Tag Archives: Gay history

A Queen’s Fury and other news…

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

A Queen's Fury

We have new summer reading material, thanks to Neil Richards who gave us a parting gift of a 1968 gay pulp novel, which was a duplicate in their archive. Everyone in Saskatoon during last week’s gay history research trip was exceedingly helpful, and the amount of Calgary materials in these archives are a testament to the closeness and cross-pollination between gay communities on the Prairies.

If you are in Calgary next weekend you should check out the Human RITES conference, an exploration of faith and identity, April 29-May 1. Conference organizer, Pam Rocker, explains that Human RITES was created because of the recognition that religion, in a broader sense, still actively marginalizes LGBTQ people. The conference goal is to create a space where people can discuss religion, identity and sexuality comfortably and respectfully.

Highlights include, an evening with Rae Spoon, singer/songwriter/author, workshops with writer/speaker Brandan Robertson and a reading of ‘oblivion’ by local playwright Jonathan Brower (he also is a researcher & collaborator with the Calgary Gay History Project).

Finally, we are looking forward to our upcoming Beltline Gay History Walk as part of Jane’s Walks in Calgary on May 7th. Mixing it up, we will have a travelling artist with us during the walk. Bogdan Cheta, will be presenting some of his work, a manifesto has come to light which was conceived at an artist residency in Calgary’s oldest artist-run centre, The New Gallery.

Art + History = Delicious Event.

{KA}

We are in Saskatoon next week!

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Our planned trip last August to Saskatchewan had to be postponed, but we are finally travelling to Saskatoon April 13-16 to do research in the Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity located at the University of Saskatchewan.

Not only will be looking for Calgary citations in the collection, but we will also be meeting with Mr. Richards to discuss best practices for setting up our Calgary gay history archive.

Prairie cities in Canada had a lot in common when it came to the gay liberation movement in the 1970s. Activists in Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg met as often as they could, to share information and bolster each other efforts at a time when there were not a lot of people doing this important work.

Calgary’s Gay Information and Resources Calgary (GIRC) hosted the 1979 Prairie Gay Rights Conference, May 19^th to 21^st{The Saskatchewan Gay Coalition hosted the 1978 conference in Saskatoon}. This annual conference over the Victoria Day weekend was preoccupied in 1979 with the imminent Federal Election, and Progressive Conservative (PC) leader and Albertan, Joe Clark’s stand on gay rights. Stan Schumacher, an independent candidate running in Calgary – Bow River alleged Joe Clark was soft on homosexuality. Post-election, a PC spokesperson explained to activists that the (now) Prime Minister’s position was not necessarily opposed to the inclusion of sexual orientation in federal human rights legislation. However wanting to get elected, that position was not made public!

Registration Information for 1979 Prairie Conference

Gay groups across the country during the 1979 election campaign agitated for a gay rights charter distributed by the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition but got little traction. However, a 27-year old Svend Robinson was elected that year in Burnaby; he would become the first openly gay Member of Parliament when he publicly revealed his sexual orientation in 1988.

Any former Calgarians or visitors to Calgary, who are now living in the Saskatoon area, and who have stories about our LGBTQ history are invited to contact Kevin – we are keen on interviewing you!

{KA}

Striking Back at the Bay in 1964

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

After World War II there was an ongoing domestic battle in Canada between gay men and the nation’s department stores that lasted for decades. The issue was public sex in department store washrooms. All across the country men seeking sexual contacts would meet up in little used washrooms while the nation’s shoppers went about their daily business.

Academics have written about the public washroom phenomenon extensively. Lavatories are a popular site among men seeking sex from each other: they are easy to get into and out of; their recognition as a site for sex is known and shared mainly by those who participate; and there is some assumption of privacy and concealment in regular washroom business, making other behaviour seem less noticeable.

Calgary was typical in this regard, and downtown department stores such as Eaton’s, Hudson’s Bay, and the store-linking Devonian Gardens all had men’s washrooms well known to frustrated facility operators and authorities. Police stings and/or entrapment were a definite threat and there was a societal culture of intimidation to try to prevent these acts. Men found in a washroom engaged in unsavoury business would be arrested on the charge of gross indecency. Often their name, occupation and home address would be published in the daily newspapers the next day. In the mid-20th Century this kind of public outing and ostracization was life altering, and in some cases ended in suicide.

In 1964, on Clarence John Young, a former Bay employee and washroom found-in, fought back, with his own lawsuit (see the attached article).

Calgary Herald, March 7, 1964, pg. 26.

We do not know how the lawsuit ended, but the article certainly gives us the tenor of the times. {Thanks to our colleague, historian Harry Saunders, who ran across this article and forwarded it to us}.

Intimidation as a tactic was not confined to the 50s and 60s. In 1980, one Calgary downtown department store operator, posted this notice on the men’s washroom, which viewed today is shocking.

Screen Shot 2016-03-24 at 2.23.52 PM

In today’s world, with both the internet and gay hook up phone apps like GrindR and Scruff, men who have sex with men have never had it easier to connect. However, we are fully confident that public washrooms, particularly in downtown Calgary, still get their fair share of all kinds of business.

{KA}