Tag Archives: Lois Szabo Commons

Meet Lois in Lois Szabo Commons!

Posted on July 18, 2024 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

On Monday, July 29th at 7:00 pm, step into history with Lois Szabo, a 2SLGBTQ+ community builder, as she engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Kevin Allen of the Calgary Gay History Project. Please join us at Lois Szabo Commons: 936 16 Avenue SW and enjoy complimentary pizza and soda, sponsored by Calgary Pride. Bring a folding chair if you have one.

In 2021, the City of Calgary unveiled Lois Szabo Commons, a park in the Beltline, as a testament to Lois’ instrumental role in the creation and development of the groundbreaking gay bar, Club Carousel, in 1970.

*Lois with politicians, friends and family at the Park’s dedication ceremony. Photo: Marlene Hielema.*

This free event is part of Historic Calgary Week 2024. There are 88 events to take in during the fascinating 11-day history festival. The theme this year, Community Builders, will focus on the people and organizations that have made Calgary and surrounding area a desirable and vibrant place to live.

Bonus queer history event on the same day, July 29, at the Central Library:

3:30 – 4:30 pm — Generations United: Connecting Calgary’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Community

Join Historian in Residence, Tess McNaughton, in an exploration of Calgary’s 2SLGBTQIA+ history. In this presentation, Tess will share their research so far and explore queer stories of Calgary, proving that resilience and strength are timeless qualities. From overcoming adversity to celebrating triumphs, dive into the diverse history of this city. Through this presentation, you will gain insight and respect for the vibrant queer community members who have called Calgary home.

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Queer History Conference

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

We are thrilled to be attending the first National Queer and Trans+ Community History Conference in Edmonton this weekend. The conference is set to take place at MacEwan University, where researchers from all over the country will be coming together for a unique queer history immersion experience.

The conference “is designed to bring together 2SLGBTQ+ community members, non-profit organizations, heritage professionals, academics, historians, and emerging scholars who have an interest in documenting, preserving, and celebrating diverse and intersectional queer and trans+ histories in Canada. This conference serves as a scholarly community gathering space to share best practices, foster research collaborations, mobilize knowledge, and build upon existing community and professional networks.”

Registrations are sold out, and the program of outstanding scholars, community historians and activists looks stimulating. The Calgary Gay History Project is contributing a poster about the history and significance of Club Carousel—Calgary’s first gay bar—to the conference. We are happy to represent Calgary at this national gathering and hope to glean many new ideas of how to best preserve and share queer history in our City.

*Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Lois Szabo, and Councillor Evan Woolley (2021) at the opening of Lois Szabo Commons commemorating the founding of Club Carousel. Photo source: City of Calgary.*

A special shout-out goes to Dr. Kristopher Wells and his colleagues, who have been labouring behind the scenes to manifest this remarkable gathering—thank you!

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Tagged bisexual, Club Carousel, Evan Woolley, gay, Gay history, Kristopher Wells, lesbian, Lois Szabo, Lois Szabo Commons, MacEwan University, Naheed Nenshi, National Queer and Trans+ Community History Conference, queer, transgender

Protecting Queer History Places

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

The National Trust for Canada is holding its annual conference in Toronto. It starts today, and its title is: The Heritage Reset: Making Critical Choices.

The conference is asking this question: “as the urgency increases to advance decolonization and anti-racism, take bold climate action, and redress economic and social inequity, are heritage principles and heritage places in step, or stuck in the past?”

Specifically relevant to queer history, they are exploring the idea of a social-cultural reset. How can the heritage community embrace a fuller story and confront exclusion?

It’s a good question. Locally, has Calgary’s heritage community done enough to protect queer historic places and spaces in the city? The answer of course, from our perspective, is “no.”

To be fair, the City of Calgary created Lois Szabo Commons last year, and the Lougheed House did queer history programming in 2019. But where are our protected buildings, heritage plaques and interpretations of queer history sites? How do we make our relatively invisible queer history visible?

Earlier this year, the National Trust hosted a webinar on this very subject with Andrew Dolkart from the inspiring NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. We encourage you to watch it.

*Click image for National Trust webinar: Organizing to Identify and Protect LGBTQ+ Heritage Places: Strategies and Lessons from New York City*

In the next year, this will be a thrust of the Calgary Gay History Project. To date, we have been active in building the Calgary queer landscape through mapping projects and walking tours. It is time to agitate for queer inclusion in Calgary’s built heritage inventory.

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