Glenn Crawford enjoys a coffee at Cafe Supreme on Bank Street. It is one of the locations with the purple village sticker, indicating a gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender and friendly business.
Popular tourism website Ottawakiosk.com is taking a step to support the GLBT community’s push to brand a section of Bank Street as “the village.”
The site is planning to create a village icon which links customers to Bank Street businesses and services.
Bonnie McDougall, the Ottawa Kiosk staff member who brought the idea to Kiosk management, says the icon will use the same model they’ve used in the past with other business areas of Ottawa, such as Somerset Village or the Byward Market.
Individual businesses listed on the site can choose to place a virtual rainbow flag on their listing to indicate their support of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in the area.
This parallels the purple stickers some businesses already post on their windows to show they are GLBT friendly.
Glenn Crawford, who is spearheading the initiative to create a gay village in Ottawa, says the new web-presence will help the community’s cause.
“One of the main goals of the village is to create some sort of sense of visibility,” he says.
“The fact that they would be using the village as a name reinforces what we as a community have wanted.”
The GLBT community has been fighting to brand the area along Bank Street from Nepean and James Streets as the village since 2006, but the Bank Street BIA voted against the community’s proposal this summer.
Instead, Crawford says the BIA opted for a strategy of branding that comes from the community itself.
“They [Bank Street BIA] basically were saying that they need to see more businesses and organizations coalescing in the area before they create an official area,” he says.
“But the businesses and organizations are already there, and we’re working to show that.”
Crawford joined other volunteers this summer to promote the village. The group went to individual businesses and explained what the village could mean for them from a business perspective, then tried to gauge their support. Supportive businesses posted a purple sticker in their window.
Javaid Malik, owner of Café Supreme on Bank Street, says he posts the sticker to show his business supports the GLBT community.
“I support the village, and as a business, we’re open to all people,” he says. “On Saturdays, we have a gay men’s coffee club that comes in and reserves a whole area.”
Crawford says the gay community will be loyal if businesses show it loyalty and support. The online icon will help give the village movement credibility, he says.
“An initiative that works with the BIA, the businesses, the community and is something as recognizable and respected in the business community as Ottawa Kiosk, helps lend support and credence to what we’re trying to do,” Crawford says.
“It shows that there is a market there and it’s an opportunity to reach out to the community from a business perspective.”
Mcdougall also says that the icon could create possibilities for GLBT networking and tourism.
“People from Vancouver could look up businesses in the village with the rainbow flag on their listing and could contact them, ask about their hours during Pride etc," she says.
"There’s all kinds of networking that can be done!”
Crawford agrees that businesses will feel the positive effects of demonstrating their support for the gay community.
“Out-of-towners looking for information about the gay community in Ottawa could happen upon this site and it would help them know where the area is and what is there,” he says.
“Businesses will start to feel that for sure, it’s something that is mutually beneficial to everyone.”
Mcdougall says that whether Bank Street business owners are gay or straight, they can benefit from recognizing the Village.
“Businesses that are hetero owned should look to cater to the rainbow dollar, it’s just a smart business move,” she says.
Ottawa Kiosk is waiting for the Bank Street BIA’s response to collaborate on the project. Mcdougall says she is hoping the icon will be up on the site by Christmas.