{"id":245715,"date":"2026-05-27T22:58:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245715\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T22:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:58:45","slug":"brooklyn-lesbian-bar-cancels-pride-events-after-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/245715\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Lesbian Bar Cancels Pride Events After Complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ginger'sGinger\u2019s Bar \u2013 Photo: Instagram<\/p>\n

Ginger\u2019s is canceling most of its DJ events for Pride Month after receiving dozens of noise complaints from neighbors.<\/p>\n

The popular lesbian bar, located in Brooklyn\u2019s Park Slope neighborhood, opened in 2000 and is best known as an Irish dive bar with billiards tables and an outdoor patio that hosts a range of events, from drag king shows and LGBTQ storytelling to DJ nights. Each year, it typically hosts a schedule of various DJs spinning and mixing during Pride Month.<\/p>\n

But in a May 18 Instagram post<\/a>, Ginger\u2019s wrote, \u201cDue to ongoing noise concerns in the neighborhood, we\u2019ve made the difficult decision to cancel the majority of our DJ events during Pride this year\u2026. As much as we love turning up the music and creating space for queer joy, we also want to remain respectful of the neighborhood we have called home for the past 26 years, and of our space, which has been a neighborhood bar for more than 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The post noted that Ginger\u2019s would continue to host its annual Brooklyn Pride celebration on June 13 and told patrons to check back for upcoming Pride Month events \u2014 minus DJs \u2014 in the coming weeks. It also asked patrons to \u201cbe considerate of our neighbors while out on the street or in the backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ginger\u2019s received 20 noise complaints<\/a> between January 1 and May 21 of this year, according to police data. New York City\u2019s 311 system logged 49 noise complaints tied to the bar\u2019s address during the same period last year, according to public data.<\/p>\n

The announcement was met with an outpouring of support for the bar and a wave of social media posts criticizing the neighbors \u2014 though not by name \u2014 who complained.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, a Democrat running for the 7th Congressional District, told Gothamist<\/a> that the cancellations at Ginger\u2019s are \u201crepresentative of a bigger problem we\u2019re seeing across Brooklyn.\u201d He noted that similar noise complaints have targeted the West Indian Day Parade and Puerto Rican Day celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cGinger\u2019s isn\u2019t the bad neighbor \u2014 it\u2019s the people demanding that communities and cultures take up less space who are not being neighborly,\u201d Reynoso said.<\/p>\n

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a former mayoral candidate now seeking the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional District, also pushed back against the idea that longstanding institutions must alter their behavior to suit newcomers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPride Month is supposed to be a time of joy in all of its purest, most vibrant (and yes, loudest!) forms of expression,\u201d Lander wrote in an Instagram post<\/a>. \u201cIt was such a bummer to learn that Ginger\u2019s, a storied lesbian bar, had to shut down many of its Pride events over noise complaints. This sure doesn\u2019t sound like the Brooklyn I know. Here we believe in protecting & treasuring LGBTQ+ spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported by them<\/a>, Park Slope was heavily gentrified in the late 20th century but is now undergoing what experts call \u201csuper-gentrification\u201d \u2014 described by SUNY New Paltz sociologist Judith Halasz as \u201cthe further upscaling of already gentrified neighborhoods with the in-migration of upper-income residents and displacement of middle class residents, many of whom were among the initial gentrifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

One side effect of the \u201csuper-gentrification\u201d of Park Slope and similar neighborhoods is that some newer residents may have little attachment to longstanding cultural institutions or traditions, leading to tensions over noise, nightlife, and neighborhood character. Many of those defending Ginger\u2019s on social media blamed newer arrivals to the neighborhood for the complaints.<\/p>\n

Several commenters also noted that Ginger\u2019s \u2014 which Rachel Karp<\/a>, author of The Lesbian Bar Chronicles, recently told Metro Weekly is one of her favorite hangouts \u2014 is one of only about three dozen lesbian bars remaining in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a bummer for people to move into a lively neighborhood and then complain about the liveliness,\u201d wrote one Instagram user.<\/p>\n

The New York Hospitality Alliance, which represents more than 24,000 restaurants and nightlife establishments, also backed the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the oldest lesbian bar in Brooklyn cancels Pride events because of neighbor complaints, it harms that community and underscores a larger problem, which can erode the cultural spaces that have long made New York City so special,\u201d the group\u2019s executive director, Andrew Rigie, told Gothamist.<\/p>\n

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