April 26 2026, 08:15 
A once-beloved lesbian bar in Denver, Colorado – the only one in the city – has officially closed after a controversy surrounding donations to keep the establishment open.
Pearl co-owner Dom Garcia wrote on April 11 that they were blindsided by the bar’s first announcement that it was closing. “I didn’t approve this,” Garcia reportedly said on Instagram at the time. “I own 37.5% of the business. I am the main shareholder. I’m the founder of the business.”
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Garcia then launched a GoFundMe to save the bar without consulting bar staff or the co-owners who announced the closure. The fundraiser was a smashing success, raising over $83,000 in one weekend. But what started as a feel-good story of community support began to unravel into a messy controversy after a group of Pearl shift leads posted a lengthy letter about their lack of knowledge about the GoFundMe until it was too late.
“The vagueness of the allocation of funds as well as lack of an actual plan to get us through Pride were the exact reasons that we wanted to hold off until we knew where we stood as a business.”
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“The staff came together and decided unanimously that we could not in good conscience accept these GoFundMe funds with the likely chance of ending up in the exact same position in three months… We have reported the fundraiser as fraudulent and encourage you all to do so as well.”
The staff members cited mismanagement of funds, accountability issues, and a lack of trust between owners and staff as issues that had plagued the business, which had been open for only a little over a year.
“We want to formally apologize to the community for how this was handled and how everyone was taken advantage of… Hopefully, this outcry for BIPOC, trans, and sapphic safe spaces can wake up some other queer establishments and cause them to open their doors to these communities. So many folks are often overlooked, and these spaces should be easier to come by.”
Garcia reportedly denied allegations that the fundraiser was fraudulent but assured donors they would nonetheless be refunded and that the bar would indeed close.
“It’s not what I had envisioned when I opened the space,” Garcia said, according to Denverite. “I have had multiple people tell me that my own staff has mistreated members of our community, trans men saying that they’re not queer enough, they’re not lesbian enough, they’re not part of the community, that they aren’t welcome in the space. I’ll take the blame myself. I think me stepping back truly was the fall of the Pearl when I was there.”
Garcia had stepped away from their active role in the bar to take care of their mental health, leaving co-owners Jonathan Mora and Christy Rivera in charge, as well as the original co-founder, Ashlee Cassity.
When announcing the donations would be refunded, Garcia did acknowledge that the Pearl had been dug into a deep financial hole, and that even the $83,000 raised would not have kept the bar afloat for that long.
“I am ashamed of what has transpired in the recent week and think that needs to be discussed when we think of The Pearl’s memory as well as all the good this space has done for our community,” Maya Blasingame, who often patronized The Pearl, told PBS. “To those who have tarnished the memory of this location, karma always comes back around, and you should do everything you can to apologize to all the many people your actions have hurt.”
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