I'm on the Board of Directors for a small venue called The Painted Mug Cafe here in Philly. It's mostly an event space and show venue right now, but our goal over the next few years is to be able to open for regular cafe hours. It's important to me. Everyone on the board is Queer, and we created this space to fill a need in our community. Most of the Queer spaces in our city are bars and clubs, and none of them are accessible to disabled Queers like me (I'm mobility impaired). They're loud, dark, closely-packed places accessed by steep flights of stairs, where there is rarely a place to sit down, and where the imperative of most people in the space is to drink and flirt. Don't get me wrong, I like to drink and flirt. Those are two of my favorite pass times. But that's not true of everyone, and it's not true of any of us 100% of the time. Some of us are Party Gays who want to show up to a place full of moving Queer bodies, get blissfully intoxicated, dance and sing along to loud Queer music, and stumble home in someone's arms. And that's beautiful. I love everything about it. But some of us work more than one job and can't be out until three in the morning, or we're neurodivergent Queers who are uncomfortable in loud spaces with bright colorful lights. Some of us are physically disabled and can't safely be in a place where we might be knocked over by enthusiastic drunk dancers. Some of us have kids. Some of us are kids. Some of us are in recovery for substance use disorder, and are uncomfortable being in bars. This is why I love being a part of The Mug. We serve coffee and mocktails, and baked goods made by a local gay pastry chef. Our walls serve as a gallery space for Queer visual artists in the city. We host sober karaoke, all-ages drag shows, non-competitive and encouraging workshops for new performers, and weird theater and music. The money that we make goes directly into keeping the lights on and paying our staff a fair wage for their labor. Everything after that is being saved so that we can make the building more meaningfully accessible by adding a ramp, widening hallways and door frames, and remodeling our bathroom. Everything we do is in service to our community. We talk to our neighbors. Our featured performers let us know when they're home safe after a show. If someone on our staff shows up to a meeting and says that they're struggling to pay for groceries, we feed them. Being a part of this feels vitally important to me. When I left my hometown and ran to Philly looking for community, the Queer people here were ready to catch me. It's a blessing to be able to give some of that love and labor back to them now that I've been here long enough to have grown some roots. But it's also frightening, especially lately. Queer and trans people are always facing friction, but it's getting especially heated right now all across the country, and we're here being very loudly Queer and trans. If you're in Philly, come show us your support. Come to events and see what we're about. Donate so we can continue to build a haven for our community.
https://thepaintedmugcafe.com/
