In 1968, a year before the historic Stonewall Riots in New York City, Roland Labbe opened Portland’s first gay bar: Roland’s Tavern. Labbe had left Lewiston, Maine, a decade before and had experienced gay nightlife in California and New York. “I had seen the nightclubs they had in there,” he said, “and I thought, you know what? Portland needs a gay bar.”

With a little financial backing from friends in New York, Labbe bought a building on the corner of Forest and Cumberland in the Bayside neighborhood decimated by so-called urban renewal. “The building was a dump when I bought it,” Labbe recalls. “It had been closed up for quite a few years. Renovating it kept me busy.”

At least the building was cheap, out of the way, and only a ten-minute walk from the cruising grounds of Deering Oaks Park.

The condition of the building was only the first challenge Labbe faced. The City of Portland, which was unenthusiastic about the prospect of a gay bar opening in town, refused to issue a license for dancing. Labbe was undeterred. “I thought, ‘the hell with it. We’re going to dance anyway. I knew we had to take that chance; people wanted to dance. But if somebody came in the bar that we didn’t know, we’d snap on a red light.” Penny Rich, who frequented Roland’s, explains “when the light went on in the back room, you had to stop dancing immediately, put the tables together, and sit down. That meant the police were coming in.” Because police were a threat, not a resource, Labbe and his bar patrons had to deal with homophobic violence on their own. One night, Roland Labbe recalls, five men started smashing up the bar: “We couldn’t call the police. We just couldn’t. So instead we beat the shit out of them and threw them out on the street. ‘Now go home and tell your wives you got kicked out of a gay bar and the faggots beat you up.’ Unfortunately, that was about the time the police showed up, and I had a bat in my hand. So who got arrested? I did. But I fought it and won.”

Labbe was assaulted on more than one occasion; once he was cornered outside the building and had five of his ribs broken. In another attack, Labbe had a brick thrown in his face and suffered 22 facial fractures. “I had my rough times,” he acknowledged, “But I got every one of the sons of bitches. I brought every one of them to court, and I won every time.”

Patrons were also concerned about being seen going into a gay bar not only because of an understandable fear of queer bashing but also because there were no civil rights protections for queer people in Maine. It was perfectly legal to fire someone or evict them from their apartment if it was known they were gay. One patron reported, “You’d pause in the shadows at the corner of Cumberland Avenue, waiting for the light to change, hoping against hope that no one in the cars on the street would recognize you. Then, as the light changed, you’d make a dash for the opposite side of the street. Up five narrow steps of the building, and through the heavy wooden doors.”

Despite the risks, Roland’s Tavern was packed from the moment it opened. That first night, Roland remembers, “we were way over capacity. I had my brothers-in-law helping me behind the bar and my sisters waiting on tables. It was a whole family affair because I couldn’t afford to pay anyone. We were mobbed.”

In 1977, just a block from Roland’s Tavern, Labbe opened a second venue, a discotheque called The Phoenix at 83 Oak St. Some nights, the block became a little gay area with street traffic between the two bars. But in 1980, an electrical fire destroyed the Phoenix and, a year later, in 1981, Roland’s Tavern, too, burned to the ground in an arson attack perpetrated by a gay man who had been turned away for being too drunk. For 13 years, the bar was a popular destination even as other gay bars began to open in Portland.

Sources

Bauman, John (12-1-2010) Model Cities, Housing, and Renewal Policy in Portland, Maine: 1965-1974. In Maine History Volume 45, Number 3.

Chapkis, Wendy, “Labbe, Roland” (2022). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 91. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/91

Cornwall, Benjamin, “Elias, Richard” (2018). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 46. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/46

Cruger, Doug. Roland’s Tavern Is Remembered. “Our Paper 12/1983” (1983). Our Paper (1983-1992). 9. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/our_paper_sac/91

Derbyshire, Joe. Risen from the ashes; the Phoenix opens in Portland. Mainely Gay, Vol.4, No.04: 20 (1977). April. Mainely Gay (1978-1980). 4. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/meg/4

Sturchio, Bianca and Ossie, Johnna, “Rich, Penny” (2017). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 26. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/26

Winterfalcon, Madeleine, “Queer Talk, 06/15/2005” (2005). Queer Talk. 31. https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/wmpg_queertalk/31