As Philly gathers in bars to watch the Super Bowl, another reminder for the LGBTQ community of the lack of lesbian bars

Leona Thomas made her way to the middle of the dance floor.

Eighties music pulsed through the air, the dance floor full of women moving with it. Large TV screens — or at least, what was considered a big TV screen in 1985 — wrapped around the room, so the fans there could watch the Super Bowl without having to sacrifice dancing.

Thomas was a teen coming out, and the former Gatsby’s in Cherry Hill was one of the first lesbian bars she visited in the process. It was a space that not only welcomed her but wrapped her authentic self with acceptance. A space that normalized being queer. And a space that felt safe — especially to watch the Super Bowl.

Fast-forward 40 years, and the lesbian bar scene has dropped from 200 nationally to fewer than 25 today, according to the Lesbian Bar Project. In Philadelphia, that number has been zero since Toasted Walnut, its last lesbian bar and a popular place to watch the Eagles in their last Super Bowl, closed in 2021. Which leaves the question: Now that the Eagles have made it to the Super Bowl again, where will the lesbian community be able to comfortably cheer on the Birds?

When Sue Gildea came out in the early ‘90s, lesbian bars were a safe haven for her. Whether she would pop into Hepburn or Sisters or Toasted Walnut, being in that space helped ease her anxiety.

“Coming out, if it’s on your own, is terrifying,” she said, adding that she had to calculate where to go to increase her comfort level. “It’s [about] knowing that this is a place where I can be my authentic self and meet other folks like me.”

There are myriad reasons why lesbian bars have dwindled over the years, many rooted in gender disparities and economic barriers that women and nonbinary people face.

And while gay bars have continued to thrive, they’re far from a sufficient replacement for lesbians.

“I think I personally tend to feel a little more invisible in a gay bar,” said Jen Brown, commissioner of the City of Brotherly Love Softball League, which is an LGBTQ league. “I identify as genderqueer and not as a woman, but when it’s a more men-focused space, it just wasn’t designed for me.”

And while some gay bars can still at least be safe spaces for the lesbian community, others in Philadelphia, such as Woody’s, are far from it.

“You can go to Woody’s, but Woody’s has become a de facto straight swingers bar,” said Rebecca Kenton, organizer of Sip City Mixer events for the queer community. “It’s straight guys and their bi-curious girlfriends, and they go there and take up space.”

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And there are times where the lack of safety is due to more than taking up space.

“I find that some of the gay bars lately, where it’s become trendy for bridal stuff to happen where they start to bring the guys down trying to chase them, and then they’re making comments about the queers or the f--s in a bar that is actually supposed to be our space,” Thomas said.

While lesbian bars have provided that safe space for the lesbian community in general, the function they serve is even more critical during sports events, when many spaces are male-dominated and emotions are running high.

“When I go to a bar or a restaurant to watch a sporting event, the energy just seems more intense,” said Brown. “For me, it can create a little bit of anxiety. That kind of emotion hits a little bit differently in a room that might be primarily heterosexual cisgender men than it is in a queer space.”

In other words, as Kenton puts it: “People want to have a great experience watching sports without it being macho. … We don’t want to have people smashing beer cans on their heads.”

While Toasted Walnut has closed, there will still be opportunities for the lesbian community to safely cheer on the Birds.

Kenton of Sip City Mixer will be hosting a free watch party for women, trans, and nonbinary people on the second floor of Tabu, where there will be a big-screen TV and drink specials.

“I think our community is going to come together that day.”

Thomas emphasized the importance of making connections, and suggested that people search for lesbian groups in Philadelphia through websites such as Meetup.

Otherwise, the Gayborhood may be the best bet for folks to enjoy the game.

“While not every bar in the Gayborhood is geared towards women or has been designed for women, they all are generally safe spaces to enjoy the game,” said Brown. “I think our community is going to come together that day, I don’t think anyone’s going to be unwelcome.”

Cassandra Byrne, who is a trans woman and uses she/they pronouns, said that she went out in the Gayborhood for the first time a few months ago and felt not just safe but protected by the community there.

“It felt like home,” they said. “It was a really, really wonderful environment and really safe.”