Race issues | Xtra Magazine

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.

We need the joyous anarchy of Pride now more than ever

Amid a pandemic and anti-racism protests—and with large Pride events cancelled—how will LGBTQ2 folks step up to fill the void?

By Gordon Bowness

This would have been the season of glitter and rainbows

But with COVID-19, widespread anti-Black violence and mass protests against police brutality, this isn’t the time for a glittering Pride. We stand with LGBTQ2 folk as they, once more, aim to rise to the moment

By Rachel Giese

Pandemic Pastimes

All is queer in ‘Love & Hip Hop’

For a show that’s been seen as trash TV, put some respek on its name for its portrayal of LGBTQ love

By Eternity Martis

I went to university to find myself. I learned I wasn’t welcome

From the ages of 18 to 22, I learned more about what being a woman of colour brought out in other people than about who I was

By Eternity Martis

Why anti-Black racism in Canadian blood donation is also a gay issue

Canada’s history of banning men who have sex with men and Haitians from donating blood goes back to its panic over HIV/AIDS and miscegenation

By OmiSoore Dryden

A searing exposé of anti-Black racism in Canada

In his new book, ‘The Skin We’re In,’ journalist Desmond Cole describes how the Black Lives Matter protests at Toronto Pride helped define a year of activism

By Desmond Cole

Saeed Jones is fighting for our lives

We sat down with the author of ‘How We Fight For Our Lives’ to talk about his memoir, writing about trauma and LGBTQ2 rights in the Trump era

By Eternity Martis

What matters most to Black trans and gender non-conforming Americans

Takeaways from the Black Futures Lab’s latest census

By Eternity Martis

Why we have to make Black trans and gender nonconforming people a political priority

We spoke to Alicia Garza, founder of Black Futures Lab, about the organization’s eye-opening survey

By Eternity Martis

Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse

My white queer friends think I should ditch my Southeast Asian parents for the holidays because they don’t accept that I’m queer. Who do I choose?

By Kai Cheng Thom

The barbershop is a refuge for Black men—but not if they’re queer

I grew up in the shop, a space for straight Black men to seek support, friendship and community. But for queer men like me, it’s hardly a haven

By Juwan J. Holmes

Coming into my queer identity as a Somali teen

School work and learning the Quran took a backseat to pill popping and craving exotic boys

By Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali

Being a Christian teen abstinence activist shaped my Black queer feminism

Growing up, I thought that purity was the only choice when it came to sex — until I began questioning what that meant

By Neesha Powell-Twagirumukiza

What matters most to Black queer Americans

Takeaways from the LGB+ Black Census, the largest survey of Black people since the Reconstruction era

By Eternity Martis

RuPaul’s Drag Race has a racism problem

The show has exposed drag’s troubling traditions of appropriation and blackface

I’m a queer Black woman — misogynoir cost me my health

How sexism and racism in the medical system undermines my community’s pain

By Almah LaVon Rice

Jussie Smollett’s story doesn’t mean we should ignore Black queer survivors

‘From now on, will innocent queer Black men be treated as liars when they come forward with their stories of survival?’

Five Black queer activists to celebrate beyond Black History Month

Because the celebration shouldn’t stop when February ends

By Pascale Diverlus

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