IN Magazine: September/October 2025

CELEBRATING CANADA’S 2SLGBTQI

COMMUNITIES

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

SARAH MCLACHLAN: BUILDING A PROPHECY 7 LEGENDARY DIVAS WHO SOUNDTRACKED OUR LIBERATION QUEER SOCCER STAR SOFIA MANNER FINDS SAFE HAVEN IN CANADA ZIYAD SAADI’S DEBUT NOVEL IS NOT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR COMING OUT THE GROUNDBREAKING LEGACY OF NOAH’S ARC 1

A little birdie told me.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

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Ask your doctor about CABENUVA. 2

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ON THE COVER: Sarah McLachlan PHOTOGRAPHER: Kharen Hill

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126 Issue 126 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

06 | SPF: THE ONLY FORECAST THAT MATTERS All the reasons why sunscreen is your 365-day, non-negotiable, must-use skincare product 09 | CBRC’S BOLD MISSION TO DISMANTLE QUEER HEALTH INEQUITIES Inside the groundbreaking work of the Community-Based Research Centre

10 | LITTLE GHOSTS BOOKS IS EXPANDING OUR PERCEPTION OF HORROR, ONE SPOOK AT A TIME The queer-owned shop, Canada’s first horror bookstore, carries a selection of underrepresented voices and horror subgenres 13 | THE TWEETATIONS PRESENTS: MONA’S MAGIC HOUR, A CELEBRATION OF BLACK ARTISTIC EXPRESSION AND NATURE This show didn’t just entertain – it introduced audiences to Black history, or reminded them, in a way that lingers 16 | QUEER SOCCER STAR FINDS SAFE HAVEN IN CANADA Finnish goalkeeper Sofia Manner left her American team to join Toronto’s first professional women’s club

Data released by Ipsos in its annual Pride Report showed support for 2SLGBTQI+ rights and visibility remains strong among Canadians across the country and has increased over the past year, even as global attitudes continue to decline. (Photo by Toni Reed on Unsplash)

20 | SINCERITY IS SCARY: THE LACK OF EARNESTNESS IN GAY MEN Some gay men consider everything to be “camp,” to protect themselves from the judgments of revealing something about their genuine enjoyments. Can we ever show our true colours, or are we still no better than our closeted selves?

22 | FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS: THE LEGACY OF NOAH’S ARC Two decades since its small-screen debut, the groundbreaking Noah’s Arc returns at a time when Black LGBTQ+ media are needed the most 25 | BUILDING A PROPHECY Her songs became lifelines. Her stages reshaped the music industry. In an intimate conversation with IN Magazine, Sarah McLachlan speaks on the legacy of Lilith, allyship, and what comes next 30 | DISCO DYNASTY In celebration of disco’s 55th year, Elio Iannacci spoke with seven legendary divas who survived, shone, and soundtracked our liberation

42 | ZIYAD SAADI’S DEBUT NOVEL IS DEFINITELY NOT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR COMING OUT In Saadi’s debut novel Three Parties – a reimagining of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway – a queer Palestinian refugee plans to come out at his elaborate birthday dinner party 44 | HALLO BERLIN! AN LGBTQI+ GUIDE TO THE “CITY OF FREEDOM” Start planning your trip to one of the most inclusive cities in Europe by adding these LGBTQI+ businesses and sites to your Berlin itinerary 46 | FLEURIEU UNCORKED South Australia’s sun-drenched Fleurieu Peninsula – just a short drive from Adelaide – blends world-class Shiraz, fresh seafood, quiet beaches and raw nature into one cool package 50 | FLASHBACK: OCTOBER 14, 1977 IN 2SLGBTQI+ HISTORY Gay activist Thom Higgins throws a pie in Anita Bryant’s face – and makes LGBTQ+ history

40 | PINING OVER HOT (AND, SADLY, DEAD) VICTORIAN MEN What started for Aaron Radford-Wattley as a hobby collecting Victorian-era thirst traps turned into a viral Instagram account and a newly released book 5

LOOKING GOOD

SPF: THE ONLY

FORECAST THAT MATTERS All the reasons why sunscreen is your 365-day, non-negotiable, must-use skincare product

By Adriana Ermter

Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels

Considering that “Can you tan with SPF 50?” was one of the top Googled skincare questions last year, we need to talk about sunscreen. Because it’s not about tanning. That’s what spray tans and self-tanners – like Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Hue Face Drops ($50 for 40 mL, available at Sephora) and Clarins Golden Glow Booster for Body ($52 for 30 mL, available at Sephora) – are for. Sunscreen, on the other hand (or legs or shoulders or feet), is for your entire body’s protection. It’s your 365-day, year-round, even-in-the-rain, must-wear skincare product – because underneath every glowing tan is not-so-healthy-looking skin damage.

1,000 feet of altitude. So if you want that window seat’s killer view, taking off without sunscreen is still a hard no.

“While often associated with good health, the ‘glow’ of a tan is the very opposite of healthy; it is evidence of DNA injury to your skin,” affirms the Skin Cancer Foundation on their website.

“Tanning damages your skin cells and speeds up visible signs of aging. Worst of all, tanning can lead to skin cancer.”

Because the reality is, skin cancer is the most common cancer in Canada, accounting for nearly one third of all new cancer cases.

In 2024, Melanoma Canada estimated 11,300 new cases – a 17 per cent increase from 2023 – while the Canadian Cancer Society states that 65 per cent of melanoma cases in Canada are directly related to UV exposure.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Fact is, up to 90 per cent of ultraviolet rays – UVA (think A for aging/wrinkles) and UVB (B for burning) – cut straight through clouds, according to Cancer Research UK, while winter’s snow reflects up to 85 per cent of UV rays, doubling your exposure in a single bounce. And those windows in your house, office or car only block UVB rays; the UVA rays penetrate glass, speeding up skin aging and raising your cancer risk. And flying is the worst.

According to a 2021 article published by the Kelowna Skin Cancer Clinic, UV exposure increases by about four per cent for every

Burning Facts

Which perhaps explains why Mary Mills Barrow and John F. Barrow, authors of the beauty industry’s suncare bible, Sun Protection for Life: Your Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy and Beautiful Skin, crafted the easy-to-remember acronym AWARE. A: avoid unprotected exposure to the sun. W: wear protective clothing. A: apply broadspectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher. R: routinely check your body for sunspots, freckles and moles. E: express the need for sun protection with everyone you know.

And yet, wacky ideas persist. In a 2024 survey by the Canadian Dermatology Association, 32 per cent of Canucks still think sunscreen isn’t necessary on cloudy days, and 28 per cent of us skip it in winter. Happily, the same survey also shows we’re turning a corner, with 28 per cent now using sunscreen and 19 per cent reporting daily use. Ideally, though, everyone will consistently reach for a broad-spectrum sunscreen, because anything less isn’t cutting it.

Did you know… Sunscreen won’t block your vitamin D. The Skin Cancer Foundation says daily SPF wearers still get enough.

Did you know… Just five childhood sunburns can double your melanoma risk, says Melanoma Focus UK. Even two can spike it by 78 per cent, reports an article published by the National Library of Medicine.

Did you know… Order doesn’t matter. John Hopkins Medicine says any SPF 30+, broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen (such as Avène High Sun Protection Family Face & Body Lotion SPF 50, $48 for 200 mL, available at Shoppers Drug Mart) will work, whether applied before or after other skincare products.

Did you know… Your postal code could up your risk. Statistics Canada found that men in high-UV zones face a 22-26 per cent higher melanoma risk. Toronto vs Montreal? 16 per cent higher.

Calgary vs Edmonton? Nearly 40 per cent.

Did you know… Your skin can start burning in just 15 minutes without SPF. According to a 2022 article published by the National Library of Medicine, UV rays peak from 10 am to 4 pm, even on cloudy, rainy days.

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Alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs): Exfoliators like glycolic and lactic acid boost sun sensitivity, raising your risk of UV-triggered irritation and hyperpigmentation.

When to use them: At night. Be diligent with SPF 30+ application in the morning.

Benzoyl peroxide: This acne fighter can break down chemical sunscreens, reducing effectiveness.

When to use them: Best at night. When used in the morning, wait 30 minutes before applying a non-comedogenic, mineral sunscreen, like Tatcha The Silk Sunscreen SPF 50 ($86 for 50 mL, available at Sephora).

Essential oils: Citrus oils such as bergamot, grapefruit or lemon can react with sunlight, causing irritation, burns or discolouration.

When to use them: Only at night. Thoroughly cleanse your face in the morning, following up with an SPF. Retinol/retinoids: These products speed up cellular turnover and heighten sun sensitivity – even if they contain sunscreen – making you prone to burns.

When to use them: Nighttime. In the morning, use a gentle, twoin-one, non-reactive moisturizer with broad-spectrum sunscreen – like First Aid Beauty Hydrating Milk Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 45 ($48 for 50 mL, available at Sephora).

Salicylic acid (Beta-hydroxy acid): They’re great for unclogging pores but can make skin UV-sensitive.

When to use them: Best at night. If used in the morning, follow up immediately with a moisturizing, non-comedogenic, mineral, broad-spectrum sunscreen for sensitive skin, such as Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Face Liquid Mineral Sunscreen for Sensitive Skin SPF 50+ ($21 for 40 mL, available at Shoppers Drug Mart).

Vitamin C: This is a powerful antioxidant when stable. Unstable versions can oxidize when exposed to light and irritate skin.

When to use them: Any time, but pick airtight, dark-bottle serums and let them absorb fully. Avoid chemical sunscreens; instead, opt for mineral-based ones such as Vichy Capital Soleil Daily Ultra Fluid Mineral Tinted & Dry Touch SPF 60 ($38 for 45 mL, available at Amazon).

Be SPF smart with the Canadian Dermatology Association’s Seven Tips Step 1: Pick the right formula. Use a broad-spectrum SPF 30+ that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Acne prone?

Products like Avène Cleanance SPF 30 Mattifying Sunscreen Lotion ($46 for 50 mL, available at Shoppers Drug Mart) are crafted specifically for oily skin.

Step 2: Apply enough. A teaspoon for your face and neck; a shot glass for your entire body.

Step 3: Swap in as your face lotion. Get one-and-done results with skincare brands that infuse SPF into face products, such as Bioré UV Aqua Rich Weightless Moisturizer SPF 30 ($20 for 50 mL, available at Shoppers Drug Mart).

Step 4: Timing matters. Apply sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before heading outside, to ensure it has been absorbed and activated.

Step 5: Reapply. Every two hours whenever you’re outdoors and right after sweating, swimming or towel-drying. Ideal choices are the water-resistant options, like La Roche-Posay Anthelios Ultra Fluid SPF 50+ Invisible Finish Face ($33 for 50 mL) and Body ($33 for 125 mL) Sunscreens. Or pop Blue Lizard’s pocket-sized Sensitive Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Stick ($15 for 14 mL) in your bag for easy-access, on-the-go touch ups. (All three products are available at Shoppers Drug Mart.)

Step 6: Don’t ditch it indoors. UVA rays can pass through windows.

Step 7: Make it a habit. Many sunscreens pull double skincareduty – like e.l.f. Cosmetics Suntouchable! Invisible Sunscreen SPF 35 blurring makeup primer ($19 for 50 mL), Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Sunscreen SPF 50+ Moisturizing Face Serum ($21 for 50 mL) and Vichy Capital Soleil UV+Age Daily SPF 60 anti-Aging Face Lotion ($43 for 40 mL). (All three products are available at Shoppers Drug Mart.)

Three Eye-opening Myths UV rays can “sunburn” your eyes – so, “much like using SPF daily to protect our skin from sun damage, protecting our eyes from UV exposure should also be a year-round priority,” says Naomi Barber, clinical services director at Specsavers Canada in Vancouver. See more clearly with these debunked myths.

Myth 1: All sunglasses are equal False. Unless your shades specifically say they block 100 per cent of UVA and UVB rays, they’re just fashion accessories. “Look for sunglasses labelled with UV 400 for the best protection,” recommends Barber, noting that larger, wraparound frames offer more coverage, while darker, polarized lenses reduce glare and filter light.

Myth 2: UV rays won’t lead to eye issues False. “UVB rays are primarily absorbed by the cornea and lens, and excessive exposure can lead to conditions like an eye sunburn and cataracts,” warns Barber. “UVA rays, on the other hand, penetrate deeper into the eye and are believed to contribute to long-term retinal damage, including age-related macular degeneration.”

Myth 3: Reflected rays aren’t a big deal False. “UV rays can penetrate clouds and reflect off surfaces like snow, water or pavement even on overcast days and cause damage to our vision,” says Barber.

ADRIANA ERMTER is a Toronto-based lifestyle-magazine pro who has travelled the globe writing about must-spritz fragrances, child poverty, beauty and grooming.

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LOOKING GOOD

6 SPF-Changing Ingredients

COMMUNITY

ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR 2SLGBTQI+ COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND CONNECTIONS?

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

The IN Directory has you covered.

VISIT INMAGAZINE.CA/DIRECTORY The IN Directory is Canada’s newest 2SLGBTQI+ community resource directory of 2SLGBTQI+ specific programs, services and supports.

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Inside the groundbreaking work of the Community-Based Research Centre

A quiet revolution continues to unfold across Canada. It doesn’t look like the typical kind of activism you might picture – there are no megaphones or protest signs. Instead, there are research teams, peer educators, grassroots organizers and policy advocates, all working under one powerful mandate: to improve the health and well-being of 2SLGBTQI+ people across Canada. This is the Community-Based Research Centre, better known as CBRC, and its impact is reshaping public health from the inside out.

and trans people in our awareness-raising efforts, to ensure that the benefits of PrEP are being realized in these communities as well.”

A new form of HIV prevention While CBRC started as a research hub, its work today spans a vast and ambitious spectrum: public health interventions, education, peer-led programs, national advocacy and policy development. The organization has become a go-to expert on queer health across Canada, especially for issues that fall through the cracks of mainstream health systems, and what’s on the horizon.

Incorporated in 1999, CBRC is a non-profit charitable organization headquartered in Vancouver (with satellite offices in Toronto and Montreal), which promotes the health of people of diverse sexualities “Long-acting, injectable HIV prevention tools have finally arrived in Canada, adding an exciting and important new tool in our efforts to and genders through research and health promotion. The organization’s core pillars – community-led research, knowledge exchange, network support the people most impacted by HIV and, perhaps most importantly, building and leadership development – position it as a thought leader, for whom oral, pill-based regimens are less accessible or effective” transforming ideas into actions that make a difference in our communities. says Kwag. “Not everyone is great at taking pills every day, and the It is also making a difference with its signature programs: the annual addition of long-acting prevention may help these folks in particular. At the same time, long-acting prevention is not for everyone. Many people Summit – the largest 2SLGBTQI+ health conference in Canada – and the Sex Now Survey, Canada’s largest and longest-running survey of will continue taking oral PrEP, and it’s important that we continue to sexual minority men. First administered on paper at Pride festivals, make a range of PrEP options available and accessible to everyone who may benefit from it, based on their own needs and circumstances.” the survey (now inclusive of all 2SLGBTQI+ people) has evolved into a massive data-gathering tool that informs everything from HIV Making PrEP access truly equitable – beyond just availability prevention strategies to mental health programs and sexual health campaigns. It’s research with real-world impact – and it’s driven by “We have all the knowledge and tools we need to end new HIV infections lived experience. in Canada, but we need to be investing more in the communities most affected by HIV, and the health systems needed to support the needs A legacy born from the HIV crisis of these communities, in order to make PrEP truly equitable and CBRC began in 1999, during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic: a accessible,” says Kwag. “Communities need access to funding and time when queer voices were systematically left out of research, and support to ensure that education and outreach efforts are reaching the health policy decisions were made without input from those most people who are either unaware of PrEP or need help in order to access affected. The organization, founded by a group of gay men determined it. We also need to ensure that our public health systems have the ability to shift that dynamic, started with a radical premise: that community to\ innovate and develop care models that help meet people where they should lead the conversation on its own health. are at, including people who don’t have access to a regular healthcare provider or who live in a more remote community. The reality is that Today, one of those conversations focuses on the barriers that many PrEP is still not fully accessible and available to everyone who needs queer folks face trying to access PrEP. PrEP stands for pre-exposure it, and we need to be powering our communities and systems to take prophylaxis, and is a class of medicine that is highly effective at decisive action to close these gaps.” preventing HIV acquisition when taken as prescribed. According to Michael Kwag, executive director at CBRC, while access to PrEP has The future is community-led improved over the years since it was first approved by Health Canada, CBRC doesn’t just publish reports – they launch movements. In a the biggest direct barriers include cost (e.g., for the medication if world where queer and trans rights remain under attack, and where they do not have access to private insurance or a public program; for health inequities continue to deepen, CBRC’s work has never been travel costs to doctors and lab appointments), not having access to a more urgent. Whether it’s developing trauma-informed sexual health knowledgeable or supportive healthcare provider, and stigma related to resources for queer youth, training doctors on trans-inclusive care, HIV and/or PrEP, which can impact how people perceive the benefits or ensuring that health data reflects non-binary identities, CBRC is and risks of taking PrEP in the first place. constantly pushing institutions to evolve.

“Despite all the efforts that have gone into PrEP education and awareness, we can’t assume that all queer folks know about PrEP, particularly younger folks and newcomers to Canada, who may not have access to information about PrEP,” says Kwag.

Kwag notes that racialized and trans communities in particular – who often face additional barriers to culturally safe and appropriate healthcare and support – are being left behind. That’s something the CBRC intends to put more resources behind. “Our educational campaigns and initiatives have centred the needs and experiences of white cisgender gay men too often, and we need to be working to empower racialized

Because when communities lead, transformation follows.

LEARN MORE To support or get involved with CBRC’s work, visit www.cbrc.net, sign up for their newsletter (www.cbrc.net/ subscribe) or follow them on Instagram @thecbrc.

To learn more about ViiV Healthcare Canada, visit www.viivhealthcare.ca.

This content is sponsored by ViiV Healthcare Canada.

Photo by Javier García on Unsplash

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CBRC’S BOLD MISSION TO DISMANTLE QUEER HEALTH INEQUITIES

BOOKS

Little Ghosts Books Is Expanding Our Perception Of Horror, One Spook At A Time The queer-owned shop, Canada’s first horror bookstore, carries a selection of under-represented voices and horror subgenres

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

By Stephan Petar

Photos courtesy of Little Ghosts Books

Canada’s first horror bookstore is spooky. But not in the way on their covers. The store also has a coffin-shaped mirror, ghostly one would imagine. Walking into Toronto’s Little Ghosts Books, photography and a back patio with a 12-foot-tall skeleton. customers will feel watched. A skeleton in the display window peers at the entrance, while ghosts read books or carry tote bags. “I wanted it to be spooky, but I didn’t want it to be a cave,” says Natural light floods the space, making it a nightmare for the local owner Chris about designing the shop. “A space can be beautiful vampire population. The black bookcases face outward, with a and spooky at the same time.” sliding ladder attached to the main one, which displays rows of books with distorted and jagged fonts along with haunting imagery This is one of many misconceptions that Chris and his business

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queer business, but gravitate to horror because they resonate with the genre.

Horror is more than guts and Stephen King The two horror fans opened Little Ghosts Books in 2022, in response to what they saw as the unimpressive horror selections at other bookstores. “There are the big names and the white straight men,” Chris says about the inventory at other stores. “But I read so much by Black, Indigenous and queer authors.”

The relationship between queer people and horror goes beyond the genre’s campy element. Many identify with the monsters because they feel they share similar experiences. Like the monsters, queer readers tend to feel misunderstood and othered by a society that usually blames, hunts and rejects them. “There is a tragedy to being constantly scapegoated that is so fixated in the genre with the monsters specifically,” Chris explains. “A monster is just something that is too big or too strange for the world, and people attack it. Why would you not resonate with that?”

The horror genre is diverse, but many automatically associate it with blood, guts and graphic violence. While true, the assumption that this represents the full genre leads people to write it off as too scary. “When people say they don’t like horror, I don’t know if that’s true,” Chris shares. He argues that the kind of horror someone might enjoy is likely just not available for them to discover.

Addressing this problem, the shop curates books that diverge from the stereotypical view of the genre. Little Ghosts Books expands the reader’s definition of horror by carrying a wide array of subgenres. It carries supernatural, folklore and psychological horror as well as paranormal romance. Chris and Jason also stock thrillers, mysteries and fantasies, as long as the intention is horror or the book has horror elements.

A popular subgenre of late is folklore, according to Chris. “People want to hear about folklore from different cultures to see what’s scaring them,” he says, noting that Japanese and Indigenous collections in particular are popular.

He also notes that body horror can resonate with the trans community. “Isn’t that the trans experience? To be like my body is out of my control and doing things to me that I did not ask for and cannot stop.”

Whether it is themes of otherness, identity or marginalization, queer people attach themselves to horror because it often mirrors their internal and/or external experiences. It allows the 2SLGBTQI+ community to open up and create meaningful conversations, especially with allies, about how they feel in society.

In the end, horror is more than just guts pouring out of people.

It’s a genre that can provide reflection and education.

Horror also introduces new formats that people may not usually encounter, like the novella, which is usually between the length of a short and long story. Chris says the form struggles in other genres but thrives in horror. “It excels because you’re giving someone a little roller coaster to go on,” he explains. “Horror propels the narrative in such a way that people just eat it up.”

The shop also features an array of queer and authors who are Black, Indigenous or People of Colour (BIPOC), giving them space to be discovered. “Most of our job is looking at what small presses have and what our favourite queer authors have coming out.”

Chris also works to amplify these voices by actually publishing them. Shortly after opening, he started Little Ghosts Press as a way to give back to the community. Publishing four books a year, the company’s first release was Demons & Death Drops: An Anthology of Queer Performance Horror. Its latest release is Student Bodies by T.T. Madden.

While patrons of Little Ghosts Books will discover the breadth of authors, subgenres and formats associated with horror, they’ll still find classics. Customers can purchase titles like The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine, and a few spell books as well.

Why do queer people relate to horror?

While the enterprise has a global clientele coming from as far as Sweden, most customers are local and part of the 2SLGBTQI+ community. These individuals not only want to support a local

STEPHAN PETAR is a born and raised Torontonian, known for developing lifestyle, entertainment, travel, historical and 2SLGBTQI+ content. He enjoys wandering the streets of any destination he visits, where he’s guaranteed to discover something new or meet someone who will inspire his next story.

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BOOKS

and life partner, Jason, hope to dispel about the horror genre with their store.

HEALTH SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Quadrangle NL is the only charitable organization in Newfoundland and Labrador with the sole mandate of supporting and bringing together the 2SLGBTQIA+ population of our province.

We provide regular community events, workshops, and outreach services while also delivering programs that support folks with housing, mental health, and gender affirming care needs right here at home.

Meet you at the Quad!

www.thequadnl.com @thequadnl 12

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THEATRE

ABOVE: The cast of The Tweetations Presents: Mona’s Magic Hour at Memorial Park, 22 Little Avenue in Toronto, on July 12, 2025. From left to right: Bongani Musa, Onija Bennet, Zaahira Joseph, Fraser Collins, Nichelle Bernard, Krystal Victoria, Nia Tinker, Chris Otchere, Makoto Ashley and Dario Dvon.

The Tweetations Presents: Mona’s Magic Hour, A Celebration Of Black Artistic Expression And Nature This show didn’t just entertain – it introduces audiences to Black history, or reminds them, in a way that lingers

By Victoria Hincapie Gomez Photos by Kam Sylvestre

Mona’s Magic Hour is a one-hour, family-friendly musical revue iteration of The Tweetations Revue, a 22-minute short film and musical fantasy, that brings together people of all ages to celebrate the joy and spirit of Black music, style and performance over the past six decades. And they get to enjoy the show alongside birds and nature.

The revue, which notably played earlier this summer in Toronto, is hosted by Ms. Dionne the Pigeon, played by multidisciplinary artist Zaahira Joseph. As she welcomes the audience to the show and introduces The Tweetations, a fabulous flock of talented songbirds from across ‘The Great Tree’ make their way to the

outdoor stage. The show is a love letter to ‘Mona’ (also played

by Zaahira Joseph), or Mother Nature.

Throughout the hour, which takes place during “magic hour” (sunset), we meet a variety of performers and musical styles, all brought to life through uplifting numbers, comedy sketches and dance sequences. It’s interactive, whimsical and cheeky, and full of heart and nostalgia. The show features classic songs from the Gladys Knight & The Pips and The O’Jays catalogues.

Fraser Collins, writer and director of Mona’s Magic Hour, says the revue is contributing to a larger conversation about how art can spark change, especially in how we relate to the environment.

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Zaahira Joseph, a.k.a. ‘Ms. Dionne’

The revue is composed of an all-Black cast, which initially is what drew Zaahira Joseph, the actress behind ‘Ms. Dionne’ and ‘Mona,’ the most to it.

“I think there’s not enough art and theatre,” Joseph says. “And I don’t want to say that it’s just for us because it’s not just for “I’ve read that the bird population is declining. Our ecosystems us, but there’s not enough of it. The opportunity for us to be in are in crisis. And at the same time, Black and other marginalized an all-Black cast, to show our culture or our Black magic, was communities are vastly under-represented in fields like ornithology truly beautiful. My main role, Miss Dion, has a lot of sass and and natural science, so part of the intention here is to inspire and playfulness to her and a bit of mystery, so that’s kind of like my to show young people, especially from racialized backgrounds, personality. The best way that I could describe her is as a mama that the natural world belongs to them too,” he says. who likes to put on a really good party, all while being in disguise to be amongst the people and witness life up close.”

Collins often felt like an outcast growing up in Queensville and Mount Albert, Ontario, navigating life as an adopted, Black, bi- For the majority of her early life, Joseph was a competitive racial kid in a mostly white family and community. Music and gymnast, but when she was about 17, an injury caused her to stop film gave him an escape from this complex reality, propelling gymnastics. To fill that void, she started delving into dancing and him to study TV, media, broadcasting and cinematography in his cheerleading, which led her to acting and singing. post-secondary education. After graduating, he began working in Toronto’s film industry as a camera assistant on feature films, Joseph says plays like this are important. “These are the ways that TV shows, commercials, concerts and music videos. we are able to express ourselves and say something and Joseph says plays like this are important. “These are the ways that we While doing these projects, Collins met other like-minded are able to express ourselves and say something and represent our individuals with whom he shared live experiences. communities and our cultures, in whatever artistic fashion,” she says. “I think any time we hear the word like politics or political “I didn’t fully see myself as an artist until I met other Black and anything, we can automatically get depressed, but we can be LGBTQ+ creatives, people who lived proudly in both their artistry political in a very light and fun way, showing diversity, showing and their identity. That community gave me the courage to do community, showing culture, showing all of these different colours.” the same, and to centre my work on the lives, communities and stories that reflect who I am. My journey as a multidisciplinary Joseph wasn’t the only one holding multiple roles in the revue; artist has been shaped by education, work, a whole lot of dreaming, Chris Otchere played ‘Pecker Bigwing,’ ‘Love bug’ and one of and relationships,” he explains. the ‘Treetops.’

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Fraser Collins

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THEATRE Diséiye Thompson (left) and Zaahira Joseph, a.k.a. ‘Mona’ (right)

A major part of theatre revolves around creating custom designs to bring characters to life, and that’s what Diséiye Thompson did for Otchere, Joseph and the rest of the cast. Thompson is an independent fashion designer with an eponymous brand (‘Diséiye’), whose upcoming projects include facilitating a four-week sewing program for ballroom youth along with fellow fashion designer and ‘Mona’s Magic Hour’ set decorator, Charlotte Carbone. The program is funded by the Toronto Arts Council through Art Reach.

Chris Otchere, a.k.a. “Pecker Bigwing’

“‘Pecker Bigwing’ is probably the coolest bird in the nest,” Otchere explains. “His fashion is impeccable – no pun intended – and his confidence is unmatched. A huge inspiration for the pecker for myself is Sylvester. The love bugs are these fun-loving creatures that just want to infect the world with love and affection. The Treetops are inspired by the O’Jays, who were an R&B group in the ’60s and ’70s. They created legendary hits such as ‘Sing A Happy Song.’”

While envisioning the characters’ costumes with Collins, they looked to nature for inspiration, referencing birds in their movements and colour scheme and even courtship rituals. Thompson also worked with Darynel Beckford, Jelani Waldron and Akosua Hazel, previous students of the costume design program at the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, a charity dedicated to addressing economic and social barriers affecting Black youth ages 18 to 29 in and around the GTA. They assisted Thompson with wardrobe and were able to gain some hands-on experience.

Thompson says watching the revue as a spectator last July was truly magical, especially “seeing all the kids interact with the performers, circling around Mona after the show to get photos, getting to dance and laugh along with the performers. Bringing joy to families is truly what the show is about, and I am grateful to be a part of it. Black Joy is resistance; it’s important to create spaces for Black audiences, especially young people, to see themselves reflected in art, to envision a liberated future full of possibilities.”

Collins says this show doesn’t just entertain; it introduces audiences Otchere grew up in a highly religious Ghanaian household, to Black history, or reminds them, in a way that lingers. surrounded by music and dance, and gospel music and going to church were a big part of his life. As he came to terms with his “You’re singing along, you’re laughing, and suddenly you’re identity as a Black queer man, dancing felt like an escape from thinking about art, legacy and where we’ve come from, even if the world, leading him to pursue musical theatre at the Etobicoke you don’t realize it right away,” he says. “When a show like this School of the Arts. comes to life, it tells young people that they can make something meaningful and uplifting, something that reflects their full self.

“I was taught the fundamentals of becoming a triple threat from There’s something radical about centring joy and connection in amazing teachers and faculty,” Otchere says. “Our Black History a time when there seems to be less and less of it. Any chance I Month shows at that school were so pivotal in me continuing to get to document, showcase, honour or remix Black and LGBTQ+ pursue the arts in post-secondary education. The Black stories joy, count me in! It’s absolutely worth protecting.” of resistance and racism in the world told by these young Black students were so impactful and important to the rest of the school Collins says he is working to release the award-winning short community, which was predominantly white. To this day I love film The Tweetations Revue before the end of summer, with the to be a part of the Black theatre community and be able to tell hope of developing a larger live theatre production called The Black stories.”

Tweetations Revue Live sometime next year.

VICTORIA HINCAPIE GOMEZ is a Colombian transgender journalist based in Toronto. She writes and reports stories about crime, culture and politics as well as profiles of people within under-represented communities. Victoria’s writing has appeared in CBC Arts and Humber Polytechnic’s news outlets, Skedline News and Humber Etcetera.

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SPORTS

QUEER

SOCCER STAR SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

FINDS SAFE HAVEN IN CANADA Finnish goalkeeper Sofia Manner left her American team to join Toronto’s first professional women’s club

By Kevin Hurren

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SPORTS

With athletes like Megan Rapinoe, Marta, and Sam Kerr, it’s tempting to assume that the world of women’s soccer is an easy place to be openly queer. Yet as every player knows, the journey to living authentically both on and off the pitch comes with its challenges. That’s certainly been the case for goalkeeper Sofia Manner.

At 27 years old, Manner has a lot of qualities a team looks for in a goalkeeper. Called a “commanding presence,” she’s over six feet tall, has a good physical build and boasts more game experience than goalkeepers coming straight out of the collegiate system. It’s no wonder that the Association Football Club (AFC) Toronto – the city’s first professional women’s club – made Manner an offer to join their inaugural team at the start of 2025.

“We were scouting various goalkeepers from different teams across North America, Europe, around the globe – and then we came across Sofia’s profile and there was a lot of interest,” says Rasih Pala, AFC Toronto’s goalkeeping coach. At the time, Manner was playing for another team: Florida’s Orlando Prides.

Despite the team’s name, living in Florida as a queer person like Manner came with its own burdens.

“I’m more masculine than a lot of girls, so I got into a lot of uncomfortable situations,” she says. “There were situations using public bathrooms, being misgendered a lot of the time.”

Manner, who was born in Finland, first started playing soccer in Florida in 2021 when she attended a Boca Raton grad school – a time when the state was just coming off US President Trump’s first term and two years into Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s term.

Both men spurred fears about trans and non-gender-conforming people using bathrooms and change facilities, culminating in 2023 Florida legislation making it a misdemeanor to use a bath- or changeroom different than your gender assigned at birth.

Manner’s experiences are an example of how laws targeting trans people negatively impact all members of the community, and anyone who doesn’t fit into a narrow, heteronormative ideal.

“I was thinking, ‘Should I stay to work?’ But then I was like, okay, that’s not an option for me, not here at least,” says Manner.

Having been to Canada only twice in her life before she was recruited by Toronto, Manner didn’t exactly know what living in this country would be like – but she had already spent a lifetime making space for herself. That began at the very inception of her soccer career, when Manner was only five years old living in Helsinki, Finland.

The youngest of three children, Manner idolized her older siblings and wanted to participate in the things they were interested in. “I always fangirled my brother as he was playing soccer, so of course I wanted to play as well,” she says. “I did try gymnastics with my sister as well, but I just didn’t have the same kind of passion.”

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SPORTS

Playing with her brother meant playing with boys years older than her, but Manner relished the game – especially as they’d often leave it to her to guard the net. “I felt it’s more exciting to save goals than score them, especially at that time.”

As Manner’s goalkeeper skills were developing, so too were her queer feelings. At around 16, she had her first crush on a girl.

“I remember thinking, ‘I think about her more than any of my other friends.’”

Like many young people, saying the words out loud was one of the most intimidating parts about coming out, says Manner. “I wrote it to my phone and turned it to her because I could not say it out loud.”

Though that early crush never grew into anything more, Manner did come out to her family and got her first girlfriend in the following years. After high school and on the recommendation of a friend, Manner enrolled at New York’s Stony Brook University. There she joined their collegiate team, going on to win America East Rookie of the Year in her freshman year.

Despite the accolades and superior game performance, Manner wasn’t yet living 100 per cent as herself in New York.

“I was in a completely new country, new language, new team, new people around me,” she says. “After practice, I would be the first one coming in so I could go first in the showers and leave before anyone else got there.”

What eventually helped Manner feel more at home on the team was the fact that each year following her freshman run, another queer player joined the team.

“Today it’s like half of the team is queer, but when I was first, it was a little different.”

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Being the first or only of anything is tough, even as high-profile soccer players come out publicly in the media. It’s especially strenuous when you have a partner reinforcing shame or fear – something Manner would learn the hard way when she moved to Florida to attend graduate school and continue playing soccer.

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SPORTS

The girl Manner started dating at the time wouldn’t feel comfortable being in public together, or even admitting that they were dating.

“Once, her best friends from home came to visit and she talked about me as a boyfriend and I was like – yikes.”

Now that Manner lives and plays in Canada, she can be her fullest self – with a new girlfriend and new teammates. “Teamwise, that’s the biggest difference: I have more close friendships here.”

“When you’re around people who are really accepting, it makes the environment nicer to be in,” says Kaela Hansen, a defender at AFC Toronto and teammate of Manner. The two have become friends since Manner joined the team.

“She’s definitely the light of the team,” says Hansen. “Like, if people are having a bad day or are down, she is always the person to try to cheer you up and make you laugh. She can make your day feel better for sure.”

While Canada is far from perfect – including when it comes to queer people in sports – there’s a different vibe here when it comes to diversity, says Manner. An example of that is the Pride

game AFC Toronto hosted this past June, celebrating inclusion and featuring a drag artist halftime show. “You’re able to be just who you want to be and, honestly, I feel very welcome.”

When Manner feels empowered and at ease, it’s good for the whole team, says Pala, the goalkeeping coach.

“She’s the oldest goalkeeper and played the most games this year, so when she talks to the younger goalkeepers and gives them positive encouragement and advice, that’s always going to be beneficial.”

As Manner continues to carve out a name for herself as an out and proud player, she’s making soccer – and all sports – easier to join for all. It’s part of why she was featured in an anthology book of inspiring queer Finnish athletes, and why other members of the AFC Toronto team also feel able to be open about their sexualities.

Be it at the net or off the pitch, it’s all about being there for your teammates, says Manner.

“The chance to save the team in difficult moments, I think that’s incredible.”

KEVIN HURREN is a Toronto-based writer and TV producer. After having ghostwritten for the nation’s most senior government and business leaders, he now helps TV shows tell compelling stories.

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OPINION

SI N CE RI T Y I S SC A RY: Th e Lack Of Earne st ne ss In Gay Men

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Some gay men consider everything to be “camp,” to protect themselves from the judgments of revealing something about their genuine enjoyments. Can we ever show our true colours, or are we still no better than our closeted selves?

By Jesse Boland

Photo by Brice Cooper on Unsplash

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Gay guys are fascinating. When you think of every gay man you have ever met – no matter how catty, vapid, superficial, sarcastic, ridiculous, named Andrew, or odious they may be – what they all share in common is that for at least one moment in their life they had a moment of complete honest, emotionally naked vulnerability where they made the harrowing decision to announce that they were homosexual. The willingness to accept the harsh consequences of an exponentially more difficult life for the sake of living in your own truth is a feat of strength that can never be downplayed.

Yet so many men are quick to defer from this sincerity to a more obfuscatory persona of palpable silliness and bitchiness. And who can blame us?

Growing up queer is essentially a Choose Your Own Adventure experience where you the individual are tasked with figuring out your own identity on your own time with, rarely, the help of other queer figures in your life to guide you. For most gay men, our first time seeing other men like us was in portrayals of fictional characters in film and television – often depicted and/or written by straight people – who provided us with extremely skewed and biased portrayals of what gay life is really like. Even with the advancement of progressive media of the modern age, the gay celebrities and public figures we are presented with are still being filtered through meticulous publicists and representatives to portray a more palatable depiction of acceptable gayness to the general public. Even the article you are currently reading was overseen and tweaked by my editor to make me seem less mean and stupid in order to align with IN Magazine’s branded image (I love you, Christopher).

While using intentionally deflective PR tactics to maintain a pristine public-facing image is sensible for men living in the spotlight, why do so many men shy so far away from their authentic selves in their everyday lives? This year alone I have had entire 10-minute conversations with men about the music career of American singer

Addison Rae where, in the end, I still could not tell for certain whether or not they enjoyed her music. When a 28-year-old Deloitte employee named Matt’s takeaway from a pop album is that the singer in question “used the bathroom at her gynecologist’s office during her biannual cunt-smear appointment to take a shit in the mother toilet after eating too many of Madonna’s reheated Ray of Light nachos from the night before after breaking her Onika burgers diet,” literally how the fuck do you respond to that?

This ambivalence in describing one’s personal taste is rarely a method of abstract discussion to encourage more nuanced conversation about art, but rather a diversion tactic to avoid revealing too much about our guilty pleasures for fear of judgmental scrutiny for not being cool. In a hyper-superficial age where good taste is the most invaluable of social currency, the repercussions of being perceived as uncool for unapologetically loving mainstream pop music or cheesy movies feels too grave a risk. Thus, we have diluted ourselves down to that of an indifferent Goldilocks opting for the room-temperature porridge of neutral indifference just to be safe.

Worse yet is the incessant need so many of us feel for everything to be a joke. It needs to be stated that the overwhelming majority of you guys are truly not funny. Like…genuinely, seriously, deeply unfunny to the point of dreadfulness, and I need you all to make peace with that. While Matteo Lane may have convinced the world that saying “Obviously I’m gay,” is a fully fleshed out, complete joke, or that the Evan Ross Katz industrial complex suggestion that posting a screengrab of a humorous quote on your page that somebody else has written is the equivalent of making a funny quip yourself, the reality is that many of you have the same comedic imaginations as your straight co-worker who tells you, unprompted, about a round of Cards Against Humanity he won the previous weekend. And that’s okay! Not everybody needs to be funny, and not everything requires a joke. In fact, the funniest people alive – such as me – know that the key component to humour is timing, and that most circumstances do not require jokes, as their insertions would be highly tasteless and inappropriate. Yet so often we find ourselves insisting on attaching humour to serious moments in an attempt to divorce ourselves from the discomfort of the situation’s direness. We make self-deprecating jokes to cover up our insecurities; we insult one another but guise it as teasing to avoid the accountability of our cruelty; and to deflate the tone of our messages, we include “lol” at the end of texts the same way the Silent Generation yelled “Stop!” at the end of their telegrams. But when life feels like a joke, does that make it a comedy or a tragedy?

Writing this, I dread the inevitable one-liner quips my friends will send me razzing me on my thesis of sincerity, and I admittedly am to blame for that. I too have certainly contributed to this philistinism of unseriousness through my own blasé approach to culture, intimacy and life overall. I cannot be mad that I once accepted the pickle juice and now continue to be served it. The zest of my public persona has served me well in obfuscating from my own chagrins of life, but it has not brought me happiness. I find myself in a once-protective but now isolating box, reminiscent of the closet I lived in until I was 15. But much like then, I plan on stepping out of it too, now in my 30s, as embarrassing as that may be.

I look forward to meeting all of you then. No closing joke needed.

JESSE BOLAND is that gay kid in class who your English teacher always believed in. He’s a graduate of English at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) who has a passion for giving a voice to people who don’t have data on their phones and who chases his dreams by foot because he never got his driver’s licence.

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Of all the countless artifacts of sociopolitical thought our modernday philosopher Wendy Williams left for us before retiring from the reign of her violet throne, the concept of “kitchen table talk” still resonates most with me today. What this idiom limns for us is the concept of a niche manner of conversation with our dearest and most trusted loved ones to share verbally our most confessional of taboo opinions and sentiments within the imagined sanctuary of the metaphorical kitchen table, safe from scathing judgment by the outside world. This safe haven of coalescent truth was historically the binding glue of human connection, but through the Anthropocene era of digital communication dismembering and decontextualizing our interpersonal relationships, we seem to have become reticent of speaking our truths for fear that our most honest thoughts will be misinterpreted and weaponized against us. While self-censorship (also known as basic fucking manners) is absolutely a necessary component of a functioning society, many of us have taken this aversion to authenticity and vulnerability and created an invisible force field of sardonicism, apathy and abrasiveness to protect against any moment of true human connection. For gay men especially, our lack of earnestness feels particularly perplexing, knowing how much we have endured to muster the courage of being our true selves in coming out of the closet, yet still failing to break out of our Zara-adorned shells.

TELEVISION

Friendship Never Ends:

THE LEGACY OF NOAH’S ARC Two decades since its small-screen debut, the groundbreaking Noah’s Arc returns at a time when Black LGBTQ+ media is needed the most

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

By William Koné

Back in the 2000s, I visited a website called TV.com almost daily. It was an online encyclopedia for all things television that solidified my passion for the art form. What made the website my sanctuary were the forums, as I could connect with fellow TV lovers to discuss my favourite shows. One day, I stumbled upon a user with an avatar that moved me. It featured two gorgeous Black men, one with cornrows and the other with Type 4 curls, affectionately embracing one another. In asking who these men were, I was told that they were Noah and Wade from the comedy series Noah’s Arc. Curiosity and fear consumed my mind. It was the first time I had ever seen a Black gay couple in media, but as a closeted 13-year-old boy, I was terrified of being outed. Silencing my sexuality, I believed, was the only means of security I had.

When I finally started watching Noah’s Arc, that fear slowly dissolved. For 20 minutes at a time, I saw Black gay men who were fully realized in their sexuality – realized in ways I didn’t

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think possible. Noah, Alex, Ricky and Chance were proof that you could thrive in your Blackness and your queerness at the same time unapologetically. They were examples that weren’t visible in my everyday life back then, which helped me feel less isolated within my sexuality journey.

Noah’s Arc set a precedent that was unseen in television. It was the first scripted series from LGBTQ+ channel Logo and the first scripted series to centre on Black gay men in America. Noah’s Arc followed the personal and professional challenges of a Black gay friend group in Los Angeles, a narrative previously reserved for straight women (think Sex and the City and Girlfriends) or white gay men (think Queer as Folk and Will & Grace). After two seasons, a feature film and an online reunion special, Noah’s Arc has now returned, 20 years later, in a new television film available on Paramount+. This comes at a time where Black LGBTQ+ media has reached a standstill.

These findings coincide with highly anticipated television projects about Black queer men getting greenlit but with limited prospects.

Over the past five years, the adaptation of E. Lynn Harris’ novel Invisible Life, the adaptation of Aaron Foley’s novel Boys Come First, Jaboukie Young-White’s adaptation of Vanessa R. Panfil’s novel Gangs All Queer, and Bernard David Jones’ Remember have all been announced, with zero progress to the small screen.

We’re witnessing the presence of Black LGBTQ+ narratives diminish before our eyes. As a Black gay screenwriter, this is distressing, as I’m adamant about creating stories advocating for my communities. When our likeness isn’t reflected within the media, it calls into question whether our livelihood matters. The revival of Noah’s Arc offers hope within the television and film landscape by expanding the legacy of the iconic series, while reminding folks that there is still an appetite for Black LGBTQ+ content.

During its run, Noah’s Arc was praised for its depiction of relevant social issues. The series normalized gay marriage at a time where it was legalized in only one American state. We followed a later-inlife coming out with Noah’s love interest Wade (played by Jensen Atwood), making way for nuanced portrayals of sexuality beyond a straight versus gay binary. The series critiqued internalized homophobia and hypermasculinity pervading queer men. Noah’s Arc also humanized those living with HIV, while advocating for safe sex and STI testing. The new film expands the scope of the original by exploring parenthood, grief, aging and illness among the characters.

by Darryl Stephens) take pride in his identity, while still being desired by other men, eased the pressure to be something I’m not.

I felt like an honorary member of the clique as I aspired to have friends like these in my own life.

With the new television film following these beloved characters in their 40s and 50s, Noah’s Arc breaks new ground by depicting midlife among Black queer men. While Billy Porter and Nathan Lee Graham both portrayed seasoned queer characters in Pose and Mid-Century Modern, both were supporting characters among a predominantly younger or predominantly white cast. BBC’s Mr. Loverman won two BAFTA TV awards for leading and supporting actor, but was billed as a limited series. Meanwhile, recent films like All of Us Strangers and Queer explored anxieties in midlife; however, both were told solely from a white perspective. This creates a gap within media de-centring Black LGBTQ+ folks of a certain age, making the Noah’s Arc film a welcome addition to the midlife film canon. Fortunately, Noah and his friends don’t have to worry about competing for screen time, as their experiences are what define the story at hand.

In a 2024 study conducted in British Columbia, research supported findings that gay men over the age of 50 were more prone to depressive and anxious symptoms compared to straight men.

Loneliness has been cited as a key contributor, while ageism has been cited as another factor based on internalized homophobic attitudes associating youthfulness with higher life satisfaction.

In the past year, new LGBTQ+ media have catered largely to queerhood among youth, including Overcompensating, What It Feels Like for a Girl, Adults and Dreams in Nightmares. As important as it is for younger queer audiences to access content validating their experiences, I can’t help but wonder how older queer audiences feel when witnessing stories they can no longer relate to. I’m a firm believer that television and film are the most accessible platforms for folks to find themselves. If we’re all rooted within the human experience, then why is one perspective most visible within the mainstream media?

It was imperative for my teen self to see the characters of Noah’s Creator Patrik-Ian Polk has mentioned that his inspiration came Arc thrive in their 20s and 30s. The series and the film showed not only from the absence of Black LGBTQ+ media, but the that a Black queer future was possible during a painful time in advice of fellow Black gay filmmaker Rikki Beadle-Blair, who my life. In coming to terms with my sexuality, writing rather than suggested Polk write the story that only “he really knew.” Polk’s seclusion became my protective shield by allowing me to construct persistence within an industry that silences marginalized voices realities that celebrated Black LGBTQ+ folks. I can’t imagine allowed our stories to be placed at the forefront on TV. This reaching that point without having Noah’s Arc ground me in the legitimized the Black LGBTQ+ experience in media, paving the early years of my queerhood. I believe it’s equally important to way for future films and television series, including the Oscar- see the Noah’s Arc characters thrive midlife to prove that Black winning Moonlight and the Emmy-winning Pose. queer joy isn’t restricted to youth. Such portrayals could save the life of someone eager for their identity to be validated.

What I loved most about Noah’s Arc was its complex depiction of Black gay men. The core four had different skin tones, personalities, Given the political unrest threatening the humanity of LGBTQ+ career paths and romantic aspirations. Watching Alex (played by folks in America today, reprieve within the media we consume Rodney Chester) and Chance (played by Doug Spearman) navigate is necessary to obtain hopefulness through these unsettling the highs and lows of domestic life with long-term partners felt times. With the new Noah’s Arc film debuting in the Top 5 on liberating, as until then I had only seen this with heterosexual Paramount+, it’s clear that this franchise remains impactful to couples onscreen. Seeing Ricky (played by Christian Vincent) have long-time and recent fans alike. Despite the challenges persisting his own business and firmly oppose marriage was eye-opening, within LGBTQ+ media, the enduring love surrounding Noah’s as I was raised in a family that prioritized marriage as a marker Arc’s legacy makes me hopeful that a change welcoming more of success. Watching an effeminate Black man like Noah (played Black queer stories is imminent.

WILLIAM KONÉ is a Black gay screenwriter and a registered psychotherapist based in Toronto. A self-proclaimed TV enthusiast and a long-time member of the Beyhive, he has a penchant for ’90s media, relationship dramas and the Real Housewives franchise.

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The 2025 GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index revealed startling findings about LGBTQ+ representation in film for 2024. Only 23.6 per cent of major studio releases featured any LGBTQ+ characters at all. This is a considerable decrease from the Index’s 2023 study, which had 27.3 per cent LGBTQ+ characters, while their 2022 study had 28.5 per cent LGBTQ+ characters. Only 33 per cent of 2024 films featured LGBTQ+ characters of colour, whereas 2023 featured 46 per cent – another drastic decline. Black folks only accounted for 10 per cent of the LGBTQ+ characters found in 2024 films. Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ characters living with HIV weren’t featured in any major studio release in 2024.

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INMagazineCA

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

TELEVISION

Photo credit: Kharen Hill

Building a

COVER

Prophecy

Her songs became lifelines. Her stages reshaped the music industry. In an intimate conversation with IN Magazine, Sarah McLachlan speaks on the legacy of Lilith, allyship, and what comes next

By Elio Iannacci

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I Won’t Fear Love.

That small-but-mighty lyric – lifted from the title song on Sarah McLachlan’s third album, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy – has echoed for decades as a quiet anthem for 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

Only four words, but their resonance is seismic. Released in 1993, a time when the HIV/AIDS epidemic was nearing its peak and love itself felt fraught, the song dared to stand for intimacy without shame, and affection without apology. When closeness felt dangerous and desire was weaponized, McLachlan’s voice arrived just in time, like a balm.

As the Dallas Voice (a Texan LGBTQ+ newspaper) observed in 2014, although McLachlan wrote “Fumbling” about a straight relationship, it struck a deep chord with queer listeners – especially those who were coming out or wrestling with their identity. It gave space to explore “issues of self-actualization” and agonizing doubt.

For many of us, the song’s chorus was recuperative, unflinching and defiant, all at once: And if I shed a tear I won’t cage it / I won’t fear love And if I feel a rage I won’t deny it / I won’t fear love

Girls, Olivia Rodrigo, Erykah Badu and other iconic names. It traces Lilith Fair’s three-summer, 54-city, 134-date run, which raised more than $7 million for various charities. The documentary will air on CBC and CBC Gem on September 17 and is produced by an all-star team, including Christian Piovesan and Dan Levy.

Beyond the big and small screen, McLachlan is also preparing to release her 10th studio album, Better Broken, and hit the road for a solo tour.

Before taking to the stage yet again, McLachlan sat down with Elio Iannacci for an hour-long conversation about her commitment to queer lives, the labour of building space for equality in music, and the next chapter of her ever-expanding creative journey.

How were you able to update your sound while honouring your past musical legacy?

Young people. Early on, I was thinking this might be my last record and I kind of owed it to myself to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve worked with Pierre Marchand [her long-time producer?] for 30-plus years and I adore him, but I thought I just need to stretch a little bit. I met with Tony [Berg, the producer of her new album?], and had this instant connection with him. I played the song ‘Gravity’ for him once, just on the piano. He sat down at the piano, played the entire thing back to me and then said, ‘What about this chord here?’ He made the song better in minutes. He and his team have this wealth of musicality that just blows my mind.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

That bond – first forged in those early, aching years – marked the beginning of a long and meaningful relationship between McLachlan and the queer community. But she didn’t stop at being a vessel for catharsis. Over the next three decades, the Halifaxborn singer-songwriter, advocate and mother of two would prove she’s more than a haunting vocalist or clairvoyant lyricist: she’s a A standout track called ‘Long Way Home’ seems to address movement maker. With 10 studio albums to her name, McLachlan why it took 11 years to create this album, with the lyrics has sold more than 40 million records worldwide, earning three ‘taking the long road home, tried to pay my debts.’ What are Grammy Awards and a dozen Junos along the way. But some of those long-standing debts? her most influential work has happened off the charts.

I didn’t get to this point in my life unscathed. I’ve had a crazy amazing, joyful, painful, wonderful life. I had my heart broken a Lilith Fair, which was dismissed by bro-centric rock media – who number of times. I’ve lost both my parents to long painful battles infamously dubbed it “Lesbopalooza,” with Rolling Stone using with cancer. I’ve had some terrible breakups that were partly terms like “estrogen fest” and “feminazis” to describe the scene self-induced because I stayed too long. For me, the reclamation – was nonetheless deeply embraced by women and LGBTQ+ of self is a really big theme that is prevalent on this album. Just audiences. For those on the right side of history, McLachlan rediscovering who I am. What’s my place in the world now as a made a mark when she launched the then-radical festival, which woman, as a mother, as a songwriter? What do I have to say? This centred entirely on women artists. includes all these moments of panic of like, ‘I’m a middle-aged white woman of privilege, nobody wants to hear from me.’ I think the act of giving back is essential to me since I made it this far.

“ I don’t like feeling rage. I feel out of control when I’m feeling rage.

Letting go of the things that you can’t control is a choice.”

Now, a soon-to-be-released documentary directed by Ally Pankiw revisits the festival’s legacy and its far-reaching ripple effects.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this September, the film features interviews with Brandi Carlile, Indigo

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Barbra Streisand has said that rage is a motivator for some of her work. Is this true for you?

Rage has definitely been a motivator. That’s changed. I don’t like feeling rage. I feel out of control when I’m feeling rage. Letting go of the things that you can’t control is a choice. You can choose to step away from it and go, ‘Okay, this is unhealthy for me. I’m going to take a different tack.’

Stevie Nicks once told you that you reminded her of Janis Joplin. Do you feel like you give off Joplin vibes?

That was a kind thing for her to say. Janis was definitely a wild child. She certainly did things her own way, and I’m pretty pigheaded and stubborn, and I do things my own way. Especially if someone tells me I can’t do something, well, that just makes me want to do it 10 times more. There have been a few times

One of your news songs, ‘One in A Long Line,’ speaks to the relationship you have with your daughters and the next generation. In hits like ‘Into The Fire,’ you explored your relationship with your mother. How different is writing a song regarding both experiences?

In ‘One In A Long Line,’ I want to impart a sense of strength and self-worth to my daughters. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that. I want to be the antithesis of my mother, who had a lot of challenges in her life and was not a good mother at all. But in some ways, the lack of mothering taught me how to show up.

‘One In A Long Line’ is about the idea that we are standing on the shoulders of all these women who came before us, who suffered and struggled to win the rights that we are now watching being eroded away from us once again. And it’s like, ‘How the hell did this happen?’ Now is not the time to be complacent. You want to talk about rage? I mean, for me, I feel rage when I sing that song. It’s almost like I need a couple minutes to come down after because I am so angry.

What did you want to make sure you did not raise your daughters with?

Well, parenting with shame, parenting with fear, doing anything leading with fear or shame. I created a community of like-minded people. We’re very free-thinking, very liberal-minded. And, for me, it was a conscious effort and decision to do the opposite. My mother led by fear and kind of, ‘Why would you even bother trying?

You’ll fail. You’re not good enough. Don’t go thinking anything special.’ Typical Scottish mentality. It was very sexist. I had two older brothers who were given all sorts of opportunities that I was not given because I was a girl. The inherent unfairness of that was very obvious to me from an early age, and when thinking about raising my girls, I wanted them to have self-worth, to understand that they had a voice and they should use it. I don’t want them to be afraid to speak out and ask questions.

Researchers have found that many of the AI generators and chatbots demonstrate a right-wing bias. In some ways, creating music with your own voice, without so much dependency on AI, is now becoming a radical act. Does it feel that way?

AI is baffling and terrifying to me. I don’t see it as a radical act because it’s innately such a huge part of me – it just feels completely normal and natural. It feels shocking that it’s radical, and maybe it is. If that is the case, then I need to do this 10 times louder.

Lilith Fair was such a platform for many people to understand feminism in a very different context than what was created in schools or in the media. What’s your perspective on how some use feminism as a weapon against transgender people, particularly in light of figures like J.K. Rowling?

I think it’s very strange. I can’t speak to her motives. What I know is, that is not what I believe. I’ve always thought there is a place for everybody. And I’m very much live and let live. If you’re not

hurting me, why would I care what you do? It’s your path. And you should get to have an open avenue for your path, as should I. I want everybody to have equal opportunity. The way I choose to go about it is less with anger or a fist, and more with, how about we find ways to build bridges? Stay open and stay curious and try and understand it as opposed to just put up a brick wall. We all want love and acceptance. I am just still utterly baffled by the Christian right and the hypocrisy of all of this. Why can’t we just figure this out together?

In the Lilith Fair documentary, Brandi Carlisle remarked on how Lilith Fair became an intersection of queer and women’s rights. Did you experience that as well?

Oh yeah. It was happening – that connection between the two – in very natural ways backstage and on stage. It was about creating a safe space where everybody could show up as they were, as they wanted to be, and they were accepted as that. That was such an antithesis of what was going on in certainly live concerts like Lollapalooza, H.O.R.D.E. [Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere], [where] there was a real male anger and using music in this sort of violent and macho way. I didn’t attend – it was terrifying for me. I didn’t want to get groped or raped or any of that stuff. For me, and for all the women and all the people that participated in Lilith, we were the polar opposite of that energy.

There was a natural intersection of openness because the artists who were on the Lilith lineup are some of the most open-minded liberal people there are. We recognized – through conversations about our lives, our performances, our material – that we need each other to progress.

Do you see that kind of thinking in the music industry today?

Well, every system in the world that we live in right now, for the most part, has been created by men, for men. And if we want to do something different, it involves people in power who have a platform to help build that. Lilith was an example of that. Brandi doing what Brandi does – bringing women together on stage regularly – is an example of that. Taylor Swift having all women open up for her is another example. However, if we continue, as women, to fight each other for this narrow sliver of pie that men have allowed us to have, for instance, we’re never going to get anywhere. I’ve always had the idea that if I have more than enough, I want to share it. I want to bring other women forward and put them in the spotlight and say, ‘Look, we can support each other and lift each other up.’ That is so much more powerful... than tearing each other down.

Is there anything you’ve learned from having queer artists on the Lilith stage?

For me, the LGBTQ community has opened up my world. They have told me that difference creates a much more interesting, nuanced world. They are a huge reminder that we can show up for each other. Having people like Tegan and Sarah and the Indigo Girls perform was more exciting and alluring and interesting and colourful than staying in one cookie-cutter lane.

Emily and Amy from the Indigo Girls made a big impact on me early on in the first year of Lilith. I really wanted to play with the other artists but I was shy to ask, and they were so encouraging

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when women, like Stevie, have been mentors to me. People like Emmylou Harris have come at pivotal moments and reaffirmed and reminded me of my path. I’ve had a pretty healthy dose of imposter syndrome most of my life, probably because of the way I was raised. That self-loathing in some ways has served me well because it’s propelled me to be better.

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Looking back at some monumental songs like ‘Fear’ and ‘Fumbling Towards Ecstasy,’ do you see why the LGBTQ+ community was so drawn to them, particularly during the HIV/AIDS epidemic?

It makes perfect sense. I write from a perspective of love is love is love, and love shows up in all sorts of ways. So do its challenges.

These are very basic human feelings that all of us share – even if our stories are different. The fear of being vulnerable, of opening yourself up and allowing someone else in during a time when it’s nearly impossible to do that, is understandable. That’s what it is to be human. When I hear of people finding comfort during times of challenge or loss, it reminds me to recognize that as a woman, as a mother, and as an advocate and humanitarian, I need to keep speaking up.

What did you discover from working with the LGBTQ+ community during your involvement with HIV/AIDS charities?

When I worked with Lifebeat [a leading non-profit based in England that is dedicated to educating youth about HIV/AIDS prevention] in the early ’90s, I saw how the community had to deal with the stigma and the fear around AIDS. I saw that these were people who were suffering and dying and losing their loved ones. Education is still so imperative. There was so much misinformation back then. It felt like I had to do something because everywhere I turned was a sad reminder of loss. We had to fight against losing more.

sorts of ways. And this is a wonderful example of that. There’s this sort of higher social context to the song that I love.

In another new song, ‘The Last to Go,’ you sing: ‘the cage I could not see.’ What, to you, is an invisible cage?

Being a product of my mother and of society. I was thinking about what I gave up in myself to please men for so long when I wrote that song. I watched that with my mother too. She had no other choice but to stay in a marriage that was miserable because she had no friends or job. Even in the ’80s, you were kind of a pariah if you got divorced. Those are some of the embarrassing patterns that I found myself reliving. I would think, ‘Oh wow, you really haven’t stepped that far out of the mould.’ So it’s about breaking the patterns of that self-loathing and changing the narrative about your own life.

I was watching old footage of you answering questions from media during Lilith’s tours. How did you maintain your composure during press conferences when journalists used sexist or homophobic language about Lilith Fair?

Now, having much more confidence, I would be able to also have clever things to say. Things like ‘Your issues with this sound like it’s got a lot more to do with you than anything else.’ But I was raised a good Canadian girl who keeps her mouth shut and doesn’t challenge people. I thought, I just kind of have to put up with it. This was very much how women got through, and still get through. Put up with a lot. I just didn’t know how to answer it other than kind of ignore it and repeat what I truly felt: ‘You’re missing out on this wonderful opportunity to see what the world can be like when everybody chooses acceptance and chooses to not tear somebody else down.’

Yet with all your strength, the theme of surrender comes up in a song called ‘If This Is The End’ and past songs ‘Surrender and Certainty’ and ‘Sweet Surrender.’ What fascinates you about the concept of surrender?

There’s a bit of Buddhism in those lyrics. When you continue to bang your head against a brick wall and there is no shifting or changing, it’s the definition of insanity. You have to step back and say, ‘I need to find a different path for my own safety and sanity.’ It can be a big challenge standing up for yourself and knowing when to let go because those things often oppose each other. For me, surrender is choosing to value myself, but also just to give in to the things that I can’t change and let them be.

Sinéad O’Connor said that singing with you and being part of Lilith felt healing. Did you witness how it healed her?

Well, first of all, I was a massive fan of Sinéad. I wanted to mother her. I wanted to be a sister to her because I just felt like she was so alone in the industry, and she was so beat upon and so crucified in so many ways by speaking out and being her authentic self. I saw that Lilith’s community, and that space that was created, made her feel really safe. I loved seeing another side of her because she always seemed quite serious. I’m the same way. A lot of people listen to my music and they think I’m in the attic with red wine reading Sylvia Plath at two o’clock in the morning with candles going. I’m actually a really happy person. I was deeply saddened when I heard she died. I should have stayed more connected. I should have done more. Getting to sing with one of the most important voices of the time was absolutely so powerful.

‘Reminds Me,’ your new duet with Katie Gavin from MUNA, is one of the rare romantic songs out there sung between two women. Why MUNA? What space did that collaboration open up for you?

I met Katie when she was opening with MUNA for Taylor Swift.

I was just in love with her voice, and she’s such a beautiful writer.

In this climate, it would’ve been an obvious choice for me to find a guy to sing that with me. Our duet will be seen as radical, but it was a great opportunity for me to be an advocate and to be an ally and to remind the world at large that love shows up in all

How do you see your role as an artist having changed with today’s political climate?

I have a platform and I recognize the value of being an ally and to continuing to speak out about the challenges that people are facing.

I want to show people that when you stay open and curious, that actually feels better for the greater world. We have to continue to find commonality…even during this mess. I’m doing that through my music, through spreading inclusivity and the joy of connection to all and for all. For me, music is medicine. I’m hoping this will be as restorative for those who listen to it as it was for me to make.

ELIO IANNACCI is an award-winning writer, poet and long-time arts reporter for The Globe and Mail. He has contributed to 80 publications worldwide, including Vogue Italia, The Hollywood Reporter, Maclean’s, The Toronto Star and Sotheby’s Insight magazine.

His master’s thesis, Queer-Diva Collaboration in 20th Century Popular Music, was nominated for a Governor General’s Gold Medal.

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and they said, ‘We’ll ask!’ They just got the ball rolling, and I’m so grateful to them for that, because singing with them and so many other artists became the highlight of the tour. I also have huge love and respect for Brandi Carlile, for all she’s done to support and elevate other women and queer artists by creating Girls Just Wanna Weekend, her music festival, and creating amazing events for us as a community of artists to come together to support and champion Joni Mitchell.

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DISCO DYNASTY In celebration of disco’s 55th year, Elio Iannacci spoke with seven legendary divas who survived, shone, and soundtracked our liberation

By Elio Iannacci Photo by NEOSiAM

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MUSIC Before Studio 54 was name-dropped into cliché – and long Among the disco queens who made a glittering – yet permanent before Saturday Night Fever and the geeky Bee Gees swooped – mark on 2SLGBTQI+ and pop culture are Gloria Gaynor, in to sanitize its sound – the disco movement was firing up a Martha Wash, Norma Jean Wright, Melba Moore, Candi Staton, prophecy. A prophecy lit by the force of Black women and the Kathy Sledge and Linda Clifford. They stand as genre-defining fire of the gay underground. Laced with strings, tambourines, hitmakers whose alliances with LGBTQ+ artists helped turn the soulful vocals and lusty electro compositions, this music genre dance floor into a space of truth and euphoria. Their anthems was piloted by a mix of Black, Italian, Latino, queer and feminist – and the songs that came after them – blasted an era of change forces who played a vital part in turning rhythm into resistance. even further, by celebrating queer liberation (“I Am What I Am”), unapologetic female sexuality (“It’s Raining Men”), acts of This year marks the 55th anniversary of that syncopated resistance connected to civil and women’s rights (“Young Hearts revolution, a genre many music historians trace back to Italian Run Free”) and, of course, the chosen-family dynamics of the American DJ David Mancuso’s first queer-packed Love Saves the LGBTQ+ movement (“We Are Family”). Their legacies go well Day Loft party in New York City in 1970. The party started on beyond disco’s heyday, yet each of their journeys is anchored to a Valentine’s Day of that year but went on for decades (Mancuso soundtrack of survival, revolution and freedom. It hasn’t always passed away in 2016). It was at The Loft that other fledgling been smooth sailing between disco queens and queers. Gloria gay dance floor innovators – Larry Levan of the Paradise Gaynor was recently chosen to be awarded by Donald Trump Garage, Frankie Knuckles of Chicago’s Warehouse, Francis at the Kennedy Honors in December. The View’s Ana Navarro Grasso of The Sanctuary and Studio 54’s Nicky Siano – each voiced what many fans felt when she posted on Instagram urging heard Mancuso blend funk, soul and rock in an effort to mirror Gaynor not to “accept an award from the hands of a man who has the all-races, all-sexualities credo of his eclectic crowd. While attacked the rights and history of women, people of color and Mancuso didn't invent disco's sound—which came from Black LGBTQ.” Navarro stressed that it was “the gay community in and queer cultures criss-crossing with global style, he made particular [that] helped turn her signature song into an anthem.” space for its evolution.

As of press time, there are also unconfirmed reports that Gaynor made donations to multiple Republican party members.

While all of these queer disco acolytes devoted themselves to expanding the groove, it was a select set of daring Black women Yet beyond these complicated ties, each of the seven artists defy critics who fronted the genre and transformed ’70s nightlife and fashion who once dismissed disco as too Black, too loud, too queer. Their in a way that carried through to the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s and beyond. songs aren’t just feel-good – they are, as Sylvester famously sang, Together, their united vision of music – that intersection of queer cuts that make us feel mighty real. A.k.a. worthy. Accepted. Beloved. and diva – inspired disco’s succession: house, circuit, trance, Desired. Strong. Over the course of three years, I connected with electronica, and legions of Billboard-topping dance-pop. these seven voices of change to collect and share their testimonies.

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I Will Revive: Gloria Gaynor calls disco “recession-proof” – a place where “women are leaders.”

from their predecessors and they don’t name names. She does.

So does Kylie Minogue [whom Gaynor duetted with on “Can’t Stop Writing Songs About You”]. They give audiences what they want by using the greatness of the past so she’s able to uplift the present.”

On not feeling Studio 54’s vibe “It wasn’t my scene. If I had a gig there, I’d enter, head to the dressing room, go onstage and head out the back door. I was not hanging out with Michael Jackson, Diana Ross or Andy Warhol.

One night I had friends visiting from the UK who wanted to experience Studio 54. My limo stopped in front of the club, and the doorman at the velvet rope – I called him the casting director – came over to the car and signalled for me to let down the window, and he said, ‘Ms. Gaynor, you don’t want to come in here tonight.’

We left. I was not about to find out what was going on.”

On disco as the ultimate equalizer “Disco allowed me to take the lead completely. I chose my subject matter. I chose my songs. There are so many female disco artists, and for critics to say that we were all under some man’s thumb or were someone’s puppet is wrong. ‘I Will Survive’ was only a B-side. I was the one who pushed for it to be a single. To me, disco will always be a genre where women are leaders. I’m living proof.

“That said, as an artist, you can’t do everything. I also choose qualified people like Tom Moulton [the legendary gay producer credited for pioneering the 12-inch mix] to work with. My first album [1975’s “Never Can Say Goodbye”] was mixed by him.

He knew the sound of the gay discos and knew what gay crowds wanted: more, more, more. He saw the future, and we made my album one big continuous mix for 19 minutes. That had never been done before back then. Now, everyone does it, but we were the first.

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GLORIA GAYNOR: THE MIRRORBALL MONARCH Tied only with Donna Summer for the crown, Gloria Gaynor stands as the Queen of Disco – and one of the genre’s most enduring living legends. Now 82, she’s alive, well, and still singing her heart out. Her two biggest swings – 1978’s “I Will Survive” and 1983’s “I Am What I Am” – remain jumbotron-sized anthems, projecting pride and resilience in bold type. Decades later, neither sounds maudlin or dated. In Gaynor’s own words, disco was her anchor and her calling – and she’s come to see that its power hasn’t dimmed with time.

On why disco will always be on a comeback tour “It’s recession-proof. Disco comes along when both the economy and spirits are low. It has that power to resist because it’s positive and upbeat. It celebrates the tenacity of the human spirit, and disco is the only genre in history to bring together people from every race, creed, colour, nationality and age group.”

On respecting the O.G. divas “I’ve always acknowledged the people that came before me. I’ve learned from them – people like Nancy Wilson were the building blocks to my craft. I tip my hat to Beyoncé because many young people really don’t actually believe they have gained anything

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Never Can Say Goodbye: At 82, Gaynor is still turning the beat around with her new EP, Happy Tears.

“I have people I work with, family, fans and friends who are of the LGBTQ+ community – they have no misconception of how I love them and have loved them from the start.”.

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Champion of Dance: At 66, Kathy Sledge’s moves still mesmerize — seen here backstage at a recent sold-out gig.

KATHY SLEDGE: THE BOLD SOUL SISTER On disco’s telenovela-like rise and revival Kathy Sledge’s dance music legacy is anchored in two families: “In the ’70s, disco music became a threat to the music industry. her bloodline – she led Sister Sledge’s all-sibling, hit-making crew It was becoming much too powerful, much too fast – blending – and her chosen LGBTQ+ kin of collaborators and fans. Her voice different genres of music as well as different cultures. That scares extends like stretch velvet – supple and shape-shifting – fuelling people who are limited, but disco music couldn’t be controlled. It classic tracks such as “We Are Family” and “He’s The Greatest crossed all boundaries. Even when the infamous Disco Demolition Dancer,” alongside solo songs like “Another Star,” “Freedom” happened [an event in 1979 where disco records were set on (Frankie Knuckles remix) and “Falling Deep In Love Again” (with fire in Chicago’s Comiskey Park as part of a backlash steeped Horse Meat Disco). As Sledge tells it, disco didn’t just lift her in racism and homophobia], people unsuccessfully tried to kill up: it recalibrated her autonomy and pushed her artistry further. disco music. But it only resurfaced as house, pop and other branches of dance music – it never went away. In the end, the cream rises to the top.”

On removing roadblocks “They did throw a lot of albums in a field and burned them and screamed ‘Disco sucks,’ but I never felt threatened as an artist.

Disco and dance music are one of the many facets of who I am as an artist. A few years after I recorded ‘Rising’ [for King Britt’s Sylk 130 project in 2016], I was being heavily sued by my own sisters. Legally they voted me out as a manager of our company LLC, where I was not allowed to say I was ‘from or of Sister Sledge.’ That was an extremely cathartic and heavy time for me.

I was made to feel like I didn’t even own my own voice.”

On reinvention and redirection “Now, my sister Kim and I restructured our company LLC, and own and protect our brand. I went through hell protecting my rights and the value of who I am. It’s been a long but invaluable road.

However, even then, I did not think my career was over. It only made me stronger and more passionately and creatively driven.”

On reclaiming sisterhood “Through it all, I will always be most proud that my sisters and I opened the doors for acts like Spice Girls and En Vogues and the TLCs. I am presently touring my production Kathy Sledge presents Sister Sledge Live. It’s doing incredibly well, especially with the resurgence of ‘Thinking Of You’ [which is getting a Kathy’s-version re-release]. This year I also debuted my new song, ‘Promise Me,’ available on all music platforms.”

She is F-A-M-I-L-Y: Sledge’s recent Attitude Award cements her iconic chosen family status in the community.

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Weather Girl: The biggest disco lesson Martha Wash learned? “Know your worth. Protect your voice.”

MARTHA WASH: THE DANCE FLOOR DEFENDER No other vocalist has consistently brought the church to the club like Martha Wash. From her early days backing queer music icon Sylvester to her evolution from Two Tons of Fun to The Weather Girls (with Izora Armstead, her partner on “It’s Raining Men,” arguably the gayest anthem ever to chart), Wash’s reign over the dance floor was born in a disco.

Across decades, she’s fought for and earned her dues – most notably in the ’90s, when she won landmark court cases demanding credit and compensation for her unmistakable lead vocals on massive tracks like C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” Seduction’s “(You’re My One and Only) True Love” and Black Box’s “Strike It Up.” Her gospelrooted, five-octave range ignited solo deep cuts like “Carry On” and “Catch the Light,” as well as her duet with Jocelyn Brown, “Keep on Jumpin’.” Wash also helped create new disco spaces by launching the First Ladies of Disco tours, spotlighting powerhouse vocalists of the era and bringing the genre to live stages. Here, she emphasizes that the essence of her career goes beyond lending her voice: it’s about persistently recovering her legacy.

On her disco epiphany “Disco gave my voice a real platform to grow. It was the first time I could be loud, proud and heard. That music saved people, and I saw that. It created joy where there was pain, especially in the gay clubs. That’s where our songs were really born. Not on radio. Not on TV. On dance floors. Those clubs – especially gay clubs – were our sanctuary. That’s where we were welcomed, celebrated, free.”

On that reigning anthem “‘It’s Raining Men’ was massive for us, because that song was claimed by the LGBTQ+ community the second the needle dropped. Paul Jabara [the track’s co-songwriter, who passed away of HIV/AIDS complications in 1992] took it straight to the gay clubs first. No label, no rollout, no branding, no red carpets.

Just speakers and a dance floor and folks who understood it right away. I saw that crowd screaming, jumping, like they finally had their day. And they did.”

On Sylvester’s bold blueprint “Sylvester was the reason I got into this business. We were his backup singers. Watching him live his life so boldly and unapologetically – it gave me strength. He was out when most people couldn’t be. He wore heels and sequins and didn’t flinch

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She Carries On: At 71, Wash works the mic for her album, Love & Conflict.

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or care what anybody said. He taught me to bring the drama – to command a stage. Sylvester was fearless – Black, gay, genderfluid and things that we are just now trying to find words for.

Being around him taught me to be bolder. He told me, ‘Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. You tell them.’ That stuck with me.”

On owning your own mic “When I think about feminism, it’s about women owning their work, their bodies, their voice. It’s about being in control of your narrative. Too often in this industry, women – especially Black women – get silenced or sidelined. I refused to let that happen to me without a fight. I tell young artists, especially young women and LGBTQ+ artists: know your worth. Protect your voice. Don’t let anyone else define your image or your sound. I saw how they tried with The Weather Girls and Sylvester, but I had to push back hard to be seen and to be heard properly. Respectfully. But that’s what emancipation is: claiming yourself.”

Ms. Chic: Norma Jean Wright’s voice has kept people dancing for over five decades.

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NORMA JEAN WRIGHT: THE BEAT KEEPER Much like Destiny’s Child and The Supremes, disco collective Chic – led by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers – weathered several personnel changes. But their debut album broke through with Norma Jean Wright, a voice that reset the era’s mood with textured yet sumptuous tones. Draped in vocals smoother than satin, Wright seduced the airwaves with “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” and “Everybody Dance,” pushing Chic into Billboard’s heights. Her self-named solo album kept her choruses burning in gay clubs around the globe with songs like “Sorcerer,” “Saturday,” “Having a Party” and the ultra-bourgie boogie of “High Society.” Fresh off dropping remixes of her song “Tear Down These Walls,” by sound sculptors Alex Di Ciò and Berttheproducer, Wright dives into dance music’s resolve to break down barriers.

On disco as the ultimate influencer “People need to be inspired. We can’t allow what’s happening in the world to keep us in despair. Living and loving life – that’s my ministry. Being around during disco, in those clubs, when people came together – gay, straight, Black, white – dancing in communion, that was powerful. I think we need to do that again.”

On music making the invisible, visible “Disco gave us the platform. It let gay men and Black females be seen as viable artists – Donna, Gloria, Claudia and so many more.

If disco hadn’t happened, I doubt we’d have been embraced the way we were. Chic’s rise opened doors for all of us. Disco was what cracked it open for me.”

On healing through harmonies “I didn’t realize the impact of our music in gay clubs until people shared their stories. When someone tells you the music saved their life, that the club gave them space to be themselves, it hits deep.

That’s why a song like ‘Be Gone’ resonates. I meant every word.

It’s honest. In some ways, I think Black women and gay men know and feel this a lot: what doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger. Sometimes when something’s over, it’s just over—just go and get away from the negative energy or any harm.”

On choruses as battle cries “This music, it’s a space for everybody who’s been pushed aside: queer people, women, anyone who’s been told they don’t fit. The dance floor has always been our church, our sanctuary. It’s where we can be free, loud and unapologetic. I want people to feel that power, to feel they belong. This isn’t just disco or dance music.

It’s rebellion wrapped in rhythm. It’s a call to keep fighting, keep loving, keep showing up for each other.

“When I’m performing, I’m thinking about all the people still struggling – and that keeps me going. This is our movement.

Songs like ‘Around Me’ or ‘This World’ – they still hold up.

They are about surviving. And it’s real. I’ve lost so many friends, musical artists, stylists and creators to AIDS. Some didn’t even tell us because they felt they wouldn’t be accepted. We had to keep going, but it hurt. Music made it hurt less.”

Clap Your Hands: At 75, Wright’s remix of “Tear Down These Walls” feels more prescient than ever.

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MELBA MOORE: THE MOVEMENT MAKER Before becoming Oprah’s favorite diva, a Tony-winning Broadway star and a talk-show host, Melba Moore was a disco powerhouse whose hits like “You Stepped Into My Life” and “Love’s Comin’ at Ya” set dance floors ablaze in the ’70s and ’80s. Her music was a lighthouse for many, providing a pathway for Black and LGBTQ+ communities craving freedom from oppression and convention. Breaking barriers as a Black woman in music, Moore fused Broadway brilliance with disco flair in a way that spoke to lovers of drama and good times alike.

She went on to create a myriad of music throughout 19 studio albums. Today, daily TikTok tributes to her throaty, superhero vocal stamina – holding notes for more than 36 seconds – rival beauty influencer content, cementing her status as a next-gen icon. Here, her frank career reflections channel the vibe of her latest single, “No Filter.”

On disco as sanctuary “Back in the day, disco wasn’t taken seriously; it was dismissed.

But that was because it was a safe space for those who loved it.

People who weren’t the usual suspects, you know? That music created community, especially for people who didn’t feel accepted anywhere else. When I would perform in clubs or on the road, I’d see so many LGBTQ+ folks coming together, dancing, celebrating.

There was no judgment. That meant something.”

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On feminism on and off stage “Women in music didn’t have much say when I began. We were told what to wear, what to sing, how to behave. I had to fight for every inch. And if you were a Black woman? Even harder. I knew I had to prove that I could sing anything – Broadway, R&B, soul – and still be taken seriously. I saw what happened when women tried to lead the conversation and call the shots on their own art. People called them difficult, or said they had attitude.

But if a man did the same thing, it was leadership. I realized we had to demand respect, not just wait for it. Disco let so many soul singers [become] pop singers, so with that, we slowly started to have influence on our own careers.”

On unleashing and ascending “Music was my liberation. It gave me a place to express my truth, to connect with people who felt silenced. And when I look back at the songs, I see a thread of empowerment. ‘You Stepped Into My Life’ and ‘Love’s Comin’ at Ya’ – those weren’t just love songs. They were declarations of survival. The LGBTQ fans always understood that. They read between the lines. They saw freedom in this music, and they made it their own. I never had to ask for their support – they just gave it. And I don’t take that lightly. The gay community had and still has a particular role in supporting and really helping vocalists become divas. We still have a lot to learn from each other.”

On singing for the silenced “We have to remind each other that disco stems from joy, and joy is resistance in this day and age. That love – however you define it – is worth celebrating. So when I sing, I’m not just performing.

I’m remembering all the people who couldn’t be out, who didn’t have a voice, who couldn’t say what needs to be said. I’m singing for them too.”

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Moore, Moore, Moore: At 79, Melba Moore’s epic notes have infiltrated both our hearts – and TikTok.

MUSIC

She Stepped Into Our Lives: On disco and identity, Moore says: “The LGBTQ fans always understood that music was my liberation too.”

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Young Heart Running Free: Candi Staton at the height of the disco era.

CANDI STATON: THE HIT DISTURBER Candi Staton has been a constant on queer playlists since striking gold in 1976 with “Young Hearts Run Free.” By then, she had already released four soul albums and spent years on the road, dealing with racism, industry gatekeeping and telenovela-amounts of personal trauma. Though Staton’s main hit has a bleak backstory – mirroring her experience with an abusive husband – its lyrics, paired with Staton’s tough-yet-tender delivery, hit hard with those carving out identity amid the ’70s sea change of civil, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

Her voice – raw, radiant, and full of contradiction – drew queer ears to deep cuts like “Nights on Broadway” and the piercing ache of “Victim.” She later staged a dance floor comeback with “You Got The Love” (famously spliced over Frankie Knuckles’ “Your Love,” a track that charted for four decades, and again this year with Pete Tong).

Disco, she says, is still something she sees as a rescue mission – even as a new gospel-inspired album, Back To My Roots, and an upcoming Groove Armada EP collab take flight.

On the “Young Hearts” origin story “‘Young Hearts Run Free’ brings joy even though I’m singing a very sad song. Songwriter David Crawford wrote it about my life; God rest his soul. I was going through a painful marriage with a dangerous man, and after [David and I] had many talks about it, he turned my life into a song. I was trying to get away from

this man, and he told me he would kill me if I ever mentioned the word divorce. I would’ve been a statistic, but I believe I was saved by disco to teach people that you don’t have to bow down to anyone trying to destroy you. I didn’t know it would connect with so many people in gay clubs, but it did. That song is my story, but it became everybody’s lesson for survival.”

On disco as a life raft “Disco was the greatest thing ever to happen to me – I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I went from the rough Chitlin’ Circuit to being treated like a queen in big, beautiful gay clubs across the country, where audiences gave me more than money – they gave me confidence. At the Paradise Garage on Halloween, they brought me down from the ceiling and when I landed, the crowd went wild – it made me feel like royalty for three days straight.”

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On riding the highs of queer joy “It was the same every time I played a gay club. They just loved me. There are two songs that they love more than anything: ‘Victim’ and ‘Young Hearts Run Free.’ They embraced me, they paid me, and I didn’t have to worry about food or transport. They took really good care of me.”

On remixing respect “On my album Back To My Roots, I’m telling people, ‘Remix as many of them as you like, just take them because they belong to me.’ Listen, all these disco and dance mixes gave me freedom and respect in places I never thought I’d be welcome in. I carried that kind of liberation with me everywhere. The clubs, the people, the energy – I never forgot how it felt to be welcomed and adored.

Those nights, those crowds, that love – they saved me and let me have the long career I have.”

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“Self-preservation is what's really going on today”: Now 85, Candi lives up to her own lyrics.

MUSIC

Got 2 Be Loved: Now 77, Linda Clifford reflects: “Disco didn’t die because we didn’t.”

LINDA CLIFFORD: THE CLUBLAND CRUSADER Famous for flipping Sweet Charity’s splashy showstopper, “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” into a dance floor scorcher in the late ’70s, Linda Clifford has left a mark on club and pop culture that deserves serious study. Before that, she danced alongside Shirley MacLaine in the Broadway film adaptation—and even cameo’d in the equally iconic Rosemary’s Baby.

Her Friends See Her Now: Former beauty queen turned disco queen, Linda Clifford, is finally getting her flowers — especially from queer fans.

staying there for months, like a residency. I was pregnant at the Clifford’s nine-album legacy is as epic as her career trajectory. time. When it was time for me to go into the hospital to have the Her voice – equal parts velvet and fire – slips into spoken-word baby, I did. After the birth, I wake up and my room is filled from realness on tracks like 1978’s “Runaway Love” and resurfaces on ceiling to floor with gifts and flowers. A note said, ‘From your the recently remixed and rereleased deep house diamond “Ride the 1,500 fairy godmothers’ – it was from all the fans at The Pub. Storm.” In the ’80s, she lit up the Fame soundtrack with a track That was the moment I knew my gay fans and I were together for called “Red Light,” teamed with Curtis Mayfield for some solid life. I remember just deciding in the hospital bed, ‘Okay, they’re soul (listen to “Rock You to Your Socks”) and then topped the never losing me.’” dance charts with the super lusty "Shoot Your Best Shot." In the 2000s, she joined forces with gay Chicago house legend Ralphi On diva devotion Rosario for "Changin'" — one of the most snatched handbag house “The LGBTQ+ loved their divas because they needed to know they tracks of the time—a tune that oozed with realtalk. were loved.. Divas represented this mindset for many. It meant determination to keep going when so much was falling apart. I lost Here, Clifford opens up about how disco, house, and a personal my brother to AIDS. I know how that feels to watch somebody you history with dance floor players and politics shaped her legacy love disappear. I was not going to let the community go through – and reminds us just how fierce a diva can be. that alone. That’s why I kept making dance music and ended up working with people like Ralphi Rosario on ‘Changin’ – it was On dancing from scandal to stardom like a sisterhood. Whether it’s in the studio or getting remixed, “Disco gave me a life I never could have dreamed of. My first big we learned from each other and guided each other with songs brush with fame was in 1966, entering the Miss New York beauty like ‘Wanna Give It Up’ and ‘I Hear The Music.’ It’s all there in pageant. I was told I didn’t win, but as I was leaving, a judge ran the recordings we make or that get remixed – that long-lasting over and said they had miscounted the vote. Next thing I know, love is forever.” photos are all over the front page of the Daily News claiming scandal – they printed my home address. I was sent to Miss USA, On disco’s nonstop after-party but they never gave me a crown, sash or trophy. What we got “People have been saying disco’s dead for years – but it never was horrible, racist letters – bags of mail threatening to burn our died. The Disco Demolition tried to cut it down, and that was a home. We had to move. I hired a bodyguard 24/7. flop and so stupid. Now we know that was rooted in racism and homophobia. When people were dancing together – any race, “The horrors continued until I found my way to music, thank God. Disco ethnicity, gender – and there are always those who can’t stand to gave me the chance to travel, to learn, to live with glamour. I’ll never see us happy and united. By the ’80s, they started to win. Suddenly forget being in the DJ booth at Studio 54 when the DJ turned to me, there was no work. Everything was cancelled overnight. Clubs said, ‘Watch this,’ and played three notes of ‘If My Friends Could See closed. But then, disco transformed into house music because the Me Now.’ People ran to the dance floor like maniacs. It was insane.” gay community kept holding it up and taking it back and loving disco divas as seeing them as sisters and survivors. So we all On her 1,500 fairy godmothers survived because of disco. Disco didn’t die because we didn’t.

“I worked this one gay club called The Pub and I ended up It told us Don’t Give Up – so I didn’t and I won’t.”

ELIO IANNACCI is an award-winning writer, poet and a long-time arts reporter for The Globe and Mail. He has contributed to 80 publications worldwide, including Vogue Italia, The Hollywood Reporter, Maclean’s, The Toronto Star and Sotheby’s Insight magazine.

His master’s thesis, Queer-Diva Collaboration in 20th Century Popular Music, was nominated for a Governor General’s Gold Medal.

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PINING OVER HOT (AND, SADLY, DEAD) VICTORIAN MEN

What started for Aaron Radford-Wattley as a hobby collecting Victorian-era thirst traps turned into a viral Instagram account and a newly released book…

By Stephane Petar

On a blustery winter’s day, I ventured to Parkdale Hall’s vintage market in Toronto. The Sunday tradition is a treasure trove of vintage fashion, accessories, records, toys and housewares. On this particular day in 2022, a man was selling historic photos of the city. As I browsed through the black and white images, I stopped at a photo of 10 dapper men posing alongside two bicycles – penny-farthings, to be exact.

I was drawn to the image for three reasons: I’m a cyclist, I’m passionate about the city’s history, and I was kind of attracted to the men. Their heart-piercing stares along with their military-styled cycling uniforms, stockings, caps and neckwear made me blush.

Upon closer inspection, I learned that the photo was from 1890 and showcased members of the Toronto Bicycle Club.

As I paid the man for the photo, a woman eyed my purchase. “You should submit that to the Instagram Hot Victorians,” she said. At that point I had never heard of the account, but I soon learned that it married my two favourite things – history, and hot men who are unavailable.

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From finding a community to a viral sensation For those who have never visited Hot Victorians, it is a mix of historic photos and paintings of 19th and 20th century men. Some men wear wool suits accessorized with neckties, canes, chains that likely connect to a pocket watch, and other fashionable accessories. Others wear sports attire, or one-piece bathing suits that leave nothing to the imagination when wet. Accompanying each photo is a brief story about the man.

That photo started his collection, which now features hundreds of Victorian and Edwardian men from around the world. “I have a huge box of images,” he humbly brags, before adding that his iPhone gallery is filled with pictures of men from those eras.

In 2019, he went on Instagram in search of a community that appreciated good-looking 19th and 20th century men. To his surprise, there wasn’t one. So he opened the account @HotVictorians. He now has more than 160,000 followers, including famous names like burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge Alan Carr.

The account’s creator, Aaron Radford-Wattley, has been obsessed with the Victorian era since a young age. His first ‘Hot Victorian’ purchase happened at the age of nine. He attended a centenary celebration for a London psychiatric hospital where his father “It was originally to catalogue my passion,” Radford-Wattley worked, and gravitated to a stall selling old photographs. While admits. “Then I started to see that people followed and that they he was flipping through the images, one caught his attention. “I were my kind of people – the girls, the gays and the theys. All was fascinated by this handsome young Victorian man who was supportive, open-minded and interested. It took off from there.” well dressed with his high collar and had a pensive look,” he says. The account saw an explosion of engagement and followers during “That was my first Victorian picture.” the global pandemic and political unrest in the United States in 2020. The creator says he was happy that his account was able to make people laugh during the uncertain time. “I wanted some

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When picking the men to feature, the creator doesn’t have a hotness checklist. He admits it’s subjective, but he also understands what his audience wants. “Queer people generally like the more muscular posts. Women will generally like pretty boys,” he reveals, noting some men are popular with everyone.

To obtain these images, he scours vintage shops, the US Library of Congress and various archival websites. He knows he’s found an image when he gets that “wow factor” looking at it. He also stresses that the back story has to be good, admitting that sometimes the story is more impactful than the image.

The account also features submissions sent by followers – like my Toronto Bicycle Club photo posted in 2024! Some followers send images they’ve purchased, and others send personal pictures of ancestors. “People have a sense of pride and want to show off their great-great uncle or their great-great-great grandfather. It’s nice.”

After six years of curating the account, Radford-Wattley has expanded the Hot Victorians universe with a book. Hot Victorians: Meet Your Dream Man From the Past has received some hilarious reviews, including one from Alan Carr. The comedian and Drag Race UK host calls it “a delicious sepia wet dream of a book that had me drooling, swiping right and wanting to buy a time machine.” And he’s not wrong.

Flipping through a catalogue of men Featuring more than 75 men, the book is essentially a dating app that will have readers trying to swipe right on the various profiles – trust me, I’ve tried! Each profile reveals the basics of the ‘Hot Victorian,’ like his name, occupation, birthplace and brief biography. Radford-Wattley also adds prompts commonly seen on dating profiles to further grab the reader’s interest.

the hardest to write, because he had to distill their vast stories into 100 words or less, while balancing their important achievements with the book’s humorous tone. “It’s always a fine line between acknowledging someone’s hotness and not diminishing their actual accomplishments. Especially when they’re notable.”

Some of the men in the book are unknown, their names lost to time. He admits these men allowed for more creativity. To build an idea of who they were, he had to look closely for clues on the photographs. “A lot of the photographic studios would have their names printed on the image,” he shares. “I would research that, find the location and have a good estimate of the dates. Then I’d build an idea about what their life might have been like.”

The book also features an array of diverse men of different backgrounds. The selection process for these individuals presented its own set of challenges, he says, noting he had to take extra caution. “You had to make sure they weren’t enslaved. For a big chunk of that time period they would’ve been,” he says. He also reveals that acquiring photos of Victorian African American men usually comes at a higher price than their white counterparts.

“Maybe they’re rare or people are trying to capitalize on them, I don’t know,” he admits, saying prices tend to be over US$100.

Why do we thirst over hot unavailable men?

When asked why “the girls, the gays and the theys” are attracted to these men, he says it’s a mix of beauty and fashion. “I think the queer community loves details and appreciates when people have the buttonholes and high collars,” he suggests. “They’re also kind of sexy without even trying. When you don’t know you’re sexy, that’s even more attractive.” He also thinks it’s the mystery of the person in question. “I think we can project our fantasies onto them,” he explains. “When there isn’t a definitive answer as to who they were or what they were like or how they lived, our mind is free to go wild.”

Whatever the reason, it’s comforting to know that RadfordWattley and I are not the only ones who wish to resurrect these fine specimens and take them home to mom. There are over 160,000 of you.

The book features chapters separated into five male archetypes.

Browse through hot dads, hunky jocks, boys next door, sexy nerds and hipsters. For those more into bad boys, there are plenty of them too: like Swedish robber Carl Wiktor Blom, whose probation office will need to approve a date. Those into professional athletes should consider Toronto’s Edward ‘Ned’ Hanlan – yes, of Hanlan’s Point. According to the book, his greatest strength is that he can “always find a way to stick his oar in.” Call us intrigued.

The book is a mix of never-before-seen men and heartthrobs from Radford-Wattley’s Instagram. “I had to pick around 80 to 100 guys,” he says.

As much as fun as the book was to write, the first-time author did have some challenges. The book features famous historical figures such as Sigmund Freud, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and other men with fascinating stories. He found the profiles of famous figures

STEPHAN PETAR is a born and raised Torontonian, known for developing lifestyle, entertainment, travel, historical and 2SLGBTQI+ content. He enjoys wandering the streets of any destination he visits, where he’s guaranteed to discover something new or meet someone who will inspire his next story.

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positivity on social media. I wanted it all to be very light, but interesting,” he shares. “Something to take away that’s informative.

Something to make people smile…and maybe a little bit aroused.”

The latter objective isn’t difficult to achieve. As our conversation continued, there were moments when we both needed to reset after talking about a specific man on the account. “Sorry, I’m getting fluttery again,” he says at one point, fanning himself.

INSIGHT

ZIYAD SAADI’S

DEBUT NOVEL IS DEFINITELY NOT AN INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR COMING OUT In Saadi’s debut novel Three Parties – a reimagining of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway – a queer Palestinian refugee plans to come out at his elaborate birthday dinner party

By Paul Gallant

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In Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs. Dalloway, published in 1925, the socialite protagonist goes around London preparing to host a party that night while, in a separate storyline, a First World War veteran struggles with what was then called shell shock (today we’d call it PTSD). Clarissa Dalloway and the veteran never meet, though when she casually hears about the man’s death, she becomes contemplative in the midst of her snooty gathering.

Nicole Kidman, was a riff on the classic. For Saadi, Woolf’s book helped him find a way to tell a fictional coming-out story.

“I was debating whether or not to write a coming-out story, but the problem I was having was figuring out the right hook for it.

I needed to make sure it didn’t feel too familiar and didn’t lean too heavily on the pain and trauma that often comes with coming out. Then I read Mrs. Dalloway for the first time,” Saadi told IN In Ziyad Saadi’s debut novel Three Parties, just published by Magazine in an interview from his current home in Vancouver.

Penguin Classic, 23-year-old Firas Dareer goes around the Detroit “The themes, like repressed sexuality, post-war trauma, the nature area preparing to host his own birthday party, which will serve a and power of time – all these elements felt fitting for a story about double purpose as a surprise coming-out party to friends and family. a Palestinian coming out.”

As in Mrs. Dalloway, trauma is lurking…but in Three Parties, it turns out to be much closer to home. While the novel starts out Saadi grew up in Montreal West Island, a decidedly sheltered like a breezy romcom, expounding playfully on the eight stages suburb far from the city’s gay village. His parents had moved of coming out and setting up romantic rivals, Saadi weaves in there from Palestine. They didn’t talk much about their homeland heavier themes. Firas’s obsession with throwing the perfect party, or the politics of it when he was a child. But Saadi’s identity as a complete with a rainbow-coloured flower arrangement, first comes Palestinian, and how it fit with being a gay man, was something off as a parody of a gay control freak, then as a coping mechanism he wrestled with as he grew older. When he was in his mid-20s, for something deeper. he came out over the phone to his family. At the time, he was living in New York City, an experience that exposed him to the Mrs. Dalloway, which acknowledges same-sex desires among the city’s out-and-proud queer culture. “I had a conservative family thoughts bubbling around in Clarissa’s head, has fascinated other that thankfully became less conservative over the years. Coming gay writers. American writer Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, out wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst. Definitely not as bad later turned into a film starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and as I expected. I always have to assume the absolute worst-case

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INSIGHT

scenario and then be met with something not as bad, which is easier to process for me,” he told me.

Stereotypes often put Palestinian identity and queer identity at odds. Firas, in his almost obsessive thoughts about coming out and his compartmentalized life, also falls victim to this dualistic or hierarchical way of thinking about who he is. “It was a deliberate choice that the Palestinian aspect was almost incidental throughout a lot of the novel. But the more Firas focuses on his queer identity, the more his Palestinian identity bubbles to the surface,” said Saadi.

“There’s this idea that these two identities have little to do with each other, that there’s not enough space for these two identities.

But they are not separate.”

Though the book does not address the recent horrors that have been happening in Gaza – Three Parties is very much a domestic tragicomedy set in Michigan’s large Arab-American community – its existence is an ersatz corrective to misperceptions about Palestinian culture. “At a time when we’re being erased, these stories counter that erasure. I think it is very much a time for every Palestinian to speak out and give a view of our community, diverse as it is, intersectional as it is, to a world that dehumanizes us, either painting us as a monolith or just not acknowledging us at all,” said Saadi.

Before writing Three Parties, Saadi had little interest in novels – as a kid, he didn’t even like to read books. He started writing screenplays at a very young age, and won an MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council) Hollywood Bureau pilot writing competition. His career has been more focused on filmmaking, but he felt his screenplays weren’t being well received, though he thought his characters and the stories were strong.

“Then somebody told me that it was because my descriptions in the script were really boring. I never thought about it, because the audience doesn’t know what you write in the descriptions in the script anyway. They just see the visual manifestation of it on screen, so who cares? But the people who make the movies do read the scripts, and you don’t want them to get bored with what you’re writing. You want your voice to really shine through. So I started working on the descriptions. But then I ended up getting carried away with it to the point that my writing was becoming very novelistic,” Saadi said.

Even though Three Parties is very much what Virginia Woolf would recognize as a novel – much of it is an internal dialogue in Firas’s over-thinking brain – it has a distinctly cinematic approach to its storytelling. When Firas’s party finally staggers into being – needless to say, it’s not what Firas wanted or expected – the reader can imagine the quick edits, the facial reaction shots. “I always write with the hope that it will someday be adapted into a film. One of the many reasons I decided to focus more on novels is because the film industry loves adapting,” said Saadi.

Despite his eye on Hollywood, there’s another novel coming. Saadi told me he has half-finished a sci-fi comedy about a physicist who figures out a way to use her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to travel back and forth through time. “I have OCD, and a lot of times I will sometimes obsess about something so deeply that when I finally snap out of it, I realize that an hour has passed. It often feels like a time jump. I took that and turned it into this plot,” he said.

PAUL GALLANT is a Toronto-based writer and editor who writes about travel, innovation, city building, social issues (particularly LGBT issues) and business for a variety of national and international publications. He’s done time as lead editor at the loop magazine in Vancouver as well as Xtra and fab in Toronto. His debut novel, Still More Stubborn Stars, published by Acorn Press, is out now.

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HALLO BERLIN! AN LGBTQI+ GUIDE TO THE “CITY OF FREEDOM” TRAVEL

Start planning your trip to one of the most inclusive cities in Europe by adding these LGBTQI+ businesses and sites to your Berlin itinerary

By Stephane Petar

While the city’s dress code may be black, Berlin oozes a colourful LGBTQI+ scene. Berlin’s queer history dates back to the 19th century.

It was home to the world’s first gay and lesbian organization, The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, which was founded in 1897.

In the 1920s, according to visitBerlin, the city became a haven and refuge for the global queer community.

This flourishing scene was shattered in the 1930s as the Nazis tightened laws around homosexuality. Restrictions were toughest on men, with anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 sent to concentration camps, according to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. It would take decades for the city to regain its queer glory.

Today, Berlin is an attractive destination for queer travellers, with a reputation for being sex positive and accepting of all sexualities and identities. As a whole, Germany is the sixth friendliest LGBTQI+ country in the world, according to the Spartacus Gay Travel Index.

So pack those bags for a journey through Berlin’s thriving queer scene! From its gay village (known as Schöneberg) to its many boroughs, the city proves that LGBTQI+ life has no boundaries.

Where to party, cruise, and scream pop anthems Berlin’s nightlife is legendary, lasting into the early morning…or all day. If you’re looking for a night of dancing, bookmark SchwuZ (Rollbergstraße 26), which Swiss traveller Rodrigo calls “a beacon of hope for mainstream queers in Berlin.” It’s one of Europe’s largest queer clubs and the oldest in Germany. Its neon “Cheers Queers” sign greets partygoers, while its orange riser seating is where friendships ignite. Inside the venue are three rooms where DJs spin pop and techno. On occasion, it hosts drag shows and

concerts. “The Cathedral” room reflects the club’s industrial heritage with its soaring ceilings and concrete columns, left over from when it was a brewery.

Möbel Olfe (Reichenberger Str. 177) in Kreuzberg is perfect for a bar outing. Decorated with satellite dishes and disco balls, it’s one of the most popular bars for the queer community. Tuesday nights are usually populated by lesbians, while Thursday is for the gays.

The rest of the week is just queer fun.

For a night of cruising, head to BoyBerry (Motzstraße 19). It’s where gay men of all ages grab a drink before exploring its maze and dark rooms.

Where to discover Berlin’s artistic side Berlin is covered with murals and graffiti that take up any available space – including the statues of its ambassador, Buddy Bear. Each art piece tells a story about the city, the country or the world.

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Contemporary studio Galerie Newman (Kalckreuthstraße 14) displays and sells queer art in various media by more than 70 artists from around the world. Its walls feature tender, kinky and thought-provoking pieces. It gives audiences a space to explore the creativity and diversity that queer art can offer.

In Schöneberg, the exterior wall of Bülowstraße 94 remembers a man persecuted for being homosexual. Belgian-American artist Nils Westergard’s The UNforgotten is an emotionally striking piece. A man towers over Auschwitz, bearing the number 20285 and a pink triangle, used to identify homosexuals, on his chest. The triangle is surrounded by 200 metal origami birds by Mademoiselle Maurice.

The man was Walter Degen, a locksmith sent to Auschwitz at age 32, before being moved to Mauthausen. It is unknown if he survived.

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Gay history is also in plain sight. At Naumannstraße 55 and Chamissoplatz 8, there are green-coloured decorated cast-iron octagonal structures. The buildings, popular in the 1920s, were built as urinals for men. Known by locals as Café Achteck (Octagon Café in English), the historic bathrooms tell a hidden story about the city’s gay cruising history. While many have been converted into food stalls, some are still used as urinals today – though we can’t confirm if cruising still occurs.

For an overview of queer life, Schwules Museum (Lützowstraße 73) gives patrons a wide perspective on LGBTQI+ life. Founded four decades ago by a group of students, the museum has grown from focusing only on gay men to presenting perspectives from all facets of LGBTQI+ life in Germany and beyond. After a look at all the videos, clothing, photography, magazines and more on display, visitors will feel proud of the accomplishments made by the community, and possibly laugh, or cry, at the stories being told.

Where to eat and drink and yell “Prost!”

Come to Berlin with an empty stomach! Between the schnitzel, pretzels, currywurst and beer, it is a filling experience. For a variety of schnitzels (18 to be exact), head to Restaurant Elefant (Fuggerstraße 18). It’s the fuel-up spot for many queer partygoers, with visitBerlin reporting that the restaurant welcomes club and festish outfits as long as they’re PG.

the city, dating back to 1978. It carries books across the LGBTQI+ spectrum in various languages for all ages. It also has a large DVD section – for those who still own a DVD player. In the Neukölln neighbourhood, She Said (Kottbusser Damm 79) uplifts the voices of female and queer authors. Its white walls make the colourful book spines pop, and it even has a café.

Where to find LGBTQI+-friendly accommodations Accommodations can be one of the hardest decisions. Some travellers want to stay by the city centre in proximity to major attractions like Berlin Dom or the East Side Gallery. Others want to be in the heart of local neighbourhoods for an authentic experience.

For many LGBTQI+ travellers, there is the extra consideration of booking a place where they can be accepted as they are. The Pink Pillow Berlin Collection helps alleviate that worry. This initiative, by visitBerlin, features 40 hotels and hostels certified as LGBTQI+ friendly. The program requires members to take part in inclusion training and actively support the community, along with other requirements.

The Park Plaza Berlin (Lietzenburger Str. 85), in the Charlottenburg neighbourhood, is one of those hotels. The hotel is pretty queer, honouring visual pop artist Andy Warhol. Its 152 rooms blend modern elements with Warhol’s work scattered throughout, making each room a game of ‘I Spy.’ It has banana door handles, multicoloured lips on the floor and mirrors in the silhouette of Marilyn Monroe, and scattered throughout are photos by Warhol’s friend Christopher Makos. In some rooms, larger-than-life images of the artist adorn the walls. It has a gym and sauna in the basement, a backyard patio, and a bar called the Factory Bar, named after the artist’s studio.

Toms Wurst (Motzstraße 19) offers the “original Berliner currywurst.”

It’s hard to miss, with its rainbow-coloured sign and sling chairs.

The meat currywurst is a classic, but the vegan option is equally good, if not better.

To drink something gay, head to BRLO Brwhouse (Schöneberger Straße 16 or Giesebrechtstraße 15) for a Queer Beer that gives back. It’s a full-bodied beer with floral and bergamot notes. For each bottle purchased, 20 cents go to Queer Amnesty. For food, the family-style option is the best way to try a bit of everything from its seasonal menu.

For those who cannot decide, do a food tour! Fork & Walk Food Tours offers a bunch of different themed tours that blend history with delicious bites.

Where to shop for queer books…or a jockstrap There’s no shortage of LGBTQI+ storefronts in Berlin. Some, like Brunos Berlin (Maaßenstraße 14), have a bit of everything. Others specialize in queer decor, trinkets, underwear or kink apparel.

Berlin’s queer bookstores have become institutions known worldwide.

Prinz Eisenherz (Motzstraße 23) is the oldest queer bookshop in

This trip was made possible by Air Transat and visitBerlin. Voted “World’s Best Leisure Airline” by passengers, Air Transat now offers non-stop summer flights from Toronto to Berlin. Fly to Germany in its Economy Class, where a meal, light snack and wine are included along with a carry-on and personal item.

STEPHAN PETAR is a born and raised Torontonian, known for developing lifestyle, entertainment, travel, historical and 2SLGBTQI+ content. He enjoys wandering the streets of any destination he visits, where he’s guaranteed to discover something new or meet someone who will inspire his next story.

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Where to learn about Berlin’s long queer history History is scattered throughout Berlin and can be both haunting and joyful. In Tiergarten, a black concrete cube with a screen honours the homosexuals persecuted under the Nazis. Designed

by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, the memorial is a living monument. Peek inside it to watch a video loop of homosexual love – typically of same-sex couples kissing. The memorial creates “a symbol against intolerance, discrimination and persecution of homosexuals all over the world.”

TRAVEL SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

FLEURIEU UNCORKED South Australia’s sun-drenched Fleurieu Peninsula – just a short drive from Adelaide – blends world-class Shiraz, fresh seafood, quiet beaches and raw nature into one cool package

By Doug Wallace

(Photo courtesy of Tourism Australia)

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tonal drone reaching up into the surrounding trees. It couldn’t get more Australian than this, wine and song and all.

More wine awaits at nearby Dandelion Vineyards, where homegrown snacks accompany our tasting of a few Shiraz specialties, plus a refreshing Roussanne. The vineyard is a regular wine-tourism award winner due to its full restaurant-open kitchen – dubbed the Wonder Room – and the sloping front lawn, replete with cushions and blankets for enjoying the view, glass in hand.

We already know that South Australia’s capital is going to be livelier than usual, arriving as we are at the height of the Adelaide Fringe, the world’s second-biggest arts festival after Edinburgh. The streets are packed, as are the pubs, as revellers move between the venue hubs, both temporary and permanent. It’s a time of year that locals refer to “We have about 100 cellar doors here,” Ben says of this stretch of his as Mad March, the Fringe being only one of five events taking place hidden-gems tour, the rugged beauty of the region providing a natural in the city at the same time. Stepping into The Garden of Unearthly counterpoint to the manicured estates. “The McLaren Vale has some Delights, we soon see why: an entire city park has been transformed into of the cleanest soil in the world, the wineries all following biodynamic a carnival, a playland of colour and light, food vendors and beer gardens, principles. A lot of the young winemakers are couples, with strengths performers and artisans. We step into a large bandstand-style theatre in different fields, and so proud to have the eco-certified or the organic to watch a cabaret show of singers, aerialists, comedians and acrobats. stamp on the back of their wine.”

We (understandably) have a late night, but the cobwebs begin to wash We spot a few kangaroos under the trees beside the road and stop away the next morning when Ben Neville from Off Piste 4WD Tours to say hello. A shy joey appears from among the twigs and slowly picks us up in a smart SUV. We admit to being “dusty,” Australian but purposefully retreats back into his mother’s pouch. He barely slang for slightly hungover, and begin our drive south of Adelaide into fits, leaving a tail and one foot sticking out. The moment is a serene, the Fleurieu Peninsula and the renowned McLaren Vale wine region. natural spectacle that remains in my mind for weeks, another genuine This swath of First Nation landscape between Adelaide and Kangaroo Australian moment.

Island comprises national parkland, rolling farmland and a number of Australia’s best-kept beach secrets.

“People come here for adventure and to see the wildlife going through the national parks,” Ben says. “It’s raw, and there are a ton of things When we reach our first stop, the Onkaparinga River National Park, to do. We’re also the gateway to Kangaroo Island – the zoo with no Ben has his best smirk on as he fishes in the back of the car for…wine, fences – an island with its own incredible charm.” of course. One more surprise from the trunk: a didgeridoo, which Ben calls by its Indigenous name, yidaki. He sits himself down on the picnic Our scene changes with lunch overlooking the unusually calm St. Vincent basket and begins a stream of breath-controlled blows, the hypnotic Gulf at the Star of Greece restaurant high above Port Willunga Beach.

Willunga Beach (Photo courtesy of Tourism Australia)

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I pay the $20 cover without batting an eyelash. As you would if you were on holiday, indulging in the moment. And yet, where are all the men? This is supposed to be Adelaide’s most popular gay club. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the boys start rolling into Mary’s Poppin just as the drag show starts. Perfect timing.

TRAVEL

Ben Neville with yidaki (Photo by Doug Wallace)

This stretch of sand is not crowded at all, merely a dozen or so beach canopies with their little sand anchors. A few sailboats are moored just out a ways, and a few buff guys are playing soccer.

Ben has brought an unlabelled bottle of Shiraz from his own family winery to help us along with heirloom beetroot carpaccio, barbecued pork and King George Whiting, a mild, flaky fish particular to South Australia that we see on menus everywhere we go. While in Australia, I’ve been having fun ordering food I’ve never heard of before and/or can’t pronounce, which continues as I tackle a dish of crispy Coorong mullet, an oily fish that is tempered by a juicy peach-and-pomegranate salsa. More Shiraz, please. The decanter quickly empties, and I’m glad I don’t have to drive.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

Port Willunga is just north of the town of Aldinga Beach, where you can actually drive your car onto the sand, the speed limit posted right on the shore. It looks so much like Florida’s Daytona Beach that I’m expecting far more blond hair than I in fact see. Little vans are kitted out with retractable awnings, and matching folding chairs are set up

beside coolers. Kids’ plastic stuff spills out everywhere. I feel like an interloper driving through the set of a 1970s beach movie.

“People visiting for a few days or a week can easily find some type of short- or long-term rental and be just a few steps from the beach but also a short drive from some excellent eateries,” Ben says.

The adjacent Aldinga Conservation Park provides the hiking and the wildlife, with kangaroos, possums, echidnas, and ample birds and butterflies to spot across 340 hectares. The flora here, too, makes it high-biodiversity land, filled with a range of plants within the wetlands, from rare orchids to lacy coral lichen.

Apparently, Aldinga has its own airport if you want to just fly in for the day. But my return visit is securely set on Maslin Beach, a tiny town with a clothing-optional beach, a favourite among the 2SLGBTQI+ crowd. Ben stops to point out a private residence with an exterior spiral staircase up to what he says is a martini bar on the roof. Perhaps we’ll ring the doorbell next time.

Maslin Beach, the gay beach (Photo by Doug Wallace)

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TRAVEL Vineyards (Photo courtesy of Tourism Australia)

Sellicks Beach (Photo courtesy of Tourism Australia)

DOUG WALLACE is an international travel and lifestyle writer, photographer and custom-content authority, principal of Wallace Media and editor-publisher of TravelRight.Today.

He can be found beside buffet tables, on massage tables and table-hopping around the world.

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FLASHBACK Gay Activist Thom Higgins Throws A Pie In Anita Bryant’s Face – And Makes LGBTQ+ History (October 14, 1977)

In the late 1970s, America was still very much in the thick of a cultural tug-of-war. On one side was the rising tide of gay liberation; on the other side was the conservative backlash, personified in the form of former beauty queen (she was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner) turned singer turned anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant.

Bryant, best known in the ’60s as the face of Florida orange juice, had repositioned herself in the ’70s as the smiling face of intolerance. She was the star spokesperson for Save Our Children, a campaign formed to repeal a Dade County ordinance that protected people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Bryant’s rhetoric was soaked in sanctimony. She claimed gay people were trying to “recruit” children. Her mantra? “Homosexuals cannot reproduce – so they must recruit.” Her words weren’t just offensive; they were effective. The ordinance was repealed in June 1977 – a crushing defeat for the local LGBTQ+ community and a galvanizing moment for activists nationwide.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025

On October 14, 1977, Bryant was in Des Moines, Iowa, giving a press conference after performing at a religious event. As the cameras rolled, gay activist Thomas Lawrence Higgins stepped forward with what looked like a request to speak with her. In a matter of seconds, his hand flew forward – and so did a banana cream pie, which collided with Bryant’s face on live television. Gasps. Laughter. Outrage. And then, history.

The moment became iconic almost instantly. Caught on camera, it splashed across TV screens and front pages nationwide.

Bryant, ever the media-savvy former Miss Oklahoma, tried to salvage dignity through humour. “At least it was a fruit pie,” Bryant quipped, face dripping with custard and indignation.

But for the LGBTQ+ community, the moment was far from a joke. It was protest. It was performance. It was political

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pie-throwing as resistance – and Higgins delivered it with precision.

Immediately after he threw the pie, Higgins was tackled, arrested, and briefly jailed. But he was also immortalized as a hero to the queer community. The pie wasn’t just dessert: it was defiance. It was a turning point in the narrative of queer resistance.

In the years following the incident, Bryant’s star dimmed.

Boycotts of Florida orange juice, spearheaded by gay activists and their allies, began to take a toll, and public sentiment slowly shifted as Bryant lost endorsement deals, television contracts and, eventually, her marriage. Her fall from grace was, in many ways, poetic justice.

In 2011, she defended her lifetime of anti-gay activism, saying “I did the right thing” and “I never regretted what I did.” She died from cancer in 2024 in Edmond, Oklahoma, at the age of 84.

Higgins didn’t become a household name, but his legacy lingered. He was part of a growing generation of queer activists who believed in visibility, bold action and unrelenting resistance. He died of AIDS-related complications on November 10, 1994, and was buried in Roseville, Minnesota.

His pie-throwing protest remains one of the most legendary acts of queer civil disobedience in American history.

It’s tempting to view the Bryant pieing as camp comedy – a B-roll moment in queer history. But behind the spectacle was a deep well of pain and power. “Gay people were dying,” said one activist who knew Higgins. “Not from violence necessarily, but from the violence of erasure. That pie was a message: we are here. We matter. And we will not be silent.”

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