The Dish: A Reminder To Support Your Local Lesbian Bar (Should You Still Have One)

Meet me at the WildRose?

Happy Hump Day! You are my Woman Crush Wednesday.

In some upsetting news, Karen Handel won in Georgia yesterday, so there’s another homophobe in office.

In better news, the New York Times spoke with LGBTQ New Yorkers about the importance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center and other issues related to queer lives. 27-year-old Maliika Graham shares: “I present as femme, so some people read me as straight. It’s hard to separate whether someone is discriminating against me for my race or my sexuality, especially when I’m with my girlfriend, because she is a dark-skinned black woman. When we’re together, people see two black women holding hands being affectionate. We get looks.” It better be looks like this:

Best headline ever: “If You’re Mad About the Black and Brown Stripes Added to the Rainbow Flag, You’re Probably White Nonsense.” Seriously, what actual reason does anyone have to not want to add inclusive colors onto a flag? TELL ME.

LGBTQs in the UK are also feeling a little pandered to with all of the big businesses and corporate companies jumping aboard the Pride train. Says out writer and activist Jack Monroe: “I was walking through Soho last week and I noticed Nando’s chicken had the colours of the Pride flag on it seemed like a mismatch. I’m sure they do great LGBT work but if they do we don’t know and hear about it. There’s something crass about multinational corporations co-opting years of hard-won gay rights to sell chicken. It’s like, hang on, you’ve got to do more than make your chicken a colour of a pride flag. What rights to LGBT colleagues have in your corporation, do you partner with any companies in your supply chain that treat LGBT people unfavourably. They’ve got to do more than stick a flag up in the window and say ‘hey, come and spend your money here’ We’ve got to hold organisations to account and there needs to be more scrutiny from the Pride Committee (the organisers of Pride In London) of who they’re inviting. You can’t just undo years of blatant discrimination against the LGBT community with a five grand cheque to join the march.” It’s an interesting epidemic, isn’t it? I often wonder if it’d be so popular were Hillary in office.

Beauty brands are getting into the inclusivity craze, but a lot of them actually benefit the community by donating a part of their proceeds to LGBTQ non-profits, and creating actual visibility for queer and trans people in their campaigns. (Kiehl’s even has a Tegan and Sara face cream that benefits their foundation for queer women, did you know?)

The Vernita Gray Fund benefits those who works with LGBTQ youth (particularly homeless youth), as was her focus while she was alive and blessing this earth with her presence. Donate now to help ensure others can continue this necessary work!

Are out athletes passe now? One writer posits that it’s not big news when a pro sports star comes out anymore. I would argue that it matters only if it’s a man in the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB. MISOGYNY REIGNS.

Gayborhoods are dying out in major cities, and it mostly has to do with gentrification. LGBTQs make an area creative and cool, and then get pushed and priced out, like other minorities and artists and anyone worth fucking being around in the first place.

Melissa Anderson writes about the death of the lesbian bar for the Village Voice’s Pride issue, and let me just remind you New Yorkers how lucky you are to still have lesbian bars, so GO TO THEM. In the Stranger, Seattle lesbians detail their first times at the WildRose, which is the city’s long-running dyke bar. It’s a great little piece of herstory, and yet another reminder to support our remaining spaces. PSA: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL DYKE BAR, SHOULD YOU STILL HAVE ONE.

Photo by Facebook

There are actual health benefits to coming out and living your best life, like living longer!

Being queer in the ’60s was dangerous, but every single person in this piece has made it easier for us to exist loud and proud now. Especially Barbara Gittings, who was part of the first real lesbian magazine, The Ladder. She literally made it possible for me to be typing this to you right now.

St. Vincent is going on tour again (finally)!

See you Thursday!


What Do You Think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *