the comments weren’t all negative, but mcnaughton’s plans to document calgary’s untold queer stories with a focus on queer women, non-binary, and gender diverse seemed to fire up a contingent of trolls, many of whom took to social media to vent. it got so bad that the library eventually took down the post on facebook, although it seems to have since returned without the toxic commentary.
mcnaughton soldiered on and the library was unwavering in its support. in april, she began organizing and then documenting the conversations she facilitated between members of the queer community. her modus operandi was to pair community members of different ages for consultations. usually, it was a young person, aged 18 to 29, with a senior from the queer community.
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the library’s historian-in-residence program, which is organized in partnership with heritage calgary, started in 2018. kevin allen, founder of the calgary gay history project and who has been chronicling queer history in calgary for 30 years, was the first historian in residence . also, shaun hunter, author of calgary through the eyes of writers, studied calgary’s literary landscape and built an annotated digital map that showcased key geographical spots from our literary history.
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leanne hooper, librarian for the calgary’s story program, says the negative commentary on social media made for an “unfortunate start” to mcnaughton’s residency.
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