Meghan Hendrix
Google
La Mutinerie has a political and social aim that differentiates itself from other commercial LGBTQ+ spaces in Paris and beyond. The people in the space are really cool, and I really enjoyed talking to people and going to events. The drinks I had were also quite good—I liked their cosmopolitans. The bartenders are all super nice and seem quite close. I went six times; it was not too busy earlier in the day, but would often be pretty packed later in the evenings.
I was initially drawn to La Mutinerie after my experiences interacting with American tourists who were excited to visit the space, but it is a really diverse bar that brings in people from all over the world. I learned that not only is La Mutinerie a great sit-down bar for dates and grabbing drinks after work, but it also aims to run community-oriented events for people who identify as queer in a variety of ways.
Originally, La Mutinerie replaced a previous lesbian bar called Unity that closed. Although I could not find much information online on the history of the space, according to an article from a student at Washington and Lee University, the original owners of La Mutinerie bought the space in 2012 to “keep the legacy of lesbian bars alive." Although La Mutinerie broadly seems to still be perceived and categorized as a lesbian bar by the public, at least based on Google Reviews and my interactions with tourists, the inclusive wording of the La Mutinerie website shows their goals of serving as a space for LGBTQ+ people with a variety of identities.
I learned that they do not let in people who present as cis men on Friday and Saturday evenings, when I tried to go in with a group of 8 people on a Saturday—we were not let in because we had a few straight guys. I am ambivalent about this policy; I can understand why it is there to ensure there is enough space for queer-identifying people, but I worry that it could be exclusionary to people with queer identities that may not be immediately apparent. In fact, while waiting outside afterward, I saw someone who basically had to prove to the bouncer that they were not a cis man before being let in with their friend or partner; this does not seem affirming. With that being said, cis men seemed welcome at non-peak times; I saw a group of 4 guys sitting by themselves on a Thursday evening.
Overall though, I appreciate the aims of La Mutinerie and enjoyed my experiences there. I was struck by something I overheard the third time I went to the bar: a person said to their friends that “many bars claim to be friendly but people are not nice to you, not here though.”
