VANCOUVER POLITICIAN BACKS GAY CLUB AS ?BUILDER OF CUMMUNITY?
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 04 Aug 2008
VANCOUVER, Canada ? If gay clubs are being looked down with disdain and antagonism in some cities in the Philippines, gay clubs are still very relevant in Vancouver?s social fabric.
In fact, an openly gay one-term politician here explained in an interview with the Georgia Straight that ?Vancouver is host to two capitals: Chinatown and Davie Village.?
?Each is doing exactly the same thing for their respective communities,? Matthew Burrows quoted 63-year-old councilor Alan Herbert as saying. ?Chinatown was the capital city to all of the Chinese in Vancouver; all of the institutions were there. They have now spread.?
Carlos Belaong, a former department chief of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Western Visayas in the Philippines, confirmed that unlike in some cities in the Philippines, most of the gay clubs here adhere to community building and are useful in many aspects.
The phenomenon is occurring in the gay community, he explained. Davie Village is home to social services provided by the Center and a whole range of entertainment venues, bars, and nightclubs.
This physical concentration, however, will not be duplicated in places like Surrey and Richmond, Herbert said.
?The Fountainhead Pub is a general kind of bar,? he stressed, noting downtown?s gay spots. ?It is identified for the gay community, but by no means exclusive to it. There is the Pumpjack, which tends to focus on the leather-and- blue-jean crowd.?
Herbert added: ?Then there is the Majestic, which has a stage and they do shows. And there is cocktail lounge where you can go in, and they do entertainment. And we need more.?
However, explained Burrows, the iconic Odyssey is preparing to leave its Howe Street home to make way for social housing later this year, and the hotel formerly known as Dufferin no longer hosts a gay bar on Seymour Street, something that irks West End resident and COPE park board commissioners Spencer Herbert.
He is the sole declared candidate for the provincial nomination in the new Vancouver-West End riding ahead of the 2009 election.
?I kind of miss the Dufferin. It was a place where you had a total mixture of incomes and backgrounds. It was probably due to the cheap beer and the fact there were a lot of charity events,? Herbert added.
?I think gay bars are often seen as scenester-type places, but I?ve had a lot of political conversations there. Also, straight girlfriends of mine prefer going to them because they?re not getting preyed upon by horny men,? Herbert concluded.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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