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One Summer in Vancouver
"Delightful" ― ★ starred review, Booklist The 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver were an inspiring and culture-shifting event in the history of LGBTQ2S+ culture and visibility. One Summer In Vancouver is a fiction which takes place in the midst of an event which is reconstructed with careful detail by an author who was there. This is a story of self-discovery and romance for young adult readers today -- but it will also engage adult readers of historical fiction, sports fiction, LGBTQ2S+ fiction, and romance. Tom, a teen struggling to understand his sexual identity, flees Toronto for a summer of freedom in Vancouver, where something exciting is about to the Gay Games. Living with his “out” Uncle Fred, Tom experiences a new world where being your true self is freeing and fun. He falls in with teen Dwayne, who falls for him, and Gina, a lesbian getting over a relationship with a popular singer. As the Games wrap, Tom has to decide whether to return home back to a closeted life and a father who doesn’t understand, or to make a new life in Vancouver. The story plays out against the backdrop of the Games, populated with the important organizers and cultural figures who were prominent in this landmark event. This novel is a tribute to the spirit of courage and unity that the Games represented at a time when being openly gay and proud was a radical stance.
280 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2023
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72 people want to read
About the author
Tony Correia
17 books11 followersTony Correia is the author of "Same Love", "Foodsluts at Doll & Penny's Cafe", and "Haters Gotta Hate." His work has appeared in magazines and newspapers across Canada and the US.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 28, 2025
Powerful historical novel about a closeted teenage boy who runs away from home to Vancouver for the Gay Games to his out gay uncle living with AIDs. He makes true friends and discovers what it’s like to be surrounded by LGBTQ folks from all over the world. He gained the courage to come out to his father in person and see his father is reeling with how fast his world is changing. Well written. Captures LGBTQ Joy in the face of everything including AIDs.
One summer in Vancouver by Tony Correa
18 Raven: replacing Gina’s copy of Absolute Torch & Twang for her birthday. Hers is so scratched, it sounds like Wagner.
Dwayne: isn’t an album, like, are you old now? Raven: as long as it’s not “closer to fine, “. If one more person request that song…
51 Mom: I wish you would stop with this… Gabes… She can’t bring herself to say the word gay. Gina: why can’t you just be happy for me? Everyone at the deli is there as old world as you. Even the province gave the gay games it seal of approval. Mom: all the newspaper wants is your money. I want what’s best for you. Gina: then you should be happy. I’m good at something! I could be pregnant. I could be on drugs. I could be in jail. Instead, I’m a lesbian softball player. This is a win!
77 About the Gay Games: Vancouver does feel like a city of the future. Different races or mingling. Same-sex couples are holding hands. Everyone is… Happy. This is how it must feel to be completely straight. Do not have a secret. Do not have to pretend.
81-2 Gaetan: how are the swimming practices with your uncle? Can he win a medal? Tom: I doubt it. I’ve never met an athlete who didn’t care about winning. Gaetan: he only registered because he tested positive. Tom: positive for what? Does uncle Fred have AIDS? Gaetan: non, non, non… This is not my place to say. Tom: please, I won’t tell him you told me. Gaetan: i’m only telling you because you were part of the family. I would never disclose another person status. Your uncle has HIV, not AIDS. We both do and Fred does care about the competition, but for different reasons than winning. He is proving to himself the virus will not defeat him. So are many of the men who are competing. They didn’t come here just to win a medal. They came here to change the face of AIDS. I don’t care which place I finish, I can hear uncle Fred saying to me in the pool. As long as I finish strong. I see the games in a new light now on television we’ve been forced fed images of people dying of AIDS. Skeletons in hospital beds, like holocaust victims, attached tubes. A warning to those of us who aren’t out yet, those of us who are still questioning what we are. And yet here I am in a stadium with 7000 Rosie cheat athletes. Some of them, like my uncle determined to finish Strong, no matter what place they come in.
84 entering the gay games: Fred: this is what it must feel like to exit the birth canal.
85 Gina entering the games: I feel like royalty for playing shortstop in fast pitch. I’ve dreamed of competing in the Olympics. But I never dreamed I would get to experience anything like this. This feeling of love and adoration.
Music sung: “memory “from cats plays over video tricks of Dr. Tim Waddell, the founder of the gay games. A white horse is parade through the stadium in honor of those we lost to AIDS. At the time it takes Carol Pope to sing a song, we are reminded this isn’t just a competition. It’s a fight for our lives. An even larger choir takes the stage to sing “when tomorrow comes from Les Miserables. Mom loves that album and plays it all the time at home and in the car. Hearing it now, performed by queer singers from all over the world, brings a month to my throat.
87 “we are the champions. Slowly, the crowd begins spanning out in the direction of the gay and lesbian bars. I’ve never felt so safe being out on the street and all my life.
135 Tom: I love that everyone is so comfortable being gay in public, but what happens when the games are over? What happens after the fling goes out and everybody goes back to their hometown? How will they be able to hide who they are knowing what the world could be like? Kant: you make it sound like a bad thing. You don’t need a bull horn or to drape yourself in a rainbow flag to be gay. I prefer discretion. Tom: but I thought the games was about visibility. KENT: I’d rather be comfortable than visible. I’ll be fine whether we have gay rights or not. Just as long as I don’t get AIDS. I’m here for a good time, not to change the world. Tom: harsh.
136-7 Tom: why aren’t you inside enjoying the party? Uncle Fred: I got overwhelmed. Was pouring myself a drink and looking around at all my friends when I remembered the friends who aren’t here. Troy, Vince, Michael… They were looking forward to the games as much as anyone. It made me wonder why I’m here and they’re not.
I hear uncle Fred suck back the tears. I have no idea what to say to comfort him, so I put my arm around him until he rest his head on my shoulder. We watched the people on the sidewalk go by. “Happy pride “they shout to us. Strangers, all of them, but today everyone is our friend.
142 the bus is packed with gay and lesbian athletes and people in their way to work. A lesbian softball player is standing next to a guy in a business suit who’s reading the paper. A bear and spandex is talking to a nurse. It’s real and perfectly normal at the same time. I’m amazed at how quickly everyone has gotten used to it. For years, the rebellious right had been threatening us with the fires of hell with the games. Went ahead as planned. Today feels like just another Tuesday, but with more mullets and handlebar mustaches.
148 google Fred: you sound like your father. It’s his fault. I’m not good at sports. It doesn’t matter what sport we were playing, he always made a point of being on the opposite team because he didn’t wanna lose. Who does that to their own brother? Tom: then this is your chance to prove him wrong, isn’t it? I say starting to get a little sassy myself. I believe Dwayne‘s word for his “attitude. “This gets his attention. Uncle Fred take a breath and adjust his speedos.
149 uncle Fred: has anyone told you how beautiful you look when you swim? Tom: if a teammate told me I’m beautiful. They’d get called a fag. Uncle Fred: what’s wrong with the world that a man can’t compliment another man without getting verbally assaulted?
157 Dwayne: I can’t get over how diverse the city is right now. Richard Dopson: that’s how I felt when I went to the first games at in San Francisco.’ 82. Tom Waddell always said the games are reflection of the global communities, health, bigger, creativity, and involvement. I don’t see a better example of that than here at this theater. Look at all these healthy bodies. Look how strong we are even with a disease that has cut a swath through our community. And we continue to thrive. They can never keep us down as long as we work together.
196 the young and one another’s arms by Jane rule
197 Kouri: amazing how quick a place becomes home. Tom: right? These have been the most amazing weeks of my life, and I won’t even be able to tell anyone when I go back toMississauga. Kouri: then don’t go back. Tom: are you kidding? I’m 17 exponent! My whole life is in the Mississauga. My friends are there. I have a whole other year of high school before I can graduate. I can’t run away forever. Kouri: so it’s back to the closet for you then eh? Tom: I haven’t decided yet. I kissed a guy last night, but I still can’t bring myself to say the words. Kouri: ripped the Band-Aid off, I say. You’re a good kid, you. I’ve been in your shoes. The longer you hide from yourself, the more miserable you’ll be.
198 “the winner takes it all “by ABBA posters of Madonna, Janet Jackson and Robert Smith
200 Tom: if I act, feminine, even the slightest bit, I made to feel like a fag. I feel like I’m trapped in one of those boxes magicians put knives into. I can wiggle my fingers and toes, but I can’t move while I keep getting stabbed. Dwayne: but you can pass for straight without even trying. That’s the ideal game in. You respectable. I’m gay as all hell and as ugly as sin. Tom: you’re not ugly. Dwayne: I’m not attractive like you. Sometimes I wonder why you even hang out with me. You could be friends with anyone in the city right now. Tom: are you serious? You and Gina are the coolest people I’ve ever hung out with. Gina shoots from the hip. But you… Remember the pride party at uncle Fred’s? I went to the bathroom and you didn’t see me, but when I came back downstairs, I watched you dancing by yourself to some disco song. You looked so happy and free. And I thought, all I want is to be as comfortable with myself as that guy. It’s the nicest thing anyone who’s not mom has ever said to me.
224 dad: make sure you look like a man by the time I come back, tommy. Dad doesn’t raise his voice when he’s angry. He speaks above a whisper, like Clint Eastwood and dirty hairy. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life – and I’ve been hazed! Dad: turned him into a fury! Who does that to their own nephew? Uncle Fred, he was like that when he got here! I just gave him the space to be himself. I feel like such a faggots right now. I can hear those protesters from the Registration day screaming, “God hates bags! “I feel diseased, an outcast. This is exactly what I’ve been hiding from. This is what I thought I could run away from when I bought the plane ticket to Vancouver. I wish I could make those thoughts go away, but they won’t. They just keep getting worse.
Gaetan is standing in the hallway, wearing nothing but a pair of Calvin Klein briefs. You OK? He asked me I walk over and hug him tight. I hear myself sobbing to try and force myself to stop, but I can’t. This is the most normal I felt since I came home last night Gaetan: at least he didn’t drag you to the nearest army recruiting center. Uncle Fred: that’s because they’re not open yet. Tom: hey, uncle Fred, I’m really sorry this is happening. I never meant to turn your life upside down. Uncle Fred: don’t be sorry. This was a long time coming. It’s what happens when the love that dares notto speak its name, screens, look at me! I’m gay! “ I start to laugh, but it hurts. I don’t want to go back to the way things were. My whole life I’ve been taught how a man is supposed to act. How if you stray from that, it will send you down the path of ruin. But that’s not what I saw this week. Everything I’ve ever known about the world has come undone. I don’t want to go back to living a lot. But I have no choice. I was a fool for believing I ever did. Uncle Fred: you don’t have to go. You can stay here with me. With us. Tom: I think it’s best I go home. Things are pretty bad between you and dad. My dad. Staying here will only make it worse. If I go now, at least you two have a chance of making up. Gaetan : life is too short to waste time pleasing other people, tommy. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Tom: but he’s my dad. Uncle Fred that doesn’t mean he knows what’s best for you.
240 Music: most of the songs from the Phantom of the opera and Lacache Follies,.
I used to check out the course line album from the library because of all the gay characters. I didn’t mind Gloria Gaynor’s version of “I am what I am, “but it’s not something I would listen to outside of a gay club.
Listening to the choirs one night after another, brought a lump to my throat more than once today. All those voices singing it once, chords rising to the sky, it was inspiring. I don’t believe in God, but those songs were like prayers. Offerings to the universe to make aids go away And for those horrible right wing politicians to stop using us as punching bags to get three elected. Maybe some gay person locked up in a prison will hear our voices and find comfort in them – like radio for Europe during the war. Or maybe or not. Maybe the gay games are the most we can have her hope for. But I don’t want to think about that. Not anymore.
Vancouver’s men’s chorus is wrapping up “anything goes. “The song ends and the conductor welcomes the San Francisco men’s chorus and the Seattle men’s course onto the stage. He turns to the audience and says “we’d like to dedicate this last song to Dr. Tom Waddell, and to our friends who did not live to celebrate with us this week. “The choir start singing “empty chairs at empty tables “from Les Misérables the song affected me when I heard it in the theater, but hearing all these men questioning why they lived while their friends died since hot tears down my cheeks. Around me, men and women are golfing back tears, exposing this, or that follows us around. It’s not just AIDS. It’s the bashing. It’s the insults. It’s the subtle forms of discrimination we put up with for having a lisp or a swish. I don’t want to go back to how it was before. I don’t want to be a second class citizen anymore. I don’t want the games to end.
243 Tom & his Dad watching water polo at the gay games- dad: what are we doing here, tommy? Why did you go all this way and spend all this money to tell me what you are? Tom: because the moment I experienced an emotion, you make me suppress it. Dad: I was teaching you to be a man. Tom: there’s more to being a man that not crying. I can be gay and still be a man. Look at what’s happening in this pool. Look at all these people living their lives. How much more proof do you need? Dad: that’s your uncle talking. You know he reads that house. Tom: I don’t think uncle Fred has retirement on his mind. Dad: of course not. Why would he plan for the future? Tom: because he’s HIV positive. Dad slowly lowers his face into the palms of his hands. I’ve never seen him look so confused. I regret telling him. I didn’t mean to. It slipped out. Or am I see using uncle Fred as a weapon? I’m not sure anymore.
Dad: my brother has AIDS?
Dad: I don’t know anymore. First, you’re gay, then the village people are gay, and now my brother has AIDS. What’s wrong with the world? Tom: it’s not the world, it’s the people. Dad: I always wondered if he had it. He seems like the kind of guy who would. Never had a backbone. Always a weak kid. Tom: uncle Fred is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. He uses his legal degree to help people. He opens his home to people who need a place to stay. He’s respected here. He’s only a loser when he goes home.
264-5 dad: I can’t do it. I can’t go back to. Mississauga with you. Not like this.
Tom: are you letting me stay? Or are you kicking me out of the house? Dad: I don’t have an answer for that yet. Tom: do you hate me? No: but after your friend watching your friend on TV just now, I’m afraid if I take you home right now that I will.
Your friend Tina said something to me today that stuck with me. She said no matter what you guys do, straight people always say the word “gay “in front of it. I need time to stop thinking about you as my gay son and as just my son. Tom: what if you never get there? Dad: we’ll get there. We’ll keep cheering for the Home team until we do.
268. Georgia: even when you were wearing that stupid bandanna to hide your hair. You deserve to be with someone brave enough to live out loud. That’s not me. I don’t know if it ever will be.
269 I see Tom and Dwayne running toward me from the tunnel. I jump into Tom‘s arms and he swings me around. He puts me down and Dwayne jumps on top of me. My heart is still broken, but I can already feel it starting to win. The three of us jump up and down, like we just scored the winning goal in a game, the crowd cheering. and then we put our arms around each other in a huddle, forehead, touching, ready to take on the world.
272 Dwayne: I feel like the Bon Trapp family singers. Gina: but gayer. Uncle Fred: and to think, they didn’t want to use the word gay in that poster. Raven: the city had no idea how much money they were going to make off of us. Raven said with a hint of bitterness.
Gina: all that fuss over a word.
Dwayne: never again, we are here to stay.
One summer in Vancouver by Tony Correa
18 Raven: replacing Gina’s copy of Absolute Torch & Twang for her birthday. Hers is so scratched, it sounds like Wagner.
Dwayne: isn’t an album, like, are you old now? Raven: as long as it’s not “closer to fine, “. If one more person request that song…
51 Mom: I wish you would stop with this… Gabes… She can’t bring herself to say the word gay. Gina: why can’t you just be happy for me? Everyone at the deli is there as old world as you. Even the province gave the gay games it seal of approval. Mom: all the newspaper wants is your money. I want what’s best for you. Gina: then you should be happy. I’m good at something! I could be pregnant. I could be on drugs. I could be in jail. Instead, I’m a lesbian softball player. This is a win!
77 About the Gay Games: Vancouver does feel like a city of the future. Different races or mingling. Same-sex couples are holding hands. Everyone is… Happy. This is how it must feel to be completely straight. Do not have a secret. Do not have to pretend.
81-2 Gaetan: how are the swimming practices with your uncle? Can he win a medal? Tom: I doubt it. I’ve never met an athlete who didn’t care about winning. Gaetan: he only registered because he tested positive. Tom: positive for what? Does uncle Fred have AIDS? Gaetan: non, non, non… This is not my place to say. Tom: please, I won’t tell him you told me. Gaetan: i’m only telling you because you were part of the family. I would never disclose another person status. Your uncle has HIV, not AIDS. We both do and Fred does care about the competition, but for different reasons than winning. He is proving to himself the virus will not defeat him. So are many of the men who are competing. They didn’t come here just to win a medal. They came here to change the face of AIDS. I don’t care which place I finish, I can hear uncle Fred saying to me in the pool. As long as I finish strong. I see the games in a new light now on television we’ve been forced fed images of people dying of AIDS. Skeletons in hospital beds, like holocaust victims, attached tubes. A warning to those of us who aren’t out yet, those of us who are still questioning what we are. And yet here I am in a stadium with 7000 Rosie cheat athletes. Some of them, like my uncle determined to finish Strong, no matter what place they come in.
84 entering the gay games: Fred: this is what it must feel like to exit the birth canal.
85 Gina entering the games: I feel like royalty for playing shortstop in fast pitch. I’ve dreamed of competing in the Olympics. But I never dreamed I would get to experience anything like this. This feeling of love and adoration.
Music sung: “memory “from cats plays over video tricks of Dr. Tim Waddell, the founder of the gay games. A white horse is parade through the stadium in honor of those we lost to AIDS. At the time it takes Carol Pope to sing a song, we are reminded this isn’t just a competition. It’s a fight for our lives. An even larger choir takes the stage to sing “when tomorrow comes from Les Miserables. Mom loves that album and plays it all the time at home and in the car. Hearing it now, performed by queer singers from all over the world, brings a month to my throat.
87 “we are the champions. Slowly, the crowd begins spanning out in the direction of the gay and lesbian bars. I’ve never felt so safe being out on the street and all my life.
135 Tom: I love that everyone is so comfortable being gay in public, but what happens when the games are over? What happens after the fling goes out and everybody goes back to their hometown? How will they be able to hide who they are knowing what the world could be like? Kant: you make it sound like a bad thing. You don’t need a bull horn or to drape yourself in a rainbow flag to be gay. I prefer discretion. Tom: but I thought the games was about visibility. KENT: I’d rather be comfortable than visible. I’ll be fine whether we have gay rights or not. Just as long as I don’t get AIDS. I’m here for a good time, not to change the world. Tom: harsh.
136-7 Tom: why aren’t you inside enjoying the party? Uncle Fred: I got overwhelmed. Was pouring myself a drink and looking around at all my friends when I remembered the friends who aren’t here. Troy, Vince, Michael… They were looking forward to the games as much as anyone. It made me wonder why I’m here and they’re not.
I hear uncle Fred suck back the tears. I have no idea what to say to comfort him, so I put my arm around him until he rest his head on my shoulder. We watched the people on the sidewalk go by. “Happy pride “they shout to us. Strangers, all of them, but today everyone is our friend.
142 the bus is packed with gay and lesbian athletes and people in their way to work. A lesbian softball player is standing next to a guy in a business suit who’s reading the paper. A bear and spandex is talking to a nurse. It’s real and perfectly normal at the same time. I’m amazed at how quickly everyone has gotten used to it. For years, the rebellious right had been threatening us with the fires of hell with the games. Went ahead as planned. Today feels like just another Tuesday, but with more mullets and handlebar mustaches.
148 google Fred: you sound like your father. It’s his fault. I’m not good at sports. It doesn’t matter what sport we were playing, he always made a point of being on the opposite team because he didn’t wanna lose. Who does that to their own brother? Tom: then this is your chance to prove him wrong, isn’t it? I say starting to get a little sassy myself. I believe Dwayne‘s word for his “attitude. “This gets his attention. Uncle Fred take a breath and adjust his speedos.
149 uncle Fred: has anyone told you how beautiful you look when you swim? Tom: if a teammate told me I’m beautiful. They’d get called a fag. Uncle Fred: what’s wrong with the world that a man can’t compliment another man without getting verbally assaulted?
157 Dwayne: I can’t get over how diverse the city is right now. Richard Dopson: that’s how I felt when I went to the first games at in San Francisco.’ 82. Tom Waddell always said the games are reflection of the global communities, health, bigger, creativity, and involvement. I don’t see a better example of that than here at this theater. Look at all these healthy bodies. Look how strong we are even with a disease that has cut a swath through our community. And we continue to thrive. They can never keep us down as long as we work together.
196 the young and one another’s arms by Jane rule
197 Kouri: amazing how quick a place becomes home. Tom: right? These have been the most amazing weeks of my life, and I won’t even be able to tell anyone when I go back toMississauga. Kouri: then don’t go back. Tom: are you kidding? I’m 17 exponent! My whole life is in the Mississauga. My friends are there. I have a whole other year of high school before I can graduate. I can’t run away forever. Kouri: so it’s back to the closet for you then eh? Tom: I haven’t decided yet. I kissed a guy last night, but I still can’t bring myself to say the words. Kouri: ripped the Band-Aid off, I say. You’re a good kid, you. I’ve been in your shoes. The longer you hide from yourself, the more miserable you’ll be.
198 “the winner takes it all “by ABBA posters of Madonna, Janet Jackson and Robert Smith
200 Tom: if I act, feminine, even the slightest bit, I made to feel like a fag. I feel like I’m trapped in one of those boxes magicians put knives into. I can wiggle my fingers and toes, but I can’t move while I keep getting stabbed. Dwayne: but you can pass for straight without even trying. That’s the ideal game in. You respectable. I’m gay as all hell and as ugly as sin. Tom: you’re not ugly. Dwayne: I’m not attractive like you. Sometimes I wonder why you even hang out with me. You could be friends with anyone in the city right now. Tom: are you serious? You and Gina are the coolest people I’ve ever hung out with. Gina shoots from the hip. But you… Remember the pride party at uncle Fred’s? I went to the bathroom and you didn’t see me, but when I came back downstairs, I watched you dancing by yourself to some disco song. You looked so happy and free. And I thought, all I want is to be as comfortable with myself as that guy. It’s the nicest thing anyone who’s not mom has ever said to me.
224 dad: make sure you look like a man by the time I come back, tommy. Dad doesn’t raise his voice when he’s angry. He speaks above a whisper, like Clint Eastwood and dirty hairy. I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life – and I’ve been hazed! Dad: turned him into a fury! Who does that to their own nephew? Uncle Fred, he was like that when he got here! I just gave him the space to be himself. I feel like such a faggots right now. I can hear those protesters from the Registration day screaming, “God hates bags! “I feel diseased, an outcast. This is exactly what I’ve been hiding from. This is what I thought I could run away from when I bought the plane ticket to Vancouver. I wish I could make those thoughts go away, but they won’t. They just keep getting worse.
Gaetan is standing in the hallway, wearing nothing but a pair of Calvin Klein briefs. You OK? He asked me I walk over and hug him tight. I hear myself sobbing to try and force myself to stop, but I can’t. This is the most normal I felt since I came home last night Gaetan: at least he didn’t drag you to the nearest army recruiting center. Uncle Fred: that’s because they’re not open yet. Tom: hey, uncle Fred, I’m really sorry this is happening. I never meant to turn your life upside down. Uncle Fred: don’t be sorry. This was a long time coming. It’s what happens when the love that dares notto speak its name, screens, look at me! I’m gay! “ I start to laugh, but it hurts. I don’t want to go back to the way things were. My whole life I’ve been taught how a man is supposed to act. How if you stray from that, it will send you down the path of ruin. But that’s not what I saw this week. Everything I’ve ever known about the world has come undone. I don’t want to go back to living a lot. But I have no choice. I was a fool for believing I ever did. Uncle Fred: you don’t have to go. You can stay here with me. With us. Tom: I think it’s best I go home. Things are pretty bad between you and dad. My dad. Staying here will only make it worse. If I go now, at least you two have a chance of making up. Gaetan : life is too short to waste time pleasing other people, tommy. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Tom: but he’s my dad. Uncle Fred that doesn’t mean he knows what’s best for you.
240 Music: most of the songs from the Phantom of the opera and Lacache Follies,.
I used to check out the course line album from the library because of all the gay characters. I didn’t mind Gloria Gaynor’s version of “I am what I am, “but it’s not something I would listen to outside of a gay club.
Listening to the choirs one night after another, brought a lump to my throat more than once today. All those voices singing it once, chords rising to the sky, it was inspiring. I don’t believe in God, but those songs were like prayers. Offerings to the universe to make aids go away And for those horrible right wing politicians to stop using us as punching bags to get three elected. Maybe some gay person locked up in a prison will hear our voices and find comfort in them – like radio for Europe during the war. Or maybe or not. Maybe the gay games are the most we can have her hope for. But I don’t want to think about that. Not anymore.
Vancouver’s men’s chorus is wrapping up “anything goes. “The song ends and the conductor welcomes the San Francisco men’s chorus and the Seattle men’s course onto the stage. He turns to the audience and says “we’d like to dedicate this last song to Dr. Tom Waddell, and to our friends who did not live to celebrate with us this week. “The choir start singing “empty chairs at empty tables “from Les Misérables the song affected me when I heard it in the theater, but hearing all these men questioning why they lived while their friends died since hot tears down my cheeks. Around me, men and women are golfing back tears, exposing this, or that follows us around. It’s not just AIDS. It’s the bashing. It’s the insults. It’s the subtle forms of discrimination we put up with for having a lisp or a swish. I don’t want to go back to how it was before. I don’t want to be a second class citizen anymore. I don’t want the games to end.
243 Tom & his Dad watching water polo at the gay games- dad: what are we doing here, tommy? Why did you go all this way and spend all this money to tell me what you are? Tom: because the moment I experienced an emotion, you make me suppress it. Dad: I was teaching you to be a man. Tom: there’s more to being a man that not crying. I can be gay and still be a man. Look at what’s happening in this pool. Look at all these people living their lives. How much more proof do you need? Dad: that’s your uncle talking. You know he reads that house. Tom: I don’t think uncle Fred has retirement on his mind. Dad: of course not. Why would he plan for the future? Tom: because he’s HIV positive. Dad slowly lowers his face into the palms of his hands. I’ve never seen him look so confused. I regret telling him. I didn’t mean to. It slipped out. Or am I see using uncle Fred as a weapon? I’m not sure anymore.
Dad: my brother has AIDS?
Dad: I don’t know anymore. First, you’re gay, then the village people are gay, and now my brother has AIDS. What’s wrong with the world? Tom: it’s not the world, it’s the people. Dad: I always wondered if he had it. He seems like the kind of guy who would. Never had a backbone. Always a weak kid. Tom: uncle Fred is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. He uses his legal degree to help people. He opens his home to people who need a place to stay. He’s respected here. He’s only a loser when he goes home.
264-5 dad: I can’t do it. I can’t go back to. Mississauga with you. Not like this.
Tom: are you letting me stay? Or are you kicking me out of the house? Dad: I don’t have an answer for that yet. Tom: do you hate me? No: but after your friend watching your friend on TV just now, I’m afraid if I take you home right now that I will.
Your friend Tina said something to me today that stuck with me. She said no matter what you guys do, straight people always say the word “gay “in front of it. I need time to stop thinking about you as my gay son and as just my son. Tom: what if you never get there? Dad: we’ll get there. We’ll keep cheering for the Home team until we do.
268. Georgia: even when you were wearing that stupid bandanna to hide your hair. You deserve to be with someone brave enough to live out loud. That’s not me. I don’t know if it ever will be.
269 I see Tom and Dwayne running toward me from the tunnel. I jump into Tom‘s arms and he swings me around. He puts me down and Dwayne jumps on top of me. My heart is still broken, but I can already feel it starting to win. The three of us jump up and down, like we just scored the winning goal in a game, the crowd cheering. and then we put our arms around each other in a huddle, forehead, touching, ready to take on the world.
272 Dwayne: I feel like the Bon Trapp family singers. Gina: but gayer. Uncle Fred: and to think, they didn’t want to use the word gay in that poster. Raven: the city had no idea how much money they were going to make off of us. Raven said with a hint of bitterness.
Gina: all that fuss over a word.
Dwayne: never again, we are here to stay.
July 21, 2024
I first learned of this book when I saw the Vancouver Public Library's 'bookface' social media post featuring someone posing with the cover. The 1990 Gay Games happened 20 years before I moved to Vancouver, but I have certainly heard of them. They are why we have organizations still going today like Out in Harmony choir (formerly known as the Vancouver Lesbian and Gay Choir), the Rainbow Concert Band, and Out On Screen (the organization behind the Vancouver Queer Film Festival and Out in Schools). It was a delight to read a book set here in my city, featuring queer characters, and set during an event the impact of which is still felt today in Vancouver. (I was particularly delighted when it was mentioned that Gina works behind the deli at Santa Barbara, a very familiar location for me.)
April 4, 2025
An interesting story set during the days of the 1990 Gay Games in Vancouver when a 'questioning' teen from Mississauga surprises his gay uncle in Vancouver with a visit.
Evocative of time and place the teen (Tom) makes friends, volunteers at the games and coaches his uncle who competes in the breast stroke.
Lots of good points are made and lessons learned, as one expects from a YA novel.
As an aside: the cover art on the paperback edition seems a poor choice for capturing the tone of the novel or any of the characters in it.
Evocative of time and place the teen (Tom) makes friends, volunteers at the games and coaches his uncle who competes in the breast stroke.
Lots of good points are made and lessons learned, as one expects from a YA novel.
As an aside: the cover art on the paperback edition seems a poor choice for capturing the tone of the novel or any of the characters in it.
June 21, 2023
Interesting characters that capture your interest from the very beginning. A wonderful depiction of the oppression/difficulties any member of the LGBTQ+ community goes through when finding themselves and then figuring out how to co-exist in the world. Very accurate use of real streets in Vancouver. A great book that intrigued my imagination to want to read more so I could get to know the characters more and the Gay Games more .
Read
July 9, 2023Life’s to short for mediocrity.
September 14, 2023
A good queer coming-of-age story.
February 19, 2024
well paced and friendly
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