2017 hasn’t been a particularly good time to be a queer person in Toronto. I mean, there is still significant division within the community over the demands made by Black Lives Matter in the 2016 Pride Parade, with Pride out roughly $1.3 million this year via lost sponsorship and lowered attendance. Hanlan’s Point, a popular and…
Category: lgbt
The Return of Miss Jackie Shane
Sometimes it takes fifty years for popular culture to catch up, huh? In the record store this afternoon, I was pleased to see the new Jackie Shane record sitting alongside St. Vincent, Lana del Rey, and Wolf Parade on the HOT NEW ALBUMS shelf. There’s Miss Jackie, resplendent in a hot blue belted number, casually…
Naked Hearts & Reel Asians
Some people go to bars, but the nerds go to bookshops. The first spot I visited as a baby gay was Glad Day Bookshop, and that was when it was a tiny store tucked up a massive flight of stairs on Yonge Street. The man behind the desk paid little attention to the tiny beige…
CBC Arts: Naked Heart Festival & Glad Day Bookshop
CBC’s Peter Knegt did some coverage of the upcoming Naked Heart Festival at Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto, and I had the opportunity to share some thoughts on the evolution of the shop from a standard bookstore into a thriving community hub. There’s even a sexy pull quote: You can find the full piece on…
On Being Concerned About Local Gay Media
I think the thing I’ll miss the most about the printed version of Xtra is the masthead. Seeing my name included alongside so many talented writers and artists in the community made me aware of myself as part of a continuum of queer tradition that began decades ago and will extend well beyond my own…
JP Larocque 