Green and Batt said they found no record that he ever came home until his burial in 1950.Ĭub went on to marry and was well known in harness racing circles before his death in 1965. In 1931, Len signed over control of his business and his finances to his sister Lucy and left for the United States. Len also took up fox farming, which put him in competition with families already making money off the lucrative fox pelt market.Īn archivist's note attached to one of the Keith family photos identifies a man standing outside a house in Havelock as being "partly responsible for having Leonard Keith kicked out of town for being homosexual." "People would have been more rigid in their understanding and policing of the boundaries of sex and gender and would have been on higher alert for suspicious behaviour, like men in their twenties who are spending a lot time alone together."īatt said Len and Cub's bond was "petering out," and Len was getting involved with other men. "We saw this social conservatism bubbling up," Green said. (Mike Heenan/CBC News) Kicked out of townĪfter the First World War, the relationship between Len and Cub changed, as did society.
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"It would have been very difficult for him to leave and give up those things."ĭusty Green, right, founded the Queer Heritage Initiative of New Brunswick in 2016 for the purpose of collecting and preserving archival records. He loved being outdoors and spending time in nature, going on adventures. "It's very clear that he cared about Cub and about his community. "He cared about what he was photographing," Batt said. "They're both young men, and it would not be uncommon for them to develop a close friendship and go off on camping trips together."Īll the while, Len, who came from a wealthier family than Cub, was using his camera to capture the people and places that mattered to him. "There are so many things that could have shielded them from speculation," Green said. Green and Batt believe "the boys" took precautions to hide the true nature of their affections, partly by spending time outdoors fishing and hunting. Their many private moments during the early 20th century were well documented by Len's camera.
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He eventually became a butcher, a contractor and a lover of horses. "Every queer person knows what it's like to hide in plain sight in your community or not be allowed to express who you are or express your love for another person."ĭuration 6:04 Century-old portraits of a same sex couple tell a story that transcends time, say two New Brunswick queer historians.Īccording to the book, Len was an amateur photographer and car enthusiast who eventually owned a local garage and pool hall. Cub, who was younger, was the son of a farmer. "This is a message that transcends time," Green said. Len and Cub, A Queer History, published by Goose Lane Editions, will be celebrated Saturday at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery with guest speakers Brenda Murphy, New Brunswick's lieutenant-governor, and John Leroux, the Fredericton gallery's manager of collections and exhibitions. In addition to the exhibition that will run until the end of July, Batt and Green are launching their book this weekend. Now, a century later, this love is on display and about as public as possible. (Leonard Keith)īatt and Green say the photos are not only rare but probably the earliest photographic records of a same-sex couple in the Maritimes, showing their affection to each other but not to their community, which would have punished them for it.
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Batt and Green say 'the boys' were sometimes photographed together with the help of friends or a camera timer. Leonard Keith (1891-1950) and Cub Coates (1899-1965), photographed using a Kodak camera purchased by the Keith family in 1905.