Harlem’s Black, Gay Bars Are Thrivg the Middle of a Panmic | Them

Contents:

• HARLEM’S BLACK, GAY BARS ARE THRIVG THE MIDDLE OF A PANMIC
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE
• GAY-OWNED BS

HARLEM’S BLACK, GAY BARS ARE THRIVG THE MIDDLE OF A PANMIC

“What I love about Black people, there’s a rilience , and if you’re Black and gay, ’s even stronger, ” he explaed. At plac like Alibi, they n feel at down the street om Alibi — a quick, five-mute walk so close that hoppg a r would feel like a waste of gas — is Lambda Lounge, the neighborhood’s only other Black-owned gay bar.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT A SEEMGLY FAKE DOCUMENT A GAY RIGHTS CASE

“I really wanted the Black muny to have good optns, to not only have to go to Chelsea for a gay bar. We have a lol gay bar! ”Though the gradual shift om summer’s warmth to wter’s chill has put an end to that specific sense of outdoor mararie, Alibi and Lambda still offer a wele change of pace om the gay bars of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

GAY-OWNED BS

Not only are Mko, Hugh, and Solomon an spiratn for lnchg succsful bs as out and proud Black gay men, but what they’ve created — a safe space for queer people a neighborhood not typilly known for embracg s LGBTQ+ populatn — has life-changg agre. I jt knew that if Alibi had closed down, was gog to be the same script, the same story: Oh, another gay, Black bs nnot survive.

"While we’ll never know whether Lambda would have opened if Alibi had shut down, we do know that havg two gay, Black-owned bs is always better than one. “I feel honored to be a part of our queer history, ” Hugh said when asked about this new gayborhood. New York's Lost Gay BarsWe've known for many years that too many of our cherished gay bars and clubs are shutterg, fallg victim to risg rents and the ubiquy of apps like Grdr and Scff.

There's a walkg tour New York to memorate beloved gay bars and clubs that have closed down. She appeared at the Apollo Theater and the Cotton Club, but she was also often seen cked out a whe tuxedo sgg rnchy songs at gay speakeasi like Harry Hansberry’s Clam Hoe, backed up by drag performers. One of the few openly gay Black wrers of the perd, Richard Bce Nugent, published the short story “Smoke, Lili and Ja, ” nsired a semal work of gay Harlem for pictg bisexualy and a 19-year-old male artist sexually volved wh another man.