Did you know that as recent as 2002, Goliaths, Calgary’s only gay bathhouse was raided by the Calgary Police? Were you aware that at the first Pride Calgary march nearly 22 years ago, many of its participants had to wear paper bags over their heads for fear of being recognized in a then, homophobic city? As you are reading GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine were you aware that the company originated in 1992 as Men for Men BBS, a dial-up bulletin board system for gay men to chat and share pictures?
Odds are, you may not have known all of these facts – if you did, I am very impressed! For the rest of us, unless you decided to set up camp in the archive section of the Glenbow Museum, most of the queer history of Calgary does not occupy a spot in your mind. That’s why Justine Bonczek, co-chair of the Miscellaneous Youth Network is working on making queer history a common part of our vocabulary.
Bonczek is not your average 20 year old, and even if you don’t think you know her, odds are you probably do. Not only does she co-chair Miscellaneous Youth, she is also the Executive Director of Mosaic, a bi-weekly queer youth group. She is the Outreach Director of Pride Calgary, a public speaker on queer topics at local high schools, and when she has the time, works a full-time job. She is also a performer with the Fake Moustache Drag King troupe. If you were at Pride Calgary last year she was the rainbow glitter girl at the head of the parade. If you were at Vancouver Pride, perhaps you saw her marching with Pride Calgary rounding up hundreds of thousands of parade spectators to yell YEE-HAW!!
As if she doesn’t have enough on her plate, Justine (aka. "Fuzzy") is heading up a full-length documentary highlighting how Calgary queer-dom became what it is now.
"I am proud of being a born and (mostly) raised Calgarian," Bonczek says as she took the time to talk to GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine. "There is so much history in Calgary and so much to be proud of in our community!"
When asked why she wanted to take this immense project on, Justine states, "there is no shortage of oral history in this community, but there is no one resource. I want to know, and want others to know where we came from and why are we structured the way we are?"
"When I came into the community at 17, I was performing at Fake Mustache and heard so many stories about our past. I felt I belonged in the community as a result of what I knew about it. I appreciate our history. This community is built on belonging and our connections. Because I love this city and I love this community I want to show it off in a tangible form."
Although the idea of a queer documentary was swirling around in Bonczek’s mind for a while, getting it on its feet took a matter of days. While talking with artist Lisa Heinricks, a notable community member and queer organization supporter, she mentioned her idea. Heinricks immediately connected her to videographer David Joseph, and two hours later Justine and David had hashed out a budget and a plan. Later that night, she needed the approval of the Miscellaneous Youth Network Board (who are partnering in the project) which she received, and three weeks later production began.
You are right if you think fitting an entire history into one full-length film may be difficult, but Bonczek has a solid plan. "I will be incorporating the history along with interviews of community members, organizations, non-profits, charities, and queer businesses." And with this, she has had no shortage of interested participants. Her booking schedule is packed with community members far and wide, but she is still interested in anyone else that may want to be a part of it. She is also looking for photos, posters, articles, videos, journals, and stories from the queer days of yore in Calgary to add into the project. It is with this information and with this film that Bonczek and Misc Youth can begin a living resource, utilizing a website and office space to accumulate and showcase our history.
Supporting this project is crucial. As Bonczek points out, "With my volunteer work with youth, I look at 14 and 15 year olds telling their history to even younger kids. I remember sitting back and thinking, they have a story to tell. I am only 20 and I have stories to tell so what about those older than me? We have something to be proud of in this community, and we have a history. It is this history that builds a community."
As someone who is twice as old as Justine Bonczek, I couldn’t have said it better myself.