Toronto’s Gay Communy Dance Commtee fund lbian and gay liberatn anizg an unkd era that ma muny work not only difficult, but creasgly necsary.
Contents:
- GAY
- ELEVEN AMAZG PHOTOGRAPHS THAT TELL THE GAY HISTORY OF TORONTO
- LGBTQ / GAY HISTORY CANADA
- BT OLD MAN GAY BAR NEAR ME TORONTO, ONTAR
GAY
After years of stg abandoned on Church Street, the buildg that once hoed one of Toronto's most inic gay nightclubs uld soon transform i... * toronto gay bars 1980s *
Joseph Street is now a ndo, but was once 500-person pacy gay mec wh a uple of lounge areas and a very, very active dance floor. This Gloucter street nightclub is now closed but is where you uld fd some of Toronto's most big-budget drag shows, big-name circu DJs and a mostly gay, but very welg crowd of dancers over two floors. Saturdays were the big night here and was a huge h bee as the warehoe scene fad, Joy filled the void for gays, drag queens, scenters and cur straight people.
In this edn of her nightlife-history seri, Denise Benson tak back to the after-hours nightclub that helped mobilize Toronto’s gay-rights movement the 1980s. History: In 1980s’ Toronto, street rners and dance clubs still served as sential meetg spots for gays and other margalized muni. On the outer edg of the Church and Wellley-centred gay village, the rner was close to popular homo hnts cludg Yonge Street’s St.
Nearby bathho were plentiful, Queen’s Park was still a major pick-up spot, and easy bar-hoppg meant that gay men had lots of optns even those pre-Grdr days. “The Yonge and Isabella area was really amazgly gay, ” rells event producer Maxwell Blandford, once a key figure adventurome Toronto clubs and now based Miami.
ELEVEN AMAZG PHOTOGRAPHS THAT TELL THE GAY HISTORY OF TORONTO
Will Toronto’s gay neighbourhood live to see another day? * toronto gay bars 1980s *
That club gave way to notorly tough gay-and-straight dance club Oz, which boasted entrance hallways signed to look like yellow brick roads. “Komrads, wh s shy, stals-steel dancefloor, hi-tech sound and lightg—cludg pk and purple neon lights—was a h, and the talk of Toronto’s gay muny when opened Augt of 1985. Why was important: Open seven nights a week, wh a fé servg food om the afternoon onwards, Komrads was a safe and well-mataed club that red about s gay clientele.
LGBTQ / GAY HISTORY CANADA
Learn about the Davie Street Village and the fight for LGBTQ and gay rights across Canada. * toronto gay bars 1980s *
“John Burt was good at attractg crowds, ” says Gee Fichna, one of Komrads’ longt-servg weekend doormen; he had also worked for landmark lol gay bars Club Manatee and St. The 1981 Toronto gay bathhoe raids marked a turng pot the muny’s fight back agast police harassment and other forms of discrimatn. A gay and lbian liberatn movement swelled as queers across this untry fought agast censorship, worked to w key human rights (we were award provcial protectn 1986 when “sexual orientatn” was add to the Ontar Human Rights Co as a prohibed ground for discrimatn, wh the feral equivalent granted only 1996), and mobilized agast the onslght of HIV/AIDS as took the liv of far too many iends, lovers, and talented people.
Whether playg dis, hi-NRG, new wave, unrground hoe, or more mercial hoe, gay DJs leaned towards remix, re-eds, and 12-ch extend versns of songs. Howlett packed Komrads’ dancefloor durg s first few years, but then left the club to work next door at equally popular gay bar Chaps (9 Isabella St., now a Rabba). Wh s genr clive door policy—Komrads was one of the only gay men’s clubs of the time that weled women, both gay and straight—late nights, and pacy crowds, the club attracted dienc who mixed more fortably some evengs than others.
“I remember a night when a group of girls me wh some straight young men, and we had to remd them that they were a predomately gay place so if they got a pch or a grope, they should let pass. Popular gay producer/DJ Shawn Riker was a key Komrads employee—matag the sound, dog lights, actg as a manager and more—long before he would -found current gay hotspot FLY Nightclub. Gay men had flocked to after-hours dance clubs like Twilight Zone, and went on to equent weekly events hosted at mixed clubs like The Diamond, Boom Boom Room, and Tazmanian Ballroom.
BT OLD MAN GAY BAR NEAR ME TORONTO, ONTAR
* toronto gay bars 1980s *
Parti wh tl like F Mache and Electric Ass may have brought trendier gays and celebri cludg Boy Gee, Deee-Le, Gee Michael, Depeche Mo, and Ava, but Blandford uldn’t revive a done al.
“I was told that the reason we were able to rema open was bee there was a serial killer targetg gay people on the loose, and the police believed that he was hangg out Komrads so, by allowg to stay open, they were able to get better leads. “I thk Komrads employed a lot of flamboyant gay people who would have had a tough time beg themselv workg other venu, ” summariz Blandford.
“The volume of clientele that Komrads and the other clubs produced allowed gays to have a ser physil prence, and empowered gay people to rally agast homophobia and create muny spir though those dark tim. Late gay activist Rick Bébout provid valuable history through his important onle memoirs, Promiscuo Affectns: A Life the Bar, 1969-2000. One of the largt and longt-lastg gay dance clubs Toronto, this Sherbourne Street super-club went through a number of evolutns as spurred the lol mastreamg of gay culture durg the ’80s and ’90s.