Gilberto Fernandes

Thank you to everyone who came to our “Summer of ’77” Community Conversation at the Gallery of the Portuguese Pioneers last night. We had wonderful presentations that were both enlightening and moving.  The discussion afterwards was stimulating, engaging, and generated a lot of positive energy, which will propel us forward, towards other events addressing important historical and contemporary issues. Great things can happen – and did happen last night – when we put academic historians, community advocates, historical agents, and people who have been impacted by past events, and their legacies, in the same room, talking to each other. One of the most important conversations that we started last night was about Portuguese-Canadian queer history and identity, and how it is tied to the legacy of 77. Together we identified a path forward: find more Portuguese-Canadian LGBTQ (his)stories, showcase them, and build on them, so that Portuguese-Canadian queer adults and youth can have a frame of reference in which to talk openly about their experiences, and conciliate those identities in a positive and meaningful way.