Queer West Fest is the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival in the City of Toronto, before Pride week.

3rd Annual Queer West Festival - 10 days this year - Friday June 13 to Sunday June 22, 2008

Our main point is to show that there is a real and strong alternative to traditional Pride Festivals.

June 12 to 22 - The Fur Real Art Collective presents: "Fur Real: Bears Without Boundaries Art Show" Opening party will be on Thursday June 12th, 2008 at 8pm to 10 pm at Gallery 1313 located at 1313A Queen St. West...madame HAIR will have 2 paintings in this show. Show will run from June 12th to June 22nd, 2008 at 1313A Queen Street West, FREE No Cover http://www.g1313.org | http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=10989833517&ref=mf Parkdale Neighbourhood

June 12 to 22 - Art Show & Artists Exhibition: Plus we have 5 other different queer artists that will be showing works, 5 painting each (Beaver Cafe); Confirmation pending

Friday June 13 to 22 - Queer Lounge @ Gladstone Hotel - Will serve as 10 day volunteer staff "a hub of event information" for queer and queer-friendly festival-goers and R & R resto lounge FREE No Cover () Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood Confirmation pending

Friday June 13 - Queer West Fest Opening Night Art Show launch party and a night of Mayhem @ Beaver Cafe & Patio Art show launch party and exhibition (Beaver Cafe, 1192 Queen W. Cover Charge $5:00 Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood Confirmation pending

Saturday June 14 (morning and afternoon) - Mix and Mingle Community Fair & Marketplace @ Drake Hotel 1150 Queen Street West, artisans, retail vendors, dozens of community organizations, lots of super door prizes and much more. FREE No Cover Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood

Saturday June 14 (evening) Dirty Bingo with Shirley "Fund-raiser" @ The Friendly Bar & Restaurent Dirty Bingo will hosted by Shirley, a drag queen with a cast-iron hairdo, but a heart of gold. Shirley will be donating the proceeds to Gay West Community Network Inc. Her bingo-calling is somewhat, um, eccentric but highly amusing (if occasionally politically incorrect) -- as are the prizes that she awards. But it's all in good fun and for a good cause. Everyone is welcome. (and we have a big surprise, something to do with the Stonewall riot in NYC, and no it's not drag queens.http://www.shirleysdirtybingo.com 1116 Queen St W at Lisar Avenue, The Friendly Bar is also known as Queer Star, just moved recently to this new location.Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood

Sunday June 15 - 4th Annual Toronto Pride Ride cyclists travel along Martin Goodman Trail (two way Sunnyside to Eastern Beaches 25k, Ride Leader Bryen Dunn. Not associated with Pride Toronto. FREE No Cover Gay West Bicycle Club http://gaywest.905host.net/files/bikeclub.php

Sunday June 15 - The Fat Femme Mafia Fat Flea Market from 10-5 PM in the Art Bar at the Gladstone. If you have old Fat Clothes you would like to donate...please email us with your address and an appropriate time...and we will come and pick them up. Or we will provide you with an address where you can drop off your stuff! We are looking for clothes...size 14 and up. Nothing else please. In exchange...you will receive Fat Flea bucks that you can use to shop freely at the actual event....if you choose to do so. Give us your old wardrobe and we will give you a new one!!! Please email this to all your fat friends! Circulate WIDE-ly! Fatfemmemafia@hotmail.com | http://www.myspace.com/fatfemmemafia |Video http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/715891/ Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood

Monday June 16 - Queer West Art Crawl - Tour the diversity and ethos of Queen West; one of the city’s most precious cultural resources – a natural habitat for queer individual artists, not-for-profit arts organizations, artist run centres as well as a dynamic range of creative enterprises and enterprising creatives who live, work and play in the neighbourhood. Your guide will visit galleries, businesses, restaurants, cafes, community organizations and public spaces along Queen Street West from Spadina to Dovercourt A street "Out Travel magazine" dubbed Sizzle! (Starts at www.g1313.org from 6 pm to 9 pm, (Close to being confirmed) Trinity Bellwoods and Parkdale neighbourhood Confirmation pending

Tuesday June 17 - A Java Knights - An International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Panel Discussion @ Gladstone Hotel Art Bar 1214 Queen St. W. Find out about equality issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and their liberation from all forms of discrimination in other countries. Learn about supportive and education programs, protest actions, diplomatic pressures, from international organizsation's representatives on the panel. Followed by a Q & A from the floor. Gladstone Hotel Art Bar - 1214 Queen St W at Dufferin -- FREE, fresh finger food served and soft drinks, cash bar. Event runs from 7 PM to 9 PM. Street Map Please RSVP- ASAP seating limited to 30 - Bryen javaknights@hotmail.com or Call 416-551-1709. Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood http://gaywest.905host.net/files/javaknights.php

Wednesday June 18 - Hump Day Bump @ Wrongbar Regular Hump Day Bump with some live bands added to event for the first time, Parkdale neighbourhood Hump Day Bump is moving from Gladstone Hotel June 4th.

Thursday June 19 - Lief Harmsen's HOMODIGITAL Art Show "a censor's worst nightmare" @ Fountain Contemporary Gallery . Leif Harmsen's series of large digital nudes in oil on canvas read as abstract at close range, but with more distance they can be imaginatively discerned as photo-graphic male nudes or gay porn, depending on your unique politically and sexually informed way of seeing. People see what they will —be that colorful digital abstraction, obscenity, or humanist erotic delight. They prove to would-be censors that obscenity, a legal term, rests squarely in the eye of the beholder. The idea for the series began in the 90s from the artist's frustration with the Canadian institutions of censorship and his love-hate relationship with formalism. The finished pictures now stand on their own as abstract color field painting, as digital art and within our social context of digitized sexual expression.

The Details: Fountain Contemporary Gallery 652 Queen St. W. at Palmerston Ave.Street Map. Opening Thu 19 June 7-10pm. Duration: 19 June - 9 July, 2008 Hours: Saturdays & Sundays 2-7pm or by appointment. Artist - Leif Harmsen: http://www.harmsen.net Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood.

Thursday June 19 - Art Discussion - Wilde Chats Philosophy Café @ Tinto Coffee House, 89 Roncesvalles. 7.30 pm to 9 pm One and All welcome to attend. Topic: Is Censorship of Canadian Public Art's community unjust or perfectly legal?. (Topic help - http://harmsen.net/censor ) Moderator Michel Paré FREE No Cover... Wilde Chats, will then meet every Thursday evening June, July and August at Tinto's http://www.tinto.ca

Friday June 20 - Forte - 24-voice Men’s Chamber Choir @ Emmanuel Howard Park United Church (Sanctuary) Forte under the leadership of Edward Connell, one of Canada’s finest choral directors. Its membership is drawn from Toronto’s talented and diverse gay community. Forte tries to have something to say about the gay world, either through its unique repertoire, or through the events it performs at. Although not exclusively gay in its membership, its repertoire or its outlook, some of what Forte does is noticeably gay.

The Details: Emmanuel Howard Park is located at 214 Wright Avenue, at the corner of Wright and Roncesvalles in the city's west end. To reach us by subway, go to the Dundas West Station, and get on the 504 street car. Get off in front of the public library at Fern. The church is half a block north on the west side. Show starts 8 P.M Cover: PWYC. One and all welcome. http://www.forte-chorus.com Parkdale neighbourhood.http://www.ehpchurch.org

Friday June 20 - Celebrating Unity Through the Arts @ Parkdale Community Health Centre. Show Pride in a Community Art Project - All Ages Welcome: Bring your creativity to help create a mural installation on Friday June 20th from 5 to 7pm. At the Parkdale Community Health Centre, 1229 Queen St. West. Refreshments provided.

Saturday June 21 - Knotty Nights Dance Party @ Lot 16 Bar 10 PM 1136 Queen St. W., Featuring Toronto's number one Queer DJ Triple-X spining new wave, punk, and junk from the 80's (just the kind of hot and sweaty dance music west end lesbians love) Last year the bar was filled to capacity with a large influx of inner-city Parkdale-kids young and old, Bay Street CEO's, Trinity Bellwoods queer in-crowd, westend lezzie's and arty fags from Church and Wellesley, all having a good time. FREE No Cover Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood http://www.themarsbar.com

Sunday June 22 - Queer Community Brunch @ Mitzi's Sister on the patio Parkdale neighbourhood Confirmation pending

Pride Toronto week doesn't officially kick-off till June 23rd. Why Wait? We're Here. We're Queer and We are Waiting for You!