Contents:
- VALLEY’S LGBTQ FD UNIQUE WAYS TO FILL VOID LEFT BY CLOSURE OF STONEWALL, OTHER GAY BARS
- ‘STONEWALL MEMORI PROJECT’ PRERVG LANDMARK GAY BAR’S LEGACY
- FATE OF STONEWALL LEHIGH VALLEY, A BELOVED GAY BAR, UP AIR AFTER LIKELY BUILDG SALE
- THE GAY JOURNAL
- PHILALPHIA GAY NEWS
VALLEY’S LGBTQ FD UNIQUE WAYS TO FILL VOID LEFT BY CLOSURE OF STONEWALL, OTHER GAY BARS
And wasn’t until she vised the legendary gay nightspot wh a iend that Smh felt at ease beg herself public. This week Richard Smh, one of the club’s owners, nfirmed that the buildg and liquor license are unr ntract to be sold, leavg the future of the Lehigh Valley’s last gay bar unclear. If clos, the Stonewall would follow the path of two other recently shuttered LGBT-foced tablishments the Lehigh Valley and hundreds of other gay bars and clubs across the untry.
Natnwi, more than a third of gay bars closed between 2007 and 2019, said Greggor Mattson, associate profsor of soclogy at Oberl College and Conservatory Oh, who piled a database of LGBT clubs and bars. While the Lehigh Valley’s work of LGBT anizatns is robt, the Stonewall’s closure would leave the broar regn whout an tablishment to fill the important need gay bars and clubs play muni around the world, say LGBT advot and muny lears. Mattson, who has studied the role and cle of gay bars small Amerin ci, said a uple of trends have ntributed to the dwdlg number of LGBT bars across the untry.
‘STONEWALL MEMORI PROJECT’ PRERVG LANDMARK GAY BAR’S LEGACY
The rise of geolotg smartphone apps, such as Grdr, has to some gree supplanted the role of gay bars as plac for queer people to meet each other, Mattson said. The Paycheck Protectn Program, for example, vered wag for employe siled by the panmic, but many of the people who work gay bars, cludg performers, are nsired ntractors who were not eligible. Likewise, fundg for performance spac was available only to bs that issued tickets, Mattson said, and while many gay bars and clubs host performers, they llect a ver charge but don’t sell tickets.
“Gay bars are almost always mom-and-mom and pop-and-pop shops, ” he said.
Stephen Libby, edor of The Gay Journal, said gay bars played a val support role for LGBT youth before social media ma possible for people to nnect onle and high school gay allianc were monplace. “I thk what a lot of people say and echo on Facebook is their memori of a gay bar beg their first place of acceptance, ” he said.
FATE OF STONEWALL LEHIGH VALLEY, A BELOVED GAY BAR, UP AIR AFTER LIKELY BUILDG SALE
Gay and lbian people have what’s lled “passg privilege, ” bee they appear the same as anyone else, she said. Piec of memorabilia om the Stonewall and stori that are llected will be part of both a future public exhib and a special issue of the Lehigh Valley Gay Journal. Shanker said stori beg shared clu rellectns of g out and first viss to the club, which some s were also the person’s first time a gay tablishment.
“Stonewall is the first place I went to as an openly gay adult 2005.
It was a place where I uld kiss my hband on the lips and not worry about gettg lled a gay slur. Philalphia area’s largt, olst, and most award wng publitn targeted to the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny. Allentown Gay Neighborhoods.
THE GAY JOURNAL
The cy don’t have a gay neighborhood, but you’re likely to fd other LGBT people.
Allentown Gay Realtors. The Allentown property hog the Stonewall is unr ntract to be sold, muddyg the future of the Lehigh Valley’s only gay bar, which has been a welg place for the LGBTQ muny to gather for nearly 50 years. “It was a safe place for people when they first e out, ” said Stephen Libby, edor--chief of The Gay Journal, of the Stonewall.
PHILALPHIA GAY NEWS
If clos, the Stonewall would be the third Valley gay club to shut s doors for good the last five years.
Gay clubs like Stonewall were the origal muny centers, offerg a safe place to meet, said Adrian Shanker, founr and director of the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Communy Center Allentown. But that n’t take the place of gay clubs. “As gay-iendly as they are and a lot of them give back to the muny, I still don’t feel like I do when I go to the Stonewall, ” Libby said.