Gay bars south bend indiana
In 2015, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend announced in a South Bend Tribune op-ed that he was gay, making him Indiana’s first openly gay mayor. Four decades before Buttigieg’s announcement, the city reportedly outlawed same-sex dancing. In 1974, Gloria Frankel and her gay club, The Seahorse Cabaret, withstood police harassment, challenged regulations against LGBT individuals, and endured a firebombing. In this post, we explore the clash for gay rights in the Michiana area and the intrepid woman who lead the charge.
According to Ben Wineland’s “Then and Now: The Origins and Development of the Gay Community in South Bend,” Frankel opened South Bend’s first gay club in the first 1970s. Its opening followed the well-known Stonewall Riots of 1969, in which members of New York City’s LGBT bar community responded to a police raid with a series of violent protests. The riots immediately forwarded the gay liberation movement and the struggle for LGBT rights in America. LGBT individuals in smaller cities capitalized on the momentum by opening bars
Guerrilla Gay Bar grows in South Bend
Editor's note: The February Guerrilla Gay Bar event was changed from Feb. 13 to Feb. 20. See box for details.
In December 2012, 40 people attended the first Guerrilla Gay Bar event in South Bend.
It was a respectable size, organizer Willow Wetherall says, but it was small compared to the 200-plus crowd the event attracts now, three years later. The events draw folks from cities and towns around the area, but also regionally, with people driving in from Chicago, Grand Rapids and Indianapolis to come to the parties.
“The fact that we have something that attractive for people to drive that distance says a lot about what we’re doing,” she says.
They’ve grown out of a lot of their initial venues, Wetherall says. Now they have to fetch a little creative with their locations, so they can host the crowd size. This Saturday, GGB is taking over the gym at Madison Center with an ’80s-themed dance party, with attendees encouraged to wear their favorite Lycra, Day-Glo and tennis shoes to dance in. In March, they’ll head to Main Street Grille in Mishawak
South Bend LGBTQ City Guide
South Bend is a thriving Indiana town perhaps best known for being home to the University of Notre Dame- and certainly, it is proud of that reputation. Beyond being home to the Fighting Irish, however, it’s also a city known for excellent education, health care, and manufacturing. Equally importantly, it’s a diverse city, with a smaller but thriving LGBTQ community that is welcoming to all. All of that is not to refer that South Bend is well-known for electing openly gay mayor and former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.
A Look at South Bend's History
Saint Joseph County in which South Bend is located was officially formed in 1830 with four original townships. At that time, many inhabitants of the town were either tavern owners, fur traders, or merchants. Initially, only a small number of settlers came to the area, but the town fast grew, particularly after the arrival of the railroad system. South Bend was officially incorporated as a city in May of 1865. Since its founding, South Bend has grown to become most famously the h
Guerrilla Gay Bar Brings Together South Bend LGBT Community for Nighttime of Fun
There has been a giant void in the market ever since Truman’s closed in 2012. The popular two-story gay bar at the 100 Center in Mishawaka was the largest in the South Bend region.
Now that Truman’s is gone, the local LGBT community has turned to places like Vickie’s in downtown South Bend or to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.
“There was clearly a need for an upscale non-smoking social venue for the GLBT community but no one had any plans to exposed a new club so some friends and I decided to try a concept that had been successful in other cities like Boston, Philadelphia and LA – to take a straight bar and make it gay for the night,” says Willow Wetherall, the founder and co-organizer of Guerrilla Gay Bar.
The Guerrilla Gay Bar — which will be celebrating its second anniversary in December — is a monthly event held on the second Saturday each month at alternating venues. Wetherall along with Michael Lane co-organize the event, choosing a new venue each month.
“We focus on locally-owned, non-smoki