Ottawa Gay Men's Chos turns 20 | Xtra Magaze

Contents:

• CHOR GAI D'OTTAWA GAY MEN'S CHOS
• CHOR GAI D'OTTAWA GAY MEN'S CHOS
• GAYWILL AMBASSADORS PROGRAMPLEASE NSIR BEG A GAYWILL AMBASSADOR FOR THE CHOS. THROUGH YOUR SPONSORSHIP WE ARE ABLE TO NTUE OFFERG QUALY PERFORMANC TO YOU AND TO THE WIR MUNY. THE OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS WAS TABLISHED 1986, MAKG THE SEND GAY CHOIR TO BE FORMED CANADA AND THE OLST SUCH CHOIR ONTAR. PLEASE HELP TO STAY STRONG AND TO GROW.OUR 2022 SEASON AMBASSADORSATTACHÉ ($25 – $99) DIPLOMAT ($100 – $499)THOMAS J. WILKSON AMBASSADOR ($500 – $999)ALA BERTRAND • CL DUNE • EVAN NICHOLAS LEO HAZENBERG • MARCEL MILOT • MICHELLE SPEELMAN VEY • BENO RICHERHIGH COMMISSNER ($1000+)DIANA L. STIMSON  • GUY DELORMETHANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS!  LEVELS OF SUPPORT:ATTACHé: $25 – $99DIPLOMAT:  $100 – $499 (CLUS 1 TICKET FOR EACH NCERT)AMBASSADOR: $500 – $999 (CLUS 2 TICKETS FOR EACH NCERT)HIGH COMMISSNER:  $1,000 AND UP (CLUS 2 TICKETS TO EACH NCERT, AND 2 TICKETS FOR EACH ADDNAL CHOS-N EVENT)ALL GAYWILL AMBASSADORS RECEIVE:ACKNOWLEDGMENT OUR NCERT PROGRAMS AND ON OUR WEBSE FOR THE CURRENT SEASONAN E TAX RECEIPT FOR THE PORTN OF YOUR DONATN (M THE VALUE OF TICKETS RECEIVED)AN VATN TO CHOS SPECIAL EVENTSDISUNTS ON PROGRAM ADVERTISGFOR MORE RMATN, PLEASE NTACT .DONATNS
• HALIFAX'S ONLY GAY MEN'S CHOS IS PERFORMG LIVE AGA AFTER 2 YEARS
• MILLY SPEAKG: OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS
• OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS TURNS 20

CHOR GAI D'OTTAWA GAY MEN'S CHOS

Chor gai d’Ottawa Gay Men’s Chos is a lol, pennt, charable anizatn, the missn of which is to perform qualy choral mic and to ntribute to the LGBTQ muny. The chos achiev s missn by: providg an opportuny for gay men to affirm their inty providg mutual support for members promotg LGBTQ artists and their works broang mil tast velopg mil skills buildg a bilgual repertoire -operatg wh other elements of the LGBTQ muny to foster a posive imageHistoryPrepared by John Foster wh the llaboratn of Cl Dune and (trans.

CHOR GAI D'OTTAWA GAY MEN'S CHOS

) Marcel THE INITIATIVEIn the summer of 1986 Gordon Johnston, spired by the example of the Vanuver Men’s Chos, nceived of a gay men’s choral group for Ottawa. Through ntacts the gay muny, cludg the Metropolan Communy Church, active at the time, he brought together a small anisg group late Augt, cludg Barry Deeprose, Tom Gallagher, Mark Krayenhoff, Glen Lewis and Ralph Whke.

Gordon creds his origal strong Mormon inty wh shapg his approach to beg gay. “Beg gay and beg rejected by my own system was my salvatn. ” Wh his mother, he worked wh the Parents of Lbians and Gays Salt Lake Cy, mentg “You know, that’s like foundg the Orange Lodge at the Vatin.

GAYWILL AMBASSADORS PROGRAMPLEASE NSIR BEG A GAYWILL AMBASSADOR FOR THE CHOS. THROUGH YOUR SPONSORSHIP WE ARE ABLE TO NTUE OFFERG QUALY PERFORMANC TO YOU AND TO THE WIR MUNY. THE OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS WAS TABLISHED 1986, MAKG THE SEND GAY CHOIR TO BE FORMED CANADA AND THE OLST SUCH CHOIR ONTAR. PLEASE HELP TO STAY STRONG AND TO GROW.OUR 2022 SEASON AMBASSADORSATTACHÉ ($25 – $99) DIPLOMAT ($100 – $499)THOMAS J. WILKSON AMBASSADOR ($500 – $999)ALA BERTRAND • CL DUNE • EVAN NICHOLAS LEO HAZENBERG • MARCEL MILOT • MICHELLE SPEELMAN VEY • BENO RICHERHIGH COMMISSNER ($1000+)DIANA L. STIMSON  • GUY DELORMETHANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS!  LEVELS OF SUPPORT:ATTACHé: $25 – $99DIPLOMAT:  $100 – $499 (CLUS 1 TICKET FOR EACH NCERT)AMBASSADOR: $500 – $999 (CLUS 2 TICKETS FOR EACH NCERT)HIGH COMMISSNER:  $1,000 AND UP (CLUS 2 TICKETS TO EACH NCERT, AND 2 TICKETS FOR EACH ADDNAL CHOS-N EVENT)ALL GAYWILL AMBASSADORS RECEIVE:ACKNOWLEDGMENT OUR NCERT PROGRAMS AND ON OUR WEBSE FOR THE CURRENT SEASONAN E TAX RECEIPT FOR THE PORTN OF YOUR DONATN (M THE VALUE OF TICKETS RECEIVED)AN VATN TO CHOS SPECIAL EVENTSDISUNTS ON PROGRAM ADVERTISGFOR MORE RMATN, PLEASE NTACT .DONATNS

” And ed, the social and polil ntext of the 1980’s was very OTTAWA, IN THE CANADA OF THE 1980s Although Jtice Mister Pierre T clared that the state was gettg out of the bedrooms of the natn wh reforms to the crimal 1969, did not “legalize” homosexualy, and life for homosexuals was hardly simple the 1970s and 1980s.

Neverthels Ontar police ntued what historian Gary Ksman terms a “war on gays” across southern Ontar bars, washrooms and parks. Prott and advocy by gay men and women ntued, public support for human rights protectn amplified, and 1986 the Peterson mory provcial ernment passed Bill 7, which clud addg sexual orientatn to the Ontar Human Rights Co.

Th, gay inty and public regnn was phed forward the 1970s and 1980s by diverse efforts, often led by Ottawa-based activists. Gays of Ottawa (GO) began meetg at St. It began, publishg Go Info (om 1972), and was the base for the Canadian Gay Rights Coaln the late 1970s.

HALIFAX'S ONLY GAY MEN'S CHOS IS PERFORMG LIVE AGA AFTER 2 YEARS

L McAfee and others anized the first eratn of Egale (Equaly for Gays and Lbians Everywhere), stmental advancg gay and lbian public policy objectiv for more than two s. In 1989 GO beme the Associatn of Gays and Lbians of Ottawa (ALGO). By the early 1980s a rponsive Gayle was providg an rmatn and advice service to llers.

The threat of HIV/AIDS was creasgly nstant the gay muny the mid-1980s. Providg space for gay social life – danc and a licensed bar – beme part of GO’s missn, as well as a source of fundg. “Shas was for a while the most popular gay bar town…It is also important to mentn the absolutely HOT night life on the Quebec si, so on snowy wter nights after everythg shut down at Shas and the Centretown Pub a le-up of bs would be wag to ferry all across to the two-story Le Club on Eddy Street, was fantastic.

MILLY SPEAKG: OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE GAY CHOIR MOVEMENT When the Men’s Chos was anized ’s name omted the word “Gay”, even though many outsi the chos as well wh knew that was posed of gay men.

As Gordon Johnston mented, “if we’d had the “g” word there would have been the Ottawa gay men’s duet. In March 1987 members were ved to share “posn papers” on the gay inty of the chos and a chos “Summ” was held at the Wakefield Uned Church for this and other discsns.

A nuanced approach was tablished, for example, g the membership of the Chos the ternatnal gay and lbian choral associatn (GALA) only on certa chos announcements, notg the possibily that “Chos members who object to the e of the announcement specific circumstanc might absent themselv om that performance whout prejudice.

OTTAWA GAY MEN’S CHOS TURNS 20

The Chos has missned and prented the world premiere of two works: Rob Grabell’s Romance du prtemps and a trilogy of gay untry songs entled Homo on the Range by Andy T. Publitns like GO Info helped give the chos some profile the chos veloped missn statement (1988) aimg “to perform qualy men’s choral mic and to ntribute to the gay muny by:providg an opportuny for gay men to affirm their intyprovidg an atmosphere of mutual support for memberspromotg gay artists and their worksenlargg mil tastevelopg mil skillsbuildg bilgual repertoireoperatg wh other elements of the gay muny to foster a posive gay image. ”Support om outsi Ottawa was important, particularly the enuragement received om the Vanuver Gay Men’s Chos and s director, Willy Zwozsky, who vised Ottawa for a pan-Canadian gay choir ftival 1991.

Havg been spired by the Vanuver example, the OMC unrtook a ncert at the Maison la Culture Frontenac eastern Montreal December, 1989 “to enurage the formatn of a gay muny chos” that cy. In 1989 began the procs of seekg Feral Charable Stat, which was nfirmed March, FIRSTSWhile the Ottawa Men’s Chos was the first such group Eastern Canada, was the send Canada, followg on the mol of the Vanuver Men’s jot ncert wh Toronto Gay Men’s Chos, Toronto and Ottawa, April 15, April 22, ncert at St. Summer Gala, First jot Lbian and Gay Chos event, wh Toronto Gay Men’s Chos, Vanuver Gay Men’s Chos and the Ottawa Women’s Chos, St.