Support the Reopening of the Starlite Lounge
(The video you've just watched is a trailer for the documentary being made about the Starlite Lounge)
This funding project was
established for people to give directly to the owners of the Starlite
Lounge in their effort to reopen. When they lost their building they
were unable to relocate because of the high cost of doing so. To learn
more about the establishment please visit the website for the
documentary currently being made about the Starlite HERE.
The Starlite Lounge was established as a "non-discriminating" bar in Crown Heights for LGBTQ people of color in 1959. It was known for being the oldest black-owned "non-discriminating" business in Brooklyn, and possibly the country. After 50 years of business they were forced out of the building in August 2010.
The Audre Lorde Project had designated the Starlite as a safe haven in central Brooklyn for their Safe Outside the System (SOS) Program. It is critical within our communities to provide safe spaces and the owners of the Starlite are trying to reestablish not only for themselves but for their neighborhood, a following of patrons from all walks of life, and a diverse LGBTQ community which relied on the Starlite as a safe space to socialize.
The Starlite Lounge is not just a business without a location. The Starlite represents a community displaced, and a culture ready to thrive again in central Brooklyn in their own location. To become a part of this effort is to resist that tired old narrative of gay bars getting shut down never to reopen.
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