Omega DC Omega DC, the former Fraterny ("Frat") Hoe, is one of DC's olst survivg gay bars. Omega is suated the former Carriage Quarters (the terr brick facg is origal) of The...
Contents:
- THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.
- ESQUIRE NAM TRA ONE OF AMERI’S BT GAY BARS FOR SEND YEAR
THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.
Cozy apartments, private rooms and amazg hom: be weled by the gay muny over 200 untri. Apartments, rooms, hom: be weled by the gay muny.
Though not a lbian bar, 's one of several gay spac the District that have shuttered the last few years. A slate of gay bars and spac, cludg the Hung Jury, Apex, Omega, and Remgton’s, have closed DC the last few years, but many of the cy’s lbian spac—Lost and Found, The Other Si, Pier 9—had closed years earlier. Earlier this week, we spoke wh historian Bonnie Morris about what the loss of gay and lbian spac means for DC’s LGBT muny, the “mastreamg” of gay culture, and why lbian bars have had a tougher time than bars terg to gay men.
It’s very generatnal, specific to people who me out the seventi and eighti when, although DC was better than most stat, there weren’t very many protectns for gay and lbian people. There were two very different muni then, wh far more plac for gay men to ngregate, cludg some really wonrful bars, rtrants, and clubs. People uld go to their gay bar or their gay bookstore and immediately start anizg.
ESQUIRE NAM TRA ONE OF AMERI’S BT GAY BARS FOR SEND YEAR
Lbians were not tryg to drs up to attract gays; they were alg wh thgs like low pay and ctody battl, and possibly lack of accs to a partner a hospal the same way gay men were, but women were far more likely to be nurs, social workers, timately volved wh personal re but sufferg the same bias that gay people were.
So what the bars were playg was mostly mic by straight alli, gays, and dis. It wasn’t a particular anti-gay wave: we had a mystery bookstore, a ed bookstore, a pri bookstore, and Lambda Risg. You n have a wonrful experience at Kramerbooks, but ’s not specifilly gay.
My whole neighborhood would be filled wh folks who were dog the very begng of gay tourism. So DC, durg the var march, was a place where the physil s—the dance clubs, the bookstor—were full of people experiencg what was like to see a bunch of happy gay people.