Martin Boyce | Calgary Gay History

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YYC Pride Roundup

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Phew. Queer history was popular during Calgary Pride 2024!

The Calgary Gay History Project was featured in The Scene (twice) and on CityTV. A couple of podcasts dropped featuring interviews with Kevin Allen: Late in ’88 and Passing Time With Craig.

To round things out, we hosted gay history walks, a book signing at the Pride Festival, and Pride at Shelf Life Books, which featured history, poetry, and drag.

*Pride at Shelf Life Books: Kevin Allen, Dogiichow, Osmo Cis, Skylar Kay and Bret Crowle on Sept 4, 2024.*

If you missed the sold-out Involve: Stonewall & Carousel event last year, Lawrence Interior Design, just released a video which documents the conversation between Jason Brooks, Martin Boyce and Lois Szabo.

*Martin Boyce and Lois Szabo in conversation at Involve: Stonewall & Carousel*

Finally, until September 23rd, catch the pop-up exhibition about the LGBT Purge at the Central Library. The Canadian government investigated thousands of 2SLGBTQI+ employees, military personnel, and members of the RCMP during the Cold War. Many of these employees and personnel were forced to resign, ruining lives and careers. But they fought back, and survivors won a major class action lawsuit against the government in 2018. The exhibition “Love in a Dangerous Time” is an appetizer for the Canadian Museum of Human Rights’s large-scale museum show in Winnipeg next year.

*David Robert Van Norman forced to resign from the RCMP after being labelled homosexual in 1964. Photo: Elenore Sturko*.

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Involve: Stonewall & Carousel

Posted on January 12, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 4 comments

Mark your calendars on Thursday, February 16th, for a stimulating gay history evening at Contemporary Calgary called Involve. This evening of discussion will feature New York Stonewall Uprising Activist Martin Boyce and Calgary’s Club Carousel Founder Lois Szabo, sharing their perspectives and experience of the 2SLGBTQ+ human rights movement.

Free tickets can be found: here.

Sponsored by local interior design studio, Lawrence, we caught up with designer Mitchell Brooks about Involve.

Mitchell explains: “I heard Martin Boyce speak last spring in Calgary and found his personal stories and perspective on the equal rights movement and community deeply profound. When International Day of Pink announced Martin was going to be coming back to Calgary this winter and looking for speaking events, I saw it as a great opportunity to host Martin again and make a local connection to his story and experience. As much as we know some of the international history and movements, I believe Canada and Calgary has a rich queer history as well. We wanted to pair the Stonewall event with what was happening in Calgary around the same time and thought the connection with local Rainbow Elder, Lois Szabo, would enhance that dynamic conversation in a way we may not have all heard before. On top of that, as the principal of Lawrence Interior Design Studio, I pride myself in being a visible and open example of a queer business owner in Calgary.”

Inspire hopes to educate. The event is framed as a queer-led conversation about queer history with queer people, but all Calgarians are welcome.

Mitchell adds: “our past matters—to know how far we’ve come, but also how far we still must go, and the importance of maintaining our progress and place in society. Our history also matters in recognizing and celebrating the people who have led us here and continuing to share their experiences further. What’s so great about the Calgary Gay History Project’s work is that it shares and protects the local history that we closely identify with. In hosting this event, I hope to make a small contribution to support that work, celebrating the history we all represent.”

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