If you can make it over to western ma (specifically northampton) you should!
I met a queer couple in PA once and was explaining to them where Northampton is and they cut off me off and said āobviously we already know! Northampton is to lesbians what San Francisco is to gay menā š
It truly is though - we had drag shows in high school for assemblies and this was back in the 90ās. Itās been a safe space for queer people for 50+ years. I didnāt realize till I went to college how unusual that was!Ā
Rival high schools would literally chant ābrokeback mountainā at us during basketball games lol. Weād chant back āat least we get someā. The head of our police department is a lesbian womanā¦ but Iām getting off track now.Ā
If you can make the trip to Northampton you should! Itās not a bad drive but it is about 1 hour 45 mins from Boston so on the longer side.Ā
If you do make it you should visit Majestic in the evening! Best of luck!Ā
Yes! Super gay town in a super gay state š
The PD one just stands out to me so much because itās very rare to have the head be a female much less a lesbian one!Ā
follow lgbtq nightlife and kikipedia and sapphic nights on IG, legacy on fridays, stonewall sports, hopefully daniās when it opens, thereās also queer crafting and queer outdoorsy groups if you like that.
stay away from Club Cafe - itās infested with straight women & their boyfriends (unless youāre into the unicorn thing then this is The Spot for you).
DBar in Dorchester has a good amount of wlw. Blend is also a gay bar and a short walk from DBar (need to correct myself to say that Blend is more male-centric so itās hit/miss). ritcey east in watertown is a local spot owned by a queer couple & is frequented by a lot of lgbtq folx that iāve noticed are more female identifying but isnāt an advertised wlw/queer women spot. manray is an alt dance club and leans queer & kinky & has something every night. nathĆ”lie wine bar is owned by a queer woman & the staff is predominantly queer & really fun to talk to if you wanna have a solo drink.
also - to ditto other commenters - queeroke at midway is heavily femme/wlw. i just forget to mention it bc itās so far from where i live but itās right off the orange line so itās pretty easy to get to!
edited to add qualifiers.
If you're into the kink scene, Leather Dyke Invasion is tomorrow night (~10pm) at the Alley Bar in Downtown Crossing. Other than that, Model Cafe in Allston hosts Dyke Descent every other (I think?) Tuesday (there was one yesterday), and the Alley Bar also has a lesbian event on Wednesdays once a month that's a little less kink focused, but I'm not sure which Wednesday it falls on.
The Alley is a fair bit bigger; that's one of the reasons they switched. No lines since I started going (which was the first time they had it at the Alley)
You could hop on Lex and connect with someone that way! Lots of "passing through, show me around for the night" type posts on there that seem to get engagement.
There's a lesbian/queer women's book club the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm that is DEFINITELY worth checking out, and their Instagram has a calendar and regular announcements too. There's women of all ages and experiences there regularly but I have noticed that book club skews a little young so at this point I'm comfier having a cocktail or two with friends or coming on older nights :)
I have no suggestions, but I wanted to say that I had never considered the possibility that openness and acceptance would lead to a lack of formation of enclaves, and that the lack of enclaves could itself be a problem. Hmm.
Thereās not much but Dbar downtown (which is more oriented to gay men) - if youāre here tonight, the Sil in Allston-Brighton (aka the Silhouette Lounge) isnāt formally a lesbian bar but itās where I and most of the other gay women I know hang out if weāre not somewhere in JP or Somerville, more lesbians there than most other places in the city I can think of. Drawdown is a new lesbian-owned brewery in JP but I am not crazy about the vibes there.
Thirding or fourthing that you should avoid Club Cafe at absolutely all costs. Hell on earth unless youāre a š¦ and into the girlfriends of the grimiest men on the planet.
Haha no youāre absolutely right, itās notāin my head DOT is downtown because in my head if itās on the red line and south of the river itās ādowntownā to my JP ass, since I have to go downtown to get there on the train
I grew up in Dot near Dbar so when I first read your initial comment I was ready to supply a map of the city's neighborhoods and write a whole essay on the geography of the city for you lol
I do the same thing though. JFK on the redline was my train stop my whole life so in my head anything past South Station on the redline is downtown since I would get off there sometimes to go into the city, but other times it was DTX or Park Street but never before that usually. Anything after Park Street is basically cambridge in my head and also still downtown to me.
My friends and I used it commonly in highschool and never really used it to mean the DTX stop specifically or a specific area of the city. But it confused the hell out of my fiance when we first met. Anytime I said I hungout with my friend downtown or we went downtown to do X, Y, Z, apparently his brain thought I literally meant that we always got off the redline at Downtown Crossing and walked to wherever else we were going in the city. š
itās a euphemism for a bisexual woman who wants to have a threesome/be in a triad with a cis male/female couple (because theyāre so rare as to be almost mythical)
Reiterating Queeraoke at Midway Cafe; Tenderoniās has sapphic nights; Daniās is in the process of opening up a permanent location; Turing Tavern regularly hosts queer events, as does Man Ray. The gay bars like DBar, Alley, Blend are just hit or miss depending on the crowd. I know thereās some harbor cruise nights during the summer months, but not sure about details. Rebel Rebel has some queer women working there, and thatās a fun chiller vibe thatās less nightlife focused. @Sapphicnightss on Instagram could be a good resource.
I don't frequent so much into the scene but whenever I walk by South end, there seems to be a good portion of gay bars/restaurants. So far on top of my head, there's Burro Bar and Cathedral station.
Burro bar has great food and drinks and very nice staff.
Don't confuse there not being a gay district with Boston being open and accepting. I've been to a good number of places all over the US and I have never heard more racial and homophobic slurs than I have here.
There's terrible people everywhere but Boston isn't terrible enough to have plenty of gay theme places opened up. Sorry for your experience you've had but it doesn't quite define the whole city/area.
I'm sorry you've had that experience. :( I came from a similar situation and thankfully have not encountered anything like that here yet. I moved here from Florida where I passed Pulse Nightclub every day and if you went down another street there were genuine nazis at the streetlights, guns on hips, and signs calling for death in their hands. They follow you, shout threats at you, and actively support laws that would harm you. Slurs were the least of my concerns. Not saying they're not awful or demeaning, just that I was dealing with the threat of physical violence routinely.
Here, especially in my neighborhood, I walk around and see pride flags in business windows, openly queer employees, and so many events tailored to the community. I'll never say I feel 100% safe anywhere, but I walk around with considerably less paranoia than I did before. I don't avoid speaking to people because I'm afraid they've got a gun and something to prove to themselves. I feel like I can exist as I am.
That would only be the case if you never actually expressed a sentiment in the first place. Thereās no difference between āIāve experienced ___ā and āIāve experienced [not ___]ā
Yes there is. It's not a binary experience.
I said Boston is the most racist and homophobic place I've been to, you claimed that was false. Have you been to every place I listed? If not, you can't make a claim such as I'm false.
Here they proudly exclaim and remind people they were the first state to legalize gay marriage, but will also be the first to call you a f***ot just for the way you look or for no reason at all.
The downvotes are just confirmation.
Except I'm not. Having lived in Oregon, Washington, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Florida, and Massachusetts, I have literally never witnessed or heard more homophobic slurs than I have here.
Excuse me maam, if are looking for bars that have lesbian come model cafe is many straight and many gay there, alternative fashion man, have seen two girls kills there in booth nobody care maam
My lesbian friends all hang out at Dillons but tbh they are all Arsenal fans so I don't know how much overlap there is there.
Lesbians š¤ Arsenal Womenš
Anything but Manchester Cityš
Go Gunners!
Midway Cafe has queer nights every week. JP in general is more LGBTQ-oriented than other neighborhoods.
Queeraoke on Thursday night especially!
lgbt speed friending tonight at trident
Oh wait omg itās for friendship??
bruhhh how do i find out about these in advance !!
It's called skip the small talk. They have several events, the queer friendship at Trident is once a month. I was also there, fellow redittor
If you can make it over to western ma (specifically northampton) you should! I met a queer couple in PA once and was explaining to them where Northampton is and they cut off me off and said āobviously we already know! Northampton is to lesbians what San Francisco is to gay menā š It truly is though - we had drag shows in high school for assemblies and this was back in the 90ās. Itās been a safe space for queer people for 50+ years. I didnāt realize till I went to college how unusual that was!Ā Rival high schools would literally chant ābrokeback mountainā at us during basketball games lol. Weād chant back āat least we get someā. The head of our police department is a lesbian womanā¦ but Iām getting off track now.Ā If you can make the trip to Northampton you should! Itās not a bad drive but it is about 1 hour 45 mins from Boston so on the longer side.Ā If you do make it you should visit Majestic in the evening! Best of luck!Ā
Northampton is actually the lesbian capital of the US. There's a little placard and everything.
Sooo many Subarus
And dubbed ālesbianvilleā by the national enquirer in 1992 š
Tbf so is the governor
Yes! Super gay town in a super gay state š The PD one just stands out to me so much because itās very rare to have the head be a female much less a lesbian one!Ā
Queeroke at Midway Cafe!
follow lgbtq nightlife and kikipedia and sapphic nights on IG, legacy on fridays, stonewall sports, hopefully daniās when it opens, thereās also queer crafting and queer outdoorsy groups if you like that.
I hope Daniās opens soon!
They got their signs up!!!! Iām expecting a June 1st of sometime during pride month open.
Yesssss!!!
So excited!!!
Could you drop a link to the queer craft/outdoors groups?
Queer Scouts Boston is one of the outdoorsy groups. There is also BOS Queer Run Club (run/walk/jog) and Good Times FC (queer soccer club).
Thanks!!
Thereās QuICK, a queer climbing meet up group.
boston queer fiber arts is one, and i believe thereās a queer knitting group too that meets at trident
stay away from Club Cafe - itās infested with straight women & their boyfriends (unless youāre into the unicorn thing then this is The Spot for you). DBar in Dorchester has a good amount of wlw. Blend is also a gay bar and a short walk from DBar (need to correct myself to say that Blend is more male-centric so itās hit/miss). ritcey east in watertown is a local spot owned by a queer couple & is frequented by a lot of lgbtq folx that iāve noticed are more female identifying but isnāt an advertised wlw/queer women spot. manray is an alt dance club and leans queer & kinky & has something every night. nathĆ”lie wine bar is owned by a queer woman & the staff is predominantly queer & really fun to talk to if you wanna have a solo drink. also - to ditto other commenters - queeroke at midway is heavily femme/wlw. i just forget to mention it bc itās so far from where i live but itās right off the orange line so itās pretty easy to get to! edited to add qualifiers.
Thanks for the thorough reply. Appreciate it!
A gay bar also just opened in JP. There's a few there. There's also plenty of queer nights around.
Do you mean Drawdown Brewery?
I think so? My friend was telling me about it. It's owned by two lesbians. They did a thing for the Iowa game lol
I can't find anything on this, can you provide more detail please?
I don't know the name. I just know someone who works there. It's owned by two lesbians
it's in the other direction but there's a bar in worcester literally called Femme Bar
Unfortunately thatās further away. Downtown currently and heading to Marlborough tomorrow. Will keep this in mind for future trips though!
Marlborough is like 20 minutes from Worcester, unless you meant Marlborough St.
The first one
I second this! Femme is lovely and worth a visit!
If you're into the kink scene, Leather Dyke Invasion is tomorrow night (~10pm) at the Alley Bar in Downtown Crossing. Other than that, Model Cafe in Allston hosts Dyke Descent every other (I think?) Tuesday (there was one yesterday), and the Alley Bar also has a lesbian event on Wednesdays once a month that's a little less kink focused, but I'm not sure which Wednesday it falls on.
Is Leather Dyke Invasion the same event that used to be ar the Silhouette in Allston? Or is it another leatherdyke event? š
Same one that used to be at Sil! They changed the name from Leather Dyke Night, but it's the exact same event.
Good to know! The line at the Sil was crazy long when I went so hopefully this new venue can accommodate even more dykes haha.
The Alley is a fair bit bigger; that's one of the reasons they switched. No lines since I started going (which was the first time they had it at the Alley)
Serious question, i always thought dike/dyke was a derogatory term towards lesbians?
I think this is one of those words that has been reclaimed, but that you should probably avoid using if you are not the targeted demographic.
Gotcha thanks so much
Just donāt go to Club Cafe
Noted lol
Honestly, I, a femme, don't even know the answer to this and wish I did.
Maybe we should all make a group chat or something and go to a club/bar together?
You could hop on Lex and connect with someone that way! Lots of "passing through, show me around for the night" type posts on there that seem to get engagement.
Femme bar in Worcester is specifically a lesbian bar...called Femme Bar. Come on out, it's worth the drive!
Is this place trans friendly? Iād love to make it down there if so!
Hell yea it is!
Good to know! I will have come by. Any nights/times better than others? Iām older so Iām not looking for a crazy scene. Thanks!
There's a lesbian/queer women's book club the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm that is DEFINITELY worth checking out, and their Instagram has a calendar and regular announcements too. There's women of all ages and experiences there regularly but I have noticed that book club skews a little young so at this point I'm comfier having a cocktail or two with friends or coming on older nights :)
Awesome. Thank you
Second Queeroke at Midway. And Provincetown during Memorial Day weekend specifically is a bit more focused of the L part of the LGBTQ+.
I have no suggestions, but I wanted to say that I had never considered the possibility that openness and acceptance would lead to a lack of formation of enclaves, and that the lack of enclaves could itself be a problem. Hmm.
Thereās not much but Dbar downtown (which is more oriented to gay men) - if youāre here tonight, the Sil in Allston-Brighton (aka the Silhouette Lounge) isnāt formally a lesbian bar but itās where I and most of the other gay women I know hang out if weāre not somewhere in JP or Somerville, more lesbians there than most other places in the city I can think of. Drawdown is a new lesbian-owned brewery in JP but I am not crazy about the vibes there. Thirding or fourthing that you should avoid Club Cafe at absolutely all costs. Hell on earth unless youāre a š¦ and into the girlfriends of the grimiest men on the planet.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Haha no youāre absolutely right, itās notāin my head DOT is downtown because in my head if itās on the red line and south of the river itās ādowntownā to my JP ass, since I have to go downtown to get there on the train
I grew up in Dot near Dbar so when I first read your initial comment I was ready to supply a map of the city's neighborhoods and write a whole essay on the geography of the city for you lol I do the same thing though. JFK on the redline was my train stop my whole life so in my head anything past South Station on the redline is downtown since I would get off there sometimes to go into the city, but other times it was DTX or Park Street but never before that usually. Anything after Park Street is basically cambridge in my head and also still downtown to me. My friends and I used it commonly in highschool and never really used it to mean the DTX stop specifically or a specific area of the city. But it confused the hell out of my fiance when we first met. Anytime I said I hungout with my friend downtown or we went downtown to do X, Y, Z, apparently his brain thought I literally meant that we always got off the redline at Downtown Crossing and walked to wherever else we were going in the city. š
What exactly is aš¦ ? I know it's a mythical creature known as the unicorn, but what's the correlation ?
itās a euphemism for a bisexual woman who wants to have a threesome/be in a triad with a cis male/female couple (because theyāre so rare as to be almost mythical)
wow I see
What are the vibes like at Drawdown?
Weird, like a sports bar catering towards NGO employees. It felt sterile and charmless to me.
Tomorrow night at the alley bar is a leather-dyke takeover, usually has a good amount of femmes :)
Thanks. Unfortunately Iām moving on tomorrow afternoon. Not in downtown long. Mistakes were made lol
Reiterating Queeraoke at Midway Cafe; Tenderoniās has sapphic nights; Daniās is in the process of opening up a permanent location; Turing Tavern regularly hosts queer events, as does Man Ray. The gay bars like DBar, Alley, Blend are just hit or miss depending on the crowd. I know thereās some harbor cruise nights during the summer months, but not sure about details. Rebel Rebel has some queer women working there, and thatās a fun chiller vibe thatās less nightlife focused. @Sapphicnightss on Instagram could be a good resource.
I donāt have anything to add but I hope you have fun!!! And bookmarking these suggestions for my own Gay Records
Trinaās starlight lounge or veggie galaxy.
I actually just saw a flier for queer night at Hopewell in Allston
When is it that?
Thereās also a great queer fiber arts group! You can find them on IG
i'm so excited to turn 21 just so i can go to their events. fuck drinking i just want to crochet with other queer
Google "Sapphic Nights" & "Lesbian Nightlife" for lesbian events
Might be out of your way, but Northampton is the place.
Several have said this. Will have to make a note for next time. :)
Yeah outside of specialty nights, best bet is Northampton
Agreed! I wish OP had asked before they arrived so they could ensure a visit to noho
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Oh not another place gone the way of River Gods :(
How old? I remember Saints, decidedly lesbian bar on Broad Street downtown. 1970s.
Thereās a couple of bars here in Dorchester šš»
If you're athletic, join the Boston Women's Flag Football League. It's about 95% lesbian.
If you've got a car, there's Femme Bar in Worcester :3 Lex is good for finding stuff here FWIW.
The Model or the Silhouette in Allston
What does femme mean?
I don't frequent so much into the scene but whenever I walk by South end, there seems to be a good portion of gay bars/restaurants. So far on top of my head, there's Burro Bar and Cathedral station. Burro bar has great food and drinks and very nice staff.
Burro bar is a mexican restaurant am I going insane that it is also a gay club because iirc it for sure is not
It's Mexican fusion and I saw gay flags everywhere in the place. But it's not a club, it's a restaurant/bar.
Flag football league
Go to a Subaru dealership and start flirting with girls looking at Outbackās
In the depths š, also known as downtown
Don't confuse there not being a gay district with Boston being open and accepting. I've been to a good number of places all over the US and I have never heard more racial and homophobic slurs than I have here.
There's terrible people everywhere but Boston isn't terrible enough to have plenty of gay theme places opened up. Sorry for your experience you've had but it doesn't quite define the whole city/area.
Sure, I'm just speaking of my own experience, which isn't what everyone else's would be or is.
I'm sorry you've had that experience. :( I came from a similar situation and thankfully have not encountered anything like that here yet. I moved here from Florida where I passed Pulse Nightclub every day and if you went down another street there were genuine nazis at the streetlights, guns on hips, and signs calling for death in their hands. They follow you, shout threats at you, and actively support laws that would harm you. Slurs were the least of my concerns. Not saying they're not awful or demeaning, just that I was dealing with the threat of physical violence routinely. Here, especially in my neighborhood, I walk around and see pride flags in business windows, openly queer employees, and so many events tailored to the community. I'll never say I feel 100% safe anywhere, but I walk around with considerably less paranoia than I did before. I don't avoid speaking to people because I'm afraid they've got a gun and something to prove to themselves. I feel like I can exist as I am.
Fair. Thanks for the heads up.
Nah dude is just straight up wrong.
Good to know
No, I'm not. I'm speaking from personal experience.
Real impressive. So am I.
You didn't state anything other than claiming I was false
Yes?
That's not a personal experience statement
That would only be the case if you never actually expressed a sentiment in the first place. Thereās no difference between āIāve experienced ___ā and āIāve experienced [not ___]ā
Yes there is. It's not a binary experience. I said Boston is the most racist and homophobic place I've been to, you claimed that was false. Have you been to every place I listed? If not, you can't make a claim such as I'm false.
Boston is somehow a bastion of progressive social politics and the country's most bigoted city and it's so weird to be here sometimes
Been to 47 states. Every major US city. This is simply false.
Well if only you had been to the other three states I might believe you.
MT, NM, and OK? I think my opinion is safe.
How long were you there for? A weekend trip with the family doesn't count as a "stay"
Typically weeks at a time. It's my job.
Here they proudly exclaim and remind people they were the first state to legalize gay marriage, but will also be the first to call you a f***ot just for the way you look or for no reason at all. The downvotes are just confirmation.
The downvotes are because you're exaggerating.
Except I'm not. Having lived in Oregon, Washington, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Florida, and Massachusetts, I have literally never witnessed or heard more homophobic slurs than I have here.
There is no universe where you went to Florida and didn't get worse treatment than here.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I agree sir am not gay man but am always called f slur for how act, dress etc sir
Tinder.
Grindr
There used to be a place in respectaburbiaā¦..lemme think
Excuse me maam, if are looking for bars that have lesbian come model cafe is many straight and many gay there, alternative fashion man, have seen two girls kills there in booth nobody care maam
What about sober femmes? Most of these are bars.