Tag Archives: transgender

Empathy Week: June 1-7

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Kevin Allen | Leave a comment

The Calgary Gay History Project has been invited to participate in Empathy Week: a seven-day festival where people come together to celebrate human connection and foster empathy. The festival features events, discussions, workshops and exhibitions which discuss or promote empathy, diversity, inclusion, and our shared humanity.

On Sunday, June 4th at 4 PM, join the Calgary Gay History Project’s Kevin Allen on a walk through the city centre. We will highlight significant political and social events that affected the gay community. On the way, we will pass several former watering holes where Calgary queers gathered. Reserve your free tickets: here. The one-hour walk begins and ends at the Hyatt Regency Calgary (700 Centre Street SE), specifically at their 8th Avenue Entrance.

*Steve Polyak, from Gay Calgary Magazine, taking a photo the 2017 downtown gay history walk.*

Empathy Week has amplified the voices of hundreds of artists, changemakers, and people who experience systemic barriers in the last six years. Thousands of Calgarians have participated. Please consider volunteering for Empathy Week. Sign up: here.

Come out for empathy this week!

{KA}

Upcoming Gay History Walks

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

Jane’s Walk YYC is this weekend. In fact, Jane’s Walk 2013 was our very first gay history walk. A decade of queer walking and we have learned so much—sometimes from the people who come out for the walks!

Join the Calgary Gay History Project’s Kevin Allen on a walk through the city centre. We will highlight significant political and social events that affected the gay community. On the way, we will pass by several former watering holes where Calgary’s LGBTQ2 community gathered.

Jane’s Walk Sunday, May 7th 2:00-3:30 PM

Free: Register Here.

Meeting Place: CommunityWise, 223 12 Ave SW

*In 2014, it snowed on Jane’s Walk Weekend!*

Kevin is doing another walk for Empathy Week in early June. Empathy Week is a seven day festival, where people come together to celebrate human connection and foster empathy. The events take place online, as well as in the city of Calgary and area. The festival features events, discussions, workshops and exhibitions, which discuss or promote empathy, diversity, inclusion, and our shared humanity.

Empathy Week Walk Sunday, June 4th 4:00-5:00 PM

Free: Register Here.

Meet: Hyatt Regency Calgary (700 Centre Street SE) specifically at their 8th Avenue Entrance.

{KA}

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Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, Calgary, Empathy Week, gay, Gay history, History Walk, Jane's Walk, lesbian, queer, transgender

Love Independent Bookstores!

Posted on April 27, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 1 comment

April 29th is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day. If you buy a book at your favourite indie bookshop this Saturday, you can enter a contest to win a $1000 gift certificate.

We genuinely appreciate these stores and thank our hometown favourites: Shelf Life, Pages, and Owl’s Nest, for stocking and selling literally hundreds of copies of our books: Our Past Matters and What Narcissus Saw.

*Kevin in front of Shelf Life Books in 2018*

Browsing the bookshelves, talking to informed staff, and bumping into people you know, are all good reasons to shop in indie bookstores. {Also: social snacking is good for our health!} The stores have online shops as well, so there is no need to support booksellers that are foreign corporate behemoths.

The following Saturday, May 6th, you are invited to Twisted Element for the Chinook Fund Variety Show Fundraiser. Tickets are only $20 and go to the great cause of the Chinook Fund. This endowment fund, housed at the Calgary Foundation, disperses grants to local queer community organizations under the direction of a volunteer steering committee. So come out for a good cause and be entertained at the same time!