1.
Phase One of the Gay
Agenda
Queer America Presentation
Prof. Jack Gieseking
2017
By Anya Forsberg

2.
Why is Phase One the Chosen
One?
 One of the longest running lesbian bars.
 They created the largest queer art and music
festival on the East Coast.
 This was a home and community center for
generations of women.

3.
Barring None
 Lesbian Bars are extremely important to the
culture.
 They were a social home, and a spiritual home.
 Women could explore their identity in a safe
place.
Cartier, Marie, and Brian R. Grossman. "“Oh My God, I'm Home”: The Socioreligious Significance of Gay Older Women's
Experiences of Women's Bars Before Stonewall." Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging 25.2 (2013): 139-59.
Web.

4.
How did I Do it? By Me
 Following the bar’s own history.
 Finding the importance of certain aspects with
academic papers.
 Follow the paper trail.
 Finding different LGBT histories of
Washington DC.

5.
History no Longer a Mystery
Part:1
 For the majority of Phase One’s existence it was
the only lesbian bar in Washington DC.
 2007: First Phase Fest (largest queer music
festival on the East Coast).
 One of the longest documented running Lesbian
bars.
Najafi, Yusef, and Sean Bugg. "A Pioneer Passes." Metro Weekly. N.p., 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 17
Mar. 2017.

6.
History no Longer a Mystery
Part:2
 Washington DC LGBT safe haven to hunting
ground. (mid 1950s)
 Kameny the first openly gay candidate for
Congress, he unsuccessfully ran in 1971.
 The only constant was change and Phase One.
 Mattachine had a chapter here.

7.
How Reading for Class Helped
 Safe spaces are necessary for people to find
themselves and to grow.
 This was one of those places.
 Supported Capital Pride (1975), large part of Act
Up’s visibility activism.

8.
How Reading Outside Class
Helped
 Festivals reflect and contribute to social and
cultural change.
 Artists were able to present their true selves and
art on a safe stage.
 Bars being a gathering place had lasting effects.
Gibson, Chris. "Music Festivals: Transformations in Non-Metropolitan Places, and in Creative Work." Media International Australia 123.1
(2007): 65-81. Web.
Luengsuraswat, Bo. 2012. “Badass, Motherfucker, and Meat-Eater: Kit Yan’s Trans of Color Slammin’ Critique and the Archives of
Possibilities.” Nineteen sixty nine: an ethnic studies journal.
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6h4226c0?query=phasefest;hitNum=1#.

9.
Plaque
Washington DC is America’s Political hub. Movements and statements
are made here every day. Phase One the lesbian bar that stood here from
1970-2015, has made a long standing statement for the LGBT community.
We have the right to take up space. Lesbians throughout this period were shunned
from their religions, their homes, and their friends and families, so they came to
Phase One for all of these things, but most of all to find themselves without the
pressure of society forcibly changing them. This bar started during the “Lavender
Scare” where people openly or even suspected of being gay were fired and blacklisted
in the job market. Phase One was one of the only Lesbian bars in Washington DC, it
was a safe haven for women who’s very existences were shunned. This bar brought
together passionate women who wanted to fight for their rights and for space to exist
in. This bar is the birth place of “Phase Fest” the largest queer art and music festival
on the East Coast. Phase Fest is a place where artists can create and interact with one
another and reach new audiences spreading their message and their growth. Phase
One was a home for many over the decades and has created a lasting improvement in
the thousands of women it has fostered.

10.
What am I Talking About?
 Washington DC has been a place of turmoil, but
now the city has one of the highest populations of
LGBT identifying individuals.
 Meeting place of this large community.
 This is a unique and important staple of the LGBT
history.

11.
Thanks for Listening!