Domesticity
“That’s my family. I’m much, much, much closer to them than my birth family. It’s called love. It’s more than just a support system”
-Dennis Findlay
In 1970s-90s queer Toronto, a fascinating shift was beginning. Hostility increased from the state and queer people began carving out their own spaces to live, to support each other, and to organize for action. In these spaces, the queer community re-defined the home. Queer Torontonians began to unilaterally reject societal definitions of domesticity defined by the nuclear-family, home as defined by the patriarchy, and family as defined by monogamous heteronormativity. This is the era of Toronto’s Queer Collective Homes.
Invitation to a party at 188 1/12 Seaton St. communal house.
We had these huge parties… theme parties like ones where we produced postcards with us in Hawaiian gear, cocktails, and umbrellas, pretending you’re on vacation with other people, we sent postcards… huge huge parties with hundreds of people, that’s where the community would actually come together.
-Richard, resident of 188 1/2 Seaton Street
Floor plan of the Body Politic, a gay liberation magazine preceding the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives which preceded the ArQuives
As collective housing began to fall out of prominence and the new millennium began, a shift started in the way queer Toronto organized, gathered, and sought community. LGBTQ2S+ organizations were breaking new ground and steps forward necessitated a focus on legal and financial frameworks—rather than just culture and media. Movements transitioned from grassroots efforts organized at the centres of shared domestic space to a world where there was a clear delineation between home and work. Queer organizing would now provide paid positions, receive government funding, and entail spatial hierarchies.