Interview with Phil Conron
oral history, gay culture, cruising
In this oral history interview, Phil Conron, 53 years old, discusses growing up in Toronto in the 1940s, trying to fit in with other boys in school, and early adolescent sexual experiences with other young men. He discusses his involvement with the gay social scene in Toronto in the 1950s and 60s, touching on topics that include cruising in Queen’s Park, going to parties and other gay social spaces on Toronto Island, bar culture, group sex parties, bath houses, police harassment, and a brief stint living in Vancouver in the late 1950s. Conron had long-term relationships with several men, which he outlines in brief. He also discusses his developing taste, later in life, for intergenerational relationships with young men in their early 20s. Conron briefly discusses his career, which is not identified in specific terms, and his growing participation as an actor in community theatre after his retirement.
Foolscap Oral History Project
1985-05-22
Anna Malla
CLGA
PDF, WAV
English
Sound, text
2016-034
Toronto, Vancouver, 1950s, 1960s
Interview with William (Bill) Atkinson (1983)
Navy, gay men, oral history
In this oral history interview, Bill Atkinson, a 67 years old gay man, describes the traumatic experience of being cashiered from the navy during a period of gay witch-hunts beginning in the late 1950s. Bill describes his life before, during and after being discharged from the Navy. He was born in England in 1916 to a middle class family, and discusses a difficult childhood. During his time in the Navy, Bill moves between Ontario and the Pacific Northwest, occasionally travelling to Detroit to meet gay men at Bar 1011. After his career in the Navy, Bill took up modelling and acting to support himself, as well as managing a restaurant for a period of time. Bill discussed his involvement in the gay political community in Toronto, working for George Hislop’s political campaign in the 1980s. Topic discussed include the experience of being gay in the Navy, sexual harassment, mental health, financial insecurity, and gay politics in Toronto.
Foolscap Oral History Project
1983-07-28
John Grube
CLGA
PDF, WAV
English
Sound, text
2016-034
Toronto, Vancouver, Detroit; 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s
Oral History with Lois Stewart, 1985
Born in 1920, Lois Stewart is a political activist and retired schoolteacher who grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. After teaching in Victoria during World War 2, Lois moved to Southern Ontario, where she taught in a number of cities and towns outside of Toronto. At the time of the interview in 1985, Lois is 65 years old and living in Toronto. The interview’s themes and topics vary widely, spanning Lois’ life from roughly 1943 to 1985. She recounts her long- and short-term relationships with women her experiences in the Toronto lesbian bar culture, primarily around The Continental Hotel; her connection to and thoughts on socialism, feminism and the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party; and her perspectives on lesbian and same-sex intimacy, sex, and love in the 1950s and 1960s.
Lesbians Making History Collective
1985
Lesbians Making History Collective
LGBTQ Digital Oral History Collaboratory
The CLGA does not hold copyright
1950 and 1960s, 1985