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I spend a lot of time on twitter (@dj__beef). For me, it’s the best networking tool I’ve found in terms of finding like-minded, passionate people who care about similar things. When I feel like I’m a small fish, swimming upstream against what feels like it could create hydro-electric current, twitter often reminds me that there are other little fish like me (and maybe we’re not so little, afterall).

And so it began, about 3 months ago that a group of like-minded people decided that we should create a Canadian Queer History Month to help support those kids who have recently began to speak out (in often tragic ways) about the discrimination and loneliness they feel in school settings. Sadly, the school curriculum as it is, silences those in our Queer community by simply not mentioning them at all. Verdict? Unacceptable!

Thanks to @dreahouston who I found this video through.

 

After a few townhall meetings with the “working group” (ie: anyone who was interested, passionate, and had some energy to lend) we have collectively decided upon this Mission Statement:

In 2012, we aim to launch the first Canadian Queer Histories Month in May. This launch will involve producing a calendar that begins the fulfillment of the educational focus of our mandate. The calendar will aim to reflect the diversity of our queer and trans communities and our untold stories. The calendar will highlight Canadian queer and trans issues, iconic figures, as well as historical events. In order to select the content of the calendar, we will solicit feedback from queer and trans peoples across Canada as well as researching models put forth by other such projects internationally. Throughout our work, especially for this inaugural year, we aim to recognize our limitations, including those relating to of the naming of the month, representation, outreach, the calendar format, and what Canadian means in the first place. We invite feedback, collaboration, and criticism from queer and trans communities across Canada in order to lay a foundation upon which to build. In coming years, we hope to achieve sustainable ongoing projects that have an interactive, accessible online format as well as the potential for integration into elementary and secondary school curriculums.

 

So this is a call-out to my fellow grad students who may be interesting in lending their opinions, time and/or research skills to this project. We are currently seeking students, teachers and researchers to help bring this project to life in the very near future. If you’re interested in contributing, please contact us by email, twitter (@QueerHistory) , facebook or visit the website. You can also listen in on the live stream of our last meeting here. You are also being extremely helpful by simply passing the word on!