Houston’s Only Lesbian Bar Opens New Women’s Sports Bar
Be gay and watch women’s sports.
The ball is in our court!
The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar, Pearl, opened the city’s first women’s sports bar on February 5, coinciding with National Women’s Day. Side Peace Sports Bar welcomed customers on opening night with seven TVs playing seven different women’s sports games, a welcome change from your typical sports bar. Local sports teams, including Houston Women’s Rugby and Houston Dash Soccer, showed up to take part in the bar’s opening festivities.
Founded in 2013 by Julie Mabry, Pearl is one of 34 remaining lesbian bars in the United States. In 2022, Mabry took back the space next door to the Pearl that primarily consisted of sports-goers, Sidebar, and turned it into a luxurious sister bar called Side Peace.
But when customers couldn’t stop asking Mabry to play sports, she felt inspired by the first-ever women’s sports bar, The Sports Bra, and decided to make one of her own.
“A lot of us obviously played sports in high school, middle school, elementary. And even if we didn’t, we have friends that wanna hang out that don’t wanna be in a club scene,” Mabry told the local newspaper, Chron.
Women’s sports is having its well-deserved movement. The WNBA 2024 season reached an average viewership of 1 million, and the NWSL 2024 season’s viewership grew to 967,900. A growing fanbase, along with spaces to watch these leagues, will only make women’s sports stronger.
Beyond the bar being a place for drinks and partying, it serves as a liberating space for women’s sports fans. And with a growing schedule of games that can also be requested at the bar, it’s empowering to know there is a space in Houston where people can gather to celebrate women’s sports, but also queer joy.
“My goal with both Pearl and the sports bar is to keep focus on being a safe space for our community and being more joyful and just knowing that we are really lucky to have not only a lesbian and queer bar in Houston but also a women’s sports bar,” Mabry said.
Don’t forget to follow Side Peace Sports Bar on Instagram, and let’s go women’s sports!
