What a sign of the times.  Decades into a world where a virus called HIV and a disease called AIDS still exists, the issue and those involved have taken to the Internet – something surely inconceivable to those who were first infected or affected thirty years ago.

Today, World AIDS Day, two notable initiatives launch online.  The first is the relaunch of InterACTion, the popular project between the AIDS Committee of Toronto and GayGuideToronto.com.  Read the rest of this entry »

AIDS Memorial, Cawthra Park, Toronto

Picture if you can, me, young and innocent, like, in the truest sense of those words. I hadn’t been living here in Toronto for very long, but I had certainly made my way to one of the gay community’s more popular gay bars. It was called Chaps; these days it’s a Rabba Fine Foods over on Isabella Street.

On one particular sunny Saturday afternoon during these halcyon days I was at Chaps, and I’d brought Amanda, my oldest friend. It was such a first for both of us, being in a gay bar, that we almost felt sneaky, like we were getting away with something.

At the bar we were being served by the cutest bartender – I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Read the rest of this entry »