Cate Simpson

Two months following Pride Toronto’s decision to apply for charitable status, questions remain about the benefits and drawbacks of a successful application. Pride Toronto, currently a not-for-profit, is responsible for the city’s annual Pride celebrations and for the World Pride 2014, which will take place in Toronto.

Charities are exempt from income and property taxes — and crucially, their donors are exempt from paying income tax on donations.

“Most nonprofits believe being charitable enhances their ability to raise money from the public,” explains Doug Kerr, a member of the executive committee for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans Giving Network. “Some sources of funding like foundations can only make grants to charities — organizations like community foundations and the United Way.”

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According to the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, one third of Grade 11 students in Canada don’t know AIDS is incurable. Toronto’s United Youth Initiative (UYI) seeks to change that on Dec 1 — World AIDS Day — by mobilizing hundreds of young people as peer educators in a project called One Million Red Ribbons.

"We’re committed to working with our own hands to effect change and raise awareness about pressing social issues in our own communities," says Justin Lee, one of UYI’s members. In addition to organizing larger projects, UYI holds regular "mousetrap meetings" — named after an icebreaking activity at one of their early meetings — at which members volunteer all across the GTA.

One Million Red Ribbons is the brainchild of 18-year-old Ryan Tremblay, UYI’s founder, who has been working on HIV/AIDS issues since he was in high school. "I did a survey at my school and I found out only two percent of students knew the difference between HIV and AIDS," says Tremblay. "That really shocked me and the more I looked into it the more I realized how many people believe incorrect information. That was a call to action."

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Gay men earn 12 percent less than their heterosexual counterparts while lesbians earn 15 percent more than their straight peers, according to a study in the November issue of the Canadian Journal of Economics — the first of its kind.

"No one’s really looked at Canada, which is surprising given that Canada has a longer history of gay rights than the US," says the paper’s author Christopher Carpenter, of the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California Irvine.

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Halloweek makes do with less money, not enough volunteers.

This month will  see the return of Halloweek, a weeklong program of Halloween-themed events taking place in the gaybourhood in honour of the homo high holiday. But with funding for the festivities down from last year creative producer David Wootton says he’s had his work cut out for him.

"I’ve been working on Halloweek since May," says Wootton, who is the coordinator of the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (CWVBIA), adding that although there isn’t as much money for the fest this year the offerings have been expanded from three events to seven including a family-friendly Village Fair and Fete presented by the 519 Community Centre.

Fright night has been celebrated on Church St for decades, but last year CWVBIA expanded the offerings to a weeklong celebration in the hopes of drawing more tourists to Toronto, with partial funding coming from Tourism Toronto. Last year a three-year agreement was struck that saw Tourism Toronto provide funding to kickstart the festival, with diminishing amounts each year.

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Rainbow Health to offer training and outreach

There’s a new organization pushing for queer-friendly healthcare in Ontario. Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO) is now running training and outreach projects out of its new headquarters at Toronto’s Sherbourne Health Centre, although it’s not expected to launch officially until fall.

"Human rights legislation and our treatment of lesbian and gay and to some degree trans people has changed a lot for the better," says RHO executive director Anna Travers. "But people are still not very sure how to provide culturally competent care. People still encounter discrimination or, at least, heterosexist approaches in care and treatment, so we want to build knowledge and awareness."

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Blockorama celebrates 10 years at Pride

Blockorama, the all-day dance party celebrating black queer pride, is celebrating its 10th year as a fixture of Toronto’s Pride weekend. This year’s edition takes over George Hislop Park on Sun, Jun 29.

To mark the anniversary Blockorama’s organizers — a committee called Blackness Yes! — are pulling out all the stops with performances from surprise out-of-town guests as well as local stalwarts. (For details check out Xtra’s Ultimate Pride Guide in this issue.) Then, in case you haven’t packed enough dancing into the day, there will be a designated Blockorama room at Circa as part of the Pride afterparty, which also features cover guy DJ Jamal.

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Queers are struggling with routine healthcare and preventative medicine, says a report from Statistics Canada. Among other things the report found that lesbians are less likely than straight women to have a regular doctor and that bisexuals are more likely than straight or gay/lesbian respondents to have health issues they’re not getting adequate treatment for.

"The self-perceived general health of gay men and lesbians was similar to that of heterosexuals," states the report, which draws on data from the 2003 and 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). "By contrast, bisexuals were more likely than heterosexuals to report fair or poor health.

"Gay men and bisexual women tended to report more chronic conditions than did the heterosexual population…. When respondents were asked if they had been diagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder, all sexual minority groups reported levels above those for the heterosexual population."

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