Hanlan's is recognized by the City of Toronto as one of the ten oldest surviving queer spaces in the world, Canada's oldest surviving queer space, and the site of Canada's first Gay Pride in 1971.[1]
History
A naturist walking into the water at Hanlan's Point Beach.
Hanlan's Point was a popular summer destination in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. It featured a popular amusement park from the 1880s until the late 1920s, the Hanlan's Hotel, built by Edward Hanlan in 1880,[2] and Hanlan's Point Stadium from 1897 until 1937. The hotel burned down in 1909 and was not replaced. The amusement park was unable to compete with the Sunnyside Amusement Park after it opened on the mainland in 1925, and closed in the late 1920s,[3] and the stadium lost its main tenant, the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team to Maple Leaf Stadium in 1926, and eventually closed in 1937.[4][5]
Hanlan's Point Beach has been an important gathering place for Toronto's gay community since at least the late 1930s.[6] Canada’s first Gay Pride celebration was held on the beach on August 1, 1971 to unite the community and encourage participation in the We Demand Rally held later that month in Ottawa. The Gay Day Picnic was organized by the Community Homophile Association of Toronto, the University of Toronto Homophile Association, and Toronto Gay Action.[7]
Hanlan's Point became a location for nude sunbathing. In 1999, Toronto City Council approved a one-year pilot project for a nude beach at Hanlan's Point following a proposal by naturist organization and Councillor Kyle Rae. In 2000, the council extended the project for another two years. Finally in 2002, the clothing-optional beach was made permanent.[8]
The Toronto City Council decision was met with strong opposition from conservative councillors such as Giorgio Mammoliti.[9] It was also an infrequent target of police crackdowns for nude sunbathing. Its official status has resulted in a distinct increase in ferry traffic, and it appears to be a profitable component of public- and private-sector advertising campaigns, since it draws visitors to Toronto.[10] Police and park officials now work in partnership with the beachgoers to maintain the friendly atmosphere. Some nudists prior to a 2023 expansion of the clothing optional area advocated to make the clothing optional side of Hanlan's Point Beach a nude beach due to what they see as an excessive number of clothed people on the clothing optional side of the beach.[11]
In 2023, a plan was revealed by Toronto City Council for the island that would have seen the erection of a concert and festival venue right next to Hanlan’s possibly eliminating the clothing optional beach. After a public opposition campaign against the plan dubbed "Friends of Hanlan's" the city dropped the idea and proceeded to work with Friends of Hanlan's to improve the beach. In 2023, the clothing optional section was expanded to the entire beach.[12] On June 15, 2023, City Council passed with unanimous support a motion co-sponsored by Councillor Ausma Malik and Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie titled “MM7.15: Critical Measures to Restore Ecology and Preserve the History of Hanlan’s Point Beach and Surrounding Area.” The motion called for major improvements to the beach such as a brand new cultural marker and signage that will inform visitors about the beach’s prominent place in LGBTQ history and a giant Pride flagpole that will be permanently installed at the south end, rewilding and replanting in huge sections of the beach’s lawn area to combat erosion, proper fencing and pathways to be constructed to keep human traffic under control and allow the diminished natural areas a chance to recover, replacing the massively eroded sand coverage along the 400-meter southern stretch of the beach where Canada’s first Pride gathering took place, and most notably making the entire Hanlan’s Point Beach, not just a section, designated clothing-optional.[13]
Background
Hanlan's Beach can be reached most directly by taking the Hanlan's Point ferry at the foot of Bay Street at Queens Quay. Aside from the cost of the ferry there is no admission fee.
It is the second officially recognized clothing-optional beach in Canada and the only one created by a municipal bylaw.[14] Canada's only other official clothing-optional beach is Wreck Beach in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The effective beach season starts in late May and ends in late September, while actual swimming off the beach is possible only well within this period. In recent years, the beach and islands as a whole have experienced flooding due to high water levels in the early summer.
As is common for most public nudist-friendly venues, males make up a large percentage of the users of the beach, but women can make up to one quarter of the total on popular weekends. Recent years continue to see an increase in the number of families who attend. The beach is a popular destination for the city's gay community.[15] The beach is also the regular site of day trips by several local nudist organizations.
↑ Basford, David; Deschenes, Stephane; Rappoport, Paul, eds. (May 30, 2000). The Canadian Guide to Naturism including Clubs, Resorts & Beaches (4ed.). Federation of Canadian Naturists. p.109. ISBN0-9682332-2-8.
Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms are broadly interchangeable, nudism emphasizes the practice of nudity, whilst naturism highlights an attitude favoring harmony with nature and respect for the environment, into which that practice is integrated. That said, naturists come from a range of philosophical and cultural backgrounds; there is no single naturist ideology.
The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Wreck Beach is a clothing-optional beach located in Pacific Spirit Regional Park, which is in turn part of the University Endowment Lands just west of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The clothing-optional section is clearly marked with signs and stretches approximately 6.7 kilometres or 4.2 miles from Acadia Beach, in the north, to the Booming Grounds Creek on the north arm of the Fraser River. The park is administered by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), though Indigenous claims are repeatedly asserted, especially by the Musqueam Nation.
Hippie Hollow Park is a park located on the shore of Lake Travis in northwest Austin. It is the only legally recognized clothing-optional public park in the State of Texas. Though the land is owned by the Lower Colorado River Authority, it is leased to Travis County, whose Parks Department has administered the park since 1985. Sometimes erroneously labeled as a beach, the park actually sits on a somewhat steep slope above Lake Travis with limestone steps that can be quite rugged in some spots. Depending on the water level of the lake, access to the water may require some rock climbing.
Hanlan's Point Stadium was a baseball stadium and lacrosse grounds in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was erected in 1897 at Hanlan's Point on the Toronto Islands for the minor league Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club. It was destroyed by fire twice, in 1903, and again in 1909. Adjacent to the Hanlan's Point Amusement Park, the site was in use for various sports until the late 1930s.
The American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) is a naturist organization based in the United States.
Social nudity is the practice of nudity in relatively public settings not restricted by gender. This occurs both in public spaces and on commercial property, such as at a naturist resort.
Gay naturism or LGBT naturism concerns a lifestyle of gay people in which nudity, especially in a communal context, is viewed as natural, positive and healthy. While naturist clubs and resorts in the United States date back to the 1930s, gay naturist organizations did not emerge until the early 1980s. Separate from official naturist clubs, gay individuals have long congregated in locally-known gay beaches in many countries, especially in Europe and North America.
Nude recreation consists of recreational activities which some people engage in while nude. Historically, the ancient Olympic Games were nude events. There remain some societies in Africa, Oceania, and South America that continue to engage in everyday public activities—including sports—without clothes, while in most of the world nude activities take place in either private spaces or separate clothing optional areas in public spaces. Occasional events, such as nude bike rides, may occur in public areas where nudity is not otherwise allowed.
A nude beach, sometimes called a clothing-optional or free beach, is a beach where users are at liberty to be nude. Nude beaches usually have mixed bathing. Such beaches are usually on public lands, and any member of the public is allowed to use the facilities without membership in any movement or subscription to any personal belief. The use of the beach facilities is normally anonymous. Unlike a naturist resort or facility, there is normally no membership or vetting requirement for the use of a nude beach. The use of nude beach facilities is usually casual, not requiring pre-booking. Nude beaches may be official, unofficial, or illegal.
In Canada, topfreedom has primarily been an attempt to combat the interpretation of indecency laws that considered a woman's breasts to be indecent, and therefore their exhibition in public an offence. In British Columbia, it is a historical issue dating back to the 1930s and the public protests against the materialistic lifestyle held by the radical religious sect of the Freedomites, whose pacifist beliefs led to their exodus from Russia to Canada at the end of the 19th century. The Svobodniki became famous for their public nudity: primarily for their nude marches in public and the acts of arson committed also in the nude.
Naturism in the United States is the practice of social nudity as a lifestyle that seeks an alternative to the majority view of American society that considers nakedness and sexuality to be taboo based upon the legacy of Puritan and Victorian attitudes. Enthusiasm for naturism began in the late 1920s with the establishment of members-only communities where naturists could gather to socialize and enjoy recreation without clothing in an environment that was no more sexual than that experienced while clothed. In later decades some groups began advocating for more general acceptance, and the opening up of public land to clothing-optional recreation.
A naturist resort or nudist resort is an establishment that provides accommodation and other amenities for guests in a context where they are invited to practise naturism – that is, a lifestyle of non-sexual social nudity. A smaller, more rustic, or more basic naturist resort may be called a naturist camp.
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