Building a Community
Strengthening the City

The Inside Story newspaper online since 1996. Did you know out of town visitors can plan an entire trip to Queer Toronto using using the Inside Story? We’re not just an online e-newspaper; we’re a complete resource guide, with detailed listings for: Hotels, B&B, Hostels · Restaurents, Bars, Clubs and other places to hang out · Shopping · Daily, Weekly, and Monthly events, Local and National News. We are a top search result, on most major search engines when using key words such as ‘ queer Toronto’, with a growing number of affiliate links with key websites around the world. The Inside Story enewspaper is committed to promoting the excellence within the Queer West Village arts and culture community, with over 500 listings, which are not exclusively gay or lesbian. Don Quixote, editor: insidestory_toronto@yahoo.ca | Parcel Post & Letters: Box 204, Station C - West Toronto ON M6J 3M9. Phone: 9 am to 9 pm.(7x) 416-551-1709 Subscribe to E-Mail Edition

The Inside Story Newspaper bringing you only the best of Queer Toronto has to offer.

Inside Story Newspaper - Archives:
Older Stories | Aug-Sept 2007 | Oct-Nov 2007 | Dec 2007-Jan 2008 | Feb 2008-Mar 2008

Inside Story Newspaper - Archive - August and September 2007:

Inside Story Newspaper Thursday September 27, 2007. Pride Toronto accumulated a record surplus this year but board members are concerned that the city's financial crisis might hurt next year's festival.

The news was revealed at Pride Toronto's annual general meeting on September 18. Pride posted a surplus of $80,582 for 2006-'07 on revenues of more than $1. 5 million according to the financial statements. That's way up from a deficit last year of $45,303 on revenues of almost $1.3 million.

Pride Toronto executive director Fatima Amarshi told Xtra's gay and lesbian newspaper reporter Krishna Rau on Thursday, September 27, that Pride Toronto also needs to expand its borders. Amarshi says she also wants to see Pride make a greater effort to promote queer culture. "It's time to showcase [queer arts]," she says. "There's a wealth of queer artists and we have an opportunity to bring them to an audience of a million people."

(Editor's comment:) What does Amarshi mean when she says expanding Pride Toronto's borders? Does she mean bringing queer culture to oppressed crackheads in Parkdale.

The homeless begging patrol that happens along Queen Street West on any given night in front of two boutique hotels.

Pride Toronto attempted to promote queer culture along West Queen West this year. But failed to unite the arts community into getting on their bandwagon. Oh for sure they had a couple lost leaders at Gladstone and Drake Hotel.

That was because this Parkdale Pride Party change is name to Queer West Fest. QWF is now an annual event bringing Toronto's an alternative Festival for queer arts, culture and music

QWF is about cultural diversity as well as sexual diversity (diverse cité). Queer West Fest is miles ahead of Pride Toronto supporting queer arts, culture and music in the westend of city. Where the heart of Toronto's queer community resides along West Queen West. Not in male-dominated, Church and Wellesley La La Land.

What makes our Queer West Toronto Festivals successful year after year, is that we are constantly reinventing ourselves, because we are outrageous and positively revolutionary. In 2007 Queer West Fest added new venues and city locations, more performers, vendors, community organizations and new affiliated events. Made QWF into a week long event.

We are marketing a successful product, which will be even better in 2008. They know it. We know it and soon everyone else will know it.Pride Toronto expanding in the next five years Ha ha ha... D.Q. editor)

Toronto high culture artists Jonathan Brett and Lisa May Loveless

Inside Story Toronto Sunday September 16, 2007 By Don Quixote. I received an Facebook invitation to the Gala Art showing of Toronto high culture artists Jonathan Brett and Lisa May Loveless. Which happened on Thursday, September 6th at the The Press Club, a local Queer West Village bar, at 850 Dundas Street West (just west of Euclid). The Launch party was for Collaborated Expression: acrylic on canvas by Jonathan Brett and Barely Ordinary: photographic series of artistic nudes by Lisa May Loveless. (ideasexposed.deviantart.com)

Art is not my forte?, not that don't enjoy art. I am willing to take on any assignments of interest, leap over tall buildings, attend parties with free booze, listen to rants, travel the world in search of the great unknown and put it altogether for you to read. So I spun up my bike chain and cycled along Dundas W. to the Press Club, which isn't too far from where I live in Little Portugal, near Dufferin and Dundas. Despite cycling past the blood-thirsty guard-dogs monitoring the lumber yard on the corner of Manning and Dundas West, the Dundas Strip still emanates a certain friendliness to it. I managed to get over to The Press Club in less than 15 minutes, which is now under new management and boasting of an eclectic music scene and international bevvies.

The Press Club is a low-key venue for the under-35 crowd, boulevardiers and scenesters. Even inside, the retro sofas, wall-side booths, mismatched barstools and vintage lighting lend themselves to the idea of a relaxed lounge space. Yet, The Press Club?s main claim to fame is their tendency to draw in local music talent. During the week, the room is filled with the beat of live music while the weekends are reserved for the DJs. Serving the public with an eclectic music scene, patrons may clink glasses to the sounds of bluegrass, jazz, experimental, funk and rock ?n roll. Attracting musicians from Montreal and the States, as well as local Torontonians.

The Press Club?s other claim to fame is their massive beer selection. Importing bottles from all over the world, there are around 60 brands to choose from, many of which are not available at the LCBO. Those in the mood for a quieter evening may take a stroll over to the back patio, where a canopy of lights dangles serenely above wicker benches. As friends of artists, mostly cast and crew from Royal Porcupine Productions. (I didn't know a soul, but quickly made friends) Arriving they found a cozy spot on the back patio and indulge in some exquisite conversation while enjoying a choice of their favorite bevey - a perfect way to kick off the autumn season. I expect to see many of my new friends, at Queen West Art Crawl this weekend.

(Photo of Jonathan Brett by Don Quixote) Jonathan Brett is a handsome 6' foot self taught, forty year old gay artist. (Sorry bois, he's taken) Working with colour and definition, creating emotion on his canvas. Mostly his inspirations come from pure base emotion, through art therapy. "My work represents a crossover in my life, finally seeing me for me, and discovering how to deal with my emotional issues through art therapy...knowing full well it is a long journey, but needed." said Brett. www.myspace.com/jonathanbrettart

Brett is better know as Toronto's Royal Porcupine Production, media spokesperson. Royal Porcupine had a play in the early spring titled The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation on Mill St in Toronto's eastend distillery district. www.myspace.com/royalporcupineproductions

The band "Quadrafonics" (www.quadrafonics.com) grooved the night away, entertaining Brett and Loveless's guests and regular patrons playing funk and jazz beats. If you have not yet joined Jonathan Brett's Facebook group advising updates on their collective works and gallery dates. Please do so by clicking on the following link: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4753321403

Where: The wonderful and talented artists, Jonathan Brett and Lisa May Loveless will be at The Press Club exhibiting their works from Thursday September 6 to Friday October 5th., 2007. 850 Dundas W. 416-364-7183. Queer West, Toronto Ontario. www.thepressclub.ca

Inside Story Newspaper Thursday September 13, 2007. Same-sex unions are growing at five times the rate of opposite-sex ones according to census numbers that also reveal, for the first time, the number of homosexual marriages in Canada. Some 45,300 couples, both common law and married, reported as same-sex in the 2006 census, up from 34,200. Those numbers represent a 33 per cent surge since 2001, while heterosexual couples grew by just six per cent in the same time period.

The historic Statistics Canada query on same-sex marriage, coming in the wake of Parliament legalizing such unions in 2005, revealed 7,465 homosexual marriages. That's considerably lower than numbers reported by the now-defunct advocacy group Canadians For Equal Marriage. The group, based on its own research of municipal records, reported last November that 12,438 marriage licences had been granted to same-sex couples since provincial courts began recognizing such unions in 2003.

The census relegated same-sex marriages to a write-in category under the questionnaire's 'other' box - a move that raised the ire of Egale Canada. The national advocacy group responded by urging its membership to list their relationships as husband and wife. Anne Milan, a senior analyst at Statistics Canada, stands by the accuracy of the census data but concedes the limitations of relying on the answers people provide.

"It's the first time that we've asked same sex marriage so it's really a benchmark number," said Milan, who added it's "difficult to say" what effect Egale's dissent had on the numbers. "Future census releases will allow us to compare the count and see what's happening."

The fact that the question was being asked at all shows that "people are getting on with their lives, which was fundamentally what the whole debate was about," said Michael Leshner, a lawyer and one of Canada's first legally married gay men. "It's really a debate that hopefully has run its course... We're just part of the boring middle class now," Leshner said.

According to the census, same-sex couples accounted for 0.6 per cent of all couples in Canada. That falls in line with numbers reported in the United States, New Zealand and Australia. More than half, or 54 per cent, of same-sex married Canadian spouses were men. Some nine per cent of same-sex couples had children, more commonly in female unions (16 per cent) than male ones (three per cent). Children were present more in same-sex married couples (16 per cent) than common-law ones (eight per cent).

Ontario became the first province to legally recognize same-sex marriage following a 2003 decision from the Ontario Court of Appeal. Similar decisions followed in British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, and New Brunswick.

On July 20, 2005, Canada became the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands and Belgium. Spain and South Africa have since legalized homosexual marriage as well.

"As my spouse Mike Starkel always says, we won. There's nothing they can do, we won," said Leshner.

Tanya Gulliver a reporter with Toronto Xtra gay and lesbian newspaper column "Missing Maggie - Proud FM shakeup leaves some listeners leery on Thursday, August 30, 2007"

"After just four months on the air Proud FM is facing frustrated fans over the sudden disappearance of popular host Maggie Cassella from the airwaves mid-August. The move has left many listeners dismayed, including some of its most ardent supporters.

Brian Hurley is the founder of a Facebook group encouraging listeners to show their support for the fledgling station with the hopes of getting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to allow Proud FM to increase its signal strength earlier than the usual six month post-launch review. Now he's also the founder of the Facebook group "Reinstate Maggie Cassella at Proud FM." (guess who won't be joining this silly campaign)

[ Inside Story Toronto, editor's comment: I for one am glad to hear the news that Proud FM booted Cassella out. Back on Wednesday June 13th., Cassella had invited two organizers (Bryen Dunn and Michel Paré) from Queer West Fest Toronto in for an interview at 6 pm. 30 minutes before the start of the show, Cassella calls back and says something important has come up, we are cancelling the interview "We are swamped with Pride Toronto events." QWF was scheduled to open on June 15th and run till June 22nd.

So I thought I would listen to the Maggie Cassella Show from 6 pm to 7 pm. Guess what? Not a god damn thing was important! Cassella played dorky dance music for an hour, then signed off. This from a station that is supposed to represent gay Toronto? Cassella promised to put Queer West Fest in their "Village Listings" as they supported something called "Community Initiatives" Did that happen? It did not!

So I looked up "Community Initiatives"on Proud FM website. I could find, no such phrase, but in the CRTC licence there is #30: "In line with the applicant’s proposal, the Commission expects that spoken word programming, including newscasts, open-line and discussion programs, and promotion of local events and activities, will consistently incorporate material of direct and particular relevance to the gay and lesbian community, and reflect its perspective and its particular needs and interests." Full Proud FM Licence agreement <www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/db2006-128.htm>

I did express a editorial opinion on Proud Fm on Monday April 16, 2007. Ok, I am off my soapbox and back listening to 104.5 CHUM FM a station you can hear anywhere in the city.D.Q]

Inside Story Toronto, Friday August 24, 2007 By Don Quixote -- Richard Florida, one of the most important urban thinkers since Jane Jacobs, is following her lead and coming to Toronto. Florida, considered by some as the guru of urban economic development, was recently welcomed to the University of Toronto's business school. Florida will settle into his role as the director of the Rotman School of Management’s new $120-million Centre for Jurisdictional Advantage and Prosperity in mid September. A position he was quick to accept after working at George Mason University in Virginia for only three years.

He's started a $120-million project at the University to research how wealth is created in urban settings made possible by a $50-million donation from the provincial government.

His groundbreaking 2002 essay, "The Rise of the Creative Class: Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race" is followed this year by "There Goes the Neighborhood: How and Why Bohemians, Artists and Gays Affect Regional Housing Values", in which he writes:"As selective buyers with an eye for amenity, authenticity and aesthetics, locations where artists, bohemians and gays concentrate are likely to be highly sought after for their cultural amenities, desirable neighborhood character, and aesthetic quality of the housing stock."

In other words, Toronto has got good taste - and people know it. Florida considers Toronto as one of his favourite places and one of the more "creative" cities in the world.

He argues that if a city concentrates on embracing its bohemians through a dynamic and tolerant urban life, it will be economically successful. One of his eye-catching measures is the "gay index," where he says the more gay-friendly a city is, the more likely it is to be economically prosperous because of its open-mindedness.

Want to get a quick take on how your city or region is faring in the all-out competition for talent? Start by determining the percentage of gays that are in your population. The "gay index" is the leading predictor of a city's ability to attract and retain knowledge workers, claims Richard Florida, founder and director of the Software Industry Center at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and professor of regional economic development.

It's not that gay employees themselves are critical for building a tech-savvy base of operations. It's that a gay population is a dependable indicator of the environmental factors -- tolerance, openness to diversity, and lots of urban-oriented amenities -- that are critical for attracting world-class workers.

The new institute will study how jurisdictions become magnets for companies and for people who provide the necessary talents needed for prosperity. One of the goals is to be able to inform public policy makers on the various things needed to create a truly prosperous jurisdiction.

"To have this kind of support, to have your financial support ... and to have a spectacular physical space to locate in, I couldn't be more grateful," Florida said.

Inside Story Newspaper - Archives:
Older Stories | Aug-Sept 2007 | Oct-Nov 2007 | Dec 2007-Jan 2008 | Feb 2008-Mar 2008