Town, DC’s largt gay bar, is closg. What do mean? – Greater Greater Washgton

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• MEET KIKI, AN EXCG NEW GAY BAR REPLACG A PAIR OF SHUTTERED SHAW DIV
• WHAT DO TOWN’S CLOSG MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF GAY NIGHTLIFE D.C.?
• ‘TOWN 2.0’: BELOVED D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB AIMS TO RE-OPEN — A FORMER BAPTIST CHURCH
• D.C.’S BIGGT GAY NIGHTCLUB IS SET TO CLOSE, BUT A NEW ITERATN MAY REPLACE IT
• TOWN, DC’S LARGT GAY BAR, IS CLOSG. WHAT DO  MEAN?
• LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS
• DE-OLD GAY NIGHTCLUB TOWN IS CLOSG
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.

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.

'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.

RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD

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.

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

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. “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. “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. 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.

MEET KIKI, AN EXCG NEW GAY BAR REPLACG A PAIR OF SHUTTERED SHAW DIV

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. “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.

WHAT DO TOWN’S CLOSG MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF GAY NIGHTLIFE D.C.?

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.

‘TOWN 2.0’: BELOVED D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB AIMS TO RE-OPEN — A FORMER BAPTIST CHURCH

The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag. (Front Porch Market and Grill)What’s more, the Washers say, the ad rat was jt one more sult that the uple, who once planted an “all liv matter” sign their ont yard, have endured sce movg next door to a rtrant owned by a gay uple. They married 2020, five years after they opened the Front Porch, which quickly beme a statn The Front Porch has been flyg a Pri flag on s pat sce 2016, not long after a gunman killed 49 people a gay bar Orlando.

Waybourn was print of the Dallas Gay Alliance when sued Parkland Memorial Hospal for failg to provi readily available medic to AIDS patients. In 1991, he lnched the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund (now the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund) to elect openly gay policians to office.

D.C.’S BIGGT GAY NIGHTCLUB IS SET TO CLOSE, BUT A NEW ITERATN MAY REPLACE IT

He served as managg director of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or GLAAD, which he helped turn to a natnal group. He owned gay newspapers Hoton, Atlanta, New York and Washgton.

“I had so many threats agast me that even the Dallas police statned squad rs outsi our home, ” Waybourn an activist, Waybourn says, his goals were clear: same-sex marriage, gays and lbians the ary, accs to lifavg medic. To the activist, feels like a step backward after a lifetime of fightg for gay pack the seats at the Board of Zong Appeals hearg hosted at Grace Epispal Church. “I have que a few gay iends, clients and a fay member, and I have patronized a gay-owned rtrant for years, ” he whether the Washers are tryg to remake The Plas to their image of Ameri — Whe, nservative, Christian — Melissa said, “I n see where you’re g om.

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.

TOWN, DC’S LARGT GAY BAR, IS CLOSG. WHAT DO  MEAN?

“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. “I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay.

LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS

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.

Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div. The new project om Keaton Fedak, the outgog general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose.

Across the street om Kiki and Dirty Goose, unaffiliated gay tablishment Nellie’s Sports Bar ma negative headl this June after a secury guard asslted a Black woman. Asslt Agast a Black Woman at Nellie’s Could Lead the Gay Bar to Lose Its Liquor License [EDC]. “For the first time 27, 28 years, there won’t be a big dance venue for the gay muny, ” says John Guggenmos.

DE-OLD GAY NIGHTCLUB TOWN IS CLOSG

Even gay guys who don’t enjoy the unce-unce club scene say that havg a 22, 000-square-foot venue provid a place for other social gathergs. Groups like Team DC, a nonprof gay sports associatn, took advantage of Town for fundraisers. “I don’t even like gog to big clubs and I thk [Town closg] is vastatg, ” says David Perzza, the owner of recently opened gay bar Pchers Adams Man.

Whout Town, only one mega gay statn remas when to square footage. Co-owner Steve Dellerba cled to ment about his nightclub’s future, but talked about the loss of large gay nightclubs broadly.

” Dellerba adds that Echostage has acquired a strong followg the gay muny. And a cy where property sts are on the rise, smaller venu wh lower rent uld be the trend for gay nightlife. The cy’s gay rints say that bars and clubs provi several val functns for the LGBTQ muny.

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

They help foster a greater sense of togetherns among s diverse gay rints. They are also safe spac where gay people n fully be themselv a cy that’s seen several anti-gay asslts recent months.

THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.

Three men attacked two gay men near the Howard Theatre April.

A group of men phed down and kicked a gay man on Sherman Avenue NW May. And later May, a man shouted an anti-gay slur at two gay men walkg on 14th Street NW then punched one of the men the face. Guggenmos is one of a chos of gay people the cy—om a drag queen and a gay cy Council ndidate to owners of smaller gay bars to patrons—that say there’s a need for “safe spac” for the LGBTQ muny even a supposedly progrsive cy like D.