Vancouver | Calgary Gay History

Tag Archives: Vancouver

Kootenay Gay History Project

Posted on April 9, 2026 by Kevin Allen | 2 comments

Readers of the Calgary Gay History Project might be interested to know that Kevin Allen has launched a new research initiative: the Kootenay Gay History Project, which explores queer history in rural South-Eastern British Columbia. The goal is practical: to preserve local history and make it available through a website, archival and display materials, and eventually, a book.

The project, commissioned by the Fernie Pride Society, is collecting stories, records, and local research about 2SLGBTQ+ people in communities across the region. Rural queer history sometimes stumps historians; it is more hidden and less networked than urban queer history, but Kevin relishes the challenge and has a local connection.

For 20 years, Kevin has had two homes, one in Calgary and one in Fernie {because he married an East Kootenay guy}! He says that starting the Kootenay queer history initiative has been an intriguing counterfoil to the Calgary project. In fact, many Rocky Mountain queers decamped for the cities of Calgary and Vancouver to seek a larger gay community, only to return to their hometowns in later life. Consequently, the two History Projects inform each other and highlight how queer mobility affected rural activism.

And Calgarians went to the Rockies, too! Perhaps you participated in the annual Fruit Float weekend down the Slocan River in the 80s. Or did you attend the Nelson-based lesbian performance festival Sappho Sez in the 90s? Do you have a queer Kootenay connection you’d like to share? Email us at kootenaygayhistory@gmail.com or see our Instagram page @kootenaygayhistory.

During a West Kootenay research trip, we were given a direct-action sticker from the early 70s by Michael Wicks, founder of the Nelson Queer Archive. The sticker was produced by the Canadian Gay Activists Alliance (Vancouver), one of Canada’s earliest Gay Liberation organizations.

*Original Direct Action Sticker from the early 1970s*

Michael said the stickers were put on telephone poles for fun and consciousness-raising on Davie Street in Vancouver. Another version had: “SMILE if you’re GAY” with the same Cheshire Cat. Well, we’re stuck on history.

Happy Spring!🌞

{KA}

2 Comments

Posted in Gay history

Tagged bisexual, Calgary, Canadian Gay Activists Alliance, Fernie Pride, Fruit Float, gay, Gay history, Kevin Allen, Kootenay Gay History Project, lesbian, Michael Wicks, Nelson, Nelson Queer Archive, queer, Sappho Sez, transgender, Vancouver

The Village People, YMCA, and Canada!

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Kevin Allen | 4 comments

At last weekend’s joyous Calgary Pride parade, we heard The Village People’s famous song, YMCA, multiple times as the floats with thumping music went by. The gathered onlookers spontaneously and dutifully made YMCA arm gestures during the famous chorus. But who knew the song—practically a Pride anthem—was written in Vancouver?

Our friend and former Calgarian, Melody Jacobson, recently produced a CBC Radio piece exploring YMCA’s origins. Historian Glenn Tkach explains that the Village People were recording an album in 1970s Vancouver, and when talking about the YMCA, the idea for the song was born. Tkach also does queer history walking tours in Vancouver and includes the YMCA at 955 Burrard Street as one of his stops. It was this location which inspired the song.

YMCA is seen by many as overtly gay and sexually provocative, an interpretation which The Village People’s lead singer and lyricist Victor Willis has denied. However it sounds to you, the song first appeared on The Village People’s 1978 album Cruisin’ and eventually reached number two on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart before becoming the international staple of weddings and Pride Parades.

So the next time you hear YMCA, spare a thought for the song’s provenance, and when you are next in Vancouver, consider joining Tkach’s Really Gay History Tour.

{KA}