LGBTQ-Owned Businesses in Nashville to Support in 2026

Nashville has two lesbian bars in our directory. Lesbian bars have closed across the country at a rate that makes every remaining one worth naming, so a city holding two is worth leading with: The Lipstick Lounge in East Nashville and Chapstick, a lesbian-owned sports bar.

Sixteen Nashville listings carry the LGBTQ-owned tag. Seven are bars, which is a real reflection of a city with an established Church Street scene, and the other nine run through comedy, photography, fine art, drag entertainment, a bakery, a restaurant, and three shops.

Quick answer

1. For a night out with history, The Lipstick Lounge in East Nashville, home to karaoke and drag.
2. For a lesbian-owned sports bar, Chapstick.
3. For drag brunch, Suzy Wong's House of Yum on Church Street.
4. For dancing, Play Dance Bar and Canvas.
5. For a bar with a kitchen, Tribe Nashville and Pecker's Bar & Grill.
6. For comedy and improv, Third Coast Comedy Club.
7. For a party on wheels, Big Drag Bus.
8. For pastries and coffee, D'Andrews Bakery & Cafe.
9. For shopping, Apple & Oak, Clifton + Leopold, and Music City Creative.
10. Our Nashville hub carries the full list.

Where should I go out?

Seven bars, and they are not interchangeable.

The Lipstick Lounge is the anchor and the only Featured listing in this category. It describes itself as Nashville's legendary lesbian-owned bar for humans, and it is built around karaoke, drag, and community in East Nashville. If you make one stop from this page, make it this one.

Chapstick is the other lesbian-owned room, and it is a sports bar, which is a genuinely different proposition from a nightclub and a rarer one.

On the Church Street side, Play Dance Bar is the nightclub, Canvas is the bar and lounge, and Trax is the neighborhood option. Tribe Nashville and Pecker's Bar & Grill both serve food alongside, so they work as an evening rather than a stop.

What is there to do that is not drinking?

This is the half of the list people miss.

Third Coast Comedy Club is a comedy club and improv theater, which makes it the one listing here you could take anyone to on a Tuesday.

Big Drag Bus runs drag entertainment as a tour, which is a Nashville format applied to a Nashville institution. Suzy Wong's House of Yum is chef Arnold Myint's Asian fusion restaurant on Church Street and the home of the city's original Drag'n Brunch. It carries a paid tier.

D'Andrews Bakery & Cafe covers the daytime version: pastries and coffee rather than a night out.

Who can I hire?

Two creative listings, and both are the kind of thing you book rather than visit.

Anthony Photography is an LGBTQ-owned photography business, which matters more than it might sound for anyone booking wedding or engagement photos and wanting to know in advance that the day will be handled well.

Ben Griffith Artist is a fine artist, so this is the listing to follow if you are buying work rather than commissioning a service.

Where should I shop?

Three shops, each doing something distinct.

Apple & Oak carries home goods and vintage rugs. Clifton + Leopold does menswear accessories. Music City Creative makes apparel and gifts, which makes it the practical stop if you want to take Nashville home with you and would rather it came from here than from a Broadway souvenir shop.

What is not on this list?

Everything you would hire a licensed professional for. There is no LGBTQ-owned attorney, accountant, financial adviser, physician, dentist, therapist, realtor, or contractor listed in Nashville in our directory.

That gap matters more in Tennessee than it would in most states. Someone searching for an LGBTQ-owned provider is often doing it because they want to know in advance how they will be treated, and right now this page cannot answer that for anything except a night out. Atlanta's equivalent guide lists a law firm, a therapist, and a realtor; Nashville lists none, and that is a difference in our records rather than in the two cities.

If you run an LGBTQ-owned practice in Nashville, you would be the first one listed in your category. Listings are free to add.

How is ownership determined?

Each listing shows a verification status. Publicly listed means ownership was recorded from a public source such as a chamber directory or the business's own description. Self identified means the owner told us directly. Certified means a third party verified it.

We never infer ownership from a name, a neighborhood, a rainbow flag, or a business's clientele. A gay bar is not automatically a gay-owned bar, and a business flying a pride flag has made a statement about welcome rather than about ownership. Those are different claims and this directory keeps them separate.

Nashville also has guides to its Black-owned, women-owned, and Latino-owned businesses.

Common mistakes

Treating the bar list as the whole scene. Seven of sixteen are bars. The comedy club, the drag bus, the bakery, the photographer, and the three shops are the rest of it.

Assuming a gay bar is gay-owned. Some are, some are not, and this directory only tags the ones with a source.

Confusing welcoming with owned. Both matter and they are tagged separately here.

Treating a tag as a certification. Ownership tags are sourced claims with a status attached. Formal LGBTBE certification through the NGLCC is separate and shown separately.

FAQ

Sources

• Business names, categories, cities, and ownership tags come from published Inclusivity.org listings with city = nashville, queried 2026-08-15. Counts reflect that snapshot.
• The Lipstick Lounge's description as Nashville's legendary lesbian-owned bar, and Suzy Wong's House of Yum as chef Arnold Myint's restaurant and home of the city's original Drag'n Brunch, are each business's own listing copy and are attributed rather than asserted independently.
• The national decline in the number of lesbian bars is well documented and is referenced in general terms only; no count is claimed for any city other than the two listings recorded here.