Why closeted men go to parks for sex
I was shocked to read Panic In Marie Curtis Park (NOW, November 24-30). Even though this is in Etobicoke, I feel downtown councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam has as much right to speak out against police entrapment as local councillor Mark Grimes does on behalf of residents’ complaints.
I’m glad the LGBTQ community was actively involved in protesting the police Take Back The Park event. So much for police/gay-community liaison.
I lived through the bathhouse raids and can understand why many closeted men in the suburbs go to places like Marie Curtis for their sexual outlet. They often don’t want to be considered gay or seen in LGBTQ meeting places.
Peter Iveson, Toronto
Tanya Tagaq homage ignored animal rights
You featured vegan restaurants on your cover a few weeks ago. But in a full-page article on Tanya Tagaq (NOW, November 24-30) you ignored her support of the seal hunt.
George Goldberg, Toronto
Cuba’s “dictator” vs our chosen leaders
Re A Defence Of Fidel Castro In Two Parts (NOW, December 1). What’s in a name? Cuba’s “dictator” strives to provide his citizens with affordable housing, free education and health and child care.
Our chosen leaders neglect the basic needs of our citizens, privileging instead quick and questionable fixes to our problems for the 1 per cent. Cyclic? Perhaps. Cataclysmic for sure.
Janet Challis, From nowtoronto.com
Kellie Leitch’s Castro hypocrisy
Kellie Leitch published a picture on her Facebook page allegedly showing Fidel Castro executing someone. But what about Americans with drones killing many innocent people in Iraq? Just sayin’!
Roger Morais, From nowtoronto.com
Sending banks a message on #DAPL
Re TD Facing More Protests Over Its Stake In Dakota Access Pipeline (NOW, December 1-7).
While TD Securities is indeed heavily invested and funding the Dakota pipeline, this is not its sole oil and gas industry project. And TD is not alone. HSBC, RBC, CIBC, BMO and Scotiabank are also complicit in funding and investing in the oil and gas industries and their projects – everything from pipelines to drilling and fracking, and even seismic testing. And not only in the U.S., but also right here in Canada.
The best way to send a message to the big banks is to remove all your money and invest in a credit union. I did it, and I let them know loud and clear why.
Avril Watson, From nowtoronto.com
Were Black voters X factor for Trump?
Re Three Lessons In America From Van Jones (NOW, November 29).
Donald Trump owes part of his victory to the predominately Black Democratic strongholds that were convinced to give him more votes than the previous Republican Party presidential candidate. Thousands of Blacks in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and various other states boycotted the traditional “straight” Democratic Party vote.
Trump’s victory was realized when you combine this with an increase of Obama white voters in Wisconsin and Michigan voting Trump in 2016.
Trump won Pennsylvania by 1.1 percentage points (68,236 votes), Wisconsin by 0.9 points (27,257 votes) and Michigan by 0.2 points (11,837 votes). If Hillary Clinton had won all three states, she would have won the Electoral College 278 to 260.
Todd Elliott Koger, From nowtoronto.com
Reckoning for the left on Clinton’s defeat
After Clinton’s historic defeat (NOW, November 24-30), I would like to offer some advice to the left. Keep talking about white privilege and cultural appropriation.
Keep talking about safe spaces and trigger warnings and the white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Keep policing language. Any smart gambler will tell you, keep doubling down and Donald Trump is going to be re-elected in 2020.
Brendan Rose, Toronto
Neo-Nazis don’t belong on right wing
I have a problem with neo-Nazis (the “alt-right”) trying to define themselves into the mainstream by piggybacking on the much milder racism born of ignorance, lack of contact and uncertainty about individual and cultural diversity across Western nations.
Allowing neo-Nazis to define themselves as right-wing when there is nothing right-wing about them is a problem. If fiscal and social conservatives are unwilling to define the Nazis out of the right wing, they will have to shift their own ways of calling themselves.
I propose “There is nothing right-wing about hate” as a starting point, while the “alt-reicht” tries to brainwash us.
N. Weatherdon, From nowtoronto.com
Props for local music hero David Dacks
I would like to thank local hero David Dacks for his kind words about me and my radio showgram, Diasporic Music (NOW, November 17-23).
Dacks hit the nail on the head with this statement: “If it were up to me, anything to do with Caribana would be the centre of the Toronto calendar, because in terms of cultural and economic impact it absolutely dwarfs anything else, though certainly not in terms of media coverage.”
It was great to see Dacks also mention Roscoe Mitchell, a giant of great Black music.
Norman Otis Richmond, Toronto
