Community leader, advocate and story teller living life one day at a time
Stories and media about Queer History in Edmonton
By Jaclyn Kucey Global News
Posted October 5, 2024 7:11 pm
“Our queer history doesn’t just date back to the 60s when we started becoming more visible; it actually dates back centuries but our opportunities to start telling those stories have only begun recently,” said Ron Byers a queer historian. “Back in the 60s when I came out, it was illegal to be a gay man. I could have been thrown in jail and most of the young folks today don’t understand that,” said Byers.
Edmonton created the community archivist position in part because queer historian Ron Byers lobbied the city to do so. He wanted records donated by Michael Phair, Alberta’s first out, gay politician, to enter the city’s official vault.
Yong said those records include thousands of photos and measure 13 kilometres in width. Around 70% of the photos have been at least partially identified, thanks to “identification parties” Byers helped to organize. These entailed a gathering of 2SLGBTQ+ community members who were around at the time the photos were taken, who combed through photos to name places and the people depicted.
Read more….
In this Premiere episode, non-other than Mr. Ron Byers, Rhoda B, long-time host of Drag Races and founding member of well, everything Gay in Edmonton, graciously donates time and powerful memories to make your host Michael McDonell, just sit in awe and wonder..
I was a young 21 year old when I had a chance to “run away with the circus”. I was asked to join a traveling drag show called the Fantasy Follies as their sound and lighting technician. What a chance to go way past my shyness and fears and live in hotel rooms travelling across Canada with a group of amazing Drag performers.
Read more on Rainbow Story Hub….
We speak to Ron Byers a queer historian about the impact of the former Flashback bar in Edmonton.
Iconic Edmonton club is the subject of a new documentary
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This Powerpoint style presentation brings the story of the work that has been done to bring the history of the 2SLGBTQ+ community to life over the last 25+ years.
The presentation is about 20-25 minutes and can be done in person or virtually with an optional 10 – 15 minute question period following.
I cover several pieces of written work done by local Queer Historian/Actor/Writer/Producer Darrin Hagen. Also work done by the Edmonton Heritage Council’s Edmonton City As Museum Project (ECAMP), the Edmonton Queer History Project and Rainbow Story Hub.
Also included is a brief synopsis of upcoming projects from these groups as well as an upcoming anthology series based on the Sex Trials Of 1942 in Edmonton, the Telus funded Flashback Documentary film, a new community initiative with the City Of Edmonton Archives, Archive Society of Alberta and the Edmonton Heritage Council as well as Rainbow Story Hub and the Edmonton Queer History Project.
Here are some slides from the presentation:
“ I remember a time when there was no place in this town where I could go and come out as a gay man and have a beer with another gay man. »— A quote from Ron Byers, queer historian and founder of the Rainbow Story Hub
Check out the full article on CBC Radio-Canada (French)
(Use the Translate feature in Chrome or Edge for English)
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1878377/histoire-queer-edmonton-bar-gai-fierte
Edmonton’s first recognized Pride event was a Picnic In The Park thought to be held at Camp Harris, home of the 49th Battalion, The Loyal Edmonton Regiment Association. It was attended by about 75 people in 1980 to bring awareness to our community and celebrate the decriminalization of homosexuality with a campfire, picnic and softball game.
1982 saw the first Pride weekend – Pride Through Unity which included a drag show and buffet at Flashback sponsored by the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose, a Unity Dance at the Phoenix Hall put on by the Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE) and a picnic and BBQ again held at Camp Harris. Organized in part as a reaction to the Pisces Spa raid a year earlier it looked to bring the community together and bring awareness to the challenges they still faced.
Read more here…
https://yegqueerhistory.ca/edmontons-pride-celebration-history/
From the audience, Ron Byers said the latest iteration of the project is particularly valuable to future generations who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the knowledge and experience of those who lived Edmonton’s queer history.
“Because it’s all up here,” he said, pointing to his head. “It opens up the history for our younger community … so the kids learn our history because it’s not taught anywhere else.”
A queer historian himself, Byers runs the Rainbow Story Hub, which collects accounts from members of the community — an effort that he sees as complementary to the queer history project’s encyclopedic, research-driven approach.
Edmonton Journal – March 8, 2022
Ron will talk about local queer history and the clubs in Edmonton. He is a community leader and story teller. He is the founder of the Rainbow Story Hub / Edmonton Queer History program.
CTV News
https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/fire-destroys-downtown-building-that-housed-milla-pub-club-70-1.5650073
The Imperial Sovereign Court of the Wild Rose chats with Tales of the LGBTQ+ on their history. Watch as Empress 14, 30 and 36, Heir Apparent to Nicole The Great – Leah Way and Emperor 25 and Co-Regent Emperor 29 Ron Byers talk about the beginnings of our Court and the first 20 years.
Most major cities have a neighbourhood that has clearly defined itself as the “gay” neighbourhood, an area where LGBTQ2S+ folks can build a community together while living, working, shopping, and eating at welcoming businesses. Toronto’s Church Street and Vancouver’s Davie Street are just two that come to mind. Edmonton breaks tradition by having not one but two gaybourhoods that have come together to form a community for LGBTQ2S+ Edmontonians.
Read the full story in The Yards Magazine – Click the link below
I chat with radio personality J’Lyn Nye from 630 CHED about the impacts and damage done to the gay community on the 40th anniversary of the Pisces Bathhouse raid by the Edmonton Police Service May 30, 1981. Catch the podcast at the link below.
“They just did this raid in such a totally different manner from what they had done in previous raids in massage parlours, other common bawdy houses in the city, which were more straight-oriented,” Byers said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lgbtq2s-edmonton-pisces-raid-1.6047015
Four decades have passed since dozens of gay men were arrested during a raid at Edmonton’s Pisces Health Spa, charged and outed to the broader community, changing their lives completely.
Fifty-six men and six employees were arrested under bawdy house laws when 40 Edmonton police, seven RCMP officers and two attorneys raided the bathhouse on May 30, 1981.
2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the Pisces Health Spa bathhouse raids by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS).
To acknowledge the trauma and impact of the raids, and to show their support to the Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Transgender, and Queer (2SLGBTQ+) community, the EPS is releasing a documentary-style video with commentary from local community members sharing their experiences and perspectives.
https://www.edmontonpolice.ca/News/SuccessStories/PiscesHealthSpa40th
