Queer Places:
Hastings Park, 2901 E Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V5K 5J1, Canada
Joseph John "J.J." Bertrund Belanger (January 24, 1925 - January 26, 1993) lived a big life. But if we remember him at all, it’s only because of two images from a Hastings Park, Vancouver, photo booth photo taken in 1953.
1953 is also the year that J.J. joined the early gay rights group the Mattachine Society, arriving in Los Angeles to attend the organization’s heated constitutional convention that led to the founders being thrown out and a new regime, led by
Hal Call, taking over.
Joseph John Bertrund Belanger was born January 24, 1925, in Edmonton, Canada. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942 to 1944 where he was awarded a Defense Medal, Canadian Voluntary Service Medal, and War Medal for his World War II service. He worked odd jobs in Vancouver and Calgary until 1954 when he joined the United States Air Force. He served for five years, earning the Aviation Badge, Good Conduct Medal, Outstanding Airman of the 26th Air Refueling Squadron, numerous other commendations, and a promotion. Belanger became a member of the Mattachine Society in the early 1950s, but resigned in 1953 after an incident with police threatened to bring negative publicity to the organization. However, Belanger maintained contact with Hal Call and in 1958 became the Mattachine Society's Director of Public Relations. In 1959 he was voted out of the post, but still remained a member of the society. Since the 1950s Belanger lived in either San Francisco and Los Angeles, although the particulars of his life are documented only sporadically.
During the 1970s Belanger became the Los Angeles coordinator of the Eulenspiegel Society, the oldest and largest BDSM (Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Masochism) education and support group in the United States. During the next decade Belanger became involved with three LGBT organizations, the San Francisco chapter of the Stonewall Gay Democratic Club, Project Inform and the Quarantine Fighter’s Group. In the 1980s he was politically involved with the San Francisco chapter of the Stonewall Gay Democratic Club, where he ran and lost a bid for treasurer in 1988. Also in the 1980s he volunteered for Project Inform and was a member of the Quarantine Fighter’s Group. Belanger was also a devoted collector of LGBT history, especially of AIDS-related materials of the mid-to-late 1980s.
Robert Block (left) and J. J. Belanger in a photo booth photo (one of two), Hastings Park, Vancouver, Canada, 1953. Credit: Courtesy ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
The famous photo booth photo of J.J. Belanger was rediscovered in 2014 and spread quickly through popular media such as The Advocate, TIME, Queerty, and blogs.
J. J. Belanger (left) and Daryl Mutz in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, September 1953. Credit: Courtesy ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
J.J. Belanger back in the photo booth, July 1987. Credit: Courtesy ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
Anecdotes about him working with Dr. Alfred Kinsey (aka, “Dr. Prometheus” and “Dr. Peter Meter,” according to J.J. Belanger) and his colleagues are included in a 2010 biography of Samuel M. Steward called Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring.
My published books:
