Xtra - Issue 509, Apr 29, 2004

QUEER U
Campus queer factor

story by Darren Cooney / It’s that time of year again when fresh-faced high school students have to commit to a university of their choice.
IMMIGRATION
Same-sex marriage not accepted here

story by Shawna Gnutel / It’s been almost a year since homos won the right to marry in Ontario and British Columbia, but for immigration purposes it’s as though it never happened.
CHURCH ST SHAKEDOWN
Local bar owner claims he was hit up for protection money

story by Mark Brodsky / With new information surfacing almost daily about the multiple police corruption scandals in Toronto, it didn’t take long for a possible Church St connection to arise.
ACTIVISM
Free to screw around

story by Brent Ledger / Pity the poor political activist toiling in the gulags of legal reform.
SVEND’S MELTDOWN
Christie don’t know hairdressers

story by Brent Ledger / Of all the weird shit to come out of the Svend Robinson “ring a ding ding” affair, the weirdest has to be Christie Blatchford’s column in the Apr 17 Globe And Mail.
EDITORIAL
Peace, love & pilfering

story by Paul Gallant / Somehow the concept of “understanding” has lost the shine its partners “peace” and “love” have managed to sustain.
DVD REVIEWS
No wire hangers ever!

story by Lisa Lambert / If your mum is nothing like mine, she loves movies about motherhood gone bad.
FILM REVIEWS
Short & sweet

story by Nicholas Davies / There are a few homo flicks worth checking out at the Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film Festival running at various venues during the second week of May.
INSIDE OUT
Love is in the air

story by Gordon Bowness / Spring blossoms mean it’s time to get ready for the Inside Out queer film fest (running Thu, May 20 to 30); the catalogue is done and the advance box office opens Sat, May 8 (and for the first time, you can buy tickets on-line).
BOOK REVIEW
Kids’ lit is not always child’s play

story by Maureen Phillips / James Howe is a familiar name to anyone whose childhood reading included the Bunnicula books, about half a dozen titles featuring a vampire rabbit.
LIVE MUSIC
Mayhem erupts

story by David Walberg / While I’m chitchatting with Peaches backstage at Vazaleen last year, a would-be cub reporter — a sexy and mischievous platinum blonde — interrupts our interview.
ON THE DECKS
Shameless

story by Lisa Foad / Veteran spin doctor Amita Handa, whose DJ rap sheet charts a decade’s worth of diverse gigs including Honey Funk, Desh Pardesh, Harbourfront’s Masala Mehndi Masti and Funkasia (of which she’s a co-founder), is back on the circuit after a two-year hiatus, brandishing a new monthly gig, Besharam, a fusion of Bollywood, bhangra, chutney, reggae, Tamil, hip hop and then some.