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2 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Strange customs Refining the art of censorship Issue 1, Sept 24, 1993 XTRA OTTAWA’S Published by Pink Triangle Press GAY & LESBIAN NEWS PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Brandon Matheson Roundup #276 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR Matthew DiMera ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andrew Jacome COPY EDITOR Lesley Fraser EVENT LISTINGS

ADAM COISH ADAM [email protected] CONTRIBUTE OR INQUIRE about Xtra’s editorial content: [email protected] EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Zara Ansar, Adrienne Ascah, Natasha Barsotti, Niko Bell, Adam Coish, Paul Dotey, Chris Dupuis, Pat Johnson, JP Larocque, Ian Phillips, Pega Ren, Marco Vigliotti, HG Watson, Ben Welland, Jeremy Willard Paul Lafleur BSc RMT ART & PRODUCTION REGISTERED MASSAGE THERAPIST CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lucinda Wallace GRAPHIC DESIGNERS MASSOTHÉRAPEUTE Darryl Mabey, Landon Whittaker ADVERTISING ‡ Excellence in health care ADVERTISING & SALES DIRECTOR Ken Hickling ‡ Pain, injury and stress management SALES ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Lexi Chuba ‡ Covered by extended health plans SALES TEAM LEAD Lorilynn Barker DISPLAY ADVERTISING Matt O’Leary 613-231-2296 www.PaulLafleurRMT.com CLIENT SERVICES & ADVERTISING ADMINISTRATOR Eugene Coon ADVERTISING COORDINATOR Gary Major SPONSORSHIP & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: Kero Saleib, [email protected]

TO ADVERTISE: [email protected] 613-301-9910 The publication of an ad in Xtra does not mean that Xtra endorses the advertiser. Storefront features are paid advertising content. Xtra is published every month by Pink Triangle COVER STORY Press. Printed and published in Canada. ©2014 Pink Triangle Press. ISSN 1195-6127 Address: PO Box 70063, 160 Elgin St-Place Bell RPO, Ottawa, ON, K2P 2M3 21 years of Xtra in Ottawa Phone: 1-800-268-9872 Fax: 416-925-6674 Website: dailyxtra.com General email: [email protected] 3 Looking back at the people and • Non-Surgical Face Tightening • Reflexology & Reiki ultrasonic E PINK TRIANGLE PRESS lipo places that shaped the paper 11 Founded 1971 • Ultrasonic Liposuction • Botox, Fillers & Latisse • Alpha Wellness Spa Capsule • Teeth Whitening treatments DIRECTORS Jim Bartley, Gerald Hannon, for Glenn Kauth, Didier Pomerleau, Ken Popert, • Microdermabrasion • Ottawa's ONLY Editorial History Boys Gillian Rodgerson • Chemical Peels Full Spectrum Light Xtra’s digital universe NYC politician Murray Hall HONORARY DIRECTOR Colin Brownlee $189 PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Ken Popert • Non Surgical Skin Tightening Therapy Spa is expanding was a man with no whiskers CEO, DIGITAL MEDIA David Walberg E E CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Andrew Chang By David Walberg 4 By Jeremy Willard 22 2602 Innes Road, Ottawa | (613) 317-7572 | WWW.OXYGEN-MEDISPA.CA Xcetera E5 Ask the Expert By Pega Ren E24 Upfront Out in the City Yasir Naqvi, MPP Why Xtra is moving entirely online E7 Evalyn Perry’s Spin, Ottawa Centre Questions remain about Tone Cluster and Midori’s E Capital Pride Committee sex workshops 27 closed off to new membersE 8 Xposed By Zara Ansar E28 Thank You John Baird’s complicated LGBT legacy E9 Thinking outside the box COVER PHOTO BY ADAM COISH Capital Xtra! What Xtra’s future means for queer visibility E10 Refreshing the page Daily Xtra ondailyxtra.com Community Office 109 Catherine Street, Ottawa ON K2P 0P4 gets a makeover, launches new E How to speed through mobile site E15 T: 613-722-6414 | F: 613-722-6703 10 dates [email protected] Sponsored E Berlinale preview 2015 www.yasirnaqvimpp.ca An Xtra Special Feature Jer’s facebook.com/yasirnaqvimpp | @yasir_naqvi E Garlic Garden serves Vision celebrates 10 years with it fresh new directions E17 E Video: Funny gay women take over YouTube

Defiant voices CRTC to rule on accusations of spreading hatred Issue 5, Jan 28, 1994 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 3 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, Vancouver 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.

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Read between the lines The saga of Ottawa’s two women’s bookstores Issue 18, Feb 24, 1995 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 5 March 21, 2015 – 2 to 6 PM at McArthur Lanes, 175 McArthur in Vanier

6 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Reading the election tea leaves The gay vote does exist, while straights proved our rights weren’t an election issue Issue 22, June 30, 1995 Now is the time to invite the people who are minorities, who want to be part of Upfront the process of not volunteering for Pride, but building Pride. Bia Salles E8 Why Xtra is moving online What Squirt, our YouTube channel and the new epicentre of activism share

MEDIA “In some ways, what Squirt is to NIKO BELL Cruiseline, Daily Xtra is to the print edition,” Matheson says. When I heard Xtra was shutting down So what now? In the following its print operations, I instantly thought months, PTP will roll out a new mobile of my hometown paper, the Nelson site, followed by a revision to Daily Xtra Daily News. in the spring. The new release will col- The News published valiantly, if slop- lapse the Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, pily, for more than a century before it Canada and World pages into one cus- was bought out by a competitor in 2010 tomizable front page. Other improve- and promptly closed its doors. By that ments, like a makeover of the comments time, I was in journalism school, watch- section, which Walberg admits is less ing Halifax’s Daily News go down in than adequate, are in the pipes. Despite flames. Everywhere, the story repeats: the disappearance of papers from the subscriptions dive, advertising evapo- street, he promises that Daily Xtra will rates, costs expand, and the web has no produce more local content than ever business model. and stay true to its gay village roots. So when you, like me, heard on Jan The final print editions of Xtra will 14 that Xtra will soon be taking its print appear in their purple boxes on Feb 12 in papers off the streets, you probably felt Vancouver and Ottawa and on Feb 19 in you had heard this story before. I know Toronto. At the same time, the press will I did. At the request of my editor, how- cut 12 employees across Canada, two in ever, I spent the last two days talking to editorial and the others in advertising some of the top decision-makers at Xtra and production. Five new digital posi- and digging through all the documents tions will be filled. they gave me. It left me more optimistic I still don’t know whether Daily Xtra’s that Xtra’s story is not the story of the The final issue of Xtra Ottawa will hit the streets on Feb 12. new model will work, whether Squirt’s Nelson Daily News. revenues will continue to sufficiently Take what I say with a grain of salt if sustain Daily Xtra’s storytelling, or you like; after all, I freelance for Xtra. Matheson told me, that Xtra’s audience channel averaged nearly 40,000 views a the future is Squirt (squirt.org). Accord- whether a new generation of queer Nevertheless, this is what I learned. was migrating to the web in droves. Print day. To put that in perspective, for every ing to Walberg, 90 percent of PTP’s rev- people will be interested in reading a It’s not because the papers weren’t was costing money and serving a rapidly person who picked up a copy of Xtra on enue now comes from the web, and the website like Daily Xtra. But even as it doing well. In fact, they were more pop- narrowing slice of Xtra’s audience. the street, seven people watched a video bulk of that comes from Squirt member- changes, the new Xtra will still have ular than ever. As of today, Xtra prints “This is the economic reality of news- on Xtra’s YouTube channel. ship fees. As PTP’s self-described “gay something in common with its 1970s about 70,000 copies between its three print. Xtra is not immune to all the “We’re building a pretty incredible sex cruising hookup site,” Squirt gives roots. Like its parent paper, The Body markets of Toronto, Vancouver and negative factors that other print me- archive of what gay life is like in our Daily Xtra a business model the envy Politic, before it, Xtra has always been Ottawa. According to an independent dia have been encountering,” he says. times,” says Frank Prendergast, who of almost every newspaper struggling a proudly activist paper, and now, as audit commissioned by Pink Triangle “When we looked at the number side runs Xtra’s video operations. “Also, for life in today’s online-news hunger always, it will be publishing in the same Press (PTP) last year, an enviable 89 and the financial side, and when we video is an emotional medium. It’s able games: revenue without advertising. medium where activism is happening. percent of those papers were picked up, looked at the human resources side, to transmit excitement, anger. All these Squirt’s 700,000 active members The first gay activists in Canada handed a four-percent rise from 2013. And yes, it became clear that our best strategy emotions can be reported in print or make it a behemoth compared to Xtra’s out leaflets on courthouse steps. Today, publisher and editor-in-chief Brandon was to reach more people, to be more online, but there’s something about readership, and its revenues subsidize protests are organized in Facebook Matheson says that print ad revenues timely, to be able to do things online video that’s well equipped for emotion.” Xtra’s news gathering, which in turn groups. were slipping but not at the precipitous that you can’t do in print. It just made One of the most promising things flows back into Squirt as shared content. “The two things that we do as an rate of other newspapers. more sense to proceed with a digital- about Xtra’s YouTube channel, he says, It’s a little poetic, really: Xtra advocates organization are to try to create debate If anything, Xtra’s papers were the only strategy.” is how international it’s become. Cana- for people’s freedom to have gay sex, and in the community and to encourage victim of the web’s success. Xtra’s digi- If you want a good example of Xtra’s dian viewers come in only fourth on the gay people’s desire to have sex keeps activism,” Walberg says. “And debate tal media head, David Walberg, told burgeoning web presence, take a look at source traffic charts, behind the United Xtra’s presses running. and activism are two things that are me that traffic to dailyxtra.com grew its YouTube channel. At the beginning States, Brazil and the UK. Even Russia Squirt’s success, in fact, was an inspi- predominantly happening online now. by about 30 percent in 2014, and the of 2012, it was pulling in a few hundred and the United Arab Emirates have ration for Xtra’s digital-only transfor- And I don’t mean activism in terms of website’s readership is now estimated to views a day. Then Xtra’s web team start- racked up more than 100,000 views mation, Matheson says. The press had clicktivism; I mean organizing real- be double that of the three print papers ed to focus seriously on video content, since Xtra hit YouTube in 2007. had to go through one technological world activism. So that’s really a good combined. In the same year, interest in and by the end of the year, 15,000 videos As bullish as Daily Xtra’s prospects shift already, when phone hookup ser- space to be in if that’s what you’re trying Daily Xtra Travel doubled. It was clear, were being streamed daily. In 2014, the are, however, the real reason for hope in vice Cruiseline was overtaken by Squirt. to accomplish in the world.”

Ruffling the crinoline Life with Ballet Trockadero is always a drag Issue 30, Feb 23, 1996 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 7 Questions remain about Capital Pride

mittee, we aren’t looking for the war- Advisory committee closed to riors still at this point,” he says. “What we want, ultimately, is a festival opera- new members, attendees told tions committee that is representative of the community as much as possible, PRIDE NEWS through the same steps as the [former and much of the work that the commu- ADRIENNE ASCAH Capital Pride] committee, where there’s nity advisory committee will do from a small group of people who are going now until the [festival operations] com- Community members called for more to create the governance,” said Salles, mittee is formed will be reaching out as diversity and transparency at the pub- who has volunteered with Capital Pride broadly as possible to ensure the voices lic meeting held Jan 20 to discuss the and the Dyke March. “Now is the time that felt they weren’t heard tonight are future of Pride in Ottawa. to invite the people who are minorities, going to be heard.” While many expressed gratitude that who want to be part of the process of Not being a member of the commu- the Bank Street Business Improvement not volunteering for Pride, but build- nity advisory committee won’t hurt a Area (BIA) is willing to assume respon- ing Pride.” person’s chances of being on the festival sibility for financial expenditures and During the meeting, attendees were operations committee, Fraser says. provide infrastructure for the 2015 Pride told that the community advisory com- During the meeting, Peter Zanette, festival, some also raised concerns. mittee that is partnered with the BIA is who served as treasurer for the purpose The Jan 15 press conference at currently closed to new members. This of filing bankruptcy papers on Jan 7, which Christine Leadman, executive didn’t sit well with those who feel ev- raised the issue of Capital Pride prop- director of the BIA, and Tammy Dop- eryone should be allowed to play a role erty, including the Pride flag, being left son, community-group spokesperson, in building the new Pride organization. in a storage locker. Until the company announced their proposal for Pride “I know they’re great people,” Salles is paid approximately $800, it won’t 2015 came as a surprise to some mem- said of the community advisory com- release the items, he said. Angus Mac- bers of Ottawa’s queer community. mittee members. “I just feel that ... Community members Isaac, from UsedOttawa.com, said he Many people expressed disappointment I do identify as a person of colour; I do raised concerns about would try to get the items out of storage, that the announcement was made in the identify as an immigrant. I don’t see Pride’s future at a public which earned him a round of applause. media instead of being presented to the myself represented on the committee meeting held Jan 20. Ultimately, everyone wants the same community members who had agreed right now.” BEN WELLAND thing, which is to see a successful Pride to meet on Jan 20 to discuss the future Dopson wasn’t able to attend the festival in 2015, and with the BIA’s sup- of Pride in the wake of its bankruptcy. meeting, but Brodie Fraser spoke on wants to hear everyone’s concerns, he “These people were selected for their port, things are looking good, Fraser says. “From what I understood, tonight we behalf of the community advisory com- says there’s good synergy among the skill sets. Also, we didn’t necessarily ap- “We’ve managed to pull an incredible were supposed to create a new group, mittee. “I think that our efforts have current members, who were chosen proach the heads of organizations. We amount of support together in quite a but the group was already created,” been ongoing to ensure that every seg- strategically. Some of the community didn’t necessarily approach the warriors short period of time,” he says. “The vi- Diego Sarmales told Xtra. “At the end, ment of the community is heard and advisory committee members attended, in the organizations because we felt that sion I have for Pride and the vision that it was talking, talking, talking, but about included,” Fraser told Xtra when asked including Jay Koornstra; Sarah Evans; we needed a forum for discussion with I’ve held for all my years volunteering what we could do for this group.” People about the lack of people of colour and Lori Peever; William Staubi; George the diplomats of the organizations, and for the [Capital Pride] board in 2009, want to see a fresh start, but instead of youth on the committee. “I would hope Hartsgrove, from the Ottawa Senior that’s how the community advisory com- 2010, 2013 and then working for them diversity and transparency, it looks like after tonight, many of the gaps that Pride Network; Doug Saunders, a long- mittee was formed.” in 2014 was that Pride doesn’t seek to a repetition of old patterns, where an were there are filled. I’ve had several time community volunteer; Kevin Mar- Asked about Salles’s point — that represent you. It seeks to facilitate a inner circle has power and others are people come up to me, including a youth tin, from Glowfair Festival and the BIA; she wants to help build the new Pride space for you to represent yourself.” left out in the cold, he said. representative, Lyra Evans, who vol- and Christine Schulz, from the Ottawa organization, not simply volunteer During the meeting, which was at- unteered for the community advisory Police Service. Others, like trans activist once others have built it — Fraser says The community proposal for Pride tended by approximately 50 people, committee. Through this process, we Amanda Ryan, were not able to attend. this is a “critical juncture” in terms 2015, along with Tammy Dopson’s community member Bia Salles raised want to be able to have every voice that “It started with Tammy Dopson and I of being able to acquire funding for a contact information, can be found on similar concerns. we can represented.” reaching out to carefully selected mem- 2015 festival. dailyxtra.com. “My fear is that you guys are going While Fraser says the committee bers of the community,” Fraser says. “In terms of people joining the com-

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8 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Proud and strong A record rainbow celebration marches on Parliament Issue 35, July 26, 1996 John Baird’s complicated LGBT history Prominent Conservative never discussed his sexuality, but should it even matter?

POLITICS resigned, Pamela Taylor, a Conservative HG WATSON then running in a provincial by-election, outed Baird, citing him as an openly gay John Baird, the Conservative member MP when asked to name one during of Parliament and minister of foreign CBC Toronto’s Metro Morning radio affairs who announced his resignation show. on Feb 3, will be remembered for many Baird has not broached the subject things, but he’ll also be remembered as of his sexuality since the allegation was the man who fuelled the debate over made public, and the story has not been whether an MP’s sexuality matters. widely reported outside LGBT media. The rumour mill has swirled for years But the statement did lend credence about several Conservative politicians. to the rumours about Baird, leading If you believe the gossip, an alleged some to speculate that he lives in a “gay mafia” made up of single, white, glass closet. male politicians — Baird among them Further compounding the rumours — runs the upper echelon of Canada’s is the fact that Baird has been the most ruling party. outspoken Conservative Party member But as political writer Justin Ling has on LGBT rights. He was openly criti- pointed out repeatedly, the rumours are cal of laws in Uganda that criminalize generally just that. A man can be single homosexuality and spoke out against and friendly with other gay men, as similar laws in Russia and Kenya. His many Conservatives are, but it’s not position caused him to butt heads with evidence that he is gay himself. REAL Women of Canada, a conservative John Baird, pictured hugging Prime Minister Stephen Harper, stepped down from office on Feb 3. DEB RANSOM/PMO By that same logic, Jason Kenney, group with close ties to the party. After minister of national defence, should he announced his resignation, members bate on same-sex marriage, earning Mitchell told Xtra reporter Andrea But his stance on LGBT rights isn’t secretly be a welder, or Latvian — ac- of both the NDP and the Liberal Party accolades from his Liberal colleagues Houston in 2013 that Baird’s sexuality lessened by his silence. He still stood up, cording to his social media accounts, commended Baird’s record of defending in an op-ed in The Globe and Mail. And was no longer personal — it was po- in front of MPs he knew would probably when a gay, 15-year-old Ottawa student litical. “Having a gay foreign minister be against his positions, and defended committed suicide, Baird offered con- should be a sign of how progressive we LGBT rights worldwide. It’s true: had Baird come out publicly, dolences in the House of Commons. are,” he was quoted as saying, adding Baird won’t be remembered for be- In 2010, Xtra editor Marcus Mc- that he believed it sent mixed messages ing an out-and-proud politician, but he would have been the most Cann expressed his disappointment on that Baird would support LGBT rights he doesn’t have to be. That’s a choice Baird’s silence regarding his sexuality, in other countries while not being out people can make about their sexuality prominent Conservative MP to do so. especially in contrast to his reputation in Canada. in 2015. But he did, unintentionally, as an outspoken politician. And after It’s true: had Baird come out publicly, begin a dialogue about what sexuality he’s at the very least shaken hands with gay rights worldwide. Baird criticized homophobic Russian he would have been the most prominent means for politics in a country where one of both in the last several months. Baird was also among the Conserva- laws in 2013, Ontario NDP MPP Cheri Conservative MP to do so. He would people are often unwilling to broach Baird’s circumstances go beyond tive MPs who voted to include gender DiNovo and activist Roy Mitchell asked have been someone for LGBT conserva- the topic. simple speculation, however. In 2010, identity in the Canadian Human Rights him to come out publicly, saying the tives, or any politicians-to-be, to look to It’s on all of us to continue the dis- almost exactly four years before he Act and was against opening the de- news would have international impact. for inspiration. cussion.

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God’s work? Allan Sharpe continues his crusade against Capital Xtra Issue 41, Jan 24, 1997 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 9 Thinking outside the box Community groups contemplate future visibility

COMMUNITY JP LAROCQUE

For Jeremy Dias, community director at Jer’s Vision, the end of Xtra marks a turning point for queer visibility. “The hardest part is losing the physicality of having a community newspaper on the streets,” he says. “For so many LGBTQ people, being ourselves is tough. The big purple boxes represent space that we are part of the community and physically present, [that] we are not mainstream, not lost, not blended into heteronomativity. That we are here, out and proud.” Since Pink Triangle Press (PTP) announced that it would be shuttering its print division, not- for-profit organizations like Jer’s Vision have had to assess how the move will affect their ability to reach Ottawa’s LGBT communities. “The paper is mandatory reading for staff and volunteers, allowing us to learn more about the countless efforts, lives and experiences of our community,” Dias says. “[But now] the community will have to step up and look at new ways to build community space.” When PTP launched the Ottawa edition of the paper in 1993, Xtra’s mandate offered many organizations a platform to discuss issues pertain- ing to LGBT people that were often ignored by mainstream media outlets. And at a time when Khaled Salam, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Ottawa. the community was disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, the paper acted as a valu- years ago, I was in high school facing extreme strong across the country, with 15.8 million Cana- “However, we hope to offset that loss by develop- able resource for those looking for programs and incidences of homophobia. When I tried to ad- dians reading some form of newspaper content ing a more visible presence at community events services that could improve their quality of life. dress it, I was ignored, so on the advice of a friend, each week. And print remains the popular format, compatible with our mission and by experiment- “The HIV/AIDS movement started as a real I sued my school.” with six in 10 Canadians preferring to read their ing with other forms of street presence.” grassroots social movement, an LGBTQ com- “No local papers would touch the story, but news in printed versus online editions. With its new social sponsorship program, munity response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the Xtra did. And as a result of the media attention, Still, NADbank notes that online readership PTP will use its existing digital channels to build ’80s,” says Khaled Salam, executive director of local and national papers covered the story, and is gaining steadily on print, with one in three relationships with various community members the AIDS Committee of Ottawa. “This movement pressure from the community helped me win my Canadians reading at least a portion of their news and groups interested in publicizing campaigns had challenges gaining traction in the mainstream lawsuit. The financial settlement was used to start content online from established publications. that are in line with the organization’s overall “We recognize that with the rise of social/digital mandate. And by providing free or subsidized na- media, it is hard for print publications to keep up tive advertising to these select causes, PTP hopes with breaking news and instant reporting,” Salam to help forge partnerships between community The HIV/AIDS movement says. “Social and digital media has higher reader groups and individuals, organizations and busi- engagement, more readership feedback, better nesses that can supply resources. started as a real grassroots tracking and analytics and increased advertising “The program can be much more extensive flexibility.” and effective on the internet, where publishing social movement. — KHALED SALAM “[We definitely use] social media such as Face- space is abundant, delivery is easy and potential book, and Twitter is also used for educational audiences are huge,” Popert says. “Basically, outreach purposes and to promote events.” we’re freeing our advocacy of activism from the media, so queer news outlets like Xtra played a Jer’s Vision,” he says. “If it wasn’t for Xtra, I may Meanwhile, PTP is restructuring its online prison of print.” pivotal role in raising awareness around HIV/ have never won.” platforms to encourage community outreach and Still, even with the benefits of the online model, AIDS and related issues.” Since then, the organization has grown to a team activism in new and exciting ways. Dias can’t help but see the shift as the end of an era. “The paper has definitely been successful as a of 10 staff members who work across the country “In making our decision to go all-digital, we “When the office first heard that the paper was means of outreach to the LGBTQ community,” to challenge homophobia, transphobia, bullying were well aware that we would be losing the shutting down, a student volunteering in the office he adds. and discrimination in schools and communities. tangible presence of the papers and, just as im- asked if we could fundraise to save the paper. She Dias is also grateful for the role the paper played According to the most recent study by research portant, our very visible street boxes,” says Ken said she would do anything to keep our stories in raising awareness for his organization. “Ten agency NADbank, newspaper readership remains Popert, president and executive director of PTP. alive. I think we all feel the same way.”

10 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Immigration review: Recognize same-sex couples Issue 53, Jan 23, 1998 DRAWN TO XTRA Illustration by Paul Dotey

ACO fires bookkeeper after Capital Xtra interview Issue 58, June 26, 1998 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 11 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Highlights of Xtra Ottawa’s local news coverage and covers over the years

September 1993 Ottawa reduces all services After Stonewall bookstore and operations because of owner David Rimmer is overwhelming debt, turning notifi ed that 60 copies of the community hub into a Leather Folk have been “shell” organization. detained at the Fort Erie February 1996 Canada Customs offi ce. Canada Customs seizes January 1994 15 copies of International Local queer radio show Leatherman magazine Defi ant Voices, broadcast bound for After Stonewall on CKCU, is accused of bookstore. Premier Mike Harris’s sex toy shop, opens a propagating hatred against devastating budget cuts, branch in Ottawa, at 110 May 1996 Catholics by Catholic Civil which aff ect numerous Parent St. Rights League curmudgeon The University of Ottawa’s LGBT organizations, July 2003 Robert Eady. Outlook organization is coverage of sex- given the green light for a reassignment surgery and Queer Teen Magazine, February 1994 queer centre on campus. access to AIDS testing. an Ottawa publication Another complaint is fi led made by and for LGBT August 1996 against Defi ant Voices October 1999 adolescents, releases its October 2004 after Pansy Division songs After years of operating University of Ottawa fi rst issue. Ottawa Making Scenes featuring explicit lyrics are in the red, Pride Ottawa activists are outraged by Queer Film and Video October 2003 aired on the show. reports a $16,000 profi t, Canadian Blood Services’ Festival folds after the though the organization discriminatory policies Zadek Ramowski, executive director moves June 1994 will continue to struggle toward men who have sex the owner of Helsinki to Montreal, leaving the More than 100 people take fi nancially for years to with men. bar, is fi ned by the organization thousands of to the streets of Ottawa an come. city over the Big Cock dollars in debt. May 2000 Contest. He accuses the hour after Ontario MPPs Pink Triangle Services September 1996 Activists are frustrated bylaw department of defeat a bill that would celebrates 20 years of Capital Xtra sponsors by the National Capital discriminating against have given same-sex community work with an Ottawa’s fi rst Lesbian and Commission’s clear-cutting a gay event. couples the same rights anniversary dance at the and responsibilities as Gay Consumer/Business in Remic Rapids Park, a July 2004 National Arts Centre. heterosexuals. Expo at the Jack Purcell well-known cruising zone, Community Centre. in response to complaints. Ottawa Pride hosts its July 2005 fi rst women’s day of September 1995 Ottawa queer theatre October 1998 January 2001 programming, including the After 21 years, the company Act Out A group of gay protesters Venus Envy, a Halifax fi rst ever Dyke March. Association of Lesbians, folds after accruing holds a march to protest women’s bookstore and Gays and Bisexuals of overwhelming debt.

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12 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES ‘Respectable’ issues only, please Censorship, sexuality and age of consent are not part of Egale’s self-defi ned agenda Issue 66, Feb 19, 1999 Youth Services Bureau May 2008 Laurier and Place Bell — July 2011 shelter for young men Christine Schulz becomes that if complaints aren’t The 40th anniversary of the between the ages of 12 the Ottawa Police Service’s addressed they will start We Demand demonstration and 20. fi rst transgender recruit. making arrests. is marked. The event, which saw 200 gays and lesbians Summer 2007 May 2011 August 2010 descend on Parliament Three prostitution sweeps The Bank Street Party is After a fi ve-month Hill, is recognized as one of May 2007 carried out by Ottawa delayed and then cancelled investigation, police the fi rst public protests for Financial troubles force police, in which 59 men and by the Bank Street BIA, arrest 12 people and lay gay rights. the board of the Women’s women are arrested, leave eff ectively stalling Pride 84 drug-related charges. Voices Festival to end the local sex workers, activists celebrations. Three arrests are made at November 2011 annual event. and supporters calling for the Centretown Pub and After being the gay decriminalization. November 2010 Swizzles Bar, which are community’s gathering June 2007 While tensions run high named “focal points” of place for years and the April 2008 After an altercation at the over police involvement the investigation. focal point of Pride Centretown Pub leaves Trans support group in the Trans Day of celebrations, Bank June 2011 Michael Marcil (aka drag Gender Mosaic celebrates Remembrance ceremony, Street is offi cially named queen Dixie Landers) its 20th anniversary with two are arrested for United Way Ottawa Ottawa’s gay village with severe injuries, a ceremony at city hall mischief at a guerrilla declines to renew and is designated with the community voices attended by founding TDOR ceremony. funding to Planned rainbow signs. frustration and anger about members and community Parenthood Toronto, Marcil’s “second-class” supporters. December 2010 among other organizations, June 2013 treatment by police and Police inform owners aff ecting a number of The Bank Street BIA gay business owners. bankruptcy, citing February 2010 paramedics. of local cruising areas LGBT-related programs creates a subcommittee to accounting irregularities The 200th issue of Former dance club Icon — including Sears in the and supports. manage the Bank Street December 2014 that led to a massive Capital Xtra hits the stands. reopens as a gay-inclusive Rideau Centre, Esplanade Village area, led by local Capital Pride declares defi cit.

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Dyketopians to the rescue! Mythical amazons promote Ottawa’s Lesbian Week Issue 71, July 23, 1999 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 13 DRAWN TO XTRA Illustration by Ian Phillips

14 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES 13 Helens agree . . . sex for teens is illegal! Justice ministers want to raise the age of consent Issue 77, Jan 21, 2000 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 Daily Xtra not connected to what the story is.” or exist on social media and to have a certain level of dailyxtra.com

Limber up before diving in Being a bottom may be hard on the back Issue 79, March 17, 2000 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 15 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

16 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Hanging right Homosexuals help to build the Canadian Alliance Party Issue 86, Oct 13, 2000 COMMUNITY VISION QUEST The evolution and transformation of Jer’s Vision

MARCO VIGLIOTTI PHOTOS BY BEN WELLAND

fter a decade of working shifting structure.“We have ‘Jer’s Vi- to combat bullying, ho- sion’ on the wall, and we were breaking mophobia, transphobia down what it meant,” Dias recalls of a and other forms of dis- recent board meeting. “One of the board A crimination in schools members asked, ‘Whose vision is it and youth communi- anyway?’ And it hasn’t been my vision ties, Jer’s Vision has evolved beyond for a really long time.” being a podium for its charismatic Placing Dias as the creative leader founder, Jeremy Dias. of Jer’s Vision is an understandable It has transformed, instead, into a impulse. In addition to serving as ex- platform for the creative energies of ecutive director, he’s the most recog- its diverse staff members, who are bur- nizable public face of the organization nishing the group’s LGBT activism with and has made a number of high-profile their own feminist and decolonialist television appearances, on Canada AM, perspectives. That’s the message trum- MuchMusic, CTV News, Global News peted by Dias. Jer’s Vision has evolved, and CBC News. He has also served as a but the challenges and successes of the keynote speaker at an array of confer- group’s advocacy work over the past ences and events. decade are monumental. Still, Dias But Dias maintains that he is hardly remains humble. a one-man show. “When you talk about “I really haven’t achieved that much, the work that we do, and as soon as you to be honest,” he says. “I work with a say our name, everything gets placed at really fantastic team — I just do payroll my feet, and it’s not my work,” he says. and government grants. Although I do Much of the credit for the organiza- get to do a lot of programming, which tion’s continuing success is owed to is fun.” those he works with, he adds. Reflecting on the organization that Perhaps best known for organiz- bears his name, Dias says Jer’s Vision ing the annual International Day of “isn’t about me anymore” and cred- Pink, where students are encouraged its his co-workers for their efforts to to wear pink to school as a symbol of Jeremy Dias, founder of Jer’s Vision, credits his co-workers improve it. To that end, his team is support for anti-bullying measures, for its continuing success. reportedly mulling a name change to Jer’s Vision runs and supports a range the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity to better reflect its Continued next page E

Steamy, sexy, hot and buttered After 10 years, Queer Film Festival goes way out Issue 96, Aug 17, 2001 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 17 VISION QUEST THE EVOLUTION AND TRANSFORMATION OF JER’S VISION

E Continued from previous page of workshops, educational programs and community initiatives. Its focus on promoting inclusiveness and tolerance in schools has won the group national and international attention, as pressure increasingly grows on school officials COAST to fight youth bullying in the wake of several notorious incidents of students committing suicide after enduring ha- rassment from their peers. TO COAST It’s an issue close to Dias’s heart. After coming out as gay in his early teens, he regularly faced severe bullying Creating an accessible and discrimination at his high school in Sault Ste Marie. His efforts to effect change were met with resistance from anti-oppression network school administrators, leading him, at the age of 17, to file a claim against the school and school board with the he teachers wanted what the in their regions, he says. Ontario Human Rights Commission. students were getting. Lukayo Estrella, senior manager Three years later, Dias emerged victo- T Jer’s Vision started out by at Jer’s Vision, says it’s great to see rious and was awarded a financial settle- delivering anti-homophobia, the organization’s partnerships flour- ment that he used to start Jer’s Vision. anti-bullying workshops for Ottawa ish. Estrella, who uses the pronoun A decade later there remains much students, but programming quickly they, says that as a spoken-word artist, more work to do for the LGBT commu- expanded because adults wanted work- they’re also proud of Jer’s Vision’s arts nity, Dias says, even after high-profile shops, too. programs. victories like the legalization of same- “Jer’s Vision grew into what we are The Day of Pink, an international day sex marriage. But he admits that driving today because teachers were like, ‘I to stand up against homophobic bul- that message home isn’t always easy. He want resources, too. You are telling lying by wearing pink, is celebrated in describes a celebration party after the our students stuff that I don’t know,’” Ottawa with Jer’s Vision’s annual gala. federal Liberal government passed founder Jeremy Dias says. At last year’s gala, audience members historic legislation heralding marriage From teachers to paramedics, po- applauded the spoken-word performers equality where he met then–prime min- lice officers to firefighters, community who had honed their skills in Rainbow ister Paul Martin, who, Dias says, asked groups and camps, adults and youth Write, a writing mentorship program him why he would start a queer orga- alike responded to the accessible, anti- for queer and trans youth. nization after “all the issues are over.” oppression workshops that Jer’s Vision “For me, it’s rewarding to be part of “I remember looking at him and say- has become famous for. [Rainbow Write and see] kids who are ing, ‘Well, because they’re not,’” Dias “Historically, our programs have fo- there because they need a safe space and says. “We have yet to win the hearts and cused on homophobic and transphobic they never thought that they would ever minds of Canadians. It’s great that you bullying in schools and communities,” be able to be out and have a career and can get married, but if you’re a trans kid Dias says. “Today, however, we have meet other artists,” Estrella says. “As from Sault Ste Marie, getting surgery a broad range of programs. One of well, there are kids who are so ready to and hormones is really, really tough.” our coolest programs is working with just start their career.” It’s tough, however, to downplay the LGBTQ service providers from across Jer’s Vision has also partnered with strides made to improve tolerance and the country to share best practices and Branch Out Theatre for a March Break acceptance of LGBT people in schools trade information.” camp, taking place from March 16 to 20. across the country. Dias notes that Creating a network of diverse but Combining theatre and social justice, a member of Jer’s Vision is actively like-minded organizations helps ser- the camp is for queer, trans and allied preparing the group’s inaugural LGBT vice providers to maximize resources youth aged 13 to 16. educators’ conference — to be held and support each other’s work, he says. As Jer’s Vision looks to the future, of its future. In fact, the organization’s mere days after the International Day “We’ve seen our community partner- Estrella would like to see the organi- name will formally change, likely in of Pink — to train and educate those ships grow from a couple dozen to now zation’s national partnerships become IT’S THE March, to reflect that. The effort and affected by the Ontario government’s hundreds of community partnerships more formally recognized. VISION OF talents of hundreds of volunteers and passage of the Accepting Schools Act.He across the country,” he says. “One of “I think it would be great if Jer’s Vi- community partners, along with staff cites a number of examples of positive our largest LGBTQ conferences is in sion became more of a national centre, SO MANY members, participants and supporters, efforts from those involved with the Vancouver and another is in Sydney, like if it was a network or hub that is no longer about one person’s vision, conference to improve the experience Nova Scotia.” united different organizations because PEOPLE he says. for LGBT students in the province, With conferences taking place we have so many connections,” they “It’s the vision of so many people including creating gay-straight alli- from coast to coast, some organiza- say. “We work nationally anyway, with JEREMY DIAS who are doing so many cool things, and ances in Catholic schools, instituting tions might open Jer’s Vision offices in school boards and community centres I think the new name, the Canadian a gender-neutral bathroom at an el- other regions to help the organization across Canada. We organized the sum- Centre for Gender and Sexual Diver- ementary school and inaugurating a grow, he says. But opening new offices mit that connected all those centres to- sity, really reflects that,” Dias says. “It weekly Day of Pink event at a suburban is costly, and Dias prefers to create part- gether, so if we had more of a hub, if we reflects the work that’s happening here, school with an openly gay principal.“It’s nerships and train local organizations were able to... have all those resources the research that’s being produced in amazing to see that it’s not just wearing to offer anti-bullying, anti-oppression flow from all those organizations into this space, and it reflects research-based a pink shirt; it’s living a pink pledge of workshops and support services in their each other, I see a lot of potential for and research-evaluated programs that values and behaviours about resolving own communities. With training and that.” make a real difference in schools, com- conflicts and treating each other differ- ongoing support, local organizations Dias agrees that Jer’s Vision’s role as munities and businesses across our ently,” Dias says. have flourished and are leading the way a national centre is an important aspect country.” — Adrienne Ascah

18 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Class action Same-sex couple sues for CPP benefits Issue 100, Dec 7, 2001 IN THE CLASSROOM Talking with students is key for activist Zoe Easton

n her position as an education co- ance usually generates a more receptive ordinator with Jer’s Vision, Zoe response, with members more likely to I Easton shares her experiences of discuss their personal experiences and being young and queer with high issues at school. school students in an effort to better “We’ll talk about individual experi- navigate the topics of gender identity ences with bullying, and it kind of helps and sexuality. in the sense that they get to see that Integrating personal experiences into there are older versions of them that the workshop she co-hosts, in which she are doing all right,” she says. is tasked with demystifying these issues, Some audiences are harder to engage typically opens up a conversation with than others, however. Easton recalls the students about what happens in an impromptu presentation before their own school, Easton says. a drama class at a suburban school “Usually, what we do is we talk about that required a more stringent effort [these issues] on a personal level, so to jump-start conversation. The team what it was like coming out in high from Jer’s Vision had just wrapped school and what it was like being young up presenting a workshop to another and queer,” she says. “[It’s] to give them class when they were prevented from something tangible to relate to, and leaving by a lockdown that had been usually that gets the kids to talk about... implemented at the school. what they think their high school is With no other option but to wait until dealing with.” the order was lifted, Easton and her Easton says the workshop also in- partner were invited to present again cludes a segment where the presenters to another class. The students of this break down and explain each compo- class appeared uneasy and somewhat nent of the queer acronym. Despite its antagonistic. As a result, Easton says, ubiquity, most groups need assistance she and her partner needed to break to fill in the blanks, she says. It’s perhaps down those barriers and let the students a small example of the need for such know that “there is no shame in asking educational outreach programs, even questions.” as strides are made to provide a more One of the more successful tools thorough understanding of sexual- employed by presenters to generate Above, Jer’s Vision’s success is the result of many ity and gender — beyond the narrow a response is to answer anonymously people working together. Back row, heteronormative standard — to school- submitted questions from students ran- from left: Thea Belanger, Sarah aged youth. domly selected from a hat. “What I find Littisha Jansen, Tarah Douillon, It’s also not surprising that students’ is that kids are very curious; they want David MacMillan, Zoe Easton, Kai responses to the workshop can occa- to know a lot,” Easton says. “They’re just Ip Wong and Kaitlynne-Rae Landry. Front row, from left: Pamela Walker, sionally be unwelcoming. Easton says it a little bit afraid to speak out at first.” Jeremy Dias, Lukayo Estrella, Katie differs from group to group, with some As for the most common questions McCarthy and Sarah Heath. requiring far more prodding than others asked by students, Easton says they to open up. An address to a rainbow alli- tend to centre on her own experience of coming out and what it’s like being visibly queer in public. “My [workshop] partner and I have WE TALK ABOUT THE very different experiences being queer,” POLITICS OF BEING YOUNG she says. “She’ll speak to what it’s like being in a non-monogamous relation- AND QUEER ship, and I’ll talk about being in mo- nogamous relationships. We talk about ZOE EASTON, JER’S VISION the politics of being young and queer EDUCATION COORDINATOR [and] which relationships are more accessible.” — Marco Vigliotti

Kissing Jessica Stein An indie movie about sexual exploration Issue 104, March 29, 2002 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 19 Come out to the FREE Day of Join us at the 10th Anniversary Pink Gala in Ottawa on April 8th, 2015 Gala in Toronto on May 14, 2015

Get Free resources at DayOfPink.org More info at JersVision.org

20 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Courting for our rights on prom night Issue 105, April 26, 2002 Inflamax Research Rabbi Anna Maranta, Inside Out Spiritual Leader International Day Robert Paquette A thank-you to Against Homophobia Counselling International Spartacus Songwriting St John’s Anglican Competition Church IODE Laurentian Strategy Games our advertisers Chapter Strathmere Ivanhoe Cambridge As Xtra moves entirely online, we want to acknowledge the Tara Shields - Cherry vital contribution of the people and businesses who choose John King Team Pick Homes to advertise with us. LGX Ottawa TD Canada Trust Lili Weemen Publishing — in print or online — costs money, but thanks to Ten Oaks Project our advertisers, we can keep you, our readers, informed. Also Mamma Grazzi’s The Art of Furniture Kitchen thanks to them, we can offer free or discounted advertising The Great Travel Mann and Partners to the volunteer organizations that are the building blocks Challenge Marie Robertson of our communities. The Loft Lounge Michael Gennis - The New Oak Tree Please complete the circle by supporting our advertisers, Sutton Group Premier The View from who have been with us in print and are now joining us on the Mortgage Alliance the Shard web, at dailyxtra.com. Company of Canada Tivoli Florists Nathan Rubenstein Tone Cluster 1000 Islands Canadian Unison Drake General Store National Arts Centre Festival Toto Too Theatre Accommodation DTN Contract Nelligan O’Brien Partners CanEast Shows Services Payne Law Firm Travel Gay Canada AEG Live Capital Pride Egale Orpheus Musical Urban Capital AIDS Committee Centretown Esther Schvan Theatre Property Group Inc of Ottawa Veterinary Hospital Everest Restoration Ottawa Burlesque Urban Escape Anderson Lawyers Children’s Aid Festival Massage Therapy Eyemaxx Optical Society of Ottawa Andrex Property Studio Ottawa Men’s Yoga Urbandale Management Community Construction Fair Trade Jewellery Otto’s BMW Argus Mazda Marketing Inc Venus Envy First Media Group Inc OUTtv Network Inc Bank Street Contests Warren Chase Urban Gatineau Honda Paul Lafleur Promenade Business Cornerstone Retreat for Men Giovanni’s Restaurant Paul McAllister Association Brickworks Wega Video & Dining Lounge Country Living Philip MacAdam Brad J Lamb Westboro Auto Dog Resort Glowfair Festival Inc Law Office Realty Inc. Imports Inc - Subaru Pho Bo Ga Truc Brookstreet Hotel Courtyard Restaurant Grounded Kitchen Restaurant YYZ Travel Corporation CTM Stone & Marble & Coffee House Place for Paws Canadian Gay & - 8176850 Canada Inc Holiday Inn Lesbian Chamber Domicile Ian Carter - Bayne Pressnet Inc (Squirt) of Commerce Developments Seller Boxall Putting Edge Nepean OTTAWA’S GAY & LESBIAN NEWS

The mission to rescue Pride Board resigns, interim measures proposed Issue 116, April 10, 2003 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 21 Check out our columnists and bloggers on dailyxtra.com He had no whiskers A sex worker’s tale Trading a blowjob Murray Hall, for 20 bucks and a half pack of a prominent cigarettes had brought me to a new NYC politician, level of debauchery. Courtney Love would have been lived as a man proud. for more than 25 years

Adventures HISTORY BOYS in gay JEREMY WILLARD parenting It’s not that I don’t During one of my recent like Hot Wheels or visits to the History Boys Thomas the Tank Archives (past the riddle-posing troll, Engine, but I can’t across the drawbridge and beyond the quite figure out my courtyard full of tied-up slave-boys), son’s predilection I noticed a trend while poring over toward traditionally our columns. masculine pursuits. We’ve written about several figures who were assigned female at birth (ie, they were raised female) but later lived as men. An excitable modern queer conscience might say, “Yes, well, clearly they were transgender.” What I History Murray Hall drank, smoked cigars, was assertive, flirted with women, played find interesting is that that’s not always poker and once gave a policeman a black eye. YIGI CHANG Boys clear. Sure, some people may have been The Wonder transgender — if that term even applies “secret of [his] sex” was discovered What’s even more offensive — and Woman comics to someone living in, say, the 16th cen- when he died the previous Wednesday. kind of funny — is that they go on to from the 1940s are tury — but in other cases, it seems the Hall, who was a New York City politi- cite, as further evidence of Murray’s rife with BDSM. On almost every page person lived as male not out of desire to cian, had breast cancer but failed to apparent masculinity, these traits: he there’s kidnap, be (or be read as) male, but as a matter seek treatment out of fear of being drank, smoked cigars, was assertive, slavery or bondage. of utility (and may have identified as exposed. Then, with death imminent, flirted with women, played poker and female in private): you often had to be he saw Dr William Gallagher, who once gave a policeman a black eye. male if you wanted to vote, do certain found that the cancer had spread and Joseph Young, a political colleague, jobs, travel, own property — do virtu- Hall had only a few days to live. He says, “A woman? Why, he’d line up to ally anything. Whatever the person’s was married twice (his wives, at least, the bar and take his whisky like any motives, I always call them by whatever must have known his secret), and his veteran, and didn’t make faces over it, pronouns they seemed to prefer. sole heir was his adopted daughter, either. If he was a woman he ought to So, while I don’t know what his mo- Minnie. have been born a man, for he lived and Hooking up tives were, I call Murray Hall “he” and The article quotes the reactions looked like one.” in public “him.” When such a person was found of some of Hall’s associates. They’re The author says it’s a mystery how When I find to be living as a man, what would fol- surprised, but many talk as though they Hall pulled it off, but I say, Was it that myself exploring a low, especially in the United States in now realize there were telltale signs. hard? It took strength, intelligence and dungeon party on the late 19th and early 20th centuries, C S Pratt, a bookseller, says Hall was luck to live as Hall did, and I suspect a Sunday afternoon, were sensational headlines. When “somewhat effeminate in appearance he was up for any challenge, but on I know why I’m Hall died, age 70, the headline of a and talked in a falsetto voice.” Senator many occasions it can’t have been that there. I’m on a Jan 19, 1901, article in The New York Bernard Martin says Hall always wore difficult to fit in with the rest of the journey searching Times read “Murray Hall Fooled Many “a coat a size or two too large” and now guys. Not with the standard for mas- for those Shrewd Men,” followed by “How for realizes “that was to conceal his form.” culine behaviour so low (modern-day connections. Years She Masqueraded in Male At- He adds, “His face was always smooth, standards aren’t much better). I like to tire,” “Had Married Two Women” and just as if he had just come from the imagine him on some poker evening, “Was a Prominent Tammany Politician barber’s.” assessing his cards, sweltering away in and Always Voted — Senator Martin Many say flattering things in spite his big coat, and chuckling to himself Astonished” (editors liked to bombard of Hall’s being, as they now think of over how all he had to do to fit in was readers with lots of weirdly worded him, a woman. I think this was, in swear, gulp another whiskey and leer sub-headings in those days). part, to explain how they’d been, in at the woman across the room. The article, which calls Hall by fe- their minds, duped: he was intelligent male pronouns, says that he lived as a and influential — who could possi- For more History Boys columns, man for more than 25 years until the bly have suspected he was a woman? go to dailyxtra.com.

22 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Crystal meth widows How speed is helping to spread HIV Issue 126, Feb 12, 2004 The name just about says it all ottawamensyoga.ca Are you the...

As the concept of family evolves in our community, so does the definition of a foster parent. Foster parents come from a variety of different backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the children who need our care. The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) is always looking to grow and diversify the community of people looking to foster a child when they can't be taken care of at home. “We enjoy opening our home to children and youths with various needs,” says a single mother from the LGBTQQA

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A sigh of relief The threat of Stephen Harper recedes Issue 130, July 1, 2004 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 23 Urban Escape Massage Therapy Jim Collins Registered Massage Therapist My foreskin is too tight Thank you Xtra Ottawa, looking forward to your new format! Should I get 613.799.2900 - By appointment only Covered by most health plans. circumcised as an adult?

ASK THE EXPERT DR PEGA REN

Dear Dr Ren, I’m a 27-year-old gay man who has always had problems with my foreskin being tight. It’s been getting worse, and I’ve been considering getting circumcised to deal with the problem once and for all. What’s involved? I’m far from lean and work in an office at a computer. Will these things affect my healing? Mostly I’m con- cerned about how a circumcision will affect sex. What do I need to know? — Painfully Tight

Dear Painfully Tight, Before you agree to surgery, you may want to consider stretching the foreskin. About 20 percent of men worldwide THINKSTOCK (about 75 percent of them in the United States) are circumcised, though usu- ritation recurs, circumcision becomes often marked. Researchers (Money and ally as newborns. Most doctors advise the treatment of choice. Davison) at Johns Hopkins reported against adult circumcision unless neces- Before you agree to surgery, you that following adult circumcision, sary to correct a problem such as bala- may want to consider stretching the “changes included diminished penile noposthitis (inflammation of the penis foreskin. You can find stretching tech- sensitivity and less penile gratification.” head and foreskin) or phimosis (diffi- niques online. Ask your doctor for a One of those patients says it well: “The culty retracting the foreskin), which you prescription for Betamethasone .1% greatest disadvantage of circumcision describe. These conditions are caused by cream, which will help the skin soften. is the awful loss of sensitivity when the chronic irritation and scarring. This technique requires patience and foreskin is removed ... On a scale of 10, Interestingly, both of these problems time, which you may not have if your the intact penis experiences pleasure occur with greater frequency in men condition is already painful. that is at least 11 or 12; the circumcised with diabetes. You describe yourself as Adult circumcision can be performed penis is lucky to get to 3.” This loss of overweight, sedentary and experienc- under local or general anesthesia. There sensation is due to a process called kera- ing increasing trouble with phimosis. are two general types of incision: the tinization, a sort of callous formation on You would be wise to monitor your slit and the sleeve techniques. Your the previously protected coronal ridge blood sugar in case you have an under- physician will decide which is best for and glans of your penis, and the full effects of this permanent loss are not Heritage apartments realized for five or more years. That said, surgery may be your only Men cut as adults report longer times reasonable respite. Keep in mind that fit for a queen from arousal to ejaculation, which many who choose circumcision for religious or aesthetic reasons report may not be a bad thing. But along with increased satisfaction with the look the delayed ejaculation comes of their penis and say they are pleased with their decisions. Motivation affects decreased sensitivity, often marked. not only your decision beforehand, but your attitude afterward. Your first step is to find out why, lying disease process exacerbating the you. Regardless, good aftercare is the at age 27, this problem is becoming problem. Get this checked out. key to successful recovery. worse. A thorough medical workup is www.andrex.ca There is a difference between tight Possible complications of adult cir- indicated. Add good food and exercise, and inflamed. If your dick head is sore, cumcision include infection, bleeding, perhaps some medication and stretch- the first thing your doctor will do is poor cosmetic results and a change in ing, and maybe you can avoid surgery. If try to clear up the infection by hav- sensation during sex. not, keep calm. When you’ve gathered ing you apply an anti-fungal or anti- This last is not insignificant. Men all the necessary information, you’ll be inflammatory ointment under your cut as adults report longer times from able to make the correct decision. cape, which provides an ideal moist and arousal to ejaculation, which may not be warm environment for yeast to grow. a bad thing. But along with the delayed Ask the Expert appears monthly on This may alleviate the issue. If the ir- ejaculation comes decreased sensitivity, dailyxtra.com

24 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES It’s the Charter, stupid! Capital Xtra’s special marriage issue Issue 139, March 10, 2005 Coming up at ! WORKSHOPS! Going Down: A Guide to Fellatio Hot Spots: G-Spot & P-Spot Pleasure Hands-on Rope Bondage with Midori 23 February 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm 9 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm 25 March 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:30pm Want to give your pal the blow job of their life, but aren’t sure Mystery and mis-information abound about these two powerful Everyone’s catching the rope fever! Bring the pleasures from Japan where to start or what to do once you get going? This workshop is erogenous zones. Where are they? What are they? And what the into your bedroom with easy, sexy rope bondage play. for you. From basic anatomy to tips for the advanced, we’ll cover heck do I do now? In this seminar for everyone, we share info, tips Learn simple, elegant, effective and sensual rope skills and thrill your a wide range of information about the fine art of giving head. and techniques to help you find your lover’s hot spots... and what lover. Know how to deepen pleasures and connections while Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale) to do when you get there! avoiding risks and harm. Learn essential foundation techniques Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale) including four two-column restraints, safety, rope selection, and How to Hook Up creative, erotic positions. Art of Feminine Dominance with Midori Midori is an expert in the field and author of ‘The Seductive Art 2 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm of Japanese Bondage’. Enjoyed by many generations, sensual 24 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm Hooking up can be hard. How do you know when they are Japanese rope bondage is beautiful, sensual and sexually arousing. Elegance, power and confidence... Do you want to know how to interested, if you are interested, and how to move from any mutual In this hands-on class Midori will introduce you to the versatility, elegance be a dominant without being a bad cliche? How do you find a interest to some consensual mutual touching? In this workshop we’ll and pleasures of rope bondage. You will learn easy-to-remember sexy style of erotic dominance that’s authentic to you? Using a talk online dating, pick up lines, confidence, and communication.We techniques and how to sensuously bind and tantalize your lover. special technique she developed, Midori will help you to find your want you to feel comfortable hooking up, whether that means * Wear comfortable clothing. Bring rope of 20’ or so. There will inner power femme archetype, allowing you to pursue erotic winking at someone from across a crowded room or hosting your be rope for sale at the store. very own sex party. The aim: to go forth and flirt. fulfillment of sensual power play. Not your typical how-to class, No experience necessary, everyone welcome! Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale) you’ll discover the difference between constructive and destructive desires and point you towards ways of bringing satisfaction in Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale) bedroom play for both you and your partner. Mouthing Off: All About Oral Midori will share with you her secrets of the feminine art of JoyStick Secrets: 3 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm dominance. She will discuss the psychology, practical exercises, Many people have asked us for a session that talks about oral sex techniques, fashion, how to discover what makes your partner weak- How to Thrill a Man with Midori on anyone so here it is! Mouthing Off is all about fellatio and kneed, and more. 26 March 2015 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm cunnilingus and includes info about anatomy, safer sex, positions, This class is not limited to a gender, but for all who harbor the Learn how to make him moan and writhe in unbelievable pleasure. technique for mouths, lips, tongues, and hands. Great for anyone powerful feminine within! Something for everyone from the novice Join internationally-acclaimed sex educator Midori for this in-depth who wants to know more about going down, regardless of gender to the experienced player. Partners and lovers of the dominant training on orally pleasuring your guy. Using delicious practice props or sexuality. feminine welcome! (think fruit!) you’ll learn all about the sucks, licks, swirls, strokes and touch secrets that will blow his mind. She’ll even cover tips on Cost: $20 ($10 sliding scale) Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale) how to reduce discomforts or gag reflexes. What better gift is there than to show him your new techniques that very night? Book Club! realm of the African American experience. The Naughty Bits Book Club – All genders and orientations welcome! From Eric Jerome Dickey’s rueful tale of lust Smut Peddler 2014 Edition Bring your guy with you for better “homework” later that night! Book club is free and open to everyone! to Lolita Files’s scorching account of edited by C. Spike Trohman Cost: $25 ($15 sliding scale) You can buy the book at a 15% discount insatiable adventuring...to Breena Clarke’s 19 March 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm at VE, or you can get it anywhere else you tribute to the strength of erotic Smut Peddler, the big, dirty book that Sylvie Hill “Russell Square Station” Book Launch! choose, perhaps even at the library. Expect imagination... to Camika Spencer’s rocked the world in 2012, is back with 13 February 2015 - 8:30pm - 10:00pm great conversation, tea and snacks! encounters online and in the flesh...to more and better than ever! The 2014 COME CELEBRATE “Russell Square Station: mine the trash” for some pre-Valentine’s Carolyn Ferrell’s story of intergenerational edition of this award-winning ladycentric fun! Russell Square Station is the new book by Sylvie Hill: spoken-word poetry, The Naughty Bits Book Club – desire and discovery, this book sings of the porn anthology features a dream team of featuring art by Dixon aka juan carlos noria. Designed by street-artist and textile designer Black Silk edited by Retha Powers! power of the forbidden and the the artists and writers, an all-star cast of Laura Fernandez, Barcelona (aka Olivia St-art). Watch the poems unfold through the 19 February 2015 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm transforming-with unforgettable characters creators premiering the finest filth visuals, paired perfect. Wait until you see this! A powerful collection of erotica who claim their pleasure and seek its you’re going to find. “Russell Square Station: mine the trash” (2014) is a rare and fated story of one from today’s leading black ultimate limits. Never before published, Smut peddler: sex-positive erotic comics. Woman and her male Muse in an explosive mess where the only way out of the writers and fresh voices, never before available, these erotic short By women for everyone! wreckage was through words and the art of Juan Carlos Noria. BLACK SILK explores stories are a dazzlingly sensual meditation on 1-hr sharing/reading from the book with author Q&A emceed by Richard Andrew Kaulbars exciting territory in the the very soul of passion... ART! Find us: Twitter – venusenvyottawa New Art by Charlotte Healey Facebook – Friends of Venus Envy Ottawa Show up for the month of March, Instagram – venusenvyottawa opening on March 5th, 8:00pm 226 Bank Street. 613-789-4646. To order: 877-370-9288 or   

PTS backpedals on queer centre President suggests low-profile location is best for clients Issue 183, May 18, 2006 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 25 "To make doubly sure you do not fail, bring back her heart in this."

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26 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES City kills AIDS programs Pride, PTS, ACO implore councillors to spare services Issue 166, Feb 22, 2007 Photos from Homo Phono and Reelout Queer Out inthe City Film and Video Festival Xposed E 28

Better sex SPIN ME with Midori Hone your skills with three tailored workshops RIGHT ’ROUND You want to be dominant but feel ridiculous in leather. Your bondage skills are so poor that Evalyn Parry brings her you’re soon weeping while your partner lies bicycle musical to Ottawa there looking like something dredged up from the seafl oor. When cock gets anywhere near Evalyn Parry loves biking in Ottawa. But as she your throat, you end up with tears streaming prepares to descend on the nation’s capital this down your face and your mouth sounds like a month, she admits she’s probably not going to be much-abused toilet desperately trying to fl ush. using two-wheeled transport as often. There’s always room for improvement when “I’ve gotten a little softer in recent years,” she Evalyn Parry dubs bikes “the ultimate it comes to sex, but it would be diffi cult to symbol of freedom.” JEREMY MIMNAGH says. “January and February have become my improve on Midori’s sex workshops. The inter- months to slow down, walk and take transit. But nationally acclaimed sex educator is visiting my hats are off to all the hardy winter cyclists.” ing her trip entirely with money she made along In bringing the show to Bytown, she’s hopeful Ottawa to give three not-to-be-missed classes Parry is prepping for the Ottawa premiere of the way, she ended up selling advertising space it can provoke some discussion on making the at Venus Envy. The fi rst session, The Art of Feminine her bicycle musical, Spin. The long-touring show, on her body, making her the fi rst example of a promotion of cycling a national issue. Dominance, is for people of any gender “who first born at Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times woman banking cash from sports endorsements. “There are so many obvious connections harbour the powerful feminine within” and Theatre in 2011, aims to reclaim the stories of The bicycle isn’t just the centre of the story; between cycling and health, happiness and non- want to become better dominants. One thing some not terribly well-known cycling heroines it’s also a musical instrument. Parry and her oil-dependent living, I could write a thesis on the the course teaches is that it’s important to get and examine the history of a machine Parry dubs collaborator Brad Hart have rigged a rusty 1972 subject,” she says. “Separated lanes in cities make over “good-girl messages” (how society wants “the ultimate symbol of freedom.” CCM Galaxy with contact mics. Using sounds things safer for cyclists and for you to behave: kind, polite and After touching on some early leaders in the that originate from the bike when it’s brushed or drivers. It’s not debatable.” cute) but not to feel obligated to fi ght for women’s rights, Spin turns its focus to tapped, the pair loops them through a series of ef- — Chris Dupuis become a crop-wielding, leather- Annie Londonderry. Feminist pioneer and all- fects pedals, producing a wide array of melodies. clad, stereotypical dominatrix. around shit-kicker, Londonderry was the fi rst Storytelling is Parry’s focus, but she’s not shy Spin runs until Sat, Feb 21 at the “It’s not a uniform. What you wear woman to cycle around the world after making about the show’s potential to inform politicians Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Ave. is not the source of your power,” a bet with two Boston-area businessmen. Fund- on the value of expanded bike infrastructure. artscourt.ca/events/spin Midori says. “Your clothing should make you happy and confi dent.” Hands-On Rope Bondage gives a taste of what Midori off ers at Rope Bondage Dojo, her two-day intensive seminar off ered in San SINGING Francisco and Washington, DC. Midori Attendees will learn the basics of rope play, from safety to memo- rable techniques. “People make the mistake of thinking that the more com- out plicated the rope looks, the more legitimate it is,” she says. “I teach that it’s not about the rope, but needs and desires. If your technique Tone Cluster invites high is complicated but you’re both bored, what’s school choirs to stand up the point?” Joystick Secrets is about sucking cock. High school choirs and Tone Cluster practise for their Important social issues are often People of all genders and orientations will upcoming anti-bullying concert, Words.3. TONE CLUSTER treated as fads, easily forgotten practise their sucking, licking and swirling when the next hot topic appears. skills on fruit. Special attention will be paid to Before you know it, we’re on to the ing about it,” says Kurt Ala-Kantti, publique De La Salle. With special a concert without some African con- combating that pesky gag refl ex. Midori shares Sochi Winter Olympics, the race for one of the organizers. “You might guest director Scott Leithead at the tent,” Ala-Kantti says. “In this song, the following tip: “If your chin is down, closer Somerset Ward, Ebola or Stephen sort of forget about bullying for a bit helm, the concert will include pieces the word kwela [means] ‘Get up!’ to your chest, that creates a bad angle, so you Harper’s machinations (and drop until you hear about another person by each of the choirs individually, as It is an invitation to join the dance want to lengthen your neck. If you’re on your each of them in turn just as quickly taking their life. Maybe keeping it well as two or three by all the choirs but also serves as a warning.” They knees in front of him, instead of having your as we took them up). So the primary in the forefront of people’s minds combined. will also sing “Don’t Be Afraid” in knees right up against his feet, just scooch objective of Tone Cluster’s upcom- could prevent something bad from When the choirs team up they honour of Scott Jones and his anti- back and it automatically lengthens your neck.” — Jeremy Willard ing concert, Words.3, is to remind happening.” will generate, as Ala-Kantti puts it, homophobia campaign, also called people that there’s still work to be Each year, Tone Cluster invites “massive sound.” One of the songs Don’t Be Afraid. — Jeremy Willard The Art of Feminine Dominance is Tues, March done when it comes to bullying. high school choirs to participate the combined choirs will sing is a 24, 6:30pm; Hands-On Rope Bondage is Wed, This is the third edition of the in the concert, and this year they traditional Zulu song called “Kwela Words.3 is Sat, March 28, 7:30pm, March 25, 7:30pm; and Joystick Secrets is Thurs, queer choir’s anti-bullying concert. will be joined by choirs from Glebe Kwela.” at École secondaire publique De March 26, 7:30pm, at Venus Envy, 226 Bank St. “The issue is not going away, so we Collegiate Institute, Canterbury “Scott Leithead is an African mu- La Salle, 501 Old St-Patrick St. venusenvy.ca want to make sure people keep talk- High School and École secondaire sic specialist, so we could hardly do tonecluster.ca

Trans men loving gay men loving trans men Trans men’s love and lust ignites homo desire Issue 178, Nov 8, 2007 XTRA! FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 27 1

BY ZARA XPOSED ANSAR Homo Phono Reelout Queer On Saturday, Jan 24, Film and Video Homo Phono, the “fresh Festival and occasional dance party The 18 films chosen for for queers and their pals,” this year’s Reelout Queer was held at Raw Sugar Film and Video Festival Café. MC Straightedge in Kingston all examine and DJ All Star Aga spun the battles of young queer classic house and R&B people discovering their jams in a seriously packed sexuality. On Friday, Jan venue. 30, the documentary In 2 1E Simmi and Shelley, the Turn was screened. modelling pirate-meets- The film follows Crystal dancehall realness, have Labonte, a transgender 5 nothing but love. 2E Katie girl who finds acceptance Hurdon and Anne Dahl, the in Vagine Regime, a queer fine gals at Raw Sugar, man roller-derby collective. 3E All Star Aga the bar. DJ , 7E You wouldn’t want to left, and MC Straightedge mess with these ladies. spin some sexy tunes. Karen Hutchison (Lady 4E Kristen, an Amazonian Danger), Crystal Labonte vision in yellow, joins (Ima Ambushya) and Diana Colleen Mer , and for Nathalie Banger (Banger a mid-dance group shot. Management) at the E 5 Alice Rose, left, and screening of In the Turn. Yafa are chic and adorable 8E Festival director in black. 6E Vanessa, in Matt Salton at the Isabel one seriously red scarf, and Bader Centre for the Amanda enjoy an evening Performing Arts after the of dancing and libations. screening.

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28 FEB 12–MARCH 11, 2015 XTRA! 21 YEARS OF HEADLINES Turfed trans candidate speaks out NDP cites behaviour as reason she got the boot Issue 181, Jan 9, 2008 Adoption Alternative Community The Children’s Aid Transportation Groups & Services Society of Ottawa Powersports Canada AIDS Committee of Ottawa 613-747-7800 613-224-7899 613-238-5014 casott.on.ca powersportscanada.com aco-cso.ca AIDS/HIV Resources Clothing – Men’s Centretown Community Health Centre AIDS Committee of Ottawa Stroked Ego 613-233-4443 613-238-5014 613-667-3008 centretownchc.org THE BEST OF GAY & LESBIAN OTTAWA aco-cso.ca strokedego.ca

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