GLBT residents say city has few gay-only resources

When senior Ryne Shadday goes out to the bars, he goes to the same places most IU students do – Sports, Kilroy’s and Jake’s. But he wishes he were at Bullwinkle’s or Willy Joe’s, the gay bars that once inhabited the city of Bloomington and are now gone, leaving the city’s gay community with few nightlife options.

“We want to be normal like everybody else,” Shadday said, “but at the same time we want a place where we can all go and be with each other. I sense a lack of that in Bloomington.”

While Bloomington is home to the nation’s fifth largest per capita population of same-sex couples, according to the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site, Shadday worries the outlets offered to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals in Bloomington are not sufficient. But other members of the GLBT community say the lack of designated “gay bars” signifies an acceptance of the lifestyle within the community as a whole.

There is only one designated gay bar in town, called Uncle Elizabeth’s, which moved to its current location at 1614 W. Third St. in May. Shadday said he is often frustrated the only gay bar in Bloomington is far from campus life.

“I love Uncle E’s, but I’d love to diversify where I went out at night,” he said.

Shadday is not alone in this frustration. Ernie Lopez, a DJ at Uncle Elizabeth’s said he also thinks having only one gay bar in the city limits gay nightlife.

But there seems to be a differing of opinions among the gay community about how separate they want to be from the straight community. While Shadday pushes for a bigger bar scene, others wonder if another gay bar would be necessary in a city they say is accepting of alternative lifestyles.

Graduate student Bradley Blankenship noted that many gay people feel comfortable enough at straight bars like Kilroy’s Sports Bar, where he said he hears about boys meeting boys, or at Jake’s Nightclub, which hosts drag shows every Sunday night called “Boing night.”

“How much of a need do we have for separate spaces?” Blankenship asked. “I’m seeing more and more integration. It doesn’t mean that we’re there yet, but it’s good that the edges are getting gray.”

The owners of Uncle Elizabeth’s, Teresa Hacker and Steve Keith, said they see a multitude of students and community members alike on their dance floor on the weekends, but that Bloomington is liberal enough that another gay bar might not be necessary.

Shadday said he also wishes Bloomington had a gay community center. There is the GLBT Student Support Services Office, but he said he worries gays not affiliated with IU feel uncomfortable using campus gay resources.

“Bloomington is big enough to support a community center, especially because there are so many people living here that are gay,” he said.

To combat what he sees as a lack of outlets for gay community members, Shadday organizes the monthly event Gay Bagels, a community gathering at the Dunn Street Bloomington Bagel Company that invites GLBT people and their allies to eat free bagels and socialize in a comfortable setting.

Shadday said it began as a group of 15 to 30 people two years ago and blossomed into what it is today: an event that has in the past packed the BBC with more than 150 people.

On Friday, the second Gay Bagels of the semester drew more than 85 people to the bagel shop, and they officially changed the name of the event to Queers and Schmears.

“It’s a great thing,” Shadday said. “I’ve seen people ‘come out’ there.”

Blankenship said the event provides a space where gays don’t have to worry about alcohol.

“What I like about Gay Bagels is that it provides an outlet that is not alcohol-related,” Blankenship said.

Most people at Gay Bagels on Friday said it was an excellent mixing of the community.

“It’s not just IU students,” Blankenship said. “You have parents, you have high school students, you have faculty, you have staff, and you have community members and you don’t see that any other place.”

Freshman Nick Endicott was at Gay Bagels for the second time and said he feels the Bloomington community is accepting of everyone, but that Indiana as a whole is not.
“Indiana hasn’t been too great as far as GLBT issues,” he said.

Whether or not the gay community agrees on the diversity of resources available, everyone at Gay Bagels on Friday agreed it was important to get together as a community and provide support for one another.

“We’d absolutely love for new freshman ... to come and have that same feeling I’ve seen people have,” Shadday said.

The next Gay Bagels will be advertised under the event’s new name, Queers and Schmears, and will take place Nov. 14.  

“It’s an absolutely amazing program,” Shadday said. “I think it’s a great model on how things can work out positively.”