2Bmag online

If you’re tired of the usual posters and speeches that come out for IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia), there’s a host of events being planned by six awesome organizations that work with cultural communities and queer people of colour to add some diversity to the mix. Check it out!

Just as Québec Minister of Education, Line Beauchamp, has just stepped down in the enduring conflict between the government and the student movement, more and more eye-witness accounts are surfacing of the violence from Victoriaville on May 4, at the Québec Liberal Party convention. André Patry, a teacher and activist for the LGBT community, is speaking out against the behaviour of the police.

Brutality, violence, and denigration: more and more criticisms are piling up against the treatment of student protestors by the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). Journalists and citizens on social networks are all weighing in.

With the slogan “Sexual diversity in the workplace: it pays off!” the Fondation Émergence trumpets the need for awareness on homophobia for their 10th annual IDAHO campaign. For founder Laurent McCutcheon, there is still a lot of work to be done to make the workplace better for gays.

On Sunday May 6, there will be a march in the unlikely town of Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir, 50 km east of Montréal. The march will be a protest against years of homophobic bullying and taunting experienced by a young boy named Jérémy, an 8 year-old figure skater who attends Jeanne-Mance elementary school.

Xavier Dolan made headlines twice this week, first with the announcement yesterday that his latest feature Laurence Anyways will be part of the 65th Cannes Film Festival. He also had a few words on, um, solidarity with the student strike and the charming Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois…

The Conservative government has decided to deny crucial funding to a programme to fight drug-related prostitution in the Montréal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Borough, despite the fact that the Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal identified the project as a priority and that it was project unanimously supported by specialized social workers and the Borough Mayor.

The organizers of Divers/Cité announced this week that for their 20th edition this year, the large outdoor events will be held in the Old Port of Montréal, instead of the Village, from August 2-5. The decision was made in part to deal with a lack of space in the Village for the growing outdoor events, but also to take advantage of the beauty that the historic site has to offer.

The prosecution is asking for 2 years of prison time for an American living in Montréal convicted of sexual assault for failing to disclose his HIV status to a partner. The conviction comes as the Supreme Court is reviewing two cases which will determine whether the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure is a violation of the Charter of Human Rights.

It was a sold out crowd for the ARTSIDA auction at the Musée d’art contemporain on Saturday night. Almost three times the attendance of previous events, the benefit brought out a fabulous array of artists, buyers, and supporters for AIDS Community Care Montréal (ACCM) and is expected to draw record profits for the 4th annual event.