Critics slam Conservative MP's pitch to make buying sex illegal in Canada

I have a new story on the national page of Xtra.ca today, which takes a closer look at the proposal by Conservative MP Joy Smith to adopt the "Swedish model" of prostitution laws in Canada as a means of combatting human trafficking. It was an interesting story to write because I learned a lot about the differences in the laws between Canada and Sweden, but I also got to talk with new Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings. And Jennings promises to return phone calls in a timely manner, unlike her predecessor.

To that end, I also have a "deleted scenes" Q&A post with Jennings on the Hill Queeries blog, which includes a video shot by Jennings' sister, who was visiting Parliament that day, and includes footage of my interview with her.

The early social network

My story on the Lambda Foundation has been reprinted in the current edition of Xtra Ottawa. I'm happy that this is getting some additional exposure, seeing as how the online version didn't get play in really enough time for the event it was coinciding with, and that it did see print eventually as it was destined to originally (only in the previous month's edition).

Is there a religious left in Canadian politics?

I have a feature in the September issue of Outlooks that examines the look at religious left in Canadian politics. This came about after reading Marci McDonald's great book The Armageddon Factor, which examines the role of the religious right in Canadian politics. Knowing that most of our out gay and lesbian Parliamentarians have a strong connection with the United Church of Canada, I spoke to MPs Rob Oliphant, Bill Siksay, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May, and so far the response has been quite positive - especially from my interview subjects.

The article is on pages 24 and 25 of the issue, which is on stands now.

PS - My interview with Marci McDonald about her book will be in October's issue.

Queer literary event marks 25 years of Lambda

I have a new piece on the Ottawa page of Xtra.ca today, which is about the 25th anniversary of the Lambda Foundation, and their event tonight as part of the Capital Pride celebrations. I'm a big fan of doing these kinds of history pieces because there isn't enough queer history being written, and I like to play my part to help bring this kind of news forward to the next generation.

That being said, I'm very disappointed by how this story rolled out. It was supposed to be in the last print issue of Xtra Ottawa, and not only was it not included then, it wasn't posted on the website until today - the day of the event - because the editor decided he wanted more attention paid to a controversy he has been stoking. These kinds of decisions are out of my hands, but it does frustrate me the Lambda Foundation didn't get the exposure they had hoped for in this piece until the last minute.

Why the census matters to queers

I have a new editorial up on the Xtra.ca national page today, which is about the census issue. This is something I've been hoping to write about for a while, but between other commitments, and the fact that they had assigned someone on the west coast to write a census story (which was completely unrelated to what I wanted to write), which also was delayed, meant that I couldn't get it up until now. Suffice to say, here it is, and I even got to use some of the material I learned from my "Politics in plural societies" course I took last term for my Masters.

Lesbian war resister Skyler James optimistic about refugee hearings

I have a new piece up on the Xtra.ca website, which is another piece that was sewn up with another story from another writer. The first half of the story is all Neil McKinnon's, while the second half, under the subtitle "Conservatives issue directive branding deserters as criminals" was entirely mine.

In all honesty, I'm a little disappointed by the way this rolled out because I wrote the story as a stand-alone a week ago, and it didn't make it up onto the site until today. As well, a few bits of context were cut, such as the fact that the directive states not only that desertion is a crime in Canada, but in many other countries as well. I had hoped that this could have gone up a week ago, the day after the directive was announced, so that we could have had a more timely article about it, which would have previewed Neil's piece this week. But, then again, these things aren't in my hands, and as a freelancer, I'm forced to deal with these things as they happen.

NDP MP slams Tories over new organized crime regulations

I have a new piece up on Xtra.ca today. It was a fairly last-minute piece that was done rather quick-and-dirty style, given that I only had two other stories I was working on, but it nevertheless came together really fast and without a lot of pain - which is great when you're having a really busy day.

Update: The piece has been merged with another one written by editor Marcus McCann on the same topic under the title "Conservatives find back door for new anti-sex work provision." It's under the same link, and all of the same information appears to be in there, with most of Marcus' material in the middle of the article. It is a much fuller piece in the end (I did mention that the original version was rather quick-and-dirty), but it was a bit of a surprise.