Submission!

A little while ago I created an online questionnaire for anyone who wanted to participate, but did not want to be interviewd for my thesis. Frankly, I didn't know if I would ever get one reply from it but thought i should avail myself of as many tools as possible.

I am happy to say that I got one! Huzzah for me! But more important huzzah to "Abe" (totally an alias) for taking the time out to respond! Here are a few exerts, and if you want to see/fill in the questioniare, scroll through the previous posts until you come the one call "questionnaire."


And now, here's "Abe", How many people recall places like Pips, The Vault, and Daphne and Victor's? I have never heard of them. I'd love to hear for people out there reading this, of if you feel like filling out the questionnaire, please do!



ME-How would you describe it as a place for a GLBT person to live?
ABE: OK. There have always been a lot of closeted people in Ottawa, who leave the city to "have their fun". Ever notice how the gay population seems to drop on any long weekend? With Montreal so close, people in the Ottawa LGBT "communities" often go elsewhere to let their hair down. Honestly, there were more places to go out to in Ottawa/Hull in the 80's than there are now. There was also more of a community feeling. Gay social spaces were more mixed. Less "competitive". It wasn't about having the perfect body. People seemed generally more friendly and human/humane. Everything seemed more "innocent", less "corporate". I guess the "gay dollar" hadn't been discovered yet by marketers.

ME-How would you describe Ottawa’s GLBT community, if you were/are a part of it?

Abe: I don't like the word "community" as it implies homogeneity. There is no one LGBT community - anywhere. We are many communities. Ottawa's seems small, because many people keep to themselves and lead more quiet lives.

ME: Please list 5-10 of your favorite queer places in Ottawa over the time you have (try to date the span of time you frequented the places. They can be whatever sort of places you thought of as queer: bars, baths, parks, bookstores, tearooms, community events, etc…

Abe: The Vault and Shades on Laurier W, Club 100/101? on Metcalfe at Slater (on the ground floor of the same building my father worked in!!!) It was a coffee shop in the day and a gay club in the evening. 166-B on Laurier (that place was a dump). Pips in the Market Square. Taktiks on York Street. Daphne and Victors on William. Coral Reef in the basement of the parking garage on Nicholas (behind what used to be Ogilvy's department store), Le Club, Le Pub, Club Zink in Hull. What was first known as Central Park (now CP on Somerset). A zillion places to have sex - University of Ottawa, 240 Sparks, Rideau Centre, The Bay on Rideau, Place du Portage in Hull, Majors Hill Park (before the National Gallery was built), L'Esplanade Laurier, Carleton University, any mall or shopping plaza in the city including on the Quebec side, what used to be the Holiday Inn and also what used the be the Skyline Hotel at Place de Ville, Place de Ville too, Place Bell, some of the shopping arcades that used to be along Sparks Street. This was all before major police crackdowns on sex in more public spaces (hangover from the 70's? before HIV/AIDS?) and also before the phone lines and the internet. The nudest area at Meech Lake. I didn't "do the canal" but it was a popular cruising spot. I actually lived for a short while in a basement apartment on Gilmour, near the Canal, but wasn't really in to cruising at that time as I had broken up temporarily with my partner. Of course my friends would never believe that I didn't take advantage of all the action outside my door - and the cars would circle the block all night long! lol) I was more pissed off by the lights that kept shining in my window.

Introducing Michael.

He has some great memories, especially about coming out, which he graciously shared with me. Imagine coming out in letters nowadays? So inefficient, but he had his reasons.

Does anyone remember the space he is talking about in the video?