THE BEST Washgton DC Gay Clubs & Bars (Updated 2023)

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS NATNAL MALL (WASHGTON DC)SEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS NATNAL MALL
• GAY WASHGTON DC
• GAY MEN ARRTED WASHGTON D.C. FOR CISG ‘REMISCENT OF STONEWALL’
• IN D.C., GAY BARS AND DIV LEAD A WAVE OF BS REQUIRG PROOF OF VACCATNS

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

The natn's pal is home to a lively LGBTQ+ nightlife scene wh plenty of gay and lbian bars jt wag for you to jo on the fun. Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too! Number Ne to the btlg Logan Circle urty of -founr Ed Bailey, who helped DC’s gay nightlife scene to grow durg his days as a DJ.

THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC

Suated right the heart of Adams Man’s btlg 18th Street is Pchers, a gay sports bar, and A League of Her Own, the adjacent bar for lbian and queer women.

LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY

's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street. In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.

Those spots and more sports bars, dance clubs, and cktail havens are all clud Eater's round up of the District's gay-iendlit bars and hangouts.

New gay dive bar Tra opened last year, urty of the team behd Town Danceboutique and Number Ne.

THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.

New to the Shaw/U Street gay bar scene is Uproar, which buted last year.

Tour historic LGBTQ+ s, grab a drk at the bt gay and lbian bars the cy, rock out at Capal Pri and so much more.

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

Capal Pri, one of the largt gay pri celebratns the US, is this weekend. The above map and s acpanyg history tell the story of the bars, bookstor, group hom, clics, and church that have played sential rol DC's gay muny for the past half century.

Durg the 60s and 70s, as LGBT activism moved more to the public foreont, the number of gay bars grew throughout the District; also emergg this time were Guild Prs, which published gay travel guis, fictn, and a newspaper lled Gay Fom, as well as the Washgton Free Clic, which provid STD unselg to gay men. The growth of gay spac slowed down the 1980s, she says, but at the same time the clud DC's first gural High Heel Drag Queen Race, which has now bee an stutn.

The slowed growth ntued the 90s and 2000s, but 's very possible that's bee time has passed, there's been ls of a need for gay people to hi pla sight. “Wh greater acceptance has me blurrier l to what nstut gay bars and spac, ” wr Kate.

TOP GAY CLUBS & BARS NATNAL MALL (WASHGTON DC)SEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS NATNAL MALL

“Nowadays bars like Nellie's, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people, and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny. The data Kate ed to create the map is available through the Rabow History Project, an anizatn dited to llectg, prervg, and promotg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr history DC. This bar (known primarily as a gay bar) was famo for beg the place where Roberta Flack lnched her reer.

Owner Spencer Hurd moled Licht after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. His dream: lnchg a cktail bar moled after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. “The goal is to foc on the classic cktails, rather than jt vodka-sodas and rose Kennedys, as you may get at other gay bars, ” he says.

Licht Café is a reference to the spiratn om his go-to gay spot Mannheim, but also reflects his ial zy space.

GAY WASHGTON DC

“I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay. “I want the to be a bid edgy—this is a part of gay culture.

The U Street NW strip’s gay bar scene is on the up as of late. Kiki owner Keaton Fedak, the former general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose, will expand Kiki to the next-door space that formerly hoed dive Dodge Cy.

GAY MEN ARRTED WASHGTON D.C. FOR CISG ‘REMISCENT OF STONEWALL’

“We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw, ” he told Eater last month. Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div. Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des.

—our natn’s pal, if you’ve managed to fet—has been scribed as “the gayt place Ameri. ” As an epicenter, gay drkers n fd no shortage of optns, om sports bars to cktail bars to dance clubs, many of which are ncentrated near Dupont Circle and 17th Street, where gay bar-hoppg is prime.

Perhaps the most unr-the-radar gay bar to outsirs, as well as the most polil of Washgton's gay bars, the Der is home to high-profile Democratic and Republin operativ who regularly put asi polics when they arrive for the party. Grab a Lemon Squeeze (the bar's mastay cktail), a pile of tater tots and ntle to a booth to see and be INFO →KNOWN FORfull menucheap datebar foodCobaltCobalt has long been a mastay on the District's gay-centric 17th Street Corridor. INFO →KNOWN FORdancgcheap datefull menuDacha Beer GarnDacha isn't an official gay bar, but you wouldn’t know by the crowd.

IN D.C., GAY BARS AND DIV LEAD A WAVE OF BS REQUIRG PROOF OF VACCATNS

In keepg, beware: It n get INFO →KNOWN FORcraft beeroutdoor / patbar foodDo's Bar at FlorianaIn the basement of an Italian rtrant off the very-gay 17th Street, Dupont Circle, is Do’s Bar. He's been servg drks and hostg at the ty hiaway for a now, and is beloved by the gay and straight crowds INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datefull menuJR's Bar & Grill The “grill” part of JR's Bar & Grill is mostly absent.

Gay bar scene attractg polished polis and beefy at boys. For years, the bar banned dancg but fally relented after a of prsure by patrons—not that there's much room to dance; between trivia nights and happy hour, n be packed cheek-to-cheek most of the INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datedancglive micLarry's LoungeYou won’t fd Larry’s Lounge listed on any gay bar map of Washgton, D.