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NEWS
FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM Army of Lovers celebrates the histories of local lesbian feminists
Cyndia Cole, Pat Hogan, and barbara findlay share their stories in the exhibit’s opening panel
OLIVIA VISSER // STAFF WRITER
Army of Lovers: Lesbian, Bisexual, Two Spirit, and Queer Women, 1970s and 80s is an oral and visual archival exhibit taking place at SFU’s Harbour Center campus. Running from July 14 to August 21, the exhibit focuses on interviews conducted by students in professor El Chenier’s oral history class.
Chenier explained those who participated in the feminist and lesbian communities in the 70s and 80s “have a lot of hardearned wisdom to share,” and created this project as a two-way conversation between young and old generations.
The archive itself is a trans-inclusive representation of the narratives that shaped Canada’s early queer and feminist movements. Its in-person component consists of posters lining the halls of Harbour Center, which include short biographies of prominent queer figures and quotations from interviews conducted by students. The content is available in its entirety on the Army of Lovers website, which includes audio recordings taken from the interviews.
The exhibit includes other activists who were engaged with feminism and LGBTQIA2S+ activism. On the exhibit’s opening night, Chenier hosted a panel featuring the stories of Cyndia Cole, Pat Hogan, and barbara findlay. All three are heavily involved in BC’s lesbian and feminist movements, and have made significant cultural and systemic contributions.
Cyndia Cole is a “published writer, an educator, a feminist, an activist, and an artist.” During the Vietnam War, Cole came to Canada as a war resister. She “worked closely with women’s studies founder Maggie Benston” during her time The exhibit is being held at Vancouver Harbour Centre until August 21. PHOTO: Olivia Visser / The Peak
as a SFU student. During the panel, she described her story as interesting because she “became a feminist first” before realizing she was a lesbian.
Despite being involved in the feminist movement and feeling an urge to participate in the lesbian feminist movement, Cole didn’t believe she belonged in it. She realized she was a lesbian after having a dream about one of her friends, and subsequently sharing a kiss with her after explaining the dream.
NYM HUGHES // ACTIVIST
After a lesbian couple was kicked out of Vancouver’s Joe’s Café for kissing in 1990, Pat Hogan opened up Josephine’s Cappuccino Bar for the lesbian community. In addition, she founded the feminist business, Sounds & Furies Productions, as well as BOLDFest — Bold, old(er) Lesbians and Dykes. Hogan recounted being involved in the British Columbia Federation of Women, where she was surrounded by lesbians for the first time in her life. She explained that a lesbian caucus formed within the federation because at the time many feminists were in support of women’s rights, but not lesbian rights.
“Lesbians are no longer willing to lie and hide and live in fear,” read a quote from Nym Hughes, one of the activists featured at the exhibit.
barbara findlay is a queer feminist lawyer who became an activist after her “forced incarceration in a mental health institution for being a lesbian.” After falling in love with a woman for the first time, she “didn’t know that [they] weren’t the only ones.” She emphasized to the younger generations in the audience it was terrifying to “live from one day to the next” when she grew up. People would make educated guesses on others’ sexuality or speak in code, asking questions that referred to queer culture, such as, “Do you know Jane Rule?” Like Hogan, findlay also remembered dealing with homophobia from straight feminists.
Despite the barriers faced by lesbians in the early feminist movement, the panelists agreed that the lesbian experience still comes with its own joys. Cole and Hogan fondly recalled attending lesbian dances in their communities, while findlay said, “It’s not sex that first comes to mind,” when thinking about the pleasures of being a lesbian.
“The biggest thing was all of a sudden I had a mirror in which I was reflected,” said findlay.
ADAPTIVE APPROACHES Study calls for proactive approaches to climate change
Researchers underline need for resiliencebuilding in changing climate ecosystems
PRANJALI J MANN // NEWS WRITER
SFU biological sciences professor Jonathan Moore worked with Daniel Schindler, professor at University of Washington, to examine the current conservation approaches relating to climate change. This recently published study found that many current approaches to cope with climate change only focus on preservation approaches. This should be accompanied with “proactive approaches that will encourage adaptation and change,” according to Moore.
SFU professor said a proactive approach to adaptation will foster resilience in our environment. PHOTO: Amirul Anirban / The Peak
The Peak interviewed Moore to find out more about this study. Moore noted the world and its ecosystems are changing rapidly, and pointed to an assumption that communities and ecosystems remain constant, but “that hasn’t been the case in the past actually. And with climate change, that’s definitely not the case,” he said.
Given the changing climate landscape, he looked into coping mechanisms and proactive measures for ecosystems. This entailed looking into “different approaches and ideas for thinking about how to foster the resilience of natural systems given oncoming climate change.”
He said, “Sea level rise is transforming where the edge of the ocean is going to be and what that means is that if we protect current seashores that’s probably not enough. We also need to protect the future of where the seashores are going to be.” ecosystem. “On one hand, we [as humans] can make things worse. We can add to the oncoming impacts of climate change. On the other hand, what it means is that if we do things better, we can actually help mitigate those oncoming impacts.”
Moore gave an example to this relationship through an analogy of clearcutting trees. “When you clear cut a stream, it raises the stream temperature maybe two to five degrees Celsius. That two to five degrees celsius is probably more than 100 years of climate change.”
As a general policy recommendation, he said it was essential to have the lens of resilience and climate change for all decisions. “Environmental assessment processes, the environmental risks of projects are considered and those risks then determine whether or not that project should get approved, and if so, how it should get operated. Those currently aren’t mandated to think about climate change, and I think that would be a great opportunity to have a policy that forces industry proponents to have that lens.”
The rally took place around the Burnaby campus from Convocation Mall to Cornerstone. PHOTO: Pranjali J Mann / The Peak
Women’s Centre organizes solidarity rally for Roe v. Wade
Rally on campus opens space for sharing anger and grief on US ruling
PRANJALI J MANN // NEWS WRITER
On July 13, the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) Women’s Centre organized Bans Off Our Bodies, a solidarity rally in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) verdict to overturn Roe v. Wade. The verdict overturned this precedent set in 1973 which constitutionally protected the right to abortions in the US.
This rally stood in support for those who do not have access to safe and legal abortions worldwide. It ran from 11:30 p.m.–1:00 p.m., followed by refreshments and food at the Women’s Centre in the Student Union Building (SUB).
Nimrit Basra, Women’s Centre Collective Council representative, opened the march by saying SCOTUS’ decision “is steeped in gendered, economic, and racialized oppression, and those from historically excluded and marginalized communities will face the brunt of this oppressive legislation.”
As mentioned in the rally’s press release, 24 countries completely prohibit abortion and over 90 countries only allow abortion in case of health risk to the mother or medical complications.
The rally route began at Convocation Mall and marched throughout the campus until ending at the Terry Fox statue at the Reflection Pond. This was accompanied by march chants such as, “Our body, our choice.”
Various community organizers and student led committee heads gave speeches at the end of the rally. This included a speech from SFSS president Helen Sofia Pahou. She noted prejudices on abortions “got us a male-dominated and patriarchal-infused stack of US Supreme Court justices who cannot separate their politics from the goodwill of accessing safe and legal abortions.” She continued, “The SFSS upholds the precedence in our issues policies that support anyone seeking access to abortion and their reproductive rights and condemns any entity that chooses to intimidate anyone from utilizing their rights. Anyone who enters our SUB building and goes to our Women’s Centre in need of safe space — please know that you are always welcomed.”
This is something that we’re going to be working on and fighting for and keeping the momentum going
NIMRIT BASRA
WOMEN’S CENTRE COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE
Nebula Shen, a Board member of Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group and member of the Out on Campus collective, discussed the importance of having bodily autonomy. Critiquing current policies in place, they stated, “Colonially known as BC, Canada, there are politicians in this province who are against abortion [ . . . ] But it’s not OK for them to ever force that on anyone else’s body.”
Allyson Soriano, organizer for SFU350, laid a direct link between climate change and reproductive justice. She asked, “What does it mean if anyone with a uterus will be forced to bear [a] child when we are experiencing unprecedented heatwaves, floods, landslides, and forest fires?” She added, “Indigenous, Black, and brown peoples’ homes are being used as sites for dumping toxic waste. Many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island still live without access to clean running water [ . . . ] Are these the conditions that we should be raising children in?” To find out more on the organization of the rally, The Peak interviewed Basra from the Women’s Centre.
She shared the planning and creation of the rally started in late May. “There was unanimous support [ . . . ] every single committee in our collective stepped up and did their part [ . . . ] because we were frustrated and we were upset, and we had to channel that frustration into something.” She quoted Mariame Kaba: “Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”
Basra was inspired and grateful to see the turnout and support from attendees in creating a space with shared solidarity. She reported 50 people attended the rally.
Highlighting the goals of the initiative, she noted while the issue seems distant from home, it is also present "here at home.” Through the rally, they aimed “to really give folks a space to channel their passion and their anger and their hurt.”
She added, “Even during our speeches, it was a circle. It was really important to us that everybody was looking at each other and everybody was able to see each other and hold that space with each other.”
Through this solidarity rally, she hoped to signify that people are “not alone in this fight, and they’re not alone in how they’re feeling right now.
“This is something that is worth fighting for, and it’s something we need to fight for, not only for ourselves, but for others as well,” she said.
