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anacereading's review
5.0
Really enjoyed reading this local queer history. I would love to read more, especially a follow up of the 90s and early 2000’s (when I was growing up in Halifax 👀). As the title suggests, this one ends with some brief talk about the first pride parade in Halifax, which was in 1988. The year of my birth! Huh. I hadn’t known. There was lots I didn’t know tbh, but I was happy to learn about it all.
Overall the tone was proud (shock!) and hopeful, but Rose still made it clear it wasn’t all fun and partying and notes issues from outside the community as well as within.
One of my favourite parts of this book was all the great names places and organizations had. I particularly liked:
The Elderberries (“a group of LGBTQ people over fifty”)(okay okay this is my fave.)
Red Herring Cooperative Books
The Turret (bar/community centre)
Rumours (club/bar)
And also;
GAE (Gay Alliance for Equality)
FLAG (Fredericton Lesbians And Gays)
GLARE (Gays and Lesbians Against the Right Everywhere)
APPLE (Atlantic Provinces Political Lesbians for Equality)
And the United Spinsters.
(I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting).
I also loved that queer parents were mentioned so many times. It sometimes feels weird to be a parent in aroace bubbles, so I appreciated stepping out of that.
And I shall end this random reviewishness with a quote from the preface that I really loved: “our community is made of people ‘who have nothing in common but their difference from societal norms’”.
💜
Overall the tone was proud (shock!) and hopeful, but Rose still made it clear it wasn’t all fun and partying and notes issues from outside the community as well as within.
One of my favourite parts of this book was all the great names places and organizations had. I particularly liked:
The Elderberries (“a group of LGBTQ people over fifty”)(okay okay this is my fave.)
Red Herring Cooperative Books
The Turret (bar/community centre)
Rumours (club/bar)
And also;
GAE (Gay Alliance for Equality)
FLAG (Fredericton Lesbians And Gays)
GLARE (Gays and Lesbians Against the Right Everywhere)
APPLE (Atlantic Provinces Political Lesbians for Equality)
And the United Spinsters.
(I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting).
I also loved that queer parents were mentioned so many times. It sometimes feels weird to be a parent in aroace bubbles, so I appreciated stepping out of that.
And I shall end this random reviewishness with a quote from the preface that I really loved: “our community is made of people ‘who have nothing in common but their difference from societal norms’”.
💜
diifacto's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Not too much to say here; I picked this up as research for an essay I'm writing, but would've enjoyed reading it outside of an academic setting as well! Since, I'll admit, I'm not someone who enjoys non-fiction all that much (even if it's a topic I'm really interested in) the shorter length of Before The Parade definitely helped. The formatting (font, photo placement/use, chapter length, language used) was simple and smart, which was also an asset. I appreciated the information provided around an indigenous perspective of relation with LGBT2S+—while far from complete, it is a perspective I rarely see discussed. I also appreciated the focus on queer women's movements. The only thing I will say I disliked was that in some places it felt Rose was using too many quotes in place of her own words; there were pages made up nearly exclusively of quotes, where Rose might've been able to paraphrase for the sake of fluidity. Otherwise, I enjoyed reading Before The Parade, especially living in Halifax myself.
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