This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture
Menu

2SLGBTQ+

September-October 2016

Canada needs to improve housing for LGBTQ2S youth

Queer and trans youth make up as much as 40 percent of homeless youth

Alex Abramovich@ialexabramovich

For our special 50th anniversary issue, Canada’s brightest, boldest, and most rebellious thinkers, doers, and creators share their best big ideas. Through ideas macro and micro, radical and everyday, we present 50 essays, think pieces, and calls to action. Picture: plans for sustainable food systems, radical legislation, revolutionary health care, a greener planet, Indigenous self-government, […] More »
March-April 2016

We could be heroes

Epic fantasy and sci-fi are today’s bestsellers and blockbusters. But in a world that can imagine magic and dragons, why is diversity so hard to find?

Nicole Abi-Najem@NajemNorth

I was maybe, what, eight years old? There I was, standing in my literal cave of a stinky basement—a carved-out hollow of dark, dank stone under my rickety old house—scrounging through books piled high into mountains of dust. I whipped out one book. The cover stood out: A woman with flowing ebony braids is striking […] More »
January-February 2016

The People Do Good Stuff Issue: Kim Katrin Milan

The artist who helps her diverse communities tackle issues in creative ways

Blair Mlotek@blairmlo

YOU DON’T EXPECT the word “amazing” to come out of someone’s mouth so often when they speak about difficult issues every day. Splitting her time between New York and Toronto, Kim Katrin Milan is an an educator, writer, artist, yoga instructor, and activist. She does so much that a casual viewer would be forgiven for […] More »
January-February 2016

The People Do Good Stuff Issue: Rio Rodriguez

The historical researcher who re-maps communities to keep their radical roots alive

Nashwa KhanWebsite

ON MARCH 20, 2008 New College students at the University of Toronto occupied Simcoe Hall to protest a hike in fees during a tuition freeze. The students, who were all people of colour, sat chanting and singing songs hoping to get a meeting with the school’s then president David Naylor. One of the students sitting […] More »
January-February 2016

The People do Good Stuff Issue: Jen Sungshine

The youth LGBTQ advocate who preaches love and celebrates diversity

by Larkin SchmiedlWebsite@LarkinSchmiedl

SPREADING LOVE AS AN ACTIVIST can be a tricky balance to achieve, especially for those who do in-depth social justice work in a world rife with pain. Addressing injustice through education is emotionally demanding work and can be disheartening. But co-founder of Love Intersections, Jen Sungshine, practices love with intention. Her work focuses on raising […] More »
January-February 2016

The People Do Good Stuff Issue

Available to buy on newsstands now!

This Magazine

HERE AT THIS MAGAZINE, we spend a lot of time focusing on what’s gone wrong in Canada. It’s our job as independent media to loudly speak out and brightly shine a light on issues too often left in the dark. And there is, after all, so much that’s worth criticizing: violent Islamophobia; an ever-deepening rape […] More »
November-December 2015

This abject body

How going bald helped me confront the politics of hair

Jill Andrew

I WORE MY OLD WOOL HAT almost every day in 2011. The plaid hat, formerly hiding at the bottom of my wardrobe, stuffed in between worn-down shoes, was suddenly my best friend, my savior—even in the summer when the smoldering heat held my head hostage. I was newly diagnosed with Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia. That […] More »
September-October 2015

Tories in review: LGBTQ rights

Today in our Tories in Review series, Larkin Schmiedl looks at nine years of attacks on LGBTQ rights in Canada

Larkin Schmiedl

OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has—surprisingly—become an outspoken champion of gay rights worldwide. In 2009, Harper arranged a private meeting with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni to urge him to drop a controversial law that would imprison homosexuals for life. In 2011, Immigration Minister John Baird not only launched a pilot program […] More »
July-August 2015

Progressive porn

Why is sexy still so synonymous with white? Today’s independent porn industry challenges the sex-positive movement to break barriers and make more space for women of colour

Justine Ponomareff

It’s mid-April and Toronto’s Bloor Cinema is packed—so much so that it’s difficult to find two seats together. The lights dim around us and an announcer takes the stage. “There’s going to be naked people on screen, having sex,” she roars, punctuating her theatrical warning with a “who’da thunk” scoff. Ripples of laughter and cheers […] More »
May-June 2015

Project Diversity

RM VaughanWebsite

Straight, white men still dominate the technology industry. RM Vaughan introduces us to LGBTQ activists around the world who are fighting for change STUART CAMERON REMEMBERS the first time Unicorns in Tech set up a booth at a major tech/IT conference. “People would stop and see ‘Unicorns’ and think, ‘Oh that looks like fun,’ and […] More »
May-June 2015

A sneak peek at our May/June issue!

This Magazine Staff@thismagazine

Straight, white, men still dominate the technology industry. In our May/June issue, This Magazine contributing editor RM Vaughan introduces us to LGBTQ activists around the world who are fighting for change. Also in this issue: Sam Juric tells us why we should stop painting foreign adoption as a Brangelina fairytale, and instead focus on the  […] More »