Monday, February 13, 2012Partly Cloudy 1°C
City

NOW Magazine Thinks Adam Giambrone is Gay (but he's not!)

Posted by Jerrold Litwinenko / December 31, 2009

adam giambrone not gayNow Magazine has made what appears to be an error by publishing an article that states that Adam Giambrone is gay.

In this week's edition of NOW (in print and online) there's an article detailing "Five Fearless Predictions for 2010," complete with a lead photo of Toronto city councillor (and potential 2010 mayoral candidate) Adam Giambrone. He's described as bright, young, and... gay.

now magazine giambrone

But, straight from the source, we've been told by Adam Giambrone himself that he's not gay. In a Facebook message this morning, he made it clear that he's hetero and that he and his partner are taking the NOW Magazine mistake in stride. He writes: "Sarah, my partner, has taken the news in stride & with good humour, & I'm sure I'll never hear the end of it from the LGBTQ people in my life."

adam giambrone not gay

It's not clear if the blunder was simply a blunder (maybe writer Enzo di Matteo was thinking of declared candidate George Smitherman, who is openly gay?). Maybe it was a failed attempt at humour (given that the article is based on pretty silly notions to begin with)?

I emailed the writer this morning to clarify, and am awaiting a response. In the meantime, I'm going to read the comments on Giambrone's Facebook and on the Now article; some are quite funny.

UPDATE (12:25pm):

In an emailed response to my question: "Was your statement [about Giambrone being gay] in this piece intentional (humour?) or made in error?, NOW writer Enzo di Matteo says:

"i meant he's happy... of course"

UPDATE (12:46pm):

The article has been modified and now reads: "He's young. He's bright. He's gay-positive."

Discussion

37 Comments

Shopsterium / December 31, 2009 at 12:14 pm
user-pic
dictionary.com:

<i>gay</i>
–adjective
-having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music.
:)
Kanor / December 31, 2009 at 12:14 pm
user-pic
Another reason why all publications should fact check!
Brian / December 31, 2009 at 12:19 pm
user-pic
And in other news:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKO6G0pC0AM
Moneesha / December 31, 2009 at 12:38 pm
user-pic
Who gives a sh*t if he's gay. Bottom line is that Giambrone is bad for TO and I hope he doesn't get re-elected.
trblmkr / December 31, 2009 at 12:43 pm
user-pic
NOW has changed their article to indicate he is "gay-positive". Simple slip up perhaps, or was the writer influenced by countless stories that have been passed around over the years and just thought they could innocently out him?
James / December 31, 2009 at 12:49 pm
user-pic
Wasn't Kyle Rae originally thinking about running for Mayor? Despite Enzo's response, he probably mixed Giambrone up with Kyle Rae (Toronto's first openly gay councillor).

Or perhaps he saw the Toronto Sun cover from May 9th that read "GIAM-BONER" and got the wrong idea ;)
Miroslav Glavic / December 31, 2009 at 12:51 pm
user-pic
Who cares if he is Gay (happy/merry) or Gay (homosexual)? OH EM GEE Councillor Kyle Rae is Gay, Smitherman is Gay, Murray is Gay......I personally don't care if anyone is homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, any other sexual, or anything else.
gadfly replying to a comment from James / December 31, 2009 at 01:19 pm
user-pic
How could they mix up Kyle Rae and Giambrone? Kyle is a fat slob (with no offense to fat people intended), whereas Adam is HOT. I may not like Adam's politics, but at least he can pass a dessert tray unmolested.
Mark Dowling / December 31, 2009 at 01:22 pm
user-pic
It wouldn't have mattered if he was gay.

It does matter he uses terms like "life-partner". Then again, he does have a title which describes him as a piece of furniture.
MillerOut / December 31, 2009 at 01:37 pm
user-pic
A miller clone. Thats 1000x worse then being called gay.
David replying to a comment from gadfly / December 31, 2009 at 01:37 pm
user-pic
Heading the TTC hasn't aged him well. He was much hotter three years ago. Back then I hoped he was a 'mo, now I'm kinda glad he's not. ;)
positively gay / December 31, 2009 at 01:59 pm
user-pic
Everyone is a little bit queer.
Randy McDonald / December 31, 2009 at 02:14 pm
user-pic
This story has always samused me since I've known his partner since we went to grad school together years ago. :-)
Art Doctor / December 31, 2009 at 02:34 pm
user-pic
Giambrone came into the TTC with no prior executive experience. If he is Mayor of Toronto, he'll give his paper boy a full-time job. Gay, queer—this man is naive to think he can run Toronto with his experience!
Art Doctor / December 31, 2009 at 02:35 pm
user-pic
*typo- Gay, queer—it doesn't matter—this man...etc.
hendrix / December 31, 2009 at 02:55 pm
user-pic
yeah, and when George Michael and Elton John were young, they were straight too!

Give Giambrone 10 years to find himself. If he's not gay, he certainly fooled me!
TheVok / December 31, 2009 at 03:12 pm
user-pic
All this aside, I'm really getting tired of so many well-meaning Toronto media outlets describing the city's mayoral hopefuls as though being gay is inherently a strength for the job. Huh?

It's not. Sexual orientation has no bearing on this situation.

It IS great that our city has progressed to the point where openly gay politicians can run for the top jobs, but that's NOT the same thing.
Rico replying to a comment from Miroslav Glavic / December 31, 2009 at 04:31 pm
user-pic
Not that I care, but I'd like to ask why the gay community needs to parade that crap around once a year. I like eggs, but I don't need a frickin parade to show it off.
really? replying to a comment from Rico / December 31, 2009 at 05:19 pm
user-pic
Because until the time comes where a person doesn't get beat to death for the sole reason of being gay the gay community deserves at least one parade.
steve lam replying to a comment from Rico / December 31, 2009 at 06:42 pm
user-pic
are you serious?? because every single day of the year on every street you see 'straight' parades. why not a single day for a gay one?
bubba / December 31, 2009 at 07:23 pm
user-pic
Why is this a story worth posting? Does this really matter?
Rico replying to a comment from really? / December 31, 2009 at 08:31 pm
user-pic
Well, first off, they aren't "straight parades". Parades aren't created to celebrate being straight. If you thought that, you've obviously missed the point. Never in history has there ever been a parade to show off straight sexual preferences. Perhaps your mind convinced you so, and you use that to justify that. And no, the existence of crime doesn't justify a parade either. People get into car accidents, but you don't see "people against car accidents" doing that, do you? It's like vegetarians doing this, or people with red hair. It makes no sense at all. And lastly, nobody gives a flying fark about anybody else's sexuality.
A replying to a comment from Rico / December 31, 2009 at 08:49 pm
user-pic
Actually a LOT of people give a "fark" about sexuality - many countries still don't believe if you a LGBT'er that you have equal rights (including many Canadians). Until this is rectified, I have no issue with having a Pride Parade to celebrate the community and bring it out of the shadows. Frankly, unless you're gay you really can't speak knowledgeably about the issue. If you feel like reading more, here ya go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_parade
Peace out.
Rico replying to a comment from A / December 31, 2009 at 08:57 pm
user-pic
Shadows? Hardly. It's in my face everywhere I go. So is ignorance. Let me guess...should inbred country types have their parade too? Celebrate the community? What's wrong with going out and having a pint? Or keeping it out of other people's faces? I mean, cmon. Frankly, being a human being, I can completely talk about this issue. Frankly, being gay, I'm sure you have no clue how fucking annoying it is to have a parade of queers wiggle their asses every year for absolutely no reason at all, other than their silly manifestations. Gays have serious attitude, like how their choice of what they hump seems to trump any other logic at all. If you feel like getting real for a change, then stop making excuses for such a moronic event.
A / December 31, 2009 at 09:01 pm
user-pic
Ah, I see you are trolling here. I'm going out now for NYE - I'll leave you to your stereotypes, slander, hate and ignorance. Cheers.

Rico / December 31, 2009 at 09:32 pm
user-pic
Trolling. Actually, there's a reason why there is a button at the bottom of this form that says "Email me...". I guess you missed that. As for stereotypes, gay people are most likely gay. There's no hate, just a question as to why I have to watch an annual display of sexuality when I really couldn't give a rat's ass about it. Ignorance? It's the queer attitude that's ignorant. Enjoy your sweatbox leather locker room disco tonight, oh rude one.
ig / January 1, 2010 at 09:39 am
user-pic
I'm most disappointed with NOW writer Enzo di Matteo saying "i meant he's happy... of course" What a smarmy smartass way to get around the fact you screwed up, didn't research properly, or just made a stupid assumption.


http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2003/summer/411/

As this article points out from 2003.. ""We're forced to do more with less," says Enzo Di Matteo, Now's news editor. "You don't always get to do the stories you want to do because you don't have someone there with a great amount of skill and expertise and experience. It's made our mix a little less hardcore."

Oh.. and factually incorrect.

Sean / January 1, 2010 at 12:18 pm
user-pic
I heard he lives with his mommy. lol Actually, why would he refer to his girlfriend as a 'partner'?

The way this guy runs the TTC is like the way miller ruined Toronto for us and the tourist industry. Adam should try his luck as ticket collector. They pay more than the mayor's job.
gsg / January 1, 2010 at 01:25 pm
user-pic
Other than people looking to date him, who cares about Councillor Giambrone's sexual orientation? The bottom line is that whether he's gay, straight, bi or whatever, he's still an arrogant schmuck.

The only real surprise in this incident is that, apparently, there are still some people out there who expect NOW Magazine to comply with such quaint journalistic practices as fact-checking. (For anyone who cares about these things, NOW is not a member of the Ontario Press Council and also, it apparently doesn't believe in publishing "corrections" ... only rebuttal letters ... which it edits of course.) A long time ago, NOW had a great editorial section and great listings... now, it only has great listings.
Zed / January 2, 2010 at 12:01 pm
user-pic
I thought Adam was connected to the Tiger sex scandals...no?
ah / January 3, 2010 at 12:28 pm
user-pic
Even if gay has nothing to do with his qualification, NOW should still get the facts right. (Although, admittedly, this was a revelation to me since, as a gay man myself, I just figured Giambrone was gay based on gaydar.) Anyway, gay or not, I would not vote for him. He is doing a terrible job with the TTC. He cares and listens. But so what? Union Station and Bloor Station are a mess during rush hour, there is only remedial stuff done to control traffic at the latter, Metropasses run out at token booths 2 days in a row at month end and people in queues don't even find out until they waited for 15 mins. And when I email that to Giambrone, he is sympathetic but nothing changes. As Sondheim would say, nice is different than good. I didn't vote for Smitherman for MPP, I didn't vote for Rae for councillor, and I sure as hell wouldn't vote for Giambrone whether or not he is gay like me.
Adrian / January 5, 2010 at 01:59 am
user-pic
Happy New Year all.

Here`s my 2 cents worth and some info for Rico.

NOW shoud hire a Fact Checker. Enzo's response isn't good enough..acknowledge you erred or acknowledge you intended it as a joke (which didn't work).

As for Rico's burden about the Pride Parade, I can empathize. I had the same problem with the Santa Claus Parade.I simply couldn`t stand it!!! I thought I had to go every year. However after 20 years of going,someone told me that I actually didn`t have to go!!! So Rico, believe me, when I tell you that you don`t have to go to the Pride Parade. Stay home, go to Casino Rama, go to a Strip Club whatever you like. The laws have been changed so that the only people who have to watch the Pride Parade are those folks who want to watch it. Just like the Santa Clause Parade, the Labour Day parade and on and on and on.... Enjoy your freedom Rico!!!!
Rico replying to a comment from Adrian / January 5, 2010 at 05:28 am
user-pic
Um, Adrian. My issue isn't that I think have to go to the "parade de homos". Not even close. I think it's stupid before any "need". I think it's silly. I think it's frickin ridiculous. Every year I don't see it, and I don't know when it is, to be honest. I think it's stupid that it happens, and that the event itself indicates that preaching that kind of crap should be out front when they choose it to be. And...bending city traffic. And...showing up in the news. Um, never in my life did I ever think anybody had to watch any parade. Where are you from, man? You thought you had to go? Now that is gay. That's like coming out of some closet to think you have to show off you are gay...n' shit. No, nobody cares. My freedom was when I was born...here in Canada...in Ontario...in Toronto...ya, here. Sheesh.
Ally / January 6, 2010 at 10:29 pm
user-pic
Rectified? Is that a pun?
dc_comics / January 7, 2010 at 10:17 am
user-pic
NOW has printed a.... well, it's certainly not a retraction.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=173153

Read the comments, they are priceless!
boytoy replying to a comment from positively gay / January 7, 2010 at 09:44 pm
user-pic
If he's not gay ...then he's bi... I slept with him. Sorry Adam. But on a good note... He was fantastic!!! Thanks Adam ;)
MER1978 replying to a comment from Rico / January 8, 2010 at 03:56 pm
user-pic
RE: Rico... It's pretty hilarious that you're so obsessed about something you can easily avoid... guess you don't have enough normal worries in your life ?

Add a Comment

Other Cities: VancouverMontreal