FL’s Last Lesbian Bar Struggles To Keep Its Doors Open In Largo

Updated: May 15, 1:53 p.m.

LARGO, FL — As The Lady’s Room in Largo, one of the last lesbian bars in Florida — if not the only one — gears up for its one-year anniversary party on Saturday, the bar’s owner is facing the daunting task of trying to keep the venue open amidst financial and legal struggles.

Despite the celebratory nature of the weekend, Vicki Gibson said she’s been unable to access traditional funding through banks and other lenders she needs to keep the business going.

“I was sitting here last night in tears going, ‘How the (expletive) am I going to come up with this money?’” she told Patch.

She’s launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money needed for insurance, taxes and other expenses, she said. As of Friday morning, she’s raised nearly $28,000 of the $100,000 she needs.

“We need places like this to keep Florida queer,” one donor wrote on the fundraiser's page.

Another wrote, “Lesbian bars are special places. I truly hope it stays open.”

The St. Petersburg resident was part-owner of the city’s iconic Biff Burger on 49th Street — the chain’s last location — which closed in late 2021. Gibson, who invested her entire inheritance into the restaurant, “didn’t get a dime” from the sale, she said.

She’d long dreamed of opening a lesbian bar, since the 1970s, and decided despite being depressed over the loss of Biff, that she would open a venue for women in Pinellas County.

“I always said I was going to own a mountain and I was going to own a lesbian bar with the best wings,” she said. “And that’s what I did. Every sauce, everything on the menu is made in house.”

When Gibson told her former partners at Biff’s her plans for The Lady’s Room, they laughed at her, she said. “I kept telling them I was going to open a lesbian bar. Now, here we are.”

But it hasn’t been easy. She found a silent partner who was initially enthusiastic, but hasn’t provided the promised funding, she said. She also learned too late that the accountant suggested by that partner never paid the bar’s taxes, despite telling her otherwise.

“I got a letter from the state saying none of our taxes were paid and it was like, ‘What’s going on?’” she said.

Cecilia L. Leon and Steve Van Duzen have since come forward to Patch, identifying themselves as the silent partner and accountant, respectively, for the business. They dispute Gibson’s account of their financial arrangement with the bar.

“Many people, including us, helped Vicki personally. We saw someone with a dream, who claimed she was a victim on many levels, and wanted to help her achieve not just her dream but support the notion of having a lesbian bar and safe space for lesbians to gather, meet and have a good time. This included vendors and entertainment as well. ... The bottom line is that Vicki never followed any of the partnership protocols, engagement protocol, nor protocols for establishing and running an effective, tax compliant and profitable business,” they said in a statement.

They added, “It is not the responsibility of the accountant to pay the taxes. On several occasions, including partner meetings, Vicki was presented with the figures and funds to make sure sales taxes were paid, including the paperwork to do so, but (she) never filed them.”

Gibson told Patch that she sold 20 acres she owned in the mountains of Tennessee to catch up on the bar's taxes.

She also tried to take a loan out on her home, which she owns, but isn’t eligible for one, she said. “Because I’m 100 percent disabled and the only income I have is my disability. On paper I only make $1,300 a month. I haven’t taken a dime out of the business.”

But she’s willing to fight to keep The Lady’s Room open, because it’s an important space for the community. While there are a number of LGBTQ+ spaces throughout the Tampa Bay area and Florida, none cater solely to women. And there are only 22 lesbian bars in the United States, she said.

“I really don’t want to sell it. St. Pete doesn’t have a lesbian bar,” Gibson said. “Growing up in St. Pete, you worked for the weekend. Friday night, you get off, you hurry home, you pick out the hottest outfit, you do your hair, and you do your makeup and you go out for the weekend. And when you go out, it’s like Disneyland. All the hell that goes on Monday through Friday disappeared. I wanted to do that for women.”

All the details at the bar were designed to create a comfortable space for women.

“From the bathroom to the pillows on the couch,” she said. “I wanted to just make a bar that women could walk into and know this place is for women. It’s kind of like being at your girlfriend’s house hanging out with your friends, but somebody is waiting on you. … It’s about treating women with respect.”

All are welcome at the bar, though it's marketed to lesbians, Gibson added. “I’ve had so many straight women tell me this is their safe space.”

The Lady’s Room offers a regular schedule of events, including brunch, drag kings and burlesque performances, live music, brunch, bingo, and a house DJ. The Underground, a poetry and spoken word open mic series with Project No Labels, will launch at the bar soon, as well.

“Everyone keeps commenting on how there are no places for lesbians to gather in Tampa Bay. Specifically catering to the lesbian community. There’s a reason for this. Every time one opens up, we support it for just a very short period of time and then we forget about it," Claire Elisan, founder of PNL, told Patch. “The support is crucial year round. If you want something to stay open, patronize it. These venues also have to keep the same respect and responsibility to our community. It needs to continue to stay as a safe space to gather. Meaning quality and nonpolarizing performers and entertainment. Service, food and atmosphere need to stay top quality and we all need to do our part to make sure it stays as a positive space for everyone including staff and patrons.”

Saturday night’s first anniversary show features burlesque, drag, circus and comedy acts from Dahlia Dupre, Mister Cister, Mary Strawberry, Kenzi DeMornay and Holly Louya. The show starts at 8:30 p.m.

The bar is meaningful to its performers, as well.

“I am currently 19 weeks pregnant and having a safe space where I can still be a drag performer and a pregnant person feels especially important to me right now. The super restrictive abortion bills and drag bans combined make it a terrifying time to be both a woman and a drag artist,” Devon Asher Cobb-Tappan, who performs as Mister Cister, told Patch. “Having somewhere I am allowed to make political statements through both art and comedy is such a necessary and important outlet to me, as a place to vent my frustrations while also feeling less alone.”

Gibson also tries to give back to the community whenever possible, hosting fundraisers for individuals in need and nonprofit organizations, like Libby’s Legacy. She purchased water and food ahead of Hurricane Ian with plans to feed children living locally, but the bar wound up losing power for two weeks.

“That’s all I ever do. I’ll help anybody,” she said. “I don’t care if it’s the last $5 in my pocket.”

Her focus now is solely on securing a future for The Lady’s Room.

“At my own house, I have two holes in the kitchen ceiling and two holes in the Florida room, but the bar needed the money more,” she said. “Every time I turn around, it’s like another bill we need to pay. … Take the house, take the cars, but don’t take the bar. The community needs this, and now, I need the community as well.”