Women’s Life

NEWS • HEALTH & LIFESTYLES FOR LGBTQ+ WOMEN

The Lesbian Bar Project Seeks To Save The Last 21 Lesbian Bars In The US Milwaukee’s own Walkers Pint is one of them

By William S. Gooden, President and Publisher, Milwaukee Pride Life Magazine

During the roaring gay 80’s there were more than 200 lesbian bars in the United States. Fast-forward to today, where there are an estimated 8.3 million women who identify as lesbian, but only about 21 lesbian bars remaining nationwide to accommodate them all. Lesbian bars, like gay bars, LGBTQ+ bookstores and even bath houses were our “safe spaces.” Now lesbian bars (as well as countless other like establishments) have closed over the last 10 to 15 years. Many of the original 200 bars have closed for various reasons over the years, and, due to the recent pandemic-related shutdowns, the remaining 21 bars are hanging on by a thread.

However, a new short-subject documentary hopes to chronicle the history of the lesbian bar and aims to help improve their future post COVID-19. The Lesbian Bar Project, a new documentary from Brooklyn-based filmmakers Elina Street and Erica Rose, was released this past June for Pride Month. The film, which is available free on YouTube, opens with a history of these spaces and doesn’t shy away from some of their darker pasts. It explores both the evolution and decline of these vulnerable spaces and aims to raise money to help those that remain.

“We wanted to really dive deeper in really discussing and showing the spaces more in depth and also show how these spaces are changing due to the pandemic, how they’re reopening and what they’re offering — hopefully, a safer and healthier future,” Street said.

Executive-produced by Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria (who also appears in the film) and sponsored by Jägermeister’s Save the Night campaign, The Lesbian Bar Project is the second phase of a fundraiser by the same name, which raised an initial $117,504 for the bars during last year’s pandemic-related shutdowns. Street and Rose hope to raise an additional $200,000 for these venues, some of which were unable to receive government assistance and had to raise their own funds to sustain.

The number of lesbian bars is dwindling for a number of reasons, including skyrocketing rents due to gentrification, the systemic difficulty women often face in acquiring financial support to open and maintain businesses and the reality that many women simply lack leisure dollars to spend on going out. These spaces are also languishing because more queer women are turning to dating apps and aren’t frequenting the bars like they used to.

One of the remaining bars that is mentioned in the documentary and the movement is Milwaukee’s own Walker’s Pint, 818 South 2nd St. Founded in July of 2001, Elizabeth A. “Bet-z” Boenning opened Walker’s Pint. Around that time there were numerous other Lesbian bars in the city, including Dish [1998-2000], Fannie’s [1982-2000], Kathy’s Nut Hut [1980-2014] and Mona’s/Out ‘n About [1998-2012].

For the past 20 years, Walker’s Pint has been a safe social space for the gay community, especially women. The staff even wear t-shirts with Walker’s Pint’s golden rule on the back: “Be nice or leave.”

“It’s open to everybody. I don’t want to exclude people. I know what it’s like to be excluded,” Boenning said in an interview with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Boenning, who has been with her wife for 14 years, said her family and friends are accepting, but that’s not always the case with strangers. “Being out at bars, and people calling you a ‘dyke,’ and you’re not included, and you’re made fun of an dismissed as less than, it’s not a good feeling,” Boenning said. “I’ve really lucked out that I’ve had a great support system. There’s a lot of people who don’t have anything, so we try to make them feel welcome here.”

The Pint, besides being a great place to have a drink and socialize has had ownership and staff begin their own fundraising campaign to help various local charities. The 501(c)(3) is called Forward Please.