Tag Archives: GIRC

Anita Bryant’s legacy—up for grabs?

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Anita Bryant, a famous and outspoken anti-LGBTQ+ crusader, died last month at the age of 84.

In the 70s, Anita was a former American beauty pageant winner and minor pop star. In 1977, her campaign coined “Save Our Children,” led to the repeal of an anti-discrimination ordinance in Dade County, Florida. Galvanized by her win, she travelled across the U.S. and Canada and was able to roll back human rights gains in several other American states in addition to getting a legislated ban on gay adoption in Florida (this ban was only overturned in 2008).

She said during the campaign, “For several years I have been praying for God to revive America. And when word came that there was an ordinance in Miami that would allow known homosexuals to teach my children—God help us as a nation to stand in these dark days. There are many evil things that would claim—under the disguise of discrimination and under civil rights—would claim the civil rights of our children.”

*Anita in Miami Beach announcing her campaign. Source: Miami Herald.*

Bryant’s crusade cost her dearly. By 1980, she was divorced, her sponsorship contracts dried up, and her career as an entertainer tanked. Ironically, many gay activists noted that Anita did more for their cause than anyone who had come before her. The Globe and Mail cheekily then concluded: “Closet doors open on Anita.”

A 2021 SLATE Podcast delved deeply into Anita Bryant’s war on gay rights. A new reveal was that Anita’s granddaughter Sarah is gay and had come out to her grandmother. Sarah said: “My partner and I have talked a lot about whether we want to invite her to our wedding. I think I probably will eventually just call her and ask if she even wants an invitation because I genuinely do not know how she would respond. I don’t know if she would be offended if I didn’t invite her. I really genuinely don’t know if she will come or not. I guess I’ll just say that I don’t hate my grandma. I just kind of feel bad for her. And I think as much as she hopes that I will figure things out and come back to God, I kind of hope that she’ll figure things out.”

In the same podcast, renowned lesbian historian Lillian Faderman said, “I think before Dade County, most gays and lesbians did not want to be political. Dade County woke us up. Dade County made us realize that we all had to be political. We all had to learn to fight homophobia. And I think that that really solidified the gay rights movement. Anita’s campaign galvanized the gay community….”

We noticed a wrinkle in the coverage after reading articles of her passing in several newspapers. Some modern-day culture warriors are changing the historical narrative about Anita’s crusade, declaring her a hero posthumously rather than a villain. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was quoted in Kentucky Today.

He said: “One of the techniques used to marginalize Anita Bryant was to treat her as a freak show, and that’s the threat that same movement would try to apply to every single person who would stand in its way. And if you dare to stand in opposition to that movement, guess what. You will end up on the front page of The New York Times as an obituary and the movement will claim that you deserve the ridicule. But let’s remember this …: the LBGTQ movement is not going to have the last say.”

Well, the Calgary Gay History Project intends to have the last say about Anita’s ignominious crusade stop in Alberta and the Calgary activists who challenged her. Our Past Matters!

Screen Shot 2018-06-14 at 6.34.53 PM — *Anita Bryant in the May 1, 1978 edition of The Albertan*

In 1978, Anita swung through Canada as part of Renaissance International’s Christian Liberation Crusade. She made a tour stop in Edmonton on April 29^th. Forty Calgary activists hurried north, joining activists there, to protest her cross-Canada tour.

The Coalition to Answer Anita Bryant (CAAB), which included feminist and labour groups, fired up the 300 protesters who marched to the Legislature: the most substantial pro-gay demonstration that Alberta had ever seen to that point. The Body Politic reported, “Bryant hits Canada; Canada hits back.”

*Cover of GIRCs Gay Calgary Newspaper, September 1978*

Two Calgary activists, windi earthworm {he preferred lowercase letters when spelling his name} and Myra “My” Lipton, went independently of the loosely organized “Calgarians against Anita” delegation. They decided direct action was required to disrupt Bryant’s auditorium of 6000 supporters. My remembered: “We got in under the guise that we were students doing a study about the spaces people meet in. We scoped out the stage and decided on our spot. I helped Windi chain and lock himself.”

My then went into the seats to find a spot to generate a call and response disturbance with windi, but she turned back when she noticed audience members hassling him. She asked windi if he was OK. He replied, “Yeah, except these really kind Christian folk are ready to hang me,” by the chain around his neck.

Screen Shot 2018-06-14 at 6.34.36 PM — *Windi Earthworm in the May 1, 1978 edition of The Albertan*

Anita eventually appeared at the Northlands Coliseum under heavy police escort. windi screamed: “You have me in shackles, Anita!” She replied, “I love you, and I know enough to tell you the truth so you will not go to eternal damnation.” windi called back, “You love me so much you want me in prison.” The heckling continued intermittently throughout the event. The courageous Calgarians were detained briefly afterwards for questioning by police and were permitted to leave.

{KA}

50 years of peer support in YYC!

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 2 comments

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the first queer peer support organization in Calgary: the People’s Liberation Coalition (PLC).

Started in January 1973, the People’s Liberation Coalition served the Calgary gay community by offering information and counselling using a peer support model. The PLC office was located at the Old Y (CommunityWise) in room 314, and they attempted to have office hours from 7-11 p.m., seven days a week.

The group was an evolution of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which had begun meeting in September 1972, spearheaded by University of Calgary grad student Rick Sullivan.

Lesbian activist, My (Myra) Lipton attended these early GLF meetings. She and Rick would attend Human Sexuality classes at the U of C as guest speakers. According to a student journalist, My called for women’s freedom to control their bodies and “engage in whatever sexual activities they prefer.” She also stated that the “greatest threat to the male role is solidarity among women, and lesbianism epitomized that solidarity.”

Biweekly consciousness-raising meetings of the GLF were held in the Beltline. Doug Jameson, a university student then, remembered the meetings in rundown apartments. He said, “people talked about the place we were at and trying to get petitions going to give to the government. There were about a dozen of us, and we were known to the RCMP.”

In fact, the RCMP came to Rick Sullivan’s apartment one night to question him about his activities with the GLF and The Gauntlet, attempting to intimidate him. The RCMP even requisitioned his student record from the University of Calgary, but the Registrar refused to cooperate.

Meanwhile, the GLF brainstormed the idea of a peer support organization. My Lipton cheekily wanted to call it, “Does Your Mother Know?” a phrase she often asked those who were coming out. However, to the larger group, the name People’s Liberation Coalition stuck, and they found a space at the Old Y and a roster of volunteers to offer peer support. Shortly after its inception, the PLC announced their intention to sponsor “a mixed boogie” at a local community hall.

My remembered: “the PLC was breaking new ground in Calgary. The immediate need that we had to convey to people who were coming out was that they were OK—it was society that had the problem.”

Mount Royal College student Rex Leonard saw a poster for PLC at his on-campus guidance centre. He headed to the Old Y that night and surprised PLC volunteer Joanne, who was answering the phone that night—there were not many drop-in visits! Rex’s world expanded as he was introduced to more gays and lesbians. He appreciated that the organization was centred around social activism, not just a place to find a romantic partner. Rex became a dedicated PLC volunteer.

An Australian gay activist named Brian Lindberg, who travelled through Western Canada later in 1973, described the movement in Calgary as going through a difficult period. He wrote:

“The gay information centre was staffed by only a few people (one in particular) who continued to maintain the service even though little assistance could be obtained. Considering the population size of Calgary, I was surprised not to find a well-organized gay liberation movement.”

The PLC ran out of steam as key members moved away from the city, and no replacements were found. Keeping the office open seven days a week proved challenging, and after about a year of operating, the PLC faded away.

Queer peer support was resurrected in June 1975 as Gay Information and Resources Calgary (GIRC) by My Lipton and Windi Earthworm. There has been a more or less continuous peer support service at the Old Y for 50 years. This legacy is continued by the esteemed Calgary Outlink today.

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, Brian Lindberg, Calgary Outlink, CommunityWise, Doug Jameson, gay, Gay history, gay liberation front, GIRC, GLF, lesbian, My Lipton, Old Y, People's Liberation Coalition, queer, RCMP, Rex Leonard, Rick Sullivan, The Gauntlet, transgender, University of Calgary, Windi Earthworm

A Windi Month in YYC

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 2 comments

During February here, the chinook winds blow… In honour of this blustery month, the Calgary Gay History Project focuses on activist and musician Windi Earthworm (b. 1950) and his impact on our city. This week, we will update Windi’s story from Our Past Matters. Then, over the next few weeks, we will explore more about the activist’s life—details that have blown in since the book was published in 2018.

*Windi Earthworm circa 1979. Photo: François Couture from kersplebedab.com*

Windi Earthworm, an American gay artist and activist, moved to Calgary in 1973. He was notable for his gender non-conforming dress and street music. He also was a dedicated agitator who had the conviction of his beliefs. For example, Windi chained himself to a marble pillar in the Palliser Hotel during a Progressive Conservative party convention in 1976 to protest the absence of legislation protecting homosexuals from discrimination.

Windi grew up in Seattle and was filled with wanderlust. In the summer of 1973, he swept into Banff and got a job at the youth hostel. He began a relationship with his coworker, Calgary artist John Evans, who at the end of the season invited Windi to move back with him to Calgary. They lived in an apartment in the Thomson Brothers Block on Eighth Avenue. Through mutual friends, Windi met People’s Liberation Coalition’s Myra “My” Lipton in 1974, and they made a powerful connection. Despite both being gay, My married Windi the next year, so he could remain in Canada. After the ceremony, they went for falafels with their marriage witnesses to celebrate. My later moved into the Thomson Brothers Block herself, where she and Windi saucily broke the wall between their two apartments, creating a new internal doorway.

*Windi sent this wedding photo to his friend Rex Leonard in 1975*.

Later, Windi and My were part of a four-person protest group who took guerrilla action against an anti-gay skit. The sketch was included in the nightly performance of a band called The Dandies in the Four Seasons Hotel’s Scotch Room. One evening in June, when the skit was about to be unleashed, Windi and his friends rushed the stage; My took over the microphone. They explained to the surprised audience why they were offended. As the hotel bouncers dragged them away, they asked the manager if she had ever been to a gay bar. When she replied, “no,” they told her they were going to invite all of their friends and turn the Scotch Room into a gay bar the following night if the performance was not changed. It was changed.

The success of their intervention made them critically aware that Calgary needed a gay activist group, particularly since the People’s Liberation Coalition had gone dormant. Gay Information Resources Calgary (GIRC) started shortly thereafter. The group’s first chairperson (on paper) was Windi Earthworm.

Activist Doug Young (1950-1994), in a 1980 interview, remembered Windi hanging out in the Kings Arms Tavern in the mid-70s, and always thought him a bit strange with his long blue jean skirts. He noted that Windi did not stay long at GIRC as the other people who helped set it up thought he was crazy and eventually squeezed him out.

Quebec Filmmaker Claude Ouellet recalled meeting Windi in 1976 when he was a young person hitchhiking across the country. Finding himself in Calgary, without money, he ended up meeting the troubadour on the Eighth Avenue Mall. Windi at that time was taking in street kids who needed shelter. Windi sheltered Claude and his friend for the night in his apartment. Claude thought the denim skirt and cross-dressing flare was courageous for Calgary in 1976.

Later in the 1980s, when both lived in Montreal, Claude made a documentary about Windi as a year-end film school project. At that time, Windi was central to that city’s Anglo-anarchist left. He often was hassled by the Montreal police, or worse, for being a strolling musician, despite being licensed to be. He was also seen occasionally in press coverage being dragged away from peace demonstrations.

Claude Ouellet’s documentary about Windi: “Ragged Clown.”

Described as a caring, unique, and challenging person, Windi died from AIDS-related causes on July 16, 1993, in Victoria under the care of My Lipton. Windi’s courage and artistry are remembered fondly on a memorial website: “There’s a Fire Truck on My Ceiling: Windi Earthworm Remembered.”

{KA}