Drag kings have shaped queer history for decades, and the Drag Kings Oral History Project (DKOHP) is bringing their stories to light! Through interviews, ephemera, and community collaboration, we’re documenting performers, scenes, and legacies across Canada and the US.
Passionate about queer and trans history? The Collaboratory has two new UofT work study positions — a Social Media Manager and an Oral History Research Assistant — ready for students who want to turn their skills into action.
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.
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.
Nancy Irwin is the dyke you read about in queer history classes and the woman you always wished had a hand in raising you. World traveller, biker, writer, raconteur extraordinaire; Nancy sits down with The Gays Did What Now? for a tender reminiscence of dyke life in 1980s Toronto and her first girlfriend, the “very experienced lesbian,” Shirley. Listen to the audio or read the transcript for a riveting story of Nancy before she was the international dyke icon she is today.
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.