On Friday, three former employees of Blush & Blu, one of the few remaining lesbian bars in the country, filed aย lawsuitย against the prominent Denver bar. The workers allege that Blush & Blu and its owner Jody Bouffardย discriminated against one of the barโs only Black workers,ย habitually failed to pay its employees minimum wage, and, at times, failed to pay them at all.
โWhen youโre queer or trans, it can be hard to risk exclusion from queer spaces and the queer community. I put up with mistreatment and underpayment at Blush for years, but I am proud to finally speak out,โ saidย Plaintiff Jordan Feltner.
Blush & Blu has recently received national attention as one of the last remaining lesbian bars in the country, including fromย NBC News, theย Advocate, and theย Lesbian Bar Project. Lesbian bars have long played a crucial role in building queer community and creating a safe space for the queer and trans communities. But the complaint asserts that, for close to a decade, Blush & Blu weaponized the so-called โsafe spaceโ and โfamilyโ at the bar to create a culture of obligation and manipulate workers into enduring mistreatment, racism, and oppressive employment practices.
โLesbian bars are supposed to be about support and community. I thought we were a family at Blush, but families shouldnโt exploit each other for their own profit,โ saidย Plaintiff Hannah Williams.
The complaint details rampant race-based hostility at the Colfax Ave fixture, including pervasive derogatory and racialized comments, stricter rules for one of Blushโs only Black workers, and other forms of discrimination.
โQueer spaces arenโt immune from issues of racism and discrimination, and ignoring these issues doesnโt make them go away. Iโm proud to speak out,โ explainedย Plaintiff Jessica Savage.
The former employees are represented by Towards Justice, a Denver-based non-profit legal organization.
โThe important role of lesbian bars doesnโt excuse the mistreatment and underpayment of queer and trans workers. The law is clear that all employees are entitled to minimum wage and other basic labor protections,โ saidย Valerie Collins, an attorney at Towards Justice.
โWe are proud to represent these workers in their fight to make queer workplaces safer for queer workers. Our communities can thrive without resorting to exploitation,โ saidย Brianne Power, an attorney at Towards Justice.