12/09/2025
Like the 1996 film The Birdcage, in which a Gay couple running a Q***r club must hide their q***rness to appease their conservative in-laws, the former employees of Jake’s on 4th in Olympia reportedly found themselves in a similar predicament with the bar’s ownership.
When it reopened in July 2025 after being closed for multiple years, not much was known about the new owners who decided to take over the beloved, historically Q***r establishment. But after a Halloween night drag show gone awry — one in a long line of grievances from staff — new information has been revealed.
Multiple Q***r employees have since quit, due to alleged mismanagement and exploitation. Charles Burk, Arthur Gottlieb, Nicole Swigert, and Chad Swaney have all since come out publicly to share their side of the story on social media, which has been creating LGBTQIA+ community pressure on the establishment.
On November 10, a post by the owners of the Jake’s on 4th Instagram account responded to the mounting criticism.
“We will not tolerate negativity inside of Jake’s nor on our social media platforms,” the post stated. Dismissing the claims made by its former employees, the bar also wrote, “We’ve been under attack recently, threats, organized negative campaigning, lies, twisted stories.”
Taking it a step further, the owners also stated that “we are pursuing the perpetrators to the full extent of the law.”
On November 29, Gottlieb told the SGN that a Le***an bar patron was assaulted and called homophobic slurs while trying to enter the establishment. He also said this patron has since filed a police report, further heightening concerns that the bar that was once known as a safe space for LGBTQIA+ people no longer is.
It had remained publicly unknown who these new owners of Jake’s on 4th were — until now. Here is the story of how Matt Acker, Paul Gallagher, and Adam Lukomski came to run a local Gay bar — and decided to push their drag and Q***r staff out, according to testimony of former employees.
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Like the 1996 film The Birdcage, in which a Gay couple running a Q***r club must hide their q***rness to appease their conservative in-laws, the former employees of Jake’s on 4th in Olympia reportedly found themselves in a similar predicament with the bar’s ownership. When it reopened in July 20...
