Blogs about: Gaybi Mens History
Featured Blog
The First Poets, Part 1: “Gaydar Moments”
In John Barton’s introduction to Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets, he describes what he calls “a gaydar moment.” For Canada’s earliest poets, we can only speculate on their sexuality … more →
The Drummer's Revenge
The First Poets, Part 1: “Gaydar Moments”
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 1 month ago: In John Barton’s introduction to Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets, he describes wha … more →
The Disappearance of the Two-Spirit Traditions in Canada
— 4 comments
Hamish wrote 3 months ago: I’ve already written about the European reaction upon learning that the First Peoples of North Ameri … more →
Racism and Homophobia: The Chinese in Victorian Canada
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 8 months ago: Late nineteenth-century Canada was not exactly a place that welcomed difference or embraced diversit … more →
The Media and Social Purity in Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century Canada
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: “Media” to us means mostly electronic means of communication. In the 19th century, though, news, hig … more →
The Social Purity Movement and Homosexuality
— 1 comment
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: Volunteer educators wearing ribbons and going into public schools – often over the objections of par … more →
The Media and Homosexuality in the 19th Century, Part 1 – Two Celebrity Trials
— 1 comment
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: Toward the end of the 19th Century, the traditional silence of the Canadian media on the subject of … more →
The First Police Raid
— 3 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: In November, 1891, at Montreal, two labourers – John Pettigrew and William Gray – became quite drunk … more →
The Gross Indecency Law in Canada
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: Canada got its “gross indecency” law five years after Britain did. The law was imported by an eager … more →
Reflections on Early Canada, part 3: The Invention of "Gross Indecency" Laws in Britain
— 3 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: When Kulenthiram Amirthalingam returned to his native Malaysia from Canada to visit his boyfriend of … more →
Reflections on Early Canada, part 2: The Invention of the Police
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: In previous instalments, I’ve mentioned some of the prison reforms that led to the creation of the K … more →
Reflections on Early Canada, part 1: Changing Attitudes Towards Homosexuality in the Late 19th Century
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: Changing Views on Homosexuality in the West By the mid-1800s, most of Europe had stopped executing “ … more →
British North America -- Conclusion
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: Seen from the point of view of the “sodomites,” the Conquest of Quebec was a mixture of good and bad … more →
Dr. James Miranda Barry
— 3 comments
Hamish wrote 1 year ago: By the time Dr. James Miranda Barry reached Canada in 1858, he was already a legend in medical and m … more →
The End to the Death Penalty for "Sodomy" in Canada
— 2 comments
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: Looking over the political debates of the 19th century, it’s hard not to conclude that Canada’ … more →
Life in the Provincial Penitentiary at Kingston 1841-1867
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: The state of the “common gaols” in the future Canada did not escape notice. In one petition signed b … more →
"Sodomites" in Canada before 1841
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: Homosexuality was rarely talked about in early Canada, and when it was, it was described a foreign v … more →
George Herchmer Markland
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: George Herchmer Markland was the closest thing to royalty that existed in the Canadian colonies. Bor … more →
Alexander Wood
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: In 1793, a 21-year-old Scottish merchant by the name of Alexander Wood crossed the Atlantic to make … more →
Homosexuality and British North America
— 1 comment
Hamish wrote 2 years ago: In the articles leading up to this one, I’ve been dancing around what the attitudes towards homosexu … more →
