TORONTO TALK EXCHANGE VIEW FINDER →
French Connection Fresh from directing his
in NYC, Canada’s most celebrated theatre artist, Robert Lepage, returns to a Toronto stage for
Érick Labbé
Wells production created and performed by Lepage and dancer Sylvie Guillem, with choreography by Russell Maliphant and costumes by the late Alexander McQueen. It tells the story of Charles de Beaumont, Chevalier d’Éon, an 18thcentury French diplomat, soldier and spy who cross-dressed on missions. Until the day he died, his true gender was a source of constant speculation. $39 to $159. 8pm. Thu, Nov 18 and 19. Sony Centre. 1 Front St E. (416) 872-2262. sonycentre.ca.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS RICK MERCER
→ “For
weeks I’ve been a weepy, cheering mess.”
L
ike every other gay adult I’ve spent a long time looking at the It Gets Better videos. People send them to me, I send them to others. For weeks I’ve been a weepy, cheering mess. Because I work on TV I even have ing around on YouTube. As adults we love this campaign. We all want to tell these kids it will get better because we know it can and will. But I also get a sinking feeling that our concern can come across as an empty promise. We know that if you are in Grade 10, waiting to get out of high school seems like an eternity. But the campaign has made me think about gay kids in a way I really haven’t before. I like to think I do my part. But, like a lot of busy adults, my activism means that I march in a parade and I write a few cheques. I realized my gay donor dollars
8
November 2010
(if that’s a term) have always concentrated on areas like AIDS, human rights and political action. It’s really been all about me or the sense that when I traditionally thought about gay causes I didn’t think about the gay kids. kids it gets better, I had better do my part to ensure that it does — tions are on the front lines, which activists are doing the heavy lifting, helping kids help themselves, then adding them to the list, lifting the phone lightly to my ear, making the call and sending the cheque.
FOR ACTIVISTS AND ORGANIZATIONS tackling bullying, see our cover story on page 30.