BACKDOOR — Vancouver

The next rite

GAY GRACE

Sun · August 2 · 2026 · Pride Sunday · Vancouver

Affirmative, inclusive, lustful, and private — leave the judgment and labels at the back door.

International DJs & Local Legends

Sam GeeNYC DropoNYC Daq Devon Scoutmaster WMNStudies Jason Fox

Hosted by

Quanah Style Mateo Tomas

2 rooms of sound 3 rooms of play Open till 7 a.m. Unlimited pride Anything goes Secret location 19+

Tickets

Early bird$25Sold out

Tier 1$35Sold out

Tier 2$45On sale now

At the door$60On the night

Get tickets Address sent with your ticket. Kept affordable — facing hardship? DM us.

Gay Grace means experiencing a shared sense of mutual understanding, given freely even when undeserved — exactly as we are, wherever we are, having been there too, as men who love men.

What's next

The 2026 Long Weekend Series

Six editions — one for every long weekend of 2026 — inside a brand-new multi-room underground bunker downtown. No labels, no overpriced pretension, just the best of gay underground culture from around the world. A season pass covers all six plus express entry. Gay Grace (above) is the Pride edition — here's the rest of the year.

Aug 2 · PrideGay GracePride Sunday — up next

Sep 6 · Labour DayLabour Day EditionLong weekend

Oct 11 · ThanksgivingThanksgiving EditionLong weekend

Dec 24Christmas Eve SpecialYear-end send-off

Tickets & season pass

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Get on the list

Tickets move before they're announced. The list hears first — pre-sales, secret rooms, addresses. Nothing between parties.

Opening the signup — finish on the next screen.

Since 2014

Where Backdoor comes from

Backdoor didn't come from a boardroom. It started in 2014, when Matt Troy founded Vancouver Art & Leisure (VAL) — a radical, artist-run gay society built inside warehouses the city kept trying to shut down. Sex-positive, political, and stubbornly independent, VAL turned unconventional spaces into stages for DJs, drag, fashion, and art.

It survived everything thrown at it: City crackdowns over its sex-positive events, wave after wave of renoviction, and an arson that gutted its Railtown home in early 2018 — and rebuilt every single time. Backdoor became its flagship: the party that funds the art. In 2019 it took over the Plaza of Nations for Pride weekend and became one of the largest single gay-nightlife events Western Canada had ever seen.

Today it carries the name Mateo Tomas — Troy's stage name, and an adult-film performer in his own right — but the politics haven't moved an inch: men who love men first, no corporate sponsors, no apologies, and a standing campaign to make "no-fun city" a thing of the past.

2014VAL founded by Matt Troy as a radical artist-run gay space.

2015City inspections target VAL's sex-positive events; the community pushes back.

2018Arson destroys the Railtown venue. VAL rebuilds again — "The Lab," 101 W 6th.

2019Backdoor takes the Plaza of Nations for Pride — Western Canada's biggest.

2026Gay Grace · Pride Sunday · the rite continues.

From the vault

Selected past events

A decade of warehouse takeovers, afterhours, and Pride blowouts. A few from the public record — the full archive lives on Facebook.

May 17, 2026Victoria Day EditionLong Weekend Series #2

Apr 2, 2026Easter LaunchLong Weekend Series #1

2019 · PridePlaza of NationsWestern Canada's biggest gay-nightlife event

RecurringAlternative PrideVAL's independent Pride festival

AnnualBackdoor: HalloweenThe Halloween warehouse rite

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