SASKATOON — The Western Development Museum and the University of Saskatchewan Archives and Special Collections will be partnering up with the Spark Your Pride committee to gather the history of the province’s LGBTQ+2S community
Cheryl Loadman, one of the committee members said both of their partners are eager to help them in gathering the stories of hardships and triumphs by those in their community.
The Spark Your Pride event was held at the WDM early this month as part of the Pride Month celebration in the city. Belinda Betker, another member of the committee, conducted a writing workshop that aims to help members of the LGBTQ+2S community write their own stories and have them recorded for future reference.
Loadman, a sessional lecturer at the University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business, said it was a successful event with roughly 100 people attending the whole-day event after almost two years of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Coming out of [the] COVID lockdown created some challenges as we knew that people might be concerned that it was too early to return in person. In reality, it was fantastic because it was a great group of people excited to be in a room filled with other gay people,” said Loadman.
“People unanimously were excited by the event. It was great to be able to get together as a community where we can feel at home and understand each other. People loved the conversations and talking and learning about our community's history.”
The Saskatoon Services senior chief executive officer added that they wanted to come up with ways to preserve and share their stories, so their names and faces won’t be forgotten.
“We hope to look for several ways to tell our story: oral history, collection and display of historic items, videos, and other narrative methods. And maybe not one book, but many since we represent different eras or generations,” said Loadman.
She added a young attendee also approached her after the event and said that it was a great experience being in a room filled with people who lived through the marches, protests and parades of the past that can only be heard before through stories told by other people.
Their committee is also looking at other events and projects that would benefit and highlight the lives of the older members of the city’s LGBTQ+2S community in the coming years.
“We are looking to identify and deliver other events. Maybe a film festival, some research activities, a theatre project or an art display. We are looking at these and any types of venues and paths that shine the light on the older LGBTQ2S experiences and stories and make them easily available to anyone and everyone,” added Loadman.
