GCDC Classifieds

Saturday, February 28, 1987
The Concert Hall

In 1987, the GCDC began a series of events framed as “Classified” dances. These dances were based on classified advertising or personal ads in newspapers and periodicals, where individuals could advertise what kind of relationship they were seeking or offering, and others could respond to the ad.

"I think it was sort of like an anti-Valentine dance–it was like, we shouldn’t really do a Valentine’s Day dance, we should do a better way to meet. I think that became the Classifieds dance. Basically, people could put up ads like they would in Now Magazine. Some of the ads were really cute. We had mail slots that corresponded to the number of someone's ad. People would come in and say, ‘Can I get a card?’ We had these index cards, and they’d fill it in. It was friends, lovers, housekeeping, like they just had funny titles across the board and people would put up their ad and they’d be running back to the office every so often going, “Is there anything in box A-17?’ We’d say, ‘Nothing there yet,’ ‘Okay, I’ll be back,’ It was kind of fun. I think there were probably about 500 ads. We used to get about 2600 people to the dance, so 500 is pretty good. I think most people just enjoyed reading everybody’s ads. But I’m sure that people met through the classified ads, cause there were people who put their name and number down and you know, ‘Call me.’"

- Philip Share, GCDC Organiser

The classified dance had separate tables for men and women. The index cards that Philip Share referenced above were colour-coded: one colour for the ad and a different colour for the response. There were volunteers responsible for delivering cards to the ad’s corresponding envelope. At the end of the night, envelopes of replies could be collected by the person who posted the ad.

Each card was designated to a particular category. The topics for men were: Safe Sex, Relationship, Friendship, Exotic Erotica, Leather & Denim, and S&M. The topics for women were: Leather and Lace, Relationship, Friendship, Party Pals, Cheap Sex, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

Ken Popert wrote an Xtra! article, published on Valentine’s day 1987, about the upcoming Classified dance. GCDC president Rob Stout is quoted as saying he picked up the idea from a similar event held at The Saint, a gay club in New York City. The article outlines instructions for participating in the Classified dance, playfully telling readers, “Work out your ad in advance–who knows what you might be tempted to write after you’ve had a drink or two.”