Shunned in Baltimore

Last December I did a post about Julia Beck, a lesbian feminist who was pushed off the Baltimore LGBTQ Commission’s Law and Policy Committee at the behest of a “trans lesbian.”

Last night she and her lover were kicked out of a Baltimore bar. She tells the story in a public Facebook post:

Tonight me and my lover were kicked out of Ottobar. We were drinking beer, talking, kissing, and dancing- having a good time! Suddenly two staff members approached us on the dance floor, one woman and one man. The woman said we had to leave but did not explain why. The man took my friend’s beer can from her hands and crushed it while staring her down. We asked many times why two lesbians would be unwelcome in a so-called “safe space”. The only reason we were given was that I made people feel unsafe.

We held each other and refused to leave. Staff members pushed us off the dance floor and threatened to call the police. Another male staff member joined the fray and compared me to David Duke (KKK) because I “dehumanized trans people” on Fox News.

Women near us were severely confused, asking us and the staff members what is happening. One woman said the only people making others feel unsafe were the male staff members physically pushing us for no apparent reason. The owner of Ottobar approached us and personally asked us to leave. We explained to her that we had not engaged with anyone but each other and the bartenders. How could our joyous existence be perceived as a threat?

After ten minutes of protesting this unfair treatment, we left the bar. One woman who had seen the entire ordeal said she and 15 other women left the bar in solidarity. Another woman outside the venue said she overheard my crime was transphobia and putting up stickers. We engaged in a sensible conversation about male violence until the owner approached us again and said we could not be within 50 feet of the bar.

I am curious to know how my presence, my mere lesbian existence, could ever make anyone feel unsafe. What is wrong with two women talking, drinking beer, or grooving on the dance floor? To quote Sonia Johnson, only “men in weakness” are threatened by women standing, drinking, dancing, loving in our power. Viva las Lesbianas ⚢

This shit has got to stop.

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