15 JUNE 5-11, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | a diversity center,” describes Greenwood. Quince operates as a social enterprise, offering sliding-scale room reservations, commission-free art by BIPOC and mar- ginalized artists, and hosting events ranging from children’s social justice reading groups to queer grief circles and trans biker gang breakfasts. Over the past few months, Greenwood says, Quince has naturally evolved into more of a community hub. “After the election, it feels that it’s been more of a needing,” describes Greenwood. “There’s a large infl ux of social movements, groups meeting at the shop, and a huge infl ux of people wanting to just be in the space, engage the community, to just be held by the space and just to feel able to settle.” In response, the team has streamlined its process to better manage growing demand and focus on events that most directly serve their community. “People are asking for help a lot more, it just feels like the space is a lot more needed, the soul level need for organizing together and coming together in the space to support and hear each other,” describes Greenwood. Lady Justice Brewing: Mission as Usual The idea from Lady Justice Brewing started when its three founders — Betsy Lay, Kate Power and Jen Cuesta — were chatting over a beer. All three were working for AmeriCorps, earning $10,000 a year and dependent on the SNAP program to buy groceries, “and throughout all of that, we were still saving enough money to be able to go grab a beer with each other after work,” describes Lay. “ That conversation turned into like, how do we get people to take their beer money that they’ve set aside and put that back into the community to do good work?” They started Lady Justice Brewing in 2016 as a beer membership: 100 percent of the profi ts go back to Colorado nonprofi ts that support women, girls and non-binary people. Eventually, they grew the business into a brick-and-mortar tap room and patio at 3242 South Acoma Street, Englewood. The business donates an average of $10,000 a year to organizations such as Ralston House, New Era, Girls Rock and the Gathering Place, one of the few drop-in centers that accept trans people. They’ve been in business for three na- tional elections and found that “the day after a national election and June 1 [fi rst day of Pride Month] is when we get the most anti- queer comments on social media,” Lay says. “They’re not doing it because they came in and had a bad experience…they think they get to have an opinion about who we are just as women and queer folks in the world. I don’t know if it’s because they think their side ‘won’ and now they get to treat us poorly.” In response, Lady Justice is committed to being such a safe space for queer folks. There’s pride and trans fl ags in the window, 60 percent of the staff members are queer, and there’s a giant poster of the house rule: “Homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, rac- ism, ableism, and other hateful or hurtful intolerance will not be tolerated” and “We support love, self-love, and absolute joy.” The owners have no plans to change that. “Our key has been consistency and just being who we are along the way and not shying away from that. Not pretending to be more than we are and not trying to do less than we’ve ever done,” Lay says. “Lady Justice has existed pretty much since this new era of politics that we’re in right now. And we’ve never changed. We’ve stayed consistent.” Donald Trump isn’t the fi rst president to weaponize hate against the queer com- munity — and he won’t be the last. History is fi lled with efforts to erase queer lives, culture and spaces. But these spaces don’t just ap- pear: They’re built, sustained and protected by the people who show up for them. “If you don’t like how this country is bashing queer and trans people, then go and support their businesses — because that’s our livelihood,” pleads Bishop. “If we’re not sup- ported, that’s another queer business that’s out. That’s a future queer-owned space that’s not going to exist in a few years. And if you want those spaces and you want those com- munities to thrive, they have to be fi nancially supported. Times are tough economically, but we have to fi nd a way forward together.” Email the author at [email protected]. SRYBB works out of the X Bar kitchen. PINERY LABS PHOTOGRAPHY - ANDREW MINDER
