Andy

Although the times have changed, Toronto’s reputation as a diverse and welcoming city has remained intact. It seems that, from Chinatown to Little India, each part of the city represents a little bit of another culture.

However, one group that is sometimes forgotten about is homosexuals. Especially since Canada legalized same-sex marriage, it’s become common to see two people of the same gender walking down the street holding hands.

It wasn’t that long ago that many homosexuals were persecuted and ridiculed for their sexuality. Especially during the bathouse raids of the early 80’s, the subject was brought under extreme scrutiny.

One of the results were protests that helped launch what is now recognized as the first Toronto Gay Pride March. It also led to a study being released that recognized the gay community as a legitimate community, and called for a permanent dialoged between the community and the police.

Church street has been a known area to the gay community for decades, but it’s only after the bathouse raids that it became an openly gay area, with many gay businesses opening as well as the 519 Community Centre, an outreach facility dedicated to helping specifically the gay and lesbian community.

A map of the Church-Wellsley village (indicated in purple) courtesy of MapQuest

Through the 80’s and into the 90’s, the Church Street and Wellsley Avenue was the hub of gay activity. Openly gay actor Scott Thompson of Kids in the Hall even parodied one of the common meeting places, which were the steps of a Second Cup coffee shop.

Since the year 2000 and on, the village has become less of a gay area and more of a trendy and tourist area, though still keeping a lot of it’s gay roots. This has been partly caused by the general acceptance of homosexuality.

Other trendy places seem to be attracting a lot more of the of the queer youth culture now, while a lot of people just feel able to be open sexually regardless of where they are and don’t feel the same need for the village. But, even homosexuality is more socially acceptable than ever, that’s not the case everywhere.

David Yeh, a psychotherapist who specializes in queer youth issues, recognizes there are still strides to be made.

“We’re still seeing a lot of problems with youth who come from minorities or marginalized backgrounds, where this kind of thing isn’t really accepted. Especially lower-income families or families that have ties to gang activity,” Yeh said.

“Also, youth from rural areas or reservations, where they don’t get the kind of support or self-understanding they need.”

However, he also realizes that we’ve come a long way from where we started.

“As a city in one of only six countries that allow same sex marriage, Toronto is very progressive. Especially lately as the community has spread out, we’re not so ghettoized anymore,” Yeh said.

So although things aren’t perfect, the city is making strides toward a more full understand of all cultures each and every day.

If you’re curious and would like more information on Toronto’s gay village, there are resources available at the link below:

http://www.gaytorontotourism.com/

Smoking has always been a controversial topic, from butting out in bars in June of 2004 to the recent ban on smoking in playgrounds and child play areas. But when people break the rules and smoke in enclosed common areas, it affects everyone.

Recently, the building at 165 Barrington Ave. has been having a major problem with that. The issue eventually led up to a tenant approaching the management office and getting permission to post no smoking signs in the common areas of the building.

Although some smokers don’t think much of it, it can affect people more than they realize. Even smoking in places like stairwells, that someone might think is separate from the apartment units, smoke can still get in through cracked or deteriorating walls or ventilation systems.

Amanda Gilliland, 23, is a single mother living alone with her son. Just prior to, and during her pregnancy, Gilliland lived in two apartments in East York and both had issues with straying cigarette smoke.

“When I was renting out the main floor of a house near Pape Ave. and Danforth Ave. with a roommate, the tenants living in the basement would smoke constantly right below our kitchen window. Even when we approached them with the landlord, it still didn’t stop,” Gilliland said.

But that wasn’t the only place it was an issue. When Gilliland got pregnant and moved into another apartment, smoking seemed to be even more of an issue there.

“When I lived in the building near Victoria Park Ave. and Danforth Ave., I was having a really rough pregnancy where I was constantly sick and really sensitive to smells… Not only would people smoke in the halls to avoid going outside, but I was living in a basement apartment with poor ventilation and when the smell got into the apartment, it stayed there,” Gilliland said.

The smoking eventually ended up making her so sick, she had to move again for the remainder of her pregnancy. She was shocked not only with the tenants’ lack of consideration for a young, pregnant woman, but also the building managements lack of action on the subject.

However, the landlords don’t have it easy either. No one wants a tenant to break the rules of their building, but they can be hard to enforce. Especially if the property manager doesn’t live on the site, no one can be everywhere all the time and signs aren’t always much of a deterrent.

“We try to ask people not to smoke when we see it happening, but it’s hard to police people in an apartment building. You can’t be everywhere at once,” said Tony Lovecco, a superintendent of an apartment building on Kinston Road near Main Street.

“It’s not something we want happening either… it lowers the value of the building, makes stains and smells that won’t go away and some people decide against the building when they see cigarette butts in the elevator. But when people aren’t watched, they tend to do whatever they want,” Lovecco said.

It all comes down to the willingness of the tenants to respect other people’s right to a smoke-free environment and take their habit outside. Clean air is something that everyone has a right to in his or her own home.

However according to CUPE, Canada’s largest union, only around 38% of the unemployed qualify for Employment Insurance (EI), compared to 75% that qualified before the cutbacks of the ‘90s.

But with the new budget, EI premiums will be frozen for the next two years and will only increase with a person’s maximum insurable income, so it will be scaled directly to salary.

The budget is also going to allow for people claiming EI to receive up to five extra weeks of benefits over the next two years. As it’s rare for someone to qualify for the maximum amount of benefits, and some people only qualify for 14 weeks maximum, it will help to take some pressure off of a person to find a job in this unstable economy.

There is also a follow-up on a Harper election promise, and an expert panel is going to be set up to investigate the legitimacy of extending EI parental benefits to people who are self employed. This could mean that the self-employed could apply for maternity leave and other parental perks which the government would subsidize.

The government would also invest an additional $1 billion in EI part II funds that would go to training programs throughout Canada. In addition, $500 million would be invested in EI part I benefits to help out those who are attending some sort of long-term training.

Schools and students aren’t left out either, with more funding for students who receive graduate scholarships in science, professional and business studies, however there will be no extra funding for those studying social sciences or the arts. Funding for apprenticeship programs will also be increased.

Although these measures are a far cry from solving the problems with unemployment and poverty in our country, they’re a start. With so little money to go around this year, the changes are more than they have been in many, many years. Sometimes, you just have to thank the heavens for small favours.

In this digital age, the general public has access to news on a level never seen before. But not only are the public consuming the information found online, they are also contributing to it in a way that was never possible before.

Personal blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace have steadily increased in popularity over the past few years, to the point where almost everyone who has an internet connection frequents a socially focused site. With this new window of access to the entire world, many people have taken to writing or recording their own reports to post online for the world to see.

Although many now known and recognized reporters have gotten their starts on such sites, it’s not the same as journalistic reporting.

When a journalist looks at a story, they are most often looking for the relevant factual information to analyze and communicate to their audience, which is usually a general audience with every demographic recognized if even only to a small degree. The goal of journalism is to offer a fair and balanced report, considering every side of a situation and reserving judgment for the reader of the story.

When someone writes for a blog or on a social networking site, there is no standard of honesty or integrity to be upheld. It is often fact, but strongly tinted with the writers opinions about the situation or people involved. You are not getting a fair and balanced report.

That’s not to say that those sources are completely unreliable. Many people publish completely fair and accurate reports on their community sites, which could be considered journalistic pieces. However, the primary function of social networking sites is personal entertainment and use, rather than communicating facts to a wide audience.

Luckily someone is willing to address the issue. Thankfully David Miller has asked the premier to legislate the workers back to work and Dalton McGuinty has agreed, with a legislative meeting being held as early as tomorrow. Hopefully they will be back to work by Monday.

And I’m on my last assignment of the year, summer starts soon! Hurrah!

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I’m 24 and I’m gay. It’s not like that’s how I introduce myself, “Hi, I’m your resident homo for the evening…” but it is a part of my life and I don’t really hide it. It’s not that I’m overly flamboyant, I’m just comfortable with who I am. Hell, it took me a long time to get that way, so I might as well enjoy it. =)

I’m studying journalism, and I absolutely love it. It’s like I finally found what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. Although some of the courses aren’t quite what I was expecting, I do well for myself in most classes. And I have a good school-support system, so I consider myself pretty lucky. It’s just weird, I was the student who always skipped in high school and now I’m the one that goes to almost every class and hands everything in on time. Studying something you like really DOES make all the difference, people weren’t just saying that!

Anyways, I guess that’s enough for my first post… I’ll probably read this back later and realize there’s something I don’t like about it, but that’s the beauty of the internet… I can go back and change it as many times as I want.

Random fact about me: I DESPISE Times New Roman font… I find it pretentious, and it’s the preferred font at my school. It drives me crazy sometimes. Arial is the way of the future!