Xtra is an online magazine and community platform covering LGBTQ2S+ culture, politics and health. We aim to break boundaries, think outside of binaries and build bridges within our communities and beyond.

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Holidays got you blue? Here’s some joy and fight and warm hugs

Our culture maven S. Bear Bergman has some terrific suggestions on navigating family drama and crafting your own traditions

By S. Bear Bergman

TV & Film

Leonard Bernstein was a towering genius, a man of multitudes. Addressing his sexuality is no easy feat

ANALYSIS: While the new biopic “Maestro” embraces Bernstein’s queerness, it still leaves questions lingering

By Barry Levitt

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Miss Chief’s memoirs, ‘Next Goal Wins,’ drag kings, gay bar history and more

Looking for a happy cry? S. Bear Bergman has you covered

By S. Bear Bergman

Books

Posthumous books by Canlit legends Marie-Claire Blais and RM Vaughan

Community connections, tenuous and profound, resonate across time in these heady, heart-rending titles

By Christopher DiRaddo

Books

‘Daddy Lessons’ by Steacy Easton offers an uneven blend of memoir, literary analysis and pornography

REVIEW: At its best, this pedagogy of fucking makes transgressive queer desire palpable

By H Felix Chau Bradley

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Hot thrills from João Dall’Stella and a sexy musical with Baby Tate

Plus Kareem Khubchandani, W.A.W. Parker and a queer theatre series online

By S. Bear Bergman

TV & Film

Experimental documentary ‘Orlando: My Political Biography’ is an invitation to connect with the non-binary child inside us all

Writer and philosopher Paul B. Preciado has created an unusual paean to freedom

By Eli Cugini

Books

‘Valid’ takes on the surprisingly rich postapocalyptic transfeminine genre

REVIEW: Chris Bergeron’s dystopian new autofiction novel delivers mixed results

By Veronica Esposito

Books

Alison Rumfitt’s ‘Brainwyrms’ is trans body horror that feels all too real

The author talks life on the internet, anti-trans backlash in the U.K., and the horror of seeing your loved ones radicalized

By Thea McLachlan

Queer Culture Catch-Up

A corporate podcast and a science fiction novel among Bear’s latest recommendations?

Plus a short film on Ukraine, “Girlfriends” by Emily Zhou and I Put A Spell On You Broadway fundraiser

By S. Bear Bergman

Books

Bejewelled and beguiled: meet businessman and philanthropist Salah Bachir

His new star-studded memoir dishes deflection and reflection in equal measure

By Chris Dupuis

Books

In ‘Love and Money, Sex and Death,’ McKenzie Wark writes to the people who shaped her

Renowned trans academic McKenzie Wark blends memory, theory, fiction and myth in new memoir

By Misha Pensato

TV & Film

Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Strange Way of Life’ answers a question ‘Brokeback Mountain’ asked 18 years ago

REVIEW: With restrained performances and über design, Almodóvar’s new short film finally lets two gay cowboys ride off into a Technicolor sunset

By Christos Tsirbas

Books

New book an ode to the Songbird Supreme and her queer fan base

“Why Mariah Carey Matters” is an ode to the Songbird Supreme and the queers who love her

By Denio Lourenco

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Mashed-up historical romance from Lex Croucher, ‘Yesterqueers’ on TikTok and musicians Kaien Cruz and Moe Reen top our calendar this week

Plus national treasure Walter Borden is onstage in Toronto

By S. Bear Bergman

Books

James Frankie Thomas’s ‘Idlewild’ surfaces the intense agony of not getting to be gay

REVIEW: This thrilling debut is a rare exploration of gay trans manhood

By Eli Cugini

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Put music from Sister Wife Sex Strike, Venezuelan film ‘Bad Hair’ and a Coyote Joe Stevens musical on your culture calendar

Plus Danny Ramadan’s new children’s book and more

By S. Bear Bergman

Books

‘Fair Play’ is the thorough reflection on the trans sport ‘debate’ we need

Sports writer Katie Barnes’s debut book is a must-read deep dive into trans inclusion in sport

By Michelle Kay