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Halifax LGBTQ2S+ history: Cruising Citadel Hill

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For Halifax Pride I will be conducting a virtual tour of sorts of some significant spots in Halifax LGBTQ2S+ history. Today is Citadel Hill.

🖤💜💙💚💛🧡❤️

For gay men in the 60s & 70s in Halifax cruising for sex was an important way to find community.

Citadel Hill, the Halifax Commons, The Triangle (Queen, Dresden Rowe, Spring Garden), Camp Hill Cemetery, the Public Gardens and the Meat Rack (South Park and Spring Garden) were all popular cruising spots. Note: the fortress atop Citadel Hill was built in part by Jamaican Maroons.

“This city offers a unique opportunity to join a two-hundred-year-old cruising tradition on Citadel Hill…

If the action fails, there’s always the view.”

– A 1978 Body Politic article on the upcoming national gay & lesbian conference in Halifax

Adapted from a Facebook post by Rebecca Rose, author of the excellent Before the Parade, A History of Halifax’s Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Communities, 1972-1984.

Recovering Local LGBTQIA2S+ Histories, a public event with Rebecca Rose, scheduled for Saturday July 25. Check out the Facebook event here. Register via eventbrite.

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