Gay Life in Canadian Cities
I thought this was probably a good idea for a thread, considering that the gay population is generally quite urban and since a disproportionate amount of gay men are interested in urban development (seemingly, judging by polls taken on SSP). Someone just shared this article with me on Facebook, and it's quite sad, but it gave me the idea for this thread, because even Canada's smaller cities can have thriving gay communities (for instance, I know Nelson BC, at 11 000 people, is probably the most accepting and open community I've ever experienced, with gay couples everywhere! :) ). However, those communities can also go into decline, such as this news story out of Lethbridge, a city in a metro of 110 000 people...
BORDELLO IS SHUTTERED But the show will go on... Quote:
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a couple of fundamentalist churchies ruining everyone's fun.
typical. i hope their facebook pages are getting slammed. |
I've heard Montreal has the best gay scene in the whole country. I do know that you can find the best after-hours clubs in the gay district though. Epic partying until noon the next day if you're into that sort of thing.
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Toronto has World Pride this summer..
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I've been to every major Canadian city and in my experience, Canada as a whole is VERY accepting of the LGBT community. Even in the smaller cities and towns, acceptance is usually pretty good. You can always find homophobic attitudes anywhere you look, but overall Canada is an awesome country.
If I had to say what big cities are the most accepting (not saying the ones I don't mention aren't) would be Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. Pretty fitting since they are Canada's largest three. But all three cities are great for the LGBT community. The village is by far the nicest in Montreal though IMO. Classy, large, and full of thriving clubs, bars, restaurants, etc. And I love how the city of Montreal shuts down the entire village for cars making it walking only for 4 months in the summer. It really allows you to get intimate with the area and explore. And World Pride is going to be INSANE! |
How many cities have "villages"?
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My favourite thing about the LGBT community in St. John's is how large and integrated it is. There is a stereotypical gay scene, with gay bars, cafes, B&Bs, travel agencies, flower shops, candy stores, and everything else - but the vast majority of LGBT people simply participate in mainstream society.
When we go downtown, it's rare that we go to a gay bar. We just go to George Street. There are friends we never see except during Pride Week at family events such as the Pride Bonfire at Middle Cove Beach and Pride Family Day at Bannerman Park. Also, whatever the genetic component of being LGBT, we have it in droves. For a city of only 200,000 people, our gay community is absolutely enormous. Here are a few interesting tidbits. We were one of the first cities in North America to have openly an openly gay-friendly and an officially gay bar: Quote:
And today we're leading the provinces in LGBT tolerance education: Quote:
And a little peek at a couple of gay events: Manila Luzon from Ru Paul's Drag Race: And more: |
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St. John's doesn't have one - however, there are just a lot of gay people generally, especially downtown. On my short, little block there are at least 9 of us. And that's the case in most of the rowhouse districts. Gay couples with children, though, tend to live in the West End. |
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:previous: AKA baiting.
So I assume you've never spent any significant amount of time here? Perhaps next time, don't try to tell a gay person how accepting their city is when you clearly have no significant experience in the matter. |
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Trolling aside, having attitudes that are intolerant (but not excessively hateful - eg. like anywhere in the Middle East) of gays are exactly the sort of conditions that foster the existence of gay villages. Not that they wouldn't exist otherwise - after all, there will always be a need for a community focal point like any other, and as with other groups or other types of business, they tend to congregate together - but most gay villages were a whole lot stronger back in the days that they provided the only place where gay businesses could freely operate and the people to live openly. |
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Extremely popular location to buy a little house and settle down |
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So what you're saying is in order for cities to have gay villages, the timing has to have been right, and cities like Calgary have simply skipped ahead to a non-segregated form of integration. I wonder if gays in such cities sometimes long for that segregation i.e. sometimes wish they could be exclusively among gays? (I mean wish they had that option) From what I can tell, in Montreal the village is for ''noob'' gays and out-of-towners. Then once you're settled in you move elsewhere. |
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It should be noted that most gays don't live in the "villages"
Most are living happy productive lives in and amongst their straight counterparts A very well known gay author and playwright bought a house with his parter, just down from us in the mature 'burbs Said my sweetie: "look honey, we're not the only gays in the village" Lol |
Originally Posted by chadillaccc
i think only toronto, montreal, vancouver, and winnipeg have gay villages. calgary is still too conservative to warrant the creation of sizable ghettos. However, edmonton's downtown core does have a variety of gay venues and businesses in a small geographic area. Quote:
http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/453/662/453662153_640.jpg |
No Tom, he edited my post to say "too conservative" my actual post is the reality of the situation, whereas his "correction" was a cry for unneeded attention, an attempt to cause conflict.
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