Thank you to every brave and beautiful person who came out last night. You sent waves (big and small) through Cincinnati and I think the Lodge Bar will never quite be the same.
This blog is meant as a space where GQB-ers can make their experience of the bar and the event public. Let the bar know how they did, tell a story from the night, suggest next month's bar, make a complaint, send some love, anything.
Personally, I think the night was a huge success (although we definitely learned some valuable lessons on the organizational end). A couple of things you can expect for the next GQB night:
1. We'll communicate more with the bar ahead of time so we can continue to get deals and preemptively challenge ridiculous policies (that unquestioningly sexualize and objectify women's bodies) like, "only girls get to dance on stage". I know this takes an element of the "guerrilla" out of it, but I think the "guerrilla" is more about the other people in the bar and less about the bar management.
2. We'll set a meeting/congregating section of the bar next time. I heard there were some people who came after we had taken over the dance floor and turned around and left because when they first walked in they didn't see any GQB compatriots.
3. Find out about any possibilities of southern-rock-cover bands ahead of time.
4. The Lodge Bar was a challenging first mission. There aren't many other bars that have dead animals with Bengals helmets on the walls and guys walking around in bear suits!
Although men weren't allowed on stage because, "No one wants to see dicks on stage" and the Bar Staff on the microphone threatened to, "Throw out on the curb", any of the beautiful men that tried to express their bodies on stage, the manager was extremely apologetic and gave us lots of gift certificates (which brought you the deliciously enormous bowls of spiked kool-aid floating around the dance floor). Things also started to feel a little less safe as the night went on and the bar began to be dominated by drunk straight men who were bad at taking, "no" for an answer.
Even with all of that, I think the night was fantastic. There were so many beautiful moments of sexual celebration, interplay, and progress.
Share your experience and suggestions!
Get ready for next month!!!!
Queer-love solidarity,
CGQB
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Post your experiences/thoughts here!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you have any pictures or video, email them to cincinnatigqb@gmail.com and we'll post them here!
ReplyDeleteYeh, that whole ladies only on the stage policy is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I added you to my blogroll at http://stuffqueerpeopleneedtoknow.wordpress.com/
I had a wonderful time last night. However, my camera is missing. If anyone has found a red Nikon camera with like 800 something pictures on it I would really really really really appreciate getting it back. I actually just bought that one in like October because my camera before got stolen from the classroom where I teach. Anyways, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe idea behind this mission is great. I really think that are friends who are not 21 should be a part of the experience as well!
ReplyDeletefun fun fun! being sweaty and surrounded by queers is the best. thanks for organizing! my favorite/most ridiculous moment of the night was when i (genderqueer female) was told by one of the bouncers that i had to get off the stage because it was "girls only." the next element of ridiculousness happened when off the stage, i was approached by a man in the dance pit that told me he appreciated my protest and solidarity with the other men because i had danced on stage. whoa. bonkers for sure...but the conversation that followed was necessary and eye-opening for him. i hope. i saw a lot of dropped jaws and looks of confusion from the straight bar-goers, and i think that is great. interplay and progress for sure.
ReplyDeletei think the inaugural gqb will be tough to top, ep. one thing that needs to be stressed is the community effort that went into this - there wasn't much in the way of preparation for last night. what made it so amazing was the MASSIVE turnout. friends told friends, lovers told lovers, and lodge bar exploded.
ReplyDeletefavorite moment of the night was any time david got kicked off the stage. close second was any time will was on the stage.
for next month, i'd say that sully's would be a good target. if ever a hetero-normative bar there was, sully's is it. what do folks think about staying downtown? is it all good, or should we be branching out?
one thing that should be considered is finding bars where someone in the group knows a bartender or two. that worked out really favorably for us last night.
one question to which i'd like a really frank answer - did anyone feel that the presence of sympathetic straights in any way diluted things? i'm a straight dude, and i never felt uncomfortable last night - in fact, it was the best night i've had since moving to cincinnati. i just wanted to know folks' thoughts on guys like me being a part of gqb.
plug it in, change the world. let's keep the energy, y'all.
A lot of pictures form last night is posted here. I'm am trying to get them uploaded to the facebook page, but it is not being cooperative.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=677281155&ref=profile
You've been blogrolled, darling. And I'm posting now about the FABULOUS event last night. Much thanks to you.
ReplyDeletei didn't go last night, but i wanted to!
ReplyDeletei'm with sidd on this one...sully's is good. mt. adams pavilion would also be a good one to go to (especially when it gets warmer out, because the view of the city is FANTASTIC there).
also, sidd? i'm a straight chick, and i'd rather hang out with The Gays than The Straights just about any day of the week. (of course, it doesn't NOTHING for my love life, but oh well....)
Sidd asks how we queers felt about having supportive straight people with us on this historical night, and I have to say, Sidd, I consider any ally willing to dance like you did and wear the green shirt in support is definitely part of the fabulous queer family. I hope we get more queer straights to support this effort cause having you with us just shows those on the sidelines with their jaws dropped that they need to follow your lead and let go of their homophobic and sexist conditioning and throw down with us!! Let's keep recruiting!!
ReplyDeleteI had a great time a CGQB. In fact, I'm still recovering. It was a wonderful experience overall.
ReplyDeleteSome things to consider for the future:
1. Ethan brings up bar policies that sexualize women that stem from pervasive attitudes that sexualize women. I know I saw some men trying to get couples to go home with them. I also know that while I felt very free and liberated most of the time (perhaps due in part to the fish bowls of alcohol), as a woman, I was also sometimes concerned about my performance of sexuality and sexiness in this context.
This self-policing can come from the effect of seeing myself through the heteronormative male gaze, which is not the way I want to see myself (though sometimes I have no choice). I also want to have some control over how I am perceived and I want to intervene in some of the harmful discourses on women's sexuality in a space like a straight bar without shutting my sexuality down or deny my own body...So maybe we as a community should talk more about that? We had a powerful affect on the gender binary on Friday, especially because some of what I saw and felt was very sexual and freeing, but also very rooted in mutual respect
2. We should talk about the photos we take and how/where we post them.
I had a really amazing time. I say: the more queer/queer-friendly straight people who show up the better. I also agree that we should have some "greeters" or something at the door, or someone to maybe direct people to the other queers (and queer-friendly) folks around. That being said, I didn't really feel like we dispersed around the bar like we could have. I didn't do that either, and I know part is strength in numbers and physical closeness, and part is wanting to hang out with your friends, but maybe we should try to have a few groups instead of one big one. Though the taking over of the stage (even if they only let women up there for very long) was awesome.
ReplyDeleteMt. Adams Pavilion or Longworth's would be amazing. Other downtown bars would also be good. Getting the cover waived was HUGE, though I don't know how many places would do that for us. In any case, thanks for organizing, and I can't wait til next month.
Also...can we make t-shirts? Seriously, how awesome would green Guerrilla Queer Bar shirts be? I mean, not subtle, but we wouldn't have to wear them for events and perhaps it could be some kind of fundraiser to help offset cover prices and/or drink prices? Just a thought. I'm sure we have some amazing artists out there, and we've already got a sweet logo.
I love you all. Thanks for making the Lodge WAY more fun than I ever thought it could be. <3
shirt suggestion: cgqb, in the font they use for cbgb shirts. we could figure out a good acronym to put in place of the omfug, too.
ReplyDeleteam i the only one who gets giddy every time i've seen that there's a new comment posted?
Friday was lovely!
ReplyDeleteI love the t-shirt idea and I know many creative types are involved in this!
I look forward to a cowboy themed night at Cadillac Ranch.
Loved it. My brief reflection here.
ReplyDeleteFunfunfunfunfunfunfunfun ^.^
ReplyDelete