Boyd Kodak

Boyd Kodak is a musician, writer, filmmaker and festival curator. He is a recipient of the 2012 INPSIRE Awards Lifetime Achievement honour, with the fabulous Michelle DuBarry and the incredible Jack Layton . On Feb 20, 2012, Boyd was inducted into the LGBT Hall of Fame. In June 2011, he was a nominee for LGBTQ person of the year award. In 2012 he began an original musical project, in collaboration with Carrie Chesnutt. Carrie and Boyd recorded their first single, “Send Me to the Moon”. It is currently being prepared for radio and digital release. Boyd is now Vice President of the INSPIRE Awards Board of Directors, and entertainment director for the 2013 Awards Gala. Becoming the Executive Director of Canada’s Counting Past 2 Transsexual/Intersex/Transgender Festival in 2001, it was the largest of it’s kind, in 2002. It ran 7 days, and the first to have provincial and municipal funding. He began working with media and the community in 1996. At that time, it was primarily the Gay & Lesbian community. He was the first trans person to work on the Programming Committee of an LGBTQ Film Festival, with the Toronto Inside Out Festival, admired for their progressive stance at the time. He has been involved in curating themed programs for many festivals worldwide including, San Francisco’s 25th Anniversary International Festival 2001, Queer City Cinema 2002 & Canadian Touring Festival, & Toronto’s Inside Out Film & Video Festival 2000,’01 & 02. Boyd has played a large and important role in the development of the Toronto LGBTQ community. He has aided in education, outreach & the emergence of art & artists from counter and pop cultures worldwide. He has taken part in and has been a speaker at workshops, seminars, conferences, panels , Universities, Health care facilities and many organizations. He has also helped to promote awareness, understanding & inclusion in and of the LGBTQ community. Prior to transitioning, Boyd then known as Jan Waterman won a Proud Hero Award for winning a precedent setting case in Ontario opposing sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace. The case was filed in 1998 and it was the first victory for the Ontario Human Rights Commission in this area. In 1993, Waterman vs National Life was added to the Ontario Human Rights Code and in the government publication, Teaching Human Rights in Ontario. Still used today, it is referred to as the beginning of L

&G history in Canada, and the beginning of sexual