The coronavirus pandemic added fuel to a long-simmering problem that had been causing lesbian bars to close their doors across the country. Sheila Frayne, the owner of Ginger’s, which has been shuttered since March 2020 despite having an outdoor patio, told NBC News via text that she won’t reopen until “it’s safe to be around people without masks.” A bad trend getting worse Cubbyhole owner Lisa Menichino, who raised over $76,000, announced plans to reopen a winterized outdoor space later this spring. Henrietta Hudson owner Lisa Cannistraci raised over $42,000 and told queer news site Them that she plans to relaunch the historic bar as a “café, lounge, bistro, coffee house, cocktail place” in the spring. Patrick's Day and what would have been the bar's 20th anniversary. In compliance with citywide guidelines for nonessential businesses, Ginger's Bar closed on March 15, two days before St. Bum Bum Bar, which had been the only lesbian bar in Queens, officially closed at the end of 2018. At least 11 New York City lesbian bars have closed since 2004. Today, only three of these bars remain: Henrietta Hudson and Cubbyhole in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood and Ginger’s, Brooklyn’s last lesbian bar. More than 200 lesbian bars have opened and closed in the metropolis over the past century, according to Gwen Shockey, creator of the Addresses Project, a digital tool that tracks the city’s lesbian venues. “There was a great expense to get reopened, so funds went to that,” said Cohen, who was forced to shutter her bar again in November, when Philadelphia ordered a second shutdown.Īt least nine lesbian bars around the country launched fundraisers to stay afloat during the crisis.Įven in New York City, the last remaining lesbian bars are fighting to stay alive. She also received a small amount of assistance through the emergency relief program, but she said a large portion went to paying her staff, restocking alcohol that had gone bad and virus-proofing her bar with plexiglass and hand sanitizer wall units. Courtesy Elizabeth BoenningĬohen reopened her bar in September at limited capacity in compliance with government rules. “Business is still horrible.” Walker's Pint has been closed since March 17, 2020, on what would have been the city's popular St. “Things really haven't changed much,” said Boenning, who has had to cut the number of days and hours her bar is open. She said the bar reopened at the end of June in compliance with rules that limited capacity to around 50 percent. A number of the roughly 15 surviving lesbian bars have already reopened at limited capacity - like Walker’s Pint in Milwaukee, Wildrose in Seattle, Gossip Grill in San Diego, My Sister’s Room in Atlanta and Lipstick Lounge in Nashville, Tennessee - though it is unclear whether some that closed amid the pandemic will ever reopen.Įlizabeth “Bet-z” Boenning, who owns Walker’s Pint, Wisconsin’s only lesbian bar, said she received a small loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program in the spring, just enough to cover expenses while the bar was closed under government-mandated lockdown orders for nonessential businesses. In many cities, bars are the only spaces where LGBTQ people can come together, but for queer women, these spaces are now almost nonexistent, leaving an already isolated community even more alone. Now, that number has dropped by at least one, with many others barely surviving. Just two months into the coronavirus pandemic, in early May of last year, NBC News reported there were only 16 lesbian bars left across the U.S., compared to about 1,000 bars that cater to gay men and mixed-gender LGBTQ crowds. The pandemic has exacerbated an already troubling trend for lesbian bars. Philadelphia's last lesbian bar, the Toasted Walnut. “There just takes a level of energy that I need to focus on that versus trying to fight this,” said Cohen, who permanently shuttered the Toasted Walnut in January. When she was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in December, she realized it was the end of her bar. Business was strong at the Toasted Walnut, Cohen said, until the pandemic struck last March, forcing her to temporarily shut its doors in compliance with government orders.īut $11,000 in rent was still due each month, and Cohen struggled to keep up. Cohen opened the Toasted Walnut in 2016, three years after Sisters Nightclub, then the city’s only lesbian venue, closed down.