1990-002-168P(04P)

Audio recording of The Legacy of the CGSL by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

The Legacy of the Cabbagetown Group Softball League (CGSL)

Edited by: Amy Knowles (she/her)

The crack of a softball bat at Riverdale Park, Toronto in 1980 was remembered as more than just a game- it was an empowering stand for inclusion. It started with 4 small teams gathering to play weekly games at the park. Eventually, as the league grew, there were challenges in making the schedules for the games, getting equipment, and finding sponsors as many didn’t want to support the gay community or these athletes. Diversity across the teams also challenged CGSL’s growth through disagreements about rules and regulations. Regardless, these queer athletes pursued their right to play, and the CGSL hosted its first community-wide tournament in 1978. Teams from all across Toronto played in the league, showing their growth and forging new bonds. The league became a big thing around the community, making friendships with others and having healthy competitions.

As of 2024, the CGSL is hosting play-offs and regular season play, with approximately 300 active members. A notable figure in the sports history: Barry Borsellino, one of the founders of the league, continues to actively support this league and what it stands for. By transforming a simple park game into a symbol of historical progress, the CGSL proved that sports could drive positive and powerful change.

1990-002/27P

Audio recording of Zami: As the Camera Clicked by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Zami: As the Camera Clicked

Edited by: Andrew Campbell (Dr. ABC) (he/him), Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

As the camera clicked, Debbie, Sylmadel, Douglas, and Deryck joined together for a hug, feeling a connection from the journey they had experienced together. It was 1984, and the group was sitting in one of their homes, talking about all the different things that were not available to Black queer folk. They spoke about their experiences with discrimination in a seemingly white-dominated LGBTQ+ community; how they were not being allowed in clubs, and were thought to be drug dealers, how they faced other forms of racial profiling, did not receive representation, faced microaggressions, and many other forms of discrimination and hate.

They decided that they needed to create their own safe space, and that’s how Zami was formed. Zami became an organization by and for queer black people, and allowed them to create a community of queerness without facing internal prejudice. On a Thursday evening, you’d head downstairs to the Pine Room at the 519 Church Street community centre. Zami had a long lasting effect, and laid  the groundwork for numerous organizations to form such as Black Women’s Collective, the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention, and Blackness Yes! They remind us that the 2SLGBTQ+ community is made better when it includes and represents us all.

1987-022/15P(03)(02P)

Audio recording of Gay & Asian, Asian & Gay by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Gay & Asian, Asian & Gay

Edited by: Paul Jonathan Saguil (he/him), Past Chair of The 519 Community Centre

Alan Li, an immigrant from Hong Kong, was a Toronto-based physician, community organizer, and human rights activist. Recognizing the difficulty for gay Asians to achieve intersectional equality, he joined forces with the Gay Asians of Toronto and sought to challenge both homophobia and racism through visibility and advocacy. Gay Asians living in Toronto faced significant obstacles, including discrimination for their sexuality and Asian heritage.

Driven by the desire to make change, Li decided to be the keynote speaker of the 1982 Pride Parade, he spoke to change the city’s attitudes and demand visibility for LGTBQ+ Asians. As the 1982 Pride Parade approached, the Chinese-Canadian community criticized the event and the Gay Asians of Toronto. But, Li's moving speech resonated with the crowd, highlighting the challenges faced by the gay Asian community experiencing both racism and homophobia; it sparked a collective sense of purpose among everyone who attended.

A year later, the Gay Asians of Toronto published their own quarterly magazine, Celebrasian, putting out eighteen issues over the next decade, and serving as a platform to share queer Asian identities and advocate for social acceptance. The courage from Li and the organization to challenge opposition marked a turning point, inspiring a bigger push for inclusivity throughout the 2SLGBTQ+ community and beyond.

1990-002/86P(01P)

Audio recording of Tune In: The Coming Out Show by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Tune In: The Coming Out Show

Edited by: David Ambrose, Etobicoke School of the Arts

You’re listening to the Coming Out Show on 102.7 FM; today's broadcast features a guest sharing their coming out story. Though in 1969, the government partially decriminalized homosexuality in the Criminal Law Amendment Act, there was still very limited, positive representation for the 2SLGBTQ+ community in the media.

Gathering brave voices, the Coming Out Collective began on September 7, 1978 and launched a Vancouver-based radio show. To fight against ongoing injustice, producers David Myers and Bill Houghton along with 20 other individuals worked to create a radio show and forum where queer people could discuss 2SLGBTQ+ events, issues and experiences.

The Collective had many guests; 2SLGBTQ+ local authors and performers made it a safe space for individuals with similar experiences to connect and come together. Members who worked on the show and represented ‘The Collective’ built a community that kept the show on air until 1996, and helped the LGBTQ+ community fight for their rights, bring attention to prejudice in Canada, along with influencing gay and lesbian individuals to further turn up the volume of their voices. If you don’t want to listen, turn the dial.

The Coming Out Collective continued to promote awareness of and equality for 2SLGBTQ+ people and help progress the way people heard us across the country.

1982-074(01P)

Audio recording of Proud Gay Fathers by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Proud Gay Fathers

Edited by: Benjamin Kaasa (he/him) MD, CCFP

Happy in their relationship, even when others didn’t like it, and navigating life in and out of the closet, these two gay fathers from Toronto marched for what was right for them and their family. When they marched in 1981, Canada wasn’t a very welcoming place for queer and trans people, especially for families with children. In the same year, the Bathhouse Raids would occur in Toronto, same-sex marriage was illegal, and even common-law spousal rights were denied.

Queer parents had little rights to their children in divorce proceedings and 2SLGBTQ+ people faced workplace harassment and social stigma as police arrests continued across Canada.

Needless to say, Canada was not a safe place to build a loving family for these two gay fathers; they wanted to be involved in change. The family traveled to San Francisco’s Pride March, in a city where queer people were celebrated more openly. They were in shock and full of pride to see around 250 000 people involved in a march that celebrated the 10th anniversary of San Francisco's Pride marches and protests. Parades like this one still take place annually in San Francisco, in Toronto, and beyond, continuing to connect the 2SLGBTQ+ community around the world and providing a safer space for queer people to celebrate their identity and fight for a more just world. 

Audio recording of Two-Spirit by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Two-Spirit

Edited by: Tammy Hardwick (she/her)

The “2S” in the acronym deserves its place alongside the letters “LGBTQ+”. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples who locate themselves in the 2S & LGBTQ+ community have used many terms in honoured languages to express their sexuality and gender.  At first, European colonizers referred to Two-Spirited individuals with derogatory terms, during a time when Indigenous rights were still being ignored, this resulted in a lack of legal protection and social acceptance in Canada. European colonizers and later settlers imposed their homophobic and transphobic beliefs on Indigenous communities, which still leads to the denial of Indigenous rights and the ongoing marginalization of once-celebrated gender and sexual identities.

“Two-Spirit” is an English-language term used by some Indigenous peoples today to describe a person who embodies both male and female spirits. In 1990, the term was established at the Third Annual Intertribal Native American/First Nations Gay and Lesbian Conference in Winnipeg by Elder Myra Laramee. From there it emerged proudly at Pride parades and pow wows. Such gatherings have become a place for the celebration and visibility of Two-Spirit people, when many Indigenous communities can come together in unity, to celebrate themselves and their community, learn from each other's experiences, as well as continue the fight for indigenous rights.  After many years of advocacy, Indigenous peoples have begun  to reclaim important parts of their Two-Spirit identities. In 2022, the Government of Canada added the 2S for Two-Spirit into the LGBTQ+ acronym, and putting it at the front, represent its importance, and remind all of us of the ongoing impacts of colonialism.

F0003-02-061(06P)

Audio recording of Candlelight Vigil by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Candlelight Vigil

Edited by: L’honorable René Cormier (il/lui, he/him), Sénateur indépendant / Independent Senator, Nouveau-Brunswick /New Brunswick

Canadians had been fighting for so long in order to get equal rights for the 2SLGBTQ+ community, but when they were closest to making change, something arose to snatch their chance away. Its name? AIDS. Entering Canada in March of 1982, there was little accurate sexual education and little to no funding, resources or medical research going into this disease. It was called “gay cancer” and later “Gay Related Immune Deficiency”. To doctors and the government  this problem was mostly affecting people they cared less about. 

Many people in the community  decided that they needed to do something more to memorialize and honor the people who died from AIDS across the country. In Toronto, Michael Lynch put up Memorials in memory of those dying of AIDS and HIV for annual celebrations of Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, and pursued funding from the community to design and create permanent memorials. 

In 1988, after dusk on Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, people gathered around a  memorial in Toronto to see candles lining its base. The luster of the flames surrounded the shrine, illuminating the nearly 200 names etched into the memorial, cementing them in history, never to be forgotten. A permanent AIDS Memorial was installed in 1993 at Barbara Hall Park in Toronto. It became a place where people could grieve their lost loved ones, and where the 2SLGBTQ+ community could come together to honour AIDS/HIV infected people in both the past and present.

F0133-02-005

Audio recording of Breaking Barriers in 1972 by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Breaking Barriers in 1972

Edited by: Jeff Maclean (he/him) 

In an era when LGBTQ+ voices were largely silenced, George Hislop created a Toronto-based organization, the Community Homophile Association of Toronto (CHAT). Through CHAT, Hislop shared suppressed knowledge and facts while creating a welcoming and safe space along with dispeling harmful stereotypes and providing accurate information about Queer lives. CHAT gained influence when the organization partnered with 11 other activist groups to successfully lead the, “WE DEMAND” protest, that took place on Parliament hill in 1971. This first large-scale protest for gay rights highlighted the ongoing need for change and equal rights for Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ community. 

As Canada was asked to confront its own homophobia, there was tons of backlash aimed at CHAT for hosting a panel regarding the many misconceptions and harmful stereotypes of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. This panel discussion in 1972, known as, “Homosexuality: Myth & Reality” tried to change that. With a small portion of government funding, CHAT established crucial resources: education panels, a 24 hour helpline, and a specialised library- all revolutionary at the time. CHAT shared facts and newly discovered information through these resources which brought new awareness and consideration to the realities of life in the Queer community. CHAT inspired others to create their own organizations about more specific issues regarding different groups within the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Some of these groups are still standing today, thanks to George Hislop and CHAT. George Hislop should be remembered as an inspiration because he provoked a movement that continued expanding past CHAT. 

VF-UTHA-Gay Dance Poster

Audio recording of Students Making Change: the UTHA by Garth Webb Secondary School Grade 10 students.

Students Making Change: The UTHA

Edited by: Michelle Douglas, Executive Director of the LGBTQ Purge Fund, and Purge Survivor

What happened in a small Toronto apartment became the spark for a movement that would shape the future of sexual diversity in Canada. In 1969, a meeting of people from the University of Toronto marked the beginning of Canada’s first gay rights organization, and Canada’s progress towards 2SLGBTQIA+ rights is anchored by the brave students who took the first step into pursuing their recognition and rights. At a time where societal norms went against the freedom of 2SLGBTQ+  individuals, the University of Toronto Homophile Association (UTHA) was fighting for them, emerging as Canada’s first university based queer rights group. 

They stood against discrimination and faced rejection in their own communities, all while pushing and advocating for fairer treatment and to feel seen with their existence and dignity. The UTHA’s bold presence on campus marked a turning point, inspiring the rise of many other organizations all across Canada, turning this small group into a national movement. With their efforts, they helped create a new perception as awareness of 2SLGBTQIA+ rights was no longer going unnoticed, as they paved the way for the community we have today. The courage and determination of the UTHA was sparked in that small Toronto apartment, showing us all that the roots of our inclusive society exist best in the spaces of learning and in living as a community.