The age of the “post-mo”? Toronto’s gay Village and a new generation

• Published in: Geoforum Vol. 49; pp. 243 - 252
• Main Author: Nash, Catherine J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2013
• Subjects: Central Cities; Gay villages; Homonormativity; Homosexuality; Lesbian; LGBT; Post-gay; Queer; Sex Role Identity; Toronto, Ontario; Urban Areas; Villages; Queer; Lesbian; Gay villages; Post-gay; Homonormativity; LGBT
• ISSN: 0016-7185; 1872-9398
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.11.023

► Toronto’s gendered and sexual urban landscapes are being transformed. ► LGBT youth are developing alternative understandings of identity, behavior, practice. ► Toronto’s LGBT youth may not utilize the gay Village or Pride. ► LGBT youth use many other downtown locations, districts and neighborhoods. This paper examines how certain inner city spaces in Toronto, Canada are being transformed in part due to changing sexual and gendered identities, and practices variously described as ‘post-gay’ or ‘post-mo.’ Drawing on a June 2011 Grid article entitled ‘Dawn of a new gay’ and related commentary, I argue that in seeking to understand various spatial transformations underway in Toronto, one element deserving of attention is a so-called growing intergenerational divide amongst and between certain segments of Toronto’s LGBT population. More specifically, new or alternative understandings of same-sex identity, and practices are emerging that are markedly different from those of previous generations. As a result, a self-styled ‘post-mo’ generation is less interested in (or does not frequent as often), Toronto’s traditional gay Village and is utilizing alternative urban spaces in ways that rework the gendered and sexualized meanings of those locations and suggests transformative processes are underway for LGBT social, political and economic life in Toronto.