From Pageoneq.com: "Star Gaze, what many called the last full-time lesbian bar in Chicago, closed earlier in January after 14 years. The loss leaves a hole in Chicago’s lesbian community.“I opened the bar knowing there was a need for it,” Mamie Lake, the owner, told the Chicago Tribune. “It went big time. We had people moving into the neighborhood because of the bar. It was like a gay Although Lake said the economy was a factor in her decision to close, she also noticed a change in the way lesbians socialize. Once the staple of lesbian meeting places, the bar scene is no longer the only option for meeting other women.
“There are lesbian book groups and other kinds of social spaces now where people can find each other,” Jennifer Brier told the paper. She is an associate professor of history and gender and women’s studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
But not everyone is convinced. “For a young queer woman coming out or just arriving here, someone looking for community where they feel comfortable, I don’t know where that place is going to be anymore or where that one bar is,” Lesbian Community Care Project manager Christina Santiago told the Tribune.
