has announced<\/a> the liquidation of all its stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDepartment stores have a complex history with the LGBTQ2S+ community. For decades, their bathrooms and change rooms have been sites of connection between men, as well as sites of police surveillance and harassment. Closures do not only impact the retail landscape\u2014they also affect a cruising ecosystem that faces immense pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cruising is the art of picking up or hooking up with someone in public using non-verbal cues to initiate an encounter. Many call it a form of thrill-seeking and source of anonymous sex; others regard it as an identity-forming experience and highlight its safety aspects, especially when done in outdoor public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overall cruising network predominantly includes parks, beaches, university bathrooms, truck stops\u2014and department stores. Word of mouth has remained a constant identifier of these places, but their sources have evolved. Historically, queer media shared these locations like the 1970s gay travel publication Ciao!<\/em>, which mentions HBC\u2019s Vancouver flagship store. Cruising apps, forums and OnlyFans creators are popular ways to find these spots today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you walk into a bathhouse or a bar to find people, you\u2019re marking yourself \u2026 the department store is a way to be anonymous.\u201d
Spatially, department stores create appealing conditions for cruisers. Its apparel sections are segregated by gender, allowing men to congregate inconspicuously, and sexual orientations to remain hidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not marked as a queer person when you go to the department store,\u201d says Olivier Vallerand, associate professor at the school of design at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al. \u201cIf you walk into a bathhouse or a bar to find people, you\u2019re marking yourself \u2026 the department store is a way to be anonymous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also provides an \u201calibi,\u201d according to Hugues Lefebvre Morasse, co-author (with Gui Tardif) of \u201cLe cruising gai et la spatialit\u00e9 des sexualit\u00e9s\u201d in the essay collection Sexualit\u00e9s et dissidences queers<\/em>. \u201cA man could just be there wandering \u2026 buying a new tie on his lunch break,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA history of department store entrapment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe called them the Bathroom Boys,\u201d a former HBC undercover loss prevention investigator reveals to Xtra,<\/em> under the condition of anonymity, about cruisers during their employment in the 2000s. While cruising is a discreet art, management caught on to the activities taking place. <\/p>\n\n\n\nDepartment store bathrooms have been policed for decades. Stores claimed it prevented children from being exposed to acts of \u201cgross indecency.\u201d To curb these activities, locations employed entrapment and surveillance tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queer publications reported on various stings throughout the 1980s, with HBC being a main perpetrator. Security guards and undercover police lured cruisers into washrooms. Some worked in pairs to avoid suspicion. As The Body Politic<\/em> (which was published by Xtra<\/em>\u2019s parent company, Pink Triangle Press) <\/em>described, \u201cThe undercover cop performs well,\u201d noting how they\u2019d pretend to expose themselves, make suggestive motions and arrest victims if they touched the officer\u2019s penis or got hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nQueer organizations, like advocacy group Gay Committee Council, distributed pamphlets, warning men of the entrapment methods used by security guards and plainclothes officers, while advocacy groups denounced these actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is one thing to charge people who go out of their way to use the Bay washrooms to cruise, and quite another thing to lure people there for the sole purpose of arresting them. Doesn\u2019t Bay security have better things to do than entrap people?\u201d commented Gens Hellquist of Gay & Lesbian Health Services to the former Prairies-focused gay and lesbian news outlet Perceptions,<\/em> in regard to a case at a Saskatoon location in 1988. <\/p>\n\n\n\nBathroom busts, also occurring in theatres and hotels, led to charges of gross indecency, committing an indecent act and committing indecent assault. Some men even had their names and addresses published, putting them, and their families, at risk of shame and potential violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gay Court Watch, which supported LGBTQ2S+ people facing charges, worked to find solutions to prevent men from going to court. In 1983, a judge recommended privately owned enterprises find alternatives to deal with these acts, rather than calling the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to charges, those caught were banned from stores. Part of a written notice from HBC that was obtained by The Body Politic <\/em>in 1983 read: \u201cShould you at any future time enter the premises of the Hudson’s Bay Company, you may be charged with an offence liable up to a fine of one thousand dollars and for the cost of the prosecution, pursuant to the provisions of the (provincial) Trespass Property Act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cWe could walk up to them and arrest them for trespassing as it\u2019s private property,\u201d the former HBC investigator shares, noting the men\u2019s photos were taken for easy identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawyer and author of Park Cruising: What Happens When We Wander Off the Path<\/em> Marcus McCann tells Xtra<\/em> that individuals in these spaces have \u201can implied licence or right to attend,\u201d where during opening hours there is an invitation to be on the premises. If a person is caught cruising, that invite can be revoked, meaning that individual is no longer welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn the past decade, McCann says he\u2019s noticed that those engaged in sexual activity in private commercial, non-sexual spaces (a broad category that includes bathrooms in department stores or malls or gym change rooms) will more likely be \u201cgiven a notice of trespass\u201d instead of being criminally charged. \u201cIt can still be extremely embarrassing and sometimes disruptive to people\u2019s lives,\u201d he says. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nA shrinking network in suburbia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n The cruising ecosystem is under immense strain. High rents (commercial and residential), the soaring cost of living and gentrification threaten how people connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McCann writes in his book that increasing commercial rents are causing queer and sex-positive establishments to close, with many not being replaced. High residential rents are another obstacle with many living in multi-person households. These conditions push people to explore sex elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAs cruising spaces disappear, pressure is added to existing sites.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Department stores are important suburban regions where queer spaces were absent. These locations are usually the first to close with remaining ones located in metropolitan cores. The recent closures led one suburban individual on the cruising platform Squirt to ask, \u201cWhat are you boys going to do?\u201d (Squirt is also run under Pink Triangle Press.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These locations were easy alibis for those with hidden lives and were spaces during colder months. \u201cWhen it\u2019s winter in a small town, it\u2019s more of a necessity,\u201d Vallerand says. \u201cIt can be the only place.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As cruising spaces disappear, pressure is added to existing sites. \u201cYou are squeezing the number of locations, cruising will get pushed into places that are busier and more visible \u2026 it\u2019s in those sites that we tend to see complaints, surveillance and policing,\u201d McCann says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike the pre-internet era, apps are becoming more useful not just to find other cruisers, but to discover and promote safety. \u201cThey\u2019re a good source to find new spots. I glance over the spot prior to going to see if there are any warnings,\u201d says one millennial cruiser from Toronto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These spaces have been shaped by need, adapted by the queer community who challenged their uses. They were never designed for desire. Their loss will impact queer communities, but cruising spaces will always exist and continue to pop up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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