Interview with Shaira SD Holman 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. SD identifies themself overall as queer, but also as a butch dyke and genderqueer. SD talks about being raised as a secular and cultural Jew. SD talks about growing up in LA to a single parent and eventually moving to Rock Creek, BC becoming a cowboy on the countryside. SD shares about being ‘out’ as queer in high school and eventually going to Emily Carr for arts upon moving to Vancouver. SD talks about not feeling at home in Vancouver’s Jewish community as compared with the working class Jews in LA or their Jewish leatherdyke community in San Francisco. SD talks about their late wife Catherine, and how they were each others’ sanctuary where Catherine was encouraging to their arts endeavors. SD talks about the Pride in Arts Society, and creating the Queer Arts Festival. SD also talks about opening the SUM Gallery as a place for queer artists to be themselves and kickstarting queer recognition in Vancouver's arts scene. SD closes by giving the advice that life is not a sprint, but a marathon; to keep learning, and remember the history that comes before you.

Interview with Ruth Simkin for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Madison Slobin via remote Zoom video call. Ruth (she/her) is a queer Jewish woman who was born in Winnipeg, currently residing in Victoria, B.C. She explains how she used to subscribe to the ‘lesbian’ label, but no longer feels connected to one identity. Ruth recalls her family history in rural Manitoba, including her parents, grandparents and siblings, their livelihoods and her relationships with them. Ruth talks about coming out to her family in her twenties, and her experience with getting married to a man at age 18. She discusses her connections to Jewish community, and how being Jewish was understood by her peers throughout her education. Ruth speaks to her pride in being a doctor and a writer, including having written a feminist Haggadah called ‘Like an Orange on a Seder Plate’. Ruth talks about how writing has become an important outlet for her as she became a wheelchair user. Ruth also discusses queer political organizing in Calgary, and coming to B.C. after ending a serious relationship. She discusses how she went back to school to study palliative care while living on Salt Spring Island, and moving to Victoria once working full time as a palliative care doctor. She closes by talking about being a grandmother, but also the relationship between the Jewish and queer communities.