Lavender Club started because Bellamy (co-founder) and I met. Violet’s Book Club is how we met, actually. Bellamy started Violet’s Book Club, and at the same time, I had a friend who was setting up a shop that had a movie screen. My friend was telling me it would be cool to screen movies there. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be awesome to do a movie night?”
My friend said, “Yeah, if you want to do that, I can let you do that.”
I thought, “Great! I want to do that, but I don’t want to organize that all by myself.”
Even though I had only just met Bellamy, I [approached them and asked,] “Hey, I know that you have this [book club]. If you want, we can join forces, and promote this movie night together.”
Bellamy said, “Okay, but I want to be a part of it too!”
So that’s kind of how we met, and how we did our first event. [Then] we realized we got along really well. We were really good [at] organizing things together, and it was a really fun experience. We just kept it going, and grew from there. My girlfriend, Jasmine, is part of the team as well.
We think it’s important to do that because it’s kind of the whole reason the group even started. [In different ways,] both of us were seeking to find community, and to find safer spaces where we could be ourselves and have all these experiences that are offered in the city – but in a way that is more approachable and less intimidating.
That was kind of the start of our journey as a group. Both of us were doing that separately. Then we decided, “Hey, we want to do this together, and we can reach a wider audience and prepare bigger things.”
We have found that it’s really important to highlight queer voices, and to highlight people that are trying to create opportunities like these. [It’s] not just ourselves; we’ve been able to meet so many other wonderful people in the city who are like-minded, and who have supported us in doing the things that Lavender Club does, because there is that support. We have found that people are looking for places that are offering those opportunities to connect, be creative together, express yourself, or just simply hang out. Our hangouts are all about being chill, and just doing fun things that end early in the day, [and] are sober as well – that’s another one of our big things.
The diversity of our experiences deserves the chance to be expressed, and there’s all kinds of queer people out there – just like there are all kinds of [straight] people out there as well. That’s why we believe it’s valuable to express our voices, and do these things, and that’s how it aligns with our group mission.
I personally like to do many other things. Besides my work, I like to do other things that are also focused on community building. In a lot of ways, it makes sense that I do this, too.
I’m really into food justice, and food-based mutual aid. I’m one of the co-founders of The Hatch, which is [a] mutual aid organization in the city that focuses on food justice and community collaboration. We have a fridge set up in Rosscarrock.
(Note: The Hatch’s community fridge is set up in Rosscarrock Community Hall – 4411 10 Ave SW.)
Good Neighbor is something that The Hatch was instrumental in setting up [as well].
(Note: Good Neighbor is a pay-what-you-can thrift store, located at 149 5 Ave SE. There is a fundraiser thrift store and donation center next door.)
I like to write. I am also a poet, and I’m a youth member of the Youth Committee at the Writer’s Guild of Alberta. I just started that recently, so I will have the opportunity to create opportunities for youth in Alberta, specifically Calgary, to come together and express themselves creatively through the literary arts.
I’m an immigrant. I’m from Venezuela. Volunteering and doing things like [reading, writing, and working on food justice-based mutual aid] are the ways that I have found community after being detached from the community I had. It was also a way for me to get to know people here, and relate to a whole new place. Having community is really important, and I like to organize [around] that.
Now, more than ever, it seems that politicians are getting a little kooky with LGBTQ+ rights and such. It’s not just politicians, [too]; it’s getting hard out there, and it’s getting regressive and scary for a lot of us.
Like I said, community is really important. I find that it’s really important for me and for everyone, because it’s important to remember that when we know we have each other, we can be stronger. We can be more resilient, and we can come up with ways to get through difficult experiences together, versus being isolated. Being isolated is what makes you vulnerable, and that’s what they would want you to be – to not have the knowledge that other people can give you, and not have the skill-sets that you can create together to thrive.
We are also a sober-focused space. Historically, there are reasons why the LGBT community hasn’t had sober spaces, and those reasons are very valid. But we know that people are also looking for other people who are sober – or people who are just looking to hang out and have a picnic, or a relaxed movie night.
We’re not the party-haters. We’re just like, “Here’s [an] alternative,” and there are people who are seeking that.
Even [for] people that go to the club, they also want to do different things. [It’s about] having those safer spaces, where we get to know one another, get to chat, and get to comfort one another – especially through the experiences that we are going through right now as a collective. I find that it’s really important [to have these spaces], so that we can remember that we’re going to be okay, and to remember our history too.
We’ve been through things like this. When I say, “community,” it includes elders, younger people, and everything in between.
Connecting all of history is also important to be more resilient.
As we come up on our one year anniversary, it has been a really wonderful journey getting to connect with individuals and organizations in the city. It has been incredible to see the amount of support that we actually do get. It has been a learning experience that has shown us that 2SLGBTQ+ people are looking for spaces where we can be ourselves, express ourselves, and meet one another. This group is particularly focused on events for lesbians, and [it has been] very rewarding to get support and feedback that [Lavender Club is] needed.
We’re really focused on making sure that our events are spaces truly for everyone. Everywhere, not just [in the] LGBT [community], has a long way to go when it comes to creating accessible events for everyone. That’s really our focus, because disabled people are also part of the community, and immunocompromised [people too]. We don’t want to exclude anybody from having a chance to be part of the fun.
We’re really excited to see what the next year brings. This one year [of] experience has really reiterated all of what I believe in: when we come together as a community, we can really shine brighter, and it really shows you that there are a lot of people out there that are willing to support that journey to create safer spaces for our community.
You can follow Lavender Club on Instagram: @lavenderclubyyc, and they are always looking for new volunteers. The team operates in a non-hierarchical structure and the events are a great way to meet others in the community. Their volunteer intake form can be found on their Instagram account. For collaboration and partnership inquiries, you can email them at [email protected]. Keep an eye out for events and programming they have in store for September!
