Kingston ontario gay bars
Queer liberation in Kingston requires modern nightlife
Kingston has a long legacy of queer spaces, but much of this history is concealed, not unlike the queer community itself. With Kingston’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community experiencing a shortage of queer nightlife spaces today, history serves as a reminder that queer people have always found ways to endure , whether out in the open or in the shadows.
Drag queen Tyffanie Morgan moved to Kingston in as an incoming Queen’s student. Though she hadn’t yet started her career in drag, it wasn’t long until she establish a community in Club , a local gay bar located at Princess St.
Previously known as Robert’s Club Vogue, Club is where Tyffanie met her drag mother, Jas Morgan. Tyffanie started performing in March Club was a vibrant hub for drag at the time, with performers like Crystal Cage and Jas Morgan for Tyffanie to look up to as a “second gen drag queen.”
Club was a safe haven for Tyffanie and other queer students to express themselves without fear of being ostracized or attacked because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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The Office, Kingston&#;s first official gay bar, opened in the early s on the corner of Montreal St. and Queen St., in the upstairs section of what is now Kingston&#;s only strip bar, the Plaza. Although the Office was the first openly gay bar, a number of other gay bars have occupied space at the Plaza, until as recently as , when Dreammakers, the last lesbian bar in the building, closed its doors. Since the opening of the Office, a number of gay bars own occupied various Kingston locations, including Robert&#;s Club Vogue, which then became Club , a reference to its address at Princess; Wally&#;s, a dance bar on Bath Road; and Shay Foo Foo&#;s martini lounge in the basement of the Rest Inn on Princess Street, the recent closure of which has left Kingston without a gay bar at the time of writing.
Although openly designated &#;gay bars&#; did not exist in Kingston before the adj &#;80s, this absence did not stop gays and lesbians from carving out a place for themselves. Instead, local queers negotiated spaces in &#;straight&#; dr
Kingston’s queer bar opening after a decade long drought
Club , Kingston’s newest queer bar is opening soon. As the name suggests, it will be located at Princess St.
While there’s no set opening date for Club , members of the Kingston community gathered at Royal Tavern on June 1 for an open stage drag show to celebrate the successful coming along of the bar’s construction.
“The drag show at Royal Tavern was part of a soft launch opening of Club It was not at the actual bar,” said Tyffanie Morgan, a long-time Kingston drag queen. “Nonetheless, there was a lot of support from the community at the event.”
According to Morgan, there has been an increasing demand by the queer community for a “hub” in Kingston—a place locals can frequent and sense accepted regardless of their sexuality.
“Having our own assigned queer space is needed right now, especially in a world where we’re seeing a lot of backlashes against queer identities, trans identities, and gay pride,” Morgan said.
Morgan reminisced on the days she was able to pop into Club —Kingston’s previous gay bar—to see events and
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One of the most popular bars for gay men was the Cat&#;s Meow, which operated from the &#;60s to the &#;70s and had been pre-dated by the Elbow Room. Located off the lobby of the LaSalle Hotel, it was frequented by single male travellers staying at the hotel and quite possibly looking for some company. It was a long narrow room with entrances both ends, making it possible to come in the bar from Princess St., casually pass through to see who was there, and then go out either alone or with someone else to the lobby at the back. The bar sat sixteen or eighteen people, &#;and it was all mirrors behind the bar so you could see everybody as you walked in. It was ideal&#;[people would] use those mirrors for eye contact. Oh! The door would swing unlock and every eye went to that door!&#; recalls Earl. Ironically, the reality that the Cat&#;s Meow was also frequented by straight men was what made some gay men feel comfortable in that environment. As long as there were lots of heterosexual men around, gay men could go there without fearing that their pre