Why Are There So Few Lesbian Bars?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By the late 1980s, there were more than 200 lesbian bars in the U.S. Today, only a few dozen are still operating. In San Francisco, lesbians, queer women and nonbinary people are still mourning the Lexington Club — and some can remember a time when nearly every neighborhood in the city had a lesbian bar of its own. But can the decline of these places simply be chalked up to rising rents, dating apps and the LGBTQ+ community’s embrace of queer — rather than specifically lesbian — spaces? We’ll hear from three lesbian bar aficionados about what the Bay Area’s lesbian spaces, from the historic Wild Side West to the newest bar, Mother, mean to them. And we’ll hear how the history of lesbian bars and the challenges they’ve faced in trying to keep their doors open can inform their future. Guests: Alex U. Inn, Bay Area drag king; creator of the dance party Unleash! for women over 40; co-founder of the Pride Parade counterpoint known as the People’s March Carol Hill, executive director, San Francisco Beacon Initiative; “stewards” El Rio’s queer party Mango once a month Krista Burton, author, "MOBY DYKE: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America”; creator of the popular blog Effing Dykes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.3	You can fly back in time and visit SFO's Aviation Museum and Library to learn about the history of commercial aviation.
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0:17.0	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story.
0:24.8	From three-time Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank,
0:31.2	a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an
0:36.9	unspeakable crime, it propels them into an
0:39.7	unimaginable test of faith, humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting and gloriously hopeful
0:47.1	parade plays the Orpheum Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th. Tickets
0:53.6	on sale now at Broadwaysf.com.
0:57.0	From KQED.
1:00.0	From KQED.
1:01.0	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:15.1	In the late 1980s, there were more than 200 lesbian bars in the U.S.
1:19.3	San Francisco might have had 10 places for women to find community and love,
1:24.7	including by my own time, the legendary Lexington Club.
1:32.3	But by the early 2020s, that number had dwindled to just a few dozen nationally, despite an increasing number of people identifying as queer.
1:36.3	That led writer Krista Burton on an epic quest to track down the remaining lesbian bars in this country
1:41.3	to understand why they've been disappearing.
1:44.7	She joins us along with local experts on the queer bar and party scene.
1:48.5	What do these lesbian and broadly queer spaces mean to San Franciscans and the whole Bay Area?
1:53.5	That's all coming up next after this news.
	...

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