It might be the only bingo game in town where two grown women would toss their arms up in the air and smush their chests against each other for luck.
OUTrageous Bingo, sponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Pittsburgh, also is on the short list of social events for lesbians in Pittsburgh. Despite the Herculean efforts of GLCC board members to organize gay-friendly events, many of Pittsburgh's lesbians say the city has a long way to go before it has anything resembling a "scene."
"There is no lesbian scene," said Rowan Flamm, 38, of Penn Hills. The only lesbian bar she can think of -- CJ's in Dormont -- closed a few years ago, and nothing has taken its place, Flamm said.
Flamm thinks the bigger problem is that there's no gay neighborhood in Pittsburgh, unlike in other cities.
"People who live (in a gay neighborhood) support the businesses there, and they create a connected community. If we had that, it would go a long way," she said.
Despite Flamm's less-than-rosy perspective, the gay bingo night on the South Side earlier this month drew nearly 350 people, and was pretty evenly divided between lesbians and gay men. But the bingo night goes on hiatus during the summer, leaving gays and lesbians in search of other things to do on Saturday night.
Flamm's partner is GLCC vice-chairperson Kat Carrick. Carrick can rattle off a list of lesbian-specific events: Wilderness Women for outdoor activities; Women of Pride; lesbian potluck dinners (which she was organizing until recently); the bingo nights; and a Friday night youth group at GLCC.
"There are a core group of people who say they want to do things," Carrick said, "and we tend to be the ones to get things together."
Carrick said the gay scene in Pittsburgh is usually dominated by gay men. Often events for lesbians are something of an afterthought, like a lesbian night at a gay club.
The events organized by the GLCC tend to draw a lot of the same people, said Deb Campbell, 47, of Dormont.
"It's a very small community," Campbell said. "It's like there are six degrees of separation."
Yet Ehrrin Keenan, 34, of the North Side, said she's seen the lesbian community grow steadily over the past few years. She has a mailing list with about 400 people on it, and has organized, among other things, a lesbian dinner and a lesbian book club.
"When I came out, I did have a little trouble figuring out where to meet people," Keenan said. "So I just started doing stuff, getting things together on my own."
She said if someone sees a void in Pittsburgh's social scene, it doesn't take a lot to start something up. "There do seem to be a lot more resources for gay men, but if you seek them out, there are a lot of lesbians in Pittsburgh trying to organize things," Keenan said.
The next week's calendar has a slew of lesbian-themed events: a support group at Persad, a dinner at Gypsy Cafe, a dance party at Ava Lounge. And next month is one of GLCC's biggest events, Pittsburgh Three Rivers PrideFest 2007.
Sarah Claire, 20, organizes monthly Operation Sappho events -- old-school, record-spinning, thumping-beat dance parties-- at Ava Lounge in East Liberty. Claire said she found it difficult to get into established gay groups in Pittsburgh as a 20-something.
"It's predominantly a gay male scene, and not super welcoming to lesbians when it comes to gay bars," Claire said. "We wanted to create a place where people could come together and feel welcome."
Claire said the parties appeal not just to college-age women, but to women like her girlfriend, who is 10 years older than she is, and her mother, who's in her 40s. All can bring their partners and not worry about screaming over blaring, grungy music.
The event draws women from as far away as Morgantown, W.Va., and Cleveland, she said. The April Operation Sappho drew more than 200 people, men and women. The next dance party is tomorrow.
Helena Mica, 24, of Wilkinsburg, said she can't really describe where to meet other women in Pittsburgh "because I don't really know where to look." Mica came to Pittsburgh from Ithaca, N.Y., which, Mica said, has something of a reputation as a lesbian mecca -- it's home to the famed Common Ground gay and lesbian nightclub.
"I'm not really into the club scene," Mica said, as she marked her bingo squares at OUTrageous bingo. "It's hard to know where to get started in Pittsburgh, where to meet women."
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