Category Archives: Press Release

Save Our Backlot

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 6 comments

Calgary’s queer community is mobilizing to save the Backlot, a historic and cherished gay bar. The Backlot is one of the last remaining drinking establishments for the 2SLGBTQ+ community and a link to previous generations of queers.

*The Backlot’s historic neon sign that has served every incarnation of the bar.*

Lawyer and former politician David Khan has spearheaded a call to action, asking the community to intervene in the development approval process (UPDATED: submissions close February 28).

He writes:

I understand The Backlot Bar recently received notice of termination of its lease due to a project to redevelop the land into condos by its landlord and Truman Homes. I am very concerned about this proposed development and the damage it will do to Calgary’s 2SLGBTQ+ community, and I oppose this development.

The Backlot is one of only three queer spaces in the city. It has been a fixture of our community for 47 years, giving Calgary’s 2SLGBTQ+ community a safe space to gather and avoid the discrimination our community continues to face in mainstream society. Calgary has historically struggled to be inclusive and queer-friendly, as exemplified recently by the demonstrations and threats of violence against drag events in our city. The Backlot provides a safe and welcoming space for our community to socialize. Many non-profit organizations have used the venue to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for community projects.

The building in which The Backlot is located is also a building with deep historical roots and significance in Calgary. It was built by Thomas Underwood, a former Mayor of Calgary, as the Calgary Gas Company Workshop in 1907. It is one of the last remaining structures of its type (wood-framed, wood-clad commercial building) in Calgary from that era, and one of the oldest extant workshops associated with the oil and gas industries. It is cataloged in the City of Calgary Inventory of Evaluated Historic Resources.

The Backlot, like many businesses, struggled during the COVID pandemic. They have invested significantly in recent years to improve the building, including interior renovations and a completely revamped back patio space, staircase and second-floor patio space.

Mixed-use spaces are great, but residential use must be compatible with commercial use, especially in the downtown core. I am concerned this proposed development will not fit with the current businesses in this area (bars, restaurants, office space). If the development is approved, it must be designed so that a restaurant/bar with a patio space can operate in the same manner as it can in the current space.

The loss of The Backlot will seriously harm our community. I implore the City to reject this proposed development as it is currently conceived.

In addition, CTV Calgary reports: Backlot lease termination prompts movement to save decades-old Calgary queer space.

Social media pages “Save the Backlot Bar” on Facebook and Instagram will have the latest information about the campaign.

{KA}

6 Comments

Posted in Gay history, Press Release

Tagged Backlot, bisexual, David Khan, gay, Gay history, lesbian, queer, transgender

Involve: Stonewall & Carousel

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 4 comments

Mark your calendars on Thursday, February 16th, for a stimulating gay history evening at Contemporary Calgary called Involve. This evening of discussion will feature New York Stonewall Uprising Activist Martin Boyce and Calgary’s Club Carousel Founder Lois Szabo, sharing their perspectives and experience of the 2SLGBTQ+ human rights movement.

Free tickets can be found: here.

Sponsored by local interior design studio, Lawrence, we caught up with designer Mitchell Brooks about Involve.

Mitchell explains: “I heard Martin Boyce speak last spring in Calgary and found his personal stories and perspective on the equal rights movement and community deeply profound. When International Day of Pink announced Martin was going to be coming back to Calgary this winter and looking for speaking events, I saw it as a great opportunity to host Martin again and make a local connection to his story and experience. As much as we know some of the international history and movements, I believe Canada and Calgary has a rich queer history as well. We wanted to pair the Stonewall event with what was happening in Calgary around the same time and thought the connection with local Rainbow Elder, Lois Szabo, would enhance that dynamic conversation in a way we may not have all heard before. On top of that, as the principal of Lawrence Interior Design Studio, I pride myself in being a visible and open example of a queer business owner in Calgary.”

Inspire hopes to educate. The event is framed as a queer-led conversation about queer history with queer people, but all Calgarians are welcome.

Mitchell adds: “our past matters—to know how far we’ve come, but also how far we still must go, and the importance of maintaining our progress and place in society. Our history also matters in recognizing and celebrating the people who have led us here and continuing to share their experiences further. What’s so great about the Calgary Gay History Project’s work is that it shares and protects the local history that we closely identify with. In hosting this event, I hope to make a small contribution to support that work, celebrating the history we all represent.”

{KA}

4 Comments

Posted in Gay history, Press Release

Tagged bisexual, Calgary, Club Carousel, gay, Gay history, human-rights, International Day of Pink, Lawrence, lesbian, Lois Szabo, Martin Boyce, Mitchell Brooks, queer, Stonewall, transgender

It Was a Place to Meet People Like Me: Sport & YYC LGBTQ+ History

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

{Free public lecture at the University of Calgary on December 2nd at 7 PM, hosted by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities—see their press release below. – Kevin}

Please join us for a talk by Calgary Institute for the Humanities 2020-21 Resident Fellow William Bridel

“Our history is about the stories, lives, experiences, and thoughts of individuals who built their lives around their newfound and often hard-won identity. We cannot lose that”. Stephen Lock wrote those words in the October 1994 issue of Clue!, one of Calgary’s queer publications at the time. In 2018, LGBTQ+ historian Kevin Allen released Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary, noting that the project was “ultimately about memory, and recording these essential stories of our humanity.” In this talk I follow the lead of Lock and Allen, by using archival and interview materials to explore the place of sport in Calgary’s LGBTQ+ history, from the 1970s through to the early 2000s. From softball to volleyball, running to swimming, Apollo Friends in Sport, and the Gay Games, the retelling of these stories on their own and in conversation with one another, reveal that sport played a necessary but sometimes complicated role in individual empowerment, community-building, and the Pride movement.

Dr. William Bridel is Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. He specializes in sociocultural aspects of sport, physical activity, and the body. Current projects include investigations of LGBTQI2S+ inclusion in sport, as well as inclusion and safe sport policy. He is also interested in sport-related pain and injury, with a recent focus on athletes’ experiences of sport-related concussion.

This event will be simultaneously hosted in a live venue (University of Calgary, Taylor Institute Forum) and online on Zoom. All registrants will receive event details one week before the event and may decide to attend in either setting.

In-person attendees are required to follow all UCalgary COVID-19 event requirements: see event for details.

{KA}