“It was awesome to have hundreds of women in the room.” Inspired, Bouffard worked to eventually open her own lesbian-focused establishments.
The bar was way over capacity,” Bouffard says. “When Ellen DeGeneres came out, we had a watch party. But while mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms, Bouffard-whose parents kicked her out at 16 after she revealed she was gay-found family. In 1996, Jody Bouffard started working at a Denver lesbian nightclub called the Elle to save money for pharmacy school.