Did The L Word kill the lesbian bar? In the second part of our ’90s and ’00s series, Jack Gieseking is joined by Mairead Sullivan, Katherine Griffiths, and Trish Bendix to discuss this and many other complicated questions. Lesbian bars began declining in the 1990s, but the episode looks beyond the easy story of changing sexuality or television culture. Racism, gentrification, rising rents, restaurant groups, globalization, changing drinking habits, smoking bans, and the growing fragility of nightlife all transformed queer space.
Race and gender are central to this story. Trish discusses Chicago’s Black lesbian spaces and the emergence of Nobody’s Darling and Dorothy’s, while Katherine describes the role of Black music and Black women’s organizing in London nightlife—and the racism that could still determine who was allowed through the door. Camp Trans and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival become a major site of conflict and organizing, while more and more trans-centered parties and spaces emerge. The conversation asks what happens when identities and communities don't stay neatly inside the categories we inherited.
The question isn't simply where the lesbian bars went. It's what happened to the worlds around them, and what new worlds people built in their place. Because spaces don't just disappear...sometimes they evolve.
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Credits
Producer, Editor, Host, & Creative Director: Jack Gieseking
Co-Producer: Julie Enszer & Sinister Wisdom
Co-Producer & Co-Editor: Cade Waldo
Assistant Editor: Becca Moses & Sophie McClain
Social Media Manager: Audrey Wilkinson
Consulting Producer: Rachel Fagen
Music: Our theme song: "Like Honey" by Kit Orion https://www.kitorion.com/
CC-BY-NC-ND 2025. Write to us at ourdykehistories@gmail.com for permission to use any of our content.
