LGBTQ culture in Vancouver

File:April292024DavieBute.jpg]]

Vancouver's (British Columbia, Canada) LGBT community is centered on Davie Village. Commercial Drive has historically acted as a gayborhood for the Vancouver lesbian community. Historically, LGBTQ people have also gathered in the Chinatown and Gastown neighborhoods. Former establishments include Dino's Turkish Baths, a gay bathhouse on Hastings, and the city's first drag bar, BJ's, on Pender Street.{{cite web |last=Perelle |first=Robin |date=2006-08-01 |title=Gay footsteps through time |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/gay-footsteps-through-time-21059 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616002013/http://www.dailyxtra.com/vancouver/news-and-ideas/news/gay-footsteps-time-10956 |archive-date=2017-06-16 |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=Xtra Magazine |publisher=Daily Xtra}}

CBC has said Vancouver is seen as a haven for LGBTQ people,https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-safe-haven-lgbtq-1.6117787 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}} and Condé Nast Traveler has called Vancouver the most gay-friendly city in Canada.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-07-03 |title=An LGBT Guide to Canada's Most Gay-Friendly City |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-07-02/lgbt-guide-to-vancouver-canadas-most-gay-friendly-city |access-date=2024-03-02 |website=Condé Nast Traveler |language=en-US}}

Community centres

Qmunity, founded in 1979 as the Vancouver Gay Community Centre and formerly known as The Centre, is located on Bute Street in Davie Village.{{cite web |url=https://www.straight.com/life/912861/bc-lgbt-resource-centre-qmunity-finally-ends-decades-long-search-new-vancouver-location |title=B.C. LGBT resource centre Qmunity finally ends decades-long search for new Vancouver location |publisher=Straight.com |date=2017-05-19 |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=2017-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701060652/http://www.straight.com/life/912861/bc-lgbt-resource-centre-qmunity-finally-ends-decades-long-search-new-vancouver-location |url-status=live }}

Events

File:VancouerPride2014Flag.jpg, 2014]]

LGBT events in Vancouver include:

Pride Week 1973
Queer Arts Festival
Vancouver Pride Festival, annual LGBTQ+ pride event
Vancouver Queer Film Festival

The annual Gay Men's Health Summit is hosted by Vancouver's Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men's Health (CBRC).{{cite web |url=https://www.straight.com/blogra/920906/gay-mens-health-summit-2017-explore-hiv-prevention-beyond-just-sex |title=Gay Men's Health Summit 2017 to explore HIV prevention beyond just sex |publisher=Straight.com |date=2017-06-06 |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=2017-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607104612/http://www.straight.com/blogra/920906/gay-mens-health-summit-2017-explore-hiv-prevention-beyond-just-sex |url-status=live }}

Media

Xtra Vancouver was a gay bi-weekly newspaper, published by Pink Triangle Press between 1993 and 2015. Press Gang Publishers was a printing collective that platformed LGBTQ women in Vancouver between 1974 and 2002.{{Cite web |last=Morgenstern |first=Tyler |date=2011 |title=Speaking Volumes |url=https://issuu.com/sadmagazine/docs/7.8_queer_history_cropped_lowrez |website=Sad Magazine |page=32}} OUTtv is a specialty channel and streaming network headquartered in Vancouver that has been covering local LGBTQ events and culture since 2001. Throughout the 1980s Gayblevision, a TV program produced in Vancouver's West End, documented and shared local LGBTQ culture. It was one of Canada's first LGBTQ focused TV shows. The VIVO Media Arts Centre archived their footage in the 2010s.{{Cite web |date=2016-04-29 |title=Preserving one of Canada's first LGBT TV shows {{!}} Xtra Magazine |url=https://xtramagazine.com/created-for/preserving-one-of-canadas-first-lgbt-tv-shows-70799 |access-date=2025-04-23 |language=en-CA}}

Present-day bars and nightclubs

File:Celebrities, Vancouver, 2016.jpg's exterior, 2016]]

File:Numbers, Vancouver, 2016.jpg, 2016]]

LGBTQ bars and nightclubs in Vancouver include Celebrities Nightclub, Fountainhead Pub, The Junction, and Numbers, and Pumpjack Pub.

Organizations

LGBTQ organizations based in Vancouver include:

AIDS Vancouver
BC Gay and Lesbian Archives
Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society{{cite news|last1=Takeuchi|first1=Craig|title=From South Asian to Jewish Canadians: Metro Vancouver's LGBT cultural organizations and groups|url=https://www.straight.com/life/745416/south-asian-jewish-canadians-metro-vancouvers-lgbt-cultural-organizations-and-groups|access-date=June 10, 2017|work=The Georgia Straight|date=July 28, 2016|archive-date=May 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170528163705/http://www.straight.com/life/745416/south-asian-jewish-canadians-metro-vancouvers-lgbt-cultural-organizations-and-groups|url-status=live}}
The Dogwood Monarchist Society (DMS){{Cite web |title=It's a regal affair for this society helping the local LGBTQ+ community {{!}} Listed |url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/telus-pride-lgbtq-dogwood-monarchist-society |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=dailyhive.com |language=en}}
Frank Theatre Company
Gay Alliance Toward Equality
Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society (GVNCS Two-Spirit Society)
Health Initiative for Men (HiM){{Cite web |date=2012-07-27 |title=The big picture of health for HIM |url=https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/living/the-big-picture-of-health-for-him-2972539 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=Vancouver Is Awesome |language=en}}
Kiss and Tell collective
Our City of Colours
Pinoy Pride Vancouver
Q Hall of Fame Canada
Rainbow Refugee{{cite web |url=https://www.straight.com/life/896921/vancouver-toronto-lgbt-organizations-launch-emergency-response-chechnya-gay-prison-camps |title=Vancouver, Toronto LGBT organizations launch emergency response to Chechnya gay prison camps |publisher=Straight.com |date=2017-04-19 |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=2017-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624210304/http://www.straight.com/life/896921/vancouver-toronto-lgbt-organizations-launch-emergency-response-chechnya-gay-prison-camps |url-status=live }}
Salaam Vancouver
Sher Vancouver
Trikone Vancouver
Vancouver Gay Liberation Front{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/longtime-vancouver-lgbt-activists-speak-up-for-police-presence-at-pride-parade-1.3991209 |title=Longtime Vancouver LGBT activists speak up for police presence at Pride parade |publisher=CBC News |date=2017-02-20 |access-date=2017-06-11 |archive-date=2017-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170526094328/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/longtime-vancouver-lgbt-activists-speak-up-for-police-presence-at-pride-parade-1.3991209 |url-status=live }}
Vancouver Pride Society
West End Softball Association{{Cite web |last=TeamLinkt |title=West End Slo-pitch Association - Home |url=https://wesa.net/wesa/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |website=wesa.net}}
Yad b’Yad LGBTQ

References

External links

{{cite web|url=https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/lgbtq-community.aspx|title=LGBTQ community|publisher=City of Vancouver}}
{{Cite journal|url=https://www.outtraveler.com/destination-guide/vancouver/2014/05/15/definitive-gay-guide-vancouver-bc|title=A Definitive Gay Guide to Vancouver, B.C.|first=Jase|last=Peeples|journal=Out Traveler|date=May 15, 2014}}
{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-07-02/lgbt-guide-to-vancouver-canadas-most-gay-friendly-city|title=An LGBT Guide to Vancouver, Canada's Most Gay-Friendly City|date=July 3, 2015|first=Lawrence|last=Ferber|journal=Condé Nast Traveler}}