Humans of OUTniagara
Forty years ago this month, on March 5, 1980, The St. Catharines Standard published a collection of articles under the headline “Niagara’s homosexuals come out of hiding.”
The stories focused on a new group, GUN (Gay Unity Niagara), which had advertised its startup in Niagara’s newspapers. (Some newspapers rejected the ad because it contravened their moral code.)
As a reporter early in my career, it seemed like an interesting story to explore. Against the advice of my male (presumably straight) colleagues, one winter evening at a Niagara Falls home I met with the GUN organizer and several other gay men who were willing to speak publicly. A church minister requested anonymity.
The stories were published, and it didn’t take long for The Standard’s switchboard to light up like a Broadway marquee. The newspaper’s conservative readers were scandalized. I fielded a call from a mother, alternately sobbing and furious, who screamed that her son would be “turned gay” if he read the stories. The managing editor exploded out of his office to chastise the city editor about his controversial choice. I found out later that there was tremendous sympathy for my husband, who, rumour had it, had been duped into marrying a closet lesbian. (I’m not.)
I look how far we’ve come since GUN fired into the community. The story I wrote four decades ago wouldn’t make anyone blink today, at least in Canada. That’s not to say things are perfect—depending on the media outlet or journalist, individuals are deliberately misgendered, important 2SLGBTQIA+ events and history are ignored or downplayed, or community protestors are portrayed as the bad guys. But thankfully, some media work hard to get it right while maintaining objectivity, integrity and credibility, and they lead the way.
—Joan Wiley
Humans of OUTniagara
