06/24/2026
Throughout the week, we are going to highlight the history of La Crosse Gay Bars, the importance, and how to best support them in a three-part series!
Part 1: Gay Bars in La Crosse.
Sources:
"Hear, Here: Preserving and Sharing the History of Q***r Stories in La Crosse, Wisconsin" book chapter by Ariel Beaujot and Víctor Macías-González, published in Q***r Sites in Global Contexts: Technologies, Spaces, and Otherness, edited by Regner Ramos and Sharif Mowlabocus (Routledge, 2021).
The Wisconsin LGBTQ+ History Project has a map where they document the gay bars, if you would like to learn more: https://uwm.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2ac5431decf948498a2dbb3d0c05cd39
A NOTE ON LANGUAGE:
We are using “queer” here to be encompassing and inclusive as we talk about people in the past who didn’t use the same language we use today. It’s important to note that “queer” was used as a slur during the periods we are writing about here and gay bars were safe spaces away from this exact word. However, we want to honor the many ways in which people self-identified without the same access to language we have today. We are using “queer” in an attempt to use an all-encompassing term that includes various identities.
