Gay and Lbian Communy of Rega – 211 Saskatchewan

Contents:

• 'THEY FEEL SAFE': GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA CELEBRAT 50TH ANNIVERSARY
• 44 YEARS OF THE GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA
• GAY AND LBIAN ACTIVISM
• GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA
• GAY & LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA

'THEY FEEL SAFE': GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA CELEBRAT 50TH ANNIVERSARY

The Gay and Lbian Communy of Rega (GLCR) was tablished 1972 to provi a safe space for the 2SLGBTQ+ muny orr to avoid persecutn and attacks. The Gay and Lbian Communy of Rega moved s social club to 2070 Broad St. The Rega Pri Commtee is an off-shoot of the Gay and Lbian Communy of Rega (GLCR), which got gog 1972.

“I knew of a few ocsns where people had walked home the eveng om here and got a few blocks away and some people followg them, jumped out of their r, and beat them up, ” Oxelgren add that thankfully ’s not ol anymore to round-up a group of people and go beat up gays. Hillabold said most of the bs owners were gay or lbian themselv. Gay and Lbian Activism.

Gay pri para, Rega, 2003. Saskatchewan is not a place one monly associat wh gay and lbian activism - and wh good reason, for, wh s small populatn base, larger percentage of ral and small-town dwellers, and ample number of relig adherents, would not appear to have the necsary gredients for such activism.

44 YEARS OF THE GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA

Not only did Saskatchewan have pockets of activism and produce gay and lbian activists who would bee proment natnally, but for a time the mid-1970s, appeared that Saskatchewan would lead the way for Canadian regnn of sexual diversy. Formal gay activism, as opposed to rmal lbian and gay socializatn works, had existed sce the end of World War II and arrived the provce March 1971.

GAY AND LBIAN ACTIVISM

Saskatoon's Gens Hellquist placed an advertisement for “Saskatoon Gay Liberatn” Vanuver's alternative publitn The Geia Straight. This group, supplemented wh other members of Hellquist's social circle (a diverse group that clud Universy of Saskatchewan profsors, universy stunts, profsnals, and a few workg-class men and women) met to formally discs plans to anize the cy's gay muny.

The discsns led to the creatn of the Zodiac Friendship Society, an umbrella anizatn that would be voted to gay polil issu (or “liberatn” as was known the 1970s), tn, unsellg and support groups, and, most popular of all, a social club - the Gemi Club. The money generated at the weekly danc, ially held at the Unarian Centre, eventually rulted sufficient funds to open a Gay Communy Centre March 1973. The Saskatoon Gay Communy Centre was loted on prime downtown real tate.

GAY AND LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA

The only other Canadian cy to have a dited gay centre then was Toronto, and Saskatoon's achievement was a pot of nsirable pri for lol activists. In the early years, a number of short-lived activist groups, cludg Saskatoon Gay Alliance Toward Equaly (GATE) and Gay Stunts Alliance, had existed the cy. The were eventually amalgamated to Saskatoon Gay Actn (SGA), which sought to “brg about the total liberatn of the gay muny.

GAY & LBIAN COMMUNY OF REGA

” Rega activists lnched GATE Rega and the Universy of Saskatchewan Homophile Associatn (Rega Camp), but the proved very short-lived and stggled for membership. The primary foc of the Rega gay and lbian muny's energy was s social club, which was created 1973. Origally lled the “hoe on Smh Street, ” the Gay Communy of Rega (GCR), a -operative, has succsfully n a social club until the prent day, earng the distctn of operatg the longt servg gay social anizatn the untry.

In 1973, members of Saskatoon Gay Actn met wh the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commissn (SHRC) to prent a brief outlg homosexual discrimatn which urged them to remend the cln of sexual orientatn to the human rights . Had the legislative change occurred then, 1973-74, the Blakeney NDP ernment would have led the way for Canadian gays and lbians.

Another key step Saskatchewan gay activism was the publicy given to the Doug Wilson se at the Universy of Saskatchewan.