Category Archives: Gay history

Welcome Danielle!

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Kevin Allen | 3 comments

The Calgary Gay History Project has a new volunteer researcher, Danielle Shinbine! They have been working on a series of articles on the history of the Dyke and Trans March in Calgary, which started in 2012. It has occurred to us that we are now well into the 21st Century and likely should expand our focus beyond the 20th…

Recording the Dyke and Trans March origin story is our first step in this direction!

Now for Danielle’s introduction:

Danielle is a second-year Master of Science in counselling psychology student at the University of Calgary. Danielle moved to Calgary in 2022 after growing up on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and completing their BA in psychology at Vancouver Island University. Their research interests explore LGBTQ+ well-being and its intersections with aging, and they are currently completing a thesis exploring the experiences of LGBTQ+ older adults who grew up amidst Canada’s gay rights movement, as well as several other projects exploring how LGBTQ+ individuals engage with social media. In their goal of preserving the narratives of the LGBTQ+ Canadian community, they reached out and joined the Calgary Gay History Project’s team. Danielle also is involved with the gender and sexuality subcommittee of their university’s graduate student association. When not working, Danielle enjoys their hobbies of retro video gaming and visiting animal sanctuaries.

Welcome Danielle! We look forward to your contributions. #OurPastMatters.

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, Calgary, Danielle Shinbine, Dyke and Trans March, gay, lesbian, queer, transgender

Queer Legends Podcast

Posted on January 5, 2024 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Happy New Year, Calgary Gay History Project readers!

Shawn Dearn, a Montreal-based investigative journalist and historian, is the creative force behind Queer Legends: An Oral History Podcast. The series just won the Outstanding Documentary award at the annual Canadian Podcast Awards.

Shawn was interested in the story of Everett Klippert and recently interviewed Kevin Allen from the Calgary Gay History Project for the pod—check out their conversation: here.

Queer Legends is about the people who built the rainbow, created space and held their own! The series has featured: Margaret Cho, Jane Rule, former MP Svend Robinson, queer historian Sarah Worthman and many more. One reviewer calls Queer Legends “binge-worthy.”

We at the Calgary Gay History Project hope you discover even more queer history in 2024!

{KA}

1 Comment

Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, Everett Klippert, gay, Gay history, history, lesbian, news, podcast, podcasts, queer, Queer Legends, Shawn Dearn, transgender

History gives us company

Posted on November 23, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Thanks to everyone who came out to the queer history presentation last night at the Memorial Park Library. Kevin concluded his talk with a quote from Timothy Snyder’s profound book On Tyranny.

History allows us to see patterns and make judgements. It sketches for us the structures within which we can seek freedom. It reveals moments, each one of them different, none entirely unique. To understand one moment is to see the possibility of another. History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something. The Polish poet Czesław Miłosz thought that such a notion of responsibility worked against loneliness and indifference. History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.
—Timothy Snyder

To that end, this Sunday at 8:30 PM, see Queendom at CUFF.Docs. The documentary is about Gena Marvin, a contemporary queer artist from a small town in Russia. Gena stages radical public performances—in a nation hostile to queers—that becomes a new form of art and activism.