Tag Archives: Calgary Institute for the Humanities

Queer History Round Up for Pride Week

Posted on August 21, 2025 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Calgary Pride’s 2025 season starts this Friday with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall and concludes with the Parade and Festival on Sunday, August 31st. Here are the queer history events we are involved with or are looking out for {click the links for more information and to register}.

August 21, 7 PM — Hot Dogs and Hot Takes on History at the Confluence: Colonial Calgary Was So Gay! (sold out).

August 25, 6 PM — Beltline Gay History Walk sponsored by Calgary Outlink. Register online: spaces limited. Free, but donations to support Outlink are welcome.

August 27, 7 PM — We Say Gay: Queer Kid Lit and Censorship in the Sunshine State.

The Calgary Institute for the Humanities presents Dr. Kenneth Kidd for the 7th Annual LGBTQ2S+ Lecture, in partnership with UCalgary Alumni and Calgary Central Library. In person AND online: register here.

August 28, 5 PM — Downtown Gay History Walk sponsored by Calgary Public Library. Register online: spaces limited. Free event!

August 30, 6 PM — Fake Moustache’s 20th Anniversary Party and Zine Launch!

This summer, Fake Mustache turns 20 years old, and they are celebrating with a once-in-a-lifetime show. More than 32 cast members will take the stage to bring to life dozens of true stories from two decades of gender-bending, boundary-breaking performance art. It’s a night of defiance, community, and unapologetic queer joy. Tickets: here.

The evening also marks the launch of Fake Mustache: A Graphic Community Memoir. This limited-run comic book captures our outrageous, heartfelt, and defiant legacy. Pre-sales run August 16–26 (pickup at the show), with only small-batch printing available.

“This is more than an anniversary — it’s a living archive of Calgary’s queer history, and we want you there with us to celebrate. With love and glitter,” — James Dean

Fake Mustache’s Kait Hatch also let me know about this queer community calendar for Calgarians, which they are involved in—so many events!

Finally, don’t forget the Arquives National Survey closes at the end of August. Your feedback matters!

*This survey will take about 10 minutes to complete, and you have a chance to **WIN one of FIVE ArQuives tote bag prize packs** (merchandise valued at $150)!*

Happy Pride Calgary!

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged ArQuives, Beltline, bisexual, Calgary, Calgary Institute for the Humanities, Calgary Outlink, calgary public library, Central Library, CIH, Fake Moustache, gay, Gay history, Gay History Walk, Hot Dogs & Hot Takes on History, human-rights, Kaitlyn Hatch, Kenneth Kidd, lesbian, queer, The Confluence, transgender

Launch Party for the YYCGayHistory Collection

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Kevin Allen | 3 comments

Yahoo—it’s queer history month! On Tuesday, October 22nd, from 5-8 PM, we will celebrate the accession of the Calgary Gay History Project Collection into the University of Calgary Archives. Please join us for a wine & cheese reception, with short speeches at 6 PM and collection tours throughout.

*Contact archives@ucalgary.ca to RSVP and for more information!*

Presented by Archives and Special Collections, Libraries and Cultural Resources with support from the Calgary Institute for the Humanities, the reception will be at Gallery Hall on the main floor of the Taylor Family Digital Library. Its address on campus is 410 University Ct NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4.

The Calgary Gay History Project’s Kevin Allen’s *first look at the collection* with Archivist Kim Geraldi—image by Andy Nichols, 2024, University of Calgary Archives Photographs, Libraries and Cultural Resources.

We’re delighted that these documents and artifacts are now publicly accessible (and are already being used by researchers)! The collection has been gathered from many community organizations and donors, including: Calgary Outlink, Calgary Pride, Kevin Allen, Stevie Lee Anderson, Jonathan Brower, Kelly Ernst, Matt Gillespie, Richard Gregory, Robert Lawrence, Terry MacKenzie and Kenneth Peach, Neil McMullen, Nancy Miller, Judy Moore, Pam Rocker, Gene Rodman, Joey Sayer, Michael Wright, and several anonymous donors.

*The Calgary Gay History Project Collection. Image by Andy Nichols, 2024.*

Please join us next Tuesday. Everyone is welcome!

{KA}

3 Comments

Posted in Gay history

Tagged alberta, bisexual, Calgary, Calgary Gay History Project Collection, Calgary Institute for the Humanities, gay, Gay history, Kim Geraldi, lesbian, lgbtq, Libraries and Cultural Resources, queer, transgender, University of Calgary

Queer History Happenings @ YYCPRIDE

Posted on August 8, 2024 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Here are two upcoming events at the Central Library of interest to queer history enthusiasts.

August 26th, 6:30-8:00 PM

Love in a Dangerous Time: Canada’s LGBT Purge

The Canadian government investigated thousands of 2SLGBTQI+ employees, military personnel, and members of the RCMP during the Cold War, forcing many to resign – ruining lives and careers. In 2018, survivors fought back, and won a major class action lawsuit against the government of Canada.

*The “We Demand” demonstration on Parliament Hill, Aug.28, 1971. Photo source: The Arquives.*

Join Exhibition Curator Scott de Groot (Canadian Museum for Human Rights) in conversation with Purge Survivor Nancy Miller (one of the founders of Calgary Pride)! The talk launches the LGBT Purge exhibition at the Library in partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Calgary Pride.

Reserve your seat (free): here.

September 4th, 7:00-9:00 PM

The Calgary Institute for the Humanities 6th Annual LGBTQ2S+ Lecture: Ukraine, Russia, and the struggle for LGBTQ freedom.

*Photograph by Maria Komarova (CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)*

President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine may seem to have little relevance to LGBTQ politics. Yet Putin has declared that one aim of the February 2022 invasion is to prevent the spread to Russia and its neighbours of ‘Western’ forms of tolerance for LGBTQ ways of life. Anti-LGBTQ campaigns in Russia’s parliament and media amplify the anti-Western homophobia that builds popular support for the war against Ukrainian independence. Meanwhile, LGBTQ politics in Ukraine have evolved in ways few had imagined before 2022. How did Putin weaponize the Kremlin’s homophobia, and how have Ukrainian queers and queers across the region responded to this threat?

Dan Healey is an Emeritus Professor of Modern Russian History at the University of Oxford. He is a historian of sexualities and genders in modern Russia and the Soviet Union. His publications include Russian Homophobia from Stalin to Sochi (Bloomsbury, 2017), and the first full-length history of homosexuality in Russia, Homosexual Desire in Revolutionary Russia: The Regulation of Sexual and Gender Dissent (University of Chicago Press, 2001). He continues to study the development of LGBTQ histories and communities in the non-Russian republics of the former Soviet Union.

This event is hosted by the Calgary Institute for the Humanities in partnership with UCalgary Alumni and with support from the Calgary Public Library.

Reserve your seat (free): here.

{KA}