Travelling is an interesting exercise for a writer. It's not like I hope something interesting will happen; it just does. As usual, I always have my ...

------------------------------------------------------------ I believe in discovery and technology and innovation and science. My profession -- wh...

Susan Cole, the self-acclaimed militant and proud lesbian writer for the Toronto weekly NOW magazine, is one of my favorite Toronto columnists. I enjo...

Because today is National Coming Out Day, I was reminded of my own journey. Almost two decades ago, I came out of that supposed "closet" publicly and purposefully for when I finally figured out I was gay, I wanted to shout it to the world. I eventually found the label "gay" something to be proud of. The gay label is just one small part of the big picture. But take it away and I wouldn't be me.

Yunel Escobar has served his three-game suspension for writing a gay slur on his eye black last Saturday, and will return to the Toronto Blue Jays lineup tonight. Wait, didn't that happen, like, yesterday? We've barely had time to breathe, and now Escobar is returning?

You'd have thought Maclean's would have blazoned the death of Section 13 all over its front cover. With a massive headline along the lines of "SCREW YOU, CENSORS!!!" Or "WE WON!!!" Instead, the cover featured a generic picture of an innocuous youngish woman and an innocuous youngish man grinning maniacally and the silly headline: "The majority of us are singles. So why do we still live in a couples world?"

Obama doesn't acknowledge that he's flip-flopped on the "marriage" aspect; he says he's "evolved" to that belief, encouraged by his wife and daughters. By supporting gay marriages, Obama may have lost the Evangelical vote -- assuming he ever had it, which is doubtful. But in any case, same-sex marriages are more a case of national curiosity than national importance.

Some of the kids who say things like "that is so gay" probably don't mean it and don't really understand what they are saying. But words are weapons. They have power and meaning. They wound.

The word 'gay' gets thrown around so much, there is perhaps a valid argument that most people aren't even fully cognizant that it's homophobic anymore.