Out on the Slopes: Activism, Identity, and Money in Whistler’s Gay Ski Week, 1992-2012

Abstract

In twenty years, Whistler's gay ski week grew from a handful of skiers into the largest gay ski week in the world and the largest annual event for Whistler resort. Academics have ignored Whistler’s gay ski week and similar events elsewhere in North America and Europe, preferring to focus on urban grassroots LGBT organizations. An analysis of the growth of Whistler’s gay ski week not only illuminates a forgotten piece of British Columbia’s queer history, it also complicates the common assertion that the relationship between the marketplace and LGBT civil rights will ultimately undercut the goals of the LGBT civil rights movement.