Are you interested in telling your story about coming out/coming in/living out as 2SLGBTQIA+ during the AIDS crisis? Did you live in Canada at some point between 1981-1997?
If so, we would love to hear from you!
All transcribed oral histories will be donated to The ArQuives: Canada’s National LGBT2SQ+ archive in Toronto, and if relevant, the Two Spirit archives at the University of Winnipeg archives.
This project takes up the call made by Canadian writer R.M Vaughan to document and advance public understanding of the unique historical experience of living through the “gay plague” while coming out. As Vaughan explained about coming out gay in Canada in the 1980s:
“We were just young men waiting to die, just dirty fags, unless we were ‘good gays’ and only had protected sex with a single partner to whom we were life-committed. Or unless we had no sex at all, and certainly no public gay life or culture” (Xtra, July 22, 2019).
While the crisis, and the initial inaction of the government, have been well chronicled and analyzed, personal accounts of the experience remain undocumented as a collective experience in Canadian queer archives, with some exceptions. We hope to include those experiences that have often been left out of histories of the AIDS crisis and are recruiting participants from a range of backgrounds, prioritizing the voices of queer people of colour, women, trans, Two Spirit, and rural queers.
Each participant will receive a $50.00 VISA Gift Card for sharing their story via participation in a 1-hour interview
To share your story or for more information, please email us
Comingoutduringaids@gmail.com
https://www.comingoutduringaids.ca/
This research was approved by the Research Ethics Board at Dalhousie University and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Researchers: Liz Fitting Professor, Sociology & Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University; Margaret Robinson, Canada Research Chair in Reconciliation, Gender, & Identity; Schem Rogerson, Independent scholar and artist; Nick J. Mulé Professor and Coordinator, Sexuality Studies Program, York University; Joseph Lahey (he/him), MA student, Dalhousie University; and Dani Sherwood (they/she), MSW student, Dalhousie University
We are queer, non-binary, and Two Spirit researchers gathering oral histories across Canada—via 1-hour one-on-one interviews—for donation to queer archives and as part of a research project on 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences.
Thank you ArQuives: Canada’s largest LGBTQ2S+ archive for your support of images
