Letters to the Editor	Letters Archive

Wants Back Issue

My name is Yannick, and you published my picture in the March 2007 edition in your coverage of Montreal. I would like to have seen my picture, but unfortunately, by the time I was back in town, there were no copies remaining. Could you please send me a copy?

Y.H.

Montreal, Quebec

Happy to send you a copy. Back issues normally cost $5, but as you were a good sport and asked nicely....

Devoured June Issue

I appreciated you stance against hate-crime laws [in "Fewer Laws, Not more," the June 2007 editorial, available at Guidemag.com]. The Homosexual Information Center has never supported efforts to get hate-crime laws. As you point out, such laws have unintended consequences that in fact are a danger to efforts to gain equal rights for homosexual citizens.

I

View our poll archive

also thought the review of Jim Sears's book, Behind the Mask of the Mattachine was good. And thanks for the list of the pride events around the world.

Billy Glover
Bossier City, Louisiana

Happy Find

I came across The Guide at Priape on Davie Street, and I was really impressed. I appreciate your work and hope The Guide is always available!

E.M.
Vancouver, British Columbia

Looking for a PDF

I'm a French gay guy living in Paris. I've just found your magazine in a gay bar-- that's where I found your address. Can you tell me the URL of a gay publication available for download in PDF ["portable document format," a popular computer file format]?

Another question: if I come to your town on vacations, I go on cruising, I have a condom accident, and I want to have a HIV test. How can I get informed about all the places to get tested? (I'm not asking you the addresses of the test centers, but on which page of which website can I easily find my answer.)

R.A.
Paris, France

Thanks for the questions. Starting last month, we are now providing links to PDF versions of our travel articles-- check out the new travel features at Guidemag.com.

You can find HIV testing sites at Hivtest.org. Be sure to find out who will have access to your test results before being tested, an especially important precaution for non-US citizens, since US visa and immigration policies are overtly discriminatory.

Gay Cuba?

I recently made a (legal) trip to Cuba with a group called Caribbean Medical Transport (CubaCaribe.com). There were 12 of us, mostly medical professionals. The trip was not HIV-specific, however I was representing the HIV/AIDS community, and was transporting "donated" HIV meds to AIDS clinics and did a hand-to-hand transfer of these much-needed meds to some grateful people.

I got to see and experience the gay life in Cuba. Looking forward to the delivery of meds again in the future. Maybe you guys can do an article about gay Cuba?

B.S.
Waterbury Center, Vermont

Good work, B.S. We've covered Cuba, but many years ago. Americans are often surprised to learn that Cuba is a popular tourist destination for Canadians and Europeans, and to judge by the number of cubanos with personal ads in the MaleBox personals section, the country indeed boasts an active gay life.

Alas, though-- the US State Department, kowtowing to the powerful reactionary Cuban vote in Florida (remember the Elián González debacle in the 2000 presidential "election"?), still considers routine travel to Cuba a crime, so many Americans will never have a (legal) chance to visit La Isla....

Queer Fan

Thank you for a sterling publication! In a time when many journals are little more than a conduit for government propaganda and law enforcement dogma, you continually present a fair-minded and thought-provoking reporting of events that are so germane to today's queer man.

In my mind, The Guide is most certainly an endangered species in the world of gay journalism-- may you survive and thrive!

Finally, I must comment to your recent travel article on Providence by Peter Cini [June 2007, available at Guidemag.com]. After reading his introduction to Providence, I knew that I must visit! His descriptions brought back thoughts of how queer life used to be! Thank you, Peter.

A.B.
Brockton, Massachusetts