At the beginning of this journey, we thought a simple profile of the Mark III would be an interesting, yet simple task to accomplish before our deadline. There will definitely be some articles and information on this place, we thought. I mean it is the oldest gay bar in Indiana. We were truly mistaken.

            Our initial research involved finding the same three news articles repeatedly, all of which stated different founding years of the bar and even names for who started the bar. Attempts to contact the Mark III through phone, email and social media were unsuccessful. When we were finally able to go on-site, the owner was able to answer very few of our questions and gave us the information of a local historian trying to uncover the same facts we were pursuing.

            After numerous attempts to contact this historian, he finally told us that he couldn’t find any information either and was stuck at the same place we were. This was beginning to seem hopeless.

            We tried to find different angles to frame this story and even strongly considered giving up and changing our story completely with less than a week to spare. It wasn’t until later that we realized that the Mark III is in its own time-capsule of sorts. Nationally, gay bars have a reputation of rebellion and pride. The Mark III though, placed in a small college town in conservative Indiana, has had no reason to grow.

            The bar’s neighbors, Kyle and Brandon Mundell, are owners of Toys Forever. While they didn’t know much about the Mark III’s history, such as the original location, they do agree that there hasn’t been any significant disruption at the bar’s current location and believe that the atmosphere of the town has had a pretty neutral response to the LGBTQ community.

Avery Unate, a Ball State student and drag performer, says that the bar creates a safe space and is a place to have fun without judgement.

            While the history and impact of the Mark III contradicts the significance of more notable gay bars, they all still serve the same purpose; to create a safe haven for a marginalized people.