How a bunch of tenderqueers destroyed one of the best nightclubs in Chicago because they absolutely refused to budge on their insane demands.

Berlin nightclub was a really fun place for people of all sorts. They occasionally had themed nights for various artists in which they’d only play their music (MIA, Beyonce, etc), and actually decent performers both local and National. It was a refuge for gays in the violently homophobic 80s and 90s, and has been a Chicago institution ever since. They were also only of the only clubs that still had a 4 AM liquor license (Chicago doesn’t do that anymore; technically liquor stores must stop selling at midnight and clubs at 2; a place like Berlin was grandfathered in).

Well, the employees, largely tenderqueers who believe in neopronouns, decided to unionize. That’s all well and good, I’m very pro-union myself and I still am even after this bullshit. The problem is these people had no idea how to organize or make reasonable demands. Here’s a brief list:

• bartenders make $50/hr (tipping still expected)
• coat check makes $35/hr (tipping still expected)
• anyone who works ONE SHIFT A WEEK (10 hrs) is eligible for full health insurance and pension.

Plainly, there was no way to be able to pay that much and keep the club afloat. Also, they refused to speak with the owner’s lawyer and insisted they negotiate with the club owner directly. This doesn’t happen; contract negotiations are almost always settled with lawyers. But they acted incredibly offended that the owner wanted to settle it through lawyers, never mind the owner has cancer and is currently, actively in chemotherapy. They felt that it was an insult.

Oh, and they refused to negotiate on these demands. Wouldn’t budge in the slightest. It was all or nothing for the employees, so the club owner chose nothing. He closed the club because he’s an old gay man who can’t deal with this kinda bullshit, and also ya know, the cancer. This was absolutely devastating to the Chicago community - it was locally owned and had a very gritty, DIY feel. Just about everyone I know, gay or straight, was upset and has nothing but positive memories of the place. It felt like an actual community spot with a collective feel, an increasingly rare thing in this world.

The worst part though is that the tenderqueers don’t even care. They see themselves as victims in this scenario, and in their minds they actually beleive they did a good thing, because according to them they removed an oppressor (an old gay man with cancer) from his tools of oppression (a nightclub). Some of them are even proud of what they’ve done. And they’re disingenuously saying that the owner would rather shut down the club than pay people a living wage. He was more than willing to negotiate! The queers just wouldn’t play ball.

To say I’m livid is an understatement . This whole scenario is a giant exercise in progressive leftism at its very worst and proves we are truly no better than those we claim to despise. If you’d rather see the world crumble down around you than make even the slightest of compromises, go fuck yourself.

Btw, the staff is also claiming they faced repeated incidents of violence and homophobia and transphobia, which like…you’re at the gayest bar not just in Chicago but the entire Midwest. Wtf kinda homophobic bullshit are you facing?

TL;DR militant tenderqueers got a longtime nightclub shut down and are actively harassing an old man with cancer because they refused to compromise on their insane demands and manage to make unionizing look bad in the process