The O Files: Robyn Graves

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Before Grindr.

Before curated identities.

Before “community” lived in a group chat.

There was The Odyssey.

In this edition of The O-Files, Peter sits down with drag icon Robin Graves to revisit Davie Street in its heyday — when queer spaces weren’t optional, they were survival.

They talk about:

• The Odyssey as a “third place” — not just a bar, but a lifeline
• Cruising before apps and connection before algorithms
• The unspoken rule that drag queens didn’t date (and why that changed)
• The generational shift — why older gays feel the need to be around other gay men, and why younger people might not
• And why preserving queer micro-history matters more than we think

Because if we don’t tell the stories of the back rooms, the dance floors, and the queens who built it — they disappear.

And when our spaces vanish, something in us goes with them.

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