Amelia Smith

Got a big interview which could take me to the other side of the world, but requires business attire. Wish me luck! And hopefully I don't melt, considering it is supposed to feel like 38° all day 😅

There's a few independent sites like this that I've found in my research, particularly around queer Canadian history, and they are an absolute delight every time I go through them. I put a few in a thread recently!

What I Learned Going Viral On Museum Twitter | Jonathan Talmi

Catching up w the guy who made the BM chatbot where you could chat w human remains & did u kno your uncomfortableness with that comes from

"an obsequious need for moral & ideological purity, & obedience to a set of ideological principles that were far from mainstream"

www.talms.me/posts/living...

Ontario's Halton Region shutting down heritage division, getting rid of 30,000-item historical collection | CBC News The region is hoping other organizations will take the items in order to keep them in public hands, but says anything it can't rehouse will be up for public auction – a move heritage advocates say can...

I am shocked by this. Even more shocked that CBC does not give a reason why Halton is doing this.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Trans toilet rules 'may force Scottish museums to close' A PUBLICLY-FUNDED body representing museums in Scotland criticised Equality and Human Rights Commission proposals and warned “an environment of…

The body representing museums and galleries in Scotland has warned the EHRC's proposals may force museums to close their doors.

“To avoid discrimination, it would require every person using toilets to be checked, adding substantial workload and staff costs."

www.thenational.scot/news/2534402...

Everyone did! Which is why it's so fun to just bring up out of the blue. No one ever expects it.

That and Wavin' Flag by K'naan generally elicits an annoyed reaction. Try it at your next party!

The thing I love to do around a mixed group of Canadians and Americans is mention Nikki Yanofsky's "I Believe" and watch all the Canadians get transported back to 2010 while the Americans don't have a clue what's going on.

Screenshot of Weebly's site backend showing how visitors arrived at Amelia Smith's website. Of note is de.wikipedia.org where 1 person supposedly found the website through Wikipedia.

Checking my website's analytics and saw someone supposedly came from German Wikipedia? Am I linked on a German wikipedia page or something??? I know the tracking for Weebly is often very wrong, but I am so curious about this.

A few of the other personal websites from Canadian gay activists that I've found and have been a joy to discover.

Jearld Moldenhauer's website has so many photos and comments on early gay liberation in Toronto and Canada. Jearld founded both Glad Day and the Body Politic.

Charlie Dobie is Peter's partner and he runs a website with photographs across Ontario. Not as much queer here, but there is an Anti-War Measures Act protest included that overlaps strongly with early Gay Lib.

www.ontariohistory.org#toronto

Peter Zorzi was around radical politics in Toronto around the same time as Moldenhauer. His site has incredible write ups of many prominent queer events, including rare alternative photos from the We Demand protest in 1971, Canada's first queer protest.

onthebookshelves.com/qcmenu.htm

A few of the other personal websites from Canadian gay activists that I've found and have been a joy to discover.

Jearld Moldenhauer's website has so many photos and comments on early gay liberation in Toronto and Canada. Jearld founded both Glad Day and the Body Politic.

Even when I am supposed to be writing, I find myself just being drawn into it. It is such a brilliant spring of knowledge. Shame that he passed in 2009. I hope his website can be archived for all to see for years to come.

Rick Bébout's website is a rabbit hole that I discovered while researching for a project on Canadian queer history. Bébout was a writer for the Body Politic and experienced much of queer activism in Toronto and his website is a personal account of it all. www.rbebout.com/bar/contents...

A Liberal government uninterested in fighting culture wars? This could be it Prime Minister Mark Carney could face his first major "culture war" over Alberta's controversial new school library guidelines.

Seems to be the National Post. nationalpost.com/news/canada/...

Surely you must see how it is hyperbole to claim that he is "sacrificing his child at the alter of neoliberalism" after one comment.

He has not made any specifics or actions towards the alternative, so why assume that he is doing anything counter to trans rights? Meanwhile, his government has given $1.5 million to Pride organizers in response to the worldwide anti-queer backlash.

From the same article, 'As some countries, including the U.S., try to roll back trans rights in particular, Carney said Canada will "stand up for rights around the world."'

Why do you believe that is less credible than a comment made months ago, made in response to a bad faith question?

Carney laments Pride 'backlash' and rolls out money to make 2SLGBTQ+ parades safer | CBC News Prime Minister Mark Carney raised a Pride flag on Parliament Hill Tuesday to kick off a month-long celebration of sexual and gender diversity while saying there's a brewing "backlash" to these sorts o...

From here: www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

Yes.

"Unfortunately, around the world, there's a backlash struggling against the progress that has been made. In this time, Canada will always stand up for the vulnerable and the equal rights we cherish. We can take pride in how far we've come but we should also recognize there's far more to do."

It seems hasty to declare he is following the Labour playbook from a couple of disparate quotes he's made. Is he the best PM we've had? Certainly not. But I don't think it is fair to say he is actively throwing trans people under the bus right now. He has voiced his support as recently as last month

Carney laments Pride 'backlash' and rolls out money to make 2SLGBTQ+ parades safer | CBC News Prime Minister Mark Carney raised a Pride flag on Parliament Hill Tuesday to kick off a month-long celebration of sexual and gender diversity while saying there's a brewing "backlash" to these sorts o...

He's also more recently said, "One of the strengths of Canada is recognizing that people can be who they want to be and love who they want to love. The federal government — we are the defenders of those rights." (Source: www.cbc.ca/news/politic...)

Screenshot of the article's title, DOI and publication date

One of my proudest essays to date is finally out! A text that would have helped me tremendously as a grad student: "The Political Economy of Museums" - ideal for anyone beginning to research this topic.
doi.org/10.1093/acre...

Plus, in the 20th-century one of the trans subcultures which most loved to taxonomize are also one of the least examined by contemporary queer scholars: heterosexual transvestites! If this caught your attention, please read further in this open-access article below:

doi.org/10.1177/1363...

New Publication Day! After years of research and discussion with the ever-brilliant Emily Cousens, #Sexualities has just published our open-access article “1970s Transvestite Taxonomies and the New Queer Frontier.”

doi.org/10.1177/1363...

#histsex #transhistory #queerhistory

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Historian at work!

All set up at Peel Pride to take about queer and trans history! Brought a bunch of my personal library to show off and chat!

It is supposed to be feeling as much as 40 degrees with the humidex so hopefully I don't melt!

All set up at Peel Pride to take about queer and trans history! Brought a bunch of my personal library to show off and chat!