2009-11 November

Who's in this photo? When was it taken? Where was it taken? What's the occasion?

File name is : GayRightsMarch19Circa85 which is a clue!

-- Dan 2009-09-16 12:27

The grey hair in a ponytail looks like Rev. Shelly Finson to me. She died a couple of years ago.

-- Alex 2009-09-16 12:47

I recognise the late Dr. Shelley Finson in that 'history' photo but nobody else's back. There used to be so many of those protests it might be hard to pinpoint this one. I'd do better with older pics!

-- Deb 2009-09-17 11:59

The photo is later than '85 -- possibly as early as '89 or '90 but I'd have to look it up in my files, if I still have them. It was taken at one of the very first Lesbian and Gay Rights Nova Scotia demos at Province House. The speaker is Marilyn (damn, forgotten her last name!) who was head of the Children's Aid Society at the time. I am the reporter standing to her right. Note the sign language interpreter on the left -- LGRNS always made a point of having interpretation at these kinds of events.

-- Kevin 2009-09-17 14:42

I can tell you about this one. It's the first Lesbian and Gay Rights NS demonstration for inclusion in the NS Human Rights Act. It took place in front of Province House on April 12, 1989. The speaker in the photo was Marilyn Peers, the first speaking on behalf of LGRNS. To her right is sign language interpreter Linda Clark, now Linda Maxwell. To Marilyn's left,in the suit and tie, is Kevin Crombie, who was an active but underground member of LGRNS because he was covering Province House for Broadcast News. Just behind Linda you can see Andrea Currie talking to Pam Mason. Andrea MC'd the event. She and I (Anne Bishop) led the singing. The other speakers were: Brenda Richard (visible on the far right of the photo), Royden Traynor, Gary Kinsman and a group of people who read brief scenarios illustrating the experience of discrimination based on sexual orientation. Robin Metcalfe and Pam Mason were among that group. The others' faces are so familiar to me but I can't pull their names out of my aging memory.

In the foreground the distinctive long, grey hair was indeed that of Shelley Finson, and to her left and ahead of her is the white head of Muriel Duckworth. This photo prompted me to get out the video tape of that demonstration, shot by Carol Millet. There are many scans of the whole group, some, like Shelley and Muriel, no longer with us, others still very much alive and active.

Sometime we should have a history video night. When I was pulling the video of this demo off of my bookshelf I realized I have one of the 1989 Pride March which I had forgotten about. I also have the LGRNS demo on May 30 1990, where we did a piece of theatre based on the Jeopardy game show, and most of the TV coverage of the Human Rights Act lobbying efforts. I'm sure others have this kind of material in their archives--and yes, I know, I should be getting all this stuff organized and into the new Queer collection in the NS Archives. Soon, I promise.

Thanks for the stimulating blast from the past. It's easy to forget how hard we worked for some of the rights we now have.

-- Anne 2009-09-17 14:48

I might be willing to *swear* that is Kevin Crombie in the centre of the image to the right of the silver-haired speaker.

-- Ross 2009-09-17 15:08