What happened to Austin’s lesbian bars?

From KUT News:

Austin is the third queerest city in the country, by some estimates. So why doesn’t it have any lesbian bars?

Theo Snow wanted to know the answer to this question, so they reached out to KUT’s ATXplained project.

“I’m curious why there aren’t any dyke bars — lesbian bars,” they said. “Because I know they have existed but they haven’t persisted.”

Only San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, have more gay people per capita than Austin, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA.

Like those cities, Austin has a super long, colorful queer history — and lesbian bars were a big part of it. While at the Austin History Center, KUT found what we think to be the city’s first lesbian bar.

The Hollywood opened in the mid-1970s on West Fourth Street and billed itself as “Austin’s only women’s bar.” Old gay magazines described it as a “disco,” but with “all the atmosphere and trimmings of a rustic, down home bar.”

The heyday for Austin’s lesbian bars happened in the 1980s and ’90s, though.

Some bars and clubs were specifically marketed for lesbians and gay men, including ‘Bout Time on the I-35 frontage road near Rundberg Lane and Area 52 on Colorado Street.

Chances on Red River Street was also a favorite. Lots of bands played on the bar’s outdoor stage.

There were even country western lesbian bars, including Nexus and Rusty’s. Laura Votaw, who died in 2016, co-owned Rusty’s.

“Laura lived for connections,” Laura’s wife, Ginger Coplen, said. “She was I guess what you call a networker, a connector. There were business deals made in that bar. There were romances started.”

You have to remember that when many of these bars opened, queer love wasn’t as accepted. The U.S. Supreme Court didn’t strike down Texas’ law banning gay sex until 2003.

This made Austin’s queer bars, restaurants and bath houses even more precious. They were safe havens.

“The bars were our church when it was not safe to go to church,” Coplen said. “I miss that connection of the community.”

So, why did all of these places close?

Tina Cannon, who serves as president of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said there are lots of reasons.

The biggest, though, being that restaurants and bars are just tough ventures. They have the highest failure rates of any businesses, she said.

Then there’s this kind of important thing that Dallas and Houston have that Austin doesn’t: a big “gayborhood,” or a part of town with a whole bunch of businesses that cater to the LGBTQ+ community.

Austin does have Fourth Street, where Oilcan Harry’s and other gay bars have been around since the 1990s.

But a larger gayborhood could help lesbian bars and other queer-owned businesses stay open and profitable.

Cannon said maybe Austin’s never needed a big gayborhood because of its reputation for being a “weird” and “friendly” city.

“Austin has always been such a dynamic and open city that — I always jokingly say — you could be gay at Chili’s, and it doesn’t matter in Austin,” she said.

Erica Rose is a co-founder of the Lesbian Bar Project, which raises money to help keep lesbian bars open.

She said the financial roadblocks, including wage gaps, are bigger for queer folks.

“The economics are not on our side,” Rose said. “And it’s an upward battle to get the necessary investments.”

KUT isn’t able to explain why each and every lesbian bar in Austin closed, but money was a big reason behind some closures.

Chances closed in 1994 because of rising taxes and new liability risks. Rent hikes shuttered Rusty’s. When it closed in 2013, it billed itself as “the last lesbian bar in Austin.”

Just because Dallas and Houston have larger gayborhoods, does not mean keeping bars in business is easy. But Kathy Jack from Sue Ellen’s in Dallas said she’s figured out how to stay afloat.

Jack founded the bar in Dallas’ Oak Lawn neighborhood in 1989. Today, it’s one of only two lesbian bars left in Texas. The other one, Pearl Bar, is in Houston.

Jack said Sue Ellen’s parent company owns four other bars in the Dallas gayborhood. If one bar is struggling, it can get a leg up from one of the others.

“It’s a super easy way to do business,” she said.

So, what about here in Austin?

Austin may not have a lesbian bar, but there are a ton of other social options for queer women in the city.

There’s the Austin Dyke March and Carpet Church, organized by artist Beth Schindler. And inclusive queer country events like Neon Rainbows with live music and linedancing.

These pop-up events and performance spaces may be temporary. But they are meaningful safe places for folks to queer it up.

Austin also has Cheer Up Charlies, which is owned by lesbians but is a haven for queer people of all identities. At Cheer Ups, it’s not hard to catch a Sapphic dance party or all -lesbian drag show.

Just a few months ago, a new women’s sports bar, 1972, also opened on the Drag near UT Austin.

Debra Hallum, who opened the bar with her partner, said the goal was to create a place to support female athletes and watch women’s sports.

“But we also know in our hearts that organically, it is going to be for a very high population of women and lesbians and our LGBTQ+ community, where they feel safe,” she said.

Also, just because there aren’t any lesbian bars in Austin right now doesn’t mean there never will be.

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