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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.

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged ArQuives, bisexual, Calgary Institute for the Humanities, Calgary Pride, Canadian Museum for Human Rights, CIH, Dan Healey, gay, Gay history, lesbian, LGBT Purge, Nancy Miller, queer, RCMP, Scott de Groot, transgender, We Demand

Our Past Matters Book Launch

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Kevin Allen | 6 comments

November has been a whirlwind of activity! The Calgary Gay History Project went to Winnipeg this week to see the book, Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary in production. Chris Young from Prolific.ca gave author, Kevin Allen, and some local family members a tour of their amazing facility.

This book, which has been four years in the making, will be having its public debut at the New Central Library, 800 3 St. SE. At 7 PM, on Thursday, November 22^nd come meet the Library’s Historian in Residence for a book reading and short film presentation. Our Past Matters: Stories of Gay Calgary will be available for purchase for $25.

Here is a photo essay from the past two weeks:

Kevin’s portrait and bio are mounted on the wall outside his office at the New Central Library. Friends start texting him selfies with the sign. The portrait was shot by Calgary’s own photography talent, Kelly Hofer.

52,000 people visited the Calgary Public Library in its opening weekend. Kevin as the first Historian in Residence celebrates with one of those visitors, his long-time friend Michelle Wong.

Kevin travels to Winnipeg (with his mom) to see Our Past Matters in production. A metal press is made of the book cover and then sent to the offset printer.

Kevin signs off on the proof.

Kevin with Chris from Prolific.ca and the finished book cover – hard to believe it is actually real!

A visit to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and looking at a winter-swept Winnipeg from the impressive tower of hope – a pride sidewalk can be seen – a good omen for the book launch in Calgary.