Nashville's first gay bars — The Jungle, Juana's — get historil marker

Contents:

• THE BEST NASHVILLE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NASHVILLE
• A PLACE 'WHERE YOU FELT SAFE': NASHVILLE'S FIRST GAY BARS REMEMBERED WH HISTORIL MARKER
• MOVG TO LGBT NASHVILLE, TENNSEE? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• NASHVILLE’S GAY AND LBIAN NIGHTLIFE
• NASHVILLE GAY DANCE CLUBS
• A PLACE 'WHERE YOU FELT SAFE': NASHVILLE'S FIRST GAY BARS REMEMBERED WH HISTORIL MARKER

THE BEST NASHVILLE GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NASHVILLE

And yet queer culture here is more vibrant than Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, wh a patchwork of gay bars, clubs, and f around town and a history datg back nearly a century. The cy’s first two rerd gay bars — the Jungle and Juana’s — opened Downtown Nashville the 1950s, where they served as havens for LGBTQ+ Nashvillians until the early 1980s. If Nashville’s gay bars were Zodiac signs, Play would be a Gemi: the buildg nnects two spac rooms that feel like pletely different bars.

Tribe is a gulp-and-gab gay bar where groups gather to chat on the three-tiered outdoor ck, shoot rounds of pool, or pregame before htg Play’s dance floor, nveniently loted next door. Trax don’t look like anythg special: ’s hoed a dgy brick buildg on Bian Paige Way (named for the late lol drag in and HIV/AIDS activist) and far removed om the cy’s other gay bars. This is also the gay go-to for last-ll libatns.

If you’re lookg for a morng pick-me-up near Broadway’s neon lights, head to this gay-owned bakery and ffee shop n by Nashville native David Andrews. Most of Nashville’s gay bars don’t pick up steam until the weekend, but there are plenty of queer-iendly tablishments worth checkg out while wag for the fun to beg.

A PLACE 'WHERE YOU FELT SAFE': NASHVILLE'S FIRST GAY BARS REMEMBERED WH HISTORIL MARKER

For a s-down dner or boozy bnch, try the Mockgbird, a gay-owned rtrant dishg global plat fed wh Nashville style. Then there’s Whe Limozeen, a Dolly Parton-themed bar atop the Graduate Hotel, where you n sip uy cktails, admire the pretty--pk r, and snap pictur ont of a larger-than-life chicken-wire sculpture of the gay in herself.

MOVG TO LGBT NASHVILLE, TENNSEE? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!

The Jungle and Juana's opened the 1950s on Commerce 1963, 27 men were arrted at Juana's for "disorrly nduct, " a term police ed at the time for same-sex historil marker will be only the send the cy that mentns Nashville's LGBTQ a wild stretch of Commerce Street, next door to Ira's Barber Shop and jt blocks om Ryman Audorium, stood a pair of unique bars surround by a slew of beer l and filled wh cigarette smoke, The Jungle was a one-room club wh a grill where cktails were mixed and a piano often spired a round of rtrant had a straight clientele durg the day for lunch — but the eveng, morphed to a gay door, Juana's, a skny, shotgun-style jot wh only a handful of tabl, served as The Jungle's sister tablishment. In the 1960s, at a time when same-sex relatnships were nsired unlawful, was a welg place where gay men Nashville uld hang out together. "On Friday, the Metro Historil Commissn will unveil a plaque regnizg The Jungle and Juana's as the cy's first gay the bars have long sce been molished, the place where they stood on the rner of Commerce and Seventh will now be permanently marked for passers-by, rememberg an era when police raids and arrts sometim end  vlence agast the LGBTQ muny.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

"Gay people g up today, they don’t know what was like back then, " says Peek, who is 76. "A place where gay men uld be themselvJohn Bridg' first boyiend took him to The Jungle the 1970s.

"Gay men ught holdg hands out the open would be handcuffed and htled downtown and possibly jailed if they didn't make bail. In 1955, she got her own beer license, and renamed the place after herself, openg the next 's hard to say when the two bars beme a gay hangout, but by the 1960s, they were a favore spot for whe men — and a target for law Juana: a powerhoe of supportPeek remembers beg there when police me to the the time, men weren’t allowed to touch — "you uldn’t even put your hand on somebody’s shoulr, " he said. Progrs and perspective on the fight for gay rightsThe historil marker, which was fund by the H.

NASHVILLE’S GAY AND LBIAN NIGHTLIFE

Frankl Brooks Fund of the Communy Foundatn of Middle Tennsee, will be only the send the cy that mentns Nashville's LGBTQ first was stalled a year ago regnizg the work of gay rights and mental health advote Penny Campbell, dghter of civil rights activist Will Campbell.

NASHVILLE GAY DANCE CLUBS

"Today, gay bars are ls clanste. "Reach Jsi Bliss at or 615-259-8253 and on Twter HISTORIC MARKER UNVEILING FOR NASHVILLE'S FIRST GAY BARSWhat: Historil marker for The Jungle and Juana's, Nashville's first gay barsWhen: 11 a. Popularly known as the pal cy of untry mic, the cy is a shg liberal buckle on the tired Bible Belt, and is home to a peculiar mix of aspirg artists and micians, rhtone wboys, closeted policians, and down-and-dirty gay nightlife.

Y, jt like Philalphia, San Diego, Portland, and other fabuloly gay US ci, there is also an engaged LGBT scene here (if you know where to look), and this is somethg a gay realtor Nashville n help you navigate as you fd your new perfect home here. An clive blue dot on an otherwise ep red map, people Gay Nashville are by and large tryg to be acceptg, but the Christian qutn still up.

A PLACE 'WHERE YOU FELT SAFE': NASHVILLE'S FIRST GAY BARS REMEMBERED WH HISTORIL MARKER

There are even many explicly gay-iendly church Nashville.

Gay acceptance and the culture around Nashville is plited, and we don’t want to over-simplify anythg…but you should nsir this ‘gay round-table’ discsn om out untry artists Nashville about their experienc. If you need a more night-life and travel-foced gui tailg all the LGBT clubs, parti, and more, check out our Gay Nashville Gui!

The Bt Gay Neighborhoods In NashvilleDowntown NashvilleEast NashvilleGreen HillsBelmont-HillsboroLGBTQ+ Communy Organizatns In NashvilleLGBT Owned Bs In NashvilleFal Thoughts On Movg To LGBTQ NashvilleFdg Gay Realtors In Nashville Tennsee.