Ok, nothing about Pride today

Because a feud that’s likely to smell just as bad is brewing over at city hall, where the city’s indoor and outdoor workers have all begun the process of moving into legal strike position. Those of us who remember the last garbage strike in the summer of 2002 will be praying that a strike is averted. Tonnes of garbage baking in the July heat next to the newly reopened Crews certainly won’t be helping the bar’s chances.

Yet another Toronto man has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly having unprotected sex despite knowing he was HIV-positive.

And a study commissioned by Bank of Nova Scotia notes that some gay and lesbian Canadian employees still feel the need to stay in the closet at work — although, since that proportion is only 12% of lesbians and 5% of gays, it’s a sign of considerable progress. Here I would normally link to the federal cabinet minister we all love to hate, but Xtra’s no-outing policy forbids me to do so. The Globe and Mail article on the study is actually quite a good read and speaks to the costs of ignorance of queer issues in the work place.

And if you’re looking for something fun and sexy to do on Sunday, why not come to The BailOut Party — a fundraiser for my upcoming Fringe Festival show, Fucking Stephen Harper. The party is going down at Goodhandy’s, and features comedians, musicians, burlesque, and more than $700 is raffle and door prizes, including a DVD player and Amateur Canadian Guys porn (NSFW), sex toys generously donated by The Stag Shop, gift certificates to Out on the Street, and tickets to Buddies in Bad Times and The Canadian Stage Company’s upcoming shows. I’ll be performing stand up, as will local queer icons Shawn Hitchins, Mark Shyzer, Kim Crosby, and more! Admission is only $10/$8 for students — which is a hell of a lot less than the $14.5 billion bailout you gave to GM!

Rob Salerno is a playwright and journalist whose writing has appeared in such publications as Vice, Advocate, NOW and OutTraveler.

Keep Reading

Signs and buildings of queer archives; hands playing a game

Among the archives, you can find love, community and history

Queer and trans archives preserve our past—they also offer community space that is essential to our future
Collage with an image of the Book Boudoir's interior, which features candles on a wooden park bench that is suspended by metal chains, bookshelves, a ladder and a counter in front of a shop sign

How BookTok inspired this real-life romance bookstore

Edmonton’s Book Boudoir is building queer-inclusive community one page at a time
Collage with photos of rows of theatre seats, a "Buddies in Bad Times Theatre" sign, a person in a wheelchair lawn bowling, and masked people sitting in a theatre

Disabled queer organizers refuse to leave anyone behind

From low-sensory spaces to masked events, expanding the menu of options can help make queer spaces accessible to everyone
The cover of Cannon by Lee Lai; a self-portrait by Lee Lai

‘Cannon’ shows the cost of keeping in your feelings

Lee Lai’s latest graphic novel follows a woman on the verge of exploding