A beloved women’s and LGBTQIA+ sports bar that was the first of its kind in Philadelphia is bound to be closed down following this weekend, after it had just opened last year in September, with its owner, Chivonn Anderson, being a colored queer person herself.

“It is with heavy hearts that we have decided to close Marsha’s doors for good,” The bar in wrote in a joint post by Anderson. “We have loved serving this community, and still believe that more than ever this city needs more women/queer/BIPOC- owned businesses. We sincerely hope that someone is able to step up and fill this void.”

The sports bar also announced the final dates when the bar will be open to all to enjoy the last moments of the building. The dates are Friday, October 16, Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18, marking the “last hurrah” for the regular customers and supporters of the sports bar.

But why has Anderson taken such a decision after the bar had a great start in Philadelphia? The reasoning lies within the bar itself, particularly with the former employees of the bar.

Former manager and bartender, Olivia Rhodes, accused Anderson and the bar of “participating in or perpetuating transphobia, misogyny, and retaliation,” as per the Philadelphia Gay News. Later, the bar fired Rhodes for unknown reasons.

As her social media posts went viral, many event partners like Sapphic Struggle, Mouth of Rain, and The Main Event Philly also showed support. Later, another former employee, Seisha Mason, who is a biracial bisexual woman receiving cancer treatment, filed a complaint with Philadelphia’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying that she was fired abruptly on April 12, 2026.

The bar declined any of Rhodes’ claims, citing Rhodes’ firing, with her not being able to improve her managerial duties. However, Rhodes stands by the gesture that the firing was done due to her complaints about the Marsha’s culture. After this, the bar also handled the Mason case. Meanwhile, Anderson said that the claims about the sports bar culture “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

But the story didn’t end there. One Reddit user, who claimed to be an employee of the bar, said that there were earlier issues with money handling in the business, with salary issues being among them. Though the bar stated that the staff has been paid up to date, and that “there was never any wage theft, and all paperwork has been shared with Philadelphia’s Department of Labor.”

Another Reddit user named JosieGodzilla then went ahead and shared that general manager Rylan Murphy, a white trans man, was a “hothead” who was known to get furious at employees, and said that the bar needed more men. He later resigned from the position.

These are the reported multiple problems that led to the current decision of the bar closing down in a few days. Though it went downhill, what were the intentions of Anderson when she first thought of this idea?

Anderson started the sports bar, ‘Marsha’s,’ with the motto of being a safe place where people from different communities could watch sports and be entertained together. This idea didn’t come to her mind randomly, but was sparked when she went to a straight sports bar and was refused by a male bartender when she asked to switch to the 2019 Women’s World Cup.

After she won the Best Small Business Leader Award for her work as Director of Development at Redcrest Kitchen, she opened the sports bar, according to Curve magazine, with the name being a tribute to Marsha P. Johnson, “the iconic Black transgender activist and trailblazer,” who was pivotal in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

After a year and a month, the same women’s sports bar that opened to inspire millions is closing down with disappointment and burying numerous controversies with it.