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They are sacred spaces.The Best Denver Lesbian Bars & Nightclubs Local Singles LOVE
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“When things eased off a little bit, people craved being around others,” Williams says. Bouffard used it to pay her rent.īut while it continues to endanger the business’ future, the pandemic also reaffirmed Blush & Blu’s importance to Denver’s queer community. The nonprofit disburses those funds directly to tavern owners, who can use the money wherever they need it the most. “They had no other place to go,” Bouffard says.īlush & Blu has been able to keep its doors open thanks to financial support from the Lesbian Bar Project, which has raised $260,000 since its inception in 2020. Nearly 100 women show up to the gatherings each year. Not only did Blush & Blu struggle to stay open because of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, but it also had to cancel its holiday events because of capacity limits. “It’s as much a community space as anything else,” says Marilyn Williams, a professor at the University of Denver and Blush & Blu regular.Īll that was threatened when the pandemic arrived last year. Bouffard also hosts weddings, funerals, and fundraisers for those in need of gender-affirmation surgery, a reflection of how the queer community is becoming more inclusive of transgender people. Its special events, however, such as potlucks on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day frequented by those who are estranged from their families, keep it a distinctly queer space. During the day, it’s a coffeeshop welcoming sober people and remote workers-and customers of any orientation waiting in line at VooDoo Doughnut next door. Blush & Blu, which opened in 2012, persists thanks to a savvy balancing act.
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Three of Bouffard’s four businesses-such as Her Bar, a Colfax dive that hosted karaoke and poker nights-didn’t last, either. Denver Detour, a karaoke bar, went under around then, too. C’s, a country-western joint, shuttered in 2009 after more than a decade. The Elle changed its name to 716 to try to attract a wider clientele, but it closed in 1998. Historically spread along Colfax Avenue, Mile High City lesbian bars have followed the trend. Plus, “gentrification has wiped out a lot of spaces for marginalized people,” says Erica Rose, a filmmaker and co-founder of the national Lesbian Bar Project, which works to save lesbian-centric taverns. It’s also safer for gay people to patronize any run-of-the-mill saloon than it used to be. Those who once sought community in person now find it online. Today, however, Blush & Blu isn’t just her last venture standing it’s the last remaining lesbian bar in Colorado and one of just 21 left in the United States.īars that cater to lesbians face several hurdles. “It was awesome to have hundreds of women in the room.” Inspired, Bouffard worked to eventually open her own lesbian-focused establishments. The bar was way over capacity,” Bouffard says. “When Ellen DeGeneres came out, we had a watch party. But while mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms, Bouffard-whose parents kicked her out at 16 after she revealed she was gay-found family. In 1996, Jody Bouffard started working at a Denver lesbian nightclub called the Elle to save money for pharmacy school.