A Year Gay Bars | The New Yorker

Contents:

• A MEMOIR ABOUT QUEER INTY, TOLD ONE GAY BAR AT A TIME
• COMG OUT AND MY FIRST GAY BAR
• IT'S THE GAY BAR ROME ON 'GAY STREET' - COMG OUT
• ‘MY FIRST GAY BAR’: RACHEL MADDOW, ANDY COHEN AND OTHERS SHARE THEIR COMG-OUT STORI
• SHUTTERED BY THE CORONAVIS, MANY GAY BARS—ALREADY STGGLG—ARE NOW ON LIFE SUPPORT
• A YEAR GAY BARS
• RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

A MEMOIR ABOUT QUEER INTY, TOLD ONE GAY BAR AT A TIME

AdvertisementSKIP Jeremy Atherton LWhen you purchase an penntly reviewed book through our se, we earn an affiliate 9, 2021GAY BARWhy We Went OutBy Jeremy Atherton LHistory, as is tght, is a straight le of domo fallg — the relentls clack of fact htg fact, an orrly que of aly stretchg on forever. History, as is lived, is a reelg spiral of flight and return; the erative reawakeng of new selv faiar plac; a never-endg terrogatn of our own nfed and nfg motiv; a msy slather of dots on a graph where the center n be plotted only Atherton L’s betiful, lyril memoir, “Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, ” cloaks this lived history that learned history, examg an objective subject — gay bars — to create a highly subjective object: a book about his life, flensed down to jt the bs that ma past the chapter foc on one particular gay bar (jumpg om London to Los Angel to San Francis and back), s history and s place the trajectory of Atherton L’s life. “Gay Bar” danc on the edge of that third space between fictn and nonfictn, a space often rerved for poetry.

COMG OUT AND MY FIRST GAY BAR

Atherton L himself is renred only relatn to the bars he walks through; you’ll fd yourself hard-prsed at the end to say where he was born or how many siblgs he has (and you won’t re) Atherton L has a five-octave, Mariah Carey-que range for discsg gay sex. Like any good gay bar, this book has a bouncer, and his name is is Atherton L’s first book, but benefs om his extensive experience as an sayist and an edor of Failed Stat, a journal about plac.

“Gay Bar” is well crafted (which is pecially pleasg nsirg this is a memoir about stctur), wh a strong thorial hand that mak the rear feel refully shepherd through the text, even as Atherton L jumps s and ntents. When he discs an important 1966 prott at the historic Greenwich Village gay bar Juli’, he c a New York Tim article to talk about the “tr of activists” volved — not realizg that the article left out a fourth man, Randy Wicker (the only one still alive, cintally enough) a half page later, though, Atherton L warns that spe the activist claim that gay bars “should be kept open to facilate knowledge passg between generatns, ” he himself had never really received gay wisdom “on a barstool.

IT'S THE GAY BAR ROME ON 'GAY STREET' - COMG OUT

” This book is not about history, the subject you study, but history, that thg you have wh that guy by the jebox whose name you n’t the fal chapter of “Gay Bar, ” Atherton L grappl wh gog to a new generatn of bars, created by very different forc, meetg very different needs. She had been the first person I’d ever e out to, and she wanted to take me to the gay sectn of New Orleans. So, when we went to New Orleans November for this amic nference, only three people knew I was gay, and they all kept my secret.

None of were keen to go to a female strip club so I suggted we tell them we were gog to a gay bar knowg they would not follow there.

‘MY FIRST GAY BAR’: RACHEL MADDOW, ANDY COHEN AND OTHERS SHARE THEIR COMG-OUT STORI

My iend had already told me earlier she wanted to take me to the gay district of New Orleans. We went out a few weeks later for my birthday (November 30), and by the end of the month, there was no one the history partment who did not know I was gay. I knew when I told those two guys about gog to a gay bar, I was g out to the entire history partment.

Come ogni buona tradizne gay, le proprietarie, attente ai mbiamenti di tennza e stylg, ocsne i 15 anni (giugno 2016) dall’apertura, hanno ciso di ofire alla numerosa clientela, anra una volta un lole nuovo ed aguato alle nuove igenze. Attentive to trends the gay muny, the owners aga cid to renovate the bar 2016 on the ocsn of the 15 year anniversary of s openg, offerg s clientele an updated renovatn to reflect morn stylg.

SHUTTERED BY THE CORONAVIS, MANY GAY BARS—ALREADY STGGLG—ARE NOW ON LIFE SUPPORT

Some of the most difficult and important cisns life for lbian, gay, bi and trans people relate to g out.

Beg hont about who you are and not feelg the need to hi behd a secret inty is to many people a huge weight lifted off their be easier to meet other people wh siar feelgs and over time n have a posive effect on all aspects of your life, when you are happier and feel that you n be accepted for who you really the cisn to e out as a lbian, gay, bi or trans person n make thk about our own personal journeys and how we n help and rm others to take the first steps to acknowledgg such an important part of our you have e out to one person the procs do not end there, throughout your life you will fd yourself suatns and around people where you feel the need or sire to disclose your sexual orientatn or trans stat. There are lbian, gay, bisexual and trans support anisatns across the world who are there to offer a helpg hand, a iendly ear, and who have vast experience of helpg people jt like prospect of g out n be a sry one for many, and 's important to remember that nobody n dictate your g out apart om yourself.

A YEAR GAY BARS

DavidOkay, so I me out pretty late at the age of 25, but I’ve always known I was gay sce I was 12. We make our own fai stead, the streets of gay village bars, queer bookshops and f, onle foms and LGBT chari like this one.

RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD

That when someone out that we don’t tell them ’s not long until they are gay or tell them how unattractive mak them. I felt a burn that people would judge me, and as a gay man I wasn’t good enough I first me out to my Mum.

Though some of that live big ci n feel like half of the world is gay, 's a stark difference om many livg small towns.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

"I was so sred of what actually meant to ll yourself gay so even the first man I dated, I still thought that afterwards I was gog to eventually meet a girl and get married bee that's what men did, " he said. "But I was steadfast that like 'I'm gay and I probably shouldn't have been talg to someone that was 20 but I'm not gog to therapy, '" he said.

At age 21, his mom had enouugh and mand an explatn for the gay porn she was fdg on the puter and phone. "I was actually rehab when I was 16 years old and I thk a part of why I end up gog to rehab was the difficulty I had wh acceptg myself as a gay person, " Sharok said.

For him, beg gay was a ath sentence beg that he grew up the 1990s durg the HIV/AIDS epimic and a fay member died of the disease. "At that pot was kd of like an emotnal avalanche and I jt let all out and told her that I was gay. " Fran said that while they have grown to accept him, his fay still believ he shouldn't act on his homosexualy.