Since the Halifax Pride Parade on June 20, news outlets have reported that a group of pro-Palestine protesters demonstrated during the event. While some call this a hijacking of a day meant to celebrate the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, others see it as standing in solidarity with people who, like many in the queer community, are […]
Halifax Pride
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax’s 2SLGBTQ+ community is calling new spots home
It’s been more than a year since Halifax’s last bar dedicated to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, Menz & Mollyz, announced its doors were closing for good. The north end gem took to its Facebook page last April to publicize its shuttering, and Halifax has been lacking in queer-centered spaces ever since. For 15 years, Menz & […]
Posted inArts + Music
On Pride, the library and Irreversible Damage done
There are over one million books in the Halifax Public Libraries holdings, but this week it seems like the city only cares about one: Irreversible Damage, written by journalist and notorious trans-exclusionary radical feminist Abigail Shrier. “I did go and put it on hold the other day, because if they’re gonna keep it I’m gonna […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coeur Clothing’s unisex designs put Pride front and centre
When Anisa Francoeur first started Coeur Clothing, it was based on a principle one of her professors told her during a short stint in NSCAD’s design program. “I had a design teacher that always told me don’t create just to create, create for something. So I feel like it’s a big responsibility as a designer […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Finding a place and a voice as a queer PoC artist
Iam a white-passing Japanese Canadian queer cis-woman born and raised in the north end. However, I haven’t gotten to live there as a queer adult yet—I left Halifax almost immediately after coming out at 20, during my first year of my BFA at NSCAD. I often feel this leaving as a kind of loss. Yet […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax’s first gay male choir is set to make its Pride Festival debut
Halifax Pride MainStage Showcase July 20 @ 4:30pm Garrison Grounds Festival site Free www.hgmc.ca The Halifax Gay Men’s Chorus is preparing to make its mark on the city when it introduces itself to the 2SLGBTQ+ community in a very public way at this year’s Pride Festival. As Nova Scotia’s first gay men’s chorus, it’s an […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax, meet Hedwig
Just in time for Pride, Halifax audiences will have a chance to wig out and enjoy what Rolling Stone has dubbed “the best rock musical ever.” The Tony Award-winning Hedwig and the Angry Inch, written by John Cameron Mitchell with music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, follows the story of Hedwig Robinson, a genderqueer singer […]
Posted inArts + Music
Constellate’s group dynamics
Constellate: “Form or cause to form into a cluster or group; gather together.” Or, in the case of the local storytelling series of the same name, “to provide a space and opportunity for people who wouldn’t normally have their voices heard,” says Greg Puncher, one of its co-founders. For the past six months, Puncher and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Pride’s low-sensory zone brings all the fun but less of the noise
Making space for marginalized groups is what Pride has always been about. And this year, it’s continuing to do the extra work to push that space even further. The Pride parade’s low-sensory viewing area returns for its second year at the festival. The space gives an elevated view of the parade and ensures reduced noise, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Radical softness
“As a 2-Spirit person, I’ve never really identified as male or female, masculine or feminine roles,” says Brad Jones, “in or out of drag.” From politically inspired satin dresses to mirrored masks inspired by Final Fantasy, Jones—AKA Jennifer DaFuque—is refashioning drag culture and making space for 2-Spirit identity in Halifax. The only 2-Spirit drag performer […]
Posted inArts + Music
Drag princess
Lucas Campbell stands behind the tall amphitheatre entranceway doors. The glances from his big, blue eyes suggest high levels of nervousness and excitement. The crowd is cheering. It’s his moment. He’ll never look back. He hears his song playing and steps onto the stage as Patricia. It’s only the second youth drag show in Nova […]
Posted inArts + Music
Queer erasure on stage
Since Kamp began its readings and workshop performances in 2015, much of its buzz and accolades surrounded the cast, which has been a showcase for many local queer performers who audiences have never seen on stage. “I remember someone asking me who all these people were,” says Garry Williams, co-creator, with Jamie Bradley, of the […]