Gay Nightlife Boystown, Chigo: Bt Bars, Clubs, & More

Contents:

• GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.
• OBAMA AND EMANUEL: MEMBERS OF SAME GAY BATH HOE CLUB CHIGO
• GAY NIGHTLIFE BOYSTOWN, CHIGO: BT BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• MAN'S COUNTRY, CHIGO'S OLST GAY BATHHOE, CLOSG AFTER 44 YEARS
• A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO
• LONDON GAY SNAS
• CHIGO GAY NIGHTLIFE GUI: DOWNTOWN & SOUTH SI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• THE MIL LEGACY OF GAY BATHHO
• XL SPALATT ADDN TO THE MOSW GAY SNA SCENE.MOSWMENUBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASCISE CLUBSSERVICCY GUIGAY MAPRSIA INXXL SPA

GAY BATHHO WERE BARELY SURVIVG. AND THEN ME COVID-19.

Chigo's olst gay bathhoe closed forever on New Year's Day 2018.

EtienneChigo lost a piece of gay history 2018, when Man's Country, the cy's olst bathhoe, closed s doors after 44 years.

OBAMA AND EMANUEL: MEMBERS OF SAME GAY BATH HOE CLUB CHIGO

Author and historian Owen Keehnen said the loss of Man's Country was "a gay versn of seeg the hoe you grew up torn down. A place of sexual liberatn, social ease wh beg gay and muny buildg. To the untraed eye, gay bathho like Steamworks are mere ns of iquy, where taps on the bathroom floor, a lgerg glance, or a door ajar says much more than you’d expect; but to the iated and the experienced, they are ed that, but also so much more.

GAY NIGHTLIFE BOYSTOWN, CHIGO: BT BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

Supreme Court cisn strikg down homophobic anti-sodomy laws have certaly ma safer and actually legal to seek out same-sex hookups.

But even still, bathho have historilly provid a certa amount of safety and ease to the gay male muny that n’t be nied.

“For gay men particular, bathho were about risk rctn, ” Wasd says. Like many explicly queer spac, bathho were equently the target of homophobic vice raids the 1960s and 70s.

MAN'S COUNTRY, CHIGO'S OLST GAY BATHHOE, CLOSG AFTER 44 YEARS

While gay sex was an obv and signifint part of bathho, the greater nversatn about them has largely ignored the civic good also unrtaken at the spac.

Marks Baths New York Cy and the League of Women Voters held a registratn drive at the now-shuttered gay bathhoe. Emjay Rawls, who worked at Steamworks om November 2015 to October 2018 and lls the bt job she’s ever had, says that the bathhoe often sponsors events the muny at popular gay bars Boystown, cludg Hydrate, Rose’s Tavern, and Sitrack.

A PEEK UNR THE TOWEL: INSI THE 500-YEAR HISTORY OF GAY BATHHO

Lol gay historian Owen Keehnen, who -wrote wh Rear publisher Tracy Baim a bgraphy of Chuck Renslow, says Man’s Country at one pot boasted a leather shop and a shop sellg wtern wear, alongsi s gym, whirlpool, glory hol, and mic hall.

In an say on his webse, “Brotherhood of the Whe Towel, ” Keehnen also scribed how Man’s Country brought popular performers wh a gay cult followg, cludg Boy Gee, the Village People, and Dive. But spe the historic good the spac have done, for some gay people like Michael Gifford, who loaned a salvaged Man’s Country glory hole to the Leather Archiv & Mm June 2019, bathho are some ways a microsm of some of the most ser problems facg the muny, namely chemsex—or sex unr the fluence of dgs—and blurred l of nsent.

LONDON GAY SNAS

Gay bathho: Sex and socializg As the public bathho had almost pletely disappeared, a different kd of bathhoe had bee central to Chigo’s gay male muny.

This opened the door for openly gay bathho to set up shop for the first time, although gay men had already been equentg some bathho for several s.

CHIGO GAY NIGHTLIFE GUI: DOWNTOWN & SOUTH SI

In The Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, historian and journalist Tracy Baim intifi three bathho popular wh gay men Chigo the 1950s.

Chigo gay pneer Chuck Renslow opened “Steve’s Health Club, ” his first gay bathhoe, shortly after the repeal of the sodomy laws, but acrdg to Baim, tolerant police forced to close a few months later. Now the cy’s longt-nng gay bathhoe, Man’s Country is a sprawlg pound wh two three-story buildgs filled wh private rooms, fetish areas, dance floors, a wet room, and a locker room. ” Ehemann says gay bathho, cludg Man’s Country, began to cle wh the arrival of HIV/AIDS the mid-1980s.

Ehemann is bullish about the future of gay bathho Chigo as a bs — but mostly as sex and dance clubs; he says the muny’s sire for social and civic space now liv on LGBT anizatns like the Center on Halsted.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

Private bathho: Sweat and relaxatn Chigo’s public bathho are closed, and s gay bathho are far ls popular than they once were, but private Rsian- or Korean-style bathho that foc on relaxatn are boomg. Whether was a social gatherg the gay muny when you didn’t have a lot of optns … was jt fillg a need each of the muni.

THE MIL LEGACY OF GAY BATHHO

Steamworks is a popular gay bathhoe the Boystown area of the cy.

XL SPALATT ADDN TO THE MOSW GAY SNA SCENE.MOSWMENUBARSDANCE CLUBSSNASCISE CLUBSSERVICCY GUIGAY MAPRSIA INXXL SPA

While the bathhoe is still well-known by lol gay men (and even visg gay men), ocsnally gets a bad rep. As GayPopBuzz reports, the Cook County Medil Examer’s Office has released ncerng two aths that happened the bathhoe last year. H/t: GayPopBuzz.

staff Rahm Emanuel are lifetime members of the same gay bath hoe. uptown Chigo, acrdg to rmed sourc Chigo's gay.

Ron DeSantis’ printial mpaign that was wily cricized as homophobic, how he views new laws that Republin-ntrolled state legislatur have passed and whether Republins are backslidg on their support for LGBTQ terview has been eded and nnsed for length and Early: What did you thk of the move to cut earmarks for LGBTQ centers Pennsylvania and Massachetts?