Interview with Jean Donohue

Partial Transcript: If you could, tell me a little bit about--um--growing up? Where's your hometown . . .

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about being from Louisville and getting married to her high school sweetheart. She talks about studying art history and being introduced to the underground art scene in Italy.

Keywords: Army Family; College; Underground

Subjects: United States. Army; Education; Marriage; High school; Counterculture; Italy; Art; Art history; Culture; Louisville (Ky.); Childhood; Early life

Partial Transcript: How old you have been when you first had a realization that LGBTQ people existed?

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about how she became aware of the gay community in high school. This realization was not sudden to her because she had a gay family member. Donohue also talks about gay men in the neighborhood that owned the pool she and her friends snuck into.

Keywords: Family; Realization; Pools; LGBTQ

Subjects: Childhood; Neighbors; Gays; Lesbians; Louisville (Ky.); High school; Teenagers

Partial Transcript: So--um--just to clarify, it sounds like you were in Lexington like maybe three times--uh--all sort of geared with going to UK.

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about her involvement in the art community after coming back from Europe. She discusses having gay friends from college. She also talks about her own sexuality as a straight woman.

Keywords: Art community; Study abroad; LGBTQ

Subjects: Art; Sexuality; Friendship; University of Kentucky; Identity; Lexington (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: How did you--uh--learn about The Country? What's your first memory of it?

Segment Synopsis: Donohue recalls how she found out about The Country and details the three times she went there. The first time she went with a friend from work. The second time was after a cabaret she held and the third was with a group of her friends.

Keywords: Cabaret; Dancing; Introduction; The Country; LGBTQ

Subjects: Lexington (Ky.); Lesbian bars; Nightlife

Partial Transcript: . . . It was really odd, like we went in . . . we drove you know, to Lane Allen Park and it was like this dark--darkened strip mall kind of place.

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about how The Country was in a darkened strip mall and not very attractive. She also mentions that it was referred to mostly as a women's bar but not many people outwardly talked about it.

Keywords: Discreet; Hidden; Women's Bars; LGBTQ; Strip malls

Subjects: Lesbian bars; Nightlife; Lexington (Ky.); Dark

Partial Transcript: And you also mentioned Brezing's . . . what was your perception of Brezing's?

Segment Synopsis: Donohue describes her perception of Brezing's. This includes how she knew the owner and a potential dress code for the bar.

Keywords: Bars; Brezing's (Lexington, Ky.); Owners

Subjects: Nightlife; Lexington (Ky.); Dress codes

Partial Transcript: . . . Like I think there needs to be sort of clarification with the location.

Segment Synopsis: Donohue describes the interior of The Country and how it was in the bowels of the strip mall. She says it was really gritty and bare bones.

Keywords: Bars; Gritty; Interior; The Country; Strip malls

Subjects: Design; Lexington (Ky.); Lesbian bars; Nightlife; Dark

Partial Transcript: . . . Any other places in Lexington that were sort of known as women's places . . .

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about how women would hang out at each other's homes. She also talks about how there were different divisions of lesbians in Lexington, which were somewhat based on social class. Donohue was around the more intellectual and artistic lesbians, but The Country seemed like an accepting place for everyone.

Keywords: Division; Friend Groups; LGBTQ; The Country

Subjects: Social classes; Home; Social; Lexington (Ky.); Lesbians; Friendship; Art; Intellectuals; Wealth; Income; Lesbian bars

Partial Transcript: Downtown was my world. You know . . . unless I went out in . . . the south side theatre . . . I didn't leave downtown.

Segment Synopsis: Donohue says that she did not go to The Country often because she mostly stayed downtown. This leads to a discussion on transportation issues in getting to The Country and how she mostly went to The Bungalow, which was located two blocks away from where she lived. Donohue preferred to go other places because The Country was too dark and it was difficult to talk to people there.

Keywords: The Bungalow; The Country; LGBTQ; Downtown

Subjects: Social; Nightlife; Lesbian bars; Transportation; Lexington (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: The lesbian women you were hanging out with tended to be artsy, activists, political. Where were they hanging out? Where would they go?

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about her lesbian friends and where they socialized. She also talks about the collective, living groups of women and her relationship with them.

Keywords: The Bungalow; The Collective; Women's Groups; LGBTQ

Subjects: Lesbians; Lexington (Ky.); Friendship; Social; Nightlife; Lesbian bars

Partial Transcript: . . . I left Lexington in--uh--'82 I think.

Segment Synopsis: Donohue talks about how she wasn't around when the Country closed and had wanted to put Lexington behind her.

Keywords: Closing; Moving; The Country

Subjects: Lexington (Ky.); Lesbian bars