MS Coast gay bars have been safe spaces for decades. We need them now more than ever.

If you arrive at bingo late, chances are you’ll be greeted by host Estelle Suarez as soon as you walk in the door at Sipps Bar.

What she tells you is harder to predict than a game a roulette.

When I arrived at Sipps Bar at 7:10 p.m. on Thanksgiving for the 7 p.m. game, she told me hello.

My friend Seth, though, did not have the same luck. “Late!” she screamed in the microphone as he walked in closer to 8 p.m. He smiled and waved as he walked past her to our small group, standing near the back of the bar.

Every table and bar stool was taken at Sipps for Suarez’s annual Thanksgiving bingo. The crowd was so large that staff brought outdoor tables inside for extra seating. Suarez told stories about life, work and her dog as she called out numbers to the crowd.

The pool table was removed from the front of the bar to make room for a feast: Dozens of crock pots and pans were filled with all of the Thanksgiving dishes you can think of. There was also a table of desserts, including a homemade chocolate pie and a pumpkin cheesecake.

Suarez called out the final numbers just before 9 p.m. Before she packed up her blotters, she reminded the crowd of the importance of being together on the holiday, especially after the mass shooting at a Colorado gay bar that left five members of the LGBTQ+ community dead.

“It is important in these trying times for us to stay close to one another,” Suarez said. “And remember ... to rely on your community in times of trouble.”

Gay bars have long been safe spaces on MS Coast

For decades, gay bars have served as safe spaces for members of the LGBTQIA community in South Mississippi.

Before it was called Just Us Lounge, Lynn Koval opened the Sanctuary in Biloxi in the early 1990s, at a time when she said it was a “war-like” situation for queer people in the U.S. It was not long after the AIDS epidemic swept through America, she said, and gay people did not have a place to go to be themselves. Tensions were high.

At the time, Koval told the Sun Herald in 2017, she thought to herself: “If a Molotov cocktail doesn’t come through my door, we’ll be here for 20-plus years.”

And nearly three decades later, Just Us on Division Street is still open 24/7/365.

A few miles away at Sipps Bar on Highway 49, longtime Coast bartender Kara Coley, along with Jacob and Kyle Simmons, keep the drinks flowing and the doors open for any and everyone.

I live in Waveland and make it a point to go to Sipps every Friday I can for karaoke with Clinton, followed by a midnight drag show. Legends Nicole DuBois, Toni Dee and Lexis Redd D’Ville often perform, along with new up-and-coming talent from Alexa Avery, Kitty Woods and Sonika Boom.

On Tuesdays, Tara Shay Montgomery hosts the most fabulous trivia on the Coast. You get a stand-up comedy routine for free and a bar tab if you win.

Even though Sipps is 30 minutes away from my front door, it’s still my “corner bar.”

I met Kara when I was 22. I had just moved back to the Coast after college and was newly out. I had never had a boyfriend, wasn’t super comfortable using apps and didn’t have any gay friends at the time. She was working at Just Us then, and poured me Diet Coke all night while I watched the dance floor.

Eleven years later, and Kara and I still toast our non-alcoholic drinks (now, a sugar free Red Bull) on Fridays and catch up. I know that when Kara, Kyle and Jacob are working behind the bar at Sipps, I have nothing to fear.

For 11 years, Kara has made it her mission to keep the bar where she works safe for us. I’ve watched her remove people three times her size for causing a ruckus or threatening harm to patrons.

One time last year, a man followed me and called me homophobic slurs as I walked to my car. I came back in and told Kara, Kyle and Jacob, and they removed him immediately.

Kara also made headlines around the world a few years ago when a mother called to get advice when her teenage son came out.

“You should definitely let him know that you love and accept him!” Coley told her. “I think everything will be OK from there!”

We need gay bars now more than ever

I don’t know what I would do if Sipps Bar or Just Us closed. Gay bars are more than a place to get cocktails with friends or find a date or be entertained — they are safe spaces where LGBTQIA people can be their authentic selves.

It’s where you can go if you need community. It’s a place where it’s safe to kiss the person you love or hold hands with your crush. It’s the love story you never saw on TV. It’s where you can get Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with your chosen family.

The mass shooting in Colorado Springs shows our safety is being threatened, but also proves that we need our sanctuaries now more than ever.

“I’ve always believed that there was a difference in owning a bar and owning a gay bar,” Koval, who is now battling aggressive cancer, said in 2017. “When they open a gay bar, they own and serve a movement. They own and serve a community to which they are forever connected to.”

Suarez will host Christmas bingo at Sipps at 7 p.m. on Dec. 25. The potluck beings at 6 p.m.