Avery Droumtsekas
01 Sapphics Raise The Bar
Advertising
2025
The Village is Toronto’s queer hub, home of our Pride celebrations, and a vibrant space dedicated to queer connection and community. There’s just one problem: it isn’t like that for everyone. Like the vast majority of queer spaces, it’s overwhelmingly tailored to cis-white-gay-men, with little to no consideration for the rest of the community.This legacy of disregard and exclusion in addition to the last lesbian bar in Toronto closing it's doors, sapphics (an umbrella term that encompasses lesbian, bisexual, queer women and trans folks) have been left with two options: stay home or settle for scraps. A majority of sapphics have opted for the former and chosen to create community in online spaces instead. This has led to a feedback loop where The Village doesn’t cater to sapphics, and sapphics don’t come to The Village because there isn’t space for them.Sapphics Raise the Bar, and its partners aim to dismantle this feedback loop and make The Village a more inclusive space for the whole community by creating and uplifting sapphic, trans and POC events and spaces on Church St and beyond.
“Bringing sapphics back to The Village one bar at a time!”