Out Our Way: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Country

Sara Stratton teaches history at York University.

This series of short observations of the lives of gays and lesbians in
rural Canada was obviously written in response to the common perception
that all of Canada’s lesbians and gay men live in Toronto, Montreal,
and Vancouver. Clearly, these areas, with their well-defined gay and
lesbian institutions and communities, are a beacon for many. But a large
number of gay and lesbian Canadians live in small towns and villages.
Some choose to escape the stress of the big city; some are unable to
escape the confines of the small towns they grew up in. They may eke out
an existence in an isolated B.C. valley, or they may enjoy a thriving
professional life in the small Newfoundland city of Corner Brook (not
“Cornerbrook” as Riordon has it), population 25,000.

Riordon, himself a gay who lives in a rural area, could have done us a
great service in this book if he had set out to seriously examine the
sociology of this phenomenon. Instead, he offers only uncritical
description. He tells these stories very well, but he approaches all of
his subjects with a wide-eyed enthusiasm, never asking them difficult
questions and never drawing connections and comparisons among his case
studies. Since there is no real argument here, and since the stories are
self-contained, this is a great book for reading in spurts, especially
if all you are looking for is a good story or two.