People’s Gala highlights grassroots activism, doesn’t cost $350 a plate

"Fake Tracey" gets stares, laughter, applause

On June 30, about 100 queer activists and Church St passersby gathered in the Church-Wellesley village for one of the week’s stranger spectacles. Outrageous outfits, a tiny red carpet and CUPE-loaned truck with sound equipment was tucked on residential Maitland St for three hours, while gays partied and talked politics.

They even took over the intersection for a 5-minute synchronized dance.

A woman dressed as Tracey Sandilands did a striptease to Come To My Window, which left some on the O’Grady’s patio literally slack-jawed.


Marcus McCann

Marcus McCann is an employment and human rights lawyer, member of Queers Crash the Beat, and a part owner of Glad Day Bookshop. Before becoming a lawyer, he was the managing editor of Xtra in Toronto and Ottawa.

Read More About:
Activism, Culture, Power, News, Toronto, Arts

Keep Reading

A still from Girls Like Girls

‘Girls Like Girls’ once meant everything to me. I’ve outgrown it

Hayley Kiyoko’s new movie tries to recapture the magic of the mid-2010s music video it’s based on. But time has dulled its revolutionary edge
John Early in Maddie's Secret holding two jars above an open box

‘Maddie’s Secret’ is the movie about eating disorders we need

John Early’s pastiche of after-school specials mixes belly laughs with gut punches. It’s a rare masterwork
Van Goth

Van Goth made ‘Canada’s Drag Race’ look easy. But victory has a price

The drag phenom’s run complicated our idea of what a reality TV villain could be. She tells Xtra about clawing her way to the top—and her fight for what comes next
The cover of Charity and Sylvia

‘Charity and Sylvia’ beautifully illustrates a real-life 19th-century lesbian couple

Tillie Walden’s new graphic novel tracks the true story of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake’s decades-long New England romance
Advertisement