Category: In Our Community

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A looking back to the 80’s

Vancouver Pride way back when LOL

A selection from the photographs of Maxwell Victor Woolfrey Baker, known as Max Baker (March 23, 1945 – June 18, 1990). The collection shows public and private gay and lesbian events in the mid-late 1980s, include the 1985-88 Pride Parades, Vancouver Sea Festival 1987, 1990 Gay Games & a few others. Max Baker was born in Botwood, Newfoundland on March 23, 1945. He graduated from Mount Allison University with a B.A. and then worked in Ottawa with the Government of Canada in the Department of (then) Indian Affairs. He eventually took a transfer to Vancouver in the same department. A keen photographer, when Max died his photograph albums passed to Gary Gilbertson, an organizer in Vancouver’s gay community who was instrumental in raising awareness and funding for AIDS. It is likely that the photographs of the Gay Games were taken by Gary rather than Max. After Gary Gilbertson passed away in 1993, the collection passed through various hands in the Vancouver LGBT community, each of whom was eager to preserve what they recognised as a valuable record of their community in the 1980s. The collection was exhibited at Mole Hill Community Housing Society in 2019, and donated to the City of Vancouver Archives in 2020. If anyone requires any information about the collection, please contact Mole Hill at admin@molehillhousing.ca

A view of the distant past and the event.

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New Years Polar Bear Dip

The hustle and bustle of the preparation for Christmas has come and gone.  We all survived and now welcome in the new year of 2013!  A happy one for health and happiness to each one of you.

Without doubt the Hominum focus at the moment is the preparation and finalization of our new website.    We circulated among members a request for your input and thank you to those who responded.  This means the completed project will be a reflection of YOU.

I will be away for an extended period leaving about the time this newsletter will be circulated.  In the interim I leave Hominum in the hands of our capable Vice Chairman, who will hold the reins during this time.

Happy New Year once again.

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November Movember

Dear HOMINUM friends.  Here is my report to this year’s AGM.

Fellow Hominum attendees……Here I am attempting to do a Chairman’s report after 12 months …..where has the time gone?  When I reflect on the year, I personally feel it has been a slow, but steady growth and the best is yet to come.

Perhaps the most significant has been the teaming with Health Initiatives for Men (HIM) in sponsoring an 8 week personal growth program “Moving Forward”.  Thank you all for your input!   The outcome of that program brought a new awareness of Hominum and we are pleased and happy to welcome a number of new members from that group who continue their journey.  We maintain that invaluable association with HIM and hope for another similar program in the forthcoming months.

In June, a Think Tank Committee met and brought forward a number of changes/improvements in our meeting format.  Without doubt, the most significant recommendation which is being actioned at the moment is the revision of our website.  It is my hope that each of you has had your thinking cap on and will have input in this evening’s discussion of the future direction of Hominum which will be considered by the Board and that accepted, incorporated in the website.

On two occasions during the year we adopted housekeeping initiatives which are being followed in our meeting routines.  We have had a steady increase in attendance at Monday meetings over the year.  Our discussions have been lively and our vibrant guest speakers brought an abundance of information to the forefront.  We have introduced two new promotional tools….a bookmark and a postcard which were distributed at gay pride festivities in Vancouver, Surrey and New West and currently being placed in appropriate locations frequented by gay men.  While it is difficult to measure the value of our attendance at Gay Pride events, it is of utmost importance that we are visible and have a presence.  It is my hope that we continue with our attendance at such events and widen our scope of participation in other such sponsored appropriate events around town.

The year has had its challenges, but what is achievable without its detours and constant dedication to a goal?  I thank you for your co-operation and input…..Hominum is YOU and I together working toward a better life for those following in our footsteps and as another year approaches I see a thrust in our efforts to bring more awareness of Hominum offering that which we continue to believe in…….our credo!

Thank you, 

HOMINUM HIM Poster 2013

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October Is a B00-tiful Time of Year

 

Happy Fall and Halloween…..

As I gaze out my window the maple trees in view are being painted by Jack Frost, and appear a more vibrant red each morning. may be a tad early to say Happy Halloween, but it is time to think of that costume for our Annual General Meeting on Oct. 29th. I rescued mine the other day and will air it for the next few weeks while I will be away….could not have anyone be overcome with the aroma of moth balls. the fun……I hear there will be a prize for the best costume voted by those in attendance!

You have read we are working on a revised Hominum website….the cost of which will be covered by our appeal for anonymous donations from members and friends of Hominum. ask for your support…. any donation, no matter how big or how small, is appreciated. would like to have your suggestions for input of content……perhaps you have seen something you favored in another site and found particularly useful which in some way might be applicable to our site.

Each and every member and friend of Hominum is welcome to contribute to the overall content of our support group. , our organizer of Monday meetings would very much appreciate any idea of topics you would like to see covered. speakers are always appropriate and if you know of someone, please pass the name along to George. course, we are always looking for hosts and offers are very much appreciated.

Have a good month and we look forward to seeing YOU on October 29th….

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August Pride

Time to say hello once again and what should be my main thrust in this message?

I can think of nothing more appropriate at the moment than Gay Pride. Just what is Gay Pride? In the most simplistic form I see it as being happy and content with what and who you are as a gay and taking pride in that fact.

I’ve done a bit of research;

As a noun….a sense of dignity and satisfaction in connection with the public acknowledgment of one’s own homosexuality;

Is the positive stance against discrimination and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to promote their self-affirmation, equality rights, increase their visibility as a social group, build community and celebrate sexual diversity and gender variance;

Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most GLBT rights movements throughout the world;

A political movement that began in the U.S. and encourages gay people to be open to the fact that they are gay and to be proud of themselves; (from adictionary of contemporary English).

I firmly believe the latter, the more elegant, is perhaps the all- encompassing factor for me.

We should all take pride in anything which we do bearing in mind any- thing worth doing is worth doing well.

A job well done regardless how small a task it might be is a credit to the individual. I’m not sure individ- uals think much about the word “pride” in their day to day life…..give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. You will be surprised how it will boost your morale and self-confidence.