The Gay Village is a geographical space with multiple functions. First a place of memory. The Village was born out of a need for regroupment and security for homosexual men, who, for several decades, were the subject of severe police repression facilitated by the applicable legislative framework.
Geographer Philippe Lecavalier, citing the work of Frank Remiggi, in his 2018 master’s thesis, which focused on the Gay Village of Montreal, describes the birth of the Village as follows: “Remiggi traces the birth of the Village to the winter of 1982, with the opening of a naked dancers bar [Deux R], in the Centre-Sud district, mainly French-speaking and underprivileged. The following year, the neighborhood welcomed the Max nightclub, the Taverne Normandie and the Kox bar. According to Remiggi, the arrival of these four establishments laid the commercial foundations of the Village. »
Thus, before 1982, a few bars located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard served as meeting places for homosexual men. Between 1966 and 1990, several police raids targeting bars frequented by homosexuals took place. The most famous is that of the Truxx, in October 1977, during which 144 men were arrested. In the opinion of several observers of the time, this police repression partly explains the migration of the Gay Village from the west to the east. Although Philippe Lecavalier mentions that it is primarily spatiotemporal reasons that justify this migration: lower property tax, availability of premises and proximity to the metro.
The fact remains that for more than 50 years, the Gay Village will develop as an urban space whose main characteristics are the reception and recognition of gays, and subsequently of other sexual minorities. The Village was intended to be a safe, identity and entertainment space for these communities, marked by its impressive entertainment infrastructure, with its bars (Le Parking, Le Drugstore, La Track, Le Stud, Le Sky, to give just a few examples). , and its cultural infrastructure (the Ouimetoscope, Usine C, the National Theater, the Lion d’Or, etc.)
The community infrastructure, with some thirty resources intended for the LGBTQ+ community (Gai’s listening, Action sero zero, Youth lambda, the discussion circle, etc.), is no less worthy of mention, not to mention the magazine Runawaysfounded in 1984.
The Gay Village can be proud of the existence of an important economic infrastructure, with the consolidation of some 300 businesses into a business development company (SDC) in 2006. We owe the SDC du Village such successful initiatives as the pedestrianization of rue Sainte-Catherine Est, and summer entertainment. In the same vein, remember that 80% of gay tourists who visit Montreal find themselves in the Village.
A neighborhood to revitalize
Today, the Gay Village is hard to see. This urban space is less attractive, it is impossible to reduce homelessness there, in some cases the built environment is neglected, cleanliness leaves something to be desired, violence is very real there.
It would be unfair not to recognize that the Plante administration made considerable efforts to revitalize the Village. An intervention strategy was presented at the end of June. It contains some twenty measures, the main ones being the creation of a Village working committee and the setting up of a citizens’ association.
What is incomprehensible in the debate on the future of the Gay Village is the non-interpellation of the governments of Quebec and Canada on the part of the Plante administration. The future of the Gay Village can only be a Montreal issue. Quebec and Ottawa must recognize a responsibility, the silence of ministers Pierre Fitzgibbon and Steven Guilbeault has gone on long enough.
I propose the establishment of a reserved fund, financed by the three levels of government. A Gay Village enhancement fund that would call for projects regarding infrastructure, animation, street furniture and community support.
The citizen mobilization initiative of Christian Généreux and Kat Coric, whose rallying formula was “J’aime mon Village”, demonstrated, if need be, that large segments of the population will no longer accept the status quo for the future of this iconic district. Governments would do well to remember this.