''Club Quarantine'' (Club Q) is a

virtual Virtual may refer to: * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel (or range of frequencies) on which the signal travels * Virtual function, a programming ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

club based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

that began hosting URL (online) parties in early 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Created by four friends, recording artist Ceréna Sierra, DJ Casey MQ, comedian Brad Allen, and digital creative Mingus New, Club Q began by hosting parties on

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for imag ...

in March 2020. In Ontario, full closures of all non-essential businesses were recommended by the province on March 16 2020. Club Q's first online event took place on that same Monday, March 16, 2020, with a modest 12 attendees. The Club Q Zoom event on March 17, 2020 featured a spontaneous live stick-and-poke session where a virtual club-goer got a tattoo reading "Club Q". Later online events often saw 1,000 attendees. By April 2020, Club Q had partnered with

PAPER Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre e ...

magazine (a collaboration called PAPER x Club Quarantine) to host a series of events. Club Q hosted their first IRL (real life - as opposed to URL) event for Halloween 2021 at a membership based

co-working Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...

space called Eastroom in Toronto where 700 people attended. The IRL halloween event was called "Literally Dead" and was also live streamed to a Zoom audience.

Performances and events

April 2020

On April 3 2020, Club Q celebrated the birthday of

Chester Lockhart Crystal Lockhart (born 1997) is an American musician and actor. Early life Lockhart was born on April 3 in Riverside County, California. Their mother is from South Korea, and their father is of Danish heritage. Lockhart grew up in a very Chr ...

who hosted the party on Zoom. Performers at the April 3 online event included

Dorian Electra Dorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg (born 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and performance artist. Their debut studio album, ''Flamboyant'', was released in 2019, followed by their second studio album, '' My Agenda,'' in 2020. Electra is kno ...

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery b ...

, Abhora, Santi Storm,

HANA Hana or HANA may refer to: Places Europe * Haná, an ethnic region in Moravia, Czech Republic * Traianoupoli, Greece, called Hana during the Ottoman period * Hana, Norway, a borough in the city of Sandnes, Norway West Asia * Hana, Iran, a city ...

Allie X Alexandra Ashley Hughes (born 31 July 1985), known by her stage name Allie X, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and visual artist. She began her career as an indie pop artist in Toronto in the mid-2000s, playing with local bands and writing and ...

Alice Glass Margaret Osborn (born 25 August 1988), known professionally as Alice Glass, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the co-founder and former frontwoman of the electronic band Crystal Castles. In 2014, she embarked on a solo career. She re ...

, and That Kid. Club Q on April 8 2020 featured performances by

Pabllo Vittar Phabullo Rodrigues da Silva (born 1 November 1993), known professionally as Pabllo Vittar (), is a Brazilian drag queen and singer. Life and career 1993–2016: Early life Born in São Luís, Phabullo is a dizygotic twin and has an older sist ...

; DJS Nídia, Mazurbate (Matthew Mazur), and DJ MINAS; and

Drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...

performers Rify Royalty and Louisiana Purchase. On April 15 2020, Club Q featured a live

DJ set A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as turntables, CD players, digital audio player ...

Rebecca Black Rebecca Renee Black (born June 21, 1997) is an American singer and YouTuber. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 single "Friday" went viral on YouTube and other social media sites. "Friday" was derided by many ...

(of

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth da ...

fame), who had recently

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as queer.

Javiera Mena Javiera Alejandra Mena Carrasco (born June 3, 1983) is a Chilean indie electropop musician living in Lavapiés, Madrid. She started her musical career in the Chilean indie music scene in 2001, and achieved wider success after the release of h ...

, Sateen, Himera, and Allysin Chaynes also performed at the 3-hour virtual event. On April 22, 2020, Mike Thornwell hosted the virtual party.

Victoria Monét Victoria Monét McCants (born May 1, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She became involved in performing arts at a young age, singing in the youth choir at her church, and performing in a city dance team. She soon took ...

was a guest DJ, in celebration of her newest

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

at the time, "Dive".

Gia Woods Gia Woods (born May 22, 1996) is a Los Angeles-based pop musician. Early life Woods grew up in a traditional Persian household in Los Angeles. Her father owned a popular Persian restaurant, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom who also handle ...

, Dana Dentata, MEATY, Nar, JayJay Kings and

Dinah Jane Dinah Jane Milika Ilaisaane Hansen (; born June 22, 1997) is an American singer and a member of girl group Fifth Harmony. In October 2017, she featured in RedOne's single " Boom Boom" with Daddy Yankee and French Montana. After the group's hiatu ...

performed at the April 22 event as well. The night also featured a surprise performance from

Nasty Cherry ''I'm with the Band: Nasty Cherry'' is a 2019 documentary streaming television series. The premise revolves around Charli XCX and her friend and the band's manager, Emmie Lichtenberg, and their progress putting the band Nasty Cherry together. ...

Brendan Jordan Brendan Jordan (born ) is a YouTuber and model. In October 2014, Jordan "went viral" after dancing moves from Lady Gaga's music video for the song "Applause" in the background of a live broadcast on NewsChannel 8. Biography On October 9, 201 ...

hosted Club Q on April 29, 2020, where

Big Freedia Freddie Ross Jr. (born January 28, 1978), better known by his stage name Big Freedia ( ), is an American rapper and performer known for his work in the New Orleans genre of hip hop called bounce music. Freedia has been credited with helping popu ...

Uffie Anna-Catherine Hartley (born December 9, 1987), known professionally as Uffie (), is an American-French singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and fashion designer formerly signed to French electronic music record label Ed Banger Records. Uffie's musi ...

, Aluna (of

AlunaGeorge AlunaGeorge are an English electronic music duo from London, consisting of singer-songwriter Aluna Francis and producer George Reid. Career 2009: Formation The duo first met in June 2009, when Reid remixed Francis' band My Toys Like Me's tra ...

), Messer (

Mitch Grassi Mitchell Coby Michael Grassi (born July 24, 1992) is an American singer, musician and songwriter from Arlington, Texas. Known for his high tenor voice, Grassi came to international attention as the founder and performer of two groups—the quint ...

), Casey MQ, Edge Slayer, and drag performers Junior Mint and Paris L'Hommie performed.

June 2020

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

performed at Club Q via Zoom in June 2020, dedicating her performance to

Marsha P. Johnson Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) also known as Malcolm Michaels Jr., was an American gay liberation''I've been involved in gay liberation ever since it first started in 1969'', 15:20 into the interview, Johnson is quoted as ...

Events by the same name

American DJ D-Nice, also created an online party by the same name in March 2020 that saw over 100,000 people attend virtually via

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

Live, including celebrities like

Kylie Jenner Kylie Kristen Jenner (born August 10, 1997) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She starred in the E! reality television series '' Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' from 2007 to 2021 and is the founder and owner of ...

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to t ...

, and

Missy Elliot Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...

. DJ D-Nice's Club Quarantine played largely hip-hop and rap music, while the Canadian Club Q plays a wide variety of music genres including

hyperpop Hyperpop is a loosely-defined music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early-to-mid 2010s. It is characterized by a maximalist or exaggerated take on popular music, and artists within the genre ...

References

{{LGBT in Canada 2020 establishments in Canada Internet culture LGBT organizations in Canada LGBT culture in Toronto Virtual communities COVID-19 pandemic in Canada Cultural responses to the COVID-19 pandemic