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Pride and Swagger- Kinda Proud Lots of Swagger, by Eileen Broome

At first glance, Pride and Swagger seems like it would be a really cool place to hang out and have drinks now that I’m 21. The sign on the door says if you’re homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, racist or sexist don’t come in. That is a tell tale sign that as an open bi woman I would be welcomed in. However, I found a different story on the inside.
When I walked in, I expected to find a cool local queer bar that I could hang out in, where I could just be in touch with my queer identity. What I actually found was a very cis-gay-male oriented stereotyped congregation. There was absolutely no room for me here. It was a different experience than my first immersion when I went to a drag show at Tracks and found it to be more inclusive than I would have imagined.
In this space, I found it to not be very queer at all. It did not represent any other population other than cis gay males, even the bartenders were white, affluent, able-bodied, cis males. There are many authors throughout this semester that have shown that the LGBTQIA+ community is not as inclusive as it seems. To begin with I thought they may have been wrong to some extent, but as my eyes are opened to things such as gay shame, I realize that these spaces exist within the bounds of what society has allowed.
Pride and Swagger had no openness to pride, but a lot of swagger. It was adorned with rainbow everything and an almost caricature of what it looks like to be gay. It reminded me of the statement about gay shame, in which author Sycamore states that gay shame aims to promote culture and diversity and not buy shit.

I feel like after walking into this bar and feeling more uncomfortable than I do in a regular bar, I found out why people have developed a problem with gay pride. I already knew that I as a bisexual felt like an outsider in the community but at the same time I am a white, cis, straight-passing person who can live within certain communities welcomed, but in this one not so much. It was a new experience I felt was important to be a part of, and learn from. It was a real life introduction to the damage that stereotypes have done to my community.

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