Also.Also.Also: What It’s Like to Drive Cross-Country Trying to Visit Every Queer Bar

feature image photo by Maskot via Getty Images

I went bowling yesterday, and I bowled a turkey!!!! We played several games, and my highest score was 168, which I tried SO HARD TO BEAT but ended up matching in a later game. Next time, I’ll get that 169 (nice).


Queer as in F*ck You

Come Join the Party! Lessons from Visiting Every Gay and Lesbian Bar in the Country. I was delighted by this conversation in Lit Hub between two different queer writers who traveled all over the country to visit LGBTQ+ bars for their respective book projects. It includes Krista Burton, who wrote Moby Dyke, and Greggor Mattson, who wrote Who Needs Gay Bars?: Bar-Hopping Through America’s Endangered LGBTQ+ Places. Mattson traveled 10,000 miles for the book, visiting 300 queer bars in 39 states. Burton specifically visited every remaining lesbian bar in the U.S. The convo gets into not just the positive aspects of queer bars but the negative parts as well, Mattson particularly aware of the racism, misogyny, and transphobia that can exist in these spaces. While she says she liked every place she visited, Burton specified the following watering holes as some of her favorite dyke bars throughout her travels: The Back Door in Bloomington, IN; Herz in Mobile, AL (which has closed 😩); Sue Ellen’s in Dallas; Alibi’s in Oklahoma City. I myself recently visited a new lesbian bar in Largo, Florida — the only one in the state!

Chicago’s Labor Movement Is Looking Very Queer These Days. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Queer resistance and the labor movement go hand in hand!

Ts Madison and Angelica Ross Are Calling Out a Comedian’s Transphobic Rant.

Keke Palmer Reminds People That Yes, She’s Queer. WHO ARE PEOPLE? WHO FORGETS THIS?

This is unconventional as it’s a throwback piece, but I think in the wake of the tragic death of Sinead O’Connor that this 2021 NYT profile is a necessary read: Sinead O’Connor Remembers Things Differently. Also read The New Republic‘s piece from yesterday: The Iconic Moment Sinead O’Connor Was Banned From SNL for Calling Out the Pope.

Suddenly Everyone Wants Allan. I’m actually very interested in the Allanaissance. Related: An Ode to Allan, The Quietly Queer Heart of Barbie.

Get your daily dose of serotonin: Lesbian-Owned Doggy Daycare Cultivates Community.


Saw This, Thought of You

It’s still Disability Pride Month! Read these gems:

The Creators of Florida’s Black History Standards Get an F on Their Homework.

The show didn’t give me nightmares, but THIS WILL: “The Last of Us” Is Fictional, but Scary Fungi Are Real.

How Student Loan Debt Has Fueled the Pay Gap for Black Women.


Political Snacks

The Rich History and Underestimated Political Clout of the Black Working Class.


One More Thing

You know what time it is!!!!! Poem o’clock.

Also, this is simply way too goofy of a topic and headline to actually include in the regular sections of Also.Also.Also, but I do personally just have to give a shoutout to bisexual Vanderpump Rules star Ariana Madix for her surprise appearance on Love Island USA: ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Ariana Madix Enters ‘Love Island USA’ Villa To “Deliver The Drama” & Gets Slow-Mo Bombshell Treatment. I hope to one day get a slow-mo bombshell treatment.

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Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is the managing editor of Autostraddle and a lesbian writer of essays, short stories, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. She is the assistant managing editor of TriQuarterly, and her short stories appear or are forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, and more. Some of her pop culture writing can be found at The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Cut, and others. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

Kayla has written 914 articles for us.

3 Comments

  1. Why is autostraddle not talking about how the Olympics are mulling over specifically banning trans women(not trans men) from competing with other women. Multiple sports are thinking the same thing since a few have already done it this year. Trans women are already banned from competing in events in cycling, boxing and martial arts(ufc pretty much banns anyone who didn’t transition as a kid). Comeone AS go back to using your power for good. I am freakin tired of the bs fluff. Fuck the Vaderpumps, fuck Selling Sunset and fuck all these white bs reality shows even if they include lesbians just fuck it all. I want my damn rights a lesbian, a woman and someone who wants my friends to thrive in sports.

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