She was a soft butch, with dark hair slicked back. On the block, hundreds of people drank and danced around a pig roast in the middle of the street. But six years later, at her annual Mother’s Day block party, she met another woman. Nothing ever blossomed between Melendez and her DJ. Melendez swears she didn’t, but the conflict became such a force in their relationship that in 2001, they split up. The couple hired a lesbian DJ to spin at Sammy’s Place, and Melendez’s partner suspected she had a crush on her. When Melendez opened the bar, she was with her son’s father. “I believe that there is no greater feeling than falling in love. “I guess, to me, love is about the soul,” Melendez said. The gender of her next partner won’t matter. Melendez lights up when she imagines falling in love again. She’s single now, but she’s had serious relationships with both men and women. If you ask her how she identifies, she’ll assert, “I’m just Iris Melendez.” A ‘Romeo and Juliet’ moment at 5th and Jefferson
