Interview with Aaron Devor as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Aaron shares his experience being both transgender and Jewish in BC. He also discusses his earlier experiences as a lesbian in the Jewish community, prior to transitioning. He experienced both friction and support. Aaron discusses leaving the Jewish community early in life because he felt there was no place for him as a woman. He returned later in life. He talks about same-sex marriage in the Jewish community, and shares stories about his transitioning ceremony. Aaron discusses anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic sentiments in the LGBTQ+ community. He talks about his career in academic, including his current position as chair of transgender studies at UVic.

Interview with Alan Herbert as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Alan shares his experience of being both gay and Jewish in Vancouver. In part 1, he discusses his family, coming out as gay, the AIDS crisis, his involvement with AIDS Vancouver. In part 2, Alan discusses Vancouver during the AIDS crisis, getting the first funding for AIDS Vancouver, and feeling relatively accepted as a Jewish man in the LGBTQ+ community.

Interview with Alan Stamp as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Alan shares his experience being both gay and Jewish in Canada. He notes an overwhelmingly positive experience in the Jewish community. Alan talks about the books he has write, the happy and dark elements of LGBTQ+ history in North America, and about Jewish Family Services in Vancouver.

Interview with Ann Daskal for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Ann identifies as a ‘bisexual, non-monogamous celibate’ and describes connection to genderfluidity and the lesbian identity. Ann was born in Joplin, MO and currently resides in Vancouver. Ann talks about her changing relationship with the Jewish community and Judaism from a child in the American midwest to present. She talks about her parents’ lives in Missouri, Michigan and California amongst others, with family history in Eastern Europe. Ann talks about her school experiences, including moving away to Wayne State University where she enjoyed the independence and the culture of the ‘60s, including rock concerts and hitchhiking across the US. Ann discusses how they came to Vancouver and the political action they encountered, including the women's movement and WAVAW. Ann talks about same-sex marriage at Or Shalom, as well as an event with the lesbian theoretician Sandra Butler at Temple Sholom. Ann reflects on involvement in the group called the Glowing Alefs, and in lesbian and/or feminist Seders.

Interview with Caryl Dolinko for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Caryl is a Jewish lesbian, born in Edmonton, Alberta and currently residing in Vancouver. Caryl recalls her parents and grandparents livelihoods in the theater and furniture industries and origins in Eastern Europe. She talks about being a tomboy from a young age and coming out at age 25 to the acceptance of her family. She also talks about the difficulty finding space to be a lesbian and Jewish at the same time up until the mid-2000s and how Vancouver Pride has sometimes been a conflicting place to be Jewish. She recalls travelling stories, including her time in Israel, England and Japan, and her various jobs alone the way. Caryl talks about the Lesbian Phone Tree in Vancouver, a network of lesbians phone calling one another with community updates and how it helped her found a queer women’s softball league. She talks about working with Vancouver Pride in the mid-2000s and growing it towards what it is today. She talks about financial barriers to Jewish community, becoming a part of the Jewish community in Mexico, and how being a Jew has become more important to her as she has aged.

Oral Interview with Cynthia Ramsay for the JMABC Artists Scribe. Interviewed by Daniella Givon. Cynthia was born in Moncton, NB but spent most of her time growing up in Winnipeg. She talks about her family history, including her father’s second marriage to a Jewish woman allowing her the choice of converting to Judaism. She speaks about her Jewish education and embracing Jewish family and traditions, as well secular education including degrees in economics. Cynthia talks about her early career at an economic think tank and career at the Jewish Western Bulletin. Cynthia describes coming to own the JWB with her colleagues and changes the publication went through moving it beyond a solely right wing paper. She speaks about her marriage and how she met her wife. Cynthia talks about how she first joined the Scribe as editor and how she began producing the Scribe editions thematically. Cynthia discusses how working on the Scribes fostered a deeper connection to the Jewish community in Vancouver, but also provided insight into prominent Jewish families and businesses in BC, and how their impacts persisted into the present day.

Interview with David Kesselman for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. David is a gay Jewish man born in Lviv, Ukraine and currently living in Vancouver. David recalls his parents and their origins in Eastern Europe, and immigrating to Israel as a young child. He recalls his modest upbringing, and his relationship with his half brother. David discusses his realization that he was gay while in nursing school in Toronto and how being a secular Jew meant he didn’t experience religious backlash for being gay in Toronto or Vancouver, though he does talk about his experiences with antisemitism out in the general world. David talks about having a serious girlfriend from high school, whom of which he would eventually move to Canada for and get married to. He talks about working in Toronto hospitals, going to nursing school, and having children with his then-wife and how things changed when he came out at 31. He talks about how he worked in Yellowknife, and ended up in B.C. David talks about how he met his current partner Oscar. David closes with the importance of staying true to oneself.

Summary: Interview with Ira Rogers for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Ira (he/him) is a gay Jewish man, born in Manhattan and currently residing in Vancouver. Ira describes his parents’ history and some of his early memories in New York City, and in Los Angeles with family friends. Ira describes coming out at 21, two years after Stonewall, and how it was largely met without resistance in the Jewish community in NYC; a contrast to his time living in Nashville as a songwriter and musician. He talks about his transition out of pre-med in college to major in music at Brooklyn College and how his 19 years in Tennessee allowed him personal and career growth. Ira explains how he was prompted to move away from Nashville to find a place that aligned more with his queer, liberal Jew identity and eventually settled on Vancouver. Ira talks about being married to a woman, while still wanting to explore his queer sexuality and how this complicated their relationship. He then talks about his current partner of over 17 years that he met soon after moving to Vancouver. Ira closes with reflections on being gay and Jewish, and the advice that one’s care, compassion and kindness can be the keys to fulfilling relationships alongside being oneself.

Interview with Jack Huberman for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Jack (he/him) is a gay Jewish man born in Calgary, Alberta. Jack talks about his family’s origins in Poland and his parents’ livelihoods as grocers and property owners upon immigrating to Canada. Jack shares he realized he was gay very late in life, and how little dialogue about being queer and Jewish at the time made him reluctant to ‘come out’ within his Jewish community in Vancouver. He discusses the writing and mentorship of Rabbi Gil Steinlauf as a catalyst for understanding his sexuality within a Jewish context, though shares how ‘coming out’ did not make him feel welcomed across all parts of his Jewish community, including his own congregation. Jack talks about his desire to foster a greater awareness and acceptance for queer Jews. He discusses his experiences through school, including how he eventually became lawyer, and volunteering throughout the Jewish community in Vancouver. Jack closes by talking about his immediate family, including his husband, children, and grandchildren, and the importance of treating others equally and maintaining good relationships with those around you.

Interview with Jacqueline Walters as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Jacqueline shares her experience working at Jewish Family Services in Vancouver as both a counselor and community worker. She discusses undertaking a needs assessment to better understand the needs of LGBTQ+ folks in the Jewish community.