The possibility of a formalized event space could attract thumping music festivals to the vicinity of the beloved and ecologically fragile sanctuary from the city.
It is not the first time that Hanlan’s Point Beach — believed by some to be the oldest continuously used queer space in Canada and the first nude beach in North America — has faced a proposal that has alarmed Toronto Island residents and beachgoers alike.
“This is a piece of public land in our park system. The city has a unique and amazing opportunity to honour this place and protect the people who use it,” said Travis Myers, one of the organizers ofMyers worries that an event space will destroy the character of the beach — bringing in crowds the protected birds and the sand dunes can’t handle — and could expose the LGBTQ community who uses the space to bigotry or even homophobic violence from eventgoers.
The city’s overview of the plans for Hanlan’s Point so far includes upgrades to bathrooms, an accessible path to the beach, new boardwalks and ways to highlight the Indigenous and queer history of the location including flags. It also includes a plan to expand the nude beach, acknowledging a significant portion of it has eroded away in the last few years.
“We did hear that event organizers are limited in the kinds of events they can host on the island, sort of those big events like Electric Island, because of the lack of infrastructure to support those events,” Fusca said. “That means they have to bring over things like generators, porta potties, even water sometimes. So if we provide that infrastructure, we heard, then a wider range of events could be hosted, including much smaller and free events.
In the meeting, Javier Dávila from No Pride in Policing, opposed the idea. He said event spaces would bring in not just crowds but an increased security and police presence, which in turn could place Black, Indigenous and racialized people at risk, and also risk for those using the clothing-optional sections of the beach.
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