Hamilton’s Only Gay Bar: An Exploration of the Loss of LGBTQ2SIA+ Spaces in the Steel City
Amanda Ayer and Kellie McCutcheon From 1969-1989, there were very few areas in Hamilton where the gay and lesbian community could safely and comfortably meet and socialize with each other. Having a space to gather is incredibly important as spaces “allow 2SLGBTQ+ people to meet one another, form connections, and build community” (3). Not to […]
No Fats, No Femmes: a Personal & Archival Exploration of the Racist, Femmephobic, and Fatphobic Facets of Gay Culture.
For those unfamiliar with the gay “dating” app, Grindr, think of it as a classic gay cruising spot, but digitized. As with most social platforms, there’s an added hurdle or benefit (depending on who you ask) of anonymity. For those not out to their families, this is part of the appeal; perhaps there is an […]
Imagining Queer Futurities: The ‘Right’ to feel Queer Joy in the Pasts and Presents of Canada
The Legal Reform: May 4th, 1969 To be free to live in your body and love who and how you wish has been a contentious topic in Canada for a long time. Among those who became marginalized and punished on these grounds were LGBTQ2S+ people in Canada. For a little over the first hundred years of […]
The Women’s Bookstop and Sites of Queer Relational Resistance
The Women’s Bookstop, the first and only feminist bookstore in Hamilton, Ontario, opened in 1985 on 333 Main Street West. In the midst of the AIDS epidemic and in the beginning of resistant Queer Nation politics, The Women’s Bookstop offered a new space – outside of mainstream commercialization – for women and queer folks to […]
“Operation Jack-O-Lantern”: Community Organizing in Toronto Against Homophobic Violence
On October 31st 1977, the lesbian and gay community in Toronto organized “Operation Jack-O-Lantern”: patrol teams consisting of community members, lawyers, and first-aiders. These patrols were formed in response to the lack of protection from the Toronto Police on every Halloween, when the gay community was faced with queerbashing and organized homophobic protests. Protestors would […]
The Revolutionary Act of Enjoying Tea and Bannock
The poster you see above is simple yet elegant in many ways. Firstly, the aesthetic is basic – it’s clearly handwritten in marker. The text is a little slanted, the illustrated Thunderbird at the top slightly askance. It’s in black and white – straight to the point. Here is the thing we are doing, here […]
Utopia is Somewhere Else
Being multi-faceted, violence is hard to define and distinguish. Sometimes it is overt like raid, confiscation and beating; sometimes it is subtle, covert and soft. Some consider an experience as violent, while others understand that very experience in a different way. Here is a story of two novelists and their books. One has experienced violence […]
Radical Erotics: Lesberado Productions’ 1987 Lesbian Erotic Show in Vancouver
I first came across the poster for Lesberado Productions’ lesbian erotic show in Vancouver 1987 while searching the ArQuives collection. I was taken immediately by the woman in the illustration; her hair wild, the shades, leather bodice unzipped. However, my research to find more archival material regarding the show was a short-lived venture: I found […]
Community, Joy, and Collective Resistance Through Dance: The Gay Community Dance Committee Presents…
On Saturday February 5, 1983, the Gay Community Dance Committee (GCDC) held “Soap: A Remembrance of the 1981 Bath Raids” (Jennex and Eswaran 187). Exactly two years earlier, on February 5, 1981, the Toronto police raided four bathhouses in what was called “Operation Soap.” Over 300 men were arrested in the raids, with 286 charged for […]
I Enjoy Being An Activist: Lesbian Protest in Canadian History
“I have heard that I was courageous. In retrospect, and in the present, it has always been an issue of basic survival – physical, emotional and spiritual. Maintaining one’s own integrity and a desire to positively influence the present societal circumstances in which I find myself and others.” – Pat Murphy (Pat Murphy, Toronto, 2000)