Searching for the Last Lesbian Bars in America 

Should be lesbian cafes... I think modern women want ways to connect without the club-scene/bar-scene

I'm a lesbian and I've never been able to find any real community - I wish lesbian bars or lesbian spaces were more accessible.

I've literally never seen a lesbian bar in any form of media. Gay guy bars? Oh yah. All the time. But for lesbians? Absolutely nothing.

I lived in a big city and we had 5 gay bars...only one of the bars hosts a ladies night 2 times a month...one thing I noticed is even though we have ladies nights we always would get married heterosexual couples that would come in trying to get women to come home with them to sleep with their wives...a lot of "lesbians" are disgusted by this and have felt pushed out of many bars because a lot of straight people even come in just to gawk and laugh...

I WANT A LESBIAN BAR TF. Am I old enough to drink? No. Would I still appreciate a lot of lesbians in my neighbourhood having a good time? Hell yeah.

I live in san francisco and when I first moved here one of my questions were "where are the lesbian bars or lesbian anything?" Every store in the castro is for gay males, and every bar is for gay males.

Sucks to constantly get hit-on by men at present-day gay/straight bars when you are a gay girl.

Hi, I am currently a volunteer for Shanghai Pride, and we want to run a story about the only LESBIAN bar in Shanghai called Roxie, so I am writing to ask if we can also put this video in our social media page as in WECHAT to introduce this story to Chinese audience, of course we will claim the courtesy of Broadly.

Fun fact: The host, JD Samson, used to date the singer Sia.

One of my dreams, when I get a lot of money is to open up a beautiful lesbian bar. :)

Social media is also changing the way lesbians gather. In some respects it is good that we have meet up groups and events that do not always revolve around a bar, alcohol and drinking, but it would be nice to have a central place in every city where women could always go for community. The social struggles are drastically changing for lesbians, and as we become more accepted into society, i.e. marriage and children, we may just end up diluted into society.

Just for the record, Henrietta Hudson isn't the only lady bar in NYC. There's Cubbyhole in the West Village and Ginger's in Park Slope!

No no no, we DO need to be able to meet in spaces. That's absolutely something we lack and yearn for, for myself and others close to me! I have YEARS between partners since coming out and started dating women

more 👏lesbian👏 coffee 👏shops👏

Wow, I thought it was just me thinking I couldn't find lesbian bars anymore because I wasn't in "the loop"... It's kinda sad to see but integration is a door that can always lead to something bigger!!

They said there's only one lesbian bar in NYC but when I visited, I went to a little place called the Cubby Hole in Greenwich Village. There were men there too but largely lesbians. I don't know if it identifies as a lesbian bar anymore but it certainly has a lot of lesbian customers.

the internet killed the gay bar scene everywhere

Seems almost like the queer lgbt community is showing a face favourable mainly and almost exclusively to men....... Tea.

When she asked the stormtroopers where any lesbian bars would be, I lost my shit 😂😂😂 Loved this mini documentary. So interestingly sad and enlightening to how in actuality the gay community still needs so much support, regardless of 'being gay' becoming 'more normalised'... society's still blundering behind. Love Broadly so much.

This makes me so sad. I live in Berlin and I don't mind where I go out drinking, but when I'm in a gay/lesbian bar with all my friends (we're all gay/lesbians) we just feel super comfortable and feel we don't need to edit ourselves!

The human body has so much variation. Tall, short, light dark, hairy, not hairy...Over 40% of women have facial hair. Most don't embrace it. Wonderful to see a woman wearing her facial hair without shame.

I hope that lesbian bars are still around by the time I turn 21. The fact I've never been to/ had a safe space already sucks, but finding out that few of the possible places I can go to meet other lesbians are slowly disappearing really bums me out.

The journalist is absolutely adorable. Great style.

It's official...I'm starting a cafe called LGB-Tea that serves tea, coffee, and pastries 24/7 and is decorated entirely in pastel pride flags

This is all so true and applies to a lot of minority groups and subcultures. Often, clubs have been replaced by nights for LGBTQ, BDSM, punk, goth, and metal cultures. It's very sad, especially for the lack of history sharing.

I actually get really down about being bisexual, because I feel like I can never meet chicks. There is no central place for chicks to meet up, have a drink, and chill. To be straight up, that sucks!!! Men bore me! I feel so much more comfortable when I'm with girls and lets be real, the sex is so much better!

That makes my sad because I want the lesbians to have their own bars, they need to have a bar for just themselves like how us gay boys have our own.

i feel like there should be lgbt coffee shops, i mean it’s welcomed to everyone but it’s just a nicer plane for lgbt people to meet each other without screaming in eatch others faces

I just want spaces for WLW so we can meet and date each other outside of using annoying apps!

It's the same where I live, in Australia. There are two gay bars/ clubs in my city and only 1 lesbian club, but it only runs once a month. It's already hard enough as it is to meet gay girls, and the night life scene doesn't really help.

i think the actual pushing of acceptance of the gay community, where now alot of straights are comfortable around, has maybe now ruined the atmosphere of being gay and being around other gay people. Alot of straights like to go for their own entertainment.

It's a sad comment, but I think in this country it's more acceptable to be a gay man than a lesbian. We really need to open our hearts and minds to the fact that we are all different and let people be who they are.

How about just making a Lesbian coffee shop instead of a lesbian bar you can call it les-bean.

I've lived in DC about 40 yrs & it's true, I've noticed there are many, my more gay bars than lesbian bars. good documentary, tyfs

I wonder if the advent of the internet killed the lesbian bars. They were not just places to drink, but were also social network and community hubs. The internet made much of that obsolete, especially if you consider the lesbian dating apps.

i'm 100% on board with these white frames

TO ALL OF YOU CONFUSED BY THE MUSTACH, have never heard of Frida?

Philly’s last lesbian bar, Sisters, closed a little while back. I just saw an article recently and here is the first paragraph: “You may have seen some action happening around Sisters lately. The shuttered lesbian bar on Chancellor Street is being prepped to open as … are you ready for this? A straight bar.”

lmbo 12:18 lesbeesh? NOOOOOOO yeah right lol

The only lesbian bar in my city closed recently. I'm married and never went there to date... it's just impossible to find community now. I want to know other lesbians and have lesbian friends, but can't find any because there is no where to meet anymore.

This makes me so sad, I haven't been to a lesbian bar since 1984.

There is also My Sisters Room in Atlanta. It's a lesbian bar that has been in Atlanta for years. and it's honestly the only lesbian bar.

Very insightful. It’s the same here in the Philippines. I’ve ranted to a friend about this same problem. There’s only one bar I know that caters to lesbians and the event runs only once or twice a month. I’m a bisexual women leaning into women. I really wish there were more safe spaces were I can meet more women who love women.

I wanna get the money eventually and open up a lesbian coffee shop called "The cat's pajamas" just because

She is insanely hot. In like the prince more androgynous way.

Why are all of America’s lesbian bars shutting down? Broadly host JD Samson travels across the country to find out. *Subscribe here*: bit.ly/Subscribe-to-BROADLY

the bicyclist who was driving them on bourbon st.. his reaction to their conversation was PRICELESS

hearing lesbians giggle makes me feel alive

I literally JUST went to a lesbian bar in NYC and it wasnt Henrietta Hudsons...it had been there for a long time. If the girl in this documentary is from NY I find it hard to believe that she doesn't know there ARE other lesbians bars in NYC. Its definitely sad that we don't have as many places to go out especially when there are a million gay bars, but I was just disappointed that she didn't include the other bars that 100 percent do exist.

Should've come to Seattle! There's still a decent scene up here.

Love this documentary! I used to walk past Meow Mix ALL THE TIME as a young girl. I've always wanted to be able to go and experience it...never was able to. So sad it closed down.

As a lesbian myself, I am in the mid-30s range having grown up seeing the lesbian community of get-together spots die out... With all the social media people are just staying indoors more often and that is just totally and utterly sad. I personally am not old enough to be considered old yet and I am not young enough to want to just go to those one night a week events... I hope this generation learns the importance of real human contact between others. That they do not lose their humanitylooking into a phone or computer screen and swiping.

I want a lesbian only café!

Great job on this! Very sad to hear about the demise of so many lesbian bars. As a gay Ally and cis female, I was in many gay bars in Washington DC during the late 70s to the late 80s. Most of my friends were gay men, but I also visited a couple of lesbian bars back then with other friends. I'm pretty sure that I was at the Phase at some point. I had no idea that this shutting down of lesbian bars what's happening. Thank you for this discussion with both everyday people and experts.

I know these things have been commented on, in barious places, but I don't think I've seen so many of the angles and dimensions to this brought together in one video or one article, etc. This is such a vivid picture. Thank you for putting this together. It's sad that the community is losing spaces to meet, but I hope something will come up to take their places or fill in the gap left by these bars closing.

13:39 the dude by then around is so adorable 😂 he's smiling because of their conversation

Kind of loving the mustache

This reminds me of Vice before they sold out. Nice one Broadly

This is excellent reporting. Congratulations, and compliments to all involved on the great production values - and for the interesting, well-told story.

None of these explanations make sense. Are they saying ALL the lesbians paired up and moved to the suburbs? So what happened to all the hip young lesbians? Why aren't they filling those spaces? Have we stopped making them or something?🤔

Loved this. I learned a lot... some sad / some really inspirational / some herstory. Thank you.

There is a city in the NW...actually two...Portland and Seattle...if you want lesbian bars, go there.

There used to be multiple lesbian bars in Tulsa and they all shut down a few years ago. All at once. Even the gay bars closed now too.

Great to see conversations like this taking place in so many different cities, seeing lesbians from all walks of life come to chat about how things are changing in the moment and what that might mean for the future, can't wait to see what else keeps coming up!

Officially watched every single Broadly video. My favorite RU-vid channel now. Thank you Broadly for what you do.

It's probably because lesbians date more and when in relationship they don't go to the bar as much? We have a lesbian bar here and it literally went out of business until it re-opened with gay men in mind. Now it's busy af all the time.

More of this visiting some other locations would be awesome! Kept hoping to see Sue Ellen's in Dallas before reading the description and realizing it was only 4 cities.

right on! I spent my 20s in San Francisco. The Q club parties, Mango bar, the Café (and comfort zone in Oakland) were rocking! I miss those times. Thanks for this video. Very well done.

"not everyone identifies as a lesbian anymore and this is a beautiful thing" ??????????

I did not expect this to be so entertaining, informative and just as poignant. A fantastic docu

12:04 That dog is such a good boy. I saw him on my trip to New Orleans and it made my day.

Why the reupload? I was hoping this was another search in different towns.

Shame she didn't come to Houston. Very diverse and eclectic, yet effected just as well. xoxoxo

Every city I've ever lived in has lost ALL of their women-centric bars. Truly sad. Houston, Portland, Denver, Austin --all are GONE!

Back in the seventies in Cambridge and Boston, we had a women’s restaurant, a bookstore, a women’s center, two bars. We spent all day in the company of women.

I love her so much it's difficult to express in words rather than some combination of wild flailing semaphore and/or aggressively expressive mime

The last lesbian bar in the French Quarter was the re-opened Rubyfruit Jungle on Decatur behind the French Market. It closed in, I want to say, 2007? 2008? Maybe it was Laura's. They just never drew a crowd. They took over the space from the last goth club in NO, and the lesbians didn't show up, so they started having goth nights to bring SOMEONE in, and it eventually reverted to being goth again. Even that's gone, now. It's just another bar.

Maybe I'm a bit younger so I'm part of a different scene, but I usually go to Town in DC (only went to Phase once when I still had a fake ID) for their 18+ nights and while I'm p annoyed by the presence of bachelorette parties, there's usually a pretty fair sprinkling of lesbians (myself included), I'd say about four lesbians for every six gay men, which isn't the best ratio, but it's not that bad. Lesbian bars would be fantastic, I definitely would go to one if I could, but I feel like spaces that are entirely LGBT (so not just catered to gay men, lesbians, etc.) are perfectly great and a fantastic way to feel at one with the community. This was still sad to watch, Phase One has since closed down permanently.

Terrific video! Thanks so much for posting it

I LOVE the host's aesthetic so much

So I guess Vice didn't turn to complete shit, they just passed on all the class to you guys. The host is a cutie.

Wow! I loved Le Tigre growing up. I’m so happy she is the host :)

This is my favorite channel, honestly

Thats a rad stache, yo.

I feel like all “lgbt friendly” bars are just gay bars too... I only ever meet straight girls or gay men there

Oh, my God. This is the second video I watched on Broadly and cried. What is wrong with me????

This was fantastic. Thank you :)

my bday is a day before the host, JD Samson

I've watched a lot of really solid, good videos tonight. But this one is easily my favorite for a number of reasons. [I hope I don't step on any toes by talking about gay men's bars in the comments of a video about lesbian bars disappearing. But, some things in the video reminded me of my experiences and they seem related. I'm more than happy to take criticism and make changes in the future.] I'm male and bi and spent twenty+ years getting over my personal BS about my sexuality. In the town I live in, a small Arkansas college town, there used to be three gay bars at one time here; plus another bar that had an lgbtq night once a week. Once I felt like I really was over my problems with the BS of society, I started spending time going to the gay bars. I had bad timing. The bars here all were already on the way out. And it wasn't long after I started going that they all closed. Even the once a week dance night ended and that used to be HUGE. One of the bars that closed was fairly quickly bought by some other folks and turned into a gay bar. Yay! ...wait, it's a 'diversity bar.' I'm totally cool with that concept. But, I quickly started noticing that this place was really boring. I mean, like junior high dance boring. It literally felt like I was at a junior high dance sometimes. My memories of gay bars when I was in my twenties was of how unconventional the whole experience was. Besides being queer, I'm pretty much abnormal in every other way for my area. So, the gay bars were fantastic. Except, I was still dealing with my issues. Sigh.... The diversity bar drove me crazy for a bit. I would go and spend my whole night trying to figure out what had happened to the bars I used to love. And one night it just hit me; these gays and lesbians were NORMAL.... The gay community is, itself, becoming gentrified! At least in my southern small town area,, that seems to be what has happened. The community that I used to be able to identify with for reasons beyond sexuality, non-conformity, had started basically being like the other normal people in the area. I always didn't belong here. But now that that last beautiful bastion of weirdness has gone, I've never been so lonely. It's definitely time to go.

Wow. What an eye opener... now I know what I am going to do with my extra funds. Lesbian and Gay bars , saved me, so to speak back in the day. In Phoenix in the 80’s and 90’s there were 4 bars I can think of right now off the top of my head that I went to just about every weekend. I love to dance and love the night life ... I had no idea these venues were dying out. I do believe very much In community, dancing and DJ s ( I was one) and events. Some place to go and let your hair down, people watch, and strike up friendships in 3D Rather then the autonomy of a keyboard and 2D monitor.

omg i love this so much! this is such an important video!

I love JD and I learned a lot from this video💓

The host looks like El Debarge.

Georgia is farther behind than New Orleans. My ex didn't even want to hold hands, kiss, etc in public period. She was a manager at a very popular restaurant and didn't want the Southern culture looking down on her for being gay. And on the other hand, I am from Oregon and didn't give any shits how people viewed me. It caused problems in our relationship because our differences in conservative behavior.

I work in a nightclub here in San Francisco, where many LGBTQ+ folks work. When the Lexington closed a few years ago, it felt like the heart of San Francisco had truly finally stopped beating. RIP Lex

One of the best documentaries I have seen

I understand the uhaul theory but I wish we had a club scene like gay men did. Lesbian coffee shops sound nice too but I like clubbing and it sucks when you can only do it in straight spaces or gay male spaces (aka not for me lmao)

This was actually pretty interesting.

broadly why didnt you put the host's social media in the description. this person is a beacon of light and beauty and i need to be involved in their life

I LOVE your glasses!!! where did you get them???