might be for young men to simply despite doctors’ and anti-drug campaigns’ warn- stop taking steroids as they enter middle age, were ings about ’roid rage and shrunken testicles, the it not for a third discovery: steroids, it turns out, study of artificial testosterone is still in its infancy. are addictive. Ruth Wood, a neurobiologist at the Dr Harrison Pope, Jr, a psychiatrist at Harvard University of Southern California, discovered that Medical School and a prolific researcher into sub- hamsters — given the choice — will inject them- stance abuse, likes to use a metaphor. Imagine that selves with testosterone to the point of death. To tobacco did not exist in common use until 1981 and her surprise, however, if she gave the hamsters the oldest lifelong smokers were now in their 50s. drugs to block opioids, the addictive behaviour What would we know about the long-term effects stopped. Somehow, testosterone feeds the reward of tobacco? We might have a few case reports on systems of mammal brains — even without getting lung cancer and emphysema, especially among us perceptibly high. heavy users, but we would have no idea the mag- While Pope and Wood worry about the conse- nitude of what was about to hit us. That is exactly, quences of recreational steroid use, other experts Pope says, where we stand with anabolic steroids. think the dangers have been overblown. Rick Col- Not that steroids are necessarily always danger- lins, a New Jersey lawyer and authority on steroid ous. Pope is the first to admit we simply do not law, says that for steroids, as with most drugs, the know what the long-term effects of steroids will dose makes the poison. be. Anyone who says that steroids are safe is just Collins helped perform research at the Univer- as premature as anyone who says they are terribly sity of South Florida that showed most modern dangerous. It’s just too soon to tell. steroid users are, in fact, adult, health-conscious, What Pope does see, however, is the leading educated and aware of what they are doing. edge of what he calls an “epidemiological bubble.” “We tend to too often look at the worst abuser As steroid users grow older, the rates of health as the benchmark,” he says. “And there are some complications from long-term use are slowly ris- people who will abuse steroids and hurt them- ing. As the oldest lifelong steroid users enter their selves. But from the results of our study, there 60s and 70s in the coming decades, that bubble appear to be a proportion of steroid users who could spell trouble. are using it with a mind towards harm reduction The best known side effect of prolonged steroid and responsibility.” use is heart disease. Pope studied weight lifters In the end, Pope agrees with Collins that, espe- who use steroids and found they suffer more than cially on the effects of moderate steroid use, the non-users from impaired heart function and jury is still decidedly out. buildup of plaque in the arteries, both of which “It’s important to emphasize that there’s still a can lead to heart attacks. fair amount of guessing here,” he says. “Scientists Heart disease, however, is dependent on dose; Experts say it’s too soon to tell what long-term effects, if any, may be associated with moderate make no pretence that we know all the answers, heavy users like Tom who take huge quantities of steroid use. THINKSTOCK by any chance.”

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14 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS COVER STORY `May the Lord have mercy upon your soula Did the last man executed in BC die because he was gay? BY NATHANIEL CHRISTOPHER

here’s no doubt his head and a noose around his neck. for drinks at each other’s homes or in that Leo Antho- The hangman stepped back from pubs, and for sex. “Everybody went ny Mantha was his prisoner and pulled a lever on the their own way,” he recalls. “Some guys a murderer; he fl oor. The trap door gave way. would go to Beacon Hill Park and go confessed to it Mantha dropped “fast and hard,” along the bottom and do some sun- prior to his ex- leaving nothing but a trembling rope bathing down there, but other than ecution 55 years and a trace of phlegm in his wake, that everyone kept to themselves, Tago in BC. hanging for 12 minutes before the pretty well. The question prison doctor declared him dead. “Bud and Leo just hung out with each is why was he executed in a time when He was the last man ever executed other,” he says. “They didn’t hang out capital punishment was decidedly on in British Columbia. anywhere in particular... Maybe coff ee the wane in Canada and most fi rst- or at a house.” degree murder sentences were com- Mantha had been dating Jenkins for muted to life imprisonment? The ‘‘ hrist, there’s no way they four months at the time of his arrest. answer, it seems, has everything to C should have hung him. It was He later told an army psychiatrist that do with homophobia. awful,” says Stan Piontek, he had never been “involved so deeply Mantha was hanged at Oakalla Pris- who knew both Mantha and Jenkins [aff ectionately]” with anyone. “No, no on Farm for the murder of his former and is now one of the last surviving one had ever stirred me up like Jenkins, lover Aaron (Bud) Jenkins. witnesses from Mantha’s trial. I don’t know why, except that I was “EXECUTED according to the sen- “It was a crime of passion,” he main- loafi ng and drinking a lot and out every tence imposed,” reads his death cer- tains. “If Bud had been a girl, they night,” said Mantha, who described his tifi cate on a line normally reserved for would probably have given him a life fi nal weeks with Jenkins as a whirlwind violent deaths. The boxes to indicate sentence or sent him to jail — but not of alcohol, sex and “very little sleep.” whether a death is an accident, suicide hang the person. That was awful what Mantha was born in Verdun, Que- or homicide are all unchecked. they did.” bec, in 1926. He would later tell a Leo Mantha was hanged at Oakalla Prison Farm in 1959 Shortly after midnight on April Piontek, who now lives in a West prison psychiatrist that he had his fi rst for the murder of his former lover Aaron (Bud) Jenkins. 28, 1959, Mantha, described by one End high-rise, served in the Navy from sexual experience at the age of 16 with witness as a “stocky, swarthy, tough- 1952 until 1959. He and Jenkins both an older boy who later became a priest. ly handsome man,” shuffled into a worked in the pay offi ce at the Naden Raised in a strict Roman Catholic too easily — from talking about sex be placed under psychiatric treatment dimly lit abandoned elevator shaft naval base in Esquimalt. household, Mantha struggled with with a man. in Montreal. that served as the prison gallows. He Mantha, a marine engineer, first his sexuality. He joined the Navy in 1951. Shortly “He gives a long history of extreme stood over the trap door in the centre met Jenkins in the spring of 1958. His sexual encounters with women after his discharge in 1956, a military confl ict over homosexual tendencies of the rectangular room as the hang- They became acquainted through were unsatisfactory, and he eventu- psychiatrist diagnosed him with a which he recognizes as socially unac- man, who had travelled from Montreal what Mantha described as a “crowd ally gave up. He noted that he wasn’t “personality disorder with alcohol ceptable and feels very shameful,” the for the occasion, strapped Mantha’s at Victoria — all homosexuals.” able to sustain an erection with wom- and sexual deviation” and found him legs, then slipped a black hood over Piontek says the men got together en but would get hard easily — almost unfi t for duty, recommending that he continued next page E

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 15 E continued from previous page report reads. “So long as he does not drink he can control them, although they still make themselves felt from time to time. Obviously the service is the last place in the world for a man with this sort of confl ict.” By 1958, letters sent by Mantha, who was working up the coast in a tugboat, to Jenkins reveal that he had largely abandoned attempts to suppress his sexual orientation. In one letter he affectionately addressed Jenkins as “Budzie-Wuzie” and “you nelley old thing.” “Well, darling, I hope you are behav- ing yourself, also same for Gerry and Don,” he wrote. “Miss you terribly, hope you do likewise. Maybe we’ll be down in Victoria soon, I hope. ’Bye for now, much love and kisses, Leo.” Mantha’s aff ection was not recipro- cated by Jenkins, who felt that his lover was becoming too possessive. “I was with Bud when he opened that letter,” Piontek recalls. “He seemed sort of upset because everyone did their own thing and cruised their own way.” The relationship began to unravel after Mantha returned to Victoria on Aug 5, 1958, and culminated in a fi ght on Sept 5. During this period, Mantha shared an apartment with Jenkins’s cousin Don Perry, at 451 Superior St in Victo- ria’s James Bay neighbourhood. “I was drinking that day and night — all that day — at the apartment. We drank a bottle of whiskey from 8 to 11 that evening — and beer,” Mantha later on his eye,” Piontek recalls, motion- told an army psychiatrist. “We watched ing toward his right eye. Piontek took TV and argued.” Jenkins to a cocktail bar in the Empress Mantha described Jenkins as a cock Hotel, where Perry worked as a waiter. tease. “I saw that he was just playing Jenkins told Perry what had happened, me for a fool and he got me so riled up,” and Perry advised him to wash the he said. “He had started insulting me — blood off his face and return to base. said I was just a sucker, that he was just “His uniform was at 451 Superior St, taking me for everything I had. We used and I went back with him there, and to go out a lot and I would usually foot while he was getting changed we were the bill, well, he was trying to tell me talking, telling me how he was beaten that he was no longer interested in me.” up and everything else,” Piontek says. Jenkins then told Mantha that “It turns out that Mantha had been in he wanted to end their relationship the next room to us, and he would have and marry a female friend. Mantha heard everything.” punched him, twice. “Well, I decided over this fi ght that Jenkins, who was 23 at the time our friendship had come to an end, of his death, was described in police which hurt me very much,” Mantha in’?” asked defence lawyer and Liberal Mantha sneaked into the barracks by a loud, high-pitched scream. “Help documents as a “homosexual (femi- told the court, “and I was just disgusted MLA George Gregory. and entered Jenkins’s room, where me, oh God, help me,” cried Jenkins, nine type).” He was the youngest of six with what had happened and couldn’t “Well, I fi gured I would drive up the he and his roommate were sleep- who was bleeding from his nose and children in a staunch Anglican family. see much in the future, so I was con- Island Highway over the Malahat and ing. He stabbed Jenkins twice with a mouth. He staggered toward the door, “I met him on the causeway, and he templating packing it all in.” give her the gas and just let her go and 23-centimetre hunting knife. collapsed in the hallway and died with- was sobbing and there was some blood “What did you mean by ‘packing it all I would go over the cliff there.” “I stood beside the bed and Jenkins in minutes. On his way to the Island Highway, was laying on his back. I think I bent Mantha escaped from Naden with- however, Mantha decided to stop at down or reached down — I was going out being detected and returned to the Naden naval base in Esquimalt to ask him — and just at that moment his apartment. Perry, who had since `It has been long recognized in a desperate attempt to salvage his he turned and moved,” Mantha told the returned from work, advised Mantha relationship with Jenkins. court. “I think that startled me and the that he couldn’t “keep a friend by being that the homosexual is peculiarly “Well, I was hoping if I saw Bud and next thing I recall is his screams and I possessive or by beating them.” He then prone to such outbursts. could speak to him and try to patch got panicky and ran out of the place. He noticed blood on Mantha’s fi ngernails. a things up, and then I would not have started to scream and I ran away and Before they went to bed, Mantha PSYCHIATRIST DOUGLAS ALCORN to do what I was going to do,” he later out the same way I came in.” called to Perry and said, “I am in more testifi ed. Jenkins’s roommate was awakened trouble than you think.”

16 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS “Certainly I think the accused was provoked, and that is why the fight started,” Ruttan said, “but do you con- sider a normal person could be pro- voked in a similar manner?” After about three hours of delibera- tions, the all-male jury found Mantha guilty of fi rst-degree murder, which left the judge only one option. “Leo Anthony Mantha, the sentence of this Court upon you is that you be taken hence to the prison from whence you came and there kept in close con- fi nement until Tuesday, the 19th day of March, next, AD 1959, when you shall be taken to the place of execu- tion where you shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul,” said Ruttan, who quickly realized March 19 was, in fact, a Thursday. Without apology, he brought Mantha back into the courtroom to read the sentence for Tuesday, March 17. After some discussion, cabinet Gregory subsequently appealed the verdict to the BC Court of Appeal on the agreed with solicitor general grounds that Ruttan had misdirected Léon Balcer’s recommendation the jury. The court unanimously dis- missed the appeal, as “no substantial that “the law be allowed to take wrong or miscarriage of justice” had occurred in their view. its course.” The fi nal decision on whether some- one would live or die rested with the federal cabinet. Then-prime minister infl icted by society on Mantha would or transferred men who were gay or John Diefenbaker opposed capital not aff ect Jenkins, who was “with God.” presumed to be gay. punishment, and most death sentences Cabinet refused to commute his Piontek says he was given the “bum’s were commuted to life in prison. Dur- sentence. rush” out of the Navy and spent his last ing his second term in office, from “His brittle and explosive personality day in a cell. 1958 to 62, only nine of 51 capital cas- was caused in part by his early home life “The shore patrol came for me and es considered by cabinet resulted in and his homosexual problem,” notes threw me in a cell,” he says. “You’d have Above left, a letter written by Leo Mantha to his lover, Bud Jenkins, in 1958. execution. from the cabinet meeting read. “From to go and get the linen and someone in Above, Mantha (second from left) and Jenkins (to his right) enjoy an afternoon Gregory was a personal friend of the evidence it would appear that the the shore patrol would escort you and picnic with friends. Left, the murder weapon, a 9.1-inch hunting knife. Top right, justice minister E Davie Fulton, who crime was motivated by Mantha’s anger you’d get your tray of food... And the Mantha’s lawyer, George Gregory, asks the federal cabinet to commute his client’s death sentence. PHOTO BY STAN PIONTEK was the grandson of former BC premier at the decision of the victim to break off next morning, they took all my stuff and Davie Street namesake AEB Davie. their relationship.” back, signed me out and goodbye.” Gregory, who addressed Fulton on a After some discussion, cabinet Most of the people involved in the “What could be more serious than was “charged with murder, not with be- first-name basis in their correspon- agreed with solicitor general Léon case have since died, but many key to beat your friend?” Perry replied. ing a homosexual” and suggested that if dence, travelled to Ottawa with hope Balcer’s recommendation that “the law players, including the lawyers on both Mantha explained that he had followed he was found guilty because “the world of obtaining clemency for his doomed be allowed to take its course.” sides, as well as the judge who issued Jenkins to the base after he left and would be better off without Mantha,” client. the death sentence, publicly admitted attacked him once more. the same line of thinking would also In a letter dated Dec 18, Gregory in the years after the trial that Mantha’s “How could you attack him more apply to Jenkins. tells Fulton he is “trespassing” on their iontek says Mantha’s trial and sexual orientation had been a deciding seriously than you had already done?” Throughout the trial, Mantha’s friendship to obtain “speedy and au- P execution triggered a “witch factor in his fate. Perry asked. sexual orientation was described as a thentic information as to the manner hunt” against homosexuals in In 1996, Saturday Night magazine “I don’t mean I attacked him with my problem that exacerbated his “brittle of handling of clemency appeals in re- the military. published an article commemorating hands. I stabbed him with the weapon.” and explosive personality.” Victoria spect of persons convicted of murder.” “They were doing witch hunts before the life and achievements of Ruttan, “My God, Leo, how could you do that psychiatrist Douglas Alcorn told the “This I assure you is not prompted this trial for gay people,” he notes. who died that year. “Decades later, to Bud?” court that the passions ignited by rejec- by idle curiosity on my part but by the “They’d switch them out because they Ruttan said he believed many other Mantha was arrested at the apart- tion on the part of homosexuals were fact that a client of mine yesterday found they were gay; they drummed scoundrels deserved death far more ment and confessed his guilt within more intense than for heterosexuals. was sentenced to be hanged on March them out just like that. But something than Mantha,” Lynne Olver wrote. “But fi ve minutes. “The homosexual is under peculiar 17th,” Gregory wrote on legislative spectacular happened — a murder — so they were not homosexuals, and their stresses and peculiar strains which, letterhead. they did more of a witch hunt. They sentences were all commuted,” Ruttan frankly, manifests itself in outbursts Many others, including Perry, sub- probably drummed out quite a few reportedly said. uring the nine-day trial, Man- of rage, panic, fear, beyond that which mitted requests for clemency. “I pray people about that.” Pat Johnson, writing for the Vancou- D tha’s defence lawyer argued one would normally expect, and in a Leo’s sentence which is automatic In their 2010 book The Canadian ver Courier in 1999, spoke with Lloyd that the murder was a result peculiar fashion in a heterosexual in- will be commuted,” wrote Perry, who War on Queers: National Security as McKenzie, who was crown counsel in of uncontrollable passion infl amed by dividual,” Alcorn said. “In other words, described both Jenkins and Mantha Sexual Regulation, Gary Kinsman and Mantha’s case and later became a judge. excessive drinking. He told the jury it has been long recognized that the as good men. “His death per se would Patrizia Gentile write that RCMP offi - “He had a very heavy load to carry in that no man in his right mind would homosexual is peculiarly prone to such be no value to society. Even the tribal cers were sent to Victoria from Ottawa defending himself in this case because break into a military base and murder outbursts.” laws of Moses (Leviticus 24:20) were to assist in the investigation. Using he was homosexual,” McKenzie told a soldier — the chance of success was In his charge to the jury, Justice John changing by the time of Jesus (St Mat- Jenkins’s address book to fi nd names of Johnson. “There’s no doubt about it. “absolutely nil.” Ruttan advised jurors that they were thew 6:38 and 39).” suspected gay men, naval security and That was a strong factor militating He reminded the jury that Mantha dealing with an abnormal person. He concluded that any judgment the RCMP interrogated and purged against him.”

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18 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS A bisexual scholar cruising bars and sex clubs? Out in the City Not a chance. Brett Josef Grubisic E 20 Artificial Cherry has bite People can be so uptight about the human body, poet says

IN PRINT RAZIEL REID

The latest anthology from Vancouver poet Billeh Nickerson is a conversation on the body, crushed hearts and Elvis Presley. Nickerson finds the literary in everyday life, and his poems remind me of the drunken confessionals you hear between friends in the bathroom stall of a nightclub: “...And then his low hanging balls hit the toilet water.” The smut is tasteless, but your mouth will drop so wide you’ll enjoy a big mouthful anyway. In “Five Things Men in Bed Have Told Me About Their Assholes,” Nickerson takes pillow talk to the next level. But really, whose asshole can’t lip-sync to Mariah Carey? There is a bit of fixation on the anus in Artificial Cherry; “Highway Game: Anal RVs” was inspired by Nickerson’s visit to an Elvis impersonators’ festival. “I learned about the trick of adding the word ‘anal’ to the names of RVs while I was in residence at Pierre Berton’s childhood home in Dawson City, Yukon,” he says. “It’s just so silly and absurd that I needed to bring it into a poem! All those tourists travelling along the Alaska Highway never seemed the same again.” me because I got to be a little line breaks and my sense of Both the gory and the glory of the human body naughty again but also play time” is similar to how a comic get poetic treatment in Nickerson’s hands — a Giving the reader around... I didn’t get to mean- tells jokes. “Giving the reader section of the book is devoted to the liberation enough time to stew der with the other books; they enough time to stew and be of flesh in all its beauty, grotesqueness and flaws. were very succinct. It’s going discomforted or relieved; that’s “Some people get so uptight and precious,” he and be discomforted to be nice to go and do readings what I’m trying to achieve.” says. “What shocks us, I would think, would be and make people laugh again.” Nickerson’s meandering violence and rape culture and all these things, or relieved; that’s When he’s onstage, Nick- makes Artificial Cherry a sur- but we’re shocked of our bodies... Many of my what I’m trying to erson blurs the line between prising journey down a road poems ease some of the discomfort through the poetry reading and standup where every step of the way is use of humour.” achieve. comedy show; he considers a catchy, rhythmic and some- The cheeky, sweet poems in Artificial Cherry see Joan Rivers, Sandra Bernhard times even healing story. the return of Nickerson’s wicked sense of humour and Margaret Cho three of his “I think my writing can following his 2012 anthology, The Titanic Poems, greatest inspirations. sometimes be cathartic,” he which marked the shipwreck’s 100th anniversary “Looking back at more for- says. “God forbid that if I die of with a more solemn tone. mative years for me, I real- ARTIFICIAL CHERRY some terminal illness I’m going “A lot of my work is about capturing the image Poet Billeh Nickerson savoured the chance ized I was really influenced by By Billeh Nickerson to be the one telling jokes in the to meander and be playful again with his new Arsenal Pulp Press or the moment that speaks to an emotion or a book of poetry, Artificial Cherry. many female standup comedi- $14.95 hospital bed right up until the tragedy or joy,” he says. “This book was good for GERILEE MCBRIDE ans,” he says. “I think that my end.”

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8-21, 2014 19 Chile: Metro Unforeseen stations to help foster acceptance of LGBT possibilities people Brett Josef Grubisic’s new novel is about a

dailyxtra.com bookish prof and a sexual adventurer

IN PRINT GREG ARMSTRONG-MORRIS

As much as I love being swept away Proudly serving to an exotic location by a piece of fiction, This Location of Unknown our community for Possibilities, Brett Josef Grubisic’s second novel, delights in keeping me close to home. 14 fabulous years! With Vancouver and Penticton as twin backdrops, Grubisic peppers the story with suffi cient local detail to leave me feeling conspicuously voyeuristic. Like Marta Spëk, Grubisic’s main character, I know exactly what the overheated 99 B-line bus feels like at 4:30pm on an early March after- noon — humid and teeming. And like Jake Nugent, the industry-weary film director and Grubisic’s secondary lead, I know enough about attempt- 1025 DAVIE ST. • (604) 687-2222 ing online hookups in the Okanagan What happens when maids and stranded to question its title as Canada’s Fruit two (exaggerated) aliens — Marta’s real Basket. parts of author Brett provocation comes from Josef Grubisic’s While education, career path, sur- psyche — a prim a wholly unexpected roundings — seemingly everything in English lit professor source. We Moved the lives of these two characters — set and an arrogant For Jake, expert Across the them in opposition to each other, sexual adventurer — negotiation of naked- collide? Street each is fully and honestly realized in ALEXANDER CROUSE torso-riddled sex sites Grubisic’s telling of their tales. proves to be less, well, “I wanted to try out a little self- chronic professorial fruitful in the arid exploration,” he explains. “Writers are doldrums by an unfore- Okanagan. Not to men- saddled with the reputation of being seeable job opportunity tion the arid desert of narcissists, after all, and both Jake — to take her esoteric his internal life. and Marta stand for parts of myself, knowledge of a little- By placing these two though hugely exaggerated. Marta’s known character from BRETT JOSEF journeys in close and GRUBISIC READS absurd bookishness, alienation and the fringes of English Sat, May 24, 1pm threatening proximity, primness... they’re mine stretched lit and be crowned with Vancouver Public Library Grubisic creates a dy- almost beyond recognition. Ditto for the dubious title of fi lm 350 W Georgia St namic energy that vi- Jake’s total arrogance and the sexual consultant — she begins Alice MacKay Room, brates through the book, 2120 Commercial Drive, Vancouver lower level adventurer persona. to imagine a form of rec- urging us to the end. THIS LOCATION “Ultimately, Jake made far more ognition not off ered in OF UNKNOWN “Both wind up with 604.215.7833 sense as a fi lm industry A-type,” he the ivy-clad towers of POSSIBILITIES something new and /jeanqueen.ca By Brett Josef Grubisic says. “If I’d made him a sexually vora- Academia. Now or Never Publishing better in their lives,” he “14 Years of Inspiration” cious professor, I’d have never believed But as the biopic of $19.95 says, “but neither would it. Arrogant, yes. A bisexual scholar the iconoclastic Lady have chosen it. Fate in- cruising bars and sex clubs? Not a Hester Stanhope morphs into a made- tervened. That seems to be the way NON JUDGEMENTAL | FRIENDLY | HELPFUL | SERVICE-ORIENTED | SIZES UP TO 3X chance.” for-TV historical science-fi ction fan- the universe operates from time to When Marta is lifted from her tasy mashup — complete with saucy time.”

20 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS Party like it’s 1999 Britney and the Spice Girls reinvented

BLITZ & SHITZ RAZIEL REID

If Emma Bunton was my fi rst love, Britney Spears was my second. She’s the soundtrack to my life! “Lucky” has been playing every time I’ve tried to kill myself. Fortune Sound Club gave me back my childhood with a Y2K dance party featuring Britney Spears impersonator Derrick Barry from Las Vegas and the drag Spice Gurls, home from their tour Raziel backstage at of Texas. Fortune Sound Club with The real party is always backstage. Derrick Barry, who really When the music is a distant thump- could be mistaken for ing, you can hear all the crazy shit pre-Federline Britney. very important people say without the TALLULAH distortion of a millennium pop beat. Here are some of my favourite lines: “I always wear designer clothes so that I can be as messy as I want and thought I was Baby Spice.” Barry was discovered by RuPaul’s and instantly forgiven.” — Kash —me, admiring drag Baby Spice’s Daniels, in Hermes All Stars Drag Race winner Chad Mi- platforms chaels and Brent Allen, the famed Bette “Look at my ass — it’s on Diplo’s “Pop music has gone downhill since Midler impersonator at La Cage in Las Instagram!” — some random girl S Club 7.” — some dude smoking a Vegas. He was signed to be a part of the showing me a picture on her phone joint in the corner show and quickly became its highlight. “Classy with a K and two dollar It’s eerie how much Barry looks like “We’re the Spice Girls, yes indeed. signs, maybe.” — Berlin, when Britney. They have a similar facial Just girl power is all we need. We someone tells him his acrylic nails structure, nose and smile. All he’s miss- know how we got this far. Strength are classy ing are the dead eyes and meth zits! and courage and a Wonderbra.” One of the dancers in the “Work “I’m doing coke out in the open — the Spice Gurls chanting before Bitch” music video recently said that because I don’t care.” hitting the stage during rehearsals Britney would show — a fabulous creature up in a “dishevelled and confused “Don’t be rude; do your coke in the It’s been a year since the Spice Gurls state” and “had difficulty executing bathroom like a civilized person.” played The Rio for the fi rst time, and even basic dance moves.” So really, —Peter Breeze they’ve come a long way. They opened Barry could have stepped onstage with “Yeah, because my character is the show performing “Stop” and “Who a bag of Cheetos, twirled half-heartedly Do You Think You Are,” and the crowd a few times and lip-synched — when humourless and unimpressed.” —Parker McMullin as Posh Spice, at Fortune was so into it there were she felt like it — and no one would have when told he’s always in character screams for an encore that lasted been able to question her authenticity. nearly as long as the set. But the impersonation focused on “Since Britney’s not here yet, can we When Derrick Barry hit the stage, Britney’s more impassioned perfor- drink her booze?” —everyone things really felt Y2K because Britney’s mances, though it skipped her pièce “You have to come to my going- body hasn’t looked that good since de résistance (beating the paps with away party tomorrow night! I’m pre-Federline. an umbrella). giving free bumps off my boobs.” “The fi rst time I dressed as Britney Barry took us from early Britney —Quanah Style Spears was Halloween 2003,” Barry “Baby One More Time” to virgin whore says. “I ended up getting a blonde wig Britney “Slave 4 U” to puppet-under- “We may look like women, but we and walking down Santa Monica Bou- conservatorship Britney “Till the smell like men!” —Joey Vanity, levard with my friends, and the reac- World Ends.” The set even included on sharing a hotel room with the tions were great. I can’t believe that a live rendition of “Oops!... I Did It Spice Gurls was the fi rst time, because it all felt — I Again,” with Barry’s vocals sounding “When I was six years old, I smoked don’t want to say natural — but it all felt about as impressive as the real thing. my fi rst cigarette, lost my virginity like I had done it before.” Well, at least the boy commits.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 21 Brief Encounters 21 — Guilt & Co, Thurs, May 8 WHAT'S ON BRIEF ENCOUNTERS 21 FOR MORE LISTINGS, GO TO DAILYXTRA.COM

Wed, May 7 Underwear Friday Whether you prefer tighty whities, boxers Bingo for Life’s 19th or briefs, come show off your Anniversary A special guest drawers on Friday nights. 8pm caller joins Joan-E to celebrate until late. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro 19 years of community St. $10 members, $15 guests; fundraising and fun for Friends includes locker. 8x6.ca for Life. 8:30pm. Celebrities, 1022 Davie St. Suggested $10 Confl ict Resolution for donation includes bingo cards. Couples This weekly skills- friendsforlife.ca building course is designed for Dogwood Monarchist Society Annual General Meeting gay couples who want to work Tuesday May 27, 2014 @ 7pm sharp Thurs, May 8 on their communication and relationship skills. Runs until Fri, Sail Away Qmunity 1170 Bute Street May 17. 7:30–9:30pm. Health Applause! Musicals in Concert Initiative for Men, 1033 Davie St. For more information: presents Noel Coward’s rarely checkhimout.ca Friday for this free social staged musical about a love Tues, May 13 https://www.facebook.com/groups/5658885212/ support group. 3–6pm. The aff air on a cruise ship. 8pm. Friday Yoga Drop-In The Dual Diagnosis: HIV and Junction Pub, 1138 Davie St. CBC Studio, 700 Hamilton St. Health Initiative for Men off ers Cancer Dr Natasha Press and positivelivingbc.org Runs until Sat, May 10. Tickets yoga sessions every Friday Dawn Clouthier share the $20–25 at brownpapertickets. night. Bring your own yoga mat. medical perspective on HIV Sat, May 17 com or 1-800-838-3006. 7–8:15pm. Scotiabank Dance and cancer. 6–8pm. Chateau The Gay Agenda Join Dave applausemusicals.com Centre, 677 Davie St. Free, but Granville, 1100 Granville St. Free Deveau and friends for the donations gratefully accepted. and open to all; register at 604- Gross Indecency: The Three second installment of The Gay checkhimout.ca 893-2239. positivelivingbc.org Trials of Oscar Wilde Ghost Agenda. 9pm. The Cobalt, 917 Light Productions revisits the Sat, May 10 Shame Spiral Peach Cobblah Main St. $9. thecobalt.ca persecution of Oscar Wilde, set brings some East Side drag to Explicit DJs Taffi Louis and The Vatican The new men’s in a modern boardroom. 8pm. the West End. 9:30pm. 1181, Pupluvyvr host a nocturnal leather and fetish party moves Carousel Studio, 1411 Cartwright 1181 Davie St. No cover. 1181.ca RESTAURANT & BAR St, Granville Island. Runs until adventure for hot men of all to 8x6. 8pm–2am. Club 8x6, types. 8pm–2am. Club 8x6, Little Mermaid Sing-Along 1775 Haro St. Tickets $15 at Sat, May 17. Tickets $15–35 Queer geeks sing and dance at brownpapertickets.com or 1775 Haro St. $15, includes Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie St, and locker. 8x6.ca their way through The Little at 8x6.ca. thevaticanparty.com ghostlightprojects.com. Mermaid. Disney costumes Open Daily at 11am till Late Hustla: Maygay Peach Brief Encounters 21 Ten highly encouraged. 7–11pm. Cobblah and guests present Sun, May 18 artists, fi ve pairings, two weeks The Junction, 1138 Davie St. $5 homo hip hop at its best. Doors Hershe Bar Flygirl’s popular to create: Brief Encounters suggested donation at door. JOIN US WEEKLY FOR: 9pm. The Cobalt, 917 Main St. women’s party features DJs returns for its 21st edition junctionpub.com Riki Rocket and Kasey Riot. FAT TUESDAYS FRESH FRIDAYS with three nights of thrilling $12. thecobalt.ca Men on Men A weekly 10pm–2am. Red Room Ultra 6 items for $6.00 each 3 course meal for $15.95 interdisciplinary mashups. Rainbow Concert Band discussion group for men who Bar, 398 Richards St. Tickets Doors 7pm, show 7:30pm. Guilt Vancouver’s queer concert love or have sex with men. $15 advance at Little Sister’s, WING WEDNESDAY SUNDAY FUNDAY & Co, 1 Alexander St. Tickets band presents Smorgasband, Every Tuesday, 6:30pm. Gordon 1238 Davie St; Kokopelli’s $0.35/wing $5.00 Caesars & $20–35 at brownpapertickets. a delicious selection of songs Neighbourhood House, 1019 Salon, 2052 Commercial Dr; com; cash only at the door. all about food. 7:30–10:30pm. $4.25 pints of Granville Island Broughton St. checkhimout.ca and fl ygirlproductions.com. briefencounters.ca Vancouver Community College, Room 2010, 1155 E Ensoul Riley Cox hosts a new Helicopter The Junction’s new Wed, May 14 monthly party celebrating night features the strippers of Broadway St. $10 advance at Gay & Grey Join this discussion deep, soulful house and fantasymen.ca. Doors at 11pm. brownpapertickets.com; $15 group for gay senior men every R&B. 10pm–3am. Cabana The Junction, 1138 Davie St. $5. door. rainbowband.ca Wednesday. 7pm. Roundhouse Lounge, 1159 Granville St. $5. junctionpub.com Sun, May 11 Community Centre, second- cabanavancouver.com Rainbow Support Group fl oor boardroom, 181 Mr/Miss Cobalt Drag United Big Roger Events BC’s Alzheimer Society off ers Roundhouse Mews. Competition Hustla, Queer presents DJ Misha Skye. Doors a support group for LGBT Bash, Jerk It, Apocalypstick 11pm. Gorg-O-Mish, 695 Smithe caregivers and those caring for Thurs, May 15 and Spit come together for the St. Tickets $30 at Little Sister’s, Oasis Club Nights LGBT people with dementia. ultimate East Side talent orgy. Gay Poz 30-Something 1238 Davie St, or eventbrite.ca. with special guest Call 604-675-5153 or email 9pm–2am. The Cobalt, 917 Positive Living hosts bigrogerevents.com DJs every Friday Proud Supporters of LOUD Business Group [email protected]. a discussion group for and Saturday night and West End Slo-Pitch Association (WESA). Main St. $6; includes ballot to International Masturbation vote. thecobalt.ca 30-something, HIV-positive Fri, May 9 gay men on disclosing, legal Month Vancouver Jax hosts Cruisey Cinema Sunday Hang jack-off parties for guys who Vancouver Men in Leather obligations and the best out with other porn-loving guys enjoy masturbating together. Phone: 604-685-1724 | 1240 Thurlow Street, Vancouver, BC Put on your gear and join options for meds. 6:30–8pm. the men in leather for their in a safe, comfortable space. Positive Living, 1107 Seymour 2–5pm. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. www.oasisondavie.com monthly social. 9pm until late. 2–8 pm. Club 8x6, 1775 Haro St. Free. positivelivingbc.org $10, includes locker. 8x6.ca PumpJack Pub, 1167 Davie St. St. $10; $5 each with a buddy. Bearracuda Bearracuda 8x6.ca The Sundown The Cobalt pumpjackpub.com. hosts a laid-back clubhouse- returns for Victoria Day Joan-Eleveneightyone Joan-E Weekend, with DJs Matt Showtunes Night 1181 style night for queer women presents its monthly ode to hosts an evening of drag fun every Thursday. 9pm. The Consola (San Fran) and Matt show tunes. 6–9pm. 1181, 1181 and special guests, followed by Cobalt, 917 Main St. $3–6. Stands (Seattle). 9pm. Five Davie St. No cover. facebook. DJ Mumbles. 10:30pm–3am. thecobalt.ca Sixty, 560 Seymour St. Tickets com/showtunesyvr 1181, 1181 Davie St. No cover. $12 at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie Australian rugby player suspended facebook.com/1181lounge St, or bearracuda.com. The Normal Heart Raving Fri, May 16 for using anti-gay slur Theatre presents playwright Mon, May 12 AJ’s Café Join other HIV- Larry Kramer’s look at the positive gay men every The Bobbers The queer early years of the AIDS crisis. improv-comedy troupe is Runs until Sun, May 18. 8pm. back in the Davie Village with PAL Studio Theatre, 581 a whole new show. 7–9pm. Submit your event listing to Cardero St. Tickets $23–28 at Heaven’s Door, 1216 Bute St. No [email protected]. Deadline for dailyxtra.com ticketstonight.ca. facebook/ cover. heavensdoor.ca ravingtheatre the May 22–June 4 issue is Wed, May 14.

22 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS 2 XTRA’S GUIDE TO THE LUCRATIVE Real GAY & LESBIAN HOUSING XPOSED MARKET PHOTOS BY DANNY GRAY FOX Estate 1 TO ADVERTISE CALL 604-684-9696

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Mr Spiked 604.506.4264 s [email protected] Vancouver’s gay volleyball association brought back its signature pageant, Mr Spiked, May 3 at Celebrities. 1E Dylan Lewis & Ellery Espino 2E Host Steve Letts & organizer Nelson Santos 3E Pageant judges Cayne Standish (Out for Kicks), Christepher Wee (Mr Gay Canada), Clayton Bergquist (Pacific Rim Curling) & Lance Sandover (WESA) 4E Mr Spiked contestant Nat Sian 5E Tony Lan 6E Zak Toftinoff 7EBackstage with contestants Nat Sian, Mike Pleasure, Mr Spiked 2014 Mike Van Nen, Zak Toftinoff, Tony Lan & Kleber Ramirez 4 5 6 7

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MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 25 A world of gay adventure Travel Atlanta Distinct neighbourhoods, Southern style and the best gay nightlife in the Southeast

AEFA MULHOLLAND The United States’ ninth-largest me- tropolis and the most populous city in the state of Georgia, metro Atlanta is home to more than six million people, to an array of atmospheric neighbourhoods and to a quintessentially Southern style. Famed former and current inhabitants include Jane Fonda, Spike Lee, Usher and Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind. We’ll try not to hold the city to account for the decline of Justin Bieber, who moved there in 2008 to start his professional career. Downtown you’ll fi nd the gleaming dome of the Georgia State Capitol, the Georgia Aquarium, the CNN Center and the World of Coca-Cola. But go beyond downtown’s sights, stores and AEFA MULHOLLAND skyscrapers to discover this sultry city’s residential, LGBT-loved Inman Park, fl ying Candler Park location of the leg- true character. this offbeat corner is crammed with endary Flying Biscuit Café has a lovely Follow main thoroughfare Peachtree quirky vintage stores like Rag-o-Rama corner patio and delicious Southern Street northeast from downtown to and the kitschy Junkman’s Daughter, food; the Midtown location is a major Midtown, home to gorgeous Piedmont independent record stores and coff ee LGBT draw. The original location of Park and the Botanical Garden, a mul- shops, a noticeable LGBT presence and lesbian-owned Highland Bakery is in titude of restaurants, the main arts dis- what can seem like the majority of the O4W, and there are also stores in Mid- trict and a large proportion of Atlanta’s South’s hipster tattoos. Charis Books town and Buckhead. Little Five Points’ LGBT population. Allow time to gaze nestles in a lively looking purple house LGBT-popular Vortex burger joint is a and graze along the Midtown Mile, with on main drag Euclid and specializes in great place to court coronary failure and its upscale stores and eateries. feminist and LGBT fiction and non- tackle items with names like Cheesy Going north again takes you to el- fi ction. Candler Park, the gentrifying Cheese Goo, Hell’s Fury and Fat Elvis. egant Buckhead, with its grand homes, Old Fourth Ward — or O4W — and hip Outside Oakland cemetery, stop for luxury shopping at Lenox Square and East Atlanta Village are other Eastside sustenance or a soda at Ria’s Bluebird. Phipps Plaza, and pricey destination neighbourhoods to keep on your radar. Atlanta Pride is the big event on the restaurants and lounges. If you go In the Westside neighbourhood, LGBT calendar. It recently moved from southeast of Downtown, grittier At- where industrial scenery is swiftly giv- earlier in the year to October. Atlanta lanta is on show in Sweet Auburn, a ing way to artists, galleries and lofts, Black Pride is held over Labour Day centre of black and civil rights historic don’t miss Goat Farm, a 12-acre artists’ Weekend. East Atlanta Strut is a quirky signifi cance that’s home to the Martin colony in an old wheel-making factory; one-day event held every September. Luther King Jr National Historic Site the café is atmospheric. Just outside the The city is about an hour by car from and birthplace. city limits, Decatur is a longtime lesbian hip college town and quirky music city In the Eastside district, gay-popular hotspot, perhaps courtesy of its women- Athens (where REM and the B52s got neighbourhood Virginia-Highland only Agnes Scott College. their starts) and from the river city of offers another shopping, dining and In the Midtown gaybourhood, eat Chattanooga, Tennessee. drinking scene, and beyond that lurks at the lesbian-loved brunch temple An hour north of the city, histor- the city’s bohemian quarter, Little Einstein’s or the boy-adored Joe’s on ic Dahlonega, in the North Georgia Five Points. Tucked alongside leafy, Juniper. The original, rainbow-flag- mountains, is the gateway to the HEATHER HOPKINS 26 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS AEFA MULHOLLAND MMANN Clockwise from far left: a local vegetable market highlights produce from the Southern states; the view of midtown Atlanta from picturesque Piedmont Park; the leafy, artsy neighbourhood of Inman Park is home to many gay residents; shark watching at the Georgia Aquarium; drop by The Vortex in Little Five Points and try the Cheesy Cheese Goo dip or the Fat Elvis burger.

Bars of the Living Room and Ping Pong Em- With a reputation as having the best porium is a bar, table-tennis place, gal- LGBT nightlife in the Southeast, Atlanta lery (a painting declaring “Jesus loves has a lot to live up to. But it lives up to lamb chops” or “The bigger the hair, the the hype — and then some. Mainstream closer to God”, anyone?) and all-round Midtown options include classics such out-there space. Sound Table, opposite as Blake’s on the Park and restaurant- Sister Louisa’s, is another excellent spot by-day/bar-by-night Ten, on the 10th for sporting ’80s throwback attire and Street gay corridor, and restaurant/bar sipping hip libations. 10th and Piedmont, situated in the old Girl bar My Sister’s Room, once locat- OutWrite bookstore space. Tripps is ed in Decatur, is now happily resettled another down-to-earth mixed Midtown in East Atlanta Village. Another nearby LGBT destination. If you’re feeling classic, Mary’s, is a mixed straight/ indecisive or can’t stay in one place LGBT cocktail bar with laid-back for long, try Ansley Square, a mainly crowds and karaoke. Traxx Girls hosts a gay mall that’s home to video lounge couple of weekly parties around the city, Mixx, LGBT pub Burkhart’s, martini bar predominantly for African-American Oscar’s and tiny watering hole Felix’s, women. plus LGBT book and video spot Brush- strokes. Neighbourhood sports spot The ZAC WOLF Hideaway is tucked away in the same Chattahoochee-Oconee National For- Accommodations until 2011, a Kimpton Hotel Palomar complex. Jungle is the city’s largest More at dailyxtratravel.com. est. Precious metal has given way to Situated in Atlanta’s arts district, and still has much of that boutique nightclub, with big-name DJs manning Read this story on Daily Xtra grapes, and this old gold-rush town has the stylish 1924 Artmore Hotel, on character. In Dahlonega, gay-owned the decks in the back, while lower-key Travel for links to local businesses now struck it lucky with vines. There are West Peachtree Street, has a Spanish- Mountain Laurel Creek B&B welcomes events go on in the front Jungle Room. and attractions. For the most up-to- plenty of galleries, quaint eateries and Mediterranean feel and oodles of ame- all guests to its six rooms and suites and Away from gaybourhood antics, just date travel information on gay Atlanta, wineries to tour, plus some gay-owned nities. Another convenient Midtown lone cabin. east of downtown in the Old Fourth see our online city, listings, events and gay-friendly accommodations. address, the Marriott Renaissance, was, Ward, super-hip Sister Louisa’s Church and activities guides.

MORE AT DAILYXTRA.COM XTRA! MAY 8–21, 2014 27 A world of gay adventure Travel Pride in Mexico City A non-corporate mix of politics, partying and anarchic celebration

KEPH SENETT than the offi cial page (marchagay.mx). If you’re looking for the bear scene, you For such a major metropolis, Mexico have your own portal at bearmex.com. City is often overlooked during Pride Although there are parties and events season, but this capital is not only big leading up to and after the parade, the and bustling — it’s also actively welcom- main attraction happens on Pride Sat- ing to LGBT people. The city’s very fi rst urday under the banner Marcha del Pride march took place in 1979, and 30 Orgullo y Dignidad LGBTTTI (Pride years later the Legislative Assembly le- and Dignity March). You’re probably galized same-sex marriage. And, to make familiar with the many variations on things easier for out-of-towners to visit, LGBT; in Mexico City, the letters refer the Mexico City tourism board recently to lésbico, gay, bisexual, transexual, commissioned an LGBT guide, down- travesti, transgénero and intersexual. loadable as a PDF from its website (see Don’t get too hung up on the semantics On the Web sidebar box for URL). So if — this is an inclusive celebration, and you’re considering a trip to Mexico City everyone is welcome. (also referred to as “el DF,” for Distrito La Marcha begins at noon(ish), with Federal), consider a pilgrimage for Pride. people gathering at the base of El Ángel The very fi rst thing you’ll notice in de la Independencia, the city’s most planning your Pride week is that the famous monument and the symbol of communications — posters, websites the Mexico City. If your experience of and guides — are not nearly as coordi- Pride is limited to recent years in the big nated as you’re probably used to, and cities (like New York, San Francisco or your planning will be further com- Toronto), one of the fi rst things you’ll plicated by the fact that everything is likely notice is that, despite its size in Spanish. Take a deep breath. De- (2013 drew approximately 100,000 spite being a city of nearly nine million participants), this is a grassroots event. people (that number jumps to more With very few exceptions — the city than 24 million if you account for the distributed tens of thousands of free, KEPH SENETT greater metropolitan area), el DF is, in branded condoms, for example — there Above, Pride revellers celebrate outside Palacio de Bellas Artes. Left, some ways, still emerging. The sooner is little or no corporate presence. And a float with an Aztec eagle warrior you sync up with the city, the better that’s a great thing. Everything from the theme. time you’ll have. handmade signs to the music to the vibe There are two main ways to fi nd out feels genuine. what’s happening: track down a Pride Once the parade gets underway, it guide or simply ask someone. Trust me: moves down Paseo de la Reforma to- NIGHTLIFE the latter is much more fun, but if you’re ward the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main Lipstick/Kinky Bar too shy, get yourself into the Zona Rosa public plaza and the second largest in Amberes 1 to check out lesbian bookstore Voces the world (Moscow’s Red Square is big- Living en Tinta or Erotika Love Store and ask ger). The procession itself is a fabulous Avenida Bucareli No 144 for a guide (guía, in Spanish). On the mix of politics, partying and anarchic living.com.mx web, your best bet is to locate groups celebration, with the music, costumes, and events pages on Facebook, which pageantry and placards we’ve all come Cabaretito Londres 161 (Neon/VIP) often are updated with more frequency to expect. Londres 77 (Fusion) Several other events are scheduled cabaretito.com for the weeks prior to and directly after ON THE WEB La Marcha. Consider planning your Marrakech Salon República de Cuba 18 LGBT guide travel around the Festival Lésbico In- (downloadable PDF) ternacional de la Ciudad de México (the El Viena mexicocity.gob.mx/lgbt/guias.php international lesbian festival of Mexico República de Cuba 2-E International Lesbian Festival City), the Festival Internacional por la La Perla mexicocity.gob.mx/lgbt/agenda.php Diversidad Sexual (the international República de Cuba 44 International Sexual sexual diversity festival) or the Festival So Do Me Bathhouse Diversity Festival de Diversidad Sexual en Cine y Video Mariano Escobedo No 716 chopo.unam.mx (the sexual diversity fi lm festival). sodome.com.mx THELMA DATTER 28 MAY 8–21, 2014 XTRA! VANCOUVER’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS Puerto Vallarta is a leading culinary destination in Mexico. VISITPUERTOVALLARTA.COM

Away from the crowded beach, the log booms on Trail 7 at Wreck Beach. BART BRAUN Restaurant Week in PVR One of Mexico’s longest-running culinary luxury restaurants. 1. Blooming Point 7. Oka Park events, Puerto Vallarta Restaurant In the gay-friendly Romantic Zone, Northwestern PEI West of Montreal Week, will celebrate its 10th anniversary not far from the gay beach, are Archie’s 2. Chilliwack Lake 8. Paradise Beach in May. Wok, Daiquiri Dick’s, Taste and Kaiser Near Chilliwack, BC Near Saskatoon During the annual festival, which this Maximilian. From there, an easy stroll 3. Crystal Crescent 9. Patricia Beach year runs May 15 to 31, Puerto Vallarta’s will take you to the Centro Historico, Near Winnipeg most prestigious restaurants showcase where you’ll find Café des Artistes, Beach innovative three-course menus. Three Barcelona Tapas and El Arrayán. Near Halifax 10. Wreck Beach options are available for each course, Vegetarian or vegan interpretations 4. Hanlan’s Point Vancouver and prices range from $15 to $25 before of Mexican dishes can be found at River 10 Toronto — Bruce Bishop alcohol and tip. Café, Que Pasa and El Patio de Mi Casa, Great nude 5. Kelly’s Beach A leading culinary destination in to name a few. Kouchibouguac Nation- ON THE WEB Mexico, Puerto Vallarta offers a range of gastronomical adventures, from street ON THE WEB beaches al Park, NB For more information on nude beaches and naturism, visit the food carts offering tacos and ceviche For a complete list of businesses 6. Lac des Toutes Nues Federation of Canadian Naturists that have been operated by the same participating in Restaurant Week, in Canada Northwest of Montreal at fcn.ca. families for generations to top-rated visit virtualvallarta.com.

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