The LGBTQ+ community is rallying together to save a popular downtown safe haven from disappearing.
After their landlord increased rent, Rumours nightclub co-owners Gerald McCowan and José Chiu created a GoFundMe, asking for financial donations to secure a new lease to keep the LGBTQ+ space they built together alive.
For many, the fight to save Rumours is about more than a nightclub.
An ode to the past
Long before Chiu and McCowan opened their waterfront nightclub, Rumours was already a fixture of Halifax’s LGBTQ+ community.
In 1982, the original Rumours opened on Granville Street before moving to the old Vogue Theatre on Gottingen Street in 1987. Owned and operated by the Gay and Lesbian Association, it boasted the biggest dance floor in Eastern Canada, according to Dalhousie archives.
When it closed in 1995, people like McCowan were devastated to lose the space.
McCowan remembers going to Rumours in his 20s and describes the vibrant, colourful community he was a part of.
“You went in and they still had the movie screen there, and they played the videos from MTV back in the day. Michael Jackson’s Thriller, things like that, and it was just such an amazing space.”
However, there were darker memories, too.
Discrimination in the military: ‘It’s because you’re gay’
He says military police would often invade LGBTQ+ spaces, including Rumours, specifically looking to out military members because, at the time, being both gay and in the military “wasn’t allowed.”
While the ban had been lifted years earlier, McCowan says the culture hadn’t fully changed.
“When I joined the regular Air Forces in 2004, I obviously came out, but I was harassed. It was terrible, and I didn’t understand why.
“One day the sergeant just told me, ‘It’s because you’re gay.’”
A new life for Rumours Cabaret
The experience sent McCowan into a dark period, but it ultimately led to a settlement that helped him open his own business in 2024, creating a safe space for others in the LGBTQ+ community facing the same kinds of discrimination he experienced.
He says it was important to reestablish Rumours because “there was nothing for the gay community. There were no clubs here in the city.”
McCowan says that’s an issue many LGBTQ+ people are struggling with, not just in Nova Scotia, but across the Maritimes.
“We just lost Aris in Moncton because there was no community support.”
He says that’s why keeping Rumours open is about more than business.
“People come up to me and just tell me, like, ‘oh my god, before Rumours, there was no place to go’ and ‘I never came out,’ this and that, especially for the trans community. It’s been such a welcoming space for them, and I’m very proud of that.”
‘I wouldn’t give it up for the world.’
McCowan says they’re hosting events for every aspect of the gay community, including Trans Tuesday, Sapphic Sunday, and a “men’s only” event on the first Friday of each month.
“We’re doing this to make sure everybody’s welcome.”
To renew their lease, McCowan says they need to raise about $9,000 more by Nov. 1.
“It’s just to get through the hump right now for the first and last month’s rent from the increase from the landlord, and any other unexpected costs that may come from this.”
He emphasizes they’re “not looking for a handout,” but need help getting over this hurdle.
“We’ve managed to do this ourselves the last two years, no issues, but all of a sudden the landlords moved the goalposts another 50 yards ahead of us.”
So far, McCowan and his partner have raised half of their $18,000 goal, and they hope the community that helped make Rumours a home can help keep its doors open.
