Want to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month? Spend your money at local Coast gay bars
It was dark and smoky.
There were tall, circular tables adorned with Red Bull cans lining a small stage. In the corner, a group of people watched a pool game.
On the other side of the small space, a bar was packed with people, sipping vodka cranberries and dancing to the music.
I had no plans to go into Just Us Lounge that night.
I was with two of my closest girlfriends from home, and we drove down from college town Hattiesburg to attend a rock concert at a Biloxi casino.
When the show ended earlier than planned, one of them said, “Hey, isn’t there a gay bar close by? Should we go?”
I was born and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but was too young to go to Just Us, and wasn’t out or old enough to go to a bar before I moved an hour north for college.
That was in 2011, before I knew the bar’s history.
One of the oldest gay bars in Mississippi, the Division Street bar does more than serve beer and cocktails 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It’s a place where everyone who comes in feels like family. I didn’t know anyone inside the bar except my two straight friends, but it immediately felt like home.
On the Mississippi Coast, Sipps and Just Us are simply home for the Coast’s diverse LGBTQ community — including local drag queens who have expanded their performances into more “straight” spaces like restaurants and events centers. They’re a place of community, a place where we 100% know we are loved and accepted. We make connections, we plan parades and events, and we bond with bartenders that have served us for years.
It’s from the gay bars that I met some of my closest friends and allies. Kara Coley, a bartender at Sipps in Gulfport, was one of the first LGBTQ people I met on the Coast when I moved home for work. Back then, she worked at Just Us. She was quick, poured good drinks and was always kind.
Now, I drive from Bay St. Louis to Gulfport a few times a week to visit with Kara. On Thursdays, a more casual night, I’ll order a pizza and a Sprite Zero because Kara has more time to talk. On Fridays, my friends and I go to karaoke, and things are more lively. If it’s a relaxed week, we may attend Wednesday karaoke, featuring host and local drag legend Lexis Redd D’Ville.
That may sound like a lot of time at the bar, but for LGBTQ people on the Coast, it’s all we have. There are few, if any, safe spaces or community outreach centers for queer people in South Mississippi. The gay bar has been a rock for us since the early ’90s when they opened here.
That’s why in June, it’s important for our community and allies to celebrate Pride Month by opening up their wallets. Not for large corporations who only seem to like rainbows and LGBTQ hashtags in June — spend your money at local gay bars.
Tip drag queens. Attend a drag brunch like the one Sunday at Sipps or June 20 at Centennial Plaza that benefits the Gulf Coast Equality Council, which hosts Gulf Coast Equality Fest each year. The festival raises money to eventually build a community outreach center for LGBTQ adults and youth.
So, skip past the rainbow-themed Facebook ads, and go to the places that fly those flags every day of the week, month and year. We have to support the places and people who support us.
Spend your money at the places who have been here through the good and the bad, with an open door, even when it wasn’t easy for them.
Gay bars like Sipps and Just Us are few and far between in Mississippi and deserve to be supported during Pride Month.
This story was originally published June 10, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
