Happy Pride Month!
This seems like the perfect time to talk about when I went to Cozumel’s recently opened and only gay bar! On New Year’s Eve, the two women staying across from me at my lodging told me that Pose bar just opened 3 months earlier. I vowed right then that I would go check it out before leaving Cozumel.
That’s exactly what I did. I went to Pose on my last night before leaving Cozumel. Ellen, Tori, and I traveled there together by taxi. We arrived in time to catch the main event—a drag show featuring Ru Paul’s Drag Race star Elliott with 2 T’s and another Vegas-based drag queen named Rocky Tacoma.
The booze flowed, the snacks ate, and the talent kept us laughing and singing along for hours. After the show ended, we danced with local queers and tourists alike. It was an awesome night out at Cozumel San Miguel’s main tourist area.
Introducing Ellen and Tori
I met Ellen and Tori because they were staying in the suite right across from mine at the same host’s place in San Miguel. I didn’t know if they were a couple at first but after speaking to them, they soon shared their story of how they met.
I learned that Ellen used to work at a gym in Oregon where Tori was a client. Eventually, they hit it off and a year later they were engaged.
When I met them, they had been traveling for over a year together. They just came from Belize and were now staying a month in Cozumel.
Ellen sought a lifestyle in which they could travel and make a passive income. They do so by owning several rental properties around Oregon. They are able to manage them from afar, but do sometimes return home to do work on the spaces from time to time.
Regardless, they are able to travel nonstop and live a semi-nomadic life on the road. They see friends and family mainly by inviting them to stay for a few days with them when they have the space to do so in the various places they visit. In fact, after our night out together they invited me to join them at one of their next stays in Mexico—but more on that later! ;)
Pose Bar
I first walked by Pose Bar with Creg on New Years Eve. As we did, a guy standing out front very clearly had eyes for Creg. We mostly shrugged it off until later Ellen and Tori mentioned they had a drag show there. “Ahhh, it’s a gay bar!” and it had just opened 3 months earlier. Who knew?!
Taking a look at their website, I saw they were having more drag later that week.
I had already made a mental note to return to check it out because it looked cool from the outside. I’m a sucker for lounge-type venues with good music and even better lighting. Pose appeared to have both. From what I could tell, it was unlike any other tourist restaurant or bar along the main pedestrian strip in San Miguel.
The place has two stories. The upstairs is lofted, overlooking the stage below. There’s tons of seating and a bar in the back of the first floor. We went upstairs for an unobscured view of the stage. It felt like we had the best seats in the house! Ellen and Tori ordered charcuterie snacks and we all got drinks to kick off the night.
Eventually, the first drag act came out onto the stage—our host, Elliott with 2 T’s.
Confession: I’d never heard of Elliott before this moment. I am not a big Ru Paul’s Drag Race watcher. Call me the unconventional queer, but I was never drawn into the first few seasons of Drag Race when it debuted in 2009. I suppose, as a former drag king performer and someone who was studying drag kings at that time in graduate school, I was a bit “over” drag queens and the drag scene in general. I wasn’t so into reality television or game shows either—so it was a pass for me!
Live drag is a whole other story, though. And live drag on a tiny island in Mexico??? I was absolutely enthralled by this.
Not to mention, this bar did not shy away from the gay. It was not trying to be a discrete gay bar—nah. The rainbows and queer messaging were everywhere inside! Once again, I was amazed by Mexico’s acceptance of LGBTQ culture.
I absolutely love that this bar, the first in Cozumel, also embraces the name Pose—after the acclaimed FX show that focuses on the queer, subcultural Ballroom community in the late 80s and early 90s. As a part of modern day Ballroom myself, this was just the cherry on top of the experience at Pose.
The Performances
There were multiple sets from both Elliott with 2 T’s and her friend, Rocky Tacoma. Both mainly perform in Las Vegas. They did several songs each—lots of well known classics. In between were go-go dancers and, of course, several outfit changes. They even ended with a duet.
Here was what I caught of the set list:
D-Sol’s “Rescue Me”
Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block”
Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”
Rhianna’s “Kiss It Better”
The Cardigan’s “Lovefoot”
Pras’ “Ghetto Supastar”
Spice Girls’ “Wannabe”
Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” (duet)
Doja Cat’s “Woman”
Madonna’s “Vogue”
Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby”
With a short intermission, the show lasted about 2 hours.
Below, you can watch a mashup I put together of their performances.
After The Show
A dance party ensued once the show ended. But eventually, another act came out onto the stage. A local Cozumel drag queen named Rebecca Wonder started singing in Spanish. She covered lots of popular Mexican music. The crowd was singing along and eating it up!
Ellen, Tori, and I stayed until about 12:30AM and then headed back to our accommodation.
LGBTQ Acceptance In Mexico
Overall, I really enjoyed this entire experience at Pose Bar. It was such a surprise to find a gay bar on this tiny island in Mexico, of all places. It made me, as a queer person, feel suddenly seen and supported by a culture I only assumed was quite religious and conservative.
To be real, though, Mexican culture is still both these things. Acceptance of transgender and other queer people is still a taboo subject and LGBTQ people in general are regularly attacked. In fact, there were several news reports from the first few weeks of 2024 in which at least 3 transgender people were murdered in Mexico, including one of the first out trans politicians, Samantha Gómez Fonseca.
While Pose Bar exists and may be a sign of times evolving in Mexico from where it once was, the country has a long way to go, like so many other places around the world including in the U.S.
