Queer Joy with Daniel MacIvor

“None of us stand alone.”

To finish this season we return to the awards night as queer icon and musical superstar Sam Smith introduces us to the 2025 Pink Award Legacy winner singer/composer/trans pioneer Beverly Glenn-Copeland. This episodes features an a up-close-and-personal chat with Glenn. Daniel and Glenn talk about the complicated nature of legacy and Glenn’s wife Elizabeth joins the conversation to share her experience as Glenn’s creative collaborator, and now care-giver, as the couple embraces the true heart of solidarity with Glenn’s recent diagnosis of Major Cognitive Disorder. To close the episode we share Glenn and Elizabeth’s powerful performance of the duet Harbour from their recent album “Laughter in the Summer”. 

“We’re still punks.”

Back at the Pink Awards ceremony we check in with our hosts Hollywood Jade and Emily Hampshire as Emily prepares for her big “Diva Moment” to end the evening, and in that meet our Anti-Diva and final Champion for 2025, queer icon and provocateur Carole Pope. Daniel sits down with Carole in Toronto to talk about the new documentary on her life and work, ANTI-DIVA: The Carole Pope Confessions and the Rough Trade musical she is writing about her brother’s work as an AIDS activist in New York. In part two we meet Muluba, the national spokesperson from Carole’s chosen Changemaker: CANFAR, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. Muluba reminds us the profoundly personal effect that advocacy has on our community. This episode ends with Carole’s rousing Pink Awards performance of one of her biggest hits and a reminder of why she remains musical powerhouse. 

“We need to stand up and do something.” 

For this episode Daniel had the opportunity to sit down at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto (one of this season’s award sponsors) and speak with the well-spoken and passionate civil rights attorney and activist Douglas Elliot. Doug talks how he came to law and activism and how those two ideas are inextricably linked for him. In part two we meet the warm and wonderful Tuma Young who is one of the founders of Doug’s Changemaker, the Nova Scotia based Wabanaki 2 Spirit Alliance. Daniel and Tuma visited on their shared home-turf of Cape Breton (Mikmaki) to talk about the essential solidarity that 2 Spiritedness reveals. 

“This why I’m doing all of this.”

It this Episode Daniel sits down with the youngest Champion the Pink Awards has yet celebrated, writer/director/performer Devery Jacobs who has been central to an Indigenious renaissance in film and television in North America over the last five years. Devery talks about her experience voicing Kahhori, the Marvel Universe’s first Kahnawake superhero, and speaks about the importance of Indigiqueer representation. In part two we meet Devery’s Changemaker and speak to Zephyr McKenna a team member from Edmonton’s small but mighty NYSHN – the Native Youth Sexual Health Network- a peer-based network of individuals, families, communities, and Indigenous peoples who work in advocacy, outreach and community mobilization around essential issues.

“Who needs the ‘yes’ the most?”

In part one Daniel speaks with writer/performer/producer and Pink Award Champion Zaiba Baig about her Peabody Award winning CBC/HBO series “Sort Of” and her journey to into television from the world of theatre. Zaiba introduces us to her Changemaker, Toronto’s Paprika Theatre Company, a youth-run professional theatre company, meets professional development artistic mentorship program, meets theatre festival. In part two Daniel sits down with Paprika’s Artistic Producer Amanda Lin and General Manager Julia Dickson to talk about the inherent queerness of theatre practice and its powerful effect on the wider community.

“What a cool idea for an awards show!” 

In part one of this episode Daniel sits down with Champion Harper Steele at her home in LA to talk about her journey through “Will and Harper” the documentary she made with her dear friend and writing partner comedian Will Ferrell. Harper talks about her experience as a person who transition after having had a full and storied career, the challenges she faced as a result, and the support she felt that surprised her. In part two we meet Harper’s Changemaker Toronto-based 2SLGBTQI youth support centre Friends of Ruby, and look at the interconnected nature of allyship and corporate leadership. We will also revisit Harper’s hilarious and heartfelt speech at the Pink Awards ceremony.

“Our support goes beyond sponsorship.”

Playwright, performer and content producer at Pink Triangle Press, Daniel MacIvor, takes us through the 2025 PTP Pink Awards by focusing on highlights of the evening with hosts Hollywood Jade and Emily Hampshire. This episode focuses on the profound effect that sponsors have in realizing the event itself and forwarding the Pink Awards’ mission. To that end we hear from BMO’s Paul Noble, Blue Ant Media’s Trevor Boris, Bell Media’s Justin Stockman, and we will sit down with one of last year’s Champions Latoya Nugent to talk about the personal impact of corporate advocacy. As a highlight we visit with queer business leader Sara Fromstein representing the Pink Awards title sponsor DECIEM: The Abnormal Beauty Company to talk about DECIEM’s unorthodox approach to corporate advocacy.

EPISODE ONE – Genesis

“Without heartbreak how can we know joy, without protest how can we know celebration.”

Playwright, performer and content producer at Pink Triangle Press, Daniel MacIvor, leads us through the journey of creating the inaugural PTP Pink Awards, an LGBTQ+ Activist Award Ceremony and Toronto Awards Ceremony celebrating LGBTQ Advocacy.  

We re-visit moment-making highlights of the night with MC’s Drag Race Royalty Queen Priyanka and Virgin Radio’s Shannon Burns. In part two2, Daniel’s guest is queer business leader Sara Fromstein from Pink Awards presenting sponsor Deciem.  Sara talks about Deciem’s unorthodox approach to corporate advocacy engagement and the personal and holistic way that model came to be, and how the holistic partnership with Deciem and PTP came together for this LGBTQ event.

Queer Joy is a seven part podcast celebrating the 2024 Pink Triangle Press Pink Awards.

The PTP Pink Awards are a national pay-it-forward celebration of queer excellence where community champions choose changemaking charities from the queer community to uplift and amplify.  In 2024 we celebrated champions writer/actor/producer Elliot Page, musician/composer Jeremy Dutcher, activist Latoya Nugent, athlete Marie-Philip Poulin, musician/composer Rufus Wainwright and our legacy award winner philanthropist Salah Bachir. Join host Daniel MacIvor where he shares unforgettable moments from the awards and interviews where he sits down for honest and insightful conversations with our Champions and their chosen charities.   Experience Queer Joy with Daniel MacIvor, some true queer Champions and our PTP Pink Awards with host Queen Priyanka

Pink Triangle Press formed in 1971 as a collective to publish The Body Politic – a monthly newspaper that is regarded today as a game-changer in the queer media landscape.   And in 1984 as an offshoot of The Body Politic PTP formed Xtra Magazine, more focused on social life and culture, lighter fare, available free in bars. And when The Body Politic closed its operation in 1987 Xtra took over as PTP’s main publication mixing arts and culture coverage with harder news stories. There were print editions published out of Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.  In 2015 Xtra moved entirely online where it continues the legacy of the original publication with award-winning journalism that strives to be – as its banner proudly states – queering the conversation.  Check them out at xtramagazine.com.  

#podcast #queer #awards

EPISODE TWO – Elliot Page and Skipping Stone

“Thank you for being the light under the door.” 

In part one, Daniel talks with fellow East Coaster and LGBTQ icon Elliot Page about the success of Elliot’s New York Times Bestselling memoir Page Boy. They speak about what Elliot learned from the process and how the book’s themes resound with notions of home. Later, we spend some time at the Pink Awards, the LGBTQ+ Toronto Awards Ceremony, where Elliot shared hisin the moving moment of Elliot’s speech celebrating his charity, Skipping Stone, the Alberta-basedAlberta based trans and gender non-conforming advocacy group.  In part two, Daniel has a lively chat with Skipping Stone’s founders,  life partners, and proud Albertans Lindsay Peace and Amelia Newburt, where they talk about fan-girling, a future without dualities, and the ineffable feeling of home.   

Queer Joy is a seven part podcast celebrating the 2024 Pink Triangle Press Pink Awards.

The PTP Pink Awards are a national pay-it-forward celebration of queer excellence where community champions choose changemaking charities from the queer community to uplift and amplify.  In 2024 we celebrated champions writer/actor/producer Elliot Page, musician/composer Jeremy Dutcher, activist Latoya Nugent, athlete Marie-Philip Poulin, musician/composer Rufus Wainwright and our legacy award winner philanthropist Salah Bachir. Join host Daniel MacIvor where he shares unforgettable moments from the awards and interviews where he sits down for honest and insightful conversations with our Champions and their chosen charities.   Experience Queer Joy with Daniel MacIvor, some true queer Champions and our PTP Pink Awards with host Queen Priyanka

Pink Triangle Press formed in 1971 as a collective to publish The Body Politic – a monthly newspaper that is regarded today as a game-changer in the queer media landscape.   And in 1984 as an offshoot of The Body Politic PTP formed Xtra Magazine, more focused on social life and culture, lighter fare, available free in bars. And when The Body Politic closed its operation in 1987 Xtra took over as PTP’s main publication mixing arts and culture coverage with harder news stories. There were print editions published out of Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.  In 2015 Xtra moved entirely online where it continues the legacy of the original publication with award-winning journalism that strives to be – as its banner proudly states – queering the conversation.  Check them out at xtramagazine.com.  

#podcast #queer #awards

EPISODE FOUR – Latoya Nugent and Among Friends

“An incredible friendship, an incredible pride.”

This episode’s Pink Award Champion from the LGBTQ+ activist award ceremony Pink Awards and LGBTQ icon  is activist Latoya Nugent.  Daniel speaks with Latoya in her office at Toronto’s Rainbow Railroad and discusses her work with the 2SLGBTQIA+ refugee advocacy organization and her personal story of activism in Jamaica that led to her needing to escape her home as a refugee herself in Canada.  In part two, we meet Lisa Duplessis, the director of Among Friends, Latoya’s nominated and chosen Changemaker from Canada’s LGBTQ+ advocacy event, the Pink Awards.  In Latoya and Lisa’s intertwined story and genuine friendship, we have an opportunity to feel the power of the pay-it-forward energy of the Pink Awards inside our queer community. 

Queer Joy is a seven part podcast celebrating the 2024 Pink Triangle Press Pink Awards.

The PTP Pink Awards are a national pay-it-forward celebration of queer excellence where community champions choose changemaking charities from the queer community to uplift and amplify.  In 2024 we celebrated champions writer/actor/producer Elliot Page, musician/composer Jeremy Dutcher, activist Latoya Nugent, athlete Marie-Philip Poulin, musician/composer Rufus Wainwright and our legacy award winner philanthropist Salah Bachir. Join host Daniel MacIvor where he shares unforgettable moments from the awards and interviews where he sits down for honest and insightful conversations with our Champions and their chosen charities.   Experience Queer Joy with Daniel MacIvor, some true queer Champions and our PTP Pink Awards with host Queen Priyanka

Pink Triangle Press formed in 1971 as a collective to publish The Body Politic – a monthly newspaper that is regarded today as a game-changer in the queer media landscape.   And in 1984 as an offshoot of The Body Politic PTP formed Xtra Magazine, more focused on social life and culture, lighter fare, available free in bars. And when The Body Politic closed its operation in 1987 Xtra took over as PTP’s main publication mixing arts and culture coverage with harder news stories. There were print editions published out of Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.  In 2015 Xtra moved entirely online where it continues the legacy of the original publication with award-winning journalism that strives to be – as its banner proudly states – queering the conversation.  Check them out at xtramagazine.com.  

#podcast #award #queer