2nd openly LGBT Canadian premier on the horizon in 2015

University of Prince Edward Island President Wade MacLauchlan in his Charlottetown office.
(Nina Linton For The Globe and Mail)

2015 may also bring a second openly LGBT premier in Canada: Prince Edward Island's Liberal Party seems poised to elect Wade MacLauchlan, former president of the University of Prince Edward Island, as the successor to outgoing premier Joe Ghiz. 

"The openly gay, aspiring politician – his partner, Duncan McIntosh, is the artistic director of the Watermark Theatre in North Rustico – is also from a wealthy and well-respected island family..."

Good news, indeed!  To find out more about him, click here for his leadership website.

Happy New Year, everyone!  

Poland makes history by electing its first openly gay mayor, Robert Biedron

Poland makes history by electing its first openly gay mayor

Wonderful news!

Gay rights campaigner Robert Biedron has pledged to ditch the limos and ride a bike

01 December 2014
| By Joe Morgan

Poland has made history by electing the country's first openly gay mayor.



Voters in the Eastern European country, which is 90% Roman Catholic,
showed their support behind LGBTI campaigner Robert Biedron.



The 38-year-old, a member of maverick MP Janusz Palikot’s ultra-liberal
‘Your Movement’, won the mayoral elections in Slupsk, northern Poland,
today (1 December).



He secured 57% of the vote, beating the ruling Civic Playform candidate Zbigniew Zonwinski.



'I will lead a very modest [local government], as this town is modest,
as well as being one of the most debt-ridden in Poland,' Biedron told
PAP news agency.



'The three limousines which are available to the mayor will no longer be mine, as I go everywhere by bicycle.'



Biedron is perhaps best known for when he ran as a MP and won the
Gdynia-Slupsk constituency. He also set up the charity Campaign Against
Homophobia.



The elections saw a small wave of liberalism fighting to be heard, with
the elections for regional parliaments and municipal government seeing a
record number of openly gay candidates in the race.



With none of the others won seats, Biedron's success is being hailed as an inspiration.

- See more at:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/poland-makes-history-electing-its-first-openly-gay-mayor011214#sthash.i81OxIjZ.dpuf

"Poland has made history by electing the country's first openly gay mayor.

"Voters in the Eastern European country, which is 90% Roman Catholic, showed their support behind LGBTI campaigner Robert Biedron.

"The 38-year-old, a member of maverick MP Janusz Palikot’s ultra-liberal ‘Your Movement’, won the mayoral elections in Slupsk, northern Poland, today (1 December).

"He secured 57% of the vote, beating the ruling Civic Playform candidate Zbigniew Zonwinski.

"'I will lead a very modest [local government], as this town is modest, as well as being one of the most debt-ridden in Poland,' Biedron told PAP news agency.

"'The three limousines which are available to the mayor will no longer be mine, as I go everywhere by bicycle.'

"Biedron is perhaps best known for when he ran as a MP and won the Gdynia-Slupsk constituency. He also set up the charity Campaign Against Homophobia.

"The elections saw a small wave of liberalism fighting to be heard, with the elections for regional parliaments and municipal government seeing a record number of openly gay candidates in the race.

"With none of the others won seats, Biedron's success is being hailed as an inspiration."

Gay rights campaigner Robert Biedron has pledged to ditch the limos and ride a bike

01 December 2014
| By Joe Morgan

Poland has made history by electing the country's first openly gay mayor.



Voters in the Eastern European country, which is 90% Roman Catholic,
showed their support behind LGBTI campaigner Robert Biedron.



The 38-year-old, a member of maverick MP Janusz Palikot’s ultra-liberal
‘Your Movement’, won the mayoral elections in Slupsk, northern Poland,
today (1 December).



He secured 57% of the vote, beating the ruling Civic Playform candidate Zbigniew Zonwinski.



'I will lead a very modest [local government], as this town is modest,
as well as being one of the most debt-ridden in Poland,' Biedron told
PAP news agency.



'The three limousines which are available to the mayor will no longer be mine, as I go everywhere by bicycle.'



Biedron is perhaps best known for when he ran as a MP and won the
Gdynia-Slupsk constituency. He also set up the charity Campaign Against
Homophobia.



The elections saw a small wave of liberalism fighting to be heard, with
the elections for regional parliaments and municipal government seeing a
record number of openly gay candidates in the race.



With none of the others won seats, Biedron's success is being hailed as an inspiration.

- See more at:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/poland-makes-history-electing-its-first-openly-gay-mayor011214#sthash.i81OxIjZ.dpuf

The sensational 'The Way He Looks' plays at Toronto's Brazil Film Fest this Saturday...

Opening scene from director Daniel Ribeiro's 'The Way He Looks'

I sadly missed a previous Toronto screening for Daniel Ribeiro's feature film 'The Way He Looks,' at the Inside Out festival back in May.  That's why I was thrilled to learn that Toronto's Brazil Film Fest teamed up with Inside Out to sponsor another screening this weekend of Brazil's official entry for the 2015 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film.  The Brazil fest even provided me with an online screener and I had a chance to check out the gem of a film last night. 

The story of 'The Way He Looks' concerns a blind teenager named Leonardo whose longtime friendship with female friend Giovana is threatened when he develops romantic feelings for a new male student at school named Gabriel. 

Leo's struggles at high school and with family are poignant and extremely honest, told without melodrama or an abundance of sentiment.  It's a fresh and beautiful film.  As Leo, young actor Ghilherme Lobo is sensational, reprising the role he first played in Ribeiro's 2010 short film which featured a small taste of this feature story, 'Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho.'   

In fact, the main cast from the short film returns as well, including Fabio Audi as Gabriel and Tess Amorim as Giovana.  And they are all fabulous, as is the rest of the cast.  Ribeiro's writing and direction is assured and deeply loving of his characters, nurtured over several years.  The result is an incredibly satisfying feature film that explores gay first love from an angle not before experienced by audiences.   I think this may be the best adaptation of a short film into a feature film I've ever seen.  None of the charm from the original short is lost; in fact, the experience is greatly enhanced.   Clearly, Ribeiro is a filmmaker to watch. 

To date, I'm not sure if this gem of a feature film has a Canadian distributor, so if you're in the Toronto area this Saturday night at 9 pm, please go check out 'The Way He Looks' at the Brazil Film Fest.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

Another flick with a queer twist at Brazil Film Fest is Paulo Gustavo's hilarious film, 'My Mom is a Character' (pictured on the right). Based on his stage play, the romp details a mother played by Gustavo in amazing drag who takes some time off from her family after another spat with her adult kids including a cute gay son.  It's definitely worth a look if you're in the mood for something lighter, but no less charming.

The Brazil Film Fest opens tonight and plays until Sunday at TIFF Bell Lightbox on King West.

Here is the full, original 2010 short film 'Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho' by director Daniel Ribeiro.  If you like this, you'll love the feature version. 
 

I'm with Greg Sorbara on ending separate school funding in Ontario

I could write today about Russia's latest petty move in that country's despicable campaign against LGBT people by removing a memorial to Apple founder Steve Jobs in St Petersburg after the man who succeeded him at the helm of the company, Tim Cook, came out as gay.  But those bigots aren't worth my energy today.

I could also write about something closer to home in BC where, according to this report, many ignorant Chinese suburbanites are worried progressive school board forces are planning to inject their children with some kind of serum to turn them gay.

But those idiots aren't worth my energy either.  There seems to be no end to the stupidity of our species.

But one slight bit of hope has emerged from reading this article about former Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara's (pictured) declaration that Ontario should finally scrap its antiquated, separate school system, in which one religion - Roman Catholics - receive special status by getting public schools funded by taxpayers, while all other religions do not.   Sorbara makes the comments in his new memoir. 

In a modern, secular, pluralistic society like Ontario, it's long past the time we do the right thing on this issue.  Of course, Premier Kathleen Wynne, who's openly lesbian and couldn't work as a teacher in the separate school system in Ontario if she wanted to, has said she has no plans to pursue the dismantling of public funding for Catholic schools.  I hope she changes her mind.  She has a majority now so she could begin a process to examine the issue and allow the voters to speak on the subject.   

The people of Ontario have never had the chance to weigh in on our public education system.   It's now time for a plebiscite that would allow them to do that. It's long past time Ontarians get a say into how their public education system money is handed out. 

Check out 80s musical spoof 'Eternity: The Movie' at the Carlton this week...

Tonight, my boyfriend and I saw and thoroughly enjoyed the charming 80s musical spoof comedy film, 'Eternity: The Movie,' at Toronto's Carlton Cinema.  I wanted to give the flick a shout-out.  

Directed by Ian Thorpe and starring the very adorable Barrett Crake and Myko Olivier (pictured)
as would-be R&B music sensations who launch the duo Eternity in 1985 (with more than a passing resemblance to Daryl Hall and John Oates), it was silly, sexy and playful from start to end, never taking itself too seriously.

And with tonnes of not-so-subtle homo-eroticism between the cute leads, there was plenty for gay male and gay-loving audiences to enjoy.  Honestly, I got a bit lost in Olivier's beautiful eyes (see why below), and his lovable loser routine never got tired.  Plus many of the ballads, including 'Make Love (Not Just Sex)' and 'Alana' were hilarious.   Crake and writer/producer Eric Staley were on hand for a Q&A after the flick and Crake mentioned he'll be appearing in an episode of the final season of 'Glee.'

It would be nice to see this indie flick turn into a cult hit.  It's not going to win any Oscars, but if you're not looking for serious fare and just want to laugh at an 80s spoof, check it out at the Carlton this week if you can.

Students want consequences for trustee after tweet about transgendered people

The newspaper reports on this were awesome to read.  But the TV story below from Global really does it justice:



"A dozen Toronto high school students are striking back at a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) school trustee over some of his controversial tweets.

"They students have urged the board to take some kind of action against Sam Sotiropoulos, the trustee for Scarborough-Agincourt, and presented a committee with a petition signed by more than 200 students, backing their position.

Georgia Koumantaros, a 16-year-old student at Malvern Collegiate Institute said some of Sotiropoulos’ tweets as atrocious."

Wonderful job, Georgia!   

I hope the sleazy jerk Sotiropoulos goes down to defeat on Monday! 

Greyhound Canada cancelled my Buffalo, NY bus schedule, didn't tell me, cost me money and then refused to pay me back...

We've all had travel nightmare stories. I've been mostly lucky in my life, at least when it comes to the airline industry.

This story is small potatoes next to most airline horror stories we often hear about. But I thought I'd share it in the hopes of warning the public about Greyhound Canada, a company I used to respect but will no longer ride. This consumer complaints website about how Greyhound has screwed over other customers doesn't have a story nearly as bad as ours, so I feel compelled to share here.

My boyfriend and I booked return tickets from Toronto to the Buffalo, NY airport to catch a flight to Florida earlier this month.  We had ordered our Greyhound tickets in advance in June. On August 28th, I proceeded to the Greyhound terminal at Bay and Dundas in Toronto to pick up our tickets for the Sept 1st departure bus ride to Buffalo and the Sept 5th return ride back to Toronto.  The Greyhound employee saw our order number and printed out our tickets just fine.

The thing is - our return schedule back from the Buffalo airport to Toronto on September 5th had been cancelled. She didn't mention that to me. Greyhound had all of my contact information as I purchased the tickets online months earlier. They knew we were supposed to be on that 6:45 pm scheduled bus ride back from the U.S. to our home country. But they didn't bother to tell us. 

Fast forward to September 5th. Our flight back from Florida to Buffalo arrived back 45 minutes early so we wandered fairly tired around the bleak Buffalo airport trying to kill time.  Then after 2 hours, we went back to the bus pick-up/drop-off location just outside the Buffalo airport. The clock approached our supposed 6:45 pm pick-up. But as 6:45 pm came and went, no bus showed up. Had we been waiting in the wrong location? No. What had happened?  We had no idea.

I called the 1-800-661-TRIP phone number and got the automatic voice message system and was put on hold. Of course, this being the U.S., I had no roaming phone plan (as I hadn't used my phone for the entire trip.) I patiently waited for a human being to come on the phone to try to find out what happened to our bus ride. No Greyhound employee ever materialized.

After 10 minutes, I hung up knowing I was accruing roaming charges. I left my boyfriend by the bus stop and rushed into the airport to try to use a public phone. I found one inside but could no longer see the bus stop. There I called every Greyhound phone number I could find and couldn't get a single human being on the phone. I was on hold for almost an hour. My frustration grew into anger, which grew into despair.

By now, it was past 8 pm and I wandered back to the bus stop to rejoin my boyfriend. He then ran off to go to the bathroom inside the airport and try out the Greyhound website on his iPad as my iPhone internet connection wasn't able to get any schedule information from the Greyhound site. So I waited at the bus stop wondering what we would do. Would we have to pay for a flight home to Toronto? Would we have to get a hotel room and somehow figure out how to get home the next day?  We were exhausted and we just wanted to get home.  It was quite unpleasant considering we weren't even in our own country.

Finally my boyfriend returned to say he learned that Greyhound seemed to have 8:45 pm bus rides back from the Buffalo airport to Toronto the next night and all nights that week. Perhaps there would be one that night as well (although that day's schedules were gone from the Greyhound site.) Finally close to 8:45 pm, another Greyhound bus showed up. I explained the situation to the American driver who apologized and agreed to take us on the bus to the Buffalo station even though we had 6:45 pm tickets.

At the Buffalo bus terminal, the driver confirmed that Greyhound had cancelled our 6:45 pm schedule, but had not told us. I was extremely angry.

Then the farce got worse. We had to transfer buses at the Buffalo terminal, and then wait almost another hour for a late Canadian Greyhound driver to show up. The terminal refused to shut the luggage section on the side of the bus, leaving it open for anyone to gawk at.  I demanded they shut it, but the terminal staffer said it was the Greyhound driver's responsibility to shut it.  I kept a watchful eye on it, frequently hopping off the bus to make sure no thieves came along to steal our luggage. Finally, the unapologetic driver showed up without an explanation and took us across the border. Then a thunder storm hit Ontario, making the ride even more distressful.

By the time we got back to Toronto at 12:45 am, I was livid. I marched into the Toronto bus terminal and gave the Greyhound employee behind the counter a piece of my mind. He seemed more concerned with shutting me up than apologizing. I asked how Greyhound could cancel our schedule, leave us stranded in Buffalo and not inform us even though they had my contact information. He wouldn't answer. I asked if he cared how it felt to be on hold for over an hour, incurring roaming charges, to never reach a human being while stranded and worried. No explanation. In sad, but true private sector form, he just offered us a reimbursement for our ride from hell. I asked what about the extra roaming phone charges I incurred. He told me I'd have to take that up with upper management. I did.

After some emailing, Greyhound Canada's Vanessa Noriega informed me that:  

"Greyhound is not liable for additional expenses. Unfortunately, we will not be able to honor your request...We hope you will not let this incident deter you from using our services and will give us another opportunity in the near future to prove we can be the most reliable and economical form of transportation to meet your needs."

To which I replied:

"You are able to honour my request but you won't. I will not be using your services again as I am afraid after I buy a ticket, you're going to cancel the schedule and not inform me, and put me through hell because of it, and when I incur expenses to try to find out what's happened, you won't reimburse me. I will be blogging about this outrage and doing my best to spread the message far and wide and make sure Greyhound loses business because of this. I'm sure in the end you will lose much more than $28.01 CDN. Foolish, stupid private company!"

Dear loyal readers, if you have any admiration or respect for me, or if you simply value good customer service and want to send a message to a company that doesn't, if at all possible, please boycott Greyhound Canada. I'll be doing so from now on.

TIFF '14: Benedict Cumberbatch's 'The Imitation Game' wins People's Choice Award

Due to vacations and work, I took it easy on TIFF this year, seeing only four movies.

But I'm happy to say that one of those four films was Morten Tyldum's excellent 'The Imitation Game,' (pictured) which today won the People's Choice Award at the festival.  

Considering previous TIFF People's Choice winners include Oscar Best Picture winners like '12 Years a Slave,' 'The King's Speech,' and 'Slumdog Millionaire,' this bodes well for 'Imitation Game's' Oscar chances.  

And what a great result that would be for a film that chronicles the life and work of mostly unknown Alan Turing, a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, computer scientist, mathematical biologist, and marathon and ultra distance runner, who led efforts to successfully crack the Enigma code during World War II.  Winston Churchill said that Turing made the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany.  Turing's pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in several crucial battles.

The film focuses mostly on those fascinating efforts, but does so while shining a light on a character, Turing, whose introverted/anti-social nature might usually have deemed him an unsuitable lead character for a feature film.  The fact that the audience overwhelmingly sympathizes with Turing is due mostly to the great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch.

As Variety puts it in their mostly positive review, "His Turing is a marvel to watch, comically aloof when confronted with as mundane a task as ordering lunch, but seething with the mad intensity of a zealot whenever anything risks impeding his work, and finally heartbreaking in his inability to cope with the cruel realities of the world outside Bletchley Park."

The film flashes back and forth between events around 1952 when Turing was arrested for gross indecency (something I committed last week, by the standards of Turing's time), to Turing's war efforts between 1939 and 1945, and Turing's youth where the shy, bullied lad briefly found platonic first love with a schoolmate named Christopher, whom he would later name his Enigma-breaking super-computer after.

By the end, the audience is left with a strong sense of sadness at the life of a mostly misunderstood and tormented man who, despite hiding most of his life from people, still contributed so greatly to his own time and all the decades since.  His work building the Christopher computer, capable of deciphering through millions of possibilities to break the German Enigma code, clearly formed the basis for the modern computer.   For him to die so young (age 41) makes obvious the profound loss and tragedy of this genius's life. 

Check out 'The Imitation Game' when you can! 

I also saw and quite loved 'The Theory of Everything' about the early life of another genius of our time, Stephen Hawking.   It was as impressive as 'The Imitation Game,' although perhaps not as tragic and poignant.  Star Eddie Redmayne was simply perfect as Stephen Hawking.  No doubt, Redmayne and Cumberbatch have great chances of landing Best Actor Oscar nods early next year.

The final two films I saw at TIFF this year were Abel Ferrara's 'Pasolini,' starring Willem Dafoe as the infamous Italian director/writer Pier Paolo Pasolini, which was interesting but not overly focused, and the stunning 'Love in the Time of Civil War,' by Quebec director Rodrigue Jean.

Jean's film about Montreal junkie hustlers who gravitate between hot sex and searching for their next hit, was a bit long but still hammered home the point of these sad, downward-spiraling lives.  As the lead, sexy and oft-naked Alexandre Landry (pictured above) holds nothing back and, despite looking often a bit grubby, still manages to be mesmerizing.   No wonder he was named by TIFF as one of four 'Rising Stars' this year.

There wasn't much love in this time of civil war, but that seems to be Jean's point in one of the better films I've seen on the subject.   This one deserves a wide, international release across the whole gay market, if you ask me. 

Victory in Uganda as Anti-Homosexuality Act struck down in step towards ending discrimination

Wonderful news!

Uganda: Anti-Homosexuality Act struck down in step towards ending discrimination | Amnesty International

"Uganda's Constitutional Court today ruled that the Act was "null and void" as not enough representatives were in the room for the vote when it was passed by Parliament in December 2013." 

“Even though Uganda’s abominable Anti-Homosexuality Act was scrapped on the basis of a technicality, it is a significant victory for Ugandan activists who have campaigned against this law. Since it was first being floated in 2009, these activists have often put their safety on the line to ensure that Ugandan law upholds human rights principles,” said Sarah Jackson, Africa Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International.

“We now hope that this step forward translates into real improvements in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people in Uganda, who have been trapped in a vicious circle of discrimination, threats, abuse and injustice for too long.”

Post-World Pride analysis: Ambitious Toronto organizers overwhelmed by World Pride beast...

The massive party of World Pride in Toronto is over. 

The unabashed winners from World Pride were private businesses like bars, hotels, restaurants and other establishments which got a major boost to their profits.  Most establishments properly prepared for the expected big spike in usual Pride Toronto attendance numbers and managed appropriately, I'd say. 

But not Pride Toronto and its organizers, ambitious from the start to host this allegedly prestigious event, but clearly overwhelmed by the beast they unleashed on the city.  It was like they still planned for a regular Pride event and then seemed shocked when chaos erupted at many of their events. 

The annual Green Space Starry Night event at the 519 Community Centre was overwhelmed early with many 519 contributors with VIP passes turned away (although this was largely due to the limitations of the space, although I'm sure a bit of better planning might've prevented some disappointment.) 

But the biggest fiasco was the annual Sunday parade, which Pride organizers failed miserably to properly stage.  No doubt, Pride Toronto was more than happy to accept hundreds more parade marchers and floats than ever before, all paying big fees and filling Pride coffers.  I chose to march with my union, the Canadian Media Guild, which hasn't marched in years. 

But the massive delays in staging and getting the parade rolling were embarrassing.  The 1 pm start time was more aspirational than planned.  Volunteers giving their time to march ended up standing around the staging area on Bloor Street between Church and Jarvis in the hot, muggy sun for hours.  Several volunteers with my group couldn't bear the heat and left before we even started moving at 3:45 pm.

But our group didn't even have the worst of it.  The Liberal Party contingent with out lesbian Premier Kathleen Wynne was forced to wait even longer, as one friend of mine noted to me on Facebook: "...We were near the end of the Parade behind the naked guys??? No Mayor thx jeez but the Premier of Ontario 4.5 hr wait. We finished at 6:15 most of crowd gone home!!! Loved WorldPride disappointed in parade."

Before we started moving, I took to Twitter to voice my displeasure with the chaos: "Standing in the heat waiting to march in TO ‪#‎WorldPride‬ parade for 2 hours. Worst organizing by @PrideToronto ever!"
 
I got some sympathy from friends in response, but World Pride Human Rights Conference organizer Doug Kerr arrogantly shot back: "Pride can't control the crowds or weather!"  I promptly gave Kerr's dismissive quip the response he deserved by deleting it from my Facebook timeline.  Note to Doug: When people are feeling pain due to your organization's mismanagement, don't rudely dismiss them!

The crowds on the street delaying the parade from running on time?  Don't think so.  As we marched down Yonge around 4:30 pm, there were times there were 4 or 5 blocks of empty road behind us.  This was Pride Toronto's big goof, so best not to blame the people who came to see the parade for the chaos, I'd say. 

The most galling part was standing in the staging area between Church and Jarvis on Bloor watching corporate float after corporate float go ahead of the community groups like ours.  In years past, corporate floats have waited while smaller community groups went first.   But that old tradition seems long gone.  Now the Premier of Ontario has to wait so Trojan's float can go first.   Perhaps the massively delayed organization of the parade will give birth to a new money-making opportunity for Pride Toronto in years to come: pay an even bigger parade fee and your corporate float can be in the first contingent of the parade!  

Many LGBT people including myself have become quite cynical about Pride in recent years as it's morphed from a grassroots community celebration about liberation into a largely corporate beast.   Most Pride events nowadays have VIP sections for the well-to-do who've paid premium ticket prices.  This is not the Pride of old.  Hence, why many like me believe that Pride has lost most of its old magic.  It didn't just happen this year; it happened long ago.   This was just the biggest example of what Pride Toronto has become.  

When asked in the months and weeks before if I was excited about World Pride, I could only shrug and respond, "Not really."   I didn't know what World Pride was supposed to mean.  And I still don't.  I'm happy for the businesses that did so well this weekend.  It was a decent Pride weekend.  I loved the time I spent with my boyfriend and my friends.  My brother and sister-in-law came in from out of town to walk with us in the parade and show their support which was fantastic (and endured the painful wait with us.) 

But we'll definitely think again before we put ourselves through another Pride parade, either as participants or viewers. 

2014 Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival wraps: My favourite flicks this year...

Another year, another Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film Festival draws to a close.  The festival tends to creep up on many film lovers in Toronto, so many friends of mine remarked to me this year they forgot to go see much.  Not me, of course.  Despite ongoing election campaigns pulling politicos in every direction, I still managed to see a few films.  But I also missed some good ones.

I sadly missed the Brazilian opening night film 'The Way He Looks,' which is a feature film adaptation closely based on a short film from a few years ago by the same director.  I was busy that night working on my own feature film screenplay inspired by a short film I worked on a few years ago, 'The Golden Pin' (available for viewing on YouTube, including a direct link on the right.)

But the feature version of 'The Way He Looks,' looks great based on this trailer:



I haven't heard yet if 'The Way He Looks,' has Canadian distribution, meaning it could be a while before anyone else can see it in this country.  With some luck, perhaps it'll play at TIFF later this year, or at the Brazilian Film & Television Festival of Toronto in the fall.

I also missed the fundraising screening of HBO's new TV movie 'The Normal Heart,' starring Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer.  But I'll catch that one soon through other means and will blog about it if I'm inspired by it.

Two other features I missed which I hope to catch soon are 'Last Summer', an American feature about the final days of a vibrant summer love between two small-town high school male sweethearts torn between staying together and moving on to bigger and better things, and director Ira Sachs' 'Love Is Strange,' which stars Alfred Molina and John Lithgow.

The trailer for 'Last Summer' is here:



Now for the films I did see and loved.

My favourite film was Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan's 'Tom at the Farm' (pictured above.) Based on the play by Michel Marc Bouchard, the film chronicles the story of a young gay man who journeys to his dead lover's family farm in rural Quebec, where he discovers his late lover's mother had no idea her son was gay.  But his unpredictable, volatile and sexy brother certainly did, as we soon discover.

Here is the trailer:



Dolan has been receiving accolades for years since his debut feature, 'I Killed My Mother.'  I loved that film, but thought his follow up 'Heartbeats' was disappointing.  I completely missed the three-hour 'Lawrence Anyways' as a result.  But with 'Tom at the Farm,' I have to say that I'm now a Dolan groupie (and will have to go back and watch 'Lawrence Anyways' asap.)

I also appreciated the German/Hungarian feature film 'Land of Storms,' (pictured above.) Detailing the story of a young Hungarian soccer player who gets kicked off a German team and returns home to his desolate life where he meets a sexy would-be thief, it was captivating from start to finish.  I can't say I liked the ending much, even though it nicely brought closure to the story.  But the hot images of a naked three-way in a pond at night, not to mention other nice moments of eye candy more than made up for the cliched finale. Here's a link to the film's trailer on YouTube.

I also loved the Brazilian/German film 'Praia do Futuro,' (pictured above) or 'Future Beach,' a fascinating and beautiful film about a Brazilian lifeguard who falls for the German friend of a man who dies at the beach in the north-eastern region of the country and abandons his family to go live with his new lover in Germany.  It was sexy, atmospheric, unfurling itself with an easy pace I loved.

Here's the trailer:



And finally I will say good things about the Venezuelan gem 'My Straight Son,' (pictured below.)  Though heavy on some gay film tropes like commitment-phobic lovers, gay bashers, ignorant families who come around in the end, and tough transsexuals who save the day, it broke new ground as a mainstream, Spanish-language film that may eventually find a wide audience across South America (and change a few closed minds in the process.)   About a gay photographer reunited with his teenage son while his lover struggles in hospital after a brutal attack, it was sweet, supremely well-made and contained some truly beautiful moments.  I'd highly recommend it to most.

I did catch some short films as well, including three great ones: Austin Wong's hilarious 'Gaysian', Britt Randle's clever 'Run Rabbit,' and Sonia Hong's awesome dance video, 'Waack Revolt!'.

Andrew Garfield's amazing performance in Arcade Fire's new video "We Exist"

This is astonishing!  I love both Andrew Garfield and Arcade Fire even more now!   Enjoy! 

Michael Sam becomes 1st openly gay athlete to be drafted into the NFL...

What a beautiful and sweet moment!  It's so very nice to share in it on TV.  Congrats to Mr. Sam!

I'm not much of a football fan, but I'll have to find a way to catch a St. Louis Rams game when Sam starts to play for them.

Prince Harry might "experiment with gay men" if his relationship doesn’t work out (which apparently it has not!)

What a lovely headline!:

Prince Harry might experiment with gay men if my relationship doesn’t work out

It certainly caught my eye, although Harry never has to try too hard to get my attention (or most gay men's). 

And of course, this story yesterday seems to confirm the handsome prince is back on the market.  Well, Harry, perhaps it's time to put those sexy words into action and give some hot dude a try? 

Here's the full Pink News story below:

Prince Harry has said he might try relationships with men if he “changes his mind” about women, while on a night out with his current girlfriend.

Harry and his girlfriend, Cressida Bonas, were taking a night out together at The Rum Kitchen in Notting Hill on Friday, when Harry was slipped the phone number of Vincenzo Ianniello.

He reportedly accepted the number happily, and promised to call Mr Ianniello if he changed his mind about dating women.
 
Mr Ianniello later tweeted about the exchange: “I gave Prince Harry my number tonight, he promised he’ll call me if he changes his mind about women. Or men. #epicwin”

Kick attention-seeking, mischief-making American bigot Peter LaBarbera out of the country, please!

It seems hatemonger Peter LaBarbera's temporary detention by Canada Customs at Regina's airport last week was quite justified, considering what the bigoted troublemaker got himself into on the University of Regina's campus today. 

LaBarbera, along with infamous hate propagandist Bill Whatcott (whose guilt promoting hatred against gays and lesbians was upheld last year by the Supreme Court of Canada), tried to force their drug-inspired hatred against LGBT people onto the University of Regina today (religion being one of several legal drugs, of course.)  They were refused the ability to set up a table to promote their illogical hatred, but they proceeded to set one up anyway.  In the end, Regina police arrested them both and charged them with mischief. 

No one has the right to enter a university campus to commit crimes or promote hatred.  No one even has a right to set up a table on a public sidewalk to promote anything without a city permit.  As Whatcott rightly should know, there are limits to freedom of expression, which doesn't include the right to distribute pamphlets which read, "Kill The Homosexuals!", as he did about ten years ago.  These two merely wanted some more attention for their pathetic cause and sadly they got it.

Whatcott is a loser who deserves to be forgotten along with his drug-inspired nonsense.

And LaBarbera has shown his contempt for Canada by engaging in this kind of behaviour so soon after last week's warning at the Regina airport.  You'd think a good Christian man might be inspired to behave himself in a foreign country after that.  But no.

Charged with mischief, LaBarbera should be put on a plane and flown back to the U.S. as soon as possible.  Good riddance, you jerk! 

Hurray for Ellen Page!

Very glad to hear this news today.  Plus she's cute.  Makes me wish I were a lesbian ;-)

"In a speech at the Time to Thrive conference Friday, actress Ellen Page came out as gay. 
“I’m here today because I am gay,” she told the audience of LGBT youth at the Bally’s 
Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"The 26-year old star of “Juno” appears in the upcoming “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”

“I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission,” Page said. “I suffered for years 
because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my 
relationships suffered. And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of 
all that pain.”

"The sponsor of the conference, Human Rights Campaign, tweeted “Congratulations 
@EllenPage for taking the steps to live openly and come out as lesbian.”

"She told the audience she felt a personal obligation and a social responsibility to be 
honest. “Maybe I can help others to have an easier time. I am tired of hiding,” she said.

Time to boycott Russia's celebration of its bigoted self

I will not be watching Russia's disgusting celebration of itself tomorrow.  The opening ceremonies for the Sochi Games will not be playing on my TV at work, nor at home on Friday night.  I can't bear to watch a celebration of Russia's history knowing full well this is a country that is actively trying to destroy its LGBT citizens with lies and religious bigotry.

The only thing that could make me watch would be news coverage featuring the repeat of some disaster that strikes during the event.  A mechanical failure, hopefully, causing embarrassment to Russian hosts and the bigot himself, Vladimir Putin.

Even better would be a brave protest by some athlete who unfurls a rainbow flag, perhaps.  It would be nice if some enlightened athletes from the enlightened parts of the world don rainbow buttons or symbols that promote equality and dignity amid such utter hypocrisy.

I will tune in over the course of the next two weeks to cheer on Canadian athletes.  Those events will not be about the repulsive host country; they will be about athletes from around the world, including our own country.

I wish Canadians the best of luck as they compete.  I wish all the athletes a great games.

Sad news about Philip Seymour Hoffman...

"Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote” and created a gallery of other vivid characters...was found dead Sunday in his Greenwich Village apartment with what law enforcement officials said was a syringe in his arm. He was 46."

What a tragedy!  He was a great character actor who made his mark on cinema and will be remembered for years if not decades.  This is a real loss for everyone who loves cinema and great acting as we will now be denied more of Hoffman's immense talent.

It's sad how hard drugs can take possession of people's lives, as seems to have been the case with Hoffman.  I'm glad I've never tried anything remotely considered "hard" amongst such substances still banned by law.  And I never intend to.

A friend remarked on her Facebook page simply that "drugs are bad...don't do them."  Sure, hard, addictive drugs like heroin, cocaine and others absolutely are to be avoided.

Drugs like caffeine, sugar, alcohol, marijuana, religion, etc.?  Definitely okay in MODERATE amounts.

But I digress.   We've lost a great artist today to a very addictive and destructive drug.  Very sad indeed!

HBO's new 'Looking': Link to Full Episode on YouTube

I'm hooked!  HBO has posted the first episode of its new 30-minute gay drama, 'Looking', set in beautiful San Francisco, on YouTube. Genius marketing.  I'll be watching this one all the way to the end!  LINK TO THE FULL EPISODE ON YOUTUBE HERE!  

Putin resembles Hitler as he suggests Russia needs to "cleanse" itself of homosexuality

How horrible it must be to be LGBT in Russia these days. My heart truly goes out to all LGBT people living in Russia and their allies.

Next month's Sochi Olympics are shining a light on that country's despicable treatment of its gay people and rightly so. Ignorance about LGBT people seems to underpin the mainstream culture in Russia (as expressed by its leadership), where the lessons learned in other countries by people just as smart as Russians seem to go unheeded and unlearned.

Now Russia President Vladimir Putin is talking like Adolf Hitler by equating gays with pedophiles and saying Russia needs to “cleanse” itself of homosexuality if it wants to increase its birth rate.

This kind of thinking is horrifying.

Congrats to writer Warren Kinsella for his article today on this very subject in which he too makes the comparison between Putin's Olympics in 2014 and Hitler's Olympics in 1936. Our international failure to launch an effective boycott of Putin's games will only have dire consequences for gays in Russia. It's an ominous warning considering what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany after Hitler's Olympic success.

I hope I'm not being naive in doubting a Russian version of the Holocaust against gay people. But without a doubt, the Russian law against the presence of homosexuality in any part of public society in that country is already having violent consequences for LGBT people.

But just as insidious is the impact Russia's law will have on LGBT youth and Putin's demand that Russia "cleanse" itself of homosexuality to increase its birth rate. I guess Putin hopes that more LGBT Russian men and women will stay in the closet out of fear of violence, and embrace fake heterosexual lives that are wrong for them and for society as a whole, creating phoney marriages and lives lost in clouds of lies and hopelessness.

Putin is either ignorant or deliberately ignoring the fact that homosexuality exists as an inherent, unchangeable attribute in about the same percentage (around three to five percent) in every society, across all demographics, classes, races, etc. including in Russia. He reportedly refused to answer a question today posed by the BBC to him about whether or not he believes the truth that people are born gay.

Holding Gay Pride parades, allowing gay people to exist openly in your society, and even teaching children about the importance of treating all human beings including homosexuals equally and with dignity and respect, will not turn any of those children who are not already destined to be LGBT into an LGBT person. Banning such "gay propaganda" will only further isolate the vulnerable gay Russian youth in that society and promote violence against anyone who doesn't fit in.

Treating LGBT people with equality, dignity and respect is not a Western value; it is a human value as homosexuals are present in all parts of the world, not just the West.

Sorry for the platitudes, which are obvious to most of us here in Canada. But sadly, these truths need to be repeated again and again as old world notions about sexuality continue to dominate in many parts of the world.

And heroes like the brave, gay Russian man (pictured below) who unfurled a rainbow flag today at the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 910 kilometres north of Sochi, only to be arrested, need to be honoured and supported.

'My Prairie Home' documentary about transgender musician from Alberta makes it to Sundance Film Festival

I'm excited about seeing this documentary this year, the only Canadian feature to make it to the Sundance Film Festival, which opened this past week.

'My Prairie Home' follows a transgender musician named Ray from a staunch Christian family in Alberta.   Based on this CBC story on it that ran last night, it looks amazing.

NOW Magazine's movie critics simply suck! (With the exception of Norm Wilner perhaps...)

Filmmakers (including myself on occasion) struggle greatly for years to get their stories on the big screen, from writing dozens of screenplay drafts, to finding money, to shooting, to post-production, to the agonizing process of distribution.

Audiences invest as little as nothing (if illegally downloading) or perhaps $13 if going to a theatre to view them.  

There's an old saying: those who can, do, and those who can't, teach.  This could also apply to film critics: those who can, make films, and those who can't, sit on the sidelines and attack the work of those who can.   

Some publications employ film critics who are fair, open-minded and willing to judge filmmakers' labours of love with a bit of humility, free of any personal agendas.

But not NOW Magazine in Toronto, where mostly amateurish writers in most sections spew their baseless subjectivity every week.  With the exception of Norm Wilner, whose opinions are generally top notch and take into account the actual art of the films and sometimes the intentions of the filmmakers, NOW's film critics frequently let their subjective b.s. opinions, prejudices and political agendas get in the way of their thinking.  

Glenn Sumi never saw an Asian-themed gay film he wasn't prepared to massacre due to his own self hatred and subjective tastes.  

Even worse, Susan G. Cole, an otherwise delightful woman, puts her highly sensitive, left leaning/lesbian political filter on before watching anything.  She once talked down Gus Van Sant's historic epic 'Milk' simply because there weren't enough lesbian characters in it.  Yes a story about an openly gay man who surrounded himself mostly with other gay men in his pursuit of political office and authentically portrayed him as such was simply not lesbian enough for Ms. Cole.  Thus, the weak three star rating for a modern gay classic.

Of course, when films about lesbians have cropped up with zero gay male characters in sight, Cole has been more than eager to hand out five stars and gushing reviews.

Today, I read her review of the decent film 'Saving Mr. Banks' (starring Emma Thompson, pictured above playing the not-lesbian-enough lead character) and once again we don't get a fair reading of the film's artistic merits, but instead its failure to impress Cole's political agenda. 

"The older Travers is portrayed as an old lonely prune who only lightens up after she's been in Disney's orbit. I don't expect a Disney pic to highlight Travers's lesbian love life or her very serious spiritual pursuits, but this rendering is insulting," writes Cole.

See my point?  True, I don't much care for Disney's willingness to present sanitized versions of stories.  But 'Saving Mr. Banks' had its great strengths and was enjoyable.  Certainly, it was worth more than a pathetic two stars out of five. 

Oh well, as those familiar with NOW Magazine already know, one can't expect much in terms of fair, decent, objective reporting from them, either in their news section and of course in the film section.   Perhaps their music writers are qualified, but I'm not enough of a music aficionado to tell.

Most movie lovers are smart, discerning individuals.  Most of us know which reviewers and which organizations publish decent, fair, objective reviews we can trust and which ones don't.  I'm happy to remind everyone of NOW's considerable deficiencies in that department.