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Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Abstract

Statement of Purpose

I first came to this project during my class with Professor Amy Sullivan on Oral Histories in the fall of 2022. For my final project, I conducted an Oral History with queer Minneapolis-based DJ Queen Duin. Hearing about their experience working within the queer music and bar scene in Minneapolis, I started looking into the history of queer spaces here. In beginning this research, I discovered that 40% of gay bars in the US have closed in the past 15 years, with lesbian and femme-centered bars being hit especially hard. In the 1980’s, there were about 200 lesbian bars across the US. Today there are 29. This widespread closure of queer space throughout the country led me to my current project, where I looked into the evolution of these spaces, specifically focusing on the impacts of the neoliberal policies post-1980s. My research begins in the 1940s with some of the first gay bars opening in the Twin Cities and ends with an analysis of queer space in the Twin Cities today, including interviews with DJs Queen Duin and Chico Chi. Additionally, my research touches on the impacts of bathhouses, saunas, and spaces centered around queer sex and sexual non-normativity as it relates to the historic development of queer community and relationships.

Author Biography

Jonah Brumbach (he/him) is an American Studies major from Montclair, New Jersey. He would like to thank his family back home for all of their support, and for leading him to the wonderful community he has found in Minnesota.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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