| Type | Digital Publication |
|---|---|
| Format | Online, former print |
| Owner(s) | Pink Triangle Press |
| Editor-in-chief | Jennifer McGuire |
| Editor | Gordon Bowness |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Ceased publication | February 19, 2015 (print) |
| Headquarters | Toronto,Ontario |
| ISSN | 0829-3384 |
| Website | xtramagazine |
Xtra Magazine (formerlyDailyXtra andXtra!) is anLGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published byPink Triangle Press inToronto,Ontario,Canada.[1] The publication is a continuation of the company's former print titlesXtra!,Xtra Ottawa, andXtra Vancouver, which were all discontinued in 2015.[2]
Xtra was founded in Toronto on February 19, 1984 (with a March cover date) by Pink Triangle Press, a not-for-profit organization. It was introduced as a four-page tabloid, as a way to broaden PTP's Toronto readership.[3] Pink Triangle Press had previously publishedThe Body Politic, which was discontinued in 1987.[4] From 1990 to 2000,Xtra published a quarterly literary supplement,The Church-Wellesley Review, for work by LGBTQ2 fiction and poetry writers.
The company also launched a telephone dating personals service, Cruiseline,[5] which later evolved into the contemporary web-basedSquirt.org.[6]
In 1993,Xtra expanded, addingXtra! West inVancouver andCapital Xtra! inOttawa.[7] The threeXtra papers also produced an annualUltimate Pride Guide and an annual lesbian and gay business directory calledIndex.Xtra andXtra! West were published biweekly, whileCapital Xtra! was initially published as a monthly,[8] with its publication frequency later expanding to every three weeks.
The Vancouver and Ottawa publications were renamedXtra Vancouver andXtra Ottawa in the late 2000s, while the Toronto edition retained the nameXtra.
In 2010, due to the changing business climate for print publications, PTP closed the Ottawa offices, with the Ottawa edition of the publication published out of the Toronto office thereafter.[9]
The final print issues ofXtra Vancouver andXtra Ottawa appeared on February 12, 2015, while the Toronto edition's final print issue was published on the newspaper's 31st anniversary, February 19, 2015.[2] The publications continued online as a digital publication, initially under the nameDaily Xtra before reverting to theXtra Magazine name.
Past contributors to the publications have includedLily Alexandre,Sandra Alland,Richard Burnett,Brenda Cossman,James Dubro,Gerald Hannon,Matthew Hays,Greg Kearney,Todd Klinck,Greg Kramer,R. W. Gray,Raziel Reid,Irshad Manji,Alex Munter,Rachel Giese,Brian Francis,Peter Knegt, andJeffrey Round.