Home sweet home

I remember first stumbling upon West Side Stories. The store wasn’t open, but when you peered inside you noticed shelves of videos on deep red walls. I had read about the store on a website called Gay West, which discusses Toronto’s Queer West Village. West Side Stories is Toronto’s first and only video rental store catering to women and the LGBT community. I remember thinking…I need to get in touch with the owner(s) of this shop because this is definitely a story in itself.

The process of getting in touch with what turned out to be two owners was not a difficult one. I called and emailed and was able to get in touch with Dawn Chomitsch. She was very enthusiastic about the store and what the opening means to gay and lesbian communities outside the Gay Village in Toronto.

I remember feeling terrible when I first sat down with Dawn and she told me about her experiences in London, Ont. I had no idea that there were so many homophobic people and students living in a university town. I am a little sheltered in the sense that I have grown up in Toronto and have always been surrounded by those in the LGBT community so when I hear stories about people spewing hate from their mouths I am disgusted beyond words.

When I told Chomitsch’s stories to others, their reactions were much like mine. When I interviewed Sylvia Fernandez of the Dundas West BIA she was so happy and excited about the gay and lesbian community finding home on Dundas that now she is going to make sure the neighbourhood stays welcoming. Discussion with other BIA members has revealed that everyone is proud that the community can be home to a very diverse amount of people.

Toronto has really changed and it was Kris Purdy of Bosley Real Estate who really opened up my eyes to that. There once was a point where homosexuals needed a place like Church and Wellesley to be free and open with their sexual preferences. Today there are still issues, but the LGBT community is expanding into neighbourhoods that suit them financially.

For Dawn, the Church and Wellesley area was too costly and too commercial. With Dundas West she was able to find a place that her video store would do well.

Dawn had to face some trials in her life, but she has finally found a place where her business and her lifestyle will not be ridiculed.