This piece was originally published in Athens County Independent and appears here with permission.
by Dani Kington
Athens’ LGBTQ+ nightlife is getting a boost.
Say Gay Dance Nights, hosted by DJ Mooseknuckle at Casa Nueva on State Street, offer an LGBTQ+ dance party for community members and Ohio University students alike. The next dance night is coming up on Saturday, Dec. 16, with music beginning at 10 p.m.
Featuring music that appeals to both younger and older attendees, Carter Rice, AKA DJ Mooseknuckle, hopes to “get the queer people of Athens and surrounding areas together in a safe space,” he said.
Rice wants to create an atmosphere where attendees “are enjoying the time that they have with the people that are around them, and waiting and searching for that next experience.”
The first dance night, which took place in early September, saw a long line out the door, with the bar reaching maximum capacity at the party’s height, Rice said. His advice to this month’s attendees: “Get there early.”
Josh Brown, Casa Nueva’s booking manager, said the dance nights are “super awesome, they’re super fun, and I can’t wait for it to happen again.”
The dance nights represent a return to form for the Uptown restaurant and bar, which for about two decades — from the mid-1990s to mid-2010s — hosted dance nights and socials for the Ohio University LGBTQ+ student group Open Doors.
Brown said he wanted to bring the LGBTQ+ dance nights back.
“We have a ton of LGBTQ+ people that work here, so I think it’s important for them to have something that they feel a part of,” Brown said. “And, Casa has always been the cool place that does that kind of stuff.”
While Rice did not attend the Open Doors dance parties, LGBTQ+ nightlife was important to his coming of age in Parkersburg. He recalled his first experience of LGBTQ+ nightlife, at The Other Side, a former bar in Parkersburg, when he was 17.
“It was not glitz and glamor, let me tell you, but it was still, just like, mind blowing to me,” Rice said. “I was just drawn into queer community and queer identity and queer spaces like that, because especially in rural Appalachia … there’s not a lot of spaces like that.”
That’s part of why Rice wants to bring a consistent, explicitly queer nightlife event back to Athens, which lacks a dedicated LGBTQ+ bar.
The dance nights are scheduled out into 2024, with events already on the books for Feb. 10 and April 13, along with two in June — on the 1st and 22nd — to celebrate Pride Month.
Brown said he’d love to see the dance nights continue far into the future, potentially with greater frequency.
While the dance nights are primarily geared toward celebration, Rice said the events also function within the current political climate as “a statement and a protest type of dance night.”
The name of the dance party draws upon artwork by Passion Works artist in residence Tanner Ingle and Ohio University Master of Fine Arts graduate Fiona Avocado, also used in the dance night’s posters and promotional materials. “Say Gay” references legislation such as the Florida law passed last year banning classroom instruction on sexuality and gender identity that was dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
A similar and in some ways more expansive bill passed in the Ohio House and is currently assigned to the Ohio Senate Education committee.
In response, Ingle and Avocado collaborated on a design that rebutted, “Say gay, and don’t stop saying it,” Ingle said. The pair sold thousands of screen-printed T-shirts to raise money for state and local LGBTQ+ organizations, and Ingle said he is glad to see the design’s use continue.
“I would love to see that design used anywhere and everywhere. I don’t think that there can be enough queer visibility right now,” Ingle said. “As long as those discussions are being had, at a government level about … which communities are basically allowed to be visible, then we need to continue — as a queer community and as allies of the queer community — to be outspoken and loud.”
Brown also pointed to the political climate as one reason he wanted to bring the dance night back. “Especially with our neighbors, I think it’s important that we show solidarity,” he said.
Artifacts Gallery, next door to Casa Nueva, has come under fire over the past year due to transphobic signage, which remains posted on the storefront, and the owner’s anti-transgender advocacy. The business has been the site of several protests.
The Dec. 16 dance night will feature a candlelit vigil before the party begins, at 9:30 p.m. outside Artifacts Gallery. According to a press release shared by Rice’s manager, Emily Beveridge, vigil participants will receive candles “that bear the images of 60 deceased Queer Icons.” The goal, according to the release, is “to call upon the spirits of the Icons to help convince the owner of Artifacts to take the signs down and create a more welcoming town for all.”
Rice said he wants the Say Gay Dance Nights to provide a space focused on celebrating queer identity, “not just in the month of June.” 🔥
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