Send Street - Vis Gay Long Beach

Contents:

• GAY LONG BEACH
• EX-MARE ARRTED LONG BEACH GAY BAR ATTACK
• A RETURN TO CHIGO’S 1980S GAY PARADISE, THE BELMONT ROCKS
• THE BT 10 GAY BARS NEAR BELMONT CENTRAL, CHIGO, IL
• 52 ESSENTIAL GAY BARS AND NIGHTS AROUND LOS ANGEL

GAY LONG BEACH

In 1974, Larry Hebert stepped si a gay bar for the first time. Even now, wh the cy long sce transformed om an Iowa-by-the-sea to a progrsive mec, Club Rippl is part of the soul of Long Beach’s gay muny.

And then, Long Beach’s olst, ntuoly nng gay bar will shutter for good. The bar opened 1972, three years after a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar Lower Manhattan, sparked vlent clash between police and the LGBT muny — kick-startg the gay-rights movement.

The reactns om those who feared or hated gay people was, at tim, vlent. Before Stonewall, and for years after, gay bars were the only place the muny uld go to feel safe and be themselv, said Marie Cartier, thor of “Baby, You are My Relign: Women, Gay Bars, and Theology Before Stonewall. Gay bar culture, cludg at Rippl and other lol tablishments.

EX-MARE ARRTED LONG BEACH GAY BAR ATTACK

“The gay bar for people pre-Stonewall was lerally where they uld pull the gayns out of themselv, ” Cartier, a Long Beach rint, said an terview.

In the 1960s and early ’70s, beg gay was still nsired by many a mental illns, and even the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn didn’t remove om the list of mental disorrs until 1973. Every relign, Cartier said, emed those who were gay sners and unf to be parents. So, Cartier add, the gay bar beme the muny’s church.

“The gay bar was the only place where somebody would look at you as a iend, ” she said, “and not immediately as all of those bad thgs. Still, the gay muny need each other — perhaps more than ever. On June 12, 2016, a man named Omar Mateen walked to a gay nightclub Florida lled Pulse.

A RETURN TO CHIGO’S 1980S GAY PARADISE, THE BELMONT ROCKS

“Some people didn’t even have a funeral, ” Cartier said about the Pulse victims, “bee their blogil fay members wouldn’t pick up their (ceased) fay members — bee they were gay. Yet Long Beach, wh one of the most popular Pri paras the untry and a strong rerd of beg LGBT iendly, ’s easy to fet that the gay muny still needs safe plac to gather.

Cartier is sad Rippl will soon close s doors, partly bee, she said, she’s noticed the number of gay bars dwdle Long Beach.

But Hebert has also noticed the number of gay bars that have shuttered over the years. “When you have puters, Craigslist and Grdr (a gay datg app), ” Hebert said, “why drs up and spend money when you n fd sex jt like that?

THE BT 10 GAY BARS NEAR BELMONT CENTRAL, CHIGO, IL

But gay bars, Cartier and Hebert both said, are still necsary. “If you’ve never been aaid to hold your boyiend or girliend’s hand public, ” she said, “you don’t unrstand why a gay bar’s important. And wh the rat of hate crim creasg and a divisive polil climate, Hebert said, gay bars are more need than ever.

“I hope thgs turn around for the gay bars. Garcia also -found the Long Beach Communy Bs Network, now known as the Long Beach Gay Chamber of Commerce.

At tim n seem that the gay muny far outnumbers heterosexual people the area, and this may be te. Long Beach is home to a vibrant, tablished and lively gay scene that n be enjoyed the area’s untls gay bars and clubs. Skip to ma ntentLos Alamos-Seal Beach, CALong Beach, CACerros-Artia, CAHuntgton Beach, CAFounta Valley, CASouth Gate-Lynwood, CAPalos Vers, CARedondo Beach, CANewport Beach-Corona Del Mar, CAOrange County, CACaliforniaTop Natnal NewsSee All CommuniA former Mare is expected to be returned next week om Illois on charg stemmg om an alleged attack on two men outsi a gay bar Long Beach last September, the District Attorney's Office said Kelly O'Leary, 21, was arrted Monday night by police Evergreen Park, Ill., acrdg to Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Ford.

52 ESSENTIAL GAY BARS AND NIGHTS AROUND LOS ANGEL

3 and began shoutg anti- gay slurs outsi the bs at closg time, thori out what's happeng Belmont Shore-Naplwh ee, real-time updat om a verbal exchange wh one of the two alleged victims, O'Leary allegedly punched one man while ntug to shout anti-gay slurs, acrdg to the District Attorney's Office. There’s a reason so many young queer people flock to Chigo and never leave: the cy’s gay scene is fun as hell. Boystown, of urse, is the cy’s official gayborhood, wh LGBTQ-iendly bars, rtrant, and clubs occupyg nearly every storeont on Northalsted.

But Chigo’s queer muny exists far outsi the Lakeview enclave—and so do the great gay bars. Whether they clu drag, dancg, or are div—or a ltle b of all three—Chigo’s bt gay bars have a ltle somethg for everyone. Gay Edgewater rints of all ag ll themselv regulars at this iendly, sual dive bar.

This Uptown spot featur a relatively mixed-genr clientele ( the scheme of gay bars). Wh no distguishg signage outsi, this unmarked dive is much more discreet than s very gay clientele is.