What Happened at Joe's Cafe?

In the 1980s, east Vancouver lesbians had one place they could call their own — Joe's Cafe on Commercial Drive. Owned by retired Portuguese Canadian bullfighter and pro-dictator Joe Antunes, the cafe was much more than a coffee shop (although the coffee was very, very good). Known as the “church-of-the-left-bank colony,” Joe's was a social anchor for local Italians and other post-World War Two immigrants, Indigenous people, artists, radicals, and members of the rapidly growing lesbian community attracted to the neighbourhood's low rents and funky bookstores.

Surprisingly, one day in 1990 Joe ejected two women for kissing each other, claiming it offended his more conservative immigrant customers. Seasoned lesbian activists quickly mobilized a protest the following day. Joe refused to apologize, so they protested again. And again. And again. And when that didn't work, they called for a boycott. When I moved to Vancouver in 2004, I was told in no uncertain terms: ‘do not go to Joe's cafe.’

It's a classic story: a marginalized community is attacked, they mobilize and fight back, and in so doing, they grow even stronger.

But that's not the only story here…

The boycott drove a wedge into the community, creating a wound that has yet to heal. It resulted in the loss of the only daytime place lesbians had to hang out, and for what? Anger and resentment toward the organizers, and sadness for the loss of a richly diverse home, is the protest's legacy.

“What Happened at Joe's Cafe?” is a local story, but it poses a question that troubles marginalized communities everywhere: what happens when the decisions organizers make do more harm than good?