Queer authors explored in Boys & Books club for Pride Month

May 28, 2021 · 0 Comments

Since the global pandemic changed our world, there have been few forums where people can socialize, and far fewer avenues for the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

But CAYR Community Connections and the Aurora Public Library have stepped up to fill at least one gap with Boys & Books, a book discussion and social group for cis and trans gay, bisexual and queer guys.

Meeting monthly, the group discusses stories written by or about cis and trans gay, bisexual and queer authors and how they impact audiences today.

The group is facilitated by CAYR’s Men’s Health Program Coordinator Lorcan O’Donnell and programming will continue into June’s Pride month with a discussion The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance & Power by Desmond Cole.

“The closure of any sort of social space where cisgender and transgender gay, bisexual and queer guys could meet, socialize and hang out was a key factor,” says O’Donnell of founding the group. “I was seeing a lot of isolation and loneliness and really wanting to reconnect with community, reconnect with other guys, and just honestly be around other folks in the community. We did a bit of polling to see what folks were interested in and a book club or discussion group is really what people are interested in.”

The only criteria for each book selected for discussion is they were either written by a member of the gay, bisexual or queer community or tell the story of their experiences.

The group read Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray last month and, through that book, they were able to discuss “how far we have come as a society in Canada for the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ rights and sexual freedoms and still have that as a question and concern for a lot of countries around the globe.”

“The groups have been great, the discussions have been absolutely fantastic. It really shows that folks really want to engage and find common ground through reading,” says O’Donnell. “When you look at queer books and queer reads, there are stories that haven’t really been told through the mainstream in the last 100 years. It has gotten better in the last 30 or 40 years. We’re really trying to showcase that and showcase the great talents and stories that queer guys have around the world and their varying identities that intersect in this. It’s not just what a white cisgender gay man might experience, but looking at the intersecting realities of being queer and being black, being a person of colour, being Indigenous, Two Spirit, we’re trying to really keep that intersectional approach to this.”

The Skin We’re In looks at Black liberation and the intersecting roles of being queer and a person of colour. For O’Donnell, it is the shared struggle “that oppressed groups have felt” that act as a common thread.

“It is those shared struggles of really trying to just live authentically without fear of persecution, without fear of homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, racism, all the different isms that come up,” he says.

“I think ahead of Pride month, it is good to recognize, and especially in York Region, we really want to shine a light on the groups that are still vying for recognition and awareness and equality. We have come so far in the LGBT rights and gays and lesbians now have photos in the mainstream and are becoming much more prevalent. Trans and non-binary folks are still experiencing transphobia and discrimination in every day life and health care settings, housing, and that struggle is something we really don’t want to lose touch with, that we don’t know what some parts of our community have achieved equality or equity. There are so many other parts that we still need to keep fighting for.”

For more on the Boys & Books group, and to register for the June 8 session which runs from 7 – 9 p.m., visit bit.ly/3hWQxXV.

The following session will take place at the same time on July 13, with Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead.

Additional virtual programs offered by the Aurora Public Library include popular returning family favourite Drag Queen Story Hour with Miss Eva Lasting on June 5; Q&Gay on June 9, an open and non-judgemental conversation about safe sex and harm reduction; and Pflag’s Coffee Night Support Meeting on June 14.

For more on these and other offerings, and how to register, visit aurorapl.ca.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter