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Stratford Pride - A Column, Stratford, ON (2024)

01/12/2024

Friday, mid-January. Time to take a mid winter break and really pay attention to looking after my health. The Column will be offline for that time. Cheers.

01/11/2024

If, like me, you weren't able to attend last evening's LGBTQ+ Community Conversation at Avondale United Church, both Stratford Today and The Stratford Times were planning some coverage, so keep an eye out for something potentially as soon as today in Today.

01/06/2024

Queens at The Queen's in March 2022 for Stratford's first Winter Pride. The hotel changed ownership this week.

01/06/2024

In March 2022, as the world was slowly reopening Barb and Jay jumped right in when I asked if they could host the first Winter Pride. And they had a blast.

Stratford hoteliers checking out after almost 30 years of running the Queen's Inn
After more than 30 years at Stratford's Queen's Inn and Boar's Head Pub, Barb Ford and her husband Larry (not pictured) are retiring. Their son Jay, who has been part of the family business since the 1990s, will continue his roles under new ownership that takes over Jan. 4.
The principle owners of the venerable hotel and its Boar’s Head Pub worked their final day Wednesday before new owners take over.
“I really expected when I first came here it would be five years, and then I would move to something different,” Barb Ford said. “It kind of gets you. The folks, the guests in summertime, it was so hard saying goodbye to them.”
The couple, now in their late 60s, said their goodbyes this week with a “teary” celebration Tuesday that included many past employees stopping by to share memories and offer well wishes.
Some worked at the inn or pub for a short time, while others, like Barb’s best friend from high school, spent 25 years there and is also retiring.
“A lot of the guests who come through are like an extension of our family, and for sure the people who work here are (also like family),” she said. “We really care about them"
Most of the inn’s owners in 1992 were family when Barb took a job as a bookkeeper. She and her husband took over the inn in 1995 and the pub two years later.
After discovering her talents weren’t best used as a server, Barb was often the first face guests saw when they checked in to the Queen’s building that was rebuilt in 1908 following a fire.
“I love that we could make a difference in people’s experience in Stratford,” she said. “I love that we could be a part of that. We’ve gotten to know guests from different places from all over the world, and the nice thing is they bring their kids and now they’re bringing their grandkids, and I love that.”
Though most of the memories are positive, the first two years of the pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to the couple.
“Lots of sleepless nights, lots of wondering if we were going to get through to the next stage,” Barb said. “We’ve had a lot of people through the years who have approached us about purchasing, but this was the right time. I feel like this was a good match. Some of (the new owners) are local, and we know one of the purchasers, which made us feel more comfortable.”
Barb and Larry’s son, Jay, will continue working at the pub, along with other family and many of the current employees at the restaurant and 32-room inn, and Barb is already looking forward to returning as a guest. Then she can ask about ladies’ night, which was an annual tradition for 25 years with more than 40 women in her immediate and extended family having dinner, themed parties and breakfast the next morning.
“It’s like a rite of passage and people would look forward to it,” she said. “Everyone has been devastated since the sale worrying if we’re going to continue it.
“That was so much my fun night.”
The new ownership group takes over Thursday, and it should be business as usual in the short term for both the inn and pub.
“I want them to succeed,” Barb said. “I think this building should be around in 200 more years.
“It’s just being a part of this beautiful history, but I’m ready to retire.”
Cory Smith/ Beacon Herald

01/01/2024

I'll start the Column in 2024 with a list of the most gay friendly places in Canada.
For the second year in a row: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, St. John's NL, Halifax, Nelson BC.
I still think Stratford should be there especially when you note the number of places in the West.

12/29/2023

Next book just arrived from Amazon (only because it's self published, so bookstores unavailable) a self described sequel to E. M. Forster's Maurice.

12/27/2023

Glad to have helped

12/25/2023

No news today, just one big Merry Christmas.

12/19/2023

A little late day news.
My LGBTQ column won't be appearing in the Statford Times this Friday as scheduled.
That's good news.
I got a letter from my new editor, Amanda Modaragamage, saying in the new year they're planning to "enhance the quality of the paper, which means we're looking to offer more engaging and insightful articles for readers" and that includes my monthly column.
"We have wonderful, diverse readers, and adding a column designated to the LGBTQ2SI+ community is excellent".
So, hang on a bit longer. We'll finally get this unique offering into print in the new year.
Cheers,
BDS
Happiness is a progressive editor.

12/17/2023

Nothing going on in q***r Stratford-Perth to report. So this week a little note that a lot of favourites come with the free movie channels this month. Victor Victoria and To Wong Foo... to name just two.

12/11/2023

Fellow Travelers
When the movie Brokeback Mountain was released I went to see it at a sparsely attended mid-week matinee in downtown Toronto. When the lights came up at the end on the few of us there that afternoon, there was an older man sitting alone in the sixth row centre.
He was quietly sobbing into a handkerchief.
There wasn’t anyone sitting nearer to him than I was. I wasn’t sure if I should go over and ask if he was alright, or leave him alone.
Embarrassed, I left him alone.
Fellow Travellers, a new 8-part limited series on Paramount +, is going to bring out similarly powerful , personal responses from gay men of a certain age who will find this intense drama comes close to the bone of their own personal lives. Only this time, in the privacy of our own homes.
Google’s synopsis:
Based on the 2007 fictional novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon, “Fellow Travelers” follows the paths of political staffers Hawkins Fuller and Tim Laughlin, whose paths converge at the height of the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Despite the constant threat of getting caught, their searing love for each other only intensifies in the tumultuous decades that follow. Their volatile romance spans the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, as they face obstacles in the world and in themselves.
Part 8 airs this Friday. A warning: you may be compelled to binge watch what’s come before, but it’s brutally intense if your life includes any part of this history.
For anyone younger, you may find it hard to believe things were this way. It’s the sort of viewing that begs for discussion groups that bring younger and older gay men together to share. Alas, there’s no such opportunity arranged here.
Nevertheless, it’s not to be missed.
Paramount+ offers free 7-day subscriptions.

The much anticipated Fellow Travelers is an epic love story and political thriller led by Matt Bomer (The Normal Heart, The Boys in the Band) and Jonathan Ba...

12/10/2023

Monday in the Column: Fellow Travelers.

12/05/2023

Also being ignored by the SPCC is Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week. https://caan.ca/events.../indigenous-aids-awareness-week/
Both dates are being ignored by the Stratford-Perth Pride organization, too. But I consider the neglect by the SPCC to be more aggregious as the SPCC is supposed to be a year-round in-real-life full service community centre.

Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week Events & Workshops Home Events & Workshops Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week Font Size: Smaller | Larger Home Events & Workshops Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week CAAN continues to support World AIDS Day on December 1st of each year and launches a week-long national public a...

12/04/2023

OPINION:

An LGBTQ+ community centre ignored Worlds AIDS Day. Believe it?

To be specific, the Strafford Pride Community Centre (SPCC) ignored World AIDS Day.

To be even more specific, Heather McDowell, executive director of our community centre ignored and abandoned every local who is living with HIV/AIDS. And those who care for and love them. She left no one in her place for her absence. The community centre just went silent.

How heartless.

12/02/2023

Am I wrong or did not one LGBTQ organization in this area mark World AIDS Day? Not one.

12/01/2023

They've posted this 3 days in a row. WTF?

11/28/2023

If you're thinking about a community donation on this Giving Tuesday, I recommend you https://stratfordperthpride.com/

Donate to Stratford-Perth Pride Stratford-Perth is committed to making all of Perth County a place where no matter who you love or how you identify, you will be safe, valued, equal and proud. We are not a registered charity at this time, so your donation will not be tax deductible. We hope to receiv...

11/27/2023

I was hoping to have a list of winter events that could bring the q***r crowd out from the city to Stratford for a day or a weekend this winter. But I've only one item, it turns out. That's https://lightsonstratford.ca/. Not to perpetuate stereotypes, but we do love the fabulous.
We also tend to be film buffs. I've been waiting to see the line-up for the announced Stratford Winter Film Festival, Feb. 9-11. But one FB post from the organizers last week admitted they didn't meet their Feb. 15 date for release of details.
There's some growing local frustration over this event. It's very secretive. Since the announcement months ago that the organizers were awarded a tourism grant aimed at bringing tourists here during off-season, the whole thing's been a mystery. No names of human being involved. Just some general mission statements very well-written but telling little. Is that fair?
Speaking of mystery, there's still not a peep from the Stratford Pride Community Centre on Winter Pride. Normally held on several days in mid-February, its third annual iteration was, as of last July, scheduled for the weekend now inhabited by the Film Festival (so far as we know).
We'll watch the scene and let you know when developments occur. Right now, it seems Stratford isn't quite ready for its close-up.

11/24/2023

Monday in "Stratford Pride - The Column": Stratford for the q***rs in winter. But what? A message to the out of town g**s and those who want to reach out to them. StratfordON Stratford BIA. DM your biz/event info for publication early Monday morning.

11/24/2023

I'm so glad this worked out with an enthusiastic Stratford audience.

As president of the Stratford Pride Community Centre in 2022 I got help from my friend Martin Withenshaw at Rainbow Optimist Club in London, which does these events in libraries in London Middlesex, Elgin and Oxford, found two drag artists who could travel to Stratford, brought in Stratford Public Library and Madelyn's Diner (now closed) as funding partners and launched regularly scheduled events in the SPCC show room. By June Pride Month, the library was ready to offer its larger auditorium. We moved and watched the audience jump from 20 to 100.
Fanfare Books generously replaces Madelyns as sponsore and the library has taken ongoing charge of these events and its board of directors has promised a solid commitment.
I've moved on from the SPCC, happy to have been able to bring Drag Story Time to Stratford on a permanent and regular basis. Cheers, all!

11/21/2023

A Visit With Barbara Storey

I had coffee Friday morning at Balzac's with Barbara Storey. One of my favourite people. And, DYK, the first general manager (position now called executive director) at The Stratford Pride Community Centre & Pride Guide in Spring 2022?

I announced back then:

Stratford, ON, April 5, 2022 – The Stratford Pride Community Centre (SPCC) Board of Directors at a meeting last night appointed Barbara L.B. Storey as general manager of the community organization’s headquarters in downtown Stratford.

SPCC’s HQ at 24 Downie St. will contain its central offices, community meeting rooms, resource centre and library and drop-in centre when it opens June 1, 2022.

“Barbara has the kind of personality that will make you feel welcome the minute you walk in the door,” said President and Chairman of the Board Bruce Duncan Skeaff.

Born and raised in Stratford, Barbara moved to New York City as a young adult, earned a degree in art history at Barnard College of Columbia University, and worked many years in the publishing world. After the shock of 9/11, she decided it was time to leave New York and returned to Stratford.

Over the last 20 years, Barbara has become an important part of the arts community and specializes in fine art photography and digital art. She is a key player in Stratford’s Art in the Park. She also has experience in retail management, rounding out her qualifications for the GM’s job at SPCC-HQ.

We were flooded with messages of congratulations on Barbara as our choice.

It was great fun working together over the following weeks to furnish and prepare the community centre and Barbara jumped aboard our website and social media with warm welcoming messages to all.

But then, on June 22, 2022, I had to write:

NEWS RELEASE -- "With a great deal of sadness, I have to announce the retirement of our general manager at the SPCC, Barbara Storey," said President and Chairman of the Board, Bruce Duncan Skeaff.

"Barbara phoned me Tuesday to say her doctor has prescribed longterm rest after being hospitalized with pneumonia three weeks ago," he said.

"I can no longer give the job the time and attention it deserves," she said.

A search for a new general manager begins immediately. A position description will be posted on the SPCC website later today. It's a post that has the potential to become a paid fulltime job in 2023.

We had no luck finding someone on short notice, so I had to take over the position (not at all in my plans – I’m not the warm and cuddly type) until June this year when the SPCC took on a paid part-time executive director.

Barbara ever since has struggled with health troubles that she has chronicled for her friends on Facebook. While unable to return to her involvement in Art in the Park, she manages to produce some art work and is taking part in the current exhibit at Matilda Swanson Art Gallery.

And she’s dipped her hand back into the publishing world with her own imprint, https://www.storeylinespress.com/, and says she’d love to connect with local q***r authors looking for a publisher.

(pic: Spring, 2022, Barbara tries out an arm chair as we began furnishing the SPCC)

11/20/2023

Postponing the Column until Tuesday while pausing for today's day of remembrance.

11/17/2023

Could be fascinating or dull, dull, dull.

11/13/2023

Books, books, books.
First the bad news:
The Waterloo Catholic District School Board is restricting access to four books with LGBTQ themes selected as part of a provincial program intended to engage elementary and secondary school students in reading a diverse range of books.
Danny Ramadan's middle-grade novel “Salma Writes a Book” is one of four titles with LGBTQ themes or characters nominated for the annual Forest of Reading awards that have been restricted for use by students at the WCDSB.
Ramadan, who is the chair of The Writer's Union of Canada and whose book focuses on a Muslim girl who can’t understand why her q***r uncle is not immediately welcomed into her nuclear family, says the decision to restrict a title dealing with the confluence of LGBTQ issues and religion is ironic. “The book is about a religious family, albeit Muslim, that is coming to terms with their q***r uncle, then learning by the end of the book that they can be religious and q***r friendly,” he says.
The other books are, aside from Ramadan’s, “The Mystery of the Painted Fan” by Linda Trinh, “Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill” by Maureen Fergus,, and “Jude Saves the World” by Ronnie Riley.
The four books, which have been ordered by participating schools in the WCDSB, will be restricted based on their content. The board has a family life curriculum that begins in grades 7 and 8, says Lema Salaymeh, senior manager of communications for the WCDSB. The four titles are directed at students between JK and grade 6.
Now, all the good news:
Friday, the latest Q***r Book of the Month selection was reviewed and posted by the Stratford Public Library, in partnership with SPCC, CJCS radio and the Stratford Times.
Also Friday, the library announced the return of Drag Story Time, assisted with sponsorship from Fanfare Books and the SPCC, Nov. 25.
Books Read/To Read:
I just finished The B-Side of Daniel Garneau, by gay Toronto novelist David Kingston Yeh. You’ll like this especially if you enjoy noels telling of the adventures of a group of friends, such as the famous American Buddies series and the beloved Boys Like Us trilogy from Toronto writer Peter McGehee.
In the current edition of the Gay & Le***an Review, Felice Picano reviews Stephan Greco’s new novel Such God Friends, A Novel of Truman Capote and Lee Radziwill. It looks good and dishy as any non-fiction novel in the Capote/Radziwill (Jackie O’s sister) must be.
I ordered a copy yesterday. At $23 for almost 500 pages, it’s also a bargain.
And finally for this week, a note that tonight is the awarding of The Giller Prize, Canada’s top book award.

A Novel of Truman Capote & Lee Radziwill