Gay club halifax

Gay Halifax

Canada’s charming colonial town by the sea holds a secret: despite its compact size, it’s place to a thriving gay community fuelled by a immense and diverse trainee population, the city’s status as Maritime Canada’s regional hub and, ahem, the city’s largest employer, the Canadian Navy. There’s plenty here in Nova Scotia for the same-sex attracted traveller to love, and the welcoming Maritime attitude will make you touch at home right away.
On a summer day, Halifax’s bustling port is where the move is. The pleasant boardwalk features the usual touristy shopping and buskers, but it is a great starting show for a trip into Halifax’s seafaring history. Historic ships line the harbour, and guided tours can be arranged at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Down the harbour, you’ll detect the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the port through which more than a million immigrants entered Canada in the 20th century. Along the stroll, you’re sure to notice some of Canada’s finest uniformed men.

Get wet
Some of the foremost views of the city are from the water. The cheapest option is to take a

The Turret

ca. 2020 In January, 1976 (possibly January 9, 19761) a collective dance was organized by The Male lover Alliance for Equality on the third floor of the old Church of England Institute building, 1588 Barrington Street.2

That dance led to another and then another and an September 2, 1977, DebTrask, BobStout and one other went to a realty office to indicate the lease3 and the space became Halifax's second (after the GreenLantern) and for many years the only, male lover bar.

The Turret, named in reference to the most unique architectural feature which, at the third floor level, housed the bar's DJ booth became the social, political and even cultural center of Halifax's queer and lesbian communities for the next five years.4

The AlternateBookShop, the only queer bookstore east of Montreal, was located on the second floor of the Turret building. This bookstore was first located in the GreenLantern building and then moved across the street in 1978.

The Turret hosted the last national conference and encounter of gay organizations and people from across Canada in 1976.5

September 9, 1982 was the last night at The Turret.6 GAE re-opened its private club at 1586 Granville Stre

Rumours Cabaret: a new gay block for Halifax

Interview by Dan MacKay • Halifax • Originally published 2024-03-15, updated 2024-06-08

June 7, 2024: the bar is open! Wayves writer Kevin Dadouses attended opening night; here's his report!

Social media links for Rumours are at the bottom of this article.

Here's the interview from mid-March, 2024

"On May 1, Rumours Cabaret officially opens as a queer, trans, women safe space which is inclusive for everyone," says owner Gerald McCowan.

A couple weeks ago, McCowan announced (via the Facebook group Gays In Halifax) that he'll be opening on Water Street, and Wayves publisher Dan MacKay sat down with him a couple of days later. McCowan immediately took accuse of the interview:

"I moved here when I was 18 years old, was a cook in the army for years and when I retired, I went back to school to seize Tourism Management and ran a little hospitality company called Metro Hospitality Services," he says. "For a while, I was a bartender at the gay exclude, Buddies, in Edmonton — that was a lot of fun!"

Frankly, this city is a small scary sometimes. We need a space that is our space.

During his time in the military, McCowan exper

GayBars

Current Halifax Queer Bars

Current Halifax Queer Friendly Bars

Subject to debate.

History Of Queer Bars In Halifax

There is a history as of 1977 in the 1977-09 issue of TheVoice.

Don't hesitate to add your own stories and info!

TheStockade, early '70s, approx. 2828 Windsor Highway near Almon1
ThePiccadilly, mid '70s.
PeppermintLounge in the '60s, in the 1800 block of Barrington Street (across from where Scotia Square is now.)
Cameo or Candlelight Lounge was a hangout possibly starting in the overdue '60s
TheHeidelberg was a hangout just off Spring Garden in the 1970s.
NewServiceRestaurant?2
LobsterTrap Cabaret3
Two consecutively in the GreenLantern Building on Barrington St in the early 1970s:
The Turret on Barrington St, from 1975 to 1982. Owned by the homosexual community, GaeGala, moved and renamed:
Rumours - 1586 Granville St across from the Texpark from 1982 to 1985, then the to 2112 Gottingen from 1987 to January, 1995.
[[Fantasias?]] in Scotia Square, registered (owned?) by DanielJoseph from May 14, 1990. (had its own entrance off Duke St) which in 1991 was moved and renamed TheStudio
Three bars, consecutively, at 1537 Barrington, a half a block north