Remember the Main: The Gay Bar that Started a Movement in the Northland

The untold story of how a generation of LGBTQ Minnesotans found a voice, a purpose, and community in a Twin Ports bar.

When Bob Jansen was fired from his job as a professor at a religious university in Duluth, he didn’t go quietly. The resulting legal settlement provided enough capital for a down payment on a dream. In 1983 he opened the Main Club, which became a hub for LGBTQ social life in the Twin Ports and Iron Range of northern Minnesota. More than just a bar, the Main served as an unofficial center for health information, fundraising, and political activism during a crucial and transformative period of gay history.

Remember the Main tells the story of a generation who found their cause and their community at Jansen’s club. Their activism bridged the gap between the relatively closeted culture of the 1950s and the open advocacy of the 1990s and 2000s. Although the 1969 Stonewall riots are a well-known turning point in the fight for equality, Remember the Main draws attention to a less dramatic but significant, sustained regional effort. Weaving together oral history, biography, and social critique, Meg Gorzycki chronicles the highs and lows of the local fight for human rights, legal protection, and health care for LGBTQ Americans. 

Remember the Main is an engaging profile of a unique community and what its members did to improve lives through resilience, compassion, and belonging—with a few toasts along the way.

Meg Gorzycki is a historian, educator, community organizer, and author. She brought Bob Jansen’s insights to her work in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she developed LGBTQ support groups, counseling services, and curricula. She lives in Plymouth, Minnesota.