If you haven’t heard prolific writer, former Pride co-chair and all-around lovely person Jane Kansas spin some yarns about the mid-’90s LGBTQ+ scene, you’re in for a treat. Then, film professor and local actor Glenn Walton is here to share stories from the set of Titanic—his special relationship with James Cameron, the film’s champagne budget and […]
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Posted inArts + Music
Going with Partner’s flow
Partner w/No, It’s Fine., Century Egg Thursday, June 21, 8pm The Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen Street $17.50 adv/$25 door About two-thirds of the way into In Search of Lost Time, the long-awaited debut album from Windsor, ON-via-Sackville, NB rock band Partner, a voice solemnly offers a proclamation about the state of music and its listeners: […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Former Sandy Lake Academy student says school preached gay conversion
The author of an online petition against Coming Out Ministries visiting Nova Scotia says the anti-LGBTQ+ group has previously preached gay conversion at one of the Halifax’s private Christian schools. Matt DeMerchant, a former student at Salt Lake Academy in Bedford, is alleging Coming Out Ministries gave several talks at the K-12 school in the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Strength and authenticity at OUTeast
OUTeast Queer Film Fest June 15-17 Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer Street $12-$15 (festival pass $50) outeastfilm.com It’s the seventh edition of OUTeast, and all of its founders left Halifax years ago, but the queer film festival keeps going. “The reason we still do this thing that is so important to us is that […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sandy Lake Academy sidesteps questions about conversion therapy
One of Halifax’s private Christian schools doesn’t have much of an answer on whether it approves of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth. Sandy Lake Academy in Bedford is owned and operated by the Maritime Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church—the same church that’s come under fire for bringing in two American speakers who say […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coast 25: 30 of the most important things we’ve written
“Adam’s fall” Matthieu Aikins’ award-winning feature on suicides from the Macdonald Bridge is a heartbreaking read even now, a decade after its publication. A year after Aikins’ story was printed, the bridge commission finally decided to install safety barriers along the old bridge to prevent future deaths. Seals of approval One of the most-read stories […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coast 25: Queer, now and then
Maura Donovan: The social worker turned her volunteer passion into The Youth Project. It was her time volunteering at Halifax’s Gayline that motivated Maura Donovan to start the LGBTQ youth group that would later become The Youth Project, Nova Scotia’s haven for queer and trans youth. One caller, a young gay man in grade 10, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Anna Thematic is genderqueer royalty
If you think of queer culture, one of the first things to come to mind—for better or worse—is drag. It’s a performance art that engages with and subverts gender norms, says local genderqueer drag performer Anna Thematic. “For me, drag has often been a safer space in which to explore my own gender identity and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax police discuss return to Pride
Last summer, local police in uniform stepped away from the annual Halifax Pride parade. More recently, officials from Halifax Pride and Halifax Regional Police have been in talks regarding police potentially rejoining this year’s event. Police spokesperson Carol McIsaac says over email that discussions have been ongoing for months, but no decision has been made […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Transphobic slurs in the classroom
Sylvia Mayers was substituting for a class earlier this year when one of the students came up to her and called her a transphobic slur. She thinks it was meant to disrupt the class more than cause harm, and doubts the young student knew the power of the word. It didn’t make it hurt any […]
Posted inArts + Music
Film review: Call Me By Your Name
As is usual, Call Me By Your Name arrives in Halifax after nearly five months of rapturous response, beginning on the festival circuit in September, paralyzing gay Twitter in December and losing all of its Golden Globes last week. (Advice to men: Try not to make an awards bid when Daniel Day-Lewis is out here, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Pride is political and Pride is a party
The east coast is bustling in July. Anyone who’s spent a winter on our fair coast knows that the two months of summer we get are used to their full potential as best we can. Pride week is no exception to that and is always one of the best times to be in Atlantic Canada. […]