Our principles

Xtra is a non-profit online magazine and community platform covering LGBTQ2S+ culture, politics, relationships and health. We aim to break boundaries, think outside of binaries and build bridges within our communities and beyond. 

Xtra informs

We offer insight, context and background on current events and contemporary culture, all while adhering to the highest journalistic principles of accuracy, integrity and transparency. When our staff and contributors offer challenges and critiques, they do so constructively and with a focus on finding solutions. We reject snark and cynicism, we refuse to sensationalize and we won’t over-simplify. We cover stories and provide perspectives that are under-reported and under-represented elsewhere. A commitment to inclusion, intersectionality and diversity—in our staff, contributors, sources, subjects, viewpoints and audience—is central to our work. 

Xtra engages

Across all our platforms, our work is informed by contributions and suggestions from our community and audience. We aim to spark conversations and build connections between people of different backgrounds and life experiences, to help them find common cause and kinship. Our approach is empathetic, humane and sex-positive. We never shame or belittle people’s identities or desires. When we make mistakes, we acknowledge and correct them and commit to doing better. We support healthy, respectful, good-faith conversations and debates and believe that our community is at its strongest when we can learn and grow together. 

Xtra inspires

Storytelling is a powerful tool for liberation. We believe that media created by, for and about LGBTQ2S+ communities is critical to our ability to thrive. We want members of our communities to feel seen, heard and celebrated. We believe that creativity, humour, desire, pleasure, kindness and joy are integral to LGBTQ2S+ culture and life. And we seek to amplify the work of activists, creators, thinkers, change makers and care-givers. We aim to inspire our communities and our audience to work for a better, just and inclusive world.

What else are you looking for?

Here is where you can find…

  • Our masthead;
  • About us: a short essay on Xtra’s history and an explanation of our logo design;
  • Inside Xtra: periodically, we publish stories about our staff and the work we do;
  • Editorial standards: where we outline newsroom ethics and guidelines, our diversity statement and report, fact checking standards, corrections and requests to unpublish stories, our ownership structure and funding model, our editorial independence and our audience and community feedback;
  • Privacy policy: all the legal fine print about any personal data we collect and what we do with it;
  • Terms of use: even more legalese around our user agreement.

And here is our contact info: meet the team, how to contribute, how to advertise and sponsorship.