Excerpt:

When we arrive for Keith Cole’s drag show swan song on Friday, the mayoral candidate greets us with a pair of matronly, wax-pink cheek kisses. It is on the basis of these twin stamps of approval that we are allowed to bypass the admission fee for the Keith Cole Experience, an alternate universe where lipstick stains supersede media pass pretensions.

Bedecked in a filmy, multicoloured kilt, worn (appropriately?) commando, with a large plastic lobster fastened to his head, Cole tends lovingly to his audience. “My mayor campaign is taking over my life,” he apologizes, acknowledging the chorus of boos that follows the announcement of his performing hiatus, “so no time for shenanigans!”

Read article at the Torontoist.com

Excerpt:

Proposing to my dinner guests that there are three major reasons to seek elected office — altruism, ego or delusion — I ask each of them why they are running for mayor.

Keith Cole takes one minute to express his desire that arts and culture be as necessary to any political platform, as positions on the environment or transit.

Read Article at www.thestar.com

Congratulations!

Keith has been voted Xtra Best of Toronto’s 2010 “Mouthiest Queer Activist” award!

We have a gift bag with your award along with the official “Xtra Best of Toronto 2010″ logo to promote your this achievement! You can pick it up from our reception Monday-Friday from 9am-6pm!

Cheers and congratulations!!

Brandon Sawh
Community Relations & Circulation Manager

XTRA! Toronto

By Nick Aveling

[Excerpt]

“Keith Cole is many things: drag queen extraordinaire, John Travolta stand-in, Canada’s Worst Handyman, and, just maybe, Toronto’s next mayor.”

Read article on Openfile.ca

[Excerpt]

“In a race where one frontrunner is openly gay but playing it straightedged and another is a loudmouthed right winger, performance artist Keith Cole’s lifelong strategy of getting literal about pissing contests makes him a surprising vehicle for a community”

Read Article at Eyeweekly.com

[Excerpt]

“Mayoral candidate Keith Cole used to perform at the Fringe Festival; then he became a fringe candidate. A long-established performance artist, filmmaker and host of the Keith Cole Experience at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (his next show is July 9), Cole not only leads the charge for the LGBT community in this election, but he’s reaching out to the city’s drinking cohort, too.”

Read article at Nowtoronto.com

Why the pamphleteers are voting Keith Cole

I must decline the offer to host PRIDE’s 2010 ALTERNA – QUEER stage on Saturday July 3rd, 2010, South Stage. It is with great sadness that I must say NO to host one of PRIDE’s best music venues due to Censorship and complete ignorance and respect for individuals right to Freedom of Speech by PRIDE.

I love Alterna – Queer. It is and has been one of the best stages at PRIDE for years. The music, the people, the vibe and the bands have been great in the past and 2010 has a great line up of talent indeed, but PRIDE’s decision to dictate censorship and prevent freedom of speech leaves me with no choice – I must decline PRIDE’s offer to host this event. As a human, an artist, a gay and a 2010 Toronto Mayoral Candidate I cannot nor will I ever support an organization that acts as censors and denies people freedom of speech.

PRIDE has made a dangerous and sickening decision. PRIDE now has censorship mechanisms in place and freedom of speech has been challenged today and for the future. Any individual, any group, any person is now at risk at being censored by PRIDE and denied freedom of speech – who or what will be next? A group? An individual? An artist? A band? An idea? A painting? A book? A body-part? A name? A memory? A thought? A drag queen? A dyke? A fag? It could be anyone or anything next. We, the queer community, are the major stakeholders in PRIDE – not governments, corporations, banks, condo developments or beer companies etc… We are what made PRIDE and we will continue to define our PRIDE.

PRIDE will happen with or without government / corporate sponsorship. We will march, gather, protest, party, celebrate and keep on fighting the good fight. Free speech is worth fighting for and censorship must be stopped no matter what the price.

The community will not forget this terrible decision made by PRIDE.
I love the event Alterna – Queer and I love the music but I love freedom of speech and I can never, ever support censorship.

Sent with a Proud, Free & Uncensored Voice,
Keith Cole

On Xtra.ca: Keith Cole adds colour to electoral reform debate
Marcus McCann / Toronto / Wednesday, June 02, 2010