LIFESTYLES

180,000 rainbow balls transforms Montreal’s gayborhood.

For the past six summers, pink balls have been strung up like strands of pearls over a segment of Montreal’s Sainte Catherine Street East, home to the city’s Gay Village. The street is closed to cars from May to September and the space is used to host outdoor cafes and concerts. This year, as the Gay Village planned its 35th anniversary celebration, and the city geared up to host its first-ever Pride festival (which kicked off earlier this month), it made sense to turn the balls technicolor.

BUSINESS

An LGBT dorm floor at UNLV.

When resident assistant Sawyer Spackman heard at an October University of Montana conference about other schools that had LGBTQ floors in their residence halls, he pitched the idea to Residential Life Coordinator Andrew Lignelli. Could UNLV do something like that at South Complex? Lignelli’s reaction was a quick “no.” There wasn’t much time to develop the idea and he figured the university would want to focus on the existing themed floors in the residence halls.

HEALTH

Bad parenting 101 – spyware to find out of your son is gay.

A French company offering “invisible PC spy software” has been criticised after it said its product could be used “to find out if your son is gay”. Listing a series of “clues”, the company, Fireworld, suggested that “hacking his Facebook account” and seeing if he had visited gay websites could confirm a parent’s suspicions. The company has since taken down the article. The post was highlighted by a French youth LGBT rights group.

HEALTH

LGBT communities smoke more than ever before.

Since 1964, when the U.S. Surgeon General first reported that the risks from smoking could not be ignored, tobacco use in the United States has plummeted. More than 40 percent of Americans smoked cigarettes in 1965. Over the last half-century, that smoking rate has fallen by half. And yet for some populations, the needle has barely moved. In fact, one of the U.S. demographics most burdened by tobacco’s wrath of illness and death are LGBT communities.

PRIDE

Jersey City Pride expected to be the biggest yet.

On Saturday, August 26th, 2017, Gayborhood Jersey City & Human Pride Productions will host the 17th Annual Jersey City LGBT Pride Festival at Newark Pedestrian Plaza in Downtown Jersey City. One of the largest festivals in Northern New Jersey, LGBT Pride serves to highlight the significance of diversity in the community through a variety of fun, celebratory, and informative events.

ENTERTAINMENT

It’s 20 years for the Lakeside Pride Band.

According to Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles co-founder Mary Wallace, “If music is your thing, you’ve really got to do it, or else you’re miserable.” Lakeside Pride celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2017. The organization boasts about 210 members and consists of several units: the Freedom Band, which marches in local parades; the symphonic band, which usually mounts two concert performances annually; a jazz band; and several smaller ensembles. The organization unveiled a new logo in conjunction with the milestone, according to Board Chair Bradley Fritz.

A & E

It’s an street party in Downtown LA!

Last year, sensing a need to celebrate Downtown Los Angeles’ LGBTQ community, a group of activists and bar owners teamed up to organize a day-long party. They expected 4,000 people to show up for the happening in Pershing Square. More than 9,000 people ended up thronging the park. That response prompted the organizers of the DTLA Proud Festival to extend and enhance the celebration this year with live music, DJs, dancers and even a micro-waterpark. It takes place again at Pershing Square on Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 26-27.