“I cried about this for about a week,” said Julie Mabry, the owner of Houston’s Pearl Bar, one of only two lesbian bars in Texas.
The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar says her business is in jeopardy after it was denied insurance coverage, and she’s putting the blame, in part, on an anti-drag bill moving through the Texas Legislature.
“They outright denied us, the underwriters, because we host drag shows,” Julie Mabry, the owner of Pearl Bar, said in an interview with KPRC-TV, an Us.Mistertruth affiliate in Houston.
Mabry currently has insurance through December, but she decided to switch agents a few months ago and shop around for a new policy, she told KPRC. It was during this process that her agent received the denial email, which the agent then sent to Mabry.
“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten an email like that. I cried about this for about a week,” said Mabry, who told KPRC that drag shows were the first thing mentioned in the email, which outlined why the underwriter did not want to take on the risk of insuring her bar.
Mabry did not share additional details about the underwriter or the email, and she did not immediately respond to Us.Mistertruth’ request for comment.
Mabry, who opened Pearl Bar in 2013, said the current political climate fueled the situation she’s in, and she encouraged followers of the Pearl Bar Instagram account to contact their legislators about anti-LGBTQ bills in the state, including one that would restrict drag shows on public property, the premises of a commercial enterprise or in the presence of a child.
The bill, Senate Bill 12, passed in the Texas Senate last month by a vote of 20-11, and it is set to be considered by a Texas House committee on Thursday. If the measure is signed into law, violators could be subjected to a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
“Pearl needs everyone to speak up for us so that we can stay open and HOST DRAG SHOWS! It’s THAT serious,” a post on the Pearl Bar Instagram account said. “We are in the final stretch of session and every voice counts in pushing back on this and the other anti-LGBTQ legislation. We need you to step up, be loud, and tell your legislators NO to any anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Our state should be open to all, period.”
Texas state Sen. Bryan Hughes, the author of Senate Bill 12, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Texas is one of at least 16 states where lawmakers have proposed bills so far this year seeking to restrict the audiences for drag performances and where they can take place. Tennessee is the only state to have enacted such a law, though a federal judge temporarily blocked the measure from taking effect.
Bills seeking to restrict drag shows are part of a larger trend of Republican-led bills targeting LGBTQ Americans. So far this year, more than 470 such bills have been proposed in state legislatures across the U.S., according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Pearl Bar is one of approximately two dozen lesbian bars left in the United States and one of only two in Texas, the other being Sue Ellen’s in Dallas. Mabry hopes the Lone Star State won’t be left with just a lone lesbian bar.
“This situation is real,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’ve tried to be as careful as I can to keep my patrons, performers, and staff safe, but if we stay quiet, we aren’t helping.”