On November 28, we gathered in McGill’s Peel Street Cinema to watch three carefully selected films that focus on LGBTQ+ nightlife design, safety practices, and community-building. This was the first half of "Queering the Night", a captivating and thought-provoking two-part event that tackled a rather complicated question: what should the future of queer nighttime spaces look like? Through film, we wanted to provide insight into the historical and contemporary landscapes of LGBTQ+ nightlife and to offer a starting point for thinking about the challenges and potential of queering the night.
The event was curated by Research Assistant Iris Pintiuta, who organizes regular film screenings under the collective name Exposures, and was open to all students and community members. The centerpiece of the program was Wildness (2012), the first feature film by transgender artist Wu Tsang, a compelling documentary that focuses on the Silver Platter nightclub which has served as a hub for LA’s Latinx queer and trans communities since the early 1960s. The film focuses on the transformation the Silver Platter undergoes when it becomes the site of Wildness, a weekly party thrown by Chicago transplant Wu Tsang and their friends. This new party attracts young, white (though not exclusively) hipster city-dwellers, a demographic not typically hosted by the club. Although the popularity of Wildness leads to some devastating consequences for some of the bar’s old regulars, it also forces the bar’s splintered community to question and renegotiate its shared identity. The film takes us through the trajectory of Wildness at the Silver Platter, the legal activist work that emerged from it, and the uncertain future the Silver Platter has in the face of changing ownership, gentrification, and inner-community conflict.
We selected Wildness as part of our program because it challenges the popular notion that "safe spaces" are utopic and homogenous. The film reminds us that if these spaces are to function in reality, they must be risky and contested, even dangerous. Moreover, it draws attention to how difference impacts queer spaces, and how these differences can be felt along lines of race, class, ethnicity, locality, educational background, etc. There is a marked difference between the older, mainly trans femmes of color that patrons the Silver Platter, and the younger, artsy crowd that frequents Wildness. Having said that, the film showcases the potential for unity amid diversity too. The Silver Platter regulars and the new Wildness partygoers share a common desire for a safe haven away from mainstream scrutiny, necessitating a delicate balance of intergenerational needs.
The event continued with a screening of The Lesbian Bar Project, a short documentary supporting a broader initiative documenting the history of lesbian bars in America. In the 1980s, there were roughly 200 Lesbian Bars in the United States. Today, there are fewer than 30. Filmmakers Erica Rose and Elina Street established The Lesbian Bar Project as a rallying point to celebrate, support, and amplify the remaining lesbian bars, emphasizing their unique role in prioritizing space for marginalized genders, including cis and trans women, non-binary individuals, and trans men.
The event concluded Pxssy Palace, a short documentary by Laura Kirwan-Ashman that took the audience behind the scenes of the London club night of the same name, an event specifically designed for London's QTIPOC community. Kirwan-Ashman’s provided a contemporary lens into the resilience, creativity, and community-building within queer nightlife. It also underscored the historical significance of LGBTQ+ spaces and illuminated the ongoing challenges faced by queer communities of color.
As the lights dimmed in the Peel Street Cinema, "Queering the Night" achieved its goal of bridging the past and present of LGBTQ+ nightlife, and cultivating a space for rich conversations about the future of queer nighttime spaces. Beyond celebrating the resilience and creativity inherent in the history of queer nightlife, the event encouraged participants to actively contribute to shaping the trajectory of queer spaces, ensuring they remain vibrant, diverse, and resilient in the face of gentrification, increasing levels of transphobia, and other evolving challenges.