In a Queer Country

by Goldie, Terry

• ISBN13: 9781551521053
• ISBN10: 1551521059
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Pr Ltd

Summary

In terms of rights and freedoms for queers, Canada holds an international reputation as among the most liberal of nations. Yet this picture of harmonious gay and lesbian assimilation is nothing if not fractured and fraught with the contradictions of place, privilege, race, and gender. In a Queer Country is a groundbreaking collection of fourteen essays on the struggles, pleasures, and contradictions of queer culture and public life in Canada. Versed in queer social history as well as leading-edge gay and lesbian studies, queer theory, and post-colonial studies, In a Queer Country confronts queer culture from various perspectives relevant to international audiences. Topics range from the politics of the family and spousal rights to queer black identity, from pride parade fashions to lesbian park rangers. Specific essays include Tom Waugh (Hard to Imagine, Lust Unearthed (Arsenal), Outlines (Arsenal)) on Montreal and Toronto's queer cinema of the '60s and '70s; Gary Kinsman's critique of nationalism, both queer and Canadian; Lynn Fernie in an interview on her extraordinary award-winning documentary about lesbians in the 1950s, Forbidden Love; Elaine Pigeon on Michel Tremblay's classic play Hosanna and its author's attempts to mingle sexual, class and Quebec Nationalist politics; and Gordon Brent Ingram on nude beaches and aspects of gay male public space. Includes numerous photographs and illustrations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Introduction	1	(6)
Terry Goldie
Queer Nation?	7	(20)
Terry Goldie
Hosanna! Michel Tremblay's Queering of National Identity	27	(23)
Elaine Pigeon
Talking Forbidden Love: An Interview with Lynne Fernie	50	(19)
Terry Goldie
Buller Men and Batty Bwoys: Hidden Men in Toronto and Halifax Black Communities	69	(17)
Wesley Crichlow
``Family'' as a Site of Contestation: Queering the Normal or Normalizing the Queer?	86	(17)
Michelle K. Owen
Can You See the Difference?: Queerying the Nation, Ethnicity, Festival, and Culture in Winnipeg	103	(19)
Pauline Greenhill
The Bisexuality Wars: The Perils of Identity as Marginality	122	(16)
Zoe Newman
Imagining an Intercultural Nation: A Moment in Canadian Queer Cinema	138	(22)
James Allan
The Elephant, the Mouse, and the Lesbian National Park Rangers	160	(15)
bj wray
Having a Gay Old Time in Paris: John Glassco's Not-So-Queer Adventures	175	(13)
Andrew Lesk
Redesigning Wreck: Beach Meets Forest as Location of Male Homoerotic Culture & Placemaking in Pacific Canada	188	(21)
Gordon Brent Ingram
Challenging Canadian and Queer Nationalisms	209	(26)
Gary Kinsman
Siting Lesbians: Urban Spaces and Sexuality	235	(22)
Catherine Nash
Wear It with Pride: The Fashions of Toronto's Pride Parade and Canadian Queer Identities	257	(28)
Andrea N. Frolic
Fairy Tales of Two Cities: or Queer Nation(s)---National Cinema(s)	285	(21)
Thomas Waugh
Index	306	(5)
Notes on Contributors	311