New walking tour highlights Vancouver’s queer history
Posted July 1, 2018 9:07 am.
Last Updated July 1, 2018 9:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – From the folks who brought you “Lost Souls of Gastown” and “Secrets of the Penthouse,” comes a new walking tour that highlights another chapter in Vancouver’s past.
Forbidden Vancouver’s brand new “Really Gay History” tour reminds us of the struggles had and the strides made by the local LGBTQ2+ community.
Highlights include Granville Street, home to the city’s first gay bars, as well as the Davie Village, the heart of the still vibrant gay-bourhood.
“This really feels like the right time in our history to be talking about this,” says Glenn Tkach, who leads the walking tour. “It seems to me like there’s a real hunger to hear these stories right now, and gay or straight people who I’ve mentioned this to, have been kind of chomping at the bit to hear these stories.”
He adds the history of the city’s gay community has a universal appeal.
“These stories, as much as they are about the queer community specifically and the resistance we faced and the liberation that we’ve achieved, I feel like these stories, in lots of ways, are the story of all of us.”
Highlights of the two-and-a-half hour tour include the sites of bookstore bombings, police raids, the “Kiss-Ins” of Granville Street, and what has been called the gayest beer parlour in town.
Tours are held on Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and daily during Pride.
