Road Trip Edmonton Northern Alberta: A Canadian Gay Adventure

Contents:

• GAY CISG EDMONTON (WTERN CAPE)
• EDMONTON GAY MAP
• GAY DATG EDMONTON
• GAY EDMONTON
• THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON

GAY CISG EDMONTON (WTERN CAPE)

It’s difficult to terme when exactly this strip of downtown beme known as a place for gay men to meet, but by 1969 the short strip of road already had a reputatn, dited by a unique document that was makg the rounds Canada – a gui to beg gay Canada, created and piled by Roedy Green, lear of the Vanuver chapter of Gay Alliance Towards Equaly. The Naive Homosexual was an unofficial handbook to assist gay men stgglg wh qutns about beg gay.

Gay travellers stayg at the Hotel Macdonald, the Chate Labe, Edmonton Hoe or even the adjacent Greenbriar, found that the opportuny to discretely sample the lols was simplified by the proximy to an active cisg area right across the street. In the 70s, the reputatn of this strip grew, beg not only a place for cisg for and sellg sex, but also a gatherg place after the only gay bar town – Club 70 – closed for the night.

In the late 1980s, 104 Street was where the straight men cised, and The Hill was where the gay men cised, but – all thgs beg relative – all kds of cisg occurred all the alleys between those lotns. By 1978, Edmonton had 3 gay bars and many gay anizatns.

EDMONTON GAY MAP

That was also the year that the Pisc Spa opened, addg another all-night optn for the socializg gay male.

Gay Alliance Toward Equaly (GATE) was askg gay men not to hang out at The Hill anymore, or at least utned vigilance, bee cinc of antigay vlence were on the rise. There are reports of van-loads of gay-bashers arrivg on the scene, pourg out of vehicl, armed wh chas or baseball bats, sendg cisers stterg to the dark alleys, away om the danger. There are also reports of the queers fightg back, chasg homophob away.

It was kd of like a ngregatn spot for all gay people. That may have held off the gaybashers for a spell, but the vlence wasn’t over. In 1981, the cy had been regaled wh nonstop negative media verage of the gay muny bee of the hysteria surroundg the Pisc bathhoe raid.

GAY DATG EDMONTON

This heightened visibily led to an adverse reactn, and September of 1981 the Edmonton Journal ran a story lled “Gays On The Hill” which told of a seri of gaybashgs volvg men swgg baseballs bats, leadg to 9 cisers and sex workers requirg hospalizatn for the juri staed durg vlent attacks. Thgs were still active the mid-80s, although the party had gone doors to the three gay bars that Edmonton now boasted, one of them open as late as the after-hours party spots that peppered downtown. In 1986, the gay muny learned that a staff member at Flashback had been murred by a trick that he had taken home after his shift at the bar.

GAY EDMONTON

By the mid-1990s, anti-gay vlence was one of the many reasons street cisg began to wane. There uld still be htlers found on The Hill, and homophobic vlence still occurred – sometim reactn to big news stori about gay rights – but cisers found other ways to mgle.

THE BEST EDMONTON GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS EDMONTON

See also: ECAMP Podst S02E01 | Herage Tre & Gay Cisg the 1980s by ECAMP podst | Listen onle for ee on SoundCloud. Our clientele range om gay to bisexual, trans, qutng, straight.