Coffee and Queers: A Love Story
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Queer culture has almost always been synonymous with nightlife, reaching it's height after dark, bathed the colorful lights of bars and clubs. There’s nothing wrong with drinks and dancing, but for the baby gays and those of us who want a space that’s a little more tame, the hot spot has always been cafés. That must be why the bisexual barista behind the coffee bar makes the best oat milk latte, right?
ACTIVISM SERVED SCORCHING
Let’s look at what couples cafés with queerness. With the obvious historical context of gay clubs being the one place for the LGBTQ+ community to gather, hidden from the judgemental eyes of straight society, cafés functioned as one of the first public places for queers to commune.
During the early stages of the queer civil rights movement, before Stonewall, there was the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot–starting with a coffee thrown in the face of a cop. Coincidence or not, cafés have been a place where intellectuals and advocates band together. Even progress can be made around a coffee table.
BUT WHY CAFÉS?
Convenience and creativity. Coffee has a community of its own that transcends gender and sexuality, it’s quite literally for everyone. No matter who you are, the doors to a coffeehouse are open (even to you tea drinkers).
When looking at the popularization of local coffee shops, and even chains, there is an aestheticism that comes with the cup. We all remember the heavily filtered coffee pics that dominated everyone’s Instagram feeds in the early 2010s. That trend hasn’t necessarily died, it’s just evolved over the years into story posts and academia-core moodboards. There is a sense of ownership that gay people have over coffee. Much like any viral meme or trend, the queer coding of coffee has extended beyond the screen.
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