In memoriam: Cheri Becker (1958-2026)

"Gay people need bars. Everybody does. Where else can we go to make friends?"

For over a decade, Cheri Becker created Madison spaces that welcomed, celebrated, and embraced the growing LGBTQ community.  

Sadly, Cheri passed away on January 10, 2026 at the age of 68.

While there will be no formal visitation and no funeral services, we wanted to celebrate a bold and pioneering woman who made Madison a better place for us to live, work, play and love.

Cheri always said she moved to Madison to be closer to her mother, Bonnie. She quickly became part of the emerging Madison gay nightlife scene, and over time, she became a matriarch of the local community.

"My memories of Cheri Becker began at Going My Way in the late 70s," said B.J. Daniels. "She was the only person that I knew who could do the pop-and-lock dance moves. I'd never seen anyone dance like that. She was a hoot-and-a-half! She had a really booming loud voice and a really funny loud laugh. I'll never forget meeting her for the first time. She was one of my first lesbian friends."

Back East (1984-1990)

After working at UniRoyal Tire in Stoughton and several Madison bars and restaurants, Cheri saved up enough money to open a bar of her own.

After the Gay Rights Law passed in 1982, and the Consenting Adults Law decriminalized homosexuality in 1983, Madison was widely perceived as one of the best cities in America for gay and lesbian people.

In 1984, Cheri opened Back East (508 E. Wilson St.) with her partner Ruth Sigel.  Back East was located in a bustling nightlife block near the popular O'Cayz Corral.  The space was previously occupied by Emily's, a lesbian bar that lasted only one year.

On July 23, 1985, the bar hosted the 219 Girls, including B.J. Daniels, Holly Brown, and Ginger Spice.  The bar oversold reservations far beyond its 150-person capacity to support the Madison AIDS Support Network.

"Madison has never seen anything like this before," Cheri told the Capital Times. "This is a thrilling production with Vegas-style professionalism, outrageous costumes, and over a dozen impressions of female stars.  I've never seen drag like this before."

Sunny Schubert, a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal, visited Back East in February 1987.

"I'd heard Back East was a lesbian bar, and I envisioned something like Lysistrata... (but) Back East confounded all my stereotypes. It is not just a lesbian bar, but a mixed bar where gay men and women socialize together. Back East has an ambience that's hard to find in straight bars. It's the kind of low-key tavern where men and women of either sexual preference can go to socialize without being hassled or hustled by anyone -- as long as they have no fear or dislike of gays," she wrote. 

Doug Fletsch, bartender at Back East, shared a funny story with the Journal.

"Whenever a certain cabdriver would get out-of-town businessmen in his cab, he'd ask them if they wanted to go to a bar with a lot of girls, and then bring them to Back East," he said. "The joke quickly got old."

Cheri attended Rodney Scheel's Birthday Roast in June 1987, reported in a Rod's News article:

"Cheri Becker was there, with a bottle of root beer Schnapps that she proceeded to pour down his throat. She then let us in on the dirt:  'Last year, I gave him a peni senlarger, but it didn't work. I still had to use a microscope."

Club 3054 (aka Back East II, 1989-1994)

After five successful years on Wilson Street, Cheri relocated to 3054 W. Washington Avenue, which was briefly known as "Back East II."

However, InStep Magazine reported in February 1990 that the business was now Club 3054.

"Cheri and her staff have moved to a cavernous space that has separate rooms for the main bar, big-screen TV, game room, pool room, and dance hall with its own service bar.... Cheri is already outlining plans to carve out a basement Leather/Levi bar.  You'll find a nice mixture of both men and woman, and the bar opens at noon seven days a week with lots of specials."

Club 3054 enjoyed four solid years of steady business.  The notorious basement Leather/Levi bar, later known as "Wings," became a regional destination. Customers remember walking through a bright, perfume-filled dance club to get to the dark, sexually charged scene downstairs, where they were offered a plastic bag to store their clothes while spelunkering. 

"I was the one who started Becker's Babes drag cast in the early 90s," said Cass Marie. "My cheeks might or might not have been ink stamped on the ceiling of Wings, the basement leather bar."

 Unfortunately, Wings became a cause for local concern. Club 3054 was relentlessly battered by the Madison Police Department, who conducted undercover investigations, raids, and all-out busts.  The City of Madison also targeted the business with aggressive code violations.

After a witness sent an anonymous letter to the Madison Police Department, claiming that Cheri's promoted public sex activities, Madison Police conducted a sting operation.  Officers claimed to see unprotected sex happening at two events in spring 1994.  

The City of Madison declared Club 3054 a "disorderly house" and revoked the liquor license for 90 days.  The negative publicity and loss of income negatively impacted Cheri's health and well-being. She and her family received numerous violent threats by phone and mail, and Cheri was actually harassed and nearly gay-bashed in public.  The city's handling of the case was widely criticized, with Capital Times editors calling it a "needless public controversy."

Cheri defied the accusations. On May 21, 1994, she told the Wisconsin State Journal, "the truth is that Club 3054 has always encouraged safe sex... if undercover officer saw patrons violating our safety policies, we do not know about it, we discourage it, and we disapprove of it."  She questioned why the police held onto the allegations for three months before ever approaching her. 

"When the city went public, it did so with a horse-and-pony show that helped fan all kinds of evil," said the Capital Times on June 24, 1994.  City Council members agreed.  "If the Madison Health Department did not beleive it was serious enough to close them down, I'm not sure we had any business doing this," said Alder Dan Waisman on July 28, 1994.

Cheri was whole-heartedly determined to fight the city's charges and remain open for her beloved customers.

But the frustation was catching up to her.  It was widely rumored that the "witness" who reported her to the Madison Police Department was one of her own customers, or worse, one of her employees.  This broke Cheri's heart in a way she didn't think possible.

In June 1994, she penned a letter to InStep Magazine:

"I am so tired of people who go out of their way to hurt, gossip, run down and even ruin people's businesses, much less their personal lives.

It is bad enough that people in the world constantly attempt to tear us down. Why in the world would a member of our own community try to do this to us? To use a phrase made popular by Rodney King, 'why can't we all just get along?'

Let us move ahead together and those of you who don't want to move ahead -- fall behind alone.

I have given back tenfold by sponsoring title holders, holding benefits, hosting community events, and making private donations. I have done what many others have done and continue to do. I would wager that the negative members of our community do very little in community service.

We have achieved so very much in Wisconsin. Our brothers and sisters in Colorado and Washington would be elevated to have our freedoms, but perhaps disappointed by the weakest links in our community chain."

In October 1994, Cheri surrendered her liquor license and moved to California. The building was sold to Ray Jacobson, who planned to open "Reflections," (later an entertainment complex that included Geraldine's Restaurant, Ray's Bar, Phoenix Patio Bar, and Men's Room.)  Jacobson's liquor license was approved with one condition: the scandalous basement space had to be kept private and used only for storage.  

The business closed sometime in 2002 and the property was later demolished.

By that time, Cheri was long gone.

Life outside the spotlight

Little is known about Cheri's life after Club 3054.  For such a social person, she became very private in later years.

Cheri lost longtime companion Cindy Brinker in September 2016 and her parents Melvin and Bonnie Becker in 2018.

She retired to Loyal, Wisconsin, where she lived until 2026. Friends remember her love for online gaming, where she became a "Solitaire shark."

Although she was not recently in the public eye,  Cheri will always be warmly remembered in the hearts of her friends and former customers.

"Cheri was loud, proud, and in charge. She was short and stout, with a heart of gold. We had each other's backs when we were barely out of our teens. I will always fondly remember her," said B.J. Daniels.

"I'm saddened to hear of another friend passing. Cheri Becker, I'll miss your snarky messages and your raucous laugh," said Michael Bruno.

"Rest in peace, Cheri, you gave so much acceptance to a community when that was a really difficult thing to accomplish. I can hear your voice right now as you simply welcomed all of us as we entered your safe space," said Susan Breitbach.

"My heart is heavy to know she is gone, and much too young. The work she did to create safe spaces to be who you are will not be forgotten," said Tom Stenvig.

"I can hear her say 'God Love Your Ass" as she welcomed you to Back East. Did many shots with that gal. Rest in peace, Cheri!" said Kerry Harty.

"Cheri was an inspiration to so many people. I have wonderful memories of her from over the years. She was there for the community," said Bob Parnell.

Thank you, Cheri, for everything.