LGBTQ2 individuals call out Prince George nightclub for breaking public health orders

For the second straight weekend, a nightclub in Prince George has defied orders to shut down and opened its doors to dancers — to the dismay of some members of the community it purports to serve.

Lambda Cabaret identifies itself as a "safe space" for the LGBTQ2 — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and two-spirit — community in northern B.C., but lately has adopted the language of inclusion to include people who are unvaccinated, saying it does not "discriminate" against people who have not received COVID-19 vaccines.

A sign posted near the front door says it doesn't follow B.C.'s vaccine passport policy and doesn't mandate masks.

This defiance caught the attention of authorities on the weekend of Feb. 5, when video shared to the club's Facebook page showed the service of alcohol without meals and crowds of unmasked dancers, despite public health orders preventing both activities.

Following these actions, Northern Health issued a closure notice on Feb. 9, citing non-compliance with the provincial Food and Liquor Serving Premises order.

B.C.'s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch then suspended the club's liquor licence on Feb. 11, citing non-compliance with provincial health orders.

But on Feb. 13, the club posted multiple videos to its Facebook page, once again showing large crowds of people dancing and drinking while unmasked.

"Open with zero mandates 2 weekends in a row," one post declared while another stated, "The media is the virus."

Video posted to the page also show an RCMP officer and two people believed to be public health staff outside the club observing people go in and out but not taking any action.

RCMP confirmed that an officer accompanied two public health officers to the club on Feb. 12 at the request of Northern Health.

Northern Health says it continues to monitor the club as part of its enforcement process, while B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety said it is looking into the matter.

The club's owner has not responded to a request from CBC for comment.

Nightclubs actions diminish real discrimination, resident says

At Wednesday's COVID-19 briefing, Dr. Bonnie Henry called the club's defiance of health orders "a slap in the face" of health-care workers who have been on the front lines of the pandemic.

Jean Michel Baptiste, who identifies as two-spirit and non-binary, says Lambda Cabaret — known as an LGBTQ2-friendly nightclub in the northern B.C. city — no longer-feels like a safe place because the club has been defying public health orders on the grounds of being non-discriminatory.

Baptiste says Canada's queer community has faced real discrimination, and that resorting to anti-discrimination as a justification to defy public health orders erases the hard work of the LGBTQ2 community around getting protection under Canadian law.

They say the community has fought to include "sexual orientation" as a legitimate area for discrimination in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"When it comes to equating these two experiences of facing discrimination and human rights infringements along with not having your vaccines, not wearing masks — that's a false equivalency," they said.

Laura Binette , the chair of the Prince George Queer Café, also feels the actions taken by the nightclub diminish real discrimination the queer community has faced.

Binette said the actions of one place of business do not represent Prince George's queer community as a whole. Although the bar is known to be queer-friendly, Binette feels it has become more distant from the LGBTQ2 community. 

"When Lambda started, it was a really safe space where people could literally go there when the world had turned their back on them. And it's just not that anymore," Binette said.

Binette said she has spoken to a few people within the queer community who are worried the club may get shut down permanently because the owner won't follow public health orders.

"There's history there and it's our history. It's our queer history," she said.