Gay Line
Encyclopedia
Gay Line is a Canadian LGBT
non-profit organization
. It was founded in 1976 by social workers and activists to provide advice and counseling to gay
and lesbian
people in Montreal
.
with information and advice to gay and lesbian people in Montreal. It was part of what was called the "Gay Social Services Project" of the Ville Marie Social Services Centre and was staffed by volunteers and professional social workers, who offered counseling services.
In the early 1980s, a French language version of the helpline was formed in Quebec
called Gai Écoute. In the late 1990s, Gay Line widened its scope to include bisexual
and transgender
people.
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
. It was founded in 1976 by social workers and activists to provide advice and counseling to gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
people in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
History
Gay Line was founded in 1976 by social workers and activists who wanted to provide a helplineHelpline
A helpline was originally a telephone service which offers help to those who call. Many helpline services now offer more than telephone support - offering access to information, advice or customer service via telephone, email, web or SMS....
with information and advice to gay and lesbian people in Montreal. It was part of what was called the "Gay Social Services Project" of the Ville Marie Social Services Centre and was staffed by volunteers and professional social workers, who offered counseling services.
In the early 1980s, a French language version of the helpline was formed in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
called Gai Écoute. In the late 1990s, Gay Line widened its scope to include bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people.