Tag Archives: queer

1200 Visits to CalgaryGayHistory.ca and a leave of absence

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Dear Readers,

Thank you for all of the feedback and encouragement in the Calgary Queer History project. Due to the current by-election in Calgary Centre and my work with Elections Canada, I am taking a break from the project for six weeks. Look for new posts in early December.

I am excited to report that there have been over 1200 visits to the site since we launched at Pride in the beginning of September. Despite the project being hyper-local in nature, there has even been some international readership! Have a great November and see you in December,

Kevin

Blue Jeans Day – 20 years later…

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Kevin Allen | 2 comments

Going through my own files this past weekend, I discovered my own queer history with an article in The Gauntlet that came out 20 years ago this month. I was a student at the U. of C. and I remember the furor that erupted over this very clever and subversive activist move.

The idea was to wear denim if you supported gay rights. Blue Jeans Day started at U of C the year before, but the profile in its first year was low. For some reason 1992 was the year that its profile blew-up. Since the majority of students were wearing jeans on any given day, it created this interesting mind-bomb. Are they really supporting gay rights or just oblivious to the event?

Many queers and their allies were cloaked head to toe in denim (I myself remember having to borrow some jeans from a roommate). Many others were visibly pissed off. I remember a number of guys who had pulled out dress pants or khakis from the back of their closets, determined not to show support, despite wearing blue jeans most regular days of their life.

There was tension in the air – but it galvanized us. 20 years later it is a different world, thanks in part, to a little fashion-activism…

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged blue jeans, Calgary, Gay history, human-rights, queer, The Gauntlet, University of Calgary

The venerable Loose Moose Theatre

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Like the Plaza Theatre, another cultural institution, the Loose Moose Theatre Company was an early adopter of gay content in Calgary. Founded in 1977, Loose Moose is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Back in 1980, it co-produced along with Gay Information and Resources Calgary (GIRC), Fortune and Men’s Eyes.

Fortune and Men’s Eyes is a play set in a Canadian prison for youth and deals with society’s injustice towards gay people. Written in Canada’s Centennial Year, 1967, by John Herbert, the play shocked audiences and helped force Canadian society to acknowledge the existence and rights of homosexuals.

“Norman Nadel, reviewing the play for the New York Tribune, claimed the homosexual drama was so disgusting that the mention of someone vomiting in the prison’s off-stage toilet came like a breath of spring. Herbert Whittaker, in the Globe and Mail, called the play ‘the art of washing our dirty linen in the neighbor’s yard.'”*

Playwright John Herbert was born in Toronto, Ontario, October 13, 1926; and died in Toronto on June 22, 2001. The twelve editions of Fortune and Men’s Eyes published by Grove Press in New York have made it the most published Canadian play in history. It won the 1975 Chalmers Award for best Canadian play, and has been published in several Canadian play anthologies. MGM adapted the play for film in 1970, using a former Quebec City prison as its set.

* from the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia entry for Fortune and Men’s Eyes