{"id":463,"date":"2018-10-04T18:19:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T01:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999921390"},"modified":"2018-10-04T18:19:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T01:19:15","slug":"queer-mondays-is-the-all-inclusive-night-long-beachs-lgbtq-scene-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/queer-mondays-is-the-all-inclusive-night-long-beachs-lgbtq-scene-needs","title":{"rendered":"Queer Mondays is the all-inclusive night Long Beach&#8217;s LGBTQ scene needs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Queer Mondays LBC is the all-inclusive night Long Beach\u2019s LGBTQ scene needs\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hC3v0dnmOms?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Cara \u201cC\u201d Dolim sat speechless as a group of acquaintances discussed the validity of bisexuality.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Could someone be attracted equally to both men and women?&#8221; they wondered aloud on that evening nearly a decade ago. Dolim chose not to speak up at the time, but watched as the group didn\u2019t take long to agree that sexuality had to be one or the other: gay or straight. You either liked men or you liked women. There was no in between.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pansexual, so where do I fit in?\u201d says Dolim, a longtime Long Beach resident and gender non-binary visual artist. \u201cDo you know what I mean? I feel like we shouldn\u2019t segregate it in any kind of way. It\u2019s about intersectionality.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s part of the reason why Dolim, along with their partner Vince Gutierrez, founded Queer Mondays LBC, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/category\/Performance---Event-Venue\/Queer-Mondays-LBC-2506983219527034\/\">a monthly queer showcase at Que Sera<\/a>. The night of music and art is where they emphatically accept and include all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and gender-nonconforming people, every shade and gradient in the rainbow.<\/p>\n<p>Since February, Queer Mondays has brought together dozens of local queer-identified or allied musical acts as well as performance and visual artists from Los Angeles, Orange County and the Bay area.<\/p>\n<p>Monday\u2019s event on Oct. 8 will be a variety show of queer and allied artists curated by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/Thedirtypattishow\">Dirty Patti<\/a>, a Long Beach character and event curator. The night will feature performances by Trap Girl, Sunny War, The Sad Girls, Argument and Dirty Merlin (GRN+GLD), with performance art by Ellen Warkentine and Danielle Kaufman. Long Beach experimental film photographer Yourintimatenoise will showcase her artwork, along with a Red Roof Vinyl pop-up shop.<\/p>\n<p>Queer Mondays LBC is part of a larger movement that aims to provide a platform for non-heteronormative creatives, such as L.A.-based nights like Queerspace LA, Queer as Punk and Gay Guts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy experience is, we have Broadway and we have all those bars and a lot of space there,\u201d Dolim says. \u201cBut beyond go-go dancers, I haven\u2019t seen anyone else doing anything else [performance-wise]. I haven\u2019t really seen a platform except for when our friends have shows or something like that, but nothing regularly. And this is my experience, just being on Broadway. That\u2019s our area, and we need more space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel the same way,\u201d adds Gutierrez, a Bay area native and musician. \u201cI moved to Long Beach in 2014 and really haven\u2019t seen that side of the queer community as far as performance art and queer bands go.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"October Show FIN\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HPgDrrToJ2s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><b>Where are the queer spaces?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Que Sera is several blocks north of the Broadway \u201cgayborhood,\u201d but it has deep roots in Long Beach\u2019s queer history. Tucked in an unassuming block where Cherry Avenue meets Seventh Street, Que Sera first opened its doors as a lesbian bar in March 1975. It was a time when few lesbian establishments existed in the city, compared to the bevy of bars around town that served gay men.<\/p>\n<p>Adorned with couches and a fireplace, Que Sera back then functioned as a classy lounge for largely professional women to meet and mingle. The bar <a href=\"http:\/\/lostwomynsspace.blogspot.com\/2018\/06\/que-sera.html\">is also credited<\/a> for helping launch the career of singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge.<\/p>\n<p>Business from these professional women slowed over the decades and new ownership in the late \u201890s <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/1996-05-09\/entertainment\/ca-2341_1_que-sera-sera\">worked to drop the bar\u2019s \u201clesbian\u201d reputation<\/a>. Today, Que Sera is one of Long Beach\u2019s most popular dive-bar venues, with events dedicated to everything from hip hop to jazz to industrial music.<\/p>\n<p>The late Ellen Ward\u2014one of the original founders and longtime owner of Que Sera\u2014recalled <a href=\"https:\/\/hslb.org\/visit\/exhibits\/lgbt-history-project\/\">during an interview for the LGBTQ History Project<\/a> with the Historical Society of Long Beach in 2012 that the bar was frequently visited by Vice officers who tried to intimidate the female patrons.<\/p>\n<p>During the \u201870s and \u201880s, the Long Beach Police Department was notorious for entrapping members of the LGBTQ community, particularly gay men in bars and at \u201ccruise spots\u201d where they frequently linked up to have sex. The Long Beach Museum of Art and the bluffs between Gaviota and Redondo avenues were among those places.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBack then, the only place to meet people was cruising areas or the bars,\u201d says Mikey Davis, who moved to Long Beach in the late \u201880s and has worked as a bartender at the now-defunct gay country western bar Floyd\u2019s as well as Ripples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no mixing of social groups. There were no apps. Bars were always called \u2018the church\u2019 because that\u2019s where you\u2019d go and that\u2019s how you\u2019d connect, the same way you\u2019d go to a Catholic church to go and connect with your kind.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_999921393\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-999921393\" style=\"width: 4343px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-999921393 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/courtesyofhistoricalsocietyoflongbeach3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4343\" height=\"3328\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-999921393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy Long Beach Historical Society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Perhaps because of this reason\u2014that bars primarily functioned as a place to meet potential partners of a sexual or romantic nature\u2014the majority of gay establishments in Long Beach were tightly segregated up until the late \u201890s. Most of them, such as The Mineshaft, which still stands, strictly served gay men, while few in between catered to drag queens or lesbians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the gay bars in the \u201880s and \u201890s discriminated against women,\u201d Davis says. \u201cThey did not let lesbians in. There were also other bars that did not let drag queens in for a long time. There was a lesbian bar on Broadway called Le Chat where men were not allowed. There were stories of men getting beat up for being in that bar or trying to get in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This type of outright discrimination no longer visibly exists in Long Beach nightlife, and most gay bars are now \u201cmixed\u201d spaces where anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can enter and enjoy a drink.<\/p>\n<p>However, LGBTQ spaces, not just in Long Beach, continue to be dominated by gay men, says Porter Gilberg, executive director of The LGBTQ Center Long Beach.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistorically in Long Beach and throughout the U.S., female spaces have had challenges just existing,\u201d Gilberg says. \u201cThere is, I believe, a tension in most bars that continue to be male spaces, which can create issues of representation or a safer space for women and trans people.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><b>A Progressive History<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Historically, Long Beach has long been progressive and open-minded toward its queer residents. It was one of the first cities in the country to fight workplace and housing discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. In 2006, seven years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, the Long Beach City Council adopted a resolution endorsing same-sex marriage. Last year, the city\u2019s openly gay mayor got engaged to his longtime boyfriend in a proposal that was shared on their official social media accounts.<\/p>\n<p>There are several theories as to how Long Beach originally became a hub for the LGBTQ community. Back in the \u201860s, bars such as Oceana Club (now Ripples) and the Commodore received large flocks of gay people from the greater Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different kind of theories,\u201d Julie Bartolotto, executive director of the Historical Society of Long Beach and co-chair of HSLB&#8217;s LGBTQ History Project, said. \u201cOne is about gentrification and Long Beach being out by the sea, and then white flight happening at a time when there were gay and lesbian folks who could buy real estate in the area. Having the navy here is definitely one of the theories.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_999921396\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-999921396\" style=\"width: 4097px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-999921396 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/imperialcourt-courtesyofHSLB.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4097\" height=\"3266\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-999921396\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Courtesy of Historical Society Long Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Although Long Beach is widely considered gay-friendly, Dolim of Queer Mondays says it\u2019s still important to have more designated spaces for LGBTQ people to congregate. Tolerating queer individuals and couples is not equivalent to welcoming and accepting them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just think that when people say, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re accepted everywhere,\u2019 it\u2019s like yeah, but I\u2019m still living in a world that\u2019s made for straight people,\u201d Dolim says, \u201cnot in a world that\u2019s made for queers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dolim and Gutierrez say they plan to continue providing a safe, all-inclusive platform for queer artists and allies \u2014 every second Monday of the month at Que Sera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ultimate goal is that everyone live in peace and harmony and everyone would accept each other for who they are,\u201d Gutierrez says. \u201cThe term \u2018queer\u2019 in my mind is all inclusive in general. I feel like that\u2019s the first step to an all-inclusive society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>For more information on Queer Mondays LBC, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/queermondayslbc\">@queermondayslbc<\/a> on Instagram or their <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Queer-Mondays-LBC-2506983219527034\/\"><i>Facebook page<\/i><\/a><i>. For more information on the Historical Society of Long Beach\u2019s LGBTQ Project from 2012, visit <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hslb.org\"><i>www.hslb.org<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-999921398 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/showflier.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"810\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Que Sera is several blocks north of the Broadway \u201cgayborhood,\u201d but it has deep roots in Long Beach\u2019s queer history. Tucked in an unassuming block where Cherry Avenue meets Seventh Street, Que Sera first opened its doors as a lesbian bar in March 1975.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":65987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,280],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-instagram","tag-queer-culture","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=463"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}