2Bmag online

A special screening of United in Anger: a History of ACT UP comes at a pertinent time for HIV/AIDS activism and anti-government dissent in Canada. The documentary will be screened on Thursday, Nov 22, at 7pm as part of the Concordia HIV/AIDS lecture series, followed by a Q&A with director Jim Hubbard.

What’s next? That’s the question everyone is asking themselves this fall – in both fashion and politics – now that the tumultuous “Maple Spring” and a summer election campaign have successfully brought down the Charest government… (Banner image: “Querelle de Brest” by Mathieu Laca, on display at Galerie Modulum until October 14).

Before you cast your vote this September 4, ask yourself if you really agree with most of what your candidate’s party stands for, or if your ballot is just being bought.

The ongoing struggle for legal rights and social recognition for the LGBT community may be over 40 years old, but right now, it’s all about adolescence.

From Victoriaville to the streets of Montréal and back, the basic democratic right to protest is under fire. With Pride season approaching, you can only wonder if the memory of arrests and beatings that LGBT people underwent in the fight for our rights will make us wake up and see that an attack on the student movement is also an attack on our own.

Safety, whether illusory or real, has been at the heart of recent public debates, both on the local and country-wide scale. Now, with Bill C-31, another blow to the safety of GLBT refugees is about to be dealt by the Conservatives. AGIR has launched a campaign to raise awareness about the bill, which could retract refugee status from successful LGBT claimants, as it threatens to become law later this week.

If your first few weeks of 2012 were anything like mine, I think it’s appropriate to call them The Blur. Not that we’ve had that much snow to complain about, but instead, flurries of another kind. The last time we weighed in, there was a storm brewing around Montréal non-profit Cactus and measures it is taking to create a Safe Injection Site at their location near Berri-UQÀM…

“Nothing makes one so vain as being told one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all.” – Oscar Wilde

As we prepare to print our third special quarterly 2B Lifestyles, we found ourselves in the curious position of putting together a fashion issue while the entire community is in a huff over the “Village security” petition, which was presented to the Ville de Montréal in September. Issues of homelessness go deeper than meet the eye, and the community reaction is surprizingly nuanced.

Years in the making, the Action plan to fight homophobia was finally unveiled May 20 by Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier and key community members who consulted on the government’s Plan de lutte contre l’homophobie. The plan sets out a diverse set of action items including funding increases to community organizations, a Research Chair at UQÀM, and the creation of a Bureau for combatting homophobia.