Editor: Mary MacDonald Art Director: Bill Pusztai Copy Editor: Chris Field, Jennifer Coffey Contributors: Scott Anderson, Harold Averill, Jason Clark, Jennifer Coffey, Chris Field, David Hart, Steven Jackson, Mary MacDonald, David Moore, Salman A. Nensi, Jake Peters, Bill Pusztai, Marie Robertson, Dave Smith, Patricia Swerhone Photographers: Steven Jackson, Jake Peters Special Thanks: Wilde Oscar's for supplying a location for the Treleaven & Munro photo shoot and to Alex for being our gracious host
published by: The Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives, P.O. Box 639,
Station A, Toronto, ON, Canada M5W 1G2
+1 416.777.2755 |
| http://www.clga.ca/
Charitable donations number: 11883 2864 RR0001
Submissions and letters to the editor are welcome. All material must
come accompanied with the writer’s full name (which may be published
both in print and in searchable form on the web, unless otherwise specified)
along with contact information for verification purposes only. All submissions
are subject to editing.
Contributors should note that the Archivist is distributed via print
to CLGA supporters and volunteers and other interested members of the
public. The full text of every issue also appears simultaneously on our
website, which makes all submissions fully searchable on the web.
Cover photo by Steven Jackson.
The Archivist endeavours to publish articles focusing on queer culture in all its myriad forms. Within our limited space and publication schedule, we try to bring all parts of the community together. We encourage all our readers to submit story ideas.
Error: Marie Robertson was incorrectly referred to as Marie Richardson in our last issue. We regret the error.
Wayves, POB 34090, Scotia Square, Halifax, NS, B3J 3S1
Hamilton
Gomorrah’s Books, 233 Locke Street South, Hamilton, ON, L8P 4B8
Saskatoon
Gay & Lesbian Services, POB 8581, Saskatoon, SK, S7K 6K7
Sudbury
Access AIDS Committee, 203-111 Elm Street, Sudbury, ON, P3C 1T3
Sudbury Women’s Center, 324-F Elm Street West, Sudbury, ON, P3C 1V8
Toronto
This Ain’t The Rosedale Library, 483 Church St, Toronto, ON, M4Y 2C6
Vancouver
Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 1N3
At the Archives we remain committed to collecting, preserving and presenting the history of all lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer Canadians. Because of our limited resources it is impossible to send representatives on collecting missions, so we rely on people to gather their local history and transmit it to us. We are sending this issue of the Archivist to more groups and locations than ever before, and we hope to expand our outreach by increasing our next issue’s distribution.
What you can do to make us more relevant to you where you live: gather your local LGBTQ history and send it to us to preserve and/or publish.
How to do it: collect pictures, posters, publications and send them in; write a brief article about the material you sent.
Or, you can do some living history by interviewing someone in the local community about his or her life as an LGBTQ person. Transcribe your interview and send it in—it will be stored fully intact in the Archives and could be edited into an article in the Archivist. Don’t worry about it being “important” enough, even very ordinary day-to-day material has value.
Maybe you inherited a box of photos from your gay uncle, or a scrap book from the local lesbian baseball team. Write a bit about them and send them in, they’d probably make a great photo feature. Certan kinds of donations are even eligible for a tax receipt!
Dear reader and CLGA supporter,
Welcome to the Spring 2004 issue of Lesbian & Gay Archivist.
The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives began publishing its own newsletter—it was originally called Gay Archivist—in May 1977. It became Lesbian & Gay Archivist with number 11, February 1995 and has continued to stimulate interest in the CLGA.
The Archivist is as much a source of historical information as it is an introduction to the sources, so if you want to see what has been happening over the years the full text of each issue is available online at www.clga.ca
This issue marks the debut of a new collaborative team. As always, Lesbian and Gay Archivist features articles about the collection, highlights recent acquisitions, and provides organizational news and items of interest to CLGA members, volunteers, supporters and friends. The aim of the Publications Committee is to excite and inform. We welcome your comments and contributions (both literary and monetary!) and encourage you to become an Archives supporter if you aren’t one already.
Sincerely,
The Publications Committee
In the Fall issue of the Lesbian & Gay Archivist
A new home for the Archives? Read all about the Children’s Aid Society’s plan to give the CLGA a heritage house on Isabella Street.
Our new graphic identity. See the results of our cross-Canada logo contest.
Letters To The Editor
The Archivist eagerly welcomes letters to the editor. All submissions become property of the Archives and are subject to editing.
Tasteless and Offensive
I found the sexualised parody of the Pieta tasteless and offensive.
Steve Ketola
We believe these images express, as no words can, the spirit of the Sisters. Among the material we could have used to illustrate this article, these pictures were the liveliest, most interesting, and most representative of that historical phenomenon, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
We also recognise the ‘gay lib’ agenda of the Sisters; much of the work of the Archives can be understood as being part of the same movement. The ebullience, the joy, and the humour of the Sisters remains an inspiration to everyone working for human rights: it is serious work, but it can also be fun, and humour is a great way to reach people.
We had several letters applauding the photos (among them a wonderful letter from a member of PFLAG in St. John’s) and a couple of letters like yours, distressed by them. Most of the correspondents mentioned that they picked up the newsletter because of the laughing nun on the cover, and read it because of the images within. As far as we’re concerned, that was the desired outcome: to excite interest and engage a reaction. Thanks for taking the trouble to write!
Publications Committee
Cosmetic Surgery
To the editor, Lesbian and Gay Archivist:
As a Dead Nun, I was delighted to read your feature article on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Toronto, (“Bless Me Sister,” Lesbian and Gay Archivist, autumn 2002: 8-14). The recollections of Harold Desmarais (Sister Atrociata von Tasteless, OPI) stimulated many memories and prompts me to offer a few correctives and comments. He did say that “some of the sisters were mouthier than others.”
Harold mentioned the “Holy Foundresses”—of whom I was one—but we certainly never called ourselves by this handle. There exists an official Toronto convent history and catechism, “Welcome to the wonderful world of Perpetual Indulgence” (a copy is on deposit in the Archives) of which I should probably claim primary authorship, although much of the document actually records liturgy and regulation that was developed collectively. The convent history simply names the eight sisters who formed the order in spring 1981 without suggesting any precedence or hierarchy. This is consistent with the extreme anti-hierarchy dogma that prevailed inside our Chapter during the most stable period of its existence (roughly, autumn 1981 to spring 1983).
Nevertheless, a closer look at the document’s discussion of convent structure and glossary do hint at the rockier prehistory of the closed world of internal convent politics. The convent at its height had three Offices—essentially, of treasurer, chair, and record-keeper—which rotated on a regular basis (although astoundingly the text does not indicate how often these Offices changed hands, nor is it less surprising that I can not remember after 22 years). The catechism asserts that no “Mother Superior or even a Mother Posterior” reigns in the order.
Yet in the glossary under “Mother Posterior” we learn that the term did have significance, in the earliest days of the Order. Sister Intelligentsia was the first MP, and the glossary notes she created the first habits. Using illustrations of Catholic nuns’ garb from the Toronto Reference Library, Intelligentsia (nickname Telly) devised full-scale sewing patterns, led us to Spadina for yards of black fabric, and knocked up the habits in a trice on a sewing machine in the dining room of a gay communal house on Simpson Avenue. Without her amazing persistence, I do not think there would have been a Toronto chapter of the Order.
The glossary definition of “Mother Posterior” goes on to mention that I was the second holder of this Office, but that I allegedly “ruled the convent with such an iron fist that the position was abolished during a bloody convent coup.” Apart from observing that no organization, not even a bunch of radical anarcho-leftist queens, can function without careful guidance, I do not wish to make any further comment. But I would not be surprised if Sister Rosa Relentless had something to say about the coup and the regime that replaced me.
Two personal memories of a Dead Nun to share. The first is of an apartment at the corner of Queen East and Parliament, which Telly, myself and Sister Opiate of the Masses inhabited during the era of stability mentioned above. Telly, Opi and I became known as “The Triad” within the Order and rather lived the Order of Perpetual Indulgence 24/7. It is strange to think that during the era of maximum language-policing that was the late 1970s and early 1980s, we spent two years shrieking at high registers, referring to each other as “she” and “her,” and generally breaking all the rules of feminist separatism and gay establishmentarianism. I suppose we were “queer” avant-la-lettre.
The second memory involves preparations for our first public manifestation. We were a bit mystified by how those women whom we in the early days (with some awe) called “real nuns” managed to get their bibs and cornices so stiff. Nervously I volunteered to take the Order’s white items for starching to a Portuguese laundry that used to be on Harbord Street. When I went back to collect them, I was asked, “Are these for a convent?” Of course, I said “Yes.” I was given a 50% discount!
I do not wish to try the patience of your gentle readers with a line-by-line commentary on Atrociata’s idiosyncratic recollection of events. I would simply point out that I never wore false eyelashes and indeed wore less make-up than any other Sister in the Order. I always felt that less is more where genderfuck was concerned.
With best wishes for the continued success of CLGA, Sister Appassionata della Bawdy House, OPI (deceased), A.K.A.
Dan Healey, Swansea, Wales, UK
Thank you so much for taking the time to write. This is exactly the sort of dialogue we hope to encourage by publicising the Archives’ holdings.
(The document “Welcome to the wonderful world of Perpetual Indulgence” is on file at the Archives.)
Publications Committee
Thanks, Brent
The work done by all the volunteers over the past 30 years at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives has made an incredible contribution to society on several different fronts. Documenting the history of Canadian lesbian and gay people obviously pays them the respect and tribute they rightfully deserve, in an open and organized manner. In addition, the world will be a better place, a more enriched place, for the historical documentation of persons that society has long kept silent about. Well done!
Blessings, Brent [Rev. Hawkes]
President's Message
Patricia Swerhone, Acting President
Greetings Friends, Donors, Volunteers, and other supporters of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA). As the 2003-04 year quickly draws to a close, I am reminded of the active year we have had as volunteers and as an organization as a whole. Following the resignation of Matt Hughes from his position as Board President, the Board, alongside a committed group of tireless volunteers, continue to work to maintain the health of the Archives and to preserve our history. Our aim is to make this information available to the public person-to-person and by way of our web site, www.clga.ca
During the past year, we have witnessed a few other changes to our Board of Directors. In addition to Matt’s resignation in November 2003, board member Miriam Smith also resigned. Dave Smith departed as Board Secretary and Chair of the National Portrait Committee in December 2003. Mary MacDonald stepped down as Vice President. I would like to thank them all and wish them well in their new endeavours. At the moment, the Board’s membership includes Patricia Swerhone as Acting President, Jonathan Sceeles as Acting Vice-President, Gordon Davies as Acting Secretary, Greg Paton as Treasurer, Mary MacDonald, Harold Averill, and Mark Lehman.
We continue to look at new ways of attracting donors. During the 2003-04 year, we have been the fortunate recipients of proceeds from several events held in our honour: the October 16th Sex&Music Cabaret which celebrated the CLGA’s 30th anniversary year in 2003; a fabulous evening at Hugh’s Room with Carole Pope on November 13th; a fundraiser supporting the National Portrait Committee Induction Ceremony in Ottawa on November 22nd, and the popular Polish Night at Woody’s on January 18th. We are also the grateful donees of Mr. Leatherman Toronto 2004, Remi Collette, with fellow titleholders, Alan Anderson and Toronto Boot Black 2004, and Slave Boy Dave, all of whom will be participating in a number of events throughout the year, with proceeds going to the CLGA.
We look forward in our planning to an Archival move within the Church-Wellesley community, located at 34 Isabella Street and donated as part of a construction agreement between the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto and Urban Strategies, a construction consortium. The Board has attended all public meetings held by both the City of Toronto and Urban Strategies to support this future endeavour. Negotiations are proceeding favourably but the move is still dependant on the consortium’s success with their Isabella Street condominium project.
The chief issue that continues to plague the Archives is the challenge of covering our monthly rent. To ensure our success, we will need more volunteers, more donors, and a more generous charitable spirit enveloping the Archives. Please consider how you might play a role in preserving our history because, without your help, the future of the Archives is in jeopardy.
The CLGA Annual General Meeting 2003-04 will be held on Sunday, May 30, 2004 at The 519 Community Centre, 2:00 p.m. All members, donors, and volunteers are welcome and encouraged to attend. I look forward to seeing you there
The St. Charles Tavern
Jake Peters
Of all the old Fire Halls of Toronto, none was more notorious than Old Fire Hall Number Three, at 484 Yonge Street, which was reinvented as a beer hall. The citadel of the St. Charles Tavern, a landmark since it was built in 1872, became the symbol of Toronto’s gay nightlife one century later. The dysfunctional clock in the neglected tower was an apt simile for Charlie’s, a seedy second-floor bar above The Homestead Restaurant.
The St. Charles Tavern had known better days. Before it was a tavern, citizenry of Toronto used to check their watches by its clock. Through its history it had many incarnations. At one time, the St. Charles was a hotel, but records are lacking as to when that was. It also served as a used tire emporium, but again, the records are incomplete. In 1939, a blaze destroyed the building, but the tower survived. It was in 1940 that the premises found its new calling, changing from fire hall to fire water—it became a liquor lounge, and around 1950 food service was introduced.
In the mid 1960’s and 1970’s, when Toronto’s gay identity was crystallizing, you were likely to see men in business suits, hippies in jeans, butch guys in leather chaps, and drag queens weighed down with mascara, wigs, ear rings, and falsies jutting out under fluffy mohair sweaters, tight skirts and high heels. The drag queens minced and staggered up and down the shredded red carpets on the massive winding staircase. Upstairs in the dark smoky bar, basic décor amounted to regulation stubby amber beer bottles, ear splitting music (for its day), and the ubiquitous mirror ball.
By contrast, a block to the north, the Parkside Tavern catered to a less colourful homosexual clientele, who swilled their twenty-cent draft in the Men’s Beverage Room .
The clock, perpetually stuck at 12, marked the site of annual Halloween gay bashings. Every year, on October thirty-first, as the sun began to set, you could count on seeing a mob swell like a thirsty sponge at The Westbury Hotel block across the street. The hostile crowd would occupy the deep sidewalk like spectators at a Christmas parade, impeding foot traffic and forcing pedestrians to either cross a stretch of Yonge Street that resembled a demilitarized zone or remain with the crowd and enlarge it. This became a ritual.
They would wait until the limousines began to arrive at Charlie’s across the street. Then the catcalls would begin, followed by jeers and howls as the drag queens emerged from their carriages like royalty. Over the years the spectacle gained notoriety and it became the habit of the ever-growing crowd to hurl insults first and then rotten eggs and tomatoes. The intent was to destroy the costumes of the drag queens and their fun. As Hallowe’en nights grew darker, so did the crowds. Homophobia began to commonly erupt into violence.
The former St. Charles Fire Hall Number Three has two sister Fire Hall towers from the same era. Old Fire Hall Number Ten is on Yorkville Avenue just west of Yonge Street. Built in 1874, it too has a clock tower, but no bell. Their purpose, besides being landmarks and providing the hour, was to hang the hoses up to dry.
Old Fire Hall Number Eight, which was built in 1878, stands at Bellevue Avenue on College Street. The highly visible brick tower was supported by a wooden skeleton and housed a wooden staircase. I remember going there when I was in nursery school some fifty years ago. I remember the sleeping quarters of the firemen, beds neatly lined up in a row, their headboards at the wall. I recall being impressed by the idea of all those men sleeping together in one room.
Beside each bed, the firemen’s pants lay atop their boots, suspenders spread out on either side on the floor. The arrangement was such that in the event of an alarm, they could throw off their covers, step into their pants and boots, throw on their suspenders, shirts and coats, and slide down the shiny brass pole to the bright red fire truck waiting in the garage directly below.
In 1972 during renovations, when that building was empty, vandals set fire to the structure and the tower collapsed. The tower was rebuilt, the bell reinstalled, and the wind-up British works were sent to England for repair. Today the Bellevue clock chimes between the hours of 9 am and 10 pm.
The present owner of the former St. Charles Tavern, Mr. Joseph Bogoroch, is redeveloping the building. He is particularly delighted by the tower and its clock, including the 107 cm bell. It now strikes on the hour and the half hour, from 9 am to 5 pm everyday.
Today the building includes a commercial ground floor with residences above. The exterior has been repaired, missing tiles replaced, and the eggplant purple paint is true to the era of its erection.
No longer a fire hall or a tavern, The St. Charles’ Tower remains a monument to gay culture of this city.
Jake Peters is a Canadian freelance photographer and journalist living with AIDS His documentary work has appeared on radio, in print and exhibition.
Acquisitions
Harold Averill
In the months following the advent of the fully operational CLGA website in February 1997, the number of researchers using the Archives fell by a third, signalling a decline that was to continue until the end of 2002. Over that five-year span the number of annual researchers dropped by 60% from 349 to 145. Since then the numbers have risen steadily, aided by a dramatic increase in the first ten weeks of 2004 when ninety people used the reading room. Over the same period of time the number of Internet enquiries (not hits) has risen dramatically. In 2003 there were 3944 enquiries, compared to 886 for the first full year, 1998.
The decline and then a gradual recovery in the number of researchers visiting the Archives, along with a rise in Internet use, has been mirrored in other archives. Our website has enabled researchers to uncover certain information that would previously have occasioned a visit to the Archives. But, over time, researchers have learned that our website is often not a substitute for actually coming to the Archives and making use of original and printed sources. Many have also discovered that there is much more potentially interesting material than they had initially thought. The development of sexual diversity programs in area universities has also meant that students need to have greater access to original sources. In many instances, only the CLGA houses the material they require.
As the dedicated members of our website committee continue to add pages and enhance access points to the website, ever more material is coming in the door for other volunteers to arrange, describe, catalogue and get on the shelves. Since the beginning of 2003, 250 new donations of material have been received. They add depth to both our existing holdings and to our materials from newly documented groups and individuals. Two donations of personal records have been added to the list of men who have died of AIDS, Brian Farlinger, and James Jefferson, the latter featured in a recent article in the Globe & Mail. One of our earliest gay activists, Douglas Sanders, has donated his files from the 1960s and 1970s on the Association for Social Knowledge (Vancouver), COC (Amsterdam), and the Albany Trust (England). We were delighted to receive the personal papers of novelist Shirley Shea, who wrote under the pseudonym “Marion Foster.” Records of the New Brunswick Coalition for Human Rights Reform, Inc. fill a major gap in our holding relating to lesbian and gay activities in that province. A current “hot” issue, same-sex marriage, has also been well documented, including the outpouring of support for Paul Lundrigan, a Roman Catholic priest from St. John’s, Newfoundland, who was silenced for his supportive sermon.
We are also delighted to receive significant new additions to our holdings of Russian periodicals and novels, and for our first periodicals, Our World and Gay.UA, from the Ukraine. These, along with accruals to our extant East European periodical titles, continue to add breadth and depth to our collection of publications from countries east of the Oder. Arsenal Pulp Press has been added to the list of publishers donating copies of books with lesbian and gay themes. A large donation of posters from Saskatchewan was most welcome and has provided a new graphic record of activities in that province.
Our moving image collection has been greatly enhanced by 100 hours of documentary and film footage produced by Anton Wagner and Edimburgo Caberra. Ten new portraits were commissioned for our National Portrait Collection in 2003. Other new works of art include three paintings by John Herbert, better known as a playwright.
All of the material mentioned above was donated. We greatly appreciate the efforts of the many people who have taken the time to collect our history and ensure that it is preserved in the Archives.
In memoriam
We offer our condolences to family and friends of CLGA supporters Greg Pavelich and Michael Pearl.
Queer As Punk
An Inteview with Scott Treleaven and Will Munro
David Hart
What is “punk?” If you consult a dictionary, you might find any number of definitions, ranging from “petty gangster, hoodlum or ruffian,” to “homosexual partner,” to “prostitute.” In musical terms, it’s perhaps best described by counterculture legend Genesis P. Orridge as “Chuck Berry with naughty words.” Filmmaker/writer Scott Treleaven and artist/DJ/nightclub promoter Will Munro are long time devotees of punk, particularly of the queer variety.
“I was a subculture junkie as a kid,” recalls Munro, “but punk rock was my most stable interest.”
“We were both mongrels,” agrees Treleaven.
Treleaven and Munro are recent donors to the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives. Treleaven is donating two of his films (and other related materials), while Munro is donating promotional cards and posters from one of his themed club nights.
The two first met as students at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1996, when Munro appeared in Treleaven’s thesis project, Queercore—A Punk-U-Mentary.
“I wanted to make a film about being a queer-punk at a time when it seemed there were only about two of us,” says Treleaven of his film. “There was no coherent scene in Toronto then, but I had become aware of how film events attract particular audiences. When I was sourcing materials, interview subjects and home movies, queer-punks came out of the woodwork. I wanted my own traveling road show to bring out more of them, to find like people—and I wanted to get laid!”
Queercore features music from acts like Pansy Division on the soundtrack. When asked how he was able to use these recordings, Treleaven laughs, “Suing me wouldn’t be punk rock!”
Treleaven still hasn’t made any money from the film, but he admits it was a nice passport to travel and meet new people. It also led to some unusual experiences, like being an erotic photography model for Shag magazine, a portfolio of people from the Toronto art scene baring all.
“A friend asked me if I wanted to get my cock in a magazine,” explains Treleaven. “My answer? Yes!”
Treleaven followed Queercore with The Salivation Army (2001), an exploration of people’s perceptions of ‘zines. The film focuses on his own queer-punk ‘zine, This is the Salivation Army (1996-1999) and is more ‘straight-up’ and conventionally told than Queercore. It examines the diversity of outsider-cultures and explains how This is the Salivation Army eventually expanded its focus to include magic and the occult. The film has been shown at festivals worldwide to great acclaim. The Village Voice called Treleaven “Dennis Cooper with a heart” and listed The Salivation Army as one of the most notable short films of 2002.
After Queercore, Munro and Treleaven collaborated again when Treleaven shot Munro’s short film Rebels Rule, a study of Munro’s artwork for an anarchist festival.
“Film and video always get preference and are easily distributed,” says Munro. “I wanted to distribute art in the same way.”
The film is a campy play on sexual identity and features young people turning underwear into flags, balaclavas, and even wicks for Molotov cocktails. More recently, Treleaven shot another Munro effort, which featured an underwear model being stripped and re-clothed - 40 stories up at an abandoned malting factory.
As for Munro, he is well known in Toronto not only for his art, but also as organiser of the popular club night Vazaleen, which he devised as a sort of haven for marginalized gay culture.
“There seemed to be so many fractured communities with common goals but no place to come together,” Munro explains. “Most queer nights seemed restricted to cruising bars filled with high-energy recorded music. I was fed up with the lack of intellectual engagement and live performances, and one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2000 was to stop complaining about it and act. I knew performers would come here, but there was no venue for them. There was a serious void, and [people] were so starved! I wanted to make it a fun event, mixing men and women and other subcultures that don’t usually mix. I wanted audience participation, for people to meet and make new friends and feel they could wear anything and do anything and be appreciated for it.”
The first Vazaleen in January 2000 was a modest affair, attracting 150 people to the downstairs level of the El Mocambo nightclub. Since then, the event has grown beyond all expectations, with a regular crowd of about 700 gathering each month at its new home in Lee’s Palace.
“[Munro] had a vision with this thing,” says former El Mocambo manager Dan Burke, “and it’s totally in sync with my vision for a cutting-edge nightclub: different races, ages, fashions, styles, sexual tendencies. The audience should be as theatrical as the performers.”
For Munro, Vazaleen was “fantasy fulfillment,” yet he says he recognises certain limitations inherent in any such event. “The nature of these types of subculture events is to collapse in on themselves as they’re absorbed by the mainstream,” he explains.
“The mainstream is so hungry for anything authentic,” chimes in Treleaven. “Five years ago there wasn’t the same thrust. It’s only now that the [queer-punk] scene is wide enough to support and validate the likes of Vazaleen and Shag.”
Munro and Treleaven aren’t the types to plan too far ahead, but both are branching out in new projects consistent with their queer-punk, anti-establishment stance.
Munro recently launched a second night—Peroxide—at Club 56 in Kensington Market, focusing on New Wave, electronic and industrial music.
“It seemed a logical progression,” says Munro. “New Wave has strong queer origins—the whole androgyny thing—and Peroxide is held in what was a major ‘80s venue, when much of this music originated.” A more intimate event in a smaller venue, Peroxide attendance averages about 100 people.
Treleaven is still part of the ‘zine scene and currently teaming with Genesis P. Orridge for a set of new publications as well as working on a new feature film.
“We want to do something that anyone can afford to pick up,” he says. “To publish things that are only a buck so that no matter who needs it, the information is readily available.”
Just like the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives…
David Hart is a Australian-based freelance writer who is currently half way through a two-year world tour. Photos: far left, Steven Jackson, left, Michael Barker, 2002 (courtesy SHAG magazine).
Vazaleen takes place on the last Friday of each month at Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor Street West, Toronto (416 532 1598). Peroxide takes place at Club 56, 56 Kensington Street, Toronto. For more information, email
For more information on the queer-punk scene, check out queerpunk, an emailing list for all kinds of queer-punk events and information
If this article has piqued your interest, you might also like to check out the following websites:
www.disinfo.com - the search service of choice for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and ‘hidden information’ that seldom interests the corporate-owned media.
www.brokenpencil.com - one of the few magazines in the world devoted exclusively to underground culture, ‘zines and the indie arts.
In An Unsafe Place
Toronto's Public Protests 1972-1981, Photos from the Body Politic Archive
Steven Jackson
Today, when one mentions the gay and lesbian community in Toronto, most locals think of the Church Street village, immediately identifying that location with the community. It is a safe place, somewhere that we can call our own. Most of the time it’s a relatively quiet, serene neighbourhood—but it was not always so. It took the efforts of many dedicated people to create this haven. They had to undertake the challenging and dangerous job of putting their sexuality front and center, in the public gaze. They endured contempt, fear, and disgust. It was these acts of defiance, in some cases acts that we now take for granted, that enabled us to be seen and heard. We have a safe place because of many acts of courage over the years.
This article is composed of pairs of “then and now” photos. The historical pictures are taken from the Archives, mostly from the Body Politic collection. The Archives has almost every scrap of paper, photo, memorandum, financial record, and piece of correspondence that survives from The Body Politic collective, including photos like these of events that were absolutely critical in creating our present mileau. Inset are my photos of the same locations today.
The first Pride Parade in 1972. Photographer unknown. The location is University Avenue just south of Queen’s Park, Ontario’s Provincial Legislature; the signage for St. Patrick subway station (Dundas Street) is just visible in the background.
Building on the success of two years of “Gay Day Picnics” at Hanlan’s Point, Toronto Gay Action, the UHTA (University of Toronto Homophile Association), CHAT (Community Homophile Association of Toronto) and many others put together a Gay Pride Week, with parties, dances, film screenings, and most visibly, a march to Queen’s Park to present a brief to the Provincial Legislature.
Marchers with megaphones blocked University Avenue for about an hour. A police motorcycle escort controlled traffic and protected marchers, although this was not an “officially approved” event (successive mayors denied an official proclamation for years). The mainstream press ignored the events completely, and indeed did not report on Pride Marches for several more years—and then it was in a scandalised and belittling voice.
Gatherings and marches sputtered on through the seventies, and it was not until the outrage of the Bath House Riots that Pride Marches became a predictable annual event.
Protests against Anita Bryant in 1978. Photographer Gerald Hannon. Taken on Yonge Street in Toronto in front of the “Arcade” shopping mall, which is still there.
Anita Bryant was an American actress, a Miss Oklahoma and second-runner-up Miss America best known as “the Orange Juice Queen” for her appearance in commercials selling Florida orange juice (“Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine”). At the peak of her career, Ms Bryant was born again into a Baptist Church and took it upon herself to stamp out gay rights in Dade County, Florida, her home. She campaigned tirelessly and had sexual orientation removed as a forbidden grounds of discrimination in Dade County. She is alleged to have said “If gays are granted rights, next we’ll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nailbiters.”
Ms. Bryant was brought to Toronto in 1978 by the fundamentalist Christian group Renaissance Canada, and on January 15 she spoke at the People’s Church in North York, a suburb of Toronto. There were massive protests outside the church, following the protests held the night before in downtown Toronto, which were attended by an estimated 1000 or more protesters. This was said to be, at that time, the largest gay and lesbian event to have happened in Canada. People who were there recall the celebratory and powerful feeling of the crowd. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were a visible part of the event, and reportedly lead people in singing and chanting on the subway on their journey up to the church (see our last issue for more on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence).
Ms Bryant’s career collapsed soon after—the Florida Citrus Commission found her “too controversial.”
The kiss that preceded the arrest of Bill Holloway and Tom Field in 1976. Photographer John Steer. Taken near the corner of Bloor and Yonge in Toronto, in front of what is now The Bay. Notice the shocked looks of the passers-by. Their trial dragged on, and in 1979 they were finally convicted of Public Indecency and fined $50.00, having generated an important public debate on the nature of “indecency” and the public’s “need to be protected.”
And They Said It Couldn't Be Done: National Portrait Committee Induction Ceremony
Marie Robertson
So what do you get when you tell a pushy working-class dyke that the CLGA portrait induction ceremony can’t be held in Ottawa in 2003? Buzzzzzzz…time’s up. You get a well-organized, well-attended, classy, fun portrait induction ceremony that takes place in Ottawa, that makes money, and is presented in French and English for the first time.
On Saturday, November 22, 2003, Galerie SAW Gallery of Ottawa was the place to be. A standing-room-only crowd had the privilege of hearing about the incredible accomplishments of this year’s ten inductees: Christine Bearchell, Rick Bébout, Bernard Courte, David Kelley, Harold Desmarais, Denis LeBlanc, Peter Millard, Gerry Rogers, Tim Stevenson and Barbara Thornborrow. In a moving and sometimes very emotional ceremony, ten portraits were unveiled and hung on the wall, to joining the existing CLGA portrait collection that had been on display at SAW for most of the previous week.
To the delight of those in attendance, the event was co-hosted by the amazingly talented and beautiful Zak Bailey and the witty and charming Carmen Paquette. They were aided by their trusty helpers, Mary Harvey and Lawrence Bennett, who wowed the audience with unbelievable feats of dexterity and flare as they carried each draped portrait to the stage for unveiling. Vanna would have been proud.
The feeling in the room was proudly ‘old home week’ with veteran gay liberation activist inductees Chris Bearchell, Denis LeBlanc, Barbara Thornborrow, Harold Desmarais in attendance along with Tom Stewart who unveiled the portrait of his deceased lifetime partner, David Kelley. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the thank-you speech given by inductee Gerry Rogers, creator of the award-winning film My Left Breast, which documents her struggle with breast cancer. There was not a dry eye in the house as she thanked her partner, Peg, for all her love and support and then gave an impassioned plea to the crowd for financial support for the Archives. Denis LeBlanc also set aside his thank-you speech at the last minute in order to herald the valuable work done at the Archives and to urge the crowd to give generously to ensure that our history is well-maintained and properly documented.
Of the artists commissioned this year, Gail Kenney, Evergon, Bruce Jones and Konnie Reich were present to receive warm applause for their beautiful work. Dwayne Bryk, Barbara Augustine, Norman Hatton, Lionel Trudel and Claire Priddle were thanked by our delightful co-hosts and will very soon be receiving their commission cheques wrapped in geranium leaves (don’t ask).
The ceremony was followed by a fabulous party where Lawrence Bennett danced naked (oops…I don’t think I was supposed to ‘reveal’ that fact). Those people who were not mesmerized by Lawrence’s attributes had a chance to view the portraits, chat with the inductees and portrait artists, visit with friends and watch a very special videotape of deceased inductees David Kelley and Bernard Courte (thank you Harold and Bill).
Speaking of fabulous parties, this report would not be complete if I didn’t mention the fundraiser that members of the Ottawa queer community organized for the Archives on the Friday evening before the induction ceremony. Ottawa artist Valorie Preston generously donated her studio space for a delightful soireé that not only brought in funds, but also helped raise the profile of the CLGA outside of Toronto.
This pushy working-class dyke would like to sincerely thank the team of truly dedicated, hard-working, talented volunteers who I had the honour and privilege of ‘co-ordinating’…the Toronto team of Lawrence Bennett, Zak Bailey, Harold Averill, Paul-François Sylvestre, Charles Zhang, Nancy Nicol, Dave Smith and Mary Harvey, and the Ottawa team of Carmen Paquette, Kerry Beckett, and Diane Duffy. I’d also like to thank Jason and Stephan St-Laurent (the ‘boys’ from SAW), and the dozens of other volunteers, sponsors and donors who helped make this year’s ceremony the smashing success it was!
Photos, l-r and t-b; Stephan St-Laurent and Jason St-Laurent; Chris Bearchell and Konnie Reich; Kathleen O’Connell, Harold Desmarais and Laurie Chesley; Denis LeBlanc, Marie Robertson; Lawrence Bennett, Marie Robertson and Mary Harvey; Tom Stewart; Harold Averill, Bruce Jones; Lucy Chapman and Kerry Beckett; Barbara Thornborrow; Bruce Jones, Evergon, Gail Kenney and Konnie Reich; Carmen Paquette, Zak Bailey and Marie Robertson; Peg Norman and Gerry Rogers. All photos Marie Robertson.
How are people chosen for the NPC?
Anyone can nominate candidates at any time—for a nomination form, see the National Portrait Collection section of our web site.
Selection for inclusion is based on merit, and the contributions of an inductee may be made at the local, regional or national level. Each year, the NPC Committee selects inductees from the growing list of nominees. Artists are commissioned to create portraits of those people selected, and profiles developed to document their contributions to the community. If possible, the Committee contacts them to be certain they would welcome induction. The actual induction and unveiling of the portraits takes place at a reception hosted by the Committee. This year it was in Ottawa, and very successful.
Ken Popert & The Body Politic 30 Years On
Scott Anderson
Walking down Church Street in Toronto on any night of the week, it’s easy to forget that there was a time when gay men and lesbians didn’t have a single establishment to call their own, much less a whole street.
Thirty years ago, gay men and lesbians were only grudgingly accepted at the few places they could comfortably hang out, recalls Ken Popert, president and executive director of Pink Triangle Press (publisher of the three Xtra! papers). The “scene,” if one could call it that, consisted of the St. Charles Tavern on Yonge St., the Parkside, and The Manatee (the only gay-owned establishment), on Charles St. “Church Street didn’t exist as a gay environment,” Popert says.
One thing the community did have, though, was an active gay press. And Popert was there almost from the start. He joined the collective of writers and activists putting out The Body Politic in 1973, about 18 months after the paper’s first issue.
A product of the broader social upheaval of the late 1960s, the paper reflected the sense of both alienation and empowerment many gay people were feeling at that time. “Gays,” says Popert, “had no acknowledged part in society, except as a source of criminality .” So the establishment of a gay press “was an invigorating novelty” and “played an important role in mobilizing its readers in the numbers necessary to make demands.”
The Body Politic attracted a lot of controversy. Popert remembers a outcry over a classified ad the collective wanted to place in the Toronto Star. The ad read, simply: “ The Body Politic: Gay Liberation Journal. $2 for six issues,” and gave an address. The Star told members of The Body Politic group that the ad was not acceptable for a “family newspaper,” because of its “proselytizing nature regarding sex,” even though the paper at the same time was running ads for strip shows and erotic films.
It’s a sign of how much has changed that Pink Triangle Press now is, according to Popert, the largest customer of the Star-owned Metroland printing. With a circulation of about 80,000, Canada’s three Xtra! papers reach far beyond the few thousand dedicated readers of The Body Politic who paid 25¢ each for copies at the few downtown bars that would carry the paper. “If you wanted to know what our distribution was, all you had to do was follow the Molson truck,” jokes Popert.
As for the writing, Popert admits The Body Politic has a “manifesto” quality to it. Popert recalls offering a new issue to one reader, who responded, “No thanks, I’ve already got it memorized.”
That politically charged writing has mostly disappeared from the pages of The Body Politic’s successor, but Popert says that’s more a sign of the times than a conscious decision. “ Xtra! tries to have as much of an activist edge as it can in a non-activist environment,” he says.
But he rejects a suggestion that the battle for gay rights is mostly over. “People who believe that don’t get much farther than the Toronto airport.”
To demonstrate his point, Popert hands me a special edition of Xtra! West, published in December 2002, the purpose of which was to report on a Calgary bathhouse raid—more than 20 years after the huge dragnet in Toronto in which more than 250 men were arrested.
Eight thousand copies of the four-page special issue were distributed within hours of the raid, along with announcements on “Cruiseline Calgary“ and on one of the company’s web sites, www.squirt.com It’s a long way from The Body Politic, which used to be written on electric typewriters, with headlines in Letraset. “Do you even know what Letraset is?” he asks.
Indeed, when I ask him to name the biggest change affecting the gay press over the past 30 years, Popert’s slightly surprising response is the technology. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this 30 years ago, even locally,” he says of the Calgary bathhouse issue.
The business is also different. Now gay publishing is a business. In the early days, “no one had the faintest idea” about money, says Popert. No one drew salaries; the only costs were the printing bills and the rent for the office, paid with subscription revenues. Now Cruiseline, an online sex service owned by Pink Triangle Press, pays the Xtra! bills, says Popert. The company had revenues of about $6 million last year.
I ask Popert whether he feels nostalgic at all for that less money-driven, more politically charged time. “There’s no reason to,” he says, “Gay men and lesbians have much more control over what happens to them than they did when The Body Politic began. “We take for granted that we have a say in what goes on,” he says. “And that just wasn’t true 30 years ago.”
Scott Anderson is Editor-in-Chief at Quill & Quire magazine. Photo Steven Jackson.
A Time for Volunteers
MaryMacDonald and Jennifer Coffey
Mary MacDonald facilitated a discussion at The 519 Community Centre on Sunday, March 28, on behalf of The CGLA. The focus of the meeting was threefold: to express thanks and to speak to the importance of Archives volunteers and to inquire about any current problems or concerns; to provide an opportunity for members of the Board of Directors to update the other volunteers about significant developments and board challenges since the departure of Matt Hughes as President in November 2003, and to open a discussion about the direction the Archives must take to ensure its stability during a period of organizational growth.
During the course of the meeting a number of key growth areas were identified: operations, fundraising and the planned move to 34 Isabella Street. Members of the Operations Committee indicated that use of the reading room for research has substantially increased over the past year and noted that this is likely to carry on as programs such as Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto continue to send students to the CLGA for source material. At this rate, the number of volunteers available to support researchers, and the hours of operation, will eventually be exceeded by requests for help, time and materials. In addition, even with two off site storage facilities, acquisitions will soon exceed space.
Acting President Patricia Swerhone spoke of the current Board’s membership challenges and it was noted that there will be three Board positions open for election at the Annual General Meeting—one of which will be the position of volunteer coordinator. She also indicated the need to find a President, and it was agreed that advertising for new board members might yield fresh candidates. Treasurer Greg Paton outlined the current financial state of the organization and he thanked everyone for the fiscal restraint that has allowed the organization to survive some very lean months. Vice President Jonathan Sceeles stressed the need for finding new funding opportunities—particularly to support hiring a paid staff member—and he proposed a reinvigoration of the current fundraising committee.
Gordon Davies reported that although The Children’s Aid Society has made a generous offer of their Isabella Street building as future Archival headquarters, additional time and further investigation are required before the transfer can be confirmed. The best hope is that relocation will take place before 2006, although this cannot be accomplished until the CAS has received news that their new plans are fixed. Once the relocation plans are set, however, much more funding will be required to support the Archives at their new location.
Overall, everyone at the meeting agreed that communication has to be improved and maintained. The CLGA, of course, is made up entirely of volunteers, but clearly, each person plays a unique role. How these roles are defined is not only determined by the individual but by the group as a whole. The twenty members who gathered at the session each offered up information and commentary about how the Archives could be supported and improved. Clearly, from an operations standpoint alone, expansion isn’t only inevitable, it is already happening. Following the Annual General Meeting on May 30th, where a new board of directors will be elected, a meeting will be organized whereby volunteers will participate in the planning process for fund raising, operations and building expansion, and the development of committees whose purpose will be to support the growing structure within CLGA and the growth of the organization as a whole.
Looking for a few good men or women
The CLGA Board of Directors needs to fill three positions at this year’s Annual General Meeting on May 30, 2004.
For the first time one of these spaces will be dedicated to the role of Volunteer Coordinator, recognizing a need for more consistent dialogue between the Board and the rest of the organization’s volunteers. Having the Volunteer Coordinator sit on the Board will ensure that volunteer issues, needs, and concerns will be addressed at monthly meetings, and this will allow for more effective communication within the Archives. The CLGA Board hopes to find someone who is willing to take on the twin responsibilities of coordinating volunteer activities and giving voice to his or her constituents.
The board is also actively seeking a new President, to be elected by the directors after the AGM. This key executive position requires an individual who has the time, energy and commitment to steer the organization through a period of growth and transition. If you are interested in joining the Board of Directors in this capacity or any other and would like more information, please contact Acting President Patty Swerhone at
Current volunteers are particularly encouraged to join.
Books In the Archives’ Collection
AIDS Activist Michael Lynch and the Politics of Community, by Ann Silversides (2003, Between The Lines Press, $24.95)
David Moore
Sixty-five little black books form the core of this new work by Ann Silversides, due in stores this May. The books are the diaries of the late Michael Lynch, University of Toronto professor, poet and gay activist who bore witness to the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the early ‘80s. Lynch, who died of the disease himself in 1991, “was a prolific diary keeper,” says Silversides, “and was very conscious of being present at an important moment in time.”
Lynch was just one of thousands who contributed to the battle against AIDS in Canada, and Silversides uses his compelling writings as a lens through which to view the epidemic’s earliest days. “The diaries are personal, forthright,” she says. “Parts of them are heartbreaking. People were dying and the activism hadn’t sprung out of it yet, only the despair.”
Penned in cramped, hard-to-read script, Lynch’s diaries struck Silversides as an incredible resource. They track the rising toll and his own changing attitudes towards death and life. “He was very faithful in keeping them up, and he saved every letter he ever got. He even describes his dreams in the diaries. Often he’d turn the light on in the middle of the night to work on them.”
At the time of Lynch’s writing, there was a deafening silence from Canada’s federal and provincial health ministries and an unwillingness to commit funds to fighting this “gay disease.” Experimental drugs available in the United States weren’t permitted here; discrimination increased; gays were openly accused of harming the country’s blood supply. The community had little choice but to fight back. New organizations were formed, including the AIDS Committee of Toronto and AIDS Action Now! Lynch was a driving force behind both. He pushed for a Toronto AIDS memorial, founded the Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies, and edited a newsletter for the Gay Caucus of the Modern Languages Association. He appeared regularly in the media, was a founder of Gay Fathers, and wrote poetry that became increasingly angry. In an obituary written by a friend, Lynch was described as a “(worker in) words... But what he taught best was how to turn words into action.”
Silversides didn’t know Lynch personally, although she thinks she may have interviewed him once for an article in The Globe and Mail. After reading his diaries and talking to his friends, acquaintances, and son Stefan, Silversides characterizes him as “a very loyal friend - quite paternal, [but] not paternalistic. [He was] aware that he had a secure, tenured job and privilege, and of the obligations that went along with that. He was a mover and had quite a bit of stamina. According to one of his students, he was a tough professor. He wasn’t thrilled with the bureaucracy that was building up around AIDS, which he thought could be seen to be self-serving.” Silversides believes “it would be so interesting if Michael were still alive—he was so clearly off-centre. He’d still be kicking against the pricks.”
Silversides posits two major personal events in Michael’s life, the birth of his son in 1972—“His love for Stefan runs all through the diaries” she says—and the death in 1987 of Bill Lewis, his partner and fellow activist. For a long time after Lewis’s passing, entries in the diary are addressed personally to Bill (“Dear Billy”).
Ann Silversides is a freelance journalist who has written for The Globe and Mail and Xtra! on health and social policy. She researched and scripted a three-hour radio documentary “Sex, Death and Grief: The Impact of Losses Among Gay Men” for the CBC Radio programme Ideas (copies are available from the CBC), she reported on the first AIDS Action Now! demonstrations for the Globe, and has written often about AIDS in the gay press. Touched personally by the epidemic—her cousin Brian died of HIV in 1996—Silversides sees her new book as “a homage and a way of dealing with my grief. I am not an activist, but I believe there’s a risk of this history disappearing.”
The cover of Silversides’ book depicts an autographed yellow oven mitt pointing skywards, the mitt mocking the protective rubber gloves worn by police when they were arresting AIDS demonstrators. The oven mitt on the book cover was worn by Lynch at a 1987 demonstration in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC, and became a symbol of resistance. This particular one is signed and dedicated to Bill Lewis. It’s also the subject of Lynch’s poem The Yellow Kitchen Gloves.
Michael Lynch’s diaries and papers have a permanent home at the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives in Toronto.
Alfred C. Kinsey-A Public/ Private Life, by James H. Jones (1997, W.W. Norton, $49.95USD)
The Art of Desire—Erotic Treasures From the Kinsey Institute, by The Kinsey Institute, et al (1997, The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, $24.95USD)
Dave Smith
Though he may have been forgotten in recent years, his legacy overshadowed by the sexual revolution to which he helped give birth, Alfred C. Kinsey and his work are being rediscovered. I confess I have never read Kinsey’s monumental Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948), or its companion volume Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), but I have just finished two books about Kinsey: James H. Jones’ biography, Alfred C. Kinsey-A Public/ Private Life (1997) and The Art of Desire-Erotic Treasures from the Kinsey Institute (1997), a monograph of an exhibition held by the School of Fine Arts Gallery at Indiana University, the home of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.
The Jones biography is a thorough work by a serious historian, but is primarily interested in Kinsey from a medical perspective, not a cultural one. If this sounds dry, the book is actually quite readable, if a little long and a little too heavy on detail. Of particular interest is the description of Kinsey’s relationship with the Mattachine Society. This group of gay men was founded in 1950. Their mandate was to raise awareness of their minority status and their legitimate claim to civil rights among homosexuals. Kinsey agreed to act as an informal advisor to the fledgling group. At a time when homosexuals and communists were being persecuted by various Cold Warriors, this was a brave decision. Over time, Kinsey’s support and advice helped remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental illnesses.
Throughout the book, Jones maintains that Kinsey’s alleged homosexuality must have played a significant role in his life’s work. The speculation is interesting, but it doesn’t feel particularly useful. Does one have to be gay to be interested in sexuality? Who isn’t interested in sex? If these notional interludes serve any function at all, it’s as salacious entertainment to temper the book’s scholarly tone, and, as such, they are greatly appreciated.
Throughout his career, Kinsey collected a large number of erotic artifacts and photographs, most of which are now housed at the Kinsey Institute. The collection continues to expand even after his death, and parts of it were on display in The Art of Desire, an exhibition (October 24 to December 5, 1997) curated by the authors of this book (Sarah Burns, Betsy Stirratt, Jeffrey, A. Wolin and Jennifer Pearson Yamashiro) and University of Indiana art historians.
In The Art of Desire-Erotic Treasures From the Kinsey Institute, each erotic artifact or image is reproduced on a full page with the facing page bearing a description of the object’s historical context. This book provides some exceptional images and a short history of erotic art. Two images, both by anonymous photographers, were particularly striking to me. “Two Women Engaged in Oral Sex (1895)” is a photographer’s attempt to capitalize on the lesbian pornography that was popular at the time. The photograph is focused and well-defined, with none of the pictorial fuzziness common to more mainstream photographs of the era. “Reclining Male Nude With Mirror (c. 1950)” is a strikingly erotic photograph that the curators compare to a painting by Diego Velasquez.
It’s difficult to estimate the full impact of Kinsey’s research on the growth of the gay movement, but his influence was, and still is, undeniable. Kinsey separated sexuality from morality, and in so doing fostered an idea of homosexuality as normal. In addition, he promoted the notion that homosexuals existed in far greater numbers than was believed at the time (as many as 10%—that now standard 10%—amongst males). Although his findings weren’t popular with many influential Americans, Kinsey refused to hide or downplay them. To me, this makes Kinsey worthy of study and, indeed, worthy of our respect.
31 Years Ago: Liberation Across The Nation
February, Regina
The University of Saskatoon Homophile Association (USHA) was officially formed at the university’s Regina campus. During 1972, Ann Tarjanne, a graduate student in psychology, tried to promote gay awareness on campus and attempted to establish Gay Alliance Toward Equality (GATE) (Regina). When USHA was formed, the organizers Gary McDonald and Bev Siller had great difficulty in attracting other members to the group.
March 5, Halifax
GAE presented a five-page brief to the Nova Scotia Legislature recommending that a clause concerning sexual orientation be included in the provincial Human Rights Act. The brief had been drawn up by the Legal Reform Committee of GAE, under the direction of Nils Clausson. During the same week, representatives of GAE were in contact with Dr. William Gillis (Minister in charge of the Human Rights Act), Dr. McCurdy (Director of the Human Rights Commission), and with The Provincial Health and Welfare Committee.
May 10, Montreal
Michel Tremblay’s Hosanna, a play about a transvestite and his biker boyfriend, premiered at the Theatre de Quat’Sous. Hosanna’s ambition is to dress up as Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, but his illusions are shattered after he attends a party where everyone is dressed as Cleopatra. Hosanna was published by Éditions Lemeac in 1973. An English translation was published in Vancouver by Talon Books in 1974.
June 29, Vancouver
Police raid the Hampton Court Club, a gay discotheque at 1066 Seymour Street, for selling liquour without a license. They smashed down the front door and photographed patrons, but made no arrests. Similar heterosexual establishments were not harassed in this way. This was part of a campaign of police harassment of gays in Vancouver that continued throughout the summer of 1973.
June 19, Winnipeg
During an all-candidates meeting in Point Douglas constituency, leading up to the June 28 Manitoba provincial election, Independent candidate Joe Borowski stated that homos and perverts were taking over the NDP. When asked about rights for homosexuals, Borowski replied, “I don’t regard homos as human beings.” The other candidates also made negative remarks about homosexuality, and derided the women’s liberation movement.
July, Montreal
The first issue of Long Time Coming was published by Montreal Gay Women. Edited by Jackie Manthorne, this was the first lesbian journal published in Canada. Long Time Coming contained news, poetry, opinion pieces, book reviews, advertisements, and listings. It ceased publication in April-May 1976, after twenty issues.
July, Toronto
In response to requests from gays in Toronto, Troy Perry of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches granted Toronto the first official MCC mission in Canada. Rev. Robert Wolfe was sent by MCC from Sacramento, CA., to be MCC Toronto’s first minister. Wolfe conducted his first service in Toronto on July 22, 1973, in offices at 501 Yonge Street. Ten people attended. Within two weeks, the group began holding services at Holy Trinity Church, 20 Trinity Square.
July 11, Ottawa
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau confirmed in the House of Commons that suspected homosexuality was one of the factors considered by the government before clearing any federal employee to handle classified documents. Trudeau made the disclosure in response to a series of questions on security asked earlier by Erik Nielsen (PC- Yukon). Gay groups across Canada opposed the policy and sent letters of protest to local members of Parliament, Solicitor General Warren Allmand, and Prime Minister Trudeau.
October 10, Toronto
By a vote of 15-1, the Toronto City Council passed a resolution banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in city employment. The vote came after a six-month lobbying effort by GATE (Toronto). This was the first time in Canada that any legislative body recognized gay people as a legitimate minority with a right to equal opportunity in employment. It was called “our first win” by The Body Politic.
December, Edmonton
The Unitarian Church established an Office of Gay Affairs, which sponsored open discussions on a variety of topics concerning lesbians and gays. By March 1974, the Church was sponsoring A Gay Evening Out each Sunday.
Excerpted with permission from Lesbian and Gay Liberation in Canada: A Selected Annotated Chronology, 1964-1975, by Don McLeod (Toronto: ECW Press/Homewood Books, 1996)
Annual General Meeting
The 2004 AGM of the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives will be held Sunday May 30, 2004, 2:00 PM at The 519 Community Centre, 519 Church Street, Toronto. For more information please call the Archives at (416) 777-2755.
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