Why the NDP's trans rights bill is dead in the water

I had a post today on the national round-up blog on the main page of Xtra.ca today, which was a "brief" on why Bill C-389 faced a doomed fate in the Senate while C-393 stood a chance of passing. It was a bit less brief than intended initially, but it was a fulsome accounting of what happened, and I think it fairly apportioned responsibility for it. This was of course the final story I wrote up yesterday (after a very long day of filing numerous stories and web hits) but I'm happy it went up to tie up my coverage of the bill in this (now past) parliament.

On eve of election, Kenney finds $100k for queer refugees

My third piece up today on the national page of Xtra.ca is a story about an announcement made by the immigration minister this morning in advance of an election campaign. Fortunately, I have a great deal of knowledge when it comes to the issue of queer refugees, thanks to the many stories I've written on the topic, and I was able to not only get responses from the people involved, but also had enough background on the subject of queer groups and private sponsorship (thanks to the story I wrote back in July) that I could get some actual critical content to the story, and before any other media outlet could get their own story up.

Tony Clement behind Senate delay, leaked document shows

My second piece on Xtra.ca today was probably the most explosive. A leaked memo made it into my hands with regards to the delays on Bill C-393 in the Senate, and I got the story out as soon as I could. The contents even made it into Question Period today, which was pretty exciting. Of course, when the Globe and Mail reported on the story later in the day, they completely left out the memo and my story, but still - it was all pretty exciting.

In government's dying days, attention shifts to Senate

The first of three new pieces I have on the Xtra.ca today, I have a story about how to - and how not to - write to Senators when you want to lobby them, as with Bills C-389 and C-393. The piece was originally destined to go up two days ago, but there were delays, however it's up now, and still with time for it to be effective to readers.

Senators race against the clock on AIDS drug bill ahead of possible election

I have a new story on the national page of Xtra.ca today about the current fate of Bill C-393 in the Senate as the clock ticks down before the writ is dropped for an election. I was happy to get some great sources for it, and keep the interest up on the bill, and I'm sure there will be plenty more drama on it in the days ahead.

Dewar AIDS Bill Passes House + One gay sentence added + Refugee System Failing Gay Ugandans

I have not one, not two, but three stories reprinted in the current print edition of Xtra's Ottawa edition. The first is my piece on Bill C-393 passing the House of Commons, the second on the addition of a single sentence on gay rights to the revised immigration guide (which was a really fast turnaround time between filing it and it appearing in the print edition), and the third piece is on Nicole LaViolette's appearance before the Commons international human rights subcommittee. Nice to see so many pieces in print!

Revamped citizenship guide still light on gay content

I have a new story up on the national page of Xtra.ca which looks at the revamped Discover Canada citizenship guide, and the whole added sentence that the gays got this time around. And by going back through my files, I found an angle that no one else picked up - aside from comments from both national party critics - so that always makes me happy.