Lesbian bar


A lesbian bar is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively or predominantly to lesbian women. While often conflated, the lesbian bar has a history distinct from that of the gay bar.

Significance

Lesbian bars predate current LGBT offerings such as queer community centers, health care centers, bookstores, and coffeeshops. While few lesbian-specific bars exist today, lesbian bars have long been sites of refuge, validation, community, and resistance for women whose sexual preferences are considered "deviant" or non-normative. They have been spaces for intergenerational community building, where women had the opportunity to come out without being "outed", which can result in the loss of jobs, family, and social status. They could, however, also be sites of intense isolation.

History

While women have historically been barred from public spaces promoting alcohol consumption, women's saloon presence rose in the 1920s. Prohibition's speakeasies allowed women to drink publicly more freely. San Francisco's Mona's 440 Club, opened in 1936, is widely cited as the first lesbian bar in the United States. In the 1950s, bars began to emerge for working-class lesbians, white and black. Very characteristic of these bars was binary heterosexist models of coupling and an enforcement of a butch/femme or stud/femme binary. Because of a lack of economic capital and segregation, house parties were popular among black lesbians. Lesbians who changed roles were looked down upon and sometimes referred to as "KiKi" or "AC/DC". There were not, however, alternatives available at this time. Out of this early organizing of lesbians came the Homophile movement and the Daughters of Bilitis.
Lesbian and gay identification and bar culture expanded exponentially with the migration and passing through of people in big cities during and after World War II.
In the 1960s, with the rise of the gay liberation movement and an increasing identification with the term and identity "lesbian", women's bars increased in popularity. The 1970s saw the rise of Lesbian Feminism, and bars became important community activist spaces.

Policing and backlash

Policing has been a constant for lesbian bars in the US. Some bar owners banded together to fight back against this, collecting funds to defend patrons who had been arrested in raids. Undercover and off-duty police officers have terrorized lesbian bars since their inception. Lesbians could be harassed and detained by the police for publicly gathering in a place where alcohol was being served, dancing with someone of the same gender, or failure to present identification.
Men were often the landlords of lesbian bars, in order to secure liquor licenses and navigate relationships with the police and the Mafia. Bar owners often bribed police to warn them just prior to raids, upon which they would turn on the lights in the bar and lesbians would separate.
As a form of protection, some bars covered their windows, did not have identifying signage, or could only be entered through a back door. Some bar owners tried membership-based models, which heightened security but was also exclusionary.

Decline

In addition to drinking, lesbian bar culture has also revolved around community building, dancing, and pool playing. This targeted but not lucrative patronage was not always profitable and caused many bars to shut their doors.
These pieces of history are being lost as the "neighborhood lesbian bar" is increasingly unable to make rent payments, and as gentrification contributes to declining patronage. Gay male bars persist as gay men have more economic capital, and the rise of internet dating culture is displacing the cultivation of intergenerational lesbian communities historically created in lesbian bars. Because lesbian women are more likely to be primary caretakers of children than gay men, lesbian neighborhoods take on a different shape than gay neighborhoods, and as a result, lesbian night life decreases.
Along with the increased mainstreaming of LGBTQ culture, use of the term "queer" for self-identification, instead of "lesbian", has grown among many younger members of the lesbian community; and with the rise in internet dating culture, lesbian-specific bars have become less common in modern times.
Some documentaries about the decline include:
Lesbian bars have become rare in Western culture nations. However, there are some gay-friendly bars today that host "lesbian nights" or "queer women" nights. Some current and past lesbian bars include:

Australia and New Zealand

;Sydney
Various nights occur regularly in Sydney catering to LGBTQ women.
;Barcelona
;London
;Atlanta, Georgia
My Sister's Room, founded in 1996, is the longest running lesbian-centric establishment in the Southeast.
;Dallas, Texas
Sue Ellen's is the second longest running lesbian bar in the nation. It was founded in 1989.
;Houston, Texas
Chances Bar operated as a predominantly lesbian bar for 16 years until closure in November 2010.
;New York City
There are five boroughs that comprise the City of New York: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.
;Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
;San Francisco and Bay Area
Notable establishments were Maud's Study and Peg's Place. The Lexington Club in the Mission area of San Francisco was the last remaining lesbian bar in the city.
Other bars included: 12 Adler Place, Amelia's, Anxious Asp, Artist's Club, Beaded Bag, Beige Room, Blanco's, Chi-Chi Club, Copper Lantern, Front, Miss Smith's Tea Room, Tin Angel, Tommy 299, Our Club, and Paper Doll.
;Seattle
The Wildrose was started in the early 1980s by a lesbian collective, and is the longest running lesbian bar on the West Coast.
;Washington, D.C.
Phase 1 was the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the United States until its closure in February 2016.