Gay bar in rochester

The Bachelor Forum is the oldest queer owned and operated bar in Rochester, New York. As a landmark in the community and a safe vacuum for LGBTQ people in Rochester, the bar hosts lots of events throughout the year.

I grabbed.a chat with the owner, Peter Mohr, to debate his work at the Bachelor Forum over the years, and what we can expect for his new business.


Kyle Jackson: The Bachelor Forum is Rochester’s oldest owned and operated queer bar. How extended have you been with the business and what are some of your favorite experiences over the years.

Peter Mohr: I have been in the business for over 30 years. In the 90s, I worked at the Spike in NYC as a door person. (Yep, the 90’s) What a time! This was at the apex of the AIDS epidemic, so I saw and missing many, many friends. I have worked at many Rochester bars, including the Avenue Pub (which I just purchased) Muthers, Club Marcells, and the Bachelor Forum.  I’ve been here since 1999 and purchased the bar in 2008.

KJ: What types of events do you usually host at the Bachelor Forum? Anything interesting coming up?

PM: We have a lot of alternative event: 1st Satu

#ROARroc

About ROAR

Welcome to ROAR!
Roar was born in 2019 by DJ Mighty Mic and DeeDee Dubois along with the love and support of their husbands.
Our focus is creating a unique and safe place for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies.

With a fabulous drink menu and full kitchen featuring many homemade items, stop in for dinner on a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and do not fail to catch our happiest hours featuring $2 off drinks from 5-7PM.

We feature local drag talent every day but in diverse ways than a traditional performative bar would.
Something for everyone isn't just a tag line...
From trivia, karaoke, painting classes, spin classes, happiest hours, dinner shows, brunches, inhabit bands, and comedy to full club nights with two floors of dancing featuring local and guest DJ's and drag performers from across the country.

LGBTQ+

All are welcome in Rochester, NY! With a loaded history of civil rights, it shouldn't come as a shock that Rochester is among the most welcoming, LGBTQ-friendly metro areas in the U.S., previously ranked 11th in Advocate’s Gayest Cities in America list. It's also one of the most culturally abundant. Rochester has also previously received a flawless score of 100 from the Human Rights Campaign.

Tucked between Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes wine region, the tradition of dignity for all runs deep here. Susan B. Anthony's home, a National Historic Landmark, still stands in Rochester and is open to the common. Frederick Douglass established his abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, here. The first statue in the region honoring an African-American still stands in Highland Park. 

From locally-owned coffee shops and restaurants, to nightlife, art, culture, shopping and more, explore all that Rochester’s vibrant and diverse Queer community has to offer. 

Festivals & Events 

  • Rochester Pride: Held annually in July, signature Pride events including the Identity festival Parade, Pride Festival and the Lgbtq+ fest Picnic. Numerous
    Pamela Barres still remembers the freedom she felt walking into Rosie’s wearing lipstick and that red wig.

    Back then, Barres was a middle-aged married male with children and a job at Kodak by night, and a covert “cross-dresser” by evening eager for acceptance of her original self. She establish it at Rosie’s, a lesbian block on Monroe Street.

    “It was one of the not many places I could be totally me,” said Barres, now a 79-year-old transitioned woman. “I was very, very concealed most of my life. And I was afraid of anybody finding out.”

    More than 30 years has passed since those days, and Rosie’s, appreciate dozens of other gay bars in Rochester and hundreds across the region, has closed. Still, the rush of relief Barres experienced has not left her.

    “There was a lot of fear, but excitement at the similar time, and it felt so fine to go someplace and feel that I wasn’t going to be thrash up,” she said. “I wasn’t going to be screamed at or told how sick I was, or things like that, which we were all afraid of.”

    For decades, gay bars were among the scant places that lgbtq+ people could amass in relative guard. To their patrons, they were significant spaces for discovery and socializing with one’s people — and looki