Politics

How can Canada’s next federal government support LGBTQ2S+ youth?

Youth advocate Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah hopes young queer and trans Canadians can learn the power of disruption

By Arvin Joaquin

TV & Film

How a new documentary captures the joys and fears of migrant trans sex workers

While making “Caer (Caught),” Nicola Mai invited a Latina advocacy group into the editing suite

By Noelle Perdue

Politics

What will a new federal government mean for queer and trans South Asian people?

Activist Praney Anand calls for culture-specific resources and government aid

By Arvin Joaquin

Power

LGBTQ2S+ sex workers are calling out Mastercard’s adult content policies

Sex workers are calling on the payment provider to roll back planned changes to payments for online adult content

By Mel Woods

Politics

How can a new Canadian government collaborate with Two-Spirit people?

John R. Sylliboy on Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Indigenous needs, the upcoming federal election and reconciliation

By Arvin Joaquin

The Xtra Long Read

Cases of missing trans people are rarely solved. A married pair of forensic genealogists is hoping to change that

How a small team of LGBTQ2S+ investigators is seeking justice for unidentified Trans Doe victims

By Erica Lenti

Politics

Jill Andrew’s revolutionary politics

As the first openly queer Black MPP in Ontario, the Toronto-based politician wants to build a more inclusive province in the wake of COVID-19

By Samantha Peters

Protest and Pleasure

A revolution led by sex workers

In the final installment of the “Protest and Pleasure” series: why trans women of colour sex workers are the thot leaders we need

By Chanelle Gallant

Queer Culture Catch-Up

Communing butch voices, dance documentaries and writers on writing

Our recommendations for what’s up and what’s on, beginning Aug. 12

By S. Bear Bergman

Xtra Weekly

Topline: Things need to get better for everybody, not just some people

It’s hard to watch crackdowns on LGBTQ+ people in China and other countries

By Paul Gallant

Protest and Pleasure

Screw capitalism: For love to actually win, we need a revolution

In the fifth installment of the “Protest and Pleasure” series, why marriage equality isn’t the key to our liberation and how capitalism is bad for sex lives

By Chanelle Gallant

HIV/AIDS

Coming of age during the AIDS crisis: A dialogue

Authors Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore and Alexander McClelland discuss how a lost generation of queers came out, grieved and thrived through the height of the epidemic

By Alexander McClelland, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

Dispatch

Despite ongoing homophobia, Kenya forms an LGBTQ+ state agency

The agency will report back to the government on discrimination faced by marginalized queer and trans Kenyans

By Gitonga Njeru

Excerpt

How the fight to legalize gay marriage in the U.S. was kickstarted by a PR stunt in Hawaii

Bill Woods thought his plot to procure marriage licences for gay couples would make news on the islands. He didn’t think, 25 years later, it would make history

By Sasha Issenberg

Dispatch

How I survived lockdown with my parents after coming out to them as trans

As India battled through yet another wave of COVID-19 outbreaks and I couldn’t leave home, I told my family who I really am

By Urmi Bhattacheryya

Activism

How small towns are celebrating Pride Month

Xtra catches up with the folks from our “Small Town Pride” documentary to see what Pride is like during a pandemic

By Riley Sparks

Protest and Pleasure

The future is Indigiqueer

In the fourth installment of the “‘Protest and Pleasure”’ series, how Indigenous peoples and nations are building the pathway to sexual and gender liberation

By Chanelle Gallant

The Xtra Long Read

What does Pride look like in a post-pandemic world?

Pride festivals around the world are grappling with the aftermath of COVID-19, a global racial reckoning and corporate criticisms. At Pride Toronto, managing the future of the event means tackling it all head-on

By Cameron Perrier