AGQ-F0006

Fonds Front de libération homosexuel (FLH). – 1972-[1981]. – 5 cm of textual records.

 

 

 

 

Administrative history:

 

In February 1971, the Quebec counter-cultural magazine Mainmise (No. 2) published an article by Gilles Hughes Yvonne de Maujincourt entitled ‘Pour un Front gay à Montréal’. On 26 March 1971, the leaders of Mainmise convened a meeting in Montreal to discuss this appeal, during which the decision was taken to found the Front de libération homosexuel (FLH). Attendance at the meetings grew rapidly, and by the summer of 1971, meetings were being held at the University Settlement centre, located on rue Saint-Urbain near rue Prince-Arthur. The FLH set up a gay contingent for the anti-Confederation demonstration on 1 July 1971; it was ‘the first group of homosexuals to appear in public in Montreal’ (Higgins 2011: 81). On 28 August 1971, the FLH co-signed, with eleven other Canadian gay liberation organizations, a memorandum of demands submitted to the Canadian federal government (LeDerff 1973: 148 ff.). The group also organized social activities (parties, the first gay dances, round tables) and, on 1 October 1971, set up a meeting place at 2065 rue Saint-Denis, which it ran until April 1972. It was ‘the first gay community centre in Montreal’ (Higgins 2011: 81). In November 1971, the FLH opted for legal incorporation and set up an administrative structure, electing its first executive council on 20 February 1972. On 1 May 1972, the group moved into new premises at 279, rue Sainte-Catherine Est. On 17 June 1972, a police raid on the inauguration of the premises, during which some forty members were arrested, and the trial that followed, led to the dissolution of the group at the end of the summer of 1972.

 

 

Scope and content:

 

The fonds documents the FLH’s activities: taking part in demonstrations, raising awareness, writing texts, social activities, running a meeting place and dealing with the police.

 

The fonds contains a logbook, meeting documents, press cuttings, photographs of an FLH membership card and envelope, a text defining the FLH, correspondence, a leaflet, articles of association and by-laws, a promotional leaflet and a text on the history of the FLH.

 

The fonds contains the following files:

 

  • AGQ-F0006/D1. FLH. Writers and readers [Logbook]
  • AGQ-F0006/D2. FLH. Meeting documents and other documents (1/2)
  • AGQ-F0006/D3. FLH. Meeting documents and other documents (2/2)

 

 

Notes:

 

Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.

 

Immediate source of acquisition: The fund was transferred to the AGQ in 1983, 1984 and 1990 (acquisitions 1983-07, 1984-05, 1990-10).

 

Language: The documents are in French and English.

 

Restrictions on access: To be checked with the archivist responsible for the management the fonds.

 

Related documents:

 

The ArQuives in Toronto have a (vertical file) on the FLH.

 

Bibliothèque et Archives Canada has a file on the FLH: Canadian Security Intelligence Service fonds, RG 146 (R929-0-4-F), vol. 3050, « Homosexuals Liberation Front, Montreal, Quebec » file.

 

Related groups of records in different fonds external to the unit being described:

 

The AGQ-F0021 Fonds Yann (Jean) LeDerff of the AGQ contains documents relating to the FLH: names and telephone numbers of members with duty hours at the FLH office, discussion papers, handwritten notes. The documents are not dated [ca 1971-1972].

 

The fonds AGQ-F0073 Fonds Gilles Garneau des AGQ contains documents relating to the FLH: notice of the first general meeting, information leaflet, letter to members, notice of the emergency meeting of 5 August 1972. The documents date from 1972.

 

Finding aids: Digital inventory of the fonds in Excel format.

 

General note: The fonds consists in part of photocopies of documents held at the ArQuives in Toronto and transferred to the Archives gaies du Québec in 1983.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Beaulieu, C. (1983). « 1960-1980, Notre “petite histoire” », Le Petit Berdache, n° 5, p. 11-12.

 

Carisse, C. et Perrault, S.  (1972). [Sans titre. Vidéo sur le FLH]. Montréal, Services de l’audiovisuel, Université de Montréal,  Format : ½ pouce.

 

Higgins, R. (1999) De la clandestinité à l’affirmation. Pour une histoire de la communauté gaie montréalaise. Montréal, Comeau & Nadeau (Lux Éditeur),  113-116.

 

Higgins, R. (2011). « La régulation sociale de l’homosexualité. De la répression policière à la normalisation » dans La régulation sociale des minorités sexuelles : L’inquiétude de la différence, Corriveau, P. et Daoust, V. (dir.), Québec : Presses de l’Université du Québec, p. 81-83.

 

Lederff, J. (1972). « FLH. Un front de libération des homosexuels à Montréal. », Le Tiers, 1(2), p. 48.

 

Lederff, J.  (1973). Homosexuel? Et pourquoi pas! Montréal, Québec : Ferron éditeur, 149-158.

 

Socrate du Québec [Lederff, J.]. (1971, septembre).  « FLH. Un front de libération des homosexuels à Montréal. », Le Tiers, 1(1), 40-42.

 

Sylvestre, P.-F. (1979). Les Homosexuels s’organisent au Québec et ailleurs, Montréal, Québec : Éditions Homeureux, p. 53.

 

 

 

Dernière modification : 2024-07-29