“DC progressives alert: being gay doesn’t stop you from being sexist.”

“Dear PoPville,

Where do I start?

The High Heels Race happened yesterday on 17th street, and there were a group of suspected Trump supporters carrying signs saying “grab my pussy” dedicated to Trump, and others saying “protect your pussy” dedicated to Hillary. Even if it was an irony, a joke or anything, as a woman I find very disgusting and sexist how guys, either they’re gay, trans, or not, find fun to joke about other’s pussy. I don’t know if I’m making myself clear, because I’m not from here and sometimes it’s hard for me to express my unconformity… and here’s where the main story I wanted to tell begins:

I work close to 17th street and I really liked going to JR’s, not just because it’s close to my office and has a decent happy hour, but because it’s were you can find the best music in the area, and also having fun watching Blondie and other nice 80’s videos. I always had the feeling that people there gave me a bad look because I was basically the only girl at the bar – a colleague even stopped going there with me because he said the environment was hostile to me. I insisted on going and my American friends would say that they’ve seen girls there before and nobody was bothering them. Then I realized that, yes there were other girls there, but I was the only non-white one.

Ok, so last (and final) time I went there, I was with an American friend sitting at the bar, it was 6:30 p.m., I just came out from work and decided to grab some drinks there with him, he drinks reeeally fast, so I’ve had 2 beers and while he had 5; when I asked for the 3rd. they bartender said “I’m not serving you anymore beers”, I asked why and he replied “no more beer for you, you’re done”. At the same time my friend asked for his SIXTH beer and they gave it to him. I started complaining and the bartender denied talking to me, so –since I always carry pens and highlighters- I wrote down on a napkin “you are sexist” and gave it to him when we paid. He saw it and replied “I’m not”. I said “sure you are and you should think about it”.

It’s hard not feeling welcome at some places, and foreign and gay people have a lot of experience on feeling excluded, so I don’t think we should repeat that scheme with people who is different from us. I don’t know about you, but I find very sexist this “women not being welcome at a gay bar” situation, as well as the “male-trans pussy talk”, and I think people who call themselves progressive in this city should have a serious discussion about it.”