Back in 2021 after watchng an alarming documentary from Executive Producer Lea De Laria, Queerguru asked out loud if the new Lesbian Bar Project could save the few remaining Lesbian Bars in the US? The film asked if you thought 200 was a low number back in 2006, then how does 21 seem to you now.? (And even that is fiercely optimistic as other sources say that the COVID lockdown has already ended up killing even more off.).
However if you were to describe Queerguru to anyone I hope you would include that wherever possible we are always as optimistic about the LGBTQA+ community as facts will allow us. So our story is about a relatively new lesbian club night in the UK started some 9 years ago and that the Evening Standard quickly declared had become London’s ‘coolest lesbian club night’.
BUTCH PLEASE
was founded by Tabitha Benjamin – aka Tabs – 36-year-old musician who proudly identifies as a butch dyke. She runs a club night for other lesbians, trans and non-binary people, and has an EP called ‘Love like This’ which deals with themes of family rejection, the struggle to be herself and the violence she has faced. This multi-disciplinary artist has dedicated her life to creating and curating culture and community that reflects her experience of being a butch woman which is a huge part of her identity
Tabs uses different venues , but earlier this month Butch, Please took over the the Clapham Grand a very impressive 124-year-old performance venue in Clapham Junction, and it was filled wall to wall with dykes. Tabs has said that her Club Nights were born out of the need to be surrounded by other lesbians and people fighting the same pressures of gender conformity. It’s become incredibly popular since it started, taking on a life of its own for the people who go and the community around it. At the end of every night, she says to those around her, “Thank you for coming because you’ve made me feel a little less alone in the world”.
In the past Tabs has spoken to the UK’s Pink News about butch identity, misogyny and rising levels of street harassment – including almost being run over by homophobes.
“Butch, for me, is nothing to do with being masculine,” she explained. “It’s actually something about being really feminine, about identifying as a woman. Butch is also, for me, about how I am perceived as I walk through the world.”
Butch Please is the only night in London that specifically celebrates butch women. “We are crucial to the queer scene and we shouldn’t have to exist in the shadows of the scene as well as in the world at large,” she says.
You can keep tracks on all of BUTCH PLEASE's CLUB NIGHTS by joining their mailing list
https://www.butchplease.co.uk/PS Sad news : Lea De Laria’s THE CLUB in Provincetown has just closed
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