In 1991 the Loud & Queer Cabaret was the Edmonton LGBTQ community’s answer to a political discussion that began when Delwin Vriend lost his job as a teacher at King’s College simply for being gay. At that time, Alberta’s Individual Rights Protection Act did not include sexual orientation on the list of protected subsections.

So Darrin Hagen begins his introduction of the Loud & Queer Anthology Queering the Way, a collection of written works that "attempt to present a snapshot of the event" – 20 years of "the never-ending smorgasbord of art that has been paraded across the stage" of western Canada’s longest running queer occasion.

Upon the 1991 dismissal, and amid the Alberta government’s "uneasy relationship with anything not straight-white-male-cowboy" Ruth Smillie, then director for the Catalyst Theatre, approached Hagen and his partner/publicist Kevin Hendricks with an inspiration to launch the province’s first Queer arts event.

With the exception of the "dark year" of 1995, which followed a negative media slandering of the Cabaret in a news series that aired on Edmonton’s ITV station entitled "You Paid For It", Loud & Queer has treated audiences to "full evenings of artists, boasting newcomers and veterans alike, ...spanning every artistic discipline" for two decades straight.

Hagen, artistic director of the famed Guys in Disguise, editor of the anthology and the steadfast backbone of the L&Q Cabaret, curates and directs this year’s event which is to take place Saturday November 5th and Sunday November 6th at Edmonton’s La Cite Francophone.

"Even though something like an anniversary is a completely artificial construct, it does create an opportunity to attempt to define the event," Hagen says.

"As a prairie Queer, one notices that most of the LGBTQ art that gets national profile originates from the larger Queer metros. It’s extremely satisfying to me to see the stellar work emerging from the prairies."

"Not only is it exciting to hear a new story of the Queer experience, but it’s absolutely necessary. The story of Queer Canada isn’t complete without these voices."

The L&Q Cabaret has kick started the careers of Canadian performers, debuted more than 100 different works, and brought to the Alberta stage esteemed talents such as Dan Savage, Ronnie Burkett and Mark Meer.

"Loud & Queer has launched writers, performers, musicians, comedians and filmmakers," Hagan writes. "It has featured dancers, singer-songwriters, monologists, spoken-word artists, poets, and belly dancers; Opera; Heavy metal; Drag queens; Drag kings; Performance artists; Activists; Politicians."

This year’s line-up promises no different; organizers recommend that tickets be purchased in advance. Saturday night slates a "mix of acts, tracts, rants, dance, plays, scenes, monologues, film, drag and music from emerging and established LGBTQ writers", while Sunday hosts Queering the Way - A Retrospective that will return to the stage a sampling of the Cabaret’s most memorable pieces in honour of the L&Q’s Anthology launch. It is described as cast members and guests from 20 years of cabarets reprising some of their most notorious, hilarious and poignant moments.

A visit from Canadian play write and icon Daniel MacIvor, reading from some of his most recent work, is also scheduled.

Queering the Way; The Loud & Queer Anthology, edited by Darrin Hagen and published by Brindle & Glass, can be purchased – and autographed by some of the authors – at the Cabaret or on online through BrindleandGlass.com.

"I... wanted to honour the efforts of writers whom I felt were personally transformed by the [L&Q] experience," Hagen says of composing the anthology, which came together quickly between last year’s Cabaret and it submission for publication this June. "Some of the writers in the collection are published here for the very first time. I respect artists who see what an opportunity like L&Q can do for their craft, and use it to hone their skills or their career."

"Also, I wanted readers who had never attended the event to get a taste of what it’s like sitting in the audience," he continues. "That means the anthology had to embrace the diversity and variety that hits the stage every year – stylistically, thematically and emotionally."

Poignant, funny, sad and titillating: Queering the Way offers an interesting read, and a wonderful recap and celebration of how far the festival and Alberta’s LBGTQ community in general has come in the past 20 years.

"I hope people find something in the collection that moves them, or makes them laugh, or opens their minds to a new way of looking at things," Hagen says. "And I hope they embrace it as an important milestone in Alberta’s Queer history."