Montreal's queer history is older than most may expect. Writers like the city’s own Richard “Bugs” Burnett, author of Three Dollar Bill, have traced it back to moments like a soldier-drummer in 1648 who escaped a death sentence for "the worst of crimes" by agreeing to become New France's first executioner, and what historians consider North America's earliest documented gay establishment: Moise Tellier's shop on Craig Street, where in 1869 the apples and cake were mostly a cover story.
But nightlife proper—its inventory of music, drinks, and a room full of people who understand one another—is a twentieth-century story. In Montreal, it doubles as a map of the city itself detailing who got to dance, where they did it, and what it cost them.
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