Gay in a ‘government town’: the settlement and regulation of gay-identified men in Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

This case study examines Ottawa, Canada, a ‘government town’, as both a destination for mobile gay men and a place where their conduct historically has been regulated by the government and military institutions located there. By placing the findings of 24 in-depth qualitative interviews with self-identified gay men in a Foucauldian governmentality framework, I argue that the government town is a powerful attractor for gay men in terms of economic opportunity and official prescriptions of nondiscrimination and acceptance, but is also a site where gay men and gay communities are regulated into certain modes of conduct. In particular, this article finds that Ottawa, as both a historic center of antigay activity and a more recent center of an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) rights-seeking agenda in Canada, encourages practices that are based on discretion, gender normalization, and maintenance of the status quo. The article argues that these practices – with some notable exceptions – have led to a fragmented gay community characterized by economic and professional stratification, out-of-town consumption of gay culture, and a lack of recognizable social, political, and geographic focal points for gay men. It also posits that the mechanisms through which governmentality is leveraged are particularly central to the experiences of sexual minorities in places like Ottawa, where government institutions are especially dense or thick.

Este estudio de caso analiza a Ottawa, Canadá, una ‘ciudad del gobierno’, como destino para hombres gay y un lugar donde su conducta ha sido históricamente regulada por el gobierno y las instituciones militares localizadas allí. Colocando los resultados de 24 entrevistas cualitativas en profundidad con hombres que se identifican como gays en un marco conceptual de la gubernamentalidad Foucauldiana, sostengo que la ciudad-gobierno es un lugar que atrae fuertemente a hombres gays en términos de oportunidad económica y de las prescripciones oficiales de no discriminación y aceptación, pero también es un sitio donde los hombres y las comunidades gays están reguladas de forma de mantener ciertos modos de conducta. En particular, este artículo encuentra que Ottawa, tanto como centro histórico de actividad antigay y un centro más reciente de una agenda de búsqueda de derechos LGBT en Canadá, estimula prácticas que están basadas en la discreción, la normalización del género y el mantenimiento del status quo. El artículo propone que estas prácticas – con algunas excepciones notables – han llevado a una comunidad gay fragmentada, caracterizada por la estratificación económica y profesional, el consumo fuera de la ciudad de la cultura gay, y una falta de puntos focales sociales, políticos y geográficos reconocibles para los hombres gays. También postula que los mecanismos a través de los cuales la gubernamentalidad es impulsada son particularmente centrales a las experiencias de las minoridades sexuales en lugares como Ottawa, donde las instituciones gubernamentales son especialmente densas o espesas.

Keywords:

• sexuality
• governmentality
• migration
• gay
• Canada

Keywords:

• sexualidad
• gubernamentalidad
• migración
• gay
• Canadá

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Stephen Legg, Larry Knopp, Nickolas Tzoulas, Oren Howlett, and my three anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this work, which began as a presentation in the Glen Elder Memorial Session at the 2010 Association of American Geographers Meeting in Washington, D.C. Thanks also to the 24 men who participated in the Ottawa portion of this research project, made possible by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Notes

1. Respondents had moved to Ottawa between 6 months and 22 years prior to the interview and had come from (in order of frequency): the Atlantic Provinces (Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), Ontario (outside Ottawa), Europe, Quebec, the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta), British Columbia, and Africa. This particular paper focuses on experiences of the respondents after moving to Ottawa, with less attention to their migration journey or to comparing their experiences in Ottawa and their respective points of origin. Their particular subjectivities as men who have moved from elsewhere, however, helps to highlight significant and unusual aspects of living as a gay man in Ottawa.

2. The recruitment process began with three individual gay men and two key informants from the service and advocacy sectors who were pre-selected through referrals of friends and e-mail contact. After these interviews were completed, respondents forwarded the official recruitment notice to potentially interested parties. This process was repeated until the final goal of 24 gay men (also fulfilling parameters for age, income, and ethno-racial diversity) and four key informants (from diverse sectors) was reached. Of the 24 men interviewed, 80% identified as White (including but not limited to Irish, English, Anglo-Saxon, French Canadian, and Belgian), while 20% identified as men of color, specifically Afro-Canadian, Black African, and Métis.

3. While the Charter does not specifically include sexual orientation in its list of grounds, it leaves an opening for sexual orientation to be added as another immutable personal characteristic (like visible minority status or sex), on the basis of which equal rights cannot be denied. This recasting of sexual orientation as an unchangeable attribute opposes the freedom of sexual identity advocated for by many queer liberationists (see Egan v. Canada 1995).

4. Neoliberal imperatives have been experienced differently in different jurisdictions, but gay and queer populations have frequently been at the losing end of such policies. Two examples demonstrate this point. In 1988, the Conservative Thatcher government in the UK used the Local Government Act to outlaw the ‘intentional promotion’ of homosexuality in the policies and programming of sub-national jurisdictions (G. Brown 2008, 1220). In Canada, Premier Harris' Progressive Conservative government in Ontario eliminated ‘direct advocacy’ programs that had granted provincial funding for LGBT groups (Smith 2005b, 82).

5. Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of the interviewees, except in the cases of key informants who were interviewed as authorities on particular matters of politics, advocacy, or service provision. In those instances, their identities are used with their permission.

6. Before the 1990s, government agencies routinely banned public servants from working for or speaking publicly in favor of or against political parties or candidates. This practice was deemed unconstitutional in the case of Osborne v. Canada (1991), but most respondents deemed it best to avoid political activities.