Collaboratory News | LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory

All posts filed under: Collaboratory News

Remembering the Sugar Shack: A Sneak Peek Q&A

May 30, 2025

Remembering the Sugar Shack offers a powerful look back at a radical, QTBIPOC-led bathhouse night that redefined Toronto’s queer pleasure politics in the early 2000s. Through intimate reflections from organizers and attendees, this Q&A unpacks how the Sugar Shack challenged white dominance in queer spaces and centered joy, consent, and erotic freedom. A teaser for the June 10 event, this post invites readers to remember—and imagine—what liberatory sex-positive space can look like today.

“histories ‘from below’”: A Conversation with Dr. Lucas Wilson

October 24, 2024

by Alisha Stranges

Academia / Collaboratory News / Gay History / Lesbian History / Oral History / Queer History / Religion / Trans History

In this conversation with Dr. Lucas Wilson, a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga, we dive into his bold shift from Holocaust studies to queer history. Luke shares how his personal journey—from surviving conversion therapy at an evangelical university to embracing his queer identity—now fuels his groundbreaking research into white Christian nationalism and its impact on LGBTQ+ communities, offering a powerful voice against oppressive systems.

“Bisexual History is Queer History”: A Conversation with Gabryelle Iaconetti

August 28, 2024

by Alisha Stranges

Academia / Activist Histories / Bisexual History / Collaboratory News / Queer History

Meet Gabryelle Iaconetti, a passionate historian dedicated to preserving the rich and often overlooked narratives of bisexual activism in Canada. From their journey into queer history during the pandemic to her doctoral research on bisexual support groups in smaller Ontario cities, Gabryelle's work reveals the powerful connection between bisexual history and queer history. Explore the unexpected joys of oral history and discover how tangible pieces of Toronto’s past have deepened her research.

Gender/Fucking: A conversation with Dr. Florence Ashley

August 14, 2024

by Chris Aino Pihlak

Academia / Collaboratory News / Queer Affect / Queer History / Trans History

Gender/Fucking: The Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body is as bold and unclassifiable as its author. Blending poetry, erotica, personal reflections, and critical essays on transness, queer community, and the challenges of surviving under capitalism, this book is a must-read for anyone who lives in a body. Join Collaboratory friend Chris Aino Pihlak (she/her) as she sits down with the book’s author, Florence Ashley (they/them/that bitch), for a candid and far-reaching discussion on the book’s themes, and the experience of being a trans femme academic in 2024.

Queer & Disabled Activisms in Tkaronto Project: An interview with Creative Scholar Megan Ingram

April 5, 2024

by Alisha Stranges

Academia / Activist Histories / Archiving Oral History / Collaboratory News / Community-based Oral History / Disability / Oral History / Public Humanities / Queer History / Trans History

Welcoming Megan Ingram, our inaugural “Creative Scholar in Virtual Residence.” Part scholarship and part cultural production, Megan is developing a new documentary project, using oral history interviews conducted with community activists working at the intersections of disability, queerness, healthcare access, housing, and poverty.

Public Event! Trans Histories in Canada and Germany: A Roundtable Discussion

September 13, 2023

by Alisha Stranges

Academia / Collaboratory News / Trans History

Did you know that October is Canada's official LGBTQ2S+ History Month? To mark the occasion, we invite you to join us on Monday, October 2, 2023 for a moderated roundtable discussion about current trends, challenges, and interventions in the research and study of trans histories in both Canada and Germany, featuring visiting historical scholars from Freie Universität Berlin and graduate students in history at the University of Toronto.