Looking Back Queerly, 1997: “at the present time in New York, it is illegal to have a lesbian-only bar”
Food for thought before as plan your weekends. It makes so much sense but is mindblowing all the same, especially since the reverse is true for gay and queer men who may wish to seek out their own spaces.
The city filed on the charge of sex discrimination, based on statutes passed in the 1960s and used successfully in the 1970s by heterosexual women seeking access to all-male clubs. As a result, at the present time in New York, it is illegal to have a lesbian-only bar. (Wolfe 1997, 320)
To my knowledge, the law has never been repealed in the City or State of New York.
CITED
Wolfe, M., 1997. Invisible Women in Invisible Places: The Production of Social Space in Lesbian Bars. In G. B. Ingram, A.-M. Bouthillette, & Y. Retter, eds. Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance. Seattle, WA: Bay Press, pp. 301-324.