Victoria museum requests stories from queer maritime workers to include in exhibition

The hidden history of gay maritime workers is being brought to light in a project organized by the Maritime Museum of British Columbia.

The Victoria-based museum is inviting queer, trans and two-spirit people connected to B.C.'s maritime history and culture to share their stories in preparation for an upcoming exhibition. Queer at Sea: Tales from the 2SLGBTQ+ Community will be held from May 17 to Nov. 5.

Jelena Putnik, a director of the Maritime Museum, says Queer at Sea is inspired by Hello Sailor, an exhibition about the history of gay seafarers, whichwas held in Halifax's Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in 2011.

As a sea cadet officer in the 1980s and '90s, Putnik says she has lived experience with homophobia in the corps.

"The gay community [was] quite thriving in[the sea cadets], but it was definitely under the radar and there was just an understood hush-hush," she said.

From 1950 to 1992, thousands of LGBTQ personnel across the civil service including Canadians in the military and RCMP were grilled by special investigation units, hooked up to polygraph machines and ultimately discharged from service deemed a threat to national security.

Putnik says she could live more freely only after quitting the sea cadetsin the early 1990s and working at an eco-tourism company, where she got to know her current partner.

Since her departure, however, she says the sea cadets havebecomeincreasingly LGBTQ-friendly.

The museum's executive director, Brittany Vis, says LGBTQpeople with connections tomaritime industries and culture could submit their stories in text, or do an interview with museum staff, and submit photos and other personal artifactsas well.

Vis asks people who want to share their stories with the museum to fill out an online form, where they can remain anonymous, or contact her by email at bvis@mmbc.bc.ca or by phone at 250-385-4222 (ext. 106), by the deadline on March 4.

LISTEN|Brittany Vis invites LGBTQ people to share their stories about B.C. maritime culture

LISTEN| Jelena Putnik shares herexperiences with homophobia in maritime professions