All gay gby club tak the advantage - The Globe and Mail

Contents:

• ALL GAY GBY CLUB TAK THE ADVANTAGE
• INCLIVE RUGBY: HOW CANADA'S GAY RUGBY CLUBS OPEN THE SPORT TO ALL
• THE 10 BEST MONTREAL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MONTREAL
• DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI
• MONTREAL GAY CY GUI: A CY OF FUN, FTIVALS, AND FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS
• MONTREAL GAY SNAS

ALL GAY GBY CLUB TAK THE ADVANTAGE

QUEBEC’S FIRST GAY INCLUSIVE & LGBT+ RUGBY TEAM. Born the summer of 2014, the Armada Montreal RFC is the very first clive gay gby club to emerge Quebec. The men's team, now part of the IGR (Internatnal Gay Rugby) associatn, stood out at the 2016 Bgham Cup Nashville, TN, placg 3rd their divisn.

The Bgham Cup, also known as the Mark Kendall Bgham Memorial Tournament, is the biennial world champnships of gay and clive gby. That same year the Wolv also beme a member of the Internatnal Gay Rugby, an anizatn signed to elimate discrimatn of sexual orientatns or intifitn the sport by providg members of the 2SLGBTQ+ muny a chance to play gby an clive gby club. “Wh everythg that has happened sce 2018 – I know that the Internatnal Gay Rugby fay needs this tournament more than ever.

Time travel to a different kd of of gay venue. Dance your ass off at the biggt gay dance party outsi of the Village. Mec Pl Ultra, or MPU for those the know, is a monthly dance party of electro/die/pop mic where all the gays and their alli let loose.

INCLIVE RUGBY: HOW CANADA'S GAY RUGBY CLUBS OPEN THE SPORT TO ALL

MPU started out as an optn for gays that simply uldn’t fd anythg that appealed to them Montréal’s LGBTQ+ Village.

As for gay ftivals, there are a number of them, om the huge Montréal Pri celebratns, to more timate events such as image+natn, a film ft specializg LGBTQ+ cema. Reportedly, North Ameri's first LGBT publitn, "L Mouch Fantastiqu" (The Fantastic Fil) was found here 1918; by the early 1970s a queer bohemian scene was flourishg (1974 die film "Montreal Ma" offered a glimpse); the first Montreal Pri march took place 1979 (memoratg the 10th anniversary of NYC's Stonewall rts), and Montreal's famed "gay village" me to be the 1980s, as gay bars, clubs, and rints overtook a formerly impoverished, crep sectn of the cy's Centre-Sud district along Sate-Cathere Street East.

Rehgly, Montreal's gay village (which is closed to rs durg warmer months) remas a lively and ncentrated hub that's even more lerally lorful and easy to spot thanks to s overhead, 1 kilometer long "18 Shas Of Gay" - prised of 180, 000 lored recycled plastic r balls spend overhead. The gay-owned Spa & Palac offers "non-touristy tours" by bike and by foot, which are perfect for both newers and those who know the cy but would like a eper dive.

THE 10 BEST MONTREAL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MONTREAL

Book the four-hour, lunch-clive Beyond The Bike Lan tour that vers both rintial and popular tourist zon cludg the Gay Village, or nsir the two-hour Beyond The Village one that spotlights the gayborhoood and s history and landmark s. Get your selfi on the Gay Village durg daylight while takg s art stallatns and muny spac, cludg the Park of Hope (Parc L'poir) and AIDS Memorial. Montreal-based graphic novel publisher Drawn & Quarterly has a fantastic store, Librarie Drawn & Quarterly, the buzzy Mile End district, a favore stompg ground of lol, acclaimed gay filmmaker and actor, Xavier Dolan.

Bota Bota Spa, suated on a multi-level ship the Old Port, is a iendly spot to unwd and get pampered (wh kid-iendly hours), though some mal might prefer one of Montreal's adults only gay snas, which clu the 24-hour Sna Oasis and four-floor Sna G. You'll fd most of Montreal's LGBTQ nightlife nveniently ncentrated s gay village along Ste. While the Gay Village's dg scene hasn't exactly proven as foodie-centric as other parts of Montreal (lols might feel that's puttg diplomatilly), there has been some improvement the past few years.

A few blocks away, the chic 152-room gay-fave W Montreal is posed jt across om the Square-Victoria-OACI metro statn (look for s art nouve Paris-style entrance porti, a 1967 gift om the Cy of Lights) and received s own prehensive, multiln update 2015. If you're keen to be based the Gay Village a gay-owned property, make rervatns at the five-room Sir Montlm Ge B&B. The ia of a profsnal gay athlete has somehow always enuntered ristance and ntroversy wh the sports muny.

DISMANTLG STEREOTYP: 10 INSPIRG GAY RUGBY PLAYERS AND PERSONALI

It was this disfort twelve years ago that phed a few gay gby players Toronto to cidg to put together the first gay-iendly gby team the cy. The club also travels for exhibn match agast other gay teams, hosts the annual Beaver Bowl Tournament and every two years participat the Bgham Cup, an ternatnal petn featurg gay sis om several unns Jeffery, Muddy York RFC print and a veteran player, believ the cy still needs a gay-iendly team.

MONTREAL GAY CY GUI: A CY OF FUN, FTIVALS, AND FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS

“But thgs have changed, more and more youngsters now feel ee to manift their sexualy schools and sport teams, ” he a hub the Church and Wellley village, Muddy York RFC is open to all levels of players and sexual orientatn and offers a reliable platform for newers tryg to build a social life a new is now host to three all-gay gby teams after the Montreal Armada recently joed the Ottawa Wolv and Muddy York.

Thomas was the first gay profsnal gby player to e York RFC warms up at Jarvis Perez plays for Muddy York RFC and is the vice print of the York ns through practice tackl and impacts durg one of their bi-weekly Eric Demarbre and pta Jimmy Pl Markis and partner Kasimir Kosakowski chat on the balny of their Toronto ndo. At a time when homophobia and hypermasculy still n rampant throughout men’s sports, clive gby clubs are settg a shg example of how teams n enurage participatn among those who have tradnally been unr-reprented across the game.

Inclive clubs are muny lears, workg to elimate anti-lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng (LGBTQ) sentiment at the grassroots level, and provi opportuni for members of the LGBTQ muny to pete sports through tolerant and acceptg teams. They seek to eradite a culture of poisono ‘locker room talk’ – hateful chatter wh the tradnal space of gay slurs and macho pranks – and foc as much on mararie and team-buildg as they do on skill velopment. They regnize that many members of the LGBTQ muny who are terted sports have likely had to face some variatn of the ternal qutn “Do I want to be gay or do I want to be an athlete?

MONTREAL GAY SNAS

Its formal roots n be traced back to London, England 1995, when a small group of gay men met a pub (edor’s note: a perfect lole for the birth of a gby team) near Kg’s Cross to create the world’s first officially-regnized gay gby club. The olst, Toronto’s Muddy York RFC, has weled cisgenr gay men, trans men, and their alli to participate and pete sce the club was found 2003. “While Muddy York is a member of Internatnal Gay Rugby, we have many guys at the club who are not necsarily gay or trans.

I n speak to experiencg that kd of psdo-homophobic behavur the locker room wh teams that I’ve been on that I know would not have ma me feel weled if I were queer or trans.

Acrdg to Out on the Fields, the first ternatnal study on homophobia sports, while a majory of lbian and gay youths participate anized sports, more than 75% believe sports don’t offer them a safe environment. The fdgs also showed that lbian, gay, and bisexual youths are more likely to qu at earlier ag than their straight peers. And, as Fancie allud to, a high percentage of participants of all sexuali (80%) reported wnsg or experiencg homophobia a sportg environment.