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Now the project’s co-founders would like to shine an even bigger spotlight on the bar owners and employees who keep these spaces open and evolving - people whom Rose calls the community’s “cultural architects.” “I’m just very appreciative for everyone who’s trying to salvage the last lesbian bars, and hopefully in the future we’ll have more of them.” The bars that they’re helping are staples in their city. “Even if we aren’t going to need the money, we can donate it back. Mabry said she may actually end up giving back whatever money Pearl Bar is awarded by The Lesbian Bar Project from this latest fundraiser because of how well business is going at the moment. A lot of the bars told us that they had many more patrons that came up to them, because they had never been, and they had never heard of it.” It helped pay for some of their rent, and it actually really helped with publicity for them. “The bar owners were extremely happy,” Street said. The thousands raised during the first fundraiser last year helped some of the remaining bars in a number of ways, Street said. Rose and Street began their documentary pointing out roughly 200 lesbian bars existed in the 1980s, but that number has now dropped to less than two dozen. The goal now is to bring in $200,000.Īustin Pride Parade set to happen in August after postponement last year Now the project has partnered with Jägermeister to release a short documentary this month to highlight some of these spaces and raise even more money to benefit the bars. Without space, we lose power, and we lose representation, so it’s really important for our culture that the bars stay alive.” “The lesbian bar is not just for hookups or dating - even though that’s a great use of it - it’s for intergenerational dialogue. They’re for all marginalized genders within the LGBTQIA community, so that includes all queer women, cis and trans, nonbinary people and trans men,” Rose said. “Lesbian bars, we always say - and it’s in our mission statement - are not just for lesbian-identified women. However, both she and Rose pointed out lesbian bars are inclusive of the rest of the LGBTQ community. What makes an establishment uniquely lesbian is that it caters to and prioritizes queer women, Street further explained. “A lot of things that we took for granted once they were removed from us during COVID, we realized we needed them even more than we thought we did, and so that’s how The Lesbian Bar Project came to life as well, because we wanted a call to action.” “When the pandemic started, we’re both filmmakers, and the film industry shut down,” Street said.
To raise awareness for these remaining businesses, they put together a public service announcement and started an online fundraiser, which brought in $117,000 in 28 days. The Lesbian Bar Projectĭuring the height of the pandemic last year, Erica Rose and Elina Street created The Lesbian Bar Project after their extensive research uncovered that only 21 lesbian bars are still open in the U.S. The number of queer establishments, however, has dwindled across the country, which one national effort revealed clearly.
Sellers Underground announced in December last year it would close its doors for good, stating “COVID-19 capacity restrictions have made it impossible for us to continue.” Two doors down, though, the Neon Grotto recently flipped on its brightly-colored lights and began welcoming in customers for drinks and dancing. In Austin alone, the popular LGBTQ scene on Fourth Street downtown lost one gay bar and gained another during the pandemic. For those reasons, people are eager to go out again and celebrate, and businesses catering to the LGBTQ community are ready to welcome them back after a particularly rough year. AUSTIN (KXAN) - The start of Pride Month comes just as encouraging COVID-19 trends mean fewer safety restrictions.