Basically Queer

Drs. Claire Robson and Jen Marchbank are faculty members at Simon Fraser University. Kelsey Blair is a doctoral student there. Contributors to the anthology include members of Quirk-e, the Queer Imaging & Riting Kollective for Elders, whose 26 members have worked together in Vancouver for ten years under the direction of Robson and Blair. The youth authors are drawn from Youth for A Change, an advocacy/activist youth group led by Marchbank and her wife, Sylvie Traphan. The group offers training and education to schools and other organizations, and monitors policy decisions by local government.

• Preface – Acknowledgements – Introduction – Section One: Why Does Language Matter? – Judy Fletcher/Bill Morrow: Verbal Attacks – Pat Hogan/Gayle Roberts/Farren Gillaspie: Why Does Language Matter? – Basic Queer Vocabulary – Things We Get Called – Anna R. Westhaver: Beware – Pat Hogan: A Jab Rap for All Who Don’t Fit In – Harris Taylor: One for the Team – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: Was There Ever a Moment of Decision for You About Your Orientation/Gender I.D.? – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: I Am He – Cyndia Cole: Firm – Jasmine Broeder: I Am a Fucking Bisexual – Pat Hogan: "Still a Lesbian After All These Years – Nancy Strider: Plain Brown Wrapper – Section Two: Queer History – Cyndia Cole/Val Innes/Ellen Woodsworth: Introduction to the History of the Queer Movement – Christine Waymark: Stonewalled – Bill Morrow/Judy Fletcher: Homophobic Homo– Greta Hurst: Love in Montreal – Ellen Woodsworth: Standing Out and Standing Up as Lesbian Feminists – Pat Hogan: Before I Knew the Word – Section Three: What’s It Like to Be Queer? – Claire Robson: What’s It Like to Be Queer? – Candy Fine: Misunderstood – Syd Oremek: Young, Homeless, and Positive – Judy Fletcher: My Walk in the Sunshine – Nancy Strider: Last Dance – Chris Morrissey: Life Insurance – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: In-Between – Caroline Doerksen: You Would Be Pretty If … – Judy Fletcher: How Am I Different? Let Me Count the Ways – Cyndia Cole: Lost and Found – Caroline Doerksen: First Queer Event – Val Innes: First Time’s Special – Harris Taylor: Mercy – Section Four: Queers in Family – Val Innes: Queers in Family – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: You Aren’t a Boy – Harris Taylor: For Sale: Used Family – Bridget Coll: Adopted Grammas – Chris Morrissey: The Last Goodbye – Robin Rennie: The Drop-In – Val Innes: Androgyny Is My Sanity – Chris Morrissey: Class Ring – Judy Fletcher: All Girls Can Have Curls – Marsha Ablowitz: Max Dexall – Farren Gillaspie: Faith – Christine Waymark: Not the Piece I Was Meant to Write – GG: The Way Forward—Notes for a Screenplay – Paddy St. Loe: Our Pam’s Gone Funny – Cyndia Cole: Fighting for Life – Section Five: Equal Rights or More Rights? – Chris Morrissey/Christine Waymark: Equal Rights or More Rights? – Syd Oremek: The Queer Agenda – Harris Taylor: Gay Blue Jeans Day – Christine Waymark: Veiled – What the Youth Had to Say About Rights – Chris Morrissey: Who Says We Have All Our Rights? – Paula Stromberg: It’s Not My 77th Birthday. We Got Married – Cyndia Cole: Just and Mighty – Farren Gillaspie: Love It, Leave It, or Change It – Cyndia Cole: Taking LGBTQA2S+ Rights to the World Stage: An Interview With Ellen Woodsworth – Section Six: What Does It Mean to Be an Ally? – Val Innes: What Does It Mean to Be an Ally? – The Importance of Allies: From a Youth Perspective – Cyndia Cole: An Ally in Queer Space – Reba Broadhurst: Boy Do People Ever Piss Me Off – Gayle Roberts: Dear Parent of a Gender-Variant Child – Judy Fletcher: Ham Sandwiches for No One – Farren Gillaspie: Cousin Maurice – Marsha Ablowitz: Jean, the Boy-Girl 1976 – Val Innes: A Letter to School Teachers – Val Innes: Gay Pride in San Francisco – Section Seven: Born or Made – Gwyneth Bowen/Nancy Strider: "If It Ain’t Broke …" – Gayle Roberts: The Girl in the Pond – Aleisha Ross: Do I Have the Right to Write? – Farren Gillaspie: An Inner Yearning Yet to Be Named – Skylar Cogswell-Shears: Gender Is a Spectrum - Gayle Roberts: John Doe Android Instruction Manual – Candy Fine: As the Spotlight Shimmers – Section Eight: Youth and Elders – Marsha Ablowitz/Farren Gillaspie: About Youth and Elders – Jake Marchbank: What We Queer Youth Have Got from Working with Our Queer Elders – Shawnee Gaffney: Queer and in Care – Val Innes: In the Shadows of the Moment – Chris Morrissey: Widowhood –Candy Fine: Youth - Stephen Hardy: My New Moccasins – Gwyneth Bowen: Psalm 69 (and All the Other Numbers) – Cyndia Cole: Backflips – Maggie Shore: Shards and Scree – Section Nine: Tips and Tricks for Living Queer – Farren Gillaspie: Start With a Smile – Stephen Hardy: Keep Healthy – Nancy Strider: Tips and Tricks for Asexuals (and Others Travelling Alone) – Anna R. Westhaver: A Practical Guide to Lesbian Identification in the 21st Century – Queer 101: What Everyone Needs to Know, From the Youth – Queer 101: What Everyone Needs to Know, From the Elders – Final Thoughts – About the Authors – Recommended Reading – Index.

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