Kootenay Gay History Project

Readers of the Calgary Gay History Project might be interested to know that Kevin Allen has launched a new research initiative: the Kootenay Gay History Project, which explores queer history in rural South-Eastern British Columbia. The goal is practical: to preserve local history and make it available through a website, archival and display materials, and eventually, a book.

The project, commissioned by the Fernie Pride Society, is collecting stories, records, and local research about 2SLGBTQ+ people in communities across the region. Rural queer history sometimes stumps historians; it is more hidden and less networked than urban queer history, but Kevin relishes the challenge and has a local connection.

For 20 years, Kevin has had two homes, one in Calgary and one in Fernie {because he married an East Kootenay guy}! He says that starting the Kootenay queer history initiative has been an intriguing counterfoil to the Calgary project. In fact, many Rocky Mountain queers decamped for the cities of Calgary and Vancouver to seek a larger gay community, only to return to their hometowns in later life. Consequently, the two History Projects inform each other and highlight how queer mobility affected rural activism.

And Calgarians went to the Rockies, too! Perhaps you participated in the annual Fruit Float weekend down the Slocan River in the 80s. Or did you attend the Nelson-based lesbian performance festival Sappho Sez in the 90s? Do you have a queer Kootenay connection you’d like to share? Email us at kootenaygayhistory@gmail.com or see our Instagram page @kootenaygayhistory.

During a West Kootenay research trip, we were given a direct-action sticker from the early 70s by Michael Wicks, founder of the Nelson Queer Archive. The sticker was produced by the Canadian Gay Activists Alliance (Vancouver), one of Canada’s earliest Gay Liberation organizations.

Michael said the stickers were put on telephone poles for fun and consciousness-raising on Davie Street in Vancouver. Another version had: “SMILE if you’re GAY” with the same Cheshire Cat. Well, we’re stuck on history.
 
Happy Spring!🌞

{KA}