Michael Riordon

Two lesbians who are partners contrast their previous working life, as co-owners of a city bookstore, to their life in retirement on one of the Gulf Islands, and talk about adjusting to island life; the third interviewee, a lesbian, tells about moving to the island at a time of transition in her personal relationships.

A gay man who lives on Salt Spring Island talks about the oppressive religious atmosphere of his childhood in rural Scotland, how he makes a living on the island, and his preference in sexual relationships.

The interviewee, a gay man in his fifties, describes gay parenting, gay activism in the Catholic Church, and his current volunteer activities in the island community.

A business person and lesbian interviewee who grew up in a settlement in northern Ontario, talks about rebelling at school, recovery from alcoholism, and "giving back" to the island community by serving on the ambulance team.

Two gay men who are partners talk about coming to terms with their gay identity, and, speak with quiet sureness about their decision to move from a city (Vancouver) to the country (Galiano Island).

A gay man who grew up in isolated island communities, who is a school bus driver and ambulance driver for the island community in which he and his male partner live, discusses community land use, union same-sex benefits, and his recovery from alcohol abuse.

The founder of a gay AA group, who lives in the village in northern NB where he grew up, talks about realizing that being gay wasn’t considered acceptable by those around him, recovering from alcoholism, and his appreciation for the natural world. In part two of the interview, another gay man who is present has different views than Wayne about what it means to him to be gay, and, about acceptance by the non-gay community. [Note to the listener: some parts of this interview are unclear]

A single gay man talks about being forced to play a role in his parents’ divorce, discovering his sexuality, and being gay in a small town.

Two gay men who are partners talk about dealing with alcoholism, and how their involvement in a local gay & lesbian organization has expanded their social network.

Married, with children, but wondering about their possible attraction to women; living in a small town; so unhappy in the marriage that they'd separated from their husbands: two middle-aged women with circumstances in common, each of whom earnestly “wanted to meet somebody just to talk,” met, and their lives as lesbians began.