Thursday, June 18, 2020

RM Vaughan : introduction







New Brunswick queers are tough. Tough as kelp. And not for reasons you think you know.
Contrary to central Canadian ideas, NBers in general are not conservative, uptight, or secretive.
We are, instead, crafty. Foxy even.
Case in point: the longest serving Premier of New Brunswick was a flamboyant and (by the standards of his era) everybody-knew/nobody-cared out gay man named Richard Hatfield. He loved disco music and drugs and wore gorgeous foulards while flipping pancakes at country fairs, kissing babies, and telling off bossy Prime Ministers. And he was friends with Truman Capote and danced at Studio 54. He got away with everything, simply by being clever.
Our queerness is Hatfieldian – dashing, smart, and deeply local. Our queerness is built, not bestowed from afar. We take our own cues, thank you, and shall skip rocks as we please. What’s that cute new word for this state of being? Liminal. Our queerness is liminal. Because it has to be to thrive in such small numbers.
Just don’t mess with us. We all know how to start fires.

This selection is not a complete project. Not even close. It’s a start, a baton passed in a relay. I hope it will lead you to discover more of our wonders. Or just be a tourist. Nobody in New Brunswick ever turns away a visitor.
RM Vaughan


Richard Hatfield drinking with Stompin’ Tom Connors, circa1977.





RM Vaughan is a Canadian writer and video artist. Please visit www.rmvaughan.ca