The 'Straightifitn' of Amsterdam's Gay Street

Contents:

• THE 'STRAIGHTIFITN' OF AMSTERDAM'S GAY STREET
• THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM
• ADONIS GAY CEMA
• GAY CLUBS AMSTERDAM
• LGBTQ+ AMSTERDAM – THE 14 BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS
• GAY RT BARS - AMSTERDAM FOM
• WHERE TO GO WHEN IM YOUNG GAY? - AMSTERDAM FOM
• GAY AMSTERDAM
• AMSTERDAM GAY SNAS
• A GAY GUI TO AMSTERDAM

THE 'STRAIGHTIFITN' OF AMSTERDAM'S GAY STREET

It origally opened 1970, and although wasn’t the first gay bs the area, was the first one to be openly so, favourg large, open wdows to barred-up on. In the late 70s and to the 80s, the street then began to explo wh new gay bars and clubs, helpg to cement Amsterdam’s role as an ternatnal gay pal. Highlightg the broad cross-sectn of visors to the area, Realy is a bar that typilly ters to Surame and Antillean homosexuals, referrg to self as a ‘gay bar wh a tropil flavour’.

THE 10 BEST AMSTERDAM GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS AMSTERDAM

Next to the Homomonument is Pk Pot, Amsterdam's official gay and lbian rmatn ksk. Pk Pot provis rmatn about the Homomonument, as well as general rmatn on gay and lbian Amsterdam.

ADONIS GAY CEMA

If you haven’t found what you were lookg for at Vrolijk, try IHLIA, an ternatnal gay/lbian library, archive, rmatn and documentatn centre about homosexualy and sexual diversy the Amsterdam Public Library (OBA). Durg Amsterdam Gay Pri and Kg’s Day, the bars this district are prime viewg platforms for everythg gog on around and on the water.

As well as beg home to several gay-iendly hotels and bed & breakfasts, the street boasts Club Church, which hosts large-sle club nights, often themed, throughout the week.

But this street was also home to the first gay & lbian bar the Netherlands! As you might have heard, Amsterdam is globally known as one of the gay pals this world.

GAY CLUBS AMSTERDAM

Socially and culturally, is arguably more acceptable to be overtly gay Amsterdam. In turn, the gay culture Amsterdam is vibrant–reflected the muny and Reguliersdwarsstraat, monly known as Gay Street, is home to around eleven hotels, rtrants, bars, and f, monly referred to as Hore bs Dutch, which explicly ter to gay ctomers. As someone who go to this street to go clubbg, I have noticed that more and more straight people pick theGay Street as their night-out statn.

The owner did not want to be labelled as a gay club, but rather as a club that attracts “trendy youngsters, regardls of their sexual orientatn”. At the end, some days are dited as a gay night, which is on Saturdays, and Thursdays are for straight stunts.

In this article, I aim to explore the perspectiv and opns of people on the ‘(non-)straightifitn’ of the Reguliersdwarsstraat and what do this means for the future of the street otherwise known as the Gay Street.

LGBTQ+ AMSTERDAM – THE 14 BT GAY BARS AND CLUBS

For me personally, I prefer gog out the Gay Street bee the mic sus my taste better than Amsterdam’s variety of techno clubs, and more importantly, I feel safer.

GAY RT BARS - AMSTERDAM FOM

I asked a uple of my straight female iends who equent the Gay Street as their night-out statn for their reasons. The purpose of the spac is to give gay people a place where they feel the eedom to be themselv, away om a society where they will always be the ‘sexual diversy’, but not the normal.

One iend quoted the book Life isn't Bary: “LGBTQ+ people often bee ed to havg to e out repeatedly, to beg asked tsive qutns about their bodi and sex liv, and beg treated as an object for people (the weird one the office, or the gay bt iend, for example).

WHERE TO GO WHEN IM YOUNG GAY? - AMSTERDAM FOM

People om abroad vis this street to specifilly see what the ‘gay life’ is like Amsterdam. She shar a b of her own experience, as a queer dividual who worked a bar at the Regulierdwardstraat, of wnsg a lot of homophobia om tourists, some of them for example makg fun of drag queens. A moment that stuck wh her is the 2019 Gay Pri, where there was an exclively queer ambience.

GAY AMSTERDAM

Instead of providg a safe space for those who the spac are ially aimed for, they've opened up to everyone; to maximize prof at the st of the enjoyment of, this se, the gay muny and the tegry of what the tablishments were supposed to be, to beg wh”.

In other words, the bs owners the Reguliersdwarsstraat should also be partially rponsible for prervg this street as a safe space for the gay muny.

AMSTERDAM GAY SNAS

After all the nversatns, I further reflected on my own prence and behavr or reactn–for stance, if a woman flirts wh me– the Gay Street.

As a straight woman–regardls of beg an ally–, am I takg up the space of the gay muny?

A GAY GUI TO AMSTERDAM

Am I merely g the ‘safe space’ of the gay muny to my own benef as a straight woman?

The are the qutns I need to keep on myself as reflectn and of urse, qutns to be asked to the gay muny of their perspectiv while keepg my that the gay muny is not a homogeno muny and nnot homogenoly ci on what is a ‘safe space’ and clivy.

Even if there were, the end, the clubs and bars the Gay Street are bs, not llective plac. Tripadvisor performs checks on and my other heterosexual iend both me here whout realisg was a gay bar.