For some members of Ottawa’s sapphic and lesbian community, the only haunting element at the end of this Halloween season is the ghost town of events catered toward them. But, Queering613 is seeking to change that.
While queer events are increasingly popping up throughout Ottawa, the challenge has shifted away from the events’ existence, and more toward diversifying the event’s attendance.
Queering613 is an organization run through Facebook that hosts queer events, most notably its Queers and Beers events. On Oct. 25, Queers and Beers dressed up as “HalloQween,” welcoming costumed attendees to the Lowertown Brewery in ByWard Market.
Despite attendees being dressed in costumes and masks, attendee Iliana Loupessis said the event was very “male dominated.”
Loupessiss said she wondered if Ottawa queer events are only catered toward 2SLGBTQIA+ men.
“Looking around [with a] quick glance, I don’t see any [people who are] non-binary, femme or anything other than gay men,” she said.
Queering613 declined to comment on this critique.
Loupessiss recently moved from Montreal and said she’s witnessed a contrast between the cities’ approaches to sapphic-centred events.
Sapphic is an umbrella term used within the queer community to describe women-loving-women identities such as lesbian, bisexual and pansexual – inclusive of those who identify outside of the woman label.
Montreal has many spaces targeted toward sapphic people that are not only easy to find, but also exist in multitude, Loupessiss said.
“I feel like there’s more diversity in the Montreal events,” Loupessiss said. “I just moved, but so far all the events that I’ve seen are mostly catered to gay men.”
Lauren MacDonald, another attendee, said there are some lesbian focused events, citing Lez Go, a different Ottawa queer Facebook group that is woman-centred. According to MacDonald, the true issue behind queer events with different target demographics is deeper than what exists in the present.
“We also have this history where we had so many gay clubs and we had a lesbian club, and they disappeared,” MacDonald said. “We kind of lost the spaces for gay men or non-binary people, and lesbian women.”
“It’s hard to cater specifically to one or both, because we don’t have a space set out for them.”
Adrianna Exposée, a promoter and DJ at Lez Go, said the solution to “combating the need” for sapphic spaces is by being boldly visible.
This is reflected in Lez Go’s name, which uses the term “lez,” short for lesbian.
“I think we’re so scared to put a label on things,” Exposée said. “We like to say, ‘Oh, all are welcome,’ and of course, all are welcome. It’s never an unwelcome space, but it’s created for a need.”
Lez Go does not cower from a direct label — its advocacy for specific spaces takes form by using the word lesbian, even if it initially draws lines about who is included.
Exposée said she sees interest from both lesbians and other people when promoting Lez Go events, but it shifts when they see the name. “They see the name, and they might say, ‘Okay, maybe not for me,’ which is OK too, because it might open a space for someone that is a woman.”
“I think just having [lesbian] in the name, like, ‘Hey, we’re a lesbian-run organization that does lesbian events in Ottawa,’ that’s great. It tells you everything you need to know,” Exposée said.
Maddie Empey, another attendee, said the solution to the lack of information about sapphic-specific spaces isn’t clear cut, but the necessity for such events is becoming more important for finding belonging in the queer community.
“It fosters friendships, sometimes being a wing-woman for other women and just having fun in a space that’s not strictly straight,” Empey said.
Loupessis said it’s more important to have community-led organizations as the backbone to help queer events thrive, rather than just having a space that exists. She compared her long list of examples from Montreal to the one or two known to her in Ottawa.
“There’s more out there than we know,” MacDonald countered, citing when corporations pulled out of Capital Pride this year, leaving community groups as the focus.
“There were countless community groups that I was just shocked to not have known about, and discovered at Pride as they passed by with a sign. And I was like, ‘That’s really cool,’” MacDonald said.
Even with knowledge about the existence of sapphic-specific spaces, how to go about finding them remains difficult.
“I think that’s what’s confusing,” Loupessis said about the anonymity of lesbian-centred events and spaces. “If there are that many, somebody should put together a list, goddamn it.”
Featured Image by Kyla Silva/The Charlatan.
