In 1972 Nova Scotia's first gay community organization was formed in Halifax and was called the Gay Alliance for Equality or GAE. GAE quickly set up a phone information and support line called GAE Line (soon changed to GayLine), and started publishing a newsletter. The GayLine was staffed by trained volunteers, and it continued on for almost 25 years providing information, counseling and referral services to local gay/lesbian/bisexual communities. The GAE newsletter changed names and formats many times over the years and was known for a long time as Gaezette and ultimately became what still survives today as Wayves. GAE also sent speakers to university classes and was the first gay group in Canada to present a lobbying brief on human rights for gays and lesbians to a legislative body (1973). Starting in 1976 GAE operated a private social club (i.e., the gay bar) originally called The Turret (located on the third floor of what is now known as the Khyber Building on Barrington Street), which moved to Granville Street in 1982 and became Rumours. The Turret / Rumours was owned and operated by the society for the gay community, and the revenues from the bar allowed the organization to generate money for community projects. In 1977 GAE organized public protests of the CBC for refusing to run public service announcements for the organization's meetings and for GayLine. The Halifax protest lead to protests targeting the CBC across the country creating the first nationally coordinated gay demonstration in Canada. In 1987 GAE bought the old Vogue / Cove Theatre on Gottingen Street (now home to Palooka's Boxing Club). The purchase of the buidling was part of a long term plan to establish a gay community centre. While those plans were never completely realized the new building did provide space for the society's offices, for the GayLine, well-used community meeting space in the theatre's former Projection Room, and working space for a full-time Program Coordinator who was hired early in 1990 (and who would play a role in the lobbying that lead to human rights protections for gays and lesbians in Nova Scotia that came into law in the fall of 1991). The new building also provided a very large home for the Rumours Club which, in addition to being the community watering hole and dance bar (and cash cow), was also used at times as a performance venue for drag shows, theatre performances (both amateur and professional), authour readings, and community concerts. In August 1973 GAE organized Nova Scotia's very first Pride event, a picnic near Peggy's Cove, as part of a national Gay Pride Week. While the organization continued to be very active politically and socially, Pride events would not be organized again in Nova Scotia until 1988 when 75 brave souls marched through the streets of Halifax (some with brown paper bags over their heads to hide their identity - remember they could still be fired the next day just for being gay). In 1988 the organization also changed it's name to the Gay And Lesbian Association of Nova Scotia (or GALA NS, often just referred to as GALA) and GALA continued to organize annual Pride events until it folded in 1995 after which Halifax Pride became a separate and independent project.
