Photos
In the mid-1970s, The Body Politic was inventing itself as it went along. The Editorial Collective realized we needed access to photographers whom we could rely on to document the events of queer activism and community building such as demonstrations. In the early years of the paper, Jearld Moldenhauer had taken great photos, but after he left the Collective we were at the mercy of friends with cameras who could not always help out on short notice.
I decided to try to fill the photography gap. I bought a camera and learned how to develop my own film. This section contains a variety of photos which I took at demonstrations or other events, as well as images of friends in more personal/domestic situations. In some of these latter images I experimented with the effects of contrast and exposure.
All these photos date back to before the medium went digital. That meant I couldn’t shoot hundreds of images and choose the best later and at my leisure – particularly true of street demonstrations. The challenge for any photographer in that pre-digital era was to roughly calculate how many rolls of black and white film to bring – I hoped that one roll (36 possible frames) would be enough, but I almost always brought a second roll, knowing that if it turned out to be necessary I would have to rewind the first roll and insert the second, all possibly in the midst of a boisterous crowd of gay activists, queer-bashers and cops. I often feared for my camera. For my own safety, sometimes, too.
The photographs on this website are Copyright (C) Gerald Hannon. Most of these photographs, along with many others, are now available to peruse as originals or negatives in the photo files of the ArQuives, Canada’s LGBTQ+ Archives. If you wish to use one of these digital images in a non-commercial situation, you are free to do so, but please ask my permission and give me credit. If you wish to negotiate the purchase of a hi-res version of one of my images for a commercial use, please request my permission and communicate directly with the ArQuives to arrange acquisition of the image: admin@arquives.ca.
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Ottawa demo 1975: Chris Bearchell speaking at a Parliament Hill demonstration on Oct 25
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Ottawa demo 1975: Festive kick line
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Ottawa demo 1975: women l to r: Elisabeth Noton (Gay Community Centre, Saskatoon), Marie Robertson (Gays of Ottawa), Liz Cocuzzo (Waterloo Universities' Gay Liberation Group)
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Ottawa demo 1975: Gays for Equality, Winnipeg
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Ottawa demo 1975: In front of the Peace Tower
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St Charles Tavern, Toronto, Hallowe'en 1974
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Hostile crowd at St Charles Tavern, Toronto, Hallowe'en 1974
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Second bath raid protest, Feb 20, 1981. 3 or 4 of the men holding the banner were undercover cops.
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Second bath raid protest, Feb 20, 1981. Left, George Hislop. Right, Rev Brent Hawkes
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. The Battle of Church Street.
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. The Battle of Church Street.
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. The Battle of Church Street.
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. The Battle of Church Street.
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. Thugs at the Battle of Church Street.
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Third bath raid protest, June 20, 1981. Thugs at the Battle of Church Street.
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Andy Fabo (left) and George Hislop, charged as keepers of a common bawdy house during the bath house raids, Feb 1981.
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Anti-gay graffiti at the University of Toronto, Feb 1981.
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Protest against the Toronto Star's anti-gay editorial in front of publisher Beland Honderich's home, Nov 10, 1974.
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Kiss-in at Toronto's Yonge and Bloor, to protest the arrest of two men kissing in public, Feb 1976. From left: David Foreman, Tim McCaskell, Ed Jackson, Merv Walker, David Gibson, Michael Riordon.
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My housemates at our collective house on Simpson Street, Toronto. From left: Gerald Hannon, Robert Trow, Herb Spiers, Merv Walker, Ed Jackson.
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My housemates at our collective house on Simpson Street, Toronto. From bottom: Robert Trow, Herb Spiers, Merv Walker, Ed Jackson.
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My housemates on Simpson Street preparing for Hallowe'en, From left: Ed Jackson, Herb Spiers, Gerald Hannon, Robert Trow, Merv Walker.
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Housemate Billy Sutherland and friend Matt Gould.
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My attempt at portraiture, Soviet-style. Ed Jackson and Merv Walker.
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My arty portrait of Merv Walker.
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Nude #1: Herb Spiers at the YMCA pool at Broadview and Gerrard, Nov 1975.
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Nude #2: Herb under water at the YMCA pool.
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Nude #3: Gerry Oxford at our home on Oxford Street.
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Robin Hardy, 1979. I filled a roll of film with photos of Robin at his cabin near Ottawa.
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Robin Hardy, July 1979. Each one was an enticing segue into intimacy.
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Robin Hardy, July 1979. When there were no more pictures left to take he beckoned me into the cabin, climbed up into the sleeping loft and drew me in after him.
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My lover Robert Trow with two friends in drag on Fire Island, mid-70s.
