Don’t be a hater

Ah! Patio weather finally sets in for Torontonians. And what better way to spend the first beautiful weekend of the year then by sitting in a dark theatre, cramming in a bunch of movies at the last few days of the Inside Out queer film festival? Unfortunately, those of us — including myself — who didn’t manage to get tickets already to what promises to be the sexiest film of the festival, Give Me Your Hand, are shit out of luck. That film, about two French identical twin brothers who have an erotic adventure in Eastern Europe, is already sold out (one may guess that programmer Jason St-Laurent has a particular interest in the subject matter). Some other promising looking entries with tickets still available are the Gays and Confused shorts program, Private Lessons, and The New Twenty.

But all is not great for Toronto’s homos. According to the Toronto Police, the number of reported hate crimes rose by 18% last year, with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community being the second most frequent target, behind the Jewish community.

As if to duke it out between them, this Saturday sees an event called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. In response, B’nai Brith has denounced the event, according to this article which uses the word “queers” in scare quotes in its headline. Guys, can’t we all just get along?

Meanwhile, Torontoist sorts through an apparent case of anti-queer discrimination against a local queer comic book artist, who had his business refused by a printer on grounds that his religious clients would be offended by the material if they saw it.

Have a great weekend!

Rob Salerno is a playwright and journalist whose writing has appeared in such publications as Vice, Advocate, NOW and OutTraveler.

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