Welcome to February’s update on How to Open a Lesbian Bar. We’ll share a couple updates above the paywall, but the bulk of this post is for paid subscribers only! As a reminder, payments from subscriptions go to support our bar fund. You can subscribe here, or if you would like to make a donation of $50 or larger, email me and I will let you know how to donate and then add you to the paid subscribers list!
It’s been a really busy couple of weeks at Val’s Lesbian Bar HQ. We incorporated as an LLC! We opened a business bank account! We did a photo shoot to have bar promo images of our faces (and I’ll share some outtakes with paid subscribers below lol)! We are corresponding with what feels like one million different people, many of whom want to have meetings with us! We did an interview with a QTBIPOC Philly zine called Scissors, and are now fielding (unrelated) interview requests from the Inquirer (postponed indefinitely for Palestine boycott reasons - Philly Inquirer give fair coverage to pro-Palestine protests challenge) and a couple other small publications! We put in an official Letter of Interest on a space (very much could go either way in terms of getting it, but it’s exciting)! And on Feb 11th, we put on our biggest fundraiser event yet: a pop-up art market with queer local vendors, where we made quadruple the money we’ve fundraised to date! It was truly insane and I am both blown away with gratitude and completely exhausted.
We have a few more events in the planning stages (including some really fun partnerships with local orgs, a dance party, and a show with dykey bands). Three different people want to put on poetry events with us. Lesbians love poetry, not sure if you were aware!
So, if you’re a paid subscriber, read on to hear more about what Clover and I are thinking and feeling and learning as Val’s-related activity ramps up…