Recently, there has been an increase in the number of conservation groups working with the 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual) community to host events. This has signalled a new wave of support for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the environmental movement; and not only is there a growing demand for this programming, but it is also essential.

2SLGBTQIA+ Positivity in Wild Spaces

Ontario Nature spoke with conservation organizations hosting 2SLGBTQIA+ events, gaining valuable insights into how these initiatives are being developed and delivered.

Conservation Halton was established more than 60 years ago to protect our communities from flooding and erosion. Ontario Nature spoke with their Communications Specialist, Tamanna Kohi, about their approach to 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusivity, “When we received the accreditation from Canada’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Chamber of Commerce, we placed Rainbow Registered window decals at our park visitor centres. A park visitor pointed out how proud they are to support [our] parks and added that they felt seen and safe knowing we are committed to building a culture of inclusivity for all our communities.”

This year, the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) and its nine Bruce Trail Clubs also received Rainbow Registered designation. In a press release announcing the accreditation, Laura Tuohy, Manager of Community Engagement at the BTC, emphasized the importance of ensuring everyone feels welcome on the trail.

“People in 2SLGBTQIA+ communities deserve to feel safe, comfortable, and welcome to explore the Bruce Trail and be part of its future, whether that be through self-guided adventures, joining guided hikes, or taking part in volunteer activities,” says Tuohy.

Tuohy told Ontario Nature that participating in Pride events helped BTC better understand barriers people face when accessing outdoor recreation. “Attending Pride events has given us the opportunity to hear peoples’ apprehensions about going on organized group hikes and have direct conversations with people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community,” she says, “With that feedback, we started our Rainbow Hike program the following year to provide a safe space for 2SLGBTQIA+ folks and allies.”

2SLGBTQIA+ Groups Break Through

If nature is to be for everyone, it must make itself so through active facilitation. Naming 2SLGBTQIA+ positivity and engaging in events, media and outreach that supports the community is a step forward.

The BTC’s approach is yielding impressive results. Tuohy shared, “We are inspired each day by [our] mission ‘preserving a ribbon of wilderness, for everyone, forever.’ … But we recognize that it’s not enough to say, ‘for everyone’, we have to demonstrate it, invite participation, facilitate safe spaces, and work to remove barriers to inclusion.”

As Rosalyn Endlich, Natural Environment Specialist with the City of Toronto elaborated, “Relationship building and supporting existing community networks is essential … we were grateful to partner with Friends of Hanlan’s, a queer landscape-based community advocacy group. Collaborating with them helped us reach additional people and support those that had already laid groundwork and built demand for engagement events.”

Building Inclusive Spaces in Nature

The groups operating at the intersection of sexual identity, gender identity, and nature programming are filling a gap for 2SLGBTQIA+ people and offering a service to the community.

“We also use the natural world as our guide … as natural ecosystems are more resilient and better able to adapt to change when they are biologically diverse, organizations and movements are stronger when they are diverse and inclusive,” says Tuohy, “When we are facing parallel crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and loss of connection to nature, we need to come together and involve as many people as possible in finding solutions.”

Endlich echoes, “For queer people to come together in a community event to plant and care for a queer space was something special. Now, whenever folks visit this beach, they hopefully will feel even more connected and invested in the space. Also, it was meaningful on a personal level both for our 2SLGBTQIA+ staff and folks who attended this event to all get to work together and see ourselves represented in forestry and environmental stewardship.”

And Kohi adds, “Conservation Halton’s Pride in Nature kick-off event, Birds of All Feathers, is hosted at Mountsberg Conservation Area. Staff, volunteers and event attendees are always excited to attend the event dressed up in their Pride gear,” Kohi adds. “The event features educational signage with animal facts that represent Pride out in nature — for example, the endangered species, Jefferson Salamander is a species with ‘unisexual reproduction’, meaning that females reproduce through cloning. … This was a great opportunity to showcase the diversity of nature.”

To learn more about 2SLGBTQIA+ organizing, visit Queer Ecology by Network in Canadian History & Environment, Making space for LGBTQ+ and wildlife communities by CBC and Five ways to become a better ally to 2SLGBTQ+ communities by Kristopher Wells.

Designed with intention and focused on using only a Red Heart Super Saver Craft Kit. The entire kit will make this Crochet Over-the-Shoulder Rainbow Tote. The base starts off with the darker colours in the kit, as the bag may be sitting on surfaces. The colour order is subject to your own personal taste. The […]

The post Crochet Over-the-Shoulder Rainbow Tote Bag Pattern appeared first on The Crochet Crowd.

All Hookers Go To Heaven by Angel B.H.

All Hookers Go To Heaven is a fiction novel by Nova Scotia-born writer Angel B.H. The novel follows Mag, a sex worker from a rural Eastern Canadian town, as she navigates Purity Culture, sexuality, faith, and financial insecurity. Mag questions her conservative upbringing after she develops feelings for another girl while attending an Evangelical Missionary program for youth.

Praise for All Hookers Go To Heaven

“At once fearless and tender, this book is a sex worker heroine’s journey that shimmers with beauty, longing, fierce intelligence, emotional complexity, and bursts of wry humor,” said Chinese-Canadian writer Kai Cheng Thom. “At the heart of this deeply absorbing novel is an unforgettable protagonist whose search for the sacred within herself in a world that routinely dehumanizes and devalues sex workers is sure to linger in readers’ hearts.”  

Crooked Teeth by Danny Ramadan

Crooked Teeth is a memoir by Syrian-Canadian author Danny Ramadan. In this rejection of an oversimplified refugee narrative, Ramadan invites readers into his nuanced journey as a queer refugee. Crooked Teeth explores Damascus, Syria’s underground network of queer safe homes, the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the Middle East, and continuous threats against Syria’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Praise for Crooked Teeth

“I take my hat off to Danny Ramadan and his brilliant muses. This is a mesmerizing story of growing up gay in a Muslim Syrian family, of the challenges and joys of finding and creating loving communities, and the miracle not just of physical survival but of an effervescent celebration of the human heart,” said renowned Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill. “Once I began reading, I couldn’t stop until the final page. Countless others will be thankful for this raw, idiosyncratic, utterly compelling account of Danny’s long journey home.” 

The Regulation of Desire by Gary Kinsman

The Regulation of Desire is a 2SLGBTQ+ book written by Toronto-born sociologist Gary Kinsman. At the time of its initial publication in 1987, The Regulation of Desire was recognized as the first book-length study of Canada’s sexual regulation. In the third edition of the text (published in 2024), Kinsman analyzes the role that Indigenous liberation and police and prison abolition have in 2SLGBTQIA+ politics.

Praise for The Regulation of Desire

“The 3rd edition of Regulation of Desire by Gary Kinsman is a brilliant, thoughtful and captivating text. It is one that offers us insight into his process of uncovering and disrupting the discourses and practices of whiteness, homonormativity, capitalism and neoliberalism of the contemporary white queer movement in Canada,” said University of Toronto professor Beverly Bain.

“In this new edition, Kinsman reveals how the social organizing of forgetting has worked to subvert the histories of organizing by Black, racialized, queer, trans and two-spirited people. He endeavors to address these erasures by centering the most recent revolts and uprisings by Black and Indigenous and Two-Spirit Peoples.”

a body more tolerable by jaye simpson

a body more tolerable is a poetry collection by Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer writer jaye simpson. In a body more tolerable, simpson explores female rage, trans identity, sexuality and Indigenous grief through a series of visceral poems.

Praise for a body more tolerable

“jaye simpson’s a body more tolerable is a singular achievement. Her poetic project, at once forward-dawning and ancestral, both revolutionary and decolonizing, is given total expression in this book,” said Cree poet Billy-Ray Belcourt.

“These poems moved me immensely; there is so much beauty, feeling, and power in all of them. No one is writing like jaye simpson.”

Perfect Little Angels by Vincent Anioke

Perfect Little Angels is a story collection by Nigerian-Canadian writer Vincent Anioke. Set predominantly in Nigeria, the characters in Anioke’s Perfect Little Angels are used as a vehicle to explore themes of self-expression, religion, masculinity, marginalization and 2SLGBTQ+ identity.

Praise for Perfect Little Angels

“The stories in Perfect Little Angels are, by turns, scathing, brilliant, and incredibly compelling. Anioke’s characters wade through startling and at times violent circumstances with tender humanity; they grapple with the harsh consequences of unforgiving traditions and defiant desires,” said Nigerian-Canadian writer and director francesca ekwuyasi.

“With striking lyricism and unexpected plot twists, Perfect Little Angels is deeply moving and thoroughly enjoyable.”

The post Here are five Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ books to celebrate Pride Month. appeared first on rabble.ca.

“How To Make A Mint.”

This past May, we received a letter from David Shenton on his 75th birthday, in which he thoughtfully answered our interview questions. We warmly congratulate David on his remarkable 40+ year career as a cartoonist and are delighted to feature him on our museum blog this Pride Month. David’s comics have vividly depicted the gritty realities of gay life, since long before the term “LGBTQ+” existed. His latest comic collection “Forty Lies“, published last December, is an autobiography covering his life from his teens to his 70s(with his unique queer knitting patterns) and it is also a chronicle of more than half a century of LGBTQ+ history. New, young readers may be struck to learn that, how until recently living as a gay person, and loving someone as you are could even be considered a crime. This real living record of his struggles with various unreasonable challenges, wrapped in jokes and humor, reminds us of the communicative power of the art form of cartoon. In this interview, we asked David about how he got started as a cartoonist and what motivates him to continue creating to this day.

David Shenton
https://www.facebook.com/dscomics/
David Shenton was born on May 20, 1949, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. He entered Ashton-under-Lyne College of Further Education in 1965 and Loughborough College of Art in 1967 where he studied printed textiles. He has been a cartoonist since the 1970s, with his comics appearing in The Guardian, various specialist magazines, and most gay newspapers in the UK. His work brings laughter, provokes thought, and offers comfort for the inevitable challenges people face in life. He has also tackled social issues such as same-sex marriage and the AIDS crisis. He posts daily on the DS Comics page on Facebook, works on his knitting, and continues to attend LGBTQ+ events in London and Norfolk.

–Can you tell us about your journey as a comic artist specialising in LGBTQ themes?
What inspired you to focus on this genre and cartoons as a form? Are there any particular artists, works, or episodes that have influenced or inspired your creative process?
To begin, I’ve never specialized in LGBTQ+ themes. I’m a gay man; I’ve known that since I was a teenager. So these themes are my norm. I started as a cartoonist by accident. I had a well-received painting exhibition in Manchester in the mid-1970s, which had a splendid write-up in The Guardian. I invited the gay press to review it, too. But because the subject matter wasn’t explicit, they didn’t show up. Instead of writing a letter wanting to know what constitutes gay art, I drew them a cynical cartoon. They still didn’t review the exhibition, but liked the cartoon enough to offer me a weekly space in Gay News. This space developed into a four-frame strip and eventually a book. Alongside Kate Charlesworth, we were in both of the gay papers and magazines through the mid-70s, and the 80s and 90s. Sometimes we worked together, documenting LGBTQ+ life in its entirety: politics, music, nightlife, idioms, phases, fashions, more politics, and health.

“Gay Life”, 1987

As the years went by, I became an established cartoonist. My focus was all over the place. I had strips in The Guardian and professional publications, such as Solicitor’s Journal, Building Design and The Optician. But the queer cartoons were the personal ones that carried the most clout because they covered issues that mattered to my community through those difficult years. Cartoons can highlight the shortcomings of the government – their acceptance of, and indifference to, growing homophobia, leading to a lack of essential investment in healthcare. The trans community is facing similar problems today.

My creative process had to grow up and become serious with the advent of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the iniquities of Clause 28. I deal with the age of consent in “Forty Lies“, from the viewpoint of my own personal story and the PARTIAL Decriminalisation of the Sexual Offences Act in1967. I was eighteen then and had a boyfriend who was twenty-one. The partial repeal set the age of consent at twenty-one. I was immediately classed as a minor and my boyfriend could be sent to prison as a sex offender. We had to split up. ‘My Four December Weddings’, also a personal story, in “Forty Lies“, tells of the lead up to and legalisation of Equal Marriage in 2014.

“Been there, Seen that”

I’m from the North West of England where a lot of comedians come from and many people routinely use humour to counter the difficulties of everyday life. Comedy is very serious to handle when politics and events are so dire, but it can be done. I like to be sly and funny, but I’m a kind cartoonist and let people off easily, yet still get my point across.

“The Baton of Activism is Lost”

–In “Forty Lies” and ‘My Four December Weddings’, there’s a clear reflection of the evolution of LGBTQ-related environments and legislation in the UK, including milestones like Section 28, change in the age of consent for gay men sex, the AIDS crisis, the legalisation of same-sex marriage and more. Have you noticed any significant shifts in audience reception or mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ comics throughout your over 40-year career?
Last week I gave a talk about “Forty Lies” and my work overall to fifty members of the Women’s Institute here in Norwich. They were aware of my sexuality and the LGBTQ+ focus of a lot of my work. This invitation and welcome to their meeting most likely wouldn’t have happened ten years ago. I am openly gay and a named patron of Norwich Pride, so people accept who I am.

–Can you share some of the most memorable reactions or feedback you’ve received about your comics and activities?
The most important reaction to my work, I suppose, is that I’ve made a career doing something I love. I’ve had eight books published; all are out of print now, except “Forty Lies”, which came out last year. The first one, “Stanley and the Mask of Mystery “(1983) was the first LGBTQ+ graphic novel to be published in Europe, and perhaps in the world. It sold very well in the USA.

“Stanley and the Mask of Mystery”, 1983

I was once kidnapped and held to ransom in a pub by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and was only released when the pub coughed up £40 for AIDS research. In 2022, I received the Orfeo Imago Award, from Sweden, which honors outstanding contributions to LGBTQ+ art, photography and sculpture. Incidentally, this year it was awarded to Durk Dehner, the Tom of Finland Foundation President. In 2022, I was also made a patron of Norwich Arts Centre.

“Ginger Tom of Finland”

-As you continue to update your Facebook page almost daily with your cartoons, have you noticed any changes in the response from your readers or in your creative process compared to when your work was primarily published through traditional means? How has the internet as a platform influenced your approachand motivation to creating and sharing your cartoons?
When Facebook first came out I knew it could be useful. I was still cartooning and drawing illustrations, mainly for Cambridge University Press. All the weekly gay newspapers had disappeared, some gone forever and others becoming online publications. And the monthly gay lifestyle magazines had no use for political cartoons. So my LGBTQ+ platforms had gone. I therefore decided to upload my cartoons onto a dedicated Facebook page called These Foolish Things. This brought my queer work back into public notice, and revived my career. Through this page, I’ve produced cartoon collections and stories, printed out and sold as zines. These zines culminated in being noticed by a book publisher, who offered me “Forty Lies“. Also, my embroidered and knitted craftivist pieces have been shown in The Cartoon Museum and Sheringham Museum, and acquisitioned by the Castle Museum in Norwich and Queer Britain in London.

–Can you share any upcoming projects or plans you have?
“Forty Lies” has brought offers of conducting workshops in London, in Queer Circle and Queer Britain this summer. I haven’t stopped drawing and creating, and will do until I can no longer hold a pencil. There is still a long way to go before LGBTQ+ issues worldwide are resolved, and discrimination and hatred are replaced with equality and peace.

*All images were provided by David Shenton, and the copyright of these images belongs to him.

by Haruka Katsuyama

Resources:

DS Comics
https://www.dscomics.co.uk/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

Prism Comics | David Shenton
https://www.prismcomics.org/profile/davidshenton/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shenton [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

LGBTQ+ HISTORY, English Heritage
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/lgbtq-history/ [Accessed: 09/06/2024]

LGBTQ+ HISTORY BY THE DECADES(1980s-2010s), NCS
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-1980s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decade-1990s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-2000s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]
https://wearencs.com/blog/lgbtq-history-decades-2010s [Accessed: 09/06/2024]