Looking Back At Queer Halifax
First done during Pride 2016, QueerActs hosted some of our community's activists, storytellers, and leading voices for a discussion of where and how queer history played out in Halifax.
The public was invited to drop in for as little or as long as they liked to share a glass of pink lemonade and join the conversation.
The event was held at the BusStopTheatre on July 17, 2017 as part of Halifax Pride's Gottingen Gathering. The speakers were JennNearing?, MikeDaviesCole, HugoDann, RosiePorter, DanielMacKay, RobinMetcalfe, TumaYoung and LynnMurphy, and it was moderated by KevinKindred.
The audio recording is here. (mp3, 110 minutes)
In 2021, PoppyRiddle created an index of the audio:
- Bus Stop Theatre - Queer Acts Festival - hosting 'Looking Back at Queer Halifax" 0:00
- KevinKindred Intro.
- Sound quality change - nothing wrong with your headphones or speakers 0:30
- Gottingen Street Gathering - Pride Halifax - purpose is to have something to do with queer history - 'queer conversation about history' 00:01
- Jenn Nearing intro - moved back to Halifax in '94 - 'GayLine' - forming a trans support community - 'we're still trying to find our place in this community' - 'I'm glad it was here' 00:04
- Michael Davies Cole intro - moved back to Halifax - trans community - 'back when no body even knew what trans meant' - history of people of colour coming out in Nova Scotia - on Pride board, NSRAP 06:49
- HugoDann intro - moved back to Halifax in 2004 - Pride various role - Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, Gay Mens Health Nova Scotia, Queer Acts Festival, Rainbow Refuges Association of Nova Scotia, Towel Boy at SeaDogsSauna 09:07.000
- RosemaryPorter intro - HS at QE - Rumours - 'membership card' - 'I really loved Rumours' - activism at uni - Montreal, Peggy's Queer Film Festival, AIDSNovaScotia - Persons with AIDS Coalition, Pride board 10:20
- DanielMacKay intro - 1983 - Rumours - publisher - WayvesMagazine - Gaezette - current project - current historical encyclopedia of queer Halifax - Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia 12:59
- RobinMetcalfe intro - 1974 came out - Unitarian Universalist Church on Inglis Street - historian and writer - Gay Alliance for Equality - 'Halifax's Official Homosexual' (unofficial) - cultural activist - political activist - publisher - 'Making Waves' - Art gallery at Saint Mary's University 15:52.000
- TumaYoung intro - came out '78-79 - Cape Breton - Halifax in 1980 - moved here in , 1984 - 'the cost of the struggle' 21:00.000
- LynnMurphy intro - Gay Alliance for Equality - Pride Week - Atlantic History & Archives Network - Gala - ElderBerries 24:20
- (Kevin) - first jumping off point - Gottingen Street - 'What's the starting point of Gottingen Street being a centre of the queer community in Halifax…' 00:27:26
- (Robin) Rumours opening - KJ's - The Turret in 1976 - The Cove 00:29:00
- (Dan) Place histories on Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia - 1982 - OscarWilde visit to Halifax 30:44
- (Kevin) 'When did the Apollo open…'? 32:33.000
- Back to Rumours (Jenn) - 'got a lesson in how small Halifax was…' - Lovely story about the kindness and 'confidence' encountered at Rumours 32:50.000
- (Dan) Timeline of the ApolloBath - Christmas Eve Dinner 35:46
- (Kevin) Places serving multiple functions in the queer community 37:13.000
- (Michael) Gottingen Street - smallness of Halifax and marginalized communities on top of each other - WalterBorden - lost history - marginalized community excluded from - 'inclusion in Gottingen Street'
- (Robin?) - Piccadilly Tavern - the Heidelberg - men's clothing store called Matalo? 'very queer' - the DresdenArms - area known as 'the triangle' 41:58
- (Kevin) offering floor to Jenn and Tuma to comment on Gottingen Street - asking about Rumours - its demise 44:12
- (Tuma) - 'lavender district' - 'from Black Street to Bloomfield street' - uptown district in 40's and 50's - resistance to social service organizations - indigenous community and black community - multiple identities to a community - the Club Flamingo - 'it was the [MicMac?] Friendship Center' - Rumours 44:44
- (Kevin) segueing into Rumours - 49:30.000
- (Robin) - The Turret - Gay Alliance for Equality dances - David's Club? - 'an awful lot of business from Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Judy Garland' - GAE move to Granville Street - Rumours - move to Gottingen 50
- (Lynn) community owned - first mixed organization - trip to Boston and the lesbian bar 51:29
- (Tuma) - 'it really was a wonderful space' - as Mi'kmaw serruptitious about been seen going in - dress code - wearing tanktops 54:08
- (Michael) - mistaking the Palace for Rumours - 'the cops, very nicely, pointed me in the direction' 58:48
- (Rosie) - started going at 15 - more organizations meeting at Gottingen Street location - TightRope - 'really great space for political activism' - 'it was really important that it was owned by the community, and you really felt that' 1:00:28.000
- (Robin) - Allan Bérubé - importance of the military - Blue Bird Café 1:03:41.000
- (Lynn) - "It started off, I think, because it was a hot summer…' - shirtlessness and Rumours - the letters - the alternative board - "…we might as well have been on the right side and said, 'everybody should be able to take their shirts off'…" 1:05:47.000
- (Tuma) - "where is it we want to go and how do we get there…" - Maitand street - Stepping Stones as a safe spot - the Friendship Center - the Youth Hostel on Brunswick Street - Dan and MichaelWeir 1:10:50
- (Jenn) AtlanticTransgender - community conflicts - the challenges of making a queer community 1:16:34
- (Kevin - passing to Robin) - background on the shirtlessness conflict regarding cultural influences - the Act Up stickers - fear of loosing the space and license - "…we lost a lot when we lost that coalition." 1:19:09
- (Kevin - passes to Deborah in the audience) - 'I found it hard, as a woman of colour to fit in the community' - "we're growing… we're starting to feel more comfortable." - personal reflections of connecting with community and witnessing how its getting better due to everyone's effort. 1:26:27
- (Kevin passes to an unidentified audience member) - speaking to the need of increasing awareness of what inclusivity means for the community 1:33:01
- (Kevin passes to another unidentified audience member) - having an introspective moment 1:34:46.000
- (Kevin) - speaking to forms of inclusivity and marginalization 1:35:32
- (Dan) - speaking of: Rebecca's historical piece for the Coast - RebeccaRose describing her research 1:39:00.000
- (Tuma) - finding community due to connections at Rumours - sex positivity in AIDS education - First Nations representation in Truro Pride parade - 'celebrating the joy of sex' 1:41:25
- (Kevin) - closing remarks 1:49:36
This page is in the OralHistoryCategory
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