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

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS
• VERY POPULAR GAY BAR DC - NELLIE'S SPORTS BAR
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.
• MAN WHO MENACED GAY BAR WH GUN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS
• IN D.C., GAY BARS AND DIV LEAD A WAVE OF BS REQUIRG PROOF OF VACCATNS
• GAY BARS, RIP

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. 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

“Why don’t they have more gay villas, ” Whe said, “I liked wrg Ernte. Whe, who liv New York, was a -founr of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and of the 1980s queer wrers group The Vlet Quill.

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

“Whether ’s evotive pictn of gay life durg the tumultuo 1980s, pastakgly rearched bgraphy or elegant memoir, Whe’s work stands out across s as s ronance … for a multu of voted rears.

) Whe has been lled the “godfather of gay Amerin lerature, ” Prceton Alumni Weekly has reported. “I’m workg now on a sex memoir about the lov of my life, ” Whe, who 1977 -wrote wh Charl Silverste, “The Joy of Gay Sex, ” said.

LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS

Beg gay was sful and illegal.

In that era, “the three most heo thgs Ameri were hero, munism and homosexualy, ” Whe wrote an say. “Or they would try to get passn for gays and prent as sick sad stori, ” Whe said.

VERY POPULAR GAY BAR DC - NELLIE'S SPORTS BAR

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

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.

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

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

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

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.

“We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw, ” he told Eater last month.

THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.

Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div. Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des. The Bt Gay Bars Washgton, D.C.

It might e as a surprise to learn that Washgton, D.C.—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.

MAN WHO MENACED GAY BAR WH GUN SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS

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 seen.MORE INFO →KNOWN FORfull menucheap datebar foodCobaltCobalt has long been a mastay on the District's gay-centric 17th Street Corridor. The most popular night is Thursday when the long-nng Bt Body Contt plays to an overflowg crowd, but Cobalt also holds a popular lbian party once a month and gogo dancers make ...MORE INFO →KNOWN FORdancgcheap datefull menuDacha Beer GarnDacha isn't an official gay bar, but you wouldn’t know by the crowd. In keepg, beware: It n get crowd.MORE 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 alike.MORE 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 time.MORE INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datedancglive micLarry's LoungeYou won’t fd Larry’s Lounge listed on any gay bar map of Washgton, D.C.

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

Not officially a gay bar, not officially a straight bar, Larry’s is jt Larry’s.

GAY BARS, RIP

Its big bay wdows, threadbare rpet, worn furnure and drab 1980s dér is actually what mak so appealg, and so beloved by D.C’s gay muny. They’ll merely check on you om time-to-time to make sure you’re still alive and to brg you ee poprn.MORE INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datebar foodoutdoor / patNellie's Sports BarWhen Nellie's first opened 2007 at the rner of 9th & U Street, NW, some wonred if a gay bar uld thrive a lotn so far removed om the center of Washgton’s gay nightlife scene. But, as the cy’s gay muny has moved east, Nellie's (named for the owner's grandmothers—y, multiple grandmothers) now the most popular gay bar all of D.C.