Homes for hookers?
The corners of Homewood and Maitland Streets are well known for its transgender sex trade. Recently a group of immediate neighbours, tired of the noise, fights, drug trade and the sheer volume of sex workers and their johns, began to collect in numbers at the corner, equipped with flashlights and signs reading “No Sex Trade On Our Streets.”

I’ve lived on Homewood Ave for over eight years now. The number of sex workers on my street has dramatically increased, so much so that I believe they have outgrown the volume that the area can handle. I can personally attest to the disruption of what is in the daytime, a peaceful and beautiful area — at night a different story. The area becomes congested with sex-trade traffic to such a degree many living in close proximity can’t get a night’s sleep. Worse, the reputation of this street is becoming widespread, affecting property values.

It is however our responsibility to support the sex-trade workers — they need a place where they can sell their wares in safety, but surely without being a threat to the community that they’re in. Kyle Rae and the 519 need to step up to the plate and find a solution for everybody. The residents are crying to be heard but are not against the sex-trade workers or their profession. Surely an intersection bordered by rental apartments, a long-term care facility, the new Verve tower, a public and high school and condo residences is not the place for this activity. The silence needs to be broken so that both sides of this highly controversial situation can find an amicable solution.

- Paul Hyde

Love your hag
What about us hags? Show some love to the hags!
We’re the sexual nonsexual lovers to our gay boyfriends: we let them grope our boobs (funny considering you boys like boy parts, not lady parts) and we’re always the ones to go home alone when our boys pick up (and sometimes vice versa). It’s like having a girlfriend and boyfriend rolled into one yummy deliciousness to cuddle with. I really could go on and on about the wonderful dynamics of a fruit + fly relationship.

My mother once said to me, “You seem to have a lot of gay boyfriends. You need to start hanging out with straight boys” (implying my eggs are about to expire and become oblivion dust floating into the universe). I said, “Mother, if you ever make a comment like that again, you for sure will not be getting any grandchildren.” I haven’t heard a peep out of her since.

I am non-existent without my gay boyfriends.

Oh, and I love my lezzie friends too.

- April Wozny