Basically Queer

Drs. Claire Robson and Jen Marchbank are faculty members at Simon Fraser University. Kelsey Blair is a doctoral student there. Contributors to the anthology include members of Quirk-e, the Queer Imaging & Riting Kollective for Elders, whose 26 members have worked together in Vancouver for ten years under the direction of Robson and Blair. The youth authors are drawn from Youth for A Change, an advocacy/activist youth group led by Marchbank and her wife, Sylvie Traphan. The group offers training and education to schools and other organizations, and monitors policy decisions by local government.

Preface – Acknowledgements – Introduction – Section One: Why Does Language Matter? – Judy Fletcher/Bill Morrow: Verbal Attacks – Pat Hogan/Gayle Roberts/Farren Gillaspie: Why Does Language Matter? – Basic Queer Vocabulary – Things We Get Called – Anna R. Westhaver: Beware – Pat Hogan: A Jab Rap for All Who Don’t Fit In – Harris Taylor: One for the Team – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: Was There Ever a Moment of Decision for You About Your Orientation/Gender I.D.? – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: I Am He – Cyndia Cole: Firm – Jasmine Broeder: I Am a Fucking Bisexual – Pat Hogan: "Still a Lesbian After All These Years – Nancy Strider: Plain Brown Wrapper – Section Two: Queer History – Cyndia Cole/Val Innes/Ellen Woodsworth: Introduction to the History of the Queer Movement – Christine Waymark: Stonewalled – Bill Morrow/Judy Fletcher: Homophobic Homo– Greta Hurst: Love in Montreal – Ellen Woodsworth: Standing Out and Standing Up as Lesbian Feminists – Pat Hogan: Before I Knew the Word – Section Three: What’s It Like to Be Queer? – Claire Robson: What’s It Like to Be Queer? – Candy Fine: Misunderstood – Syd Oremek: Young, Homeless, and Positive – Judy Fletcher: My Walk in the Sunshine – Nancy Strider: Last Dance – Chris Morrissey: Life Insurance – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: In-Between – Caroline Doerksen: You Would Be Pretty If … – Judy Fletcher: How Am I Different? Let Me Count the Ways – Cyndia Cole: Lost and Found – Caroline Doerksen: First Queer Event – Val Innes: First Time’s Special – Harris Taylor: Mercy – Section Four: Queers in Family – Val Innes: Queers in Family – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: You Aren’t a Boy – Harris Taylor: For Sale: Used Family – Bridget Coll: Adopted Grammas – Chris Morrissey: The Last Goodbye – Robin Rennie: The Drop-In – Val Innes: Androgyny Is My Sanity – Chris Morrissey: Class Ring – Judy Fletcher: All Girls Can Have Curls – Marsha Ablowitz: Max Dexall – Farren Gillaspie: Faith – Christine Waymark: Not the Piece I Was Meant to Write – GG: The Way Forward—Notes for a Screenplay – Paddy St. Loe: Our Pam’s Gone Funny – Cyndia Cole: Fighting for Life – Section Five: Equal Rights or More Rights? – Chris Morrissey/Christine Waymark: Equal Rights or More Rights? – Syd Oremek: The Queer Agenda – Harris Taylor: Gay Blue Jeans Day – Christine Waymark: Veiled – What the Youth Had to Say About Rights – Chris Morrissey: Who Says We Have All Our Rights? – Paula Stromberg: It’s Not My 77th Birthday. We Got Married – Cyndia Cole: Just and Mighty – Farren Gillaspie: Love It, Leave It, or Change It – Cyndia Cole: Taking LGBTQA2S+ Rights to the World Stage: An Interview With Ellen Woodsworth – Section Six: What Does It Mean to Be an Ally? – Val Innes: What Does It Mean to Be an Ally? – The Importance of Allies: From a Youth Perspective – Cyndia Cole: An Ally in Queer Space – Reba Broadhurst: Boy Do People Ever Piss Me Off – Gayle Roberts: Dear Parent of a Gender-Variant Child – Judy Fletcher: Ham Sandwiches for No One – Farren Gillaspie: Cousin Maurice – Marsha Ablowitz: Jean, the Boy-Girl 1976 – Val Innes: A Letter to School Teachers – Val Innes: Gay Pride in San Francisco – Section Seven: Born or Made – Gwyneth Bowen/Nancy Strider: "If It Ain’t Broke …" – Gayle Roberts: The Girl in the Pond – Aleisha Ross: Do I Have the Right to Write? – Farren Gillaspie: An Inner Yearning Yet to Be Named – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: Gender Is a Spectrum - Gayle Roberts: John Doe Android Instruction Manual – Candy Fine: As the Spotlight Shimmers – Section Eight: Youth and Elders – Marsha Ablowitz/Farren Gillaspie: About Youth and Elders – Jake Marchbank: What We Queer Youth Have Got from Working with Our Queer Elders – Shawnee Gaffney: Queer and in Care – Val Innes: In the Shadows of the Moment – Chris Morrissey: Widowhood –Candy Fine: Youth - Stephen Hardy: My New Moccasins – Gwyneth Bowen: Psalm 69 (and All the Other Numbers) – Cyndia Cole: Backflips – Maggie Shore: Shards and Scree – Section Nine: Tips and Tricks for Living Queer – Farren Gillaspie: Start With a Smile – Stephen Hardy: Keep Healthy – Nancy Strider: Tips and Tricks for Asexuals (and Others Travelling Alone) – Anna R. Westhaver: A Practical Guide to Lesbian Identification in the 21st Century – Queer 101: What Everyone Needs to Know, From the Youth – Queer 101: What Everyone Needs to Know, From the Elders – Final Thoughts – About the Authors – Recommended Reading – Index.

“Elders have a profound place in all societies. Here, the elders share their wisdom with honesty based in compassion. They open the doors to others who are also making their way through times both good and difficult.”
—Constance Brissenden, co-author, «The Gathering Tree», with Cree author Larry Loyie (1933–2016)

“This is a compilation of work that shows the strength, skill and artistry that can be unleashed when youth and elders work together to co-create. This book offers a roadmap to how intergenerational collaborations can change the world for all involved.”
—C. J. Rowe, Executive Director, QMUNITY, BC’s Queer Resource Centre

“A wonderful, rare, much-needed conversation between intergenerational queer histories, imaginations, desires, anxieties and above all, hope. A reader, a teaching guide, a journey to the queer past and to the queer future, elders and youth, holding each other dear.”
—Joan Nestle, writer, activist, educator, and co-founder of the NY Lesbian Herstory Archives

“The dedicated and enthusiastic team of elders and youth that succeeded in bringing together the last collection of West Coast gay and lesbian writers and poets now has caught up with the latest writings from the LBGTQ2S front. Don’t miss this volume. Laugh and also have your heart broken—and admire the courage that sweeps away the debris of homophobia, transphobia, and all the other forms of hatred and oppression still washing up on freedom’s shores. Three cheers for all concerned.”
—Wayson Choy, author of «The Jade Peony»

“I’ve been waiting for a consciously inter-generational queer anthology like this! «Basically Queer» is not only a moving read, it is a powerful tool I can use to help guide me through my own inter-generational organizing.”
—Amber Dawn, author of «How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir»