For one, digital spaces have opened up new ways of connecting. Part of the decline in the number of lesbian bars may be that they are no longer the only safe haven. That’s just the way things were,” Jack said. Touching in any way, you’re going to jail. If they were caught dancing, you’re going to jail. And they had this one cop that he would come in… and immediately the red light comes on because they would see him coming. When you walked in the door, there was a red light. “There was one club in Dallas it was called the Conference Room. She recalled to Gabrielli that lesbian bars used to have to take many precautions. Owner Kathy Jack had been a part of the queer nightlife scene in Dallas for a long time before opening Sue Ellen’s. The bar is in Oak Lawn – which Gabrielli said they heard referenced in other places on their road trip as an iconic gay area. We’re not used to having that kind of space at all.” It’s just it’s gigantic, which being from New York. I think it’s three floors, and from all of them there are these balconies where you can look down at the bottom floor and the main bar and the dance floor. “It’s by far the biggest bar that we went to on our entire trip. “So the big thing about Sue Ellen’s is that it’s huge,” Gabrielli said.
Sue Ellen’s in Dallas is named as a nod to the character in the TV series. Two episodes released in April will focus on the Texas bars. Over the past several months, “Cruising” has taken listeners from the producers’ home city of New York and across the country. “But I think that’s kind of a wonderful thing, and that hasn’t changed the sense of family that’s there and community that’s there,” Gabrielli said. Gabrielli says some of these bars were always inclusive of anyone who wanted to walk into the door. “Basically, what our criteria is for the podcast is they have a history of catering to lesbians and being run by lesbians,” Gabrielli said. So they went on a road trip and asked lots of questions in their podcast “Cruising.”Īmong those questions was – what is a lesbian bar these days anyway? The decline in the number of lesbian bars has not escaped media attention but podcast producer Sarah Gabrielli says she and her friends wanted to document the stories of these establishments and the role they still play in a new way. Sara deployed to Southwest Asia in 2014-2015 and is honored to have the opportunity to serve her country.Of the roughly 22 lesbian bars in the United States, two of them are in Texas: Sue Ellen’s in Dallas and Pearl Bar in Houston. She graduated as a 2 nd Loutentient in May 2013 and have been serving as an Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Officer in the 108th ADA Brigade out of Fort Bragg since graduating from my Basic Officer Leadership Course. Cadet command agreed not to pursue the scholarship debt as long as she served her 4 year commitment from the original scholarship.
She was appealing the decision of the Army that she also repay her $79,265 scholarship when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed in 2010.Īfter repeal, Sara was allowed to finish out her last year of ROTC. She wrote a letter to her commander two weeks before her commission stating that she was a lesbian and due to her values of honor and integrity she couldn’t lie or hide who she was. Was dis-enrolled from Army ROTC at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in January 2010, ending her dreams of following in her grandfather’s footsteps and becoming an Army doctor.