Are you interested in telling your story about coming out/coming in/living out as 2SLGBTQIA+ during the AIDS crisis?
Did you live in Canada at some point between 1981-1997? If so, we would love to hear from you!
After a recent change to our project's funding sources, we are excited and grateful to announce that each participant will now be sent a $50.00 VISA Gift Card to thank them for sharing their story during a 1-hour interview, to be donated to the archives.
We are a group of queer, non-binary, and Two Spirit researchers gathering oral histories across Canada, via 1-hour one-on-one interviews, with two objectives: 1) to donate transcribed oral history interviews to the national queer ArQuives and Two-Spirit Archives, which would be accessible to the public; and 2) to analyze these oral history interviews to better understand the meaning of “coming out” and/or “coming in”, and being “out” for a generation of 2SLGBTQIA+ folks who lived through the AIDS crisis in Canada.
While the AIDS crisis, and the initial inaction of the government, have been well chronicled and analyzed, personal accounts of the experience remain undocumented as a collective experience in Canadian queer archives, with some exceptions. We hope to include those experiences that have often been left out of histories of the AIDS crisis and are recruiting participants from a range of backgrounds, prioritizing the voices of queer people of colour, women, trans, Two Spirit, and rural queers.
To share your story or for additional information, please email Comingoutduringaids@gmail.com or visit comingoutduringaids.ca&
Researchers: Liz Fitting Professor, Sociology & Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University; Margaret Robinson, Canada Research Chair in Reconciliation, Gender, & Identity; Schem Rogerson, Independent scholar and artist; Nick J. Mulé Professor and Coordinator, Sexuality Studies Program, York University; and two Research assistants, Joseph Lahey and Dani Sherwood.
