Uplift & its Mission: A Chat with the Founder of Ann Arbor’s Only Queer Bar

Padma (she/her)

Uplift is currently Ann Arbor’s only full time dedicated queer bar focusing on creating community and celebrating queer and trans voices! The bar just opened up in Fall 2024 and it does more than just catering to a queer audience; it genuinely cares about uplifting! Their walls and screens are covered in pride flags. They not only have events for nightlife, but also have spaces created for discussions among queer professionals and grad students. ​

Photo Courtesy of MLive.

​If you’re tired of Necto’s gay pride nights and want to find another fun space for queer folks to connect and have fun, try Uplift. Every day of the week has a different vibe. Tuesday-Thursday are activities, and Friday-Saturday are more lively nights. Saturdays in particular have various themes within the LGBTQ+ community. For example, every second Saturday of the month is “Sapphic Saturday” for WLW to connect with others. 

I myself have had a lot of fun going to Uplift. When I went, I felt a warm vibe from the folks around and was in a safe space to be myself. Everyone was extremely friendly and I enjoyed hanging out and dancing judgement-free. ​

I also had the opportunity to discuss Uplift with one of the founders and co-owners, Saharsh Hajela, who brings up challenges with setting up the place and what it means to have this space in Ann Arbor. 

On its Creation:
Hajela is now one of the co-owners of Uplift, meaning he has to “wear many hats” in terms of his role there, such as “budgeting, coordination, [and] leadership” but he mainly works on Uplift’s programming. Hajela started by running queer nightlife events. It was because of these events that a friend reached out about setting up a bar. The seriousness was unclear at first; his friend and him were playing “co-owner tag, where we both thought the other was joking” until Uplift started taking shape with actual art and programming. When asked about the biggest challenge in setting up Uplift, Hajela replies it is, “the number of hours in a day.” Both economically and socially, there is a lot to do, and unfortunately, “every resource is finite. Being the only full time dedicated queer space in the area, there are a lot of expectations put on us.” Hajela points out, “there is a difference between being a gay bar and being a queer bar, and we’re a queer bar.” This means that there is a large community to serve, and they need to not just “say that we’re queer, but be queer, in our team, in our programming, and in our message.” This is a challenge because all members of the LGBTQ+ community need their time to be celebrated, though there is a limited amount of time, money, and space that can be put towards events, and tough decisions need to be made. 

On The Mission:
Hajela explains that part of their mission is, “to make sure people feel heard, and people feel seen” and despite the constraints, the team works hard to make sure the needs of the community are met as soon as possible. Uplift should be a place where “everybody walks in and they don’t [just] feel safe, they don’t [just] feel tolerated, they feel prioritized and celebrated for what makes them different.” They also focus on doing community-driven events, such as working with the “Sapphic Squad” Brooke and Faith, queer inclusive sports orgs, and another queer nightlife organization, Queer Utopia. Uplift wants to “let the community be the driver, rather than guessing.” When asked about the most rewarding part of being a co-owner, Hajela replied, “There are two really rewarding parts to being a co-owner. The first is actually meeting people outside Ann Arbor who come in…  Living in Ann Arbor there is a baseline level of respect most queer people can receive. That really is not the case in a lot of our neighboring counties, and it has been really transformative to see how many people come from a town that has no semblance of a queer space… they come to Ann Arbor and it changes their whole day, their whole week, their whole month.” The other, he says, is working with his team. A lot of people in his team are in the queer community, and it's rewarding to see “how they flourish” in an environment where they can be themselves. After the first day they closed, on October 30th, the team enjoyed discussing what went well, and it was clear that they saw creating Uplift as “more than a job.” He comments that it's especially important now, in a time where people are attempting to “take down the pride flag.” 

On Learning:
Hajela spoke about his experiences running queer nightlife events in Ann Arbor before Uplift, and what his takeaways from those events were. He learned that, “people will always remember the vibe more than any specific detail… and every guest is important.” Because of this, he focuses on Uplift being a place where people can chat and connect. He has also incorporated aspects of his tech experience in running Uplift. He has learned, “how to be scrappy, and how to not let perfect be the enemy of good.” Hajela has learned that even if the events cannot be absolutely perfect, it is extremely important to still create them, and to not, “hurt people that are already hurting.” He has also taken his creativity and people skills to his technical career, and talks about the importance of having “creatives in STEM.” As a UofM alum, Hajela also speaks on a lesson he wishes was talked about more, which is that “what you’re building doesn’t matter unless you’re building it for someone.” He highlights the idea of building something that can solve a problem that not just you’re having, but that someone else is having, which translates to Uplift. He explains that what he may be looking for, as a gay Indian man, will be different for others at Uplift, and they need to find a way to serve everybody. Part of that is being open to criticism and feedback, which they embrace to create “Uplift 2.0.” The team is constantly looking to grow rather than stagnate. 

On Intersectionality:
We also spoke about having the intersectional identity of being queer and Indian. An aspect of this, is that there may be hesitancy to discuss homophobia in the Indian community, which needs to be discussed and worked on. Many aspects of the Hindu community in particular actually embrace LQBTQ+ themes, which should be celebrated. He explains, “the more that queer Indian people become visible and become loud about both of our identities, and the intersection between our identities, the more that both communities will grow and become accepting.” Hajela believes that, queer POC people will benefit from this, but also that we can normalize the queer identity in the Indian community, for example. He also explains the challenge of being a second-generation immigrant, many of whom struggle to speak their native tongue. This is an opportunity for growth and connection with his culture, and in doing so anti-queer sentiments can be acknowledged. More broadly, there are struggles with being a queer POC; Hajela mentions seeing the “white standard of beauty [present in] the midwest, especially Ann Arbor.” Knowing all of this, he explains that Uplift is meant to be a place to celebrate a unique identity, like with Sapphic Saturday, but it should also be a place where identity is less important. Uplift is a place to connect on what “brings us together, rather than what separates us” because, at the end of the day, “if every queer person is not enjoying a queer space, then it’s not a queer space.” 

A huge thank you to Saharsh for sitting down and chatting with me! On behalf of The Michigan Gayly, we thank you for taking time to chat with us and creating a queer friendly bar accessible to students.

If you’re ever in downtown Ann Arbor and want a fun place to chat and meet new people, check out Uplift! Also be sure to try one of their drag brunches, they happen every other Sunday from 12-3pm! There are 2 this month: March 9th and March 23rd.