Millvale Queer Space

They Bar vs Gay Bar

 

Harold’s Haunt will set itself apart as Pittsburgh's first “they-bar,” a queer space

designed to feel (and be) inclusive and welcoming of EVERYONE!

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Too many times these spaces that are meant to celebrate inclusion and create space

for everyone can feel alienating to members of our community.

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There are countless testimonies from across the country about the discriminatory

culture that surrounds gay bars and clubs. Some recent examples include:

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• In response to numerous complaints and testimonies from the public, in 2017 Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations ordered the owners and staff of 11 area gay bars to undergo anti-discrimination training, having concluded that all of the bars “create preferable environments for white, cisgender male patrons.”

• Last August, human rights activists met in Chicago to discuss the discrimination that’s so ingrained in the city’s queer culture, the “gay neighborhood” is known locally as Boys Town. Transgender folks, women, people of color, and other members of the community spoke to the panel at length about their repeated experiences of discrimination.

• An ongoing lawsuit in New York alleges that the owners of popular club The Q intentionally and explicitly tried to make the place “comfortable for white [young gay men]” and told staff not to “alienate the white boys,” while also instructing staff to be discriminatory against anyone who didn’t fit that mold. In response, queer artist and NYC city councilmember Marti Gould Cummings stated, “The horrible reality is in so many nightlife venues inclusivity and acceptance is not the norm. I will no longer be working at these venues and I should have left a long time ago. Trans, Black, Latino, Indigenous, AAPI, Disabled, Women must be welcome in all queer spaces.”​

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As a result of this, spaces for the marginalized members of the LGBTQIA+ community are beginning to spring up nationwide. As noted in a Bon Appetit article from June 2022, “a new generation of queer drinking and dining spaces is emerging, one that represents a critical reframing of what, exactly, makes a bar queer in the first place. Beyond catering to people of a certain sexual orientation, these spaces seek to reflect and uphold everything that a new era of queerness stands for: intention, safety, and inclusivity.”

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Harold’s Haunt is the intentional, safe, and inclusive space the Pittsburgh community deserves.

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P.S. yes we actually mean everyone like witchy (and/or bitchy) lesbians, non-binary dom femme-tops, platinum blonde hairy twunks, rust belt encrypted drag menaces, trans and non-binary folx, BIPOC, dramatic bisexual astrologists, pups, those living in the spirit world and not, purple-haired brown sauce drinking goblins (ily Maura <3), lover boys, sober burlesque performers, gay pirates (I know what you're thinking aren't they all??), horse girls, moth babes, vampires, 6900 year old demon bébés, enby faeries, asexual construction workers, the group of people who got really into making bread during lockdown, leather daddies, power bottoms, poz people (getting tested regularly and knowing your status is so important for you and your partners' sexual health [Central Outreach PGH has free testing and you can book appointments here https://www.centraloutreach.com/]), entire polycules (including the kids on the first Sober Sunday each month!), enchanted mannequins come to life, time-traveling criminals (who have paid their debts to society), FURRIES, hentai enthusiasts, voters, cool moms, extreme couponers, and yes also WELL BEHAVED straight people.