Canada was once home to a small, but mighty collective of gay and lesbian newspapers and magazines that made up a radical alternative media. Over the last few decades now-defunct publications like The Body Politic, Siren and Fab brought LGBTQ+ issues, interests and voices, to the fore. Daily Xtra, now the country’s only remaining national queer news source, ceased print in 2015 but continues publishing online.
Despite queer people having more rights than ever before, queer media is all but disappearing. Is this solely a result of Canadian media’s general decline, or is the shift indicative of something more?
It’s also been a year since Black Lives Matter Toronto (BLMTO) halted the country’s largest Pride parade in protest, with a list of demands in tow. The action sparked a harsh months-long backlash of editorials and hot takes by mostly white, straight columnists and pundits, ruthlessly condemning BLMTO. Has coverage of LGBTQ+ issues and news by legacy media changed or improved since BLMTO’s protest?
Joining Jesse to dissect the ever-shrinking queer media and the state of representation in legacy media is Erica Lenti, editor-in-chief of THIS Magazine, Arshy Mann, reporter at Daily Xtra, and investigative crime reporter and Body Politic writer, James Dubro.
