The Gay Bars Helpg Shape Popular Drkg Culture | PUNCH

Contents:

• FOR THE LOVE OF GAY BARS
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• BEER IS SO GAY
• GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM
• CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS
• HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR
• DRK SPIKG STILL HAPPENG IN GAY CLUBS
• GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR
• SOBER AT THE GAY BAR
• LIQUOR LAWS ONCE TARGETED GAY BARS. NOW, ONE STATE IS APOLOGIZG.
• 'GAY BAR' TRACKS THE WAVE OF A WHOLE CULTURE — AND ONE LIFE
• WHAT IS THE GAYT DRK
• GAY BARS AND GAY RIGHTS

FOR THE LOVE OF GAY BARS

The nroticism of beg closeted is like that strs of seeg a p while you’re stoned, but 24/7, and also, you like gay turns out that Gay Bar Smell (a ee logne ia one of the Queer Eye guys should sh on) was an spic troductn for me, and an inic one at that. It’s even referred to the very first le of Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, the recently released book wrten by Jeremy Atherton L that aims to pture the trici, plitns, and fabulons of this culture. A safe space, a therapist’s office, a dance club, a live theater, a place to get super dnk (or pleasantly tipsy), a spot to fd a hookup, an tablishment to drown sorrows, and an oasis to pe realy are jt some of the ways to scribe what queer waterg hol mean to the gay mass.

Though, that absolutely happens too; nothg pairs better wh the third sp of “I Wanna Dance Wh Somebody” than a plastic cup of seltzer that tast like bbg alhol and Bar: Why We Went OutGay Bar: Why We Went OutNow 11% Off“Some people treat them jt as a bar, but to so many others ’s a muny, ” Steven McEne says. Cooley, the owner of the popular Los Angel gay bar the Abbey, tells this story: “One time a kid was put on a plane by his parents at LAX, but stead he snuck off and took a b here, ” he rells. “You get a lot of first-time bar narrativ, pecially om olr gays, ” says Atherton L of the re of passage, as important as your first kiss, or the realizatn that “poppers” isn’t a nickname for buttered rn.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

"Gay Bar: Why We Went Out mak the rear rell stori of their own a vir way, even if they never went to the kds of bars Atherton L wr about— London and San Francis. ”It’s a sad irony that the release of Gay Bar me at a time when many gay bars were eher closed temporarily, danger of closg permanently—like one of New York’s only Black-owned gay bars, Alibi—or done for good, like the Chigo Boystown mastay Ltle Jim’s.

When the bar fally reopened Sprg 2022, an entire borough’s worth of gays celebrated by floodg the new back pat all summer and Gger’s has been crowd wh queers ever sce. It began s life as a beer-and-we offshoot of the Metropolan Health Club, a gym that opened 1983 to serve the gay ctomers who’d been bullied out of other lol clubs at the height of AIDS hysteria. While you won’t fd any Pri flags at Farraguts, you will undoubtedly hear Cele Dn and Melissa Etheri blarg om the bar’s dty, old jebox and, hontly, isn’t that jt as gay?

A gay gatherg spot sce 1939, and gay bar sce 1963, and the Bar Complex sce the 80s, s unassumg exterr beli a triple-threat treat of lounge, performance space, and a mirrored dance club reportedly moled after Stud 54. If you want to get away om the typil scene at fellow gay bars Olly’s and Gregs Our Place, English Ivy is an ial place to meet iends: mature enough for a proper Ladi Lunch (or bnch or dner.

BEER IS SO GAY

It’s not a gay bar the tradnal sense, but a place where traed pianists play selectns om Broadway shows and all of the drama teachers and mil theater majors of the tri-state area nverge to sg along. It was the se of an early gay-liberatn “sip ” 1966, years before Stonewall, and has been a low-key haven ever sce, wh a diverse clientele, a small menu, classic cktails, and an extensive (and packed) 4:00-7:00 happy hour. The origal was burned down an anti-gay hate-crime a few years back, but the revival has jt opened across the street and is bigger and better, wh a new performance space.

CourtyWashgton DC: TraIn a town where n feel like every other bar is crawlg wh Capol Hill staffers lookg to talk shop, Tra is the rare, glorly gay dive where absolutely everyone is wele to jt kick back. Gay Beer, Dyke Beer, and Queer Brewg are among the emergg group of beer producers that are centerg queer inty and queer muny, whether by highlightg queer brewers, donatg some profs to queer chari, or creatg queer third spac — munal spac distct om home and work — at a time when they’re disappearg. The pair were spired while drkg at Juli’, a historic gay bar New York Cy that was the se of early “sip-” protts, where gay men would drk at bars that refed to serve homosexuals.

GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM

Together, they were tryg to figure out why there wasn’t already a beer posned more for queer people, which led Moore and Pazmo to realize that gay beer was a project they uld take on themselv themselv.

“A lot of bars are not wantg to say they’re lbian bars, they’re wantg to say they’re queer bars — but a lot of gay male bars keep sayg they’re gay male bars, ” she says.

For Moore and Pazmo, that meant an “Amerina whout the Amerin flag” sign, somethg that reflected the athetics of Juli’ Bar, and the gay men of the ’60s who participated the “sip ” protts.

CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS

Wae says, “Many were pleased to see the lnch of somethg actively tryg to make change wh a stagnant and homogeno dtry, and queer and trans folk were pleased to see somethg that reprented them a way that hadn’t been done before. “It’s que different om earlier s, ” says Shepard, “pecially pre-Stonewall, when simply beg willg to serve gay men or lbians was enough to secure a grateful clientele, regardls of the qualy of the drks or the tablishment.

In the 1960s, early eratns of gay bars were often owned by straight people (many nnected to anized crime, who didn’t fear the illegaly of servg homosexuals), known for servg watered-down and overpriced drks, explog the sire any queer people had to jt be a safe (or safe enough) space.

HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR

As gay polil movements stood up agast opprsn—endg some state laws prohibg gay bars om existg, and th, makg gay bar ownership more accsible and approachable—the qualy and variety of drks served at the spac expand.

DRK SPIKG STILL HAPPENG IN GAY CLUBS

“When you thk ‘gay bar, ’ you don’t thk they’re focg on cktails; they’re focg on a space that’s clive, somewhere you drk vodka-tonics, ” says Nobody’s Darlg -owner Renda Riddle. " In a society where beg homosexual was taboo, not to mentn illegal, those on the LGBT spectm gathered small bars across the untry where they would drk, let down their exterr fens, and miserate wh the people who accepted them for who they really were. The mic, the style, and the laws agast homosexualy have all changed, but that drk is still to today, s after the first brick was thrown at Stonewall, years after the 1990s brought gay characters to the mastream media, and months after same-sex marriage beme a right to all LGBT Amerins, the fn of gay culture is now limbo.

Only problem, however, is that the roundg prence of alhol leadg up to this historic LGBT moment history has given him a b of a drkg no mistake, the lic, grty, and nt history of the gay bar is a betiful one. I cut my teeth on cherry vodka sours well before I turned 21 at a rickety gay bar lled Moby Dicks, sneakg to the si door and tryg not to look the bartenr the eye.

GAY BAR, MEET COCKTAIL BAR

But there is this notn that by leavg the gay waterg hol and regnizg the stctive nature of bge drkg as you grow up, you are somehow rebg gay culture and "normalizg" to hetero the Slate article "The Gay Bar.

However, this article reprents a popular belief that the substance of the gay ghetto and gay culture is wang jt bee gay bars are no longer the sgular avenu for our liv.

SOBER AT THE GAY BAR

Que ankly, the evolutn of morn gay life will only crease the prence of gay culture, as more men and women feel fortable exprsg their inty the way they stead of fightg to keep this boomg bar culture alive, younger generatns are champng new avenu and experienc that allow for gay men and women to navigate other areas of adulthood, wh their LGBT inti firmly tact. And whether you like or not, 's time to take a sober look at the health of the LGBT urse, alhol e and abe isn't unique to gay, bisexual, and trans people, but has e to be one of our most regnizable tras. But as the CDC stat, alhol and dg e among gay and bisexual men n be a reactn to homophobia, discrimatn, or vlence they experienced due to their sexual orientatn.

"This, however, stck a nerve among many people who do not want to see the gay party culture they know watered down for fear of the homogenizatn of what means to be dissentg menter, whose opn was shared by many, wrote rponse, "Drk if you want. To me, actg like a gay man means seekg better for myself and for my muny so that gay children today do not ntue to have higher rat of smokg, drkg, dg abe, and HIV. My health and the health of the muny I am a part of, however, n means to be gay will forever and always be synonymo wh the fabuloly alternative, the flamboyant, and the queer.

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

We owe to the future generatns of gay men, trans women, and everyone else unr the queer umbrella to not only ga equal rights, but also improve the value and self-worth of the LGBT populatn. Our gay and lbian bars have a ltle b of somethg for everyone, wh late-night loung, dance clubs, burlque and drag shows, and long-standg neighborhood waterg hol almost every rner of the cy.

'GAY BAR' TRACKS THE WAVE OF A WHOLE CULTURE — AND ONE LIFE

Come for trivia, the ee Sunday night buffet, and the themed dance parti — then e back the next morng for bnch at attached sister rtrant ClosetYou n’t talk about gay bars Chigo whout talkg about Northalsted (also known as Boystown).

A veteran of Twist, Miami's longt-lived gay bar, Smh fed Nathan's wh his love of popular culture, like seatg sectns voted to TV programs like Friends, The Brady Bunch, and The Real Hoewiv of Atlanta. In a 2009 article for queer publitn Between the L, wrer Camper English laments the lack of “uture cktails” at gay tablishments, potg to the stereotype that “we’re supposed to be trendy people.

WHAT IS THE GAYT DRK

” Havg vered cktail culture sce 2006, English believ drks programs at gay bars have remaed remarkably static as the bar and rtrant dtry have drastilly evolved. “It dawned on me that none of the gay bars were movg the same directn as other bars — they were jt dog the same old flavored vodka drks, most whout h juic or even drk men, ” English tells VePair. While the mixology movement has brought well-ma Manhattans and Mojos to hotel bars, cise ship bars, piano bars, mic ftival bars, and, hell, even airplane bars, 20 years after the cktail revolutn lnched NYC, gay bars are one of the last plac Ameri you n’t always fd a good drk.

“We thk of cktail bars as a place to go and have a curated experience, ” says Alex Negranza, a gay bartenr and director of operatns at Tongue-Cut Sparrow and The Pastry War Hoton. Much has changed, and ntu to change, sce bars like San Francis’s Black Cat and New York’s Stonewall opened unrserved neighborhoods to provi refuge to gay muni the 1950s.

GAY BARS AND GAY RIGHTS

” Acrdg to the latt studi om Pntial and the Harvard Bs Review, the average queer Amerin — albe mostly cis whe gay mal — now earns as much if not more than their straight unterparts.

Then there’s the fact that today’s “gayborhoods, ” like Chelsea New York, Boystown Chigo, or Montrose Hoton, are among their ci’ wht and most affluent.

Some queer bartenrs are hant to brg the craft cktail movement, wh s hand-cut ice and elevated price tags, to gay and lbian bars bee there are so few of them left. “The gay bar isn’t nearly as ubiquo as we’d all like to be, so swchg the beverage program at even a uple of gay bars the cy mak accs to queer spac even more limed, ” says Yi Chen, bartenr at The Aviary NYC. “If gay bars are tly to rema about muny, the msage sent by cktail-specific gay bars is one of alienatn to those who n’t afford , which impli a culture that I personally fd problematic.