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The Hamilton United Gay Societies (HUGS) was an umbrella organization for 12 sub-organizations established in 1980 and incorporated in 1982. HUGS provided a range of services and information, education and peer counselling, hosted social events, created spaces for support groups and connected people to other services that were related to LGBTQ+ issues. Gayline was Hamilton’s first telephone counselling service for gays and lesbians that was first operated by the Hamilton-McMaster Homophile Association on March 20, 1975 and was continued by HUGS. HUGS also had a community centre at 41 King William Street in downtown Hamilton.

The sub-organizations of Hamilton United Gay Societies:

1. HUGS RAP Group
2. Gay Youth of Hamilton
3. HUGS Dance Committee
4. HUGS Speakers Bureau
5. Gay Fathers of Hamilton
6. Gayline
7. Metropolitan Community Church of Hamilton
8. Gay Women’s Collective
9. Gay Phoenix Newsletter
10. Hamilton-Wentworth Gay Archives/History Project
11. Gay Monitors
12. Gay Alcoholics Anonymous

Series consists of constitutions, meeting minutes, reports, calendars, press releases, correspondence, flyers, pamphlets, handouts, reading lists, articles, Summer Employment/Experience Development (SEED) project documents, newspaper clippings, Lesbian/Gayline call sheets and reports, Gay Phoenix and The Phoenix newsletter copies and masters and other related materials.

Contains subseries:
3.1 – Administrative files
3.2 – Sub-organizations and associated groups and events
3.3 – Lesbian/Gayline
3.4 – Gay Phoenix/The Phoenix

The fonds is composed of materials from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) organizations in Hamilton and its surrounding areas founded from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. Textual materials include agendas, meeting minutes, reports, financial statements, notes, correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters, pamphlets, information sheets, flyers, magazines, newspapers, programme books, booklets, directories, bibliographies, and articles. The fonds also consists of other materials such as t-shirts, buttons, a plaque, photographs, posters, artwork, audio cassette tapes, DVDS, floppy disks and VHS tapes.
Contains series and subseries:
Series 1 – Hamilton AIDS Network for Dialogue and Support (HANDS)
Series 2 – Hamilton-McMaster LGBTQ+ Groups
Series 3 – Hamilton United Gay Societies (HUGS)
Subseries 3.1 – Administrative files
Subseries 3.2 – Sub-organizations and associated groups and events
Subseries 3.3 – Lesbian/Gayline
Subseries 3.4 – Gay Phoenix/The Phoenix
Series 4 – Hamilton Gay and Lesbian Alliance (HGALA)
Series 5 – Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Ontario (CLGRO)
Series 6 – Hamilton Pride
Series 7 – Associated Organizations and Events
Series 8 – Resources and Subject files
Series 9 – Publications
Subseries 9.1 – Hamilton
Subseries 9.2 – South/South Western Ontario
Subseries 9.3 – Ontario
Subseries 9.4 – Outside of Ontario and across Canada
Subseries 9.5 – International
Series 10 – Artifacts
Series 11 – Photographs
Subseries 11.1 – HUGS/HGALA Honour Roll Dinners
Subseries 11.2 – Pride
Subseries 11.3 – Festival ‘91
Subseries 11.4 – HUGS Social Events
Subseries 11.5 – Meetings and Locations
Subseries 11.6 – Events and People
Subseries 11.7 – Negatives and slides
Series 12 – Posters and oversized materials
Series 13 – Audio-visual materials