Forgotten Narratives
The Body, Politic February 1985
In February 1985, the prominent queer publication, The Body Politic, published their monthly edition. In the edition—inconspicuously but clearly printed within—was an advertisement from a white man for a Black male houseboy in Toronto.
The resulting shockwaves were incredibly divisive. Many in and outside of The Body Politic argued to keep the ad—for reasons of sexual liberation, freedom of speech, and even keeping the ad to open a conversation.
Opponents included leading POC figures in Toronto’s queer community, who argued that the ad was indicative of deeply systemic racial issues in Toronto’s queer community.
Gay Asians of Toronto (GAT) Demonstration, 1980s
Though demographics have changed, Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Numerous immigration patterns have led to queer Torontonian communities of Chinese, Hongkonger, Caribbean, South Asian, Middle Eastern, and various other diasporas.
There was often a sense of isolation in both the queer community and the ethno-racial communities within queer Toronto. Thus lies an underlying network of spatial, sexual, domestic, aesthetic, and cultural alienation.
Groups and communities began to form including Zami, Khush: South Asian Lesbian & Gay Organization, and the Gay Asians of Toronto to combat this marginalization.
If you were to dive into Toronto from the 70s to the 90s and peer into the small fault line that the queer community inhabited, within this space an even smaller fault line could be found—holding the stories of countless, often forgotten, communities.
Community events for Gay Asians of Toronto (GAT)
"Many people who were very active in the Gay Asians Toronto (GAT) at the beginning were international students, from places like Hong Kong specifically.
They were in a very particular type of space where they were away from the surveillance of family. They did not have the same pressure to marry, and other such things. They had mobility.
There were certain places where Asian people would hangout. There was a disproportionate amount of Asian people in gay baths. It was a phenomenon that had to do with meeting people in a context where language was not the major means of communication as opposed to other spaces. You protected yourself from microaggressions like: How old are you? Where are you from? Where are you really from?"
- Richard, 2023