Len & Cub: A Queer History by Meredith J. Batt and Dusty Green told the story of Leonard Keith and Joseph “Cub” Coates, two New Brunswickers in a same-sex relationship who lived over a hundred years ago. Len (on the right on the book cover) and Cub lived in rural New Brunswick where life as a queer person must not have been easy. One couldn’t live as an out couple a century ago. This may explain why Len and Cub never lived together, as prying eyes in a small town might have made life uncomfortable or even unbearable. Even so, Len’s gay life was discovered and he was banished from his own town. Cub, on the other hand, escaped scrutiny and later married a woman.
I am glad the authors framed the men’s relationship in the context of their time, revealing what gay life was like over a century ago. Before the concepts of queer identity, pride, and the idea of a ranging spectrum of sexual orientations or expressions, men with same-sex desires lived in the closet, surrounded by shameful descriptors and epithets such as pervert and deviant. Even the term homosexual wouldn’t have been in widespread use back then. Gay people lived in secret. Batt and Green made sure the modern reader didn’t paint their relationship with 21st century rainbow hues. They took great care in using the appropriate language to describe the couple, and I am glad to report that the authors weren’t preachy about it, as I know queer authors tend to be when it comes to labelling and identity.
Len was an avid photographer and documented their time together, and the book was filled with photos. When you look at some of these photos, many of which were taken using an automatic timer, you can see the intimacy they shared. There are self portraits of them embracing and holding hands. Both men served in World War One and soldiers were prohibited from carrying cameras, however some pictures were included when both men were in training in Quebec before being shipped overseas.
The authors noticed that Len and Cub are each wearing rings on their left ring fingers. Len is wearing a ring on the book’s front cover, yet Cub’s left hand is covered by Len’s. Could they have formed their own personal bond with the rings? The authors didn’t elaborate how the men might have explained these rings to other people. I am sure that Batt and Green would have been as curious as I was in knowing how Len and Cub might have answered any questions about their rings.
Judging from some of the photos, however, I can’t help but think that surely Len and Cub’s family and friends knew about their relationship. The authors dealt with the possibility that the men lived an open secret which everyone tolerated, if for no other reason than Len came from a prominent family who owned multiple businesses around town. Thus if any customers raised a disapproving voice, they’d soon find themselves at a loss for service. The authors believe that a business rivalry did Len in, where a competitor outed him, the effect of which was so traumatic that he was forced to leave town–and Cub–forever.
Find this book in the Mississauga Library System's on-line catalogue