Something that annoys me is the constant whining about "more queer spaces, more queer communities" but then they're immediately like "yeah! And we need ones that don't cost money or require a purchase!"
Girl that's exactly why they close down after a year. You NEED money to keep these places open. There's no magic Gay Money Pot with endless cash to keep these places open. It requires YOU to put your money where your values are!!
Like there was a queer coffee shop in my city. Owned and operated by a bunch of LGBT people. Not a cishet on the schedule. Tons of young people raved about it.
And it made it about 2 years before shutting down completely. Because all those young people who begged for a place exactly like this would just show up, not buy a single thing, and leave. You cannot build a community without putting your money into it. This isn't about capitalism, this is just reality. You can't open a restaurant where no one buys your food. You can't have a gay bar that only serves 5% of the population and actively excludes everyone else. This is what I mean when I say people confuse "community" and "friend group." You're not obligated to spend money when hanging out with your friend group. But if you want a lasting community centered space, you need to open up that wallet.
To take a slightly different track here, I do actually think that community spaces that don't require a purchase are a good thing and we should have them!
But we can't expect them to look exactly like spaces that do require a purchase but without the part where you spend money.
A free community space doesn't look like a queer cafe, it's the weekly groups run by a local LGBT center. It's not the bookstore that sells exclusively lesbian romance, it's that one library branch that you know the librarian working at is cool because they ordered the library system a copy of that new book with a trans MC that all your friends are talking about but you can't afford. Things that exist, and are important, but we do have to be realistic about how they come to be. Even if you don't need to purchase things to keep these spaces running, we still need to support them, through volunteering, donations, taxes, all of those sorts of things
also: if you want queer spaces that don't cost money, you should understand that will probably include homeless queer people. who also deserve queer spaces and queer community even when they can't open their wallets or be super presentable and socially adept. community isn't just your friends and your customers.
also "this isn't about capitalism" wrong. everything is about capitalism. even just in the sense that We Live In A Capitalist Economy. "this is just reality" yes! capitalist reality! capitalism is not something that can be segregated into only specific conversations and is completely unrelated to the idea that "community spaces" means "buying services from a small business" lol
I think we can and should have queer-FRIENDLY third spaces that don't cost money (meet-ups in public libraries or public parks or other public spaces), but theyāre not going to be queer-ONLY.
Generally speaking, a space can't be free-as-in-beer AND gatekept.
Now accordingly to me, this is a feature, not a bug -- I want public spaces where queers and queerness are welcome, not a members-only queer country club. But some people really want exclusivity without having to pay for it.
