When I was pretending to be straight in my early twenties, I met one of the most incredible women in South City. Her name was Bay Tran. Bay’s family came to St. Louis from Vietnam. Fast forward to the streets of South Grand in the early 2000s—I reunited with the one and only Bay, one…
Butch in the Streets: Leave That Man and Come Out
Trigger Warning: This column discusses suicide, homophobia, addiction, and trauma. Please take care while reading. As I cross over the Kingshighway viaduct—what we all just call “the bridge”—heading toward the south side, I start to think. This drive always freakin’ triggers me. The older I get, the more I understand how deeply those triggers…
Our Lesbian Bars, Our History, Our Future
As a 55-year-old lesbian, I often look back on my twenties and the “safe” spaces we created for ourselves—spaces that became our family. Coming out of the closet (as we called it back then) meant you’d better know how to survive and how to find your people. I came out at a time when it…