Lesbian bars are thriving on TV even as they are becoming extinct in the real world

The New York Times

Batwoman, Vida and The L Word: Generation Q "imagine worlds in which, despite supervillains, gentrification and financial uncertainty, there is no last-last call," says Lena Wilson. "In Batwoman, the lesbian superhero Kate Kane (played by Ruby Rose) opens the Hold Up to anger a homophobic restaurateur across the street. In Vida, currently in its third and final season on Starz, the sisters Emma and Lyn (Mishel Prada and Melissa Barrera) run the show’s titular Los Angeles dive bar. And in Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q, renewed in January for a second season, Shane (Katherine Moennig) buys a sports bar and turns it into Dana’s, named after a beloved character from the original series. Part nostalgia, part practicality (it’s useful to have a setting where all your characters can meet), these fictional bars are stable, inclusive havens, standing in for the many real-world haunts that have disappeared over the past few decades. They also recall the kinds of places where, in many cases, cast and crew members of these TV shows first came out and found support."