I decided I wanted to tell the story of Phase One, but I also wanted to tell the history of how other spaces existed around Phase One, and why Phase One had managed to last for 45 years. It was open from 1971 to 2016, and it was located between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Southeast-Southwest Freeway. I started researching more on my own time and found out that Phase One was the longest continuously operating lesbian bar in the United States. Then, when I turned 21, I found out through my research that the only lesbian bar left in Washington, D.C., Phase One, had closed in January of that year. I was really struck by that lack of information and wanted to learn more about that history, expand on it, and make it tangible. During my internship, I noticed that a lack of written or recorded lesbian history, with the exception of the location of specific places-lesbian bars, bookstores, and clubs.
Preservation League, writing and researching the LGBTQ Historic Context Statement of Washington D.C. Why did you choose to focus on Phase One and other lesbian bars in Washington, D.C. Below, Ginter tells us more about this neighborhood’s impact on the LGBT community, as well as what we can do as preservationists to continue telling their story. This neighborhood was once known as “The Gay Way,” due to the number of LGBT establishments on the street during the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. For their master’s thesis, Ginter is taking a closer look at Phase One (a popular lesbian bar that closed in 2016) and other 20th-century lesbian establishments on 8th Street Southeast in Washington, D.C. Today, groups like the Rainbow History Project and individuals like Ty Ginter, a graduate student studying historic preservation at the University of Maryland: College Park, are working to preserve the history of these once-thriving businesses and the communities they represented.