QueerHistoryProject.com: exploring and reimagining queer history

Queer history is often marginalized, unrecorded, forgotten or lost. Many of us come out and join queer communities without ever having had a chance to learn about the queers who came before us—their lives, their struggles, their parties, their heroes, their secrets…

The folks behind QueerHistoryProject.com hope to change all that.

They have developed this interactive website as a place where the queer community can create, explore and share our history. This is an opportunity to showcase what was funny, brave, caring, painful, motivating, subversive, routine, ignored, gorgeous and arousing. What happened and what was it like? We invite the community to define its ongoing history.

The website is currently a pilot project. If they are successful in acquiring funding, their long term vision is to create a permanent online, digital collection. They hope to build our community’s capacity to document history, with workshops on how to digitize and upload content to the site, partnerships with other organizations and continued outreach to our communities to encourage participation in this project. We intend the site to be a resource that strengthens and empowers our community.

This website is maintained by a group of volunteers under the umbrella of Out On Screen, a non-profit organization that presents the annual Vancouver Queer Film Festival and the province-wide Out in Schools educational program. This website is the online component of the Queer History Project, a film commissioning project comprised of film works that depict Vancouver’s queer histories.

Michael Coren is our first entry star as Homophobe of the Week. Congratulations Michael! Michael is a contributor to the National Post and a Canadian writer and broadcaster. We think though, that he’s also a man of hate pretending to have some ‘wisdom’. In this week’s National Post Blog he states that legalizing same-sex marriage was a huge Canadian mistake. He deflects the obvious conclusion that he’s a homophobe by preemptively stating, ‘although this is a valid and vital debate about social policy, anyone critiquing the status quo is likely to be marginalized as hateful, extreme or simply mad. Social conservatives aren’t just wrong, they’re evil.’  He says it is valid to argue such social policy, which is true, but over 60% of Canadians support this social policy, and, worldwide, countries are trending towards the same conclusion as Canadian judges and lawmakers did.

Michael Coren, in his National Post essay, speaks like a sore loser, with such statements, as “the discussion, we are told, is over. Which is what triumphalist bullies have said for centuries after they win a battle. In this case, the intention is to marginalize anyone who dares to still speak out. In other words, to silence them.” He therefore refers to the majority of smart-thinking Canadians, to a majority of legislators in Canada’s Parliament (over two different votes), to judges across the country, as triumphant bullies, when really, he’s simply a SORE LOSER. Face it Michael, you lose, we win.

Three years later, Michael is still stomping his feet, yelling, no, but what about this argument, and that argument… when really, all these arguments have been made for decades, and in the end they proved to hold no water. His continued discussion is not hateful, it’s worse. It’s stupid, juvenile, irrelevant and tiresome. I would argue each piece of what he said, but 12 Canadian courts listened to his arguments, two Canadian Parliamentary sittings listened to his arguments, and 60% of Canadians listened to his arguments and decided his thinking process was erroneous. So, I figure why should I bother. He likes hating fags and pretending it’s for the sanctity of marriage. 

The Houston Chronicle conducted a thoughtful and respectful interview with Judy Shepard, the super-mom of the 22 year old young adult, Michael, who was savagely beaten and left hanging to die by a two men in Laramie, Wyoming. We are nearing the ten year anniversary, in October, and here at BlurbBerry, we will report on the impact of Judy Shepard’s work around the world to commemorate her son’s death and remind people that he will never be forgotten. 

Highlights from the article: “Judy Shepard is 55, but you couldn’t tell by how active she is as an international spokeswoman, activist and executive director of the nonprofit organization, Matthew Shepard Foundation, created in part with funds sent by family, friends and strangers to help defray Matthew’s medical costs. She started the organization because, as she put it in the interview, “I’m just somebody’s mom who got really angry at the system and felt I had the opportunity to make a change….In my own mind, speaking like I did today, that is my grief process. I get to keep Matthew with me.” Read the interview here.” 

The ten year ‘anniversary’ of his death is October 12, 2008. Expect more articles about Judy Shepard, and hopefully, even an interview some day.

It’s a fact. Humans are fucked. It’s not a question of if, it’s more, when and how! Whether it’s environmental destruction, nuclear holocaust, alien invasion, or, my personal favourite, God’s wrath, the end is near.

Ecological Disaster
Don’t say we haven’t been warned. It all comes down to Global Warming. Environmentalists have been warning us for decades of the devastating repercussions we face if humanity does not clean up its fucking act and go GREEN. Try digesting that while slurping on your latte, you bitches. It’s shoved down our throats (yum) for the past few decades and still nobody gives a shit.   We all know the dish, right? For those of you who have selectively forgotten: Global Warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans. Translation, the earth is burning into a crispy critter. What wonderful things are coming of this: Glaciers are melting, oceans rising, forests declining. But don’t worry, we always have the moon to colonize.

Nuclear Holocaust
Here is another fun way to go -and efficient, too.
With one push of a button, the whole world could be blown into smithereens. With the onset of nuclear destruction, humankind could be eradicated, and all or most of the Earth could be burnt and destroyed. If we’re lucky, we may even get three headed babies and 10 legged cats before Earth finally decided to melt into radiated mush. Fashion designs will have to change so shirts fit three headed babies and two headed Mamas. When in Rome…

Alien Invasion
An Alien Invasion would be the coolest way to get wiped out. Can you image the headlines on CNN “Green Blobs Take Over the World?” As we speak, the Aliens are sitting back and watching Earth, patiently, biding their time. They’re watching the biggest reality T.V. show in the galaxy. It’s only logical that our green brothers and sisters would finally get fed up with us. Some people (also known as freaks) have claimed that they have already been approached by our green siblings. Apparently they are looking to inbreed with humans that have below average IQs, to create human/alien babies that verge on retarded to form… a perfect race for earth?!?!

God’s Wrath
Last but certainly not least, most of us will be eradicated by the wrath of God. We are all so fucked on this one. Sodomites. Whores. Those who have had multiple abortions and multiple orgasms. Who have stolen. Said the lord’s name in vain. And hedonists alike… You are all so fucking fucked. I hope you like heat and don’t forget your sunblock. Hell is well… hell.