On Sunday, March 9, Wisconsin’s queer community suffered a great loss. This is It, the oldest gay bar in the state and Milwaukee’s unofficial drag hub, shut their doors without warning.
The closure came as a total blindside. The night before, loud music and multicolored lights filled the bar as tips for performers flew through the air. But the very next morning, bar owners took to social media to reveal they could no longer afford to keep the business afloat.
I woke up that morning to texts from friends all across the state mourning the loss of a space in which we felt welcomed and accepted, especially in a state where dedicated queer spaces are few and far between. But this is bigger than This is It: queer spaces in Wisconsin are in jeopardy. In a time where our sitting president used his first day in office to strip LGBTQ+ Americans of a wide variety of federal protections, fostering a strong sense of community in dedicated queer spaces is more important than ever. But if we want their doors to stay open, young queer people need to start showing up where it counts.
In other words, let’s head back to the gay bar.
To sum up about 60 years of LGBTQ+ history, the legacy of “gay bars” in America is pretty important. This is It opened back in 1968, at a time when marriage equality wouldn’t come to fruition for another 47 years and sodomy laws criminalizing same-sex intimate relationships were still on the books. At the time, gay bars were somewhat illegal in Wisconsin, forcing the community hub to operate as an underground establishment. Many queer bars, like This is It, became a place for fostering a sense of community in patrons who either hid their identities or faced discrimination outside of its doors. During the peak of the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s, queer bars used their community outreach to coordinate fundraising and relief efforts for impacted individuals.
Fast Forward to today, 10 years since the passing of marriage equality, gay and lesbian bars are still crucial for queer people to find and establish a sense of community. As a young queer person, I’ll never forget my first time at a gay bar. Growing up, I was from a more conservative part of the state, and I struggled a lot with coming to terms with my identity. At times, I felt alone, isolated and disconnected from my community. But when I found myself surrounded by people who shared some of my experiences for the first time, I finally felt like I didn’t have to exist as an “other.” I finally felt like I could exist, no questions asked.
Last week, that bar closed forever.
Despite being a cornerstone of the queer community for decades, queer bars have started to disappear from the map — from 2002 to 2023, the total number of gay bars in the U.S. decreased by 45%. So, how did we get here?
At the risk of sounding like your parents: it’s all that dang phone of yours. Well, sort of.
With the rise of the internet, digital spaces on social media or “dating apps have broken the bar’s monopoly on helping LGBTQ+ people meet one another.” For the most part, this makes sense. Before the internet, when national attitudes towards queer people were notably more hostile, finding and identifying other queer people without risking self-exposure could be much more difficult and even risky. This made brick-and-mortar queer bars one of the few safe spaces for queer people in the United States.
However, newer digital community spaces offer individuals more convenient access to the stories and experiences of queer people across the country. Digital spaces on social media also serve as a viable alternative for people who prefer not to spend time around alcohol. While these digital community spaces have their benefits, we can’t rely on them alone to preserve the legacy of American queer history and community development.
Queer bars may no longer be our only option to find and spend time with other queer people, but if we don’t show them more support, they won’t be an option at all.
At the end of the day, brick-and-mortar businesses rely on consistent patronage to keep their doors open.
This is It’s sudden closure may have come as a tragedy to queer Wisconsinites, but it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Like many other small businesses, This is It was struggling to overcome the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the post announcing its closure received over 20K likes on Instagram, likes will never hold as much power as financial support. The bottom line is: if you want to ensure queer safe spaces and bars are available for years to come, it’s time to go to the gay bar.
Phillip Jacobs is a senior studying psychology and communications. Do you agree it's important for members of the queer community to make a return to the queer bar scene? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com
