Toronto the Gay: the Formation of a Queer Counterpublic in Public Drinking Spaces, 1947-1981
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TORONTO THE GAY: THE FORMATION OF A QUEER COUNTERPUBLIC IN PUBLIC DRINKING SPACES, 1947-1981 CHRISTINE ALEXANDRA SISMONDO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR IN PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO SEPTEMBER 2017 © Christine Sismondo, 2017 Abstract: This dissertation examines the development of a queer counterpublic in Toronto’s post-war taverns and cocktail lounges, which were overseen by a relatively moderate provincial licensing authority. In the absence of homophile associations, social networks and discourses of resistance were formed by men in Toronto’s public drinking spaces, wherein strategies to oppose discrimination were formed, as well as subversive camp rituals that protected the community and expressed pride. The dissertation focuses primarily on men’s spaces and communications and is divided, roughly, into four major areas of inquiry, namely, community formation in bars and resistance to patron discrimination; public rituals as an expression of camp discourse and community pride; resistance to surveillance and, finally, the culmination of all these bar-based strategies into an overt queer activism that challenged hate crimes as well as systemic discrimination. The counterpublic was made up of competing discourses, that created and negotiated gender, class, ethnicity and sexual comportment, largely falling into two main categories: mononormative discourse and camp. The latter was more likely to challenge the disciplinary discourses of the era, which were present in both print media and physical surveillance, whereas, the normalizing discourse engaged civil rights arguments and was successful in reshaping the media and general public’s ideas about queer Toronto. At times, the two discourses acted co-operatively, as an expression of solidarity and both expressions of Toronto’s bar-based queer political activism were key to the development of more overt activism of the 1970s that laid the ground for resistance to and protest over Operation Soap in 1981. ii Acknowledgements Above all, I want to thank Craig Heron, who, even though he had stopped taking on new students at the time, made an exception and agreed to supervise this one last project. It was above and beyond the call, as were his thoughtful insights into the work, itself—at every stage of the dissertation, but, especially towards the end, when the final hurdles seemed insurmountable and, probably would have been without him. This project also benefitted greatly from the help that Kathryn McPherson and Marcel Martel provided, since, from the outset, both asked questions that forced me to think about the material in interesting new ways. Early help from Marc Stein, who introduced me to the previous literature in this field, was a key early boost, as were insights into cultural history and comparable American research from Molly Ladd-Taylor and Marlene Shore, way back during course work. Speaking of course work (and comprehensive exams), I couldn’t have done it without Mary Janigan, Joanna Pearce, Sara Howdle, Abril Liberatori, Émilie Pigeon, Paul Aikenhead, Serge Miville, Alexandria Anderson and, especially, Anne Toews. Later on, I was lucky enough to get advice and research help from Daniel Ross and Thomas Hooper, whose work and advice inspired me. So, a big thank you to everyone in both my cohort and the ones that came before me. Outside of history departments, I learned a lot from Jessica Polzer and Sergio Sismondo, throughout the writing and, most crucially, preparing for the defence, physically and mentally. Without financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, I never would have got started and, it was the Avie Bennett Historica Canada scholarship that made it possible to finish. Alan Miller at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives deserves a special iii mention, as do several helpful folks at the Ontario Archives; the Toronto Public Library; the Clara Thomas Archives and the University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Obviously, this project would be a lifeless shell without the people who generously agreed to speak with me about their experience in Toronto in that era—Don Middleton, Paul Macdonald, Neil Gilson, Bob Pearse, Richard Mehringer, Dr. William Kay, Mario Ciancibello, Michael McMorrow, Gerald Hannon, Brian Dedora and Ed Jackson. I appreciate their help and hope I’ve done justice to their stories. Thanks, of course, to Myles, who is always inspiring and scolded me about the state of my desk a few times. Most of all, thanks to Allan, who pitched in with research, edits, endless listening and, best of all, made regular trips to the store to fetch wine. iv Table of Contents Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………..ii Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………….. iii-iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………........... v List of Images ………………………………………………………………………………xi Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….1 Licensing and Inspection …………………………………………………………… 18 Historiography ……………………………………………………………………..... 23 The Lavender Scare in Canada ……………………………………………………… 26 Primary Sources ……………………………………………………………………... 31 Public Drinking in Toronto the Gay: A Social Geography …………………………. 39 Map 1………………………………………………………………………………… 41 Map 2……………………………………………………………………………….... 44 Map 3.………………………………………………………………………………... 49 Chapter Outlines …………………………………………………………………….. 52 Chapter One - The Establishment of a Counterpublic ….………………………………… 55 Competing Discourses ……………………………………………………………… 55 The Source of the Nile ……………………………………………………………… 61 Elements of a Gay Bar: Staff and Patron Selection ….………………………........... 66 Refusal of Service and Discourses of Resistance …..………………………………. 73 The Clientele and the Class Divide …………………………………………………. 82 Identity Politics: Strategies of Defiance …………………………………………….. 92 Chapter Two – Public Rituals in the Queer Counterpublic ……….………………………. 99 Subversive Camp Rituals ……………………………………………………………. 99 Camp Discourse and the Media …………………………………………………….. 115 Sex in Public: Yonge Street ……………………………………………………….... 118 Camp Discourse Goes Mainstream ……………………………………..................... 123 Gorilla Girls to the Brunswick Four ………………………………………………… 131 Chapter Three – Sex and Surveillance ………….………………………….…………....... 147 Surveillance Schemes ….…………………………………………………………… 148 Surveillance - Class and Geography ..……………………………………………..... 154 Sex on the Strip - Justifying Surveillance .………………………………………….. 159 Camp Discourse and Calls for Economic Agency ….……………………………..... 170 The Queer Counterpublic and Political Activism ….……………………………….. 175 Chapter Four – Sex and Camp in Public ………………………………………………….. 191 Gay Liberation and Gay Capitalism ………………………………………………… 191 Post-Camp: Leather and Liberation ………………………………………………..... 197 Toronto the Ugly: Hallowe’en and the Strip ………………………………………... 204 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………… 231 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………..... 242 v List of Images Image 1: [Cartoon from Tab, 1969] ……………………………………………....................... 22 Image 2: [View of the Letros Building, 1947, Archives of Ontario] ………..………………... 43 Image 3: [Municipal Hotel, circa 1945, City of Toronto Archives] ………………………….. 47 Image 4: [True News Times cover, 1952] …………………………………………………….. 77 Image 5: [King Edward Hotel, 1925, Toronto Public Library] ………………………………..78 Image 6: [Park Plaza Hotel, 1954, Toronto Public Library] …………………………………. 86 Image 7: [Union Hotel, 1945, City of Toronto Archives] ………………………………….… 88 Image 8: [Miss Letros 1961, courtesy of Neil Gilson] ……………………………………… 110 Image 9: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] …………………………….127 Image 10: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] …………………………...127 Image 11: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives ] …………………………..128 Image 12: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] ………………………….. 129 Image 13: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] …………………………...129 Image 14: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] ………………………….. 130 Image 15: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] ………………………….. 130 Image 16: [Bowles Lunch, 1928, City of Toronto Archives] ……………………………….. 148 Image 17: [Yonge Street Subway Construction, 1951, City of Toronto Archives] .………… 151 Image 18: [Court Street Station, 1952, Toronto Public Library] ……………………………. 157 Image 19: [ Hotel Breadalbane, 1937, City of Toronto Archives] …………………………... 178 Image 20: [The St. Charles Tavern, 1955, Toronto Public Library] ………………………… 206 Image 21: [Masked assailants,1978, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives] ………………… 218 Image 22: [Crowds at St. Charles Tavern, 1978, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives] ……. 219 Image 23: [Crowds at St. Charles Tavern, 1978, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives] ……. 221 Image 24: ["Hallowe'en: Letros," 1967, Clara Thomas Archives] …………………………... 241 ix Introduction “IT WAS DRILLED INTO MOTHER GOOSE’S HEAD that we (in Toronto the GAY) are so lucky. To quote our informant (indirectly) ‘we hold camp in one of the smartest bars, locate ourselves centrally, have a social column of our own, and can boast of being ‘the most organized city in North America.’ NOW GIRLS! If that isn’t praise, AND ALL THIS from a someone that HAS BEEN AROUND.”1 This passage appeared on February 11, 1952, in “A Study in Lavender,” a regular column written by “Mother Goose” in True News Times, one of Toronto’s several postwar tabloid newspapers. It was not the only occasion on which Mother