A counter, a small space set up for DJs who play the sound system, some benches, all that remains is what is essential for one last evening. In the heart of the lively Plaine neighborhood in Marseille, one of the oldest lesbian association bars in France, Aux 3G, will retire on October 5, after twenty-eight years of good and loyal service.
This bar was born in 1996 out of a need and a lack. “What we were looking for was the possibility of being among ourselves.” footprints of Sylvie Gaume, 63 years old, “old leftist activist”, how she defines herself. With three of his friends, Laurence Chanfreau, Dominique Lenfant and Agnès Royon-Lemée, they took over an old fruit warehouse. Everything has to be done, from the electricity to the concrete slab that is going to be poured.
The success was immediate, Aux 3G quickly became a place of life and exchange. They continue electoral evenings, debates of ideas, oenology workshops, concerts and white evenings for “Make stars like Eddie Barclay”, remembers Sylvie Gaume. Four times a year, a party creates an event. The highlight is undoubtedly the afternoon on the beach in July 1997, when one of the members working on the construction site managed to have 1 ton of sand delivered to him. On the dance floor, on the beach.
Its popularity crosses borders
This bar was also a space for social mixing, unusual at the time. “It allowed me to meet people from very different backgrounds” says Dominique Lenfant. “For example, we had a surgeon among our clients who systematically needed his whiskey. We sent her to order from nearby bars as we did not have a license for this alcohol and then she returned to our house. completes Agnès Royon-Lemée.
Keeping an eye on 3G, the four founders gradually left the board of directors in the early 2000s to pass the baton to new members. The teams follow one another while the counter expands. The bar’s popularity extends beyond the borders of Marseille. The girls come from Aix-en-Provence, Toulon, as well as from America, Australia and even Syria to have fun on Aux 3G.
But twenty years later, attendance is declining, membership is halving, and volunteers are becoming scarcer, especially since the structure can no longer pay anyone. On several occasions the bar threatened to close. “I understand that the founders are tired, but that they have not prepared a broadcast is surprising,” asks Anne Vial, an openly gay elected representative of Printemps Marseille, who remembers helping to glue egg cartons together to soundproof the premises in 1996.
You have 47.16% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
