Gay bar halifax nova scotia

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 slow '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 gender non-conforming 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

  “When I came to Canada, it was my dream that I wanted to perform as a drag queen,” says Jasleen, a queenly artist who began performing on Halifax stages last summer. “My drag started, like, I reflect it was inside me from my childhood.” The self-described “first Bollywood queenly diva of Halifax” is originally from India and performs dragged-up versions of traditional Indian sway with costumes and jewellery to match.
  

  When Jasleen (who prefers to be referred to by name only rather than pronouns) first moved to Halifax in 2021, the performer didn’t realize how to commence doing drag and had to explore out other members of the group to learn the ropes. Jasleen create a drag mother in local queen Lucky Charms, and eventually started tearing up the stage at spots favor Lot Six and Good Robot.

  click to enlarge

  For Jasleen, performing in traditionally “straight” bars and restaurants has its perks, including introducing the world of drag to patrons who wouldn’t look for it out otherwise. It’s a way to “show that we are not aliens, we are part of the society as well,” Jasleen says. “People can see that drag is just a talent, nothing else. So I think in that way they can unders
  

  Rumours Cabaret: a novel gay bar for Halifax

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

  June 7, 2024: the bar is open! Wayves journalist 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 harmless 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 charge 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 institution to take 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 capital is a tiny scary sometimes. We need a room that is our space.

  During his period in the military, McCowan exper
  

  All the queer that Halifax has to offer (you’ll be surprised)

  Nestled on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Halifax, Nova Scotia, has always been a sketch for LGBTQ2S+ Maritimers who wanted to escape small town experience. As the region’s largest town, with a metro population of about 465,000, it offers anonymity (a bit, anyway) and an opportunity to build community.

  It’s a pretty great place to break out to. About a two-hour flight from Toronto, and a famous U.S. cruise ship destination, Halifax is a scenic port town full of cultural institutions, historic sites, centuries-old buildings, amazing nightlife and a rich LGBTQ2S+ history. Home to many post-secondary institutions, it has a young population that loves to have a good time.

  Those roots date support to just a few years after its founding in 1749 as a military town that grew up around the Halifax Citadel, a star-shaped British fortress sunken into the summit of the area’s highest point. That fortress is now a national historic site—and has been recognizable as an early morning cruising spot for decades. The Halifax Rainbow Encyclopedia, a volunteer-driven online publication that chronicles the LGBTQ2S+ history of the city, notes that in