It’s Gay Christmas, y’all! For decades, Toronto’s Gay Village has transformed into a massive, costumed block party for Halloween. But why? Learn about the legendary Halloween Drag Balls in the city, the clock tower that we’ve all forgotten, and the deeply Trans history of the one night a year you can dress as your true self, and no one can ding you for it.
An upcoming multi-media exhibition at the The ArQuives — Canada’s LGBTQ2+ archives — brings a new lens into the queer history of 20th century Canadian nightlife. Titled “ONSTAGE/OFFSTAGE,” the exhibition explores “the ways stage performance in nightclubs, cabarets, and drag venues offered opportunities for self-actualization for gender fluid, trans, and gender non-binary individuals in the second half of the 20th Century.” The curator, Jordan King, is a multi-disciplinary artist, performer, and writer who is currently […]
Daniel Laurin, a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, recently launched an exhibition that offers a glimpse into a rich visual archive of mid-twentieth-century erotic photography. Titled Beefcake, the exhibition features 45 black and white photographs, 17 periodicals, and three photo albums that have one thing in common: the celebration of the male body. Most of these materials date from the mid-twentieth century, they were produced in the United States, and they circulated widely […]
If you find yourself in Toronto’s East end this Pride season, drop by Gallery 1265 at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) to experience The Pussy Palace: An Instagram Story. Commissioned by UTSC’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Positive Space Committee, this interactive, self-led exhibit blends digital art, narrative text, and interview soundbites from the Collaboratory’s Pussy Palace Oral History Project, immersing patrons in an “average night” at the Palace. The Pussy Palace […]
In 2021, the Collaboratory conducted the Pussy Palace Oral History Project (PPOHP), preserving 36 interviews with patrons, organizers, and allies of the Pussy Palace — an exclusive sex party and bathhouse event for queer women and trans people in Toronto. Interviews address not only the infamous, September 2000 police raid, but also radical sex/gender cultures in turn of the 21st century Toronto. A desire to connect broader publics with this rich archive of oral testimony […]
How have queer and trans activists challenged the repressive status quo in the past? Which forms have queer and trans activism taken over the decades? What role do emotions and affects play in activism – and how can affect theory be utilized in the study of queer and trans histories and temporalities? These are among the questions that will be addressed in the workshop on affective histories of queer and trans activism, which is the […]