Tag Archives: Third Street Theatre

Calgary Gay History Project News

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

It is a busy time in Calgary for queer events and happenings. You can catch the end of the Fairytales Queer Film Festival this weekend as well as Third Street Theatre’s Stars of the Stage and Screen Gala.

One Voice Chorus, whom we partnered earlier this year to present the Club Carousel Cabaret has a concert coming up featuring a local Gay-Straight Alliance – topical given recent history in Alberta! Rainbow Connections: A Pride Concert will be held on Sunday, June 7th at 3 PM.

Close on the heels of the Third Street Gala is Calgary’s Outlink’s Glitter Gala on June 13th. The Calgary Gay History Project has been invited to participate for a second year. Our researcher, Tereasa Maillie, will be exploring the history of YYC Pride in a short presentation.

We are planning a couple of research trips as well. Kevin Allen will be on the West Coast again (Victoria and Vancouver) from June 14-18 to gather more interviews for the project. If you or some one you know has a Calgary gay history to share, please contact us. We also are tentatively planning a trip to Saskatoon (and Regina?) in the first week of August, to check out the Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity at the University of Saskatchewan. Again, if there are any former Calgarians in Saskatchewan whom you know, please have them get in touch with us.

Now that the Provincial election has concluded, stay tuned to the website for weekly history vignettes, and updates to the project.

Have a great summer!

{KA}

Queer History on CKUA’s ArtBeat

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

Last week’s post got more attention than usual due to its sensational content. Let’s hope that the events of last week were an anomaly. I have since fully recovered from the shock…

Wrapping up my AMAAS job this week, I have now retreated to the mountains for a bit of R&R, but I wanted to feature Megan Clark’s ArtBeat feature on CKUA concerning gay history research in Calgary. She talks to Jonathan Brower, of Third Street Theatre, and myself about the stories we are gathering. It seems like a good launching point for my year of Calgary gay history. Also, I believe we will see some of Jonathan’s research popping up here on the Calgary Gay History Website this summer.

You can listen: here

Thanks Megan!

{KA}

F@$%ing Faggot 2014

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

This week’s post is a bit of a departure from the standard queer history snippet. I am not keen on the word “faggot” especially used as an insult. We have not repatriated it like “queer,” and I wonder if in a generation I would feel the same way about “faggot” as many of our elders do about “queer” having a permanent taint.

Until this week, however, I had not heard that insult thrown at me for a good long time – perhaps not since the 90s. Yet I was verbally assaulted with “f@$%ing faggot” TWICE in the last few days: Monday on the C-Train and Tuesday on a downtown street. Both times I stood there in disbelief after the parting verbal blow was delivered. It seemed so unlikely to have happened, that it took me a long moment to process – no witty or angry retorts – just stunned silence.

There is a national congratulatory theme in some of my queer history presentations, when we compare how far Canada has come in 45 years with respect to human rights after the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969. Now I am having a rethink of tone.

In April, I met Scott Jones on an anti-homophobia panel at Knox Presbyterian Church. He suffered a physical homophobic attack last year in Nova Scotia that left him in a wheelchair. He is transforming his tragedy into a public anti-homophobia campaign – called “Don’t Be Afraid” – but the fact of his attack is appalling.

I have no immediate remedy for homophobia and transphobia in Canada – or Calgary for that matter. However, these events have redoubled my commitment to the Calgary Gay History Project. We have an immediate need to get our history recorded and our archives preserved.

To this end, my job at the Alberta Media Arts Alliance (AMAAS) is quickly wrapping up this month. AMAAS is a great organization: I enjoyed the work, the camaraderie, and it was very good to me. But, I am leaving to devote more time to Calgary’s queer history – my new priority. It is my hope that we will be able to incorporate more volunteers into the project, as we aspire to create a history community.

Finally, support your local queer organizations, like Third Street Theatre, whose fundraiser is tomorrow night. Queer non-profits and community groups do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to social change. We obviously have further to go…

{KA}