By Melissa Kosowan
After months of complaining that it was ignored in Bank Street redevelopment plans, Ottawa’s gay and lesbian community is asking the city to make their “gaybourhood” visibly recognizable.
Currently, the only visible signs of Bank Street’s gay neighbourhood, which informally runs between Laurier and Gladstone avenues and includes a number of gay businesses, community groups and institutions, are a few rainbow flags.
“We’ve built the cake, we just haven’t put the icing on it,” says Gareth Kirkby, managing editor of Capital Xtra, Ottawa’s gay and lesbian newspaper. It’s about taking pride in this area and coming up with creative ways to put that icing on the cake.”
While this section of Bank Street is still in the preliminary design stage of the redevelopment, dealing primarily with functional things like sewer systems and sidewalk width, members of the gay community have brought several streetscape and beautification ideas to the attention of project planners.
At a meeting organized by Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, representatives of the gay community suggested decorating “the village” with rainbow flags, colourful benches and signage that reflects the community.
Holmes says she decided to hold a meeting after several people expressed to her their interest in getting involved with the project.
But members of the gay community did not come forward with concerns or ideas at open houses held in 2005 during the initial public consultation process, says project manager Richard Holder.
“Throughout all that we didn’t receive one request for information or one particular comment from somebody from the gay community,” Holder says. “So there was nothing there to respond to at the time.”
Now however, the gaycommunity is looking for ways to get involved to ensure its voice is heard.
For Marie Robertson, a counsellor serving the GLBT community, the redesign comes down to safety.
She says she doesn’t always feel safe walking along Bank Street holding hands with her girlfriend, a problem she says could be solved by developing the gay district into a recognizable community.
“There’s something about having a physical space that creates a sense of safety, creates a sense of community and creates a sense of pride. It’s hard to feel any of those things when the community is invisible.”
She says Ottawa should look to Toronto for guidance on how to create a welcoming gay neighbourhood.
“I lived in Toronto for 20 years and Toronto is getting to be a pretty scary place . . . but to go to Church Street (a gay district) . . . I feel safe as a woman and I feel safe as a lesbian.”
Creating a recognizable gay community is beneficial not only for safety, but also for health and well being, according to Jay Koornstra, executive director of Bruce House, a non-profit organization that provides supportive housing for people living with HIV and AIDS.
“If you don’t feel good about yourself, if you feel like an outsider, then you don’t take pride in yourself and you may do things that are more risky for your health,” he says.
“It’s very important that there is a community identification somewhere in the city that you can visit and go to and say, ‘Hey, I belong.’ ”
Tom Ramsay, owner of gay sex shop One in Ten, supports the idea of a recognizable gay district to unite the community, but he cautions against going overboard in its design.
“I don’t want to go too openly out in your face,” he says. We don’t need the big rainbow arches. We don’t want to scare the straight businesses who might not want to come to the area because it’s gay.”
The first stage of construction on Bank Street between Wellington Street and Laurier Avenue is expected to begin this summer, but the gay district will likely not undergo construction until 2009.
In preparation, a public advisory committee is being established to work out the fine details of the design and could meet by 2007. The gay community has been invited to join this committee and several people have expressed interest in serving as representatives to aid in the planning.