Pride: My First Transgender Bar
The Happy Hour stories that we ladies shared
I was feeling my Pride Month vibe this week.
Working in Manhattan, you would think that I would have a wide selection of transgender bars, but there aren’t many. In fact, I was aware of only one in the Hells Kitchen part of the city. The ads made it look like a strip club and the reviews felt like the transgender female staff were there to be ogled.
It was not what I was looking for.
I had been to several lesbian and gay bars. The people were great but I still felt like an outsider, the same feeling I had in cisgender bars. I just didn’t feel like I fit in.
At a slow moment at work, I Googled “Transgender bars in NYC” and was surprised that there was a new trans bar that just opened up. It was called the T Lounge and its motto was “A Safe Place for Everyone.” It sounded like exactly what I was looking for.
It opened at 5 pm so I went there after work. I went alone because I wasn’t sure what kind of bar it was. When I got there at 5:30, it was empty. It was just me, the owner, and the two bartenders. I ordered a Happy Hour drink and the three of us spent the next hour just talking about being transgender and about being women.
