When I was younger my grandfather owned a social club. Community members gathered there and played dominoes. Birthdays, graduations, and New Years were all celebrated there. All you had to do was respect everyone and look out for one another. No one cared what your salary was, if you followed the code, you were in.

That was a third place, it’s what I’ve been trying to build ever since.

We didn’t invent this idea. Women’s clubs across this country built libraries and important community infrastructure. Clubs and bars were safe havens for the LGBTQ community. It’s why the corner bar, the bodega, the barbershop have always mattered more than they got credit for. We're just picking up something that already works