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Guest post: LGBTQ youth homelessness: A growing problem in Toronto

November 28, 2012 • Guest Blogger

By I. Alex Abramovich

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are overrepresented in the homeless youth population. Approximately 12 years ago, it was estimated that 25-40% of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ, but we do not have enough research in Canada to know how much that estimate has changed. In Canada, we have extensive research on youth homelessness; however, little is known about the phenomenon of LGBTQ youth homelessness.

What we do know, however, is that LGBTQ youth homelessness is an everyday reality in Toronto, it is a crisis that is on the rise, and services that are supposed to offer support to all youth, have challenges in providing support to this population of youth. We also know that LGBTQ homeless youth are at high risk for suicide, substance use, risky sexual behaviour, and mental health issues, and that homophobia, transphobia, and the lack of support available greatly increase these risks.

I’ve been working in the area of LGBTQ youth homelessness for approximately 6 years. (more inside…)
The Comfort of Queer Family Wisdom

November 20, 2012 • Elisha Lim

I think that last year was one of my most humbling years. I’d become used to a certain level of respect and dignity, and when I lost it, I was kind of floored. I left my home of Toronto. Toronto - where I had been part of the majority. I was an immigrants’ kid, I was university educated, I knew lots of activist jargon and where to shop for shoes.

But last year I moved to Quebec. I also fell in with a clique of nationalist French Canadians. That complicated cultural puritanism deserves its own article. But what I experienced is a universal problem: being unwelcome. I didn’t speak enough of the language. My opinions were routinely undermined. I was told that I didn’t belong. I was ignored and overlooked. This would be stressful for anyone, and it felt even more stressful when I was usually the only person of colour in the room.

It’s a kind of isolation that lots of people face, because of racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, so many reasons. But it was new to me. I started to think - it must be true - I must be parasitic and unworthy. My self-esteem sank.

In the past I had wondered if my activism had been too cheesy. But once I moved to Montreal I realized that no activism is cheesy. If someone is really isolated, it means so much to have someone fight for you, and to document your experience.

That’s what these books, and these people, did for me: Barbara Cameron and Mitsuye Yamada talked about racism in the 1979 book This Bridge Called My Back. Richard Fung remembers challenging the white art establishment in “13 Conversations”. Punam Khosla fought for queer Asian visibility during Desh Pardesh. Rae Spoon made trans love songs on youtube.

(Elisha Lim)

I absorbed these precious books and moments like sunshine. They gave me back my strength and dignity.

Now I’ve illustrated these people and their quotes. I hope that they find their way across queer homes everywhere so that no matter where you are, you will find them, and know that you are not alone.

Buy it for yourself or for a friend from my etsy store. Spread the word. These are members of our queer family legacy, and a promise that you belong to something bigger.

(Elisha Lim)

WIth love, Elisha.
- Film Reel
- Queeriosities
Check out: What I LOVE about being QUEER

November 14, 2012 • Naz Afsahi

Toronto-based Vivek Shraya is a musician, performer, filmmaker and writer. He was nominated for LGBTQ Person of the Year at the 2012 INSPIRE Awards. His newest short film, What I LOVE about being QUEER, is a minimalist endeavour revolving around the title’s big question posed to 34 individuals.
Still from the Film's Teaser

The film, which debuted in June in Toronto, is 18 minutes in length, and has screened at various Queer Film Festivals and universities across Canada, with more screenings scheduled. According to Shraya, the film is a partial response to dominant narratives of queer struggle and survival and was visualized by him as a way to “create more space for discussion about the positive aspects of being queer”.

And although the participants of the film include educators, activists, artists, introverts and extroverts and vary in their age, gender, racial background, gender presentations and politics, Shraya acknowledges that the film is in no way fully representative of the queer spectrum. Shraya notes, “[b]ut there is also something exciting about this! To consider and embrace that the answers in the film are not exhaustive. That because our communities are so vast and complex, so are the ways in which we come to love. And, since the word “queer” is never defined by Shraya the individuals who partake in answering the question “what I love about being queer”, in turn define queerness for themselves, touching on themes of family, identity, sex and love. The participants are mainly from Ontario and were filmed in Shraya’s Toronto home.

As an extension of the film, an official Tumblr blog has been set up by Shraya to continue the dialogue and where visitors are able to partake and answer the question posed in the film. Attach a photo of yourself and answer in a sentence or two What do you LOVE about being QUEER?

Shraya's introductory post to the Tumblr site

You can check out the teaser for What I LOVE About Being QUEER here. For the complete list of upcoming screenings, visit Shraya’s website. A portion of the DVD sales are donated to the SOY (Supporting Our Youth) Program [designed to improve the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgendered youth in Toronto through the active involvement of youth and adult communities].
Interview: 2qtpoc-montreal show

September 4, 2012 • deb singh

Hey Shameless Blog Readers,

Having sadly been unable to attend the awesome 2qtpoc-montreal Show for the city’s Pervers/cite, I did get the opportunity to connect with one of the amazing artists from the show, Textaqueen. Their website reads:

“Texta” is Australian for felt-tip marker and TextaQueen is Australia’s felt-tip super-hero. Renowned for use of the humble felt-tip marker to boldly re-interpret the tradition of the salon nude, TextaQueen explores politics of sex, gender and identity in tangent with ideas of self-image and inter-personal relationships. Texta’s practice articulates delicate interplays between vulnerability and empowerment, intimacy and exhibitionism, and subjective and collective expressions of feminist, queer, and cultural identities.

I asked Textaqueen some questions about their work and involvement with the show. Check out what they had to say!

What interested you in being part of the 2-qtpocmontreal show?
Elisha Lim and I had been excitedly in contact via the internets, having had friends show us each other’s work. I am usually showing work in such a different context; not particularly 2 spirit / queer / trans or people of colour focused, so to be amongst rad 2qtpocs in this context is “refreshing.” While my “bigger” art shows bring my work into “broader” contexts, it is important to me to show my work in contexts where people seeing it may relate to it from their own experience. Showing my work alongside other people talking about queer and racialised identities is a rare dream come true. In other contexts the queerness of the work has literally been called quirky or kooky, and in my more recent work that talks about race, they may be sold on their edgy exoticness. It’s great to be part of a show where those themes are centered when being queer and racialized are central themes to my life. I’m not quirky and exotic to myself, and it’s great not to have me or my work treated that way here.

What would you like to see from people, in terms of sharing your work at the show? In 2-qtpoc communitites? In white queer communities? How do you want your work to help shape peoples’ thinking?(more inside…)
2-qtpocmontréal: a look ahead

August 17, 2012 • Guest Blogger

I have heard it so many times in the past few months: we love Montréal.

We love the community, the endless cultures of resistance, and the freedom and joy the city gives us. But over and over again, I hear, it feels so hard to stay here. For all it gives them, Montréal also exposes its 2-qtpoc folks (two-spirited, queer, and trans people of colour) to surprisingly overt, harsh, and exhausting racism. People talk about 2-qtpoc skin and bodies as though they are food or fabric, not part of a human being. There are limited services that 2-qtpoc folks can access without fear of discrimination. In (generally white-dominated) queer spaces, 2-qtpoc commonly hear derision and disbelief about their sexuality, gender identity, and expression. But Montréal’s 2-qtpocs are working hard to change this.

Elisha Lim is presently the proud curator of 2-qtpocmontréal, a showcase of 2-qtpoc artwork and part of pervers/cite, Montréal’s radical queer pride festival. Lim has spent some time reflecting on what it means for 2-qtpoc folks to take up and take back space in the cities and communities where they live, citing that internalized marginalization leaves many 2-qtpoc feeling as though they do not have the same entitlement to space as their white peers. Lim wants 2-qtpocmontréal to be a space for 2-qtpoc folks to unapologetically demand space in Pride, in Montreal, and in Québec – where 2-qtpoc always have been, but that have not always been kind or accepting toward them.

2-qtpocmontréal’s 10-day schedule (August 10-19) includes lectures, performances, workshops, visual arts, and, of course, celebration. (more inside…)
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Event/Preview: 2-qtpocmontreal art show at this year’s Pervers/cite

August 7, 2012 • deb singh

This month, I had the honour to be invited to connect with 2-qtpoc (Two spirited, queer, trans, people of colour) Montreal artists to talk about their work at the 2-qtpocmontreal art show at this year’s Pervers/cité.

It was also my pleasure to interview Textaqueen, an awesome artist who shared some of their passion for art as well as for working within their own communities of 2-spirited, queer/trans people of colour.

So what is Pervers/Cité? Their website states:

Pervers/Cité is a collaboratively organized summer festival that aims to make links across social justice groups, queer communities, and radical visions of pride. In a climate of corporatized gay agendas and whitewashed homogeneity amongst queers, Pervers/cité strives to provide a critical and accessible schedule of activities, designed to bring back the radical underpinnings to the pride movement. This year’s festival is taking place from August 9th to 19th, a few days after Divers/Cité and leading up to Célébrations de la fierté Montréal 2012 community day and pride parade.

One of the festivities to highlight and bring voice to 2-qtpoc is the 2-qtpocmontreal art show. Their press release has this to say about the show: “Montreal has a reputation for creative resistance. This year, 2-qtpocmontréal proposes to push this legacy further. Proudly dedicated to 2-spirited, queer and trans people of colour, 2-qtpocmontréal is an art show, a lecture series and a revelation, looking at the history of 2-qtpoc Montréal. 2-qtpocmontréal pays tribute to its predecessors like AGIR, African Rainbow, Ste Emilie Skillshare, and GLAM, and bring these different communities together into a powerful and inspiring racialized pride week. 2-qtpoc will be part of pervers/cité, a flamboyant annual festival of queer and trans politics in Montréal. “

Check out this video with Elisha Lim, curator of the show.

Check out next month’s blog with full interviews about the artwork, artist talks and Pervers/cité!

And check out the entire schedule for the 2-qtpocmontreal show below!

(more inside…)
- Event Listings
- Queeriosities
Rainbow Camp: for LGBTQ and Allied Youth 13-17 in Thessalon, Ontario

July 11, 2012 • Julia Horel

Join us for our first Rainbow Camp!

This is a unique opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer questioning, and allied (LGBTQA) youth and/or members of Queer families.

We are committed to developing a camp community which honours creativity, individual choice, and social justice.

Rainbow Camp will provide opportunities for campers to make new friends and develop skills through traditional camp programming. More than anything, Rainbow Cam is a fun place to come OUT and be yourself!

Our Camp Program will include activities in the following areas:

Music, Theatre, and Movement
Arts and Crafts
Nature and the Environment
Sports
Personal Storytelling through Multi-Media
Community and Leadership

$275 for the week
Camp fee includes all food, accommodation, and activities

August 5-10, 2012
Camp McDougall
Thessalon, Ontario

For more information and to register for Rainbow Camp, visit
http://www.welcomefriend.ca

Welcome Friend Association Inc.
76 Dawson St., PO Box 242
Thessalon, ON
P0R 1L0
VANCOUVER call for auditions: One in Every Crowd

April 5, 2012 • Julia Horel

Please note the deadline has changed to April 28, 2012.

Attention all queer and trans youth ages 14 to 20 years old:

Award winning writer and storyteller Ivan Coyote has a new book coming out, and this one is FOR YOU. One in Every Crowd is a collection of short short stories collected from over fifteen years of Coyote’s work, along with a bunch of brand new never been in print stuff too, designed to help LGBT students find themselves in its pages. The book launches in Vancouver at the WISE Hall on Thursday, May 3rd, and it is going to be a very special night. In addition to reading from the new book, Ivan will also be hosting a queer youth talent show. If you are a singer, dancer, poet, storyteller, drag artist, baton twirler, or otherwise creatively minded, please send Ivan a short (maximum three to four minute) video clip (or link to a youtube or Facebook video) to ivanecoyote@gmail.com.

The ten most fabulous acts will be selected to perform as part of the book launch. All artists selected to perform will receive free admission for themselves and one guest pass, a free copy of the book, and a small cash honorarium for their performance.

Deadline for entries is April 28th. Solo or ensemble acts are all eligible. Applications are welcome from outside of the Vancouver area, but if you are selected to perform and you have to travel to be a part of it, you are responsible for your own travel and accommodations. Participants will be notified no later than May 1, 2012.

Any questions? Please contact Cynara at Arsenal Pulp Press at 604-687-4233, or at cynara@arsenalpulp.com.

For more information on Ivan Coyote and her work, please go to www.ivanecoyote.com.

Read an excerpt from One in Every Crowd here (PDF link).

Check out a video of Ivan Coyote performing a piece in Seattle. Transcription below the jump.

(more inside…)
Sins Invalid: ‘An unshamed claim to beauty in the face of invisibility’

February 29, 2012 • Julia Horel

New College Speaker Series 2012, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Ontario & The School of Disability Studies at Ryerson University, presents:

Performance excerpts from Sins Invalid
‘An unshamed claim to beauty in the face of invisibility’

Featuring performances by: Alex Cafarelli, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Maria Palacios and Leroy Moore

Saturday March 17 2012 - 7pm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Weston Family Learning Centre
317 Dundas St. West Toronto, ON
Beverly Street Entrance

Facebook event link here.

FREE admission
ASL interpretation
Wheelchair accessible
Attendant care

Sponsored by: Equity Studies Program (New College), Ryerson School of
Disability Studies, Dept. of Sociology and Equity Studies (OISE), Art
Gallery of Ontario, Students for Barrier-Free Access (UT), RyeAccess,
Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies (UT), Equity Studies Student Union (UT) and R3 collective.

Official event of RyeAccess’ ‘Reclaiming our bodies and minds’ conference, part of ESSU’s Disability Studies Week 2012

SINS INVALID is a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized. Our performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body. Conceived and led by disabled people of color, we develop and present cutting-edge work where normative paradigms of “normal” and “sexy” are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all individuals and communities.

We define disability broadly to include people with physical impairments, people who belong to a sensory minority, people with emotional disabilities, people with cognitive challenges, and those with chronic/severe illness. We understand the experience of disability to occur within any and all walks of life, with deeply felt connections to all communities impacted by the medicalization of their bodies, including trans, gender variant and intersex people, and others whose bodies do not conform to our culture(s)’ notions of “normal” or “functional.”

Find out more about Sins Invalid:
http://www.sinsinvalid.org/
Toronto Event: Queering Black History Month

February 21, 2012 • Julia Horel

QUEERING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

DATE: Wednesday, February 29 - 5:30pm until 8:30pm
PLACE: Ryerson Students’ Union Centre at 55 Gould St (Church St. and Gould St., Toronto). Room: SCC 115

Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/130358727029879/

Queering Black History Month is back for its second year!

Please join the Ryerson community as we celebrate Queer and Trans African, Black, and Caribbean people in Canada.

On Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, we will continue to honour and re-insert the lives, experiences and amazing achievements of Queer and Trans people into the discussions of Black History Month.

The evening will begin with a reception, accompanied by hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and a beautiful photography exhibition documenting Toronto’s incredible Ballroom Vogue Scene. Later, a panel discussion will honour the work and stories of Queer and Trans African, Black and Caribbean Canadians, both past and present. The night will end with a very special performance by the House of Monroe, celebrating their 5th Anniversary!

The space is wheelchair accessible. We will also have ASL interpretation at the event.

Our panelists:
*Patricia Koine: Human Rights Advocate, Community Mental Health Worker, and Founder of Gays and Lesbians of African Descent (GLAD)
*Kim Crosby: Activist & Multidisciplinary Artist (www.queergiftedblack.blogspot.com) and Co-Founder of The People Project (www.thepeopleproject.ca)
*Rev. David Lewis-Peart: Prevention Program Coordinator, Community-based Researcher, and Co-founder of Seed II Soil Coaching & Consulting
*Dr. Wesley Crichlow: Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at UOIT, and Author of Buller Men Batty Bwoys: Hidden Men in Toronto and Halifax Black Communities

For more information, contact organizers Lali Mohamed at lali.moham@gmail.com or Rodney Diverlus, RSU’s Vice-President Equity at vp.equity@rsuonline.ca

This event is supported by the Ryerson Students’ Union, The Office of the Vice-President Provost, PFACS, Deviant Productions, Students’ Against Racism and RyePRIDE.

Many thanks to XTRA! for their generous media sponsorship and Christopher Cushman for the incredible photography.