2Bmag online

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.

With the diva in town for tonight’s show at the Bell Centre, it makes for a good moment to remind you of the Metro contest to be her assistant for the day!

You may be thinking this is just another anti-Harper column in another gay magazine. If it weren’t for the fact that we will most likely have an election call in the next few months, you would be right.

I wasn’t with 2B when the world said good-bye to the decade that came to be known as the Aughties— roughly book-ended by 9/11 and the Obama inauguration— so we’ve decided to start turn the page now, on the cusp of 2011. Looking back on the decade (which for my generation will be known as our terrible twenties), it’s easy to get nostalgic for all the gayness that was: hence Jay Quint’s overview of film and television’s LGBT highlights (and my choice for Montréal’s queerest Aughtie hottie, Rufus Wainwright. Could the next ten years possibly be any gayer? One look at this cover says YES, IT CAN!