If we don't support ourselves who will? A conversation between past and present, Supporting Our Selves (SOS) explores how and why the queer community in Toronto, Canada has grown and evolved over the past 40 years, through the lens of one grassroots organization and its impact. From the Bathhouse Raids to BLM's Pride Parade Protest, activists of all generations lead an honest and unflinching narrative journey that charts a community's complex and sometimes conflicting memories.
In 1980s Toronto, when most queer people lived under the radar and sexual orientation wasn't yet included in the human rights code, a little-known organization called the Community One Foundation quietly began its work (known then as The Gay Community Appeal). What started as discreet 'SOS' fundraisers held in private homes, blossomed into a foundation that supports a multitude of organizations including many pillars of the queer Canadian experience including The 519, Inside Out, B