OUTeXpressions
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  OUTeXpressions Newspaper, a social enterprise of QueerWest.org. Located in edgy, artsy, booming Queer West Village, which has room for everyone: Hot indie music scenes, celebrity-chic shopping, all-night dance parties and an uber-cool mixed crowd. We are an Exclusive Media Publication. Listing only the hottest happenings, in the coolest places. Girlsport.com Montreal: 2010 "Calling itself Toronto's second gay village, the city’s west end is an Absolute Hothouse for LGBT life. In recent years tons of hip bars / restos / shops that cater to or favour a homo clientele have opened up shop, and you’ll find them all via QueerWest.org. Their listings section is excellent! OuteXpressions has been tearing up gay Toronto for 10 years, finding cool stuff, we think you'll enjoy. Copyrighted 2010. All Rights Reserved. Masthead Get our Free: Bent eBlast Hey! Get Social. You can now join us on Twitter Contact: Michel outexpressions@gmail.com
OUTeXpressions News Archive -April and May 2008
by B.Dunn bdunn.com
Thursday May 29, 2008. Berlin has one, Copenhagen has one, and now Toronto
has one. Queer West Fest is an event that showcases the best of alternative
queer culture, taking place at various west end Toronto establishments from
June 13th to the 22nd. “It’s an eye-opening experience for many
people to see such diversity and acceptance”, said Chris Mitchell, Marketing,
Publicity & Exhibitions Manager, Gladstone Hotel The week continues with a human rights panel discussion, an independent film festival, a Socrates-style conversation café, and art exhibitions. Partnerships with the bear-influenced Fur Real Art Collective at Gallery 1313, and Lief Harmsen's HOMODIGITAL Art Show at the Fountain Contemporary Gallery are other notable highlights of the week. The Fest concludes with Knotty Knights, an 80’s Dance Party at Lot 16 on Saturday, a Family Brunch at Mitzi’s Café on the Sunday afternoon and a phenomenal closing performance by Queerly Beloved, a 24-voice Men’s Chamber Choir at Emmanuel Howard Park United Church on Sunday evening. The funky gay-operated Gladstone Hotel plays host to three separate events, including the monthly social networking series Java Knights, the Queer Ears and Eyes exhibition, and Frydaze early evening matinee with performances and DJ’s. Wednesday’s continue to be queer despite the recent Hump Day Bump jump over to Wrongbar, adding yet another queer element to the burgeoning strip. “Queer Ears and Eyes” is supported by Pride Access and Diversity Grants, and spotlights an assortment of queer-identified musicians and artists with live performances and an art exhibition. The Gay West Community Network Inc is proudly celebrating their recent incorporation in April. The Network is now comprised of a full slate of Board Members and several different committees for fundraising, programming, sponsorship, and media relations. The organization is a not-for-profit centre that produces performing arts festivals and outreach programming for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, questioning and two-spirited (queer community). Many self-directed events happen throughout the year including the Bike Club, Java Knights, Wilde Chats, and the newly formed Queer Peers. This new program aims to match queer youth with mentors for discussions on personal or career decisions. For listing of highlighted schedule of Queer West Fest event dates and locations,
and visit www.QueerWest.org
for all the latest updates. Special recognition is given to our media sponsor
Xtra
 Thursday May 15, 2008, Inside Story Toronto, by Michael F. Paré,
Hamilton Pride Festival Inc, is proud to announce Pride 2008
taking place June 6th-15th. This year’s theme SHAMELESS
is appropriate when looking to recent events in the Hamilton community. We are
shameless, we are proud and HPFI invites everyone to join us in making 2008
an extraordinary year. Hamilton Pride recognizes the wonderful diversity of
our members, and encourages the expression of that diversity in all of our events.
FREE EVENTS I*OFFICIAL WIND-DOWN BBQ TICKET VENDORS: TBA For Information: www.hamiltonpride.com Contact:info@hamtiltonpride.com
Tuesday May 6, 2008, Inside Story Toronto, by Michael F. Paré, . —- Ecuador considers enshrining a woman's right to sexual happiness. Maria Soledad Vela, of Ecuador's governing party, has proposed that her country's law protect a woman's right to enjoy sex. Women, who have traditionally been regarded in Ecuador as no more than sex objects or child bearers, should have the right to make informed, responsible decisions about their sex lives. — Canada raises age of sexual consent by two years. Like Britain, Australia and most American states, Canada's legal age for the onset of intercourse has been changed from 14- to 16-years-old. Not meant to criminalize teen sex, the change in legislation was explained as an effort to combat older internet predators who hit on young people. — Gay dating services flourishing. Research from the LOGO Channel shows that 48 percent of gay men are looking for "love" online. With looks and hooking up often of more concern than compatibility, Web sites for gay men are helping like-minded males attain what has been regarded as "the easy out" in sexual pursuits. — Canadian activists have convinced Canadian music retailers Archambault and Apple's iTunes to remove some anti-gay dancehall songs from their catalogues. Earlier this month, Stop Murder Music Canada (SMMC) and Canada's Ottawa-based national gay civil rights group Egale convinced iTunes to stop selling notorious anti-gay songs by T.O.K. (Chi-Chi Man), Elephant Man (Log On) and Buju Banton (Boom Bye Bye). And beginning May 5, those same recordings will no longer be sold at Archambault. "Boom bye bye inna batty bwoy head/ Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man/ Dem haffi dead..." Banton sings in Boom Bye Bye. "Send fi di matic an di Uzi instead." — Meanwhile, Egale executive director Helen Kennedy told the Inside Story last week, "We're really pleased - the only hold-out at this point is HMV and we hope they will join us soon." Gay activists have been protesting several dancehall performers for almost two decades, charging their anti-gay lyrics advocate violence against gay people and fuel anti-gay hate crimes throughout the Caribbean. This past winter Canadian activists convinced venue owners to cancel Canadian concerts by Sizzla, Elephant Man, Capleton, Baby Cham and Beenie Man. Montreal's Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations also convinced the CBC to pull songs by Sizzla from their Galaxy radio station. — A study this month by the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (which by the way, labelled the Province of Quebec a Country in their report) confirmed what savvy brands have known for years -- the gay community has major wallet clout and represents vast potential growth for marketers. The study estimates that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) population is two-million strong in Canada, representing total spending power of $100-billion a year. The chamber of commerce report says the "pink money" market
segment has great purchasing power, consumers faithful to their favourite
brands and a higher discretionary income than the general population. It also says Canada, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, has a high level of acceptance for gays relative to other countries, particularly in its large cities. Visible spending, or that which can be linked directly to a specific market
segment, has grown in the GLBT community "as [gay] people are living
more publicly, relationships have become more secure and Canada has been
more accepting and more 'out,' " said Laurence Bernstein, author
of the research and president of Toronto marketing consultancy BC3 Strategies.
Thursday April 3, 2008, Inside Story Toronto by Michael F. Paré, 1: Ready, set, go—there’s nearly no difference in the amount of time it takes healthy men and women to reach peak sexual arousal: roughly 10 minutes. 2: One per cent of adults have zero interest in sex and have never felt sexually attracted to anyone at all. Asexuality may be an under-the-radar sexual orientation, but researchers have only just begun to study it. On the other end of the rainbow, an estimated 3 to 6 per cent of the population have some form of sex addiction. 3: Straight, gay or flexible? Recent research suggests women may be “intrinsically bisexual,” and the higher their libido, the more they desire both sexes. In another study, the female subjects—whether they considered themselves straight or gay—were physically aroused by erotic films of both men and women. In contrast, the straight men were excited just by women, and the gay men only by men. 4: Canadian men have, on average, 23 sexual partners in total (notably more than the global average of 13), according to one recent worldwide survey. Their female counterparts reportedly have 10. The hitch? Number crunchers say the finding that men have substantially more bedmates on average than women is mathematically impossible. 5: Beyond its unsexy smell and taste, smoking appears to double a man’s risk of moderate or complete erectile dysfunction. 6: Once upon a time, doctors treated women suffering from “hysteria” by stimulating them to orgasm—a service dubbed “medical massage.” By the 1930s, it was abandoned in favour of psychotherapy. 7: Why do I bed thee? Let me count the ways. U.S. researchers who set out to catalogue all the reasons why humans have sex came up with 237 distinct ones. Among the top 10 motives, women and men had eight in common. A notable exception: “I realized I was in love” came in at number nine for women, but at number 17 for men. 8: Having sex regularly—at least once a week—may promote fertility in women by regulating hormones and menstrual patterns. 9: Male sweat contains androstadienone, a compound that enhances mood and sexual arousal in women and men. Alas, it also boosts levels of stress hormones. The chemical has been used as an ingredient in men’s fragrances. 10: What’s love got to do with it? Sexual arousal and romantic love activate quite distinct areas of the brain—and love is clearly the more powerful. The latter turns on dopamine-rich regions linked with motivation, and falling in love is not unlike the rush of taking cocaine, hence the addictiveness of a new crush, and the withdrawal-like symptoms of love lost. |
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