Good legal advice

  

Langrock Sperry & Wool takes
PRIDE in contributing to the
advance in civil rights for gay

and lesbian citizens, and to
- making our state a better place
for all Vermonters.

Langrock Sperry & Wool offers the services of 22
lawyers with over 300 years combined experience in
all areas of the law including two lesbian
attorneys with special expertise serving the legal
needs of the g/l/b/t/q community

SUSAN MURRAY & BETH ROBINSON

With otlices in Middlebuiy and Burlington
Middlebury (802) 388-6356
Burlington (802) 864-0217
smurray@langrock.com brobinson@langrock.com

Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

can makeall the difference. 

 S|l1akin’l Your

Shouldn '1? your next vacation
be ua gov ..ettabl—e<?

   

ca‘ytAcrv“e run r “r

Bike in France, hike in the Alps -— or choose
frorn over 1.0 other cx<.'I'ting. outdoor vactiones.

  

Shooka Dookas

New Gay Bar Opens in Rutland

 

Bv EUAN BEAR

0 one would mistake Rutland
Nfor a particularly gay-friendly

town. But there it is, just on
the edge of downtown, Verrnont’s
newest gay bar: Shooka Dookas. Head
down Route 4, turn onto West St. Go
past Merchant’s Row, and look for a
small street on the left, called Evelyn
Street. If you ask directions, just ask
for where “Ollie’s” used to be.

The front-of-house propri-
etor is Brett Rousseau (and say it
“R00-so,” not like the famous French
philosopher). He’s a Verrnonter born
and bred. He and his three brothers,
including a twin, were raised by their
dad. “Yup,” he grins, “I’ve been cook-
ing meals and doing laundry since I
was 8 years old.” He graduated from
Otter Valley High and tried college in
Rhode Island before deciding it was
not for him.

He “knew” he was “differ-
ent” — well, gay —at a very early age,
he says. But “I only acknowledged it

recently.” Like two years ago, when

he turned 30. “I just decided that it
was time for me to live my own life.”
And that’s when he began studying on
how to open and run a successful gay
bar. You could say he came out with
all rainbow flags flying!

When I worked in Brandon,
I saw Brett every couple of weeks at
the Brandon National Bank, where he
still works days. And yes, this soft
guy with the wild neckties set off my
gaydar. But we never connected.
When I mention it, he says he
wouldn’t have known how to respond
back then.

Brett has no prior experi-
ence in running a bar — his back-
ground is in retail and banking. “But
I’ve been to a lot of bars...” His grin
takes the place of the rimshot he’d get
from a drummer onstage. “Seriously,
this town has needed a place like this
for a long time.”

He talks about opening the
bar as if it were almost a whim, a
fancy. “I always wanted to work in a
bar, so why not own one instead of
working for someone else?” But that

 

“I always wanted to
work in a bar, so why
not own one instead
of working for
someone else?"
Brett Rousseau,
co-owner of

Shooka Dookas

belies the two years of study and
work that went into the planning, the
permits, the figuring out whether there
were enough gays and lesbians in
Rutland and southern Addison coun-
ties to make the economics work. He
worked with Rutland’s economic
development office on a marketing
study that included checking census
reports and rooms and meals tax pro-
ceeds before he was reassured the
effort would be worth his while.

As for why Rutland, home
of some of the most conservative leg-
islators in the state bent on denying
recognition to gay and lesbian rela-
tionships, his answer is succinct:
“We’re here, get used to it. We’re
coming out of our closets.”

Shooka Dookas is a homey
neighborhood bar, unpretentious, no
flashing lights, no disco ball. I’m here
on what wil‘ in an hour or two be-
come Karaoke night — Thursday.
Friday nights are for dancing with a
DJ doing top-405. Saturdays are
“name” nights: the first Saturday is

 
  

women’s night, the second Saturday
for the leather crowd, third for sin- _
gles, and fourth for Bears.

It's too early in the evening
to tell what it will be like later — the
place doesn't fill up until after 10 pm
— but Brett says there’s usually a good
mix of women and men. Terry, the
woman tending bar, says she's kind of
“amazed” at the “age diversity,”
everyone from the barely legal to the
drinkers, dancers, singers, and pool
players in their 60s and 70s.

The front room is long and
narrow, with a blond bar taking up
one side and a pool table centered in
the rest. The back room is where the
music and dancing happens, or private
parties, from birthdays to wedding or
civil union receptions — after the place
gets its kitchen up and running.
“We’re waiting for an inspection for
our fire permit,” Brett explains.

That’s the only part of the
process that has not gone smoothly.
He submitted all his paperwork,
Rutland’s Board of Aldermen
reviewed the proposal, it was shifted
to a subcommittee, and the permit was
granted at the following meeting.
Brett says he identified the business
specifically as a gay bar right up
front. Shooka Dookas opened in May. ’

There was a rock thrown
through the bar’s window after a story
about it appeared in the Sunday on .
July 4th. But when Brett reported the
vandalism, the police told him that
several other non-gay businesses were
attacked the same night.

“Right now, we’re doing
pretty good,” said the proprietor. His
secrets for staying out of debt? “Save
a lot of money before you open.” Find
a partner to invest (his is a lesbian
named Terri Davis). Keep your day -
job. Lease the premises fiilly fur-
nished. “I keep my inventory low. I
can get almost anything I need within
a day, maybe two,” he adds.

' About that name: “A bunch
of friends and I were playing cards
and drinking, and then we all got up
to dance, except for one. He’s sitting
there on the couch and says, ‘Look at
you, all shakin’ your shooka
dookas!’”

‘ Meanwhile, Brett says, the
market is growing. “I gave myself six
months to a year to break even. I
guess I’m ahead of schedule.” Pretty
good for a guy who came out two
years ago.

And by the way, he’s

single. V