Charlie's Phoenix — Restaurant in Phoenix

I came here with a few good friends while visiting town, and I had never been here before. I haven't been back to Tempe in 3 years, after spending 5 years here getting my master's. I usually have so much fun at gay bars. I love every other gay bar I've been to. I didn't expect to end up in tears by the time I left, despite only having two drinks beforehand.

Before we even decided to come to the bar, I was aware that women are charged a cover at the door. I thought it was a cool change of pace, and I was all for it. Ready to pay $10 to get into a gay bar and hangout with my gay friends. I'm excited.

I was going to order a round of drinks for me and a couple of my friends, so I went up to the bar. The bartender took a very long time to ask me what I wanted. I was standing at the bar for a while, there was a balloon in front of me, so I started poking it. I was bored. The bartender finally made eye contact with me, paused to allow me to tell him what I want, and I asked for the drinks. Immediately, he said, "I don't think I should serve you right now. I saw you playing with the balloon." I have no idea what that means. I told him, "I was bored. I have ADHD" because I do. I was peeved, a little upset, knowing that I didn't do anything wrong or disturb anyone. I get that my presence there is disturbing, but come on, I should be able to have a good time with my friends. I turned around and told my friends what happened, and they gladly supported me in not ordering from that area and moving on to another one. Everyone agreed that bartender did not deserve any tips.

We moved to another area of the bar, and I was starting to feel better after the unfortunate encounter I'd just had. My friends walked up to this other bar, ordered their drinks, received them, and paid for them. I walked up to the exact same location, and the bartender paused and said, "The end of the line is back there," and pointed towards the back of the giant crowd in the area. Right after all my friends just got their drinks. I have no idea why I was treated so poorly. I was not there to pester anyone, I sent and received positive vibes to and from every other person in the crowd. I enjoyed the music; I was there to dance. I had been having a great time before speaking to the employees. I did not deserve to be treated the way I was. I turned away from the bar, and I couldn't help but let tears stream down my face. I told my friends what happened exactly, and we all came to the same conclusion: we don't want to purchase any more drinks. We left right after that.

I have never experienced discrimination like this in my life, and I will never come here again. I would advise women to stay away. Men, if you like that type of vibe, the kind that excludes nice people who are simply trying to exist amongst friends/have a good time, then more power to you. I'll never support this establishment again. Coming here felt like moisturizing...

***PLEASE SHARE TO SPREAD AWARENESS ABOUT SAFETY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING !!!!! * MY COMMENTS ARE BEING DELETED BY Charlie's Phoenix!!!!!! THIS IS THE LARGEST GAY BAR IN AZ !!!!!

Thursday Nights at Charlie’s are known for their 2-4-1 drink specials, with this being said it gets very packed/busy. There was no security, bouncer, police, nothing. They only do this on the weekend. MY SAFETY WAS IN DANGER AT THIS BAR MULTIPLE TIMES THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT . I was first approached by a man who was telling me how beautiful I am, and he was being very sweet. I assumed he was gay, so I was taking all his compliments. By the way, I was waiting in line with my friends at the bathroom when he randomly approached us. Suddenly all of the compliments turned dark, and creepy. He told me that he bets “I’m good in bed” and to stick out my tongue. I immediately told him I felt uncomfortable and walked away. This man kept trying to yell and get my attention all night, but I saw him approach a different group of women doing the same thing, trying to get them to dance and take them home. My friend that is in drag has just told me after this happened, that active human traffickers come to this bar and that I need to be careful. So I was already on edge all night . (This is a gay bar owned by men, where mostly gay men go, so why is this man even approaching random women and trying to pull the same scheme with them all?) THIS ISNT EVEN THE WORST PART!!!

My friends and I were celebrating my birthday, so we had multiple drinks. I was trying to enjoy myself, but already felt like I was being watched by the first man. My friends wanted to go to the dance floor, so we did. There was hardly anyone dancing but us, 6 women. As I was dancing with my girlfriend, I look up and see a man BLATANTLY exposing himself/ pleasuring himself while staring at my friends and I !!!!! I have never reacted so fast! I WAS INFURIATED! He was so scared once he saw me yelling and approaching him , he said “I’m leaving, I’m leaving!” I only had the chance to shove him out the entire way out the club, until he ran out the door! THIS MAN GOT AWAY!!!! AND CHARLIES DID NOTHING ABOUT IT!!!!! ZERO SAFETY FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY, ZERO SAFETY FOR WOMEN!!!!!! I WILL NEVER BE COMING BACK TO THIS BAR !!!! PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND STAY WITH FRIENDS WHEN YOU ARE OUT ! ALWAYS BE AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS .

Charlie’s is worldwide in Mexico, Denver, Chicago, and LAS VEGAS!!!! The fact that they do not care about women’s safety or hire a bouncer on one of their nights where they have these drink deals is MIND BLOWING. THEY DIDNT DO A DAMN...

I have really mixed feelings about this place because the dancers are very sweet and there are a lot of friendly staff and I had a great time the first time I went but honestly I would stay away if you’re non-binary or trans and not fully passing. I had a really uncomfortable time last night and ended up leaving in tears. First off they have gendered pay at the door which seems weird to me in a place that advertises itself as queer friendly. “Women” pay and men don’t, and by “women” I mean anyone who the doorman perceives to be a woman. I saw another reviewer saying they were told “at the end of the day you’re either male or female” and while I didn’t hear those specific words the idea was the same.

Then later in the day I was in the mens bathroom which I’d used multiple times before with no problems (I’m non-binary and was already feeling very dysphoric after the front door situation) and one of the staff was in there like policing the place and telling anyone he thought looked like a woman to get out and go to the womens bathroom. I responded to tell him I wasn’t a woman and he legit pointed at the pay stamp on my hand like all the proof he needed was that the front door person also had determined I was a woman. I stood up for myself and said no and he walked away but it really crushed me inside.

A gay bar is the one place where I don’t expect to deal with these types of situations. I think the staff should be less concerned with one or two actual women who might use the mens restroom to avoid a line and more concerned with creating a positive space for the lgbt+ community as a whole. How much do I have to pass to not be harassed here? I hear others have had similar experiences and that breaks my heart. I cried to my boyfriend on the way home and aggressively scrubbed that stupid pay stamp off my hand.

I do want to say thank you to the sweet dancer who was so nice to us in the same bathroom and all the friendly patrons who kept the experience from being...