I moved to Vancouver in 1987 to attend hairdressing school as a hiatus between second and third year university. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I thought having a trade as a good idea as it would mean I would always be able to make some money if university didn’t pan out.
I landed in the middle of the West End in Vancouver, two blocks from Little Sister’s Bookstore…a store that took a stand against government censorship and homophobia in the 1980’s. A store that was vilified, vandalized, and flamed (literally and figuratively). The shop fought censorship, created a safe haven, pushed boundaries, and helped people fight for the freedoms and rights they deserved.
Douchebags from other parts of the province, other parts of the Lower Mainland, would come to the West End to drink and go “gay bashing”.
I lost friends and colleagues in the 1980’s. AIDS was a death sentence.
Times have changed in some ways, in other ways it’s merely gone underground.
But It makes me happy to see pride in Pride.
It means we’ve made some progress as a society.
I hope we keep making that progress and never slide backwards.
🫶
