on traditional indigenous lands
Resources
Queer people of colour in Toronto have been doing the work of documenting and archiving their stories for years.
Books
Any Other Way is an anthology of essays by people across the queer community–white and otherwise–about their experiences in Toronto. It covers high profile events such as the bathhouse raids, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the emergence of Pride. It documents the history of organizations such as The 519, The Body Politic, and the Right to Privacy Committee. It explores spaces such as The Steps, gay and lesbian bars, and community parks.
More importantly, it offers a brief introduction to the QTBIPOC community, including Gay Asians of Toronto, Desh Pardesh, Blackness Yes!, Red Spot Nights, Ball Culture, and the Unique Mosque.
Chambers, Stephanie, Jane Farrow, Maureen FitzGerald, Ed Jackson, John Lorinc, Tim McCaskell, Rebecka Sheffield, Tatum Taylor, and Rahim Thawer, ed. Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2017.
CelebrAsian: Shared Lives is a series of candid interviews with gay Asian men in Toronto. It gives voice to one component of gay society; provides stories to help other gay Asians deal with their sexuality; informs broader communities (gay, lesbian, Asian, straight, international) about the gay Asian experience in North America; and examines racism and homophobia from the perspective of gay Asians.
Gay Asians of Toronto. CelebrAsian: Shared Lives: an Oral History of Gay Asians. Toronto: Gay Asians of Toronto, 1996.
Diasporic Intimacies features works from leading scholars, artists, and activists who reflect on the contributions of queer Filipinos to Canadian culture and society. The authors present a rich and under-studied archive of personal reflections, in-depth interviews, creative works, and scholarly essays.
Diaz, Robert, Marissa Largo, Fritz Pino, ed. Diasporic Intimacies: Queer Filipinos and Canadian Imaginaries. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2017.
Marvellous Grounds is another anthology compiled and written entirely by QTBIPOC folx. It delves into Toronto’s queer history from a marginalized perspective, highlighting the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ablism rampant in the community. It shines a light on the people who are working to carve out space and tell the stories of marginalized folx in unapologetic and creative ways.
Haritaworn, Jin, Ghaida Moussa, Syrus Marcus Ware, ed. Marvellous Grounds: Queer of Colour Histories of Toronto. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2018.
Queering Urban Justice foregrounds visions of urban justice that are critical of racial and colonial capitalism, and asks: what would it mean to map space in ways that address very real histories of displacement and erasure? What would it mean to regard QTBIPOC as geographic subjects who model different ways of inhabiting and sharing space?
Haritaworn, Jin, Ghaida Moussa, Syrus Marcus Ware, Rio Rodríguez, ed. Queering Urban Justice: Queer of Colour Formations in Toronto. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2018.
Websites
AQSAzine is a series of grassroots publications showcasing art, poetry, and prose that challenges the monolithic narratives of Islam and Muslims in mainstream western media. While not specifically queer, the organization was queer-centred.
MarvellousGrounds.com is from the same group that produced the Marvellous Grounds book. It is a continuation of their mission to archive and document stories of QTBIPOC people in Toronto. The website features two journal issues that explore the act of archiving through the lens of space and performance.
Organizations
2-Spirit People of the 1st Nations provides prevention education and support to 2-Spirit, including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people living with or at risk for HIV and related co-infections in the Greater Toronto Area. They base their work on indigenous philosophies of wholistic health and wellness.
Asian Community AIDS Service provides safer sex education and services to East and Southeast Asian communities and support services to persons living with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ communities.
Black Lives Matter Toronto is a platform upon which black communities across Toronto can actively dismantle all forms of anti-black racism, liberate blackness, support black healing, affirm black existence, and create freedom to love and self-determine. BLMTO is led by queer and trans Black activists.
Blockorama & Blackness Yes! is a community-based committee that works year-round to celebrate Black queer and trans history, creativity, and activism.
Butterfly is an Asian and migrant sex workers network. They provide support to, and advocates for, the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers.
El-Tawhid Juma Circle (Unity Mosque) is a compassion focused, inclusive Islamic mosque space. They are a LGBTQ affirming, gender equal mosque that is welcoming of everyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender, sexual identity, or faith background.
ILL NANA/Diversecity Dance Company is a queer, multiracial dance company that embraces difference as strength and is committed to changing the landscape of dance by performing our stories on stage as well as providing more accessible education and performance opportunities for LGBTTIQQ2S communities, prioritizing people of colour, various body types, backgrounds, classes, and abilities.
Kapwa Collective is a group of Filipinx-Canadian artists, critical thinkers, and healers who work toward bridging narratives between the Indigenous and Diasporic, and the Filipinx + the Canadian. They facilitate links among academic, artistic, activist, and other communities in Toronto.
Maggie’s is an organization run by and for sex workers. Their mission is to assist sex workers in their efforts to live and work with safety and dignity. They are founded on the belief that in order to improve their circumstances, sex workers must control their own lives and destinies. Maggie’s advocates that they should all have the right to choose or reject sex work, just as they have the right to choose or reject any other kind of work.
Tea Base is a community art space in Chinatown. They host cultural programming, workshops and events, as well as teas curated by local sommeliers, and a collection of writing from the East and Southeast Asian diaspora. While not specifically queer, they are very queer-centred.
Unapologetic Burlesque provided performance space for emerging, first time, and seasoned performers who are people of colour, Indigenous, queer, genderqueer, trans, people of varying body sizes, people of all abilities, people from varying class backgrounds. They were accessibility-focused.
Unit 2 is a radical arts and community space dedicated to building community and building bridges. They are a do it together space. They are queer/trans, 2 Sprit and/or Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour.
Am I missing anything? Let me know!