In an effort to promote wellness through physical activity and honour BC’s Queer history in advance of Vancouver Pride, UBC’s Move U Crew partnered with local tour provider Forbidden Vancouver on June 19 to offer students a free walking tour of the city’s historic Queer landmarks.
Created and led by storyteller and historian Glenn Tkach, The Really Gay History Tour snakes through downtown Vancouver’s busy streets every week, educating clients on the wealth of Queer history that lies just below the surface.
From Burrard Street to the Davie Village, I saw how Tkach passionately related historical accounts from topics as well-known as the HIV/AIDS crisis and the myth of the Vancouver man who started it to those as intimate as the personal history of Trans and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) activist Jamie Lee Hamilton.
“This is, in many ways, kind of an invisible history,” said Tkach. “It’s not easily accessible. Some of the early stuff especially was kind of erased.”
According to Move U Crew executive Abishek Kanagasabay, the group’s partnership with Tkach and Forbidden Vancouver is one in a series of Culture Walks that sprang as an offshoot from their long-standing “Wellbeing Walk and Roll” initiative, which aims to encourage better physical and mental health through walking.
While July 19’s tour was aimed specifically at students, The Really Gay History Tour runs spring through fall and draws a wide range of demographics. Tkach pointed to bringing Vancouver’s Queer history to such a diverse audience as one of the most satisfying aspects of his job.
“Sometimes it’s older people… who have lived through some of this history themselves and are always very generous with their knowledge… Often, I think, [the audience] skews a little bit younger.”
Tkach said he especially values the opportunity to impart Queer historical knowledge to a younger generation of 2SLGBTQIA+ Vancouverites and tourists who often “are aware that there is a history and that there was some kind of struggle to get us to where we are, but don't understand what it entailed.”
I later spoke to Ron Dutton, Queer historian and founder of the Vancouver Gay and Lesbian Archives, who concurred that the modern Queer community is facing a dearth of generational passed down knowledge.
“[Different generations of Queer people] have never been less well integrated than they are at the moment,” said Dutton. “[In the 70s,] .... how you learned about your predecessors was by listening to your elders talk… That wonderful way in which you learned about your people’s history is over.”
Tkach is happy to try and bring such knowledge to a young, often Queer, audience with his tour.
“I find that young people are quite hungry to know about this,” he said. “That’s always rewarding for me.”
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