Whether you identify as a lesbian, a bi woman, pan, poly or ace, non-binary or trans, whether you’ve just turned 20 or reached 90, make sure to check out Hinsegin Ladies Night, a new queer women only events in Iceland. A huge group of women showed up for the first event and the next one takes place on Wednesday, July 17th.
Ástrós Erla Benediktsdóttir, the 28-years old make-up artist and social worker behind Hinsegin Ladies Night, tells us more about the project’s origin and goals. ”We want all women to feel welcome, wherever they stand on the gender and sexuality spectrums, whether single or in a relationship, looking for friends or a good time,” she starts telling GayIceland.
”We‘re going to start the event a bit earlier than before and have a pub crawl.”
In fact, Ástrós spent two months, along with three friends, reaching out to multiple queer organizations to make sure no community flies under the radar: Including the national queer organisation Samtökin´78, Hinseginleikinn, Reykjavík Pride, Pink Iceland, Trans Iceland, Q the queer student association, the group for Poly amorous people, Dívugleði and the Bi/Pan group.
Asked how the idea behind Hinsegin Ladies Night’s started Ástrós says it all began with a date. Three months ago, she met, for the first time, a girl she had matched with on Tinder. During the conversation, she told the girl that she had just spent two weeks in New York and attended at least four queer women-only events, while she couldn’t find even one in four or five years in Reykjavik. When she later mentioned that her cousin, who works at a bar in Reykjavík called Miami Bar, had asked her to come up with a concept for an event there, her date naturally suggested that she should seize this opportunity to bring queer women-only events back to life in Iceland.
The idea took root and Ástrós gathered around her three other driven women (including her then-Tinder date!) and, after two frantic months of hard work, the concept became an event, Hinsegin Ladies Nights, first of which was held on a Wednesday several weeks ago at Miami Bar and was a roaring success.
A group of over 120 women (!) showed up at the ‘80s pastel-and-neon decor of the bar and where greeted by unique, custom-made cocktails, DJs, and casual chat with Ingileif and María Rut, the women behind Hinseginleikinn, a snapchat that focuses on queer people in Iceland. ”We were really, really happy with the outcome.”
Shey says that they plan to keep on throwing a party at least once a month every month. Next editions of Hinsegin Ladies Night are for example scheduled on the forthcoming July 17 and then on August 14 during Reykjavik Pride and then once a month after that.
Asked what’s in store for the ladies on Wednesday, next week she says its going to be a night to remember.
”We‘re going to start the event a bit earlier than before and have a pub crawl. We will be starting at Luna Florens, located at Grandagarður 25, which is a Holistic Gypsy Bar & Boutique. There we will have magical cocktails and some wishing stones.
Our next stop will be Curious, which is a newly opened gay café/ bar/ club, located at Hafnarstræti 4.
And our final stop will be at Miami Bar. There our host Alda Karen will greet us; she’s prepared some entertainment / stand up for us: Fanney – Astrology will talk about zodiac signs and love, DJ Sunna Ben will kick start the party and keep it going untill the place closes (1 AM) and there will be a cocktail (available with alcohol or as a virgin cocktail) specially crafted by Luna Flórens on offer all night, as well as happy hour prices on draft beers and house wines.
There will be a limited amount of pre-drinks and gift bags from Luna Flórens so we recommend coming earlier rather than later,” she says and and adds that because they want to have the upcoming events on a larger scale and get f.e. more entertainments/performences the prices will go up from last time and start with 2500ISK for the next event.
”We look really forward to seeing and partying with you all.”
Ástrós underlins that this event is or all queer women/gender queer/ non-binary or however they choose to define themselves; lesbian, bi/pan, polyamorous, trans, intersex , asexual etc. She would also like to add that at Miami Bar there is good access for wheelchairs and the bathrooms are non-binary.
”We just look really forward to seeing and partying with you all,” she says and adds that those who are interested can follow Hinsegin Ladies Nights on Facebook and Instagram.
Photos: Krista Björk Kristjáns