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“It’s kind of a celebration of where we’ve been as a gay community. We’re a very diverse community, but I think our roots came from this area, from this neighbourhood. And it’s a moment to kind of come together and remember,” Jeffares-Levitt said.
“I wanted us to occupy the street where it was once illegal to be queer and to hang out,” she said. “And it’s intended for people to walk in, walk out, dance, talk to their neighbours. It’s not the kind of thing where you sit down and watch it.”
Jeffares-Levitt has done some public video projections before, she says, but nothing on this scale.
“I tried to rent the giant billboards in or around Dundas Square, but I never got anywhere with that. And when Sankofa offered me those screens, I jumped at the opportunity…Sankofa’s been incredibly generous, supportive,” she said.
Benson says she’s been DJing queer nights and a lot of queer events since the late ‘80s, DJing at events such as Dyke Nite at the Boom Boom Room. She says taking part in events like this installation, which commemorates the history of queer nightlife, is essential.
“There’s lots of young, queer, and trans folks doing radical, interesting, fun, sexy, awesome things in the city, and they need to know what has come before, so they can take it even higher,” Benson added.
“I think it’s important for queer people to be living out loud in public space right now, especially with what’s happening in the world and the anti-queer and anti-trans rhetoric that’s really ramping up,” Hennebury said. “When we’re together, we’re safe.”
Janna Abbas is a Masters of Journalism student at TMU and a reporter for On The Record.
No AI tools were used in the production of this piece.
