JQT Vancouver is proud to officially launch the online exhibit of The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project.

Phase I (the collection of oral histories) was conducted by JQT Vancouver in partnership with the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC. The primary focus of this phase was to collect and learn the stories of Jewish queer and trans elders and their lived experiences in Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities across BC over the decades, to enhance the diversity of the museum’s oral history collection and better represent the full breadth of our community. Interviews were recorded between May 25, 2020 and July 14, 2021, with one interview conducted on January 12, 2023.

Phase II (this online exhibit) was created by JQT Vancouver and features:

• an interactive timeline of BC Jewish queer and trans activity from 1920’s to 2020’s

• a qualitative essay weaving stories that emerged from the interviews

• a focus piece on “The Klezbians”

• a series of video excerpts from each interviewee addressing inclusion, celebrating intersecting identities, changes over the decades and life lessons

• interviewee statistics

• a full video interview between a Jewish mother and her gay Jewish son

• impact of this project on the next generation, curatorial remarks and acknowledgements

This is the first project of its kind in the province. The Dorot Jewish Division at the New York Public Library shared that this project is the one of the largest oral history collections on the Jewish LGBTQ+ topic worldwide.

Please visit the community archives at https://archives.jewishmuseum.ca/ for the full catalogue of interviews from this project by searching “JQT” or the name of the interviewee. To gain access to the oral history recordings and transcripts, please email archives@jewishmuseum.ca

Thank you and enjoy your visit!

Our work takes place on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

NOTE: The materials shown on this site are protected by copyright law. They are made available for use under Fair Dealing within the Canadian Copyright Act with appropriate citations. For use outside of Fair Dealing or any questions about further use, please contact info@jqtvancouver.ca for more information.

TIMELINE OF BC JEWISH QUEER & TRANS HISTORY
1920’s to 2020’s

Hello! Please click on this screenshot below to gain access to an interactive timeline documenting 100 years of BC’s Jewish Queer & Trans history. When you are in the timeline, scroll to the right to view later decades and click on each date for more information. To continue with the rest of the exhibit, please return to this page and scroll down.

WITH LOVE, FROM JQT

The following section is the heart of this online exhibit. We invite you to click on each image to dive deeper into 100 years of weaving stories, a focus piece on “The Klezbians”, video excerpts from each interviewee addressing inclusion, celebrating intersecting identities, changes over the decades, and life lessons, as well as interviewee statistics!

A JEWISH MOTHER
& HER GAY JEWISH SON

On January 11, 2021, Carmel Tanaka interviewed Carole and Jeff Lieberman, a Jewish mother and her gay Jewish son. During this 1.5 hour interview, Carole and Jeff revisit the time he came out to his parents decades earlier, as well as their reaction and that of their Jewish community in Vancouver. Carole is a real estate agent in Vancouver and Jeff is an award-winning documentary filmmaker in New York.

Curatorial Remarks

JQT Vancouver could not have existed without the work and lived experiences of the people featured in the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, as well as the work of many others who have not been featured. The sooner the weight of queerness can be lifted off a child’s shoulders and replaced with the culture of queerness, the easier it may be for that person to develop their own sense of self in a loving and accepting way. By telling the story of Max, who cruised synagogues in the early to mid-20th century, the stories of the feminist lesbian seders, queer Jewish weddings and transition ceremonies, and the presence of queer Jewish organizations and classes, we are sharing a queer and/or trans Jewish culture that has existed in British Columbia for almost a century. It often doesn’t take much to make someone who feels alone feel less alone.

By telling queer and/or trans Jewish stories, we hope to share with people and their families (biological and chosen) who are struggling with and/or celebrating their intersectional identities that there is a rich Jewish and queer and/or trans culture in BC. We hope that people feel seen by reading histories that reflect multiple aspects of their identities. 

These stories are stories of queer AND Jewish pride. We honour the struggle of the elders who fought to make queer and/or trans bodies legal in public and Jewish spaces. We celebrate people who have changed how we see the possibilities of our identities and show the progress that has yet to be accomplished. We acknowledge the stories that have yet to be told and the identities that are not represented by virtue of the limits of this project. We hope that the stories we have recorded are only the beginning and that the voices herein allow people to feel represented and inspire them to share their stories.

Thank You’s and Acknowledgements

Shalom everyone! Many thanks for visiting The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project. It took an entire shtetl (village) to bring you this online exhibit.

Firstly, thank you to all the interviewees who came forward to share their lived experiences of being Jewish queer and/or trans in BC, as well as those who submitted photographs to the timeline. This exhibit is a reality because of all of you. We especially remember those who have since passed away during this project: Ruth Simkin Z”L and Alan Herbert Z”L - may their memories be for a blessing.

Secondly, thank you to our focus group volunteers and our interviewing/transcribing volunteers: Addye Susnick, Angelic Goldsky, Avi Grundner, Aviva Rathbone, Bella Stein, Holly Steele, Jason Woolman, Jaye Beer, Lily Hoenig, Maxa Sawyer, Madison Slobin, Maria Melititskaya, Mickey Morgan, Morgan Strug and Ye’ela Eilon-Heiber. We were not able to name every volunteer due to safety reasons. Thank you to JQT Board Member Cynthia Ramsay for your expert editing skills and access to the Jewish Independent archives. Special shoutouts to Ari Fremder for their amazing graphic design work and to ethnographer Maxa Sawyer for weaving stories together into beautiful offerings for this exhibit.

Thirdly, thank you to the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC (JMABC) for their administrative and archival support during Phase I, specifically Alysa Routtenberg, Marcy Babins, Carol Herbert, and most especially to their Young Canada Works archives assistant Clea Harrison, who worked tirelessly researching, tying up loose ends and beginning the video editing process.

Fourthly, thank you to our following mentors, who gave the most excellent advice: Dr. Aaron Devor, Chair of Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria; Raegan Swanson, Executive Director at The ArQuives; Dr. Laura Hurd, Professor at the University of British Columbia; and Ron Dutton, BC Gay & Lesbian Archives.

Lastly, this project and exhibit was completed entirely by JQT’s Founder & Executive Director Carmel Tanaka and a team of dedicated JQT volunteers with support from the JMABC staff on grant funding from the Jewish Community Foundation, Isaac and Sophie Waldman Endowment Fund, Live Educate Transformation Society (formerly Creating Accessible Neighbourhoods), Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Yosef Wosk Publication Fund, and private donors. We thank everyone for their generous support!

Granting Organizations

On May 28, 2023, JQT Vancouver launched this exhibit at a hybrid in-person and virtual event held at the Jewish Community Centre, as part of JQT Heritage Month 2023. Here is a recording of the 1-hour livestream, which originally aired on Facebook Live: