Drama at the Disco!

Today, as part of our 30 Things that Bring Us Pride event, we’re going back in time to highlight some Disco Drama that’s part of Olympia’s trans and queer history. It’s vital to acknowledge the people who labored -- and those who are still laboring -- to make our communities safer and more welcoming for all LGBTQIA2S+ people. We found today’s history snippet via the Olympia Gay/Lesbian History Walking Tour, developed by local heroes Llyn De Danaan and Carol McKinley.

First, a bit of background. As you probably know, it wasn’t until 2006 that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was banned in our state. THAT’S A MERE 16 YEARS AGO!!!!!  (Future posts will focus on the decades-long struggle to pass that law, and the obvious reality that banning discrimination doesn’t make it disappear.) 

Prior to the ban, it was legal and a lot easier for restaurants, bars, and many other places to refuse service to people because they were (or looked like they might be) queer. It was legal for workplaces and institutions to fire people just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity -- or to just not hire them in the first place. Landlords could legally refuse to rent to queer people. And lots of other discrimination was totally legal and often accepted. Generations of people have worked to make it safer for LGBTQIA2S+ people to simply be themselves in public.

And now for the Disco Drama! One local example of this type of discrimination -- and a fabulous response by the LGBTQIA2S+ community -- is the story of Olympia's Conestoga Roadhouse, a bar and dance hall that was located on Columbia St. in the 1970’s.  As you can see from this 4/29/79 article from The Daily Olympian, local women who wanted to dance with other women told reporters that they “encountered harassment from patrons...when they danced at the Conestoga, that they were denied service, that they were asked to leave and were not giving what they considered due protection by dance-hall security employees.”

The article details a protest led primarily by lesbians, who picketed outside of the bar. The bar-owner, who apparently thought that discriminating against same-sex couples was a good thing, is quoted as saying,

We do have the right to refuse service. If you let certain types of elements take over a place, you’re going to be hurting.

The  “certain types of elements” continued to fight back. On their Queer Space Reclamation Project blog*, Karama Blackhorn writes,

“In April 1979 three women met with the management to the Conestoga to present a statement demanding that women be allowed to dance together and that dress codes be applied equally to all, not just used to keep certain women out. Police were called to escort same-sex couples out, there was picketing by men and women and same sex couples danced in the restaurant in protest.”

(Note: Karama is another local LGBTQIA2S+ hero we’ll honor in a future post). 

The Queer Space Reclamation Project contains interviews by local LGBTQIA2S+ folks.  One of the interviewees, called "Anna - Lesbian -Olympia" on the website, says of the Conestoga that,

“We decided on a strategy of doing weekly actions by sending in a steady stream of same gender couples to dance until they got thrown out. We put together flyers that said “Gay Night At the Conestoga” and featured the Conestoga logo and we put them up all over town…{one plan} was to go in as opposite gender couples and get up to dance in same sex couples. Of course they would always throw us out. The straight men would smash into us on the dance floor and be nasty. The Bar kept trying to figure out how to get rid of us, so they created a dress code…” 

The series of creative protests eventually shut down the bar, according to the Gay and Lesbian History Walking Tour (noted above).

In the end, it appears the owner’s misguided opposition to the fabulous "certain elements" led to the closing of the bar. Too bad the owner wasn't willing to just let people dance!

We'll be back soon with more history of the LGBTQIA2S+  community's struggles for safe places to dance and to work, live and just exist as they are. 

*Looks like the Queer Space Reclamation Project blog isn’t working too well these days, but most of the links still work.