BroadlyVice.com host JD Samson travels across the US searching for the last lesbian bars in this fascinating and insightful investigation to try to discover why almost all of them are shutting up shop. Her journey starts in the queer mega-capital San Francisco where The Lexington the last of the eight women’s bars that the city once had, has finally closed. In Washington the nations capital, Phase 1 a lesbian bar is still open which is good going in year that saw eight gay bars close down in their city alone. The story is no better elsewhere in the other cities that she visits.
Besides the economic factors like crippling rent hikes and the gentrification of inner cities, Samson also discovers that the inevitable changes that are happening owe a lot to the fact that now that the LGBT community is much more accepted and integrated into society as a whole, the need for our own safe ‘spaces’ has rapidly diminished. Danielle Moodie-Mills a Pop Culture Sociologist compares the situation to that of segregation as she points out that had been bad for black people but good for black business, and the moment it was done away with, the situation immediately reversed.
She discusses other issues like the stereotype of lesbians moving in after the first date, the rise of the trans rights movement, and the seemingly unstoppable growth of Internet dating. Samson concludes that change is exciting but leaves question marks over what exactly that may entail for the future.
