Denise Cassidy “Babyface”
Denise Cassidy is known by the nickname Baby Face , which she acquired due to her brief wrestling career before opening the first lesbian-only nightclubs in Montreal.
Known as Babyface, Denice Cassidy was a pro wrestler who went on manage some of Montreal’s first lesbian bars: La Source, La Guillotine, Baby Face Disco, Chez Baby Face and Face de bébé between 1968 and 1983.
Cassidy’s bars became well-known throughout Canada, the United States and Europe, but her journey had its challenges. “It was difficult to be accepted by girls from [Montreal’s mostly English] West End,” Cassidy once said. “I came from the East End, I was more or less butch, and I wore gold lamé. Girls in the West End didn’t have the same mentality; they were more snobbish — it wasn’t a butch and a femme, it was two femmes.
But once my name was established everything was okay. I also ran my club differently. Unlike other clubs, the girls couldn’t do whatever they wanted. The law was the law. I was strict, but I was always respected.”
Cassidy’s bars protected lesbians from harassment. She also avoided underworld intrigue — the Montreal mafia demanded protection money from establishments throughout the city in those days — and prevented police raids by maintaining a “clean” establishment.
“I’ve done everything in the business,” Cassidy told Montreal’s Hour newspaper in 1996. “I started as a busgirl in the Ponts de Paris on St-Andre, and then as a waitress at the mixed gay bar La Cave. I ended up as a boss with my own license.”
Cassidy, it is believed, eventually relocated in Florida and has been elusive ever since, to say the least.