There Go The Gayborhood - Baltimore Magaze

Contents:

• GAY BARS NEAR ME
• THERE GO THE GAYBORHOOD
• GAY NASHVILLE
• 5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)
• HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR
• THE GAY BAR AS SAFE SPACE HAS BEEN SHATTERED
• THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE ONLY GAY BAR PASANA

GAY BARS NEAR ME

Ameri’s gay bar graveyard has amassed a soberg amount of headston the past year. The immediate e of the aths might be COVID-19, but gay bars were on life support before the panmic began. Acrdg to soclogist Greggor Mattson, 37 percent of US gay bars closed between 2007 and 2019.

Sometime between the birth of datg apps, marriage equaly, and gayborhood gentrifitn, tradnal gay bars beme sential.

THERE GO THE GAYBORHOOD

The menu at a gay bar is the tip of an iceberg — only shows a portn of what’s served si. In the recently released cultural history and memoir, Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Jeremy Atherton L wr, “a gay bar, will be said, affords refuge. Whether ’s Stonewall or the Stud, gay bars have been nsired LGBTQ “safe spac” — a term scholar and activist Moira Kenney attribut to the gay liberatn movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

GAY NASHVILLE

Through the late 1960s, route police raids meant gay bar patrons uld be threatened wh f, jail time, and possibly job loss or social annihilatn if outed by thori. In 1973, an anti-gay arsonist set fire to a New Orleans gay lounge and killed 32 people.

5 SAFT PLAC FOR GAY TRAVELERS IN 2019 (AND THE MOST DANGERO)

Even as a momentary refuge om the outsi world, gay bars ntuoly fail queer people.

The Philalphia Commissn on Human Relatns released a 2016 report statg that “LGBTQ people of lor, women and transgenr people often feel unwele and unsafe Gayborhood spac. ” In 2019, a gay Chigo tablishment, ironilly named Progrs Bar, momentarily banned rap mic — a policy quickly cried as anti-Black.

Haddad, who has cerebral palsy and a walker, reunted his isolatg gural experience at a gay bar: “…the first thg I enuntered was a stairse.

HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR

It would be difficult for those unr 21 or alg wh addictn to ll a gay bar their go-to safe space.

A need for safe space gave birth to the gay bar, but as LGBTQ muni exame what “safe” means 2021, ’s time for the old stutns to adapt. The 30-year-old jot jos a new le of LGBTQ spots choosg to eva the gay-lbian bary for the clive “queer” label. Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, which proudly markets self as the last gay bar San Francis’s Tenrlo, raised over $100, 000 on GoFundMe to keep om closg this past year.

THE GAY BAR AS SAFE SPACE HAS BEEN SHATTERED

But prervg gay bars amber don’t acknowledge how the stutns fail queer people wh tersectg, margalized inti.

That’s why LGBTQ people around the untry have scrapped the gay bar favor of nightlife spac they build om scratch. The progrsive parti regnize that a space isn’t fed by an addrs an expensive gayborhood but by the people who hab .

“We did not go out to be safe, ” wr L, who started gog out the 1990s and began wrg his novel chroniclg the ath of gay bars 2017. But 52 years after the Stonewall Uprisg, we’re no longer beholn to gay bars. If you’re lookg for a fun and clive place to socialize and meet new people, gay bars are a great optn.

THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE ONLY GAY BAR PASANA

The bars are safe spac where members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) muny n e together and celebrate their inti whout fear of discrimatn or judgement. Fortunately, there are likely many gay bars loted near you, no matter where you live.

To fd gay bars your area, you n do a quick onle search or check out popular gay-iendly webs and apps such as Grdr, Her, and Gay Ci.