Surprisingly Unexpected: Moose Jaw, Metronormativity and LGBTQ Activism
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SURPRISINGLY UNEXPECTED: MOOSE JAW, METRONORMATIVITY AND LGBTQ ACTIVISM JOSEPH WICKENHAUSER A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO DECEMBER 2012 © JOSEPH WICKENHAUSER, 2012 ABSTRACT Through an attention to the experiences of middle-aged and older gay men living in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, this work explores how “metronormative” discourses of rural-urban gay migrations obscure the experiences of those living outside metropolitan centres. Using archival and ethnographic methods, this study critically reflects on metronormativity in the lesbian and gay archive and attempts to de-centre visibility from conceptions of LGBTQ activism through a focus on what I call “audibility tactics.” These tactics, deployed by LGBTQ activists in Moose Jaw from 1978 – 2012, minimize the individual and public declaration of sexual orientation while resisting homophobia and heterosexism. This study also identifies the scalar flexibility of metronormativity in LGBTQ lives and activism while tracing the complex migrations of middle-aged and older gay men. Finally, this work discusses the way space is not only sexualized but also “aged” and the role this plays in these men’s disidentifications with metronormativity. ii D E D I C A T I O N This work is dedicated to the generous people and unexpected places where I have found home. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was researched, written and published on unceded native lands. I am deeply indebted to all of my Moose Javian collaborators, many of whom invited me into their homes and generously contributed their time and life histories to this project and to the enrichment of my own life. I would also like to thank my GLAMj friends for allowing me to spend time with them as part of the group. I have benefitted greatly from our discussions, laughter and friendship. I am also profoundly grateful to my supervisor, David A.B. Murray, for his genuine encouragement, stunning insight and hard work as he read multiple drafts, provided countless letters of reference and bent over backwards to help me finish in good time. Likewise, many thanks are due to my secondary reader, Daphne Winland for her methodological expertise, ethical guidance, constructive feedback and many reassurances. Thanks also to Kathryn McPherson who agreed to be my external reader. The Graduate Program Director, Teresa Holmes, has also been tremendously kind, supportive and always willing to provide helpful advice. My cohort of fellow graduate students, Mary Jean Hande (B.D.), Gabor Jozsa, Sherylann Monteiro and Nicky Pariser, have enriched my life with their brilliance, laughter and friendship. Likewise, Geneviève Allard, Vincent Bonheur, Jessica Khouri, Meg Land, Evlyne Landreville, Kama Maureemootoo, Anthony Santoro and Reena Rungoo have given me bottomless emotional support. I cannot thank you enough. My parents, Dennis and Evelyn Daniels, have provided me with unconditional love and a home for me to come back to. I must also thank my colleagues and friends at the Archives Gaies du Québec, Robert Ferguson, Ross Higgins and Julie Podmore, for their community, advice and endless archival possibilities. Similarly, Neil Richards has provided me with advice, encouragement and a vast collection of archival materials to work with. Saskatchewan is iv indebted to you. Christine Charmbury at the Saskatchewan Archives Board has also aided me greatly in my archival research and has been a veritable pleasure to work with. My former colleagues at the Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, Allison Cammer, Terrie Fitzpatrick, Duane Minish, Debra Morgan, Norma Stewart and Sheena Walls-Ingram, have supported and guided me through my M.A. experience from the very start. They have provided countless opportunities for both personal and academic growth. Thanks are also due to Mark Ebert who introduced me to the bizarre and wonderful world of anthropology. This work was made possible through funding provided by the Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC), the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (Government of Ontario), the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board and York University. While the production of this thesis has been a collaborative effort between many of those both named and unnamed above, I take full responsibility for any errors that are contained herein. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Welcome to the Friendlier City.......................................................................................1 There and Back Again (and Again) / Home-work................................................................5 Welcome to the Friendlier City............................................................................................8 Reviewing Metronormativity.............................................................................................13 Methods: Excavating Silence............................................................................................19 Tour Guides: Us and Them / Me and Them..................................................................... 23 Beyond Walking Tours: Chapter Summaries....................................................................27 Name Tags: Notes on Terminology..................................................................................28 Chapter 2: Finding Ourselves in Silence: Audibility Tactics and the Reticent Archive................31 The Metronormativity of the Archive / Historian.............................................................36 Listening to the Reticent Archive......................................................................................40 Anita Bryant Finds Gay Rights Activists in Moose Jaw...................................................41 Finding a Voice in the Gay Community and the Gay Community Centre........................46 Invisible Resistance: Audibility Politics...........................................................................50 Excavating Silence............................................................................................................54 Chapter 3: The Friction of Translation: LGBTQ Activism in Moose Jaw, 1993-2012.................55 The Friction of Translation................................................................................................58 “It’s In to be Out in Moose Jaw” – Moose Jaw Pride Weekend 1993..............................60 “Pop our Cherry” – The Gay and Lesbian Association of Moose Jaw.............................65 Coffee Grinds: Friction at Cuppa Joe’s.............................................................................74 High Expectations.............................................................................................................83 Translating Metronormativity...........................................................................................85 Chapter 4: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: Aging and Embodied Gay Migration......................88 Yellow Brick Roads..........................................................................................................89 Ian Gemmel: The Tin Man’s Foil.....................................................................................92 Lions and Tigers and Bears: John Lesnar and the Dark Side of Oz.................................98 There’s No Place Like Home..........................................................................................106 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road..........................................................................................115 Chapter 5: Surprisingly Unexpected............................................................................................118 Next Stop: Moose Jaw?..................................................................................................121 Notes............................................................................................................................................125 Bibliography................................................................................................................................132 Appendix: Interview Question Template.....................................................................................143 vi Chapter 1: Welcome to the Friendlier City As soon as we let go of the universal as a self-fulfilling abstract truth, we must become embroiled in specific situations. And thus it is necessary to begin again, and again, in the middle of things. –ANNA LAWENHAUPT TSING, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection It’s 5AM and my apartment is the cleanest it’s been since the last time I traveled. My blue carry-on-size suitcase is stuffed with clothes, gifts and books while my red backpack bulges with (more) books and snacks for the trip. The pair wait impatiently by the door beneath condescending reminder notes written in capital letters: FOOD, CELL PHONE, CHARGER, TOOTHBRUSH, COMPUTER! A moment of indecision passes and I slip between the sheets for one hour of slumberous bliss. My cell phone blares a heartfelt rendition of ambulance sirens from the living room and before I’m fully awake, I’m hurrying down the street to catch the metro, to the bus, to Trudeau International Airport. A short layover in the centre of the universe and I rematerialize in Regina as three hours condense into two equally disturbing dreams about an unfinished thesis chapter. I scan a small crowd of expectant faces as I descend the escalator at