Item 20.20-28 - Caryl Dolinko

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.