Chris Vogel

I interviewed Chris Vogel, along with his partner Richard North, at their home in Winnipeg. Chris grew up in a prairie CCF family and became politicized as a student at the University of Manitoba in the late 1960s. He came out as gay in 1971 and has been active in gay liberation activities since shortly thereafter. He and North engaged in the first widely publicized same-sex marriage in Canada in 1974, and their later legal battle to have North recognized as a legitimate recipient of Vogel’s medical benefits was one of a number of high profile cases that advanced gay rights. From demonstrations to grassroots media production to public education events to fundraising, Vogel has been a fixture in gay organizing in Winnipeg for decades.

Material from Vogel on this site:

• An audio clip of Vogel and North talking about both local and national grassroots produciton of queer media in earlier years, and about the national organizational form (or lack thereof) of the early gay and lesbian movement in Canada.

  [audio:vogel_and_north_media.mp3]