Gay Life in Canadian Cities

[Chadillaccc]

The Calgary Rockies Inclusive Rugby Football Club finally had our inaugural practice yesterday! Our next practice will be this Friday followed by a BBQ at my house. If anyone is interested in learning rugby and joining the team, please message me on here

[Chadillaccc]

So I just attended Beaver Bowl in Toronto the weekend before last. Beaver Bowl is Canada's largest Gay Rugby Tournament. It was attended this year by 6 full teams (Toronto Muddy York, Ottawa Wolves, Montreal Armada, Chicago Dragons, Washington Scandals, and Columbus Coyotes) with representatives from 2 other teams (Calgary Rockies, and Baltimore Flamingos). I was the sole representative of the Calgary Rockies Rugby Football Club which I am just in the process of starting up, and I played for the Chicago Dragons in the tournament. It was an absolute BLAST! Everyone had such a good time, and the Ottawa Wolves beat Toronto Muddy York to win the Beaver Bowl Final. The events included a Pitbull Concert, a Drag Show at Woody's, a Third Half at Firken on Bloor, and several others. All that attended had a fantastic time. Now here's some pics from the event (I'm the guy with the Mohawk).

Source: My Facebook

[wg_flamip]

In the spirit of the Hallowe'en season, Sofonda Cox has just released this (IMO quite impressive) video:

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[SaskScraper]

I'm thinking of getting concert tickets to 80's Glam Rock/Pop group Culture Club & Boy George later this month in Regina but was wondering if anyone has seen their concert recently..


http://skylinetheater.com/boy-george...ity-2016-tour/

I know Boy George & Culture Club started in Vancouver first leg of their N American 20 tour-dates in 2015 & are now focusing on California and Western Canada this month before heading to Australia & New Zealand. Boy George has been DJing and in music for decades but not sure how his singing concerts with the group have been.

[SpongeG]

i've heard they are great but his voice s really different these days, still amazing but much raspier and i don't like some of the arrangements based on the videos i have seen

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i've heard they are great but his voice s really different these days, still amazing but much raspier and i don't like some of the arrangements based on the videos i have seen

thats exactly what I was thinking, Boy George did have vocal issues some years ago but they have back up vocalists and a large band set up with couple drummers and horn section etc. but I know they have only a limited number of concert dates over this leg of tour so hopefully it doesn't take a toll on his voice..
thanks for the info, I'll check out some recent videos to see if i like enough to score some tickets..

[SaskScraper]

Moose Jaw Pride was this last weekend, and probably the first Pride for the year in Canada..
It hit 32°C & sunny on Saturday
Have a great Pride in 2017 where/when ever your week is





https://moosejawpride.ca/

[SaskScraper]

A nice shout out from America's LGBTQNation.com in an article of permanent Rainbow cross walks in North America and including Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2017/05/...ow-crosswalks/


Southwest Saskatchewan Pride


The rainbow cross walk at 200 Central N, is just a few meters away from Premier of Saskatchewan Brad Wall's Constituency Office & which is next to the popular performance arts centre Lyric Theatre.

There are other rainbow crosswalks in the province such as in parking lot of Lawson Mall in Saskatoon, but this is the first permanent rainbow cross walk on a city street in Saskatchewan.

Swift Current's Pride week is coming up next week from May 28 to June 3rd.

[SaskScraper]

One of Saskatoon's gay bars, Diva's Night Club, hoists 2nd largest Rainbow Pride flag in the World, Largest in Northern Hemisphere.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...flag-1.4141557

As one of the country's longest running gay bars at 37 years and for the city's 25th anniversary Pride. the owner of Diva's Night Club had the 30lbs, 1000 sq/foot custom made flag lifted above their building in preparation for Saskatoon Pride's two week celebration later this month in which the city mayor, Charlie Clark will be Grand Marshal for the parade.

It could be a hot one, It was 35°C in parts of Southern Saskatchewan yesterday, June 1st for the unveiling of the flag.


Jennifer Geens/CBC

[SaskScraper]

Regina's Queen City Pride was this last week, and despite the rain during first part of the Parade on Saturday, it was the largest in the city's 28 years of Pride Parades.

http://www.620ckrm.com/2017/06/16/123471/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...rday-1.4163704

Jinkx Monsoon, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race season 5, was the headliner for the Pride After Dark party, She was phenomenal, look for her new album release in September..


queencitypride.ca

[SaskScraper]

Saskatoon Pride celebrated quarter century anniversary this month.

http://saskatoonpride.ca/

Among the more popular events Drag Queen StoryTime for kids (co-hosted by no other then CTV Saskatoon Evening News anchor Rob McDonald in drag)

Riverboat party cruise, Gaymer Pride at Bartari VideoGame Bar & Mana Bar, Bingo at Capitol Night Club, Detox roof-top Pool party at Hilton Garden Inn..
and of course the Pride Parade which had ~5000 people among 119 groups and organizations march.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskat...rade-1.4176688

Saskatoon's nude river beaches south of the city and https://sparticusspa.ca/ men's spa (bathhouse) would have been other popular places during the two weeks of Pride in Saskatoon.

Saskatoon's gay bars in conjunction with Pride had some big events..

Diva's NightClub had the White Party and Cirque Du-So-Gay with Raye Sunshine and Tyler Ayres in Aerial Cube.



https://www.facebook.com/Divas.Nightclub.Saskatoon/

Pink NightClub had RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Kimora Blac from most current season Thursday night, Friday night Street Foam Party, Saturday Night Full Street Party.



https://www.facebook.com/302lounge/

Next year in 2018, Canada hosts the World's InterPride Conference and Annual General Meeting in Saskatoon.
"InterPride is an international organization that promotes LGBTQ rights around the world. The annual meeting is the largest of its kind, drawing Pride groups from around the world."

http://ckom.com/article/1089117/sask...e-meeting-2018

[ainvan]

Best LGBT Cities 2017




Source: Nestpick

Congrats, TO!

[SaskScraper]

very cool list, thanks for posting & congrats to Canada's four largest CMAs making top 50

It's important to know how LGBTQ community rates their own city when polled by pollsters like Nestpick, otherwise there's no way for rest of us to know which is the more World Class & in-your-face-open city unless someone from that city tells us.

“It’s no coincidence that the world’s most exciting cities have a strong LGBT community, contributing much to the dynamism, openness and prosperity which defines locations such as Madrid, Amsterdam and Berlin”, states Ömer Kücükdere, Managing Director of Nestpick.

https://www.nestpick.com/best-lgbt-cities/

I do wonder how they came up with the short list of one hundred cities to poll though.. some of Europe's small islands, resorts and towns like Mykonos, Maspalomas, Ibiza town made the list but cities/resorts like Palm Springs, Phuket and Key West (or Fort Lauderdale for that matter) didn't make the cut even though these larger more populated places have some of the highest concentrations of LGBTQ residents, night life, & openness anywhere.

[someone123]

Here's a story about a man getting legally evicted in 2017 for having a boyfriend over in Vancouver:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homeown...home-1.3541471

When I discussed this with friends, a couple mentioned that this happened to them too a few years back.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's a story about a man getting legally evicted in 2017 for having a boyfriend over in Vancouver:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/homeown...home-1.3541471

When I discussed this with friends, a couple mentioned that this happened to them too a few years back.

It would be like that in Ontario too. When you're renting a room in someone's house and you share the house with the landlord, you're not a tenant, you're a boarder/roommate. Which means you're not protected by tenancy laws and you can be kicked out for basically anything.

In Ontario the legal distinction is when the setup is such that the landlord shares a kitchen and front entrance with the tenant, the tenant is classified as a boarder. I rent out rooms in my house so I host boarders, not tenants so I'm very aware of the laws.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

It would be like that in Ontario too. When you're renting a room in someone's house and you share the house with the landlord, you're not a tenant, you're a boarder/roommate. Which means you're not protected by tenancy laws and you can be kicked out for basically anything.

In Ontario the legal distinction is when the setup is such that the landlord shares a kitchen and front entrance with the tenant, the tenant is classified as a boarder. I rent out rooms in my house so I host boarders, not tenants so I'm very aware of the laws.

I was thinking that the situation would be similar in most, if not all, provinces, i.e. you can discriminate in terms of who you let into your own home. What made the reported case a bit weird is how the discrimination was applied after the tenant had move in, rather than at the selection stage.

[1overcosc]

Ontario announced that as of next week PrEP has been added to its drug benefit programs. This means that anyone under 25 will be able to get PrEP for free and for the rest the cost of being on it will drop to $220 a month, with any anount beyond 4% of one's net income paid for by the province.

[Tobyoby]

I don't know if these were posted already, but I got a laugh out of these.

[SaskScraper]

So Toronto Police have charge a man they believe responsible for the disappearance of Andrew Kinsman and maybe at least 4 other men & possibly many more from the Toronto Gay Village, making this suspect a possible serial killer.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toront...lice-1.3765424

Everytime I think of those men & their families and my Toronto friends, I can't help but cry. I've just been a basket case all day

I haven't been this distraught for my gay community since Pulse night Club shootings 18 months ago.

Here's a song that I sometimes listen to to cheer me up whenever I think back to Summer of 2016 and how it brought scary feelings for me & my friends particularly with Pride celebrations beginning later that week in LA and later that month all over N.America.

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Rachel Platten performed at the Invictus Games in Orlando the month before Pulse, she donated proceeds from her acoustic version for 'Fight Song' to the the National Compassion Fund, working to support the needs of people impacted by the event.

She performed in Regina couple months after Pulse but it wasn't until she played 'Stand by You" that I balled my head off through the song.

Hope this can help comfort you and make you feel stronger and that people care if you ever feel really really down in this world. -Hugs

[SignalHillHiker]

The live watching of RuPaul's Drag Race with a local queen has moved from the Rose and Thistle to Valhalla, with Irma Gerd (Miss [drag queen] St. John's, I think, three years ago now? Maybe two?).



Come on Trixie for the win, or Chi Chi.

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