[Image-1] It was spring of 1972 when Anne Fulton stumbled upon a poster that read It’s Time for Gay Liberation. That rallying cry appealed to the budding lesbian activist—Fulton was 20 then, maybe 21—and she went to the meeting the poster advertised. This gathering would turn out to be vital, for both Fulton and, more […]
Pride Week
Posted inArts + Music
Mount Saint Vincent University’s pulpy look at the past
Two women lock eyes across a crowded room. Soon, one approaches the other and lightly touches her shoulder… Sounds like a scene from a bad movie, or, at the very least, not something you’d expect to find behind glass in a library. Not according to Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) librarian Meg Raven. As she […]
Posted inArts + Music
Asexual and aromantic folks claim their place at Pride
On the first day of Halifax Pride week, Ky Greyson arrives at a coffee shop sporting a huge smile, freshly dyed cotton candy hair with matching pink eyebrows, and black leggings that read “unavailable.” He’s bursting with enthusiasm when he asks me what gender pronouns I prefer. Although some people don’t like labels, Greyson finds […]
Posted inArts + Music
Five unmissable events at Halifax Pride 2016
Halifax Pride is geared up for another year of rainbow-filled celebrating, announcing their full lineup for the 10-day fest. Here, we’re rounding up the events we’re marking on our calendars—but full event listings are available here. Kate Bornstein presents Trans, Just for the Fun of It! A nonbinary trans author, activist and performance artist, New […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The accidental activist
This is a story about a size 12 seafoam green evening gown, hanging on a rack, in 1979. And here’s how Marie Rigby, 88, starts the tale: “One day these two fellas come in and they wanted to know if we had any gowns.” Rigby is long retired from women’s clothing, and nearly 30 years […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Boylesque thrills
She’s voluptuous, bursting out of a skintight leopard print dress, as her tiara jiggles in a nest of bleach blonde hair, bigger than Dolly Parton’s. She scrunches her ruby red lips, shooting audience members furtive glances. She has impressive nipple dexterity, twirling the tassels on her bosom in choreographed time to the Duelling Banjos. Her […]
Posted inLifestyle
We are all anal-sexers!
In the Halifax of the ’90s, not long after The Coast brought Dan Savage and a generally queer-friendly outlook to public discussion, another newspaper columnist invented a homophobic insult. Harry Flemming of the Daily News used the term “anal-sexers” whenever he wanted to complain about something the gays had done. This prompted a local activist […]
Posted inArts + Music
A parade of city pride
Everyone loves a parade, and this year’s Pride parade promises to be the biggest and best Halifax has seen. There are over 150 entries confirmed to walk/drive/float for Saturday’s event. “We’ve had parades for 23 years,” says Ed Savage, co-chair of Halifax Pride, the Pride Week organizing committee. “But it’s only been about the last […]
Posted inArts + Music
Watch the Pride parade slideshow
Saturday’s Pride parade was a gay old time, indeed. It featured a beautiful sunny afternoon, thousands of people lining downtown streets to watch and around 200 floats—including a Coast/Hillcrest Volkswagen team effort that featured Windom Earle playing for nearly 2 hours on the back of a flatbed truck. (After the parade, a cop who was […]
Posted inArts + Music
Giving an angry inch
Hedwig, the most famous “internationally ignored” transsexual, is coming to Halifax. Actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell gave birth to Hedwig in New York’s famous drag club Squeezebox; since then she’s had her own cult musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and a namesake movie that was the sleeper hit of 2001 (nominated for […]
Posted inArts + Music
Fighting to Clik into place
On a bitter March evening, a few dozen folks huddled into Venus Envy on Barrington Street to listen to Lucas Silveira play an acoustic set. He previewed a few tracks from The Cliks' then-forthcoming album, Dirty King. Silveira revelled in the intimate setting, cracking jokes about pictures popping up on Facebook of him playing against […]
Posted inLifestyle
Hot Summer Guide: Cultural events and festivals
CATCH: The Nova Scotia Seafood Festival June 27 Get those culinary taste buds ready for a weekend of seafood: CATCH will be working overtime. The festival promises to be a weekend of tasting, learning, shopping and just generally loving all things fishy. Presented by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the festival’s focus is to […]