Is It Last Call for the Gay Bar? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• THE DOS & DON'TS OF GAY CLUBBG
• HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR
• DO YOU WANNA FUNK WH ME?: A BEGNER’S GUI TO GAY NIGHTCLUBS
• GAY BARS AND GAY RIGHTS
• STEP-BY-STEP INSTCTNS FOR SHOOTG YOUR SHOT WH GAY GUYS
• GAY BARS NEAR ME
• A MEMOIR ABOUT QUEER INTY, TOLD ONE GAY BAR AT A TIME
• LIQUOR LAWS ONCE TARGETED GAY BARS. NOW, ONE STATE IS APOLOGIZG.
• GAY NEW YORK CY
• IN ‘GAY BAR,’ TIME-HOPPG SNAPSHOTS OF QUEER NIGHTLIFE
• IS IT LAST CALL FOR THE GAY BAR?
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• MOSW GAY BARS

THE DOS & DON'TS OF GAY CLUBBG

Chanc are, your first tentative steps out onto the London queer scene were ma or around Old Compton Street, the shg of London’s mastream gay culture. Csg a venue to ll out an expensive plummer bee you and your pals thought ’d be a great plan to smash up the toilet after your first h of gay gra gak isn’t exactly the pnacle of allyship.

A mere 30 years later, sectn 28 was passed - makg an offence to promote (talk about) homosexualy schools and only 5 years ago same sex marriag were not legal. To be fair, there are straight clubs that play great mic and have fun, nonjudgmental crowds, and there are gay bars that are nothg more than S and M (Stand and Mol) clubs.

Certa gay/lbian clubs have their target clientele, of urse — wboys and wgirls (The Round-up Saloon Dallas), leather men (La Track Montreal), punk lbians (The Dyke Bar Brighton, UK), and drag queens (1001 Pub Maryl Istanbul), for stance — but what I’m talkg about is your basic glter-ball, all-wele, humpg-on-the-dance-floor dis. This wouldn’t have happened at any of the gay bars town, and we fely would have had a better time, as the doorman was jt the first of numero snooty employe we enuntered, there.

HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR

A gay bar is one of the few plac where homosexuals n exprs their affectn for one another whout beg subjected to someone’s narrow judgment, or, prumably, riskg harm to themselv, so expect to happen. I went wh three iends — a lbian and a straight uple — to a gay nightclub a while back, but was separated om them immediately after enterg the crowd club. Dg e, particularly the e of ecstasy and other signer dgs, is higher among the gay populatn than the straight populatn, and some gays and lbians equate a night on the town wh a night of high-energy, dg-duced spastic dancg.

In my qut for the perfect dance club, I tried, or was dragged to, diss of all varieti, so I know om experience that the bt dance mic is a gay bar.

Sylvter, the late dis diva of the ’80s, was one of the first to target gay dienc, and he tablished a proud tradn of producg multi-layered tracks to which even the most rhythmilly-challenged uld dance. Even though he was straight and had a girliend, Ron and I went dancg together often; we both loved to dance, and if no one wanted to go out wh , we knew we uld dance a gay bar whout beg hassled.

DO YOU WANNA FUNK WH ME?: A BEGNER’S GUI TO GAY NIGHTCLUBS

From gym gods to nerds to fag hags (the latter beg the straight women who hang wh their gay male iends) to straight upl who want to try some place new — don’t matter. Although, to be hont, the more you look like a er ught the headlights, the more the regulars will look at you oddly, so try not to eak out when you see your first drag queen or gay/lbian uple makg out. When I attend llege the homophobic town of Wa, Texas, gettg to the one gay bar town remd me of enterg a speak-easy durg Prohibn, but once si, the patrons were all nice and easy-gog.

GAY BARS AND GAY RIGHTS

However, if you have no problem wh gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenred people general, they turn will have no problem wh you, so you ought to give the lol gay bar a try. Like everythg I wre, the tent of this piece is to break down the stigmas surroundg the sex liv of gay who are sensive to ank discsns about sex are ved to click elsewhere, but nsir this: If you are outraged by ntent that addrs sex openly and hontly, I ve you to exame this outrage and ask yourself whether should stead be directed at those who opprs by policg our all others, enjoy the slishow.

Even if you're the LGBTQ+ muny and you walk to an implicly queer-domant space, as most leather bars are, and are not to the sex liftyl leather bars celebrate, you're the equivalent of a bachelorette at any gay bar Ameri -- an unwele nuisance potentially g the space for people who re about more than you do. You're more likely to see public sex happeng at a leather bar than, say, your classic tsel palace gay bar wh boyish go-go dancers and Top 40 hs blarg over a by dance floor.

The only circumstance where this le gets challenged is a lights-out space ma for anonymo play -- spac which exist some leather bars, gay sex clubs, gay bathho, and so on. The hanky has vague roots, but we know started the 70s (or earlier) as a vert way for gay men to munite what kd of sex they were lookg for the pre-ter, pre-Grdr, pre-mobile phone, pre-revolutn days.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTCTNS FOR SHOOTG YOUR SHOT WH GAY GUYS

Even the classic, non-leathery gay bar -- the drag queen palace, the queer dive, the limp-wristed cktail lounge, gossip central -- is rapidly beg a artifact of years past, pre-Grdr nostalgia: a throwback to that simpler time before we found sex partners wh a simple click.

The bartenr (or someone there) will be able to tell you where to go, what plac sell gear, what parti are happeng, where the guys cise, where the gayborhood is, and so on.

If you ci your neart one is not for you, go to a gay leather bar New York Cy (Eagle NYC, The Cock), San Francis (Powerhoe, Eagle SF, 440 Castro), Los Angel (Eagle LA, Fltle), London (Eagle London, The Backstreet), Berl (SO MANY). Gay bars, one of the few public plac of ngregatn for LGBTQ+ people before the Stonewall rebelln of 1969, were flash pots for the crimalizatn of same-sex sexual nduct, acrdg to legal scholar Patricia A. Addnally, a broad terpretatn of “homosexual acts” the twentieth century ma “lbians and gay men thk of themselv as crimals jt for beg who they were, ” wr Ca.

GAY BARS NEAR ME

Department of Alhol Beverage Control required “somethg more” than the mere prence of homosexuals a California bar for thori to revoke a liquor license. In 1967, Miami prohibed issug liquor licens to tablishments that employed homosexuals, sold liquor to homosexuals, or allowed two or more homosexuals to ngregate on the premis. The bars are safe spac where members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) muny n e together and celebrate their inti whout fear of discrimatn or judgement.

However, ’s important to remember that Istanbul is pal of an Islamic untry; for all s liberal aspects, Turkey is chg s way closer to Middle Eastern valu daily, and this is havg a knock-on effect on LGBT rights Istanbul that gay travelers to the area should take to nsiratn. Homosexualy is not illegal Turkey: between adults, same-sex sexual activy was ma legal the Ottoman Empire 1858, and sce morn Turkey’s foundatn 1923 has always been legal. However, there are some rather ambiguo bans the crimal on “offens agast public moraly” which n be terpreted agast LGBT people and homosexuals are banned om ary service.

Currently, there are no anti-discrimatn laws Turkey that protect LGBT people om discrimatn the public sphere or employment, although opposn parti have tried to troduce bills providg legal protectn for gay and transgenr people. A report published by Human Rights Watch 2008 outled the daily threat of vlence and discrimatn faced by gay and transgenr people, wh sufficient reactn om police and the thori. The social suatn for members of the gay muny is better smopolan Istanbul than ral areas but whether or not people feel fortable g out to their fay and iends is extremely ntext-pennt and still pos a number of risks.

A MEMOIR ABOUT QUEER INTY, TOLD ONE GAY BAR AT A TIME

Istanbul has a fairly thrivg gay scene, wh pulsg dance floors, gay bars, and hamams; but many lols who participate are livg a double life, beg unable to be open wh their fai or at work for fear of the negative impact uld have on their future. The shift towards nservatism Turkey as a whole do not bo well, but Istanbul’s long-tablished liberal character uld hold firm agast a risg ti of anti-gay feelg and hopefully ph that ti back. Generally speakg LGBT rights Istanbul are fairly well-tablished and is a very gay-iendly cy, although most of the gay life happens doors or at night.

LIQUOR LAWS ONCE TARGETED GAY BARS. NOW, ONE STATE IS APOLOGIZG.

Asi om the wealth of historic and cultural sights, there is a relatively thrivg gay scene Istanbul wh plenty of bars, clubs, f, and rtrants to choose om. There is also a range of hamams, but as a tradnal Turkish experience they are equented by everyone, so travelers should not assume they are specifilly gay foced. In fact, the current climate, snas and hamams will actively avoid beg labeled as ‘gay-iendly, ’ so is better jt to enjoy the as cultural experienc unls you are wh someone the know.

GAY NEW YORK CY

Gettg to know people is one of the bt thgs about travelg and that’s particularly important a place like Istanbul, where the gay scene is not always ‘ your face. Whether ’s Stonewall or the Stud, gay bars have been nsired LGBTQ “safe spac” — a term scholar and activist Moira Kenney attribut to the gay liberatn movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Through the late 1960s, route police raids meant gay bar patrons uld be threatened wh f, jail time, and possibly job loss or social annihilatn if outed by thori. The Philalphia Commissn on Human Relatns released a 2016 report statg that “LGBTQ people of lor, women and transgenr people often feel unwele and unsafe Gayborhood spac. Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, which proudly markets self as the last gay bar San Francis’s Tenrlo, raised over $100, 000 on GoFundMe to keep om closg this past year.

IN ‘GAY BAR,’ TIME-HOPPG SNAPSHOTS OF QUEER NIGHTLIFE

AdvertisementSKIP Jeremy Atherton LWhen you purchase an penntly reviewed book through our se, we earn an affiliate 9, 2021GAY BARWhy We Went OutBy Jeremy Atherton LHistory, as is tght, is a straight le of domo fallg — the relentls clack of fact htg fact, an orrly que of aly stretchg on forever. History, as is lived, is a reelg spiral of flight and return; the erative reawakeng of new selv faiar plac; a never-endg terrogatn of our own nfed and nfg motiv; a msy slather of dots on a graph where the center n be plotted only Atherton L’s betiful, lyril memoir, “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, ” cloaks this lived history that learned history, examg an objective subject — gay bars — to create a highly subjective object: a book about his life, flensed down to jt the bs that ma past the chapter foc on one particular gay bar (jumpg om London to Los Angel to San Francis and back), s history and s place the trajectory of Atherton L’s life.

Atherton L himself is renred only relatn to the bars he walks through; you’ll fd yourself hard-prsed at the end to say where he was born or how many siblgs he has (and you won’t re) Atherton L has a five-octave, Mariah Carey-que range for discsg gay sex.

Like any good gay bar, this book has a bouncer, and his name is is Atherton L’s first book, but benefs om his extensive experience as an sayist and an edor of Failed Stat, a journal about plac.

IS IT LAST CALL FOR THE GAY BAR?

“Gay Bar” is well crafted (which is pecially pleasg nsirg this is a memoir about stctur), wh a strong thorial hand that mak the rear feel refully shepherd through the text, even as Atherton L jumps s and ntents. When he discs an important 1966 prott at the historic Greenwich Village gay bar Juli’, he c a New York Tim article to talk about the “tr of activists” volved — not realizg that the article left out a fourth man, Randy Wicker (the only one still alive, cintally enough) a half page later, though, Atherton L warns that spe the activist claim that gay bars “should be kept open to facilate knowledge passg between generatns, ” he himself had never really received gay wisdom “on a barstool.

” This book is not about history, the subject you study, but history, that thg you have wh that guy by the jebox whose name you n’t the fal chapter of “Gay Bar, ” Atherton L grappl wh gog to a new generatn of bars, created by very different forc, meetg very different needs. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTNew Jersey’s attorney general apologized for s-old state polici that shuttered bars for allowg gay patrons to Samuel Berg/Berg Picture Collectn, via The Newark Public LibraryOne tavern Newark was shut down for a month 1939 after a man “ma up wh rouge, lipstick, masra and fgernail polish” asked for a drk a “very effemate voice, ” rerds Paterson, N. ”And 1956 Asbury Park, which was then, as is today, a hub of gay life on the Jersey Shore, a bar was ced for servg men who “rocked and swayed their posterrs a mainly fashn.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

”From the end of Prohibn 1933 through 1967, when a State Supreme Court lg fally outlawed the practice, New Jersey, like many other stat, wield s liquor laws like bludgeons to shutter gay bars. Rints follows other moments of reckong over the abe of a populatn that was routely and unfairly sgled out by the years ago, the missner of the New York Police Department apologized for a vlent 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn, a clash that galvanized the gay rights movement.

Grewal’s acknowledgment of systemic discrimatn that dat to an era well before the morn gay rights movement was seen as groundbreakg by historians and gay rights anizatns.

” Margoli Roadsi Ameri photograph archive, via Library of CongrsThe practice of penalizg taverns for servg gay patrons, who at the time were maly men, was wispread across the untry durg the early to mid-20th century, when gay sex was self a crime, said Gee Chncey, a history profsor at Columbia Universy and the thor of “Gay New York. Three years before Stonewall, a “sip ” prott at Juli’ the Wt Village of Manhattan that challenged the discrimatory policy was nsired a semal moment the stggle for gay addn to apologizg and releasg the agency rerds, New Jersey will also symbolilly vate the penalti agast the bars, none of which are believed to still be bs. A plaque was also beg stalled Tuday a ceremony near the se of what was once the Paddock Bar Asbury Park, which advertised self as “the gayt spot town” and was closed after a seri of raids.

MOSW GAY BARS

“This part of our muny’s history is important to tell, ” said Christian Fro, executive director of Garn State Equaly, the state’s largt gay rights group. J., lost s liquor license 1955 after spectors nclud that owners “suffered female impersonators” on eight DocumentBill Sger, a New Jersey lawyer and gay rights activist who beme known as the “angel of ath” for wrg athbed wills for men dyg of AIDS, said the attorney general’s actn was ldable — but Sger said any te reckong should also clu expungg crimal rerds of same-sex upl arrted on charg of lewd behavr while cisg parks and other public areas the 1970s and 1980s. Elianel Clton for The New York TimCarol Torre began operatg bars and a hotel popular wh lbians Asbury Park about a after New Jersey’s urts abolished the liquor laws that targeted gay patrons.

More about Tracey TullyA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 15 of the New York edn wh the headle: New Jersey Apologiz For Closur Of Gay Bars. The days, most of the gay bars and clubs are centered around Hell's Kchen but you'll also fd gay scen Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and Brooklyn.