After a Year of Controversy, Philadelphia’s Queer Women’s Sports Bar Marsha’s Closes

After months of controversy, Martha’s, a queer women’s sports bar in Philadelphia, announced on Thursday in an Instagram post that it will close its doors this weekend after roughly a year in operation. “It is with heavy hearts that we have decided to close Marsha’s doors for good,” the post reads. “We have loved serving this community, and still believe that more than ever this city needs more women/queer/BIPOC- owned businesses. We sincerely hope that someone is able to step up and fill this void.” See on Instagram The post encouraged patrons to come out for “one last hurrah” before they shut down on Sunday. Comments on the post were closed.In April, after being open for just over half a year, Marsha’s faced an online firestorm of controversy after an employee took to social media to accuse the bar’s general manager at the time, Rylan Murphy, of creating a hostile work environment for female employees and employees of color. Olivia Rhodes, a Black trans employee who made the claims, said that Murphy made a comment about women and nonbinary employees being “overly emotional” and should be replaced with men, as the bar needed “more testosterone.” Rhodes also claimed that Murphy yelled at her when she approached him about lack of representation on staff and alleged that she was fired a week later despite having been told she “exceeds expectations” at her employee review. Rhodes later told Philadelphia Gay News that bar owner Chivonn Anderson called the police on her when she asked why she was terminated. Though she left the bar before police arrived, the bar allegedly called police on her again when she returned the next day to protest her firing. Another former employer, Seisha Mason, also told PGN that she had filed a complaint against the bar with the city's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was abruptly let go just five days before Rhodes. Following these allegations, Anderson released a video statement saying tha