Carol Anne Philipps (February 5, 1965 – February 27, 2009) was a

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journalist and activist, most prominent as the original editor of '' Swerve'', the first

lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

community magazine in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. Kaj Hasselriis
"Carol Philipps: 1965-2009"
. ''Xtra!'', March 16, 2009. Philipps first came out in high school, at a time when Winnipeg did not yet have a gay and lesbian community centre or a

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, and eventually moved in with her first partner,

Noreen Stevens Noreen Stevens (born 1962) is a Canadian cartoonist, who illustrated and wrote the lesbian comic strip ''The Chosen Family''. Her work in the field of comics began in 1984. ''The Chosen Family'' is featured in the ensemble comic book ''Dyke Stripp ...

. Although Philipps and Stevens eventually ended their relationship, they remained close friends and collaborators. She studied at the

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and joined the university's student newspaper, '' The Uniter'', where she helped to coordinate a controversial LGBT issue in 1991. She later moved to

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, where she campaigned for Betty Baxter, an openly lesbian

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candidate in

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in the 1993 federal election, and returned to Winnipeg in 1994. The LGBT community in Winnipeg was facing tough battles when Philipps returned to the city. Mayor Susan Thompson had refused a request to proclaim the city's Pride Day, the

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had voted against an anti-

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

curriculum and a man had recently been murdered in an anti-gay

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."Editor helped start gay paper in Winnipeg". ''

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'', March 16, 2009. Against this backdrop, a small group of community activists, including Philipps, met to discuss launching what would become ''Swerve'', and Philipps became the magazine's first editor. While editing ''Swerve'', she met her partner Virginia McKee in 1995. Philipps and McKee married in 2007. She stepped down as editor of ''Swerve'' in 1997 for health reasons, but continued to contribute to the magazine, as well as to publications such as ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

'' in

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, as an occasional freelance writer. She also worked at Viewpoints Research. According to Stephen Lawson, another member of ''Swerves editorial board, She died on February 27, 2009, due to a congenital heart condition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philipps, Carol 1965 births 2009 deaths Canadian magazine editors Canadian LGBT rights activists Canadian lesbian writers Writers from Winnipeg University of Winnipeg alumni Women magazine editors 20th-century Canadian LGBT people 21st-century Canadian LGBT people