The very first edition of GayCalgary Magazine was launched at the Taboo: Naughty but Nice Sex Show, and since then we have been back each year. It’s by no means a gay trade show, and at times our booth seems a little out of place, both for being openly gay and for being there to give away our wares for free. But we also are there to reach a willing audience that may not have encountered us yet. You might think after 5 years this would no longer be necessary, but there are constantly people coming of age, coming out of the closet, moving to the city and so on, who are pleased to discover that the gay community in Alberta is alive and well.
This year we did several things differently. We had a double-sized booth which we divided into two sides: a side to highlight the magazine, and a side to highlight the GLBT community. On the community side we had a projected slide show running, this year with more than just clips from drag shows. We also presented photos and clips from Western Cup, the ARGRA Rodeo, Calgary Cares, and much more. The use of this half of the booth was donated to the ISCCA, who sold special teddy bears as a fundraiser for the Calgary show; likewise the ISCWR sold pom-poms and chocolates from our booth at the Edmonton show. Our music was a selection of my favourite high energy tracks from past music reviews, and we received a great deal of compliments from neighbouring booths and passers by. It felt good to connect with people by playing tunes they enjoyed.
With two projectors, two roll-down screens, a sound system, IKEA bag-fulls of other equipment, magazine racks and magazines to fill them, we owe major thanks to Don and Kent for getting us to and from the Calgary show, and Barbie from Barbies Shop for transporting all this equipment to the Edmonton show and back.
All in all, I’m confident that we left a friendly and upbeat impression even on those who didn’t approve. Some comments I overheard were, “I had no idea this was such a big thing,” “I didn’t know [gay people] did sports too,” or referring to a picture or video “that looks fun/interesting.” It was a big improvement from the one or two disparaging comments from previous years. In fact, I watched the straight couples as they strolled by the booth, glanced at the table, and looked up at our banner. Yes, some frowned or steered clear of us. But more than ever we saw people making eye contact with us and giving a friendly smile, saying “hi” to us even if they continued walking, and some stopped to share with us the ways that gay people and gay culture have enriched their lives. The slide show was certainly a conversation piece, causing some to ask about their favourite drag queens, or wondering why the heck we had pictures of goats wearing underwear! I had a particularly touching conversation with a guy by the name of Jonas who was shortly joined by his wife. He told me about a gay man that was like a mentor to him, who taught him a lot about life in general, and how much he misses him after the man died years ago.
Representatives from the ISCCA and the ISCWR also got up on the main stage at the event to perform to the masses. As I was there taking photos, I saw several men mouthing things such as “there’s no way that’s a guy.” For many it was their first time seeing a real live drag queen/female impersonator, and perhaps it blew their mind to realize their perception of womanhood was a matter of makeup and mannerisms.
Every year I’ve commented that we feel like ambassadors for the gay community, and how scary it can be to effectively out yourself to thousands of people. But in the end, I feel that the friendly interaction we have with the crowds, no matter how minor, diminishes the homophobic sentiments that some people may have. You like this song, some of us like it too. You like to play/watch hockey, some of us like it too. You want a lollipop or a condom, we’re happy to give it to you without prejudice.
On the other hand, the Taboo Show also attracts a good deal of characters that raised even our eyebrows. In Calgary, Emperor 32 Michael Myte who works at the Texas Lounge, watched with mild humour as he saw people he recognized from the tubs strolling along with their girlfriends. In Edmonton, one painfully straight guy approached the booth with a group of buddies interested in the freebie condoms we had sitting on the table. He proceeded to tell Steve that his penis was too large to fit into any of these; all the while, his friends were eagerly snapping them up. To humor him, I just about suggested a female condom but I expect he would have taken it the wrong way.
But what blew our mind was one woman who approached us to ask for information about glory holes and peep shows. We did our best to inform her, after which she stated she was excited to bring the information back to her husband. It’s refreshing to see that there are people in the straight community that are far more sexually liberal than most of us in the GLBT community!
Close to the end of it all, we began to get pretty stir crazy so as something fun and wild to do, Steve and I decided get Henna tattoos. I brought my own custom design to be done across my back, while Steve got an arm band design with a bear’s paw in the centre. I ended up standing at our booth with my shirt off for the remainder of that Sunday as I waited for the paste to dry and soak in. The Henna tattoos end up a light brown color, and last approximately three weeks. Unfortunately mine has already faded, but we took photographs back when they were fresh. Maybe it was like training wheels for a real tattoo...nah, I’m still too chicken.
Edmonton
We don’t have a whole lot of budget to spend on travel and accommodation expenses in our pursuit to obtain Edmonton coverage in the magazine each month. Without a car of our own (not exactly true, but with the same end effect), we buy Greyhound tickets in bulk to get the discount and flexibility. In Edmonton we stay at the bathhouses as affordable accommodation, because we pay close to half of what it would cost at even the cheapest downtown hotels. True, a few individuals have offered to let us stay with them any time we visit the city, but with the schedule we keep and equipment we bring, it would be far too much of an imposition.
This month there wasn’t a heck of a lot going on in Calgary, so I joined Steve up in Edmonton, mainly for the Taboo show as I already mentioned (the hot tub at Down Under was a much needed relief for us after standing on our feet for three days solid) and also to catch part of the Boots 29th Anniversary week.
We had a day or two in between with time to kill, so during the daytime we ventured around the city. We paid a visit to the Edmonton Pride Centre, and were pleased as usual to see such a bustle of activity. And we witnessed another surprising occurrence on Edmonton Transit, as two affectionate hetero teenage couples enacted a spur of the moment dare for the girls to kiss the girls, and the guys to kiss the guys – on the lips, right in front of us! The guys of course pretended to not like it, but we caught them grinning at each other the moment their girlfriends weren’t looking. It was adorable; we had to contain ourselves from acting too proud of the couples for being so open.
We also did something almost uncharacteristic of us. We took a full day off, to go out and do something fun – in this case, visit the swimming pool at the West Edmonton Mall. As a kid, I was at the Village Square pool quite frequently for swimming lessons, and I developed quite a liking for water slides. In Steve’s case, he couldn’t remember ever going down a water slide in his life, so I was determined to ease him into this new experience. The slides at West Edmonton Mall are something else. I had only been once before when I was practically too young to remember, so this time I wanted to try them all anew – and on this slow Monday, there were no line-ups!
We started with one of the beginner slides, situated beside the kiddy pool. I took Steve down it twice, until he started to get embarrassed that aside from us only children were using it. So we moved on to the first intermediate slide that we came across, one called the “Blue Bullet”. I went down first, and instantly recognized that it would be a bit too harsh for Steve for his third time ever going down a water slide, but it was too late to tell him. The tube was too narrow to sit up, everything was pitch black, and it spun round and round before spitting me out at the bottom. I was exhilarated, but Steve came out of the landing pool coughing and spluttering in the midst of a complete panic attack. After sitting down for a few minutes so that he could collect himself, I managed to convince him to continue trying some of the other slides, and in fact he had no problems with most of the others. The Blue Bullet was the worst of the bunch, even compared to the Advanced and Extreme slides – it was hugely unfortunate that it we chose it so early.
In the end we both had a great break, spending time together and 100% away from the worry of work.
On Tuesday we attended the special Kylie20/08 show, put on by White Diamond Productions as part of the Boots 29th Anniversary week. A huge amount of effort went into the lighting and choreography for this event – the end result was stunning, and well worth the modest ticket price. I sat mesmerized with the rest of the audience (except for Brad beside me who was in a giggly mood), watching the show unfold. I couldn’t stop laughing after Yoko Ohno’s performance as a washed up drunken jealous Kylie, fighting for centre stage with the many other Kylies.
Getting back to Calgary after all this felt like a time warp – it was already close to the end of the month and it seemed like we had gotten nothing done for the amount of work that was waiting for us at home. With World AIDS Day events happening last minute before our press deadline, it was a scramble to get back up to speed. And so, here we are.
November 2008
A few months ago, looking to branch out, we applied to become a member of the Alberta Magazine Publisher’s Association. Only a few days after our press deadline for November, we received the good news that we met their strict criteria and had been accepted. This means we join the ranks of around 60 other Alberta magazines such as Avenue Magazine, Calgary’s Child, City Palate, CalgaryInc, Impact Magazine, up! (WestJet), Western Living, and Where Magazine to name a few. AMPA was kind enough to submit a belated congratulations letter as well, which you will see printed. In fact, we continued to receive letters of congratulations from a number of prominent people after November had already been put to bed, so you will see these additional submissions printed in this edition of the magazine.
Despite the momentous occasion, the November edition had a bit of a bad day at the printers. We encountered runs of copies with bad color plate alignments causing blurry images, bad edge trimming, and various rips – amongst copies that were in pristine condition. Unfortunately distribution had already begun by the time we discovered these glitches, so it was too late to take them back and ask the printers for a do-over. In the five years that we have dealt with our printers we’ve never seen it this bad, and they apologized profusely. They made a suggestion for how they can ensure something like this will not happen again, which we are taking them up on.
This Month
Goliaths and the Texas Lounge celebrate their 21st anniversary on the 12th of December – congrats Allan and Andrew, you continue to do this city proud!
There is also a myriad of Christmas and New Years Eve parties happening near the end of December, for which you can get more information from our advertisers’ ads and directory listings. Also look for the various articles published that describe further special events to be aware of.
The team at GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine would like to wish our readers and advertisers a happy holiday. Be safe and have fun!
We want to hear what YOU have to say about the topics in this article, and any other articles in our magazine. Visit the chat forums at www.gaycalgary.com and write your heart out! Or write us a letter to the publisher by E-mailing publisher@gaycalgary.com, and we may publish or respond to it in the magazine!
