Wh no gay bars, LGBTQ Newporters feel disnnected om muny

Contents:

• WH NO GAY BAR OR SPACE TO LL S OWN, NEWPORT'S LGBTQ MUNY FEELS 'ISOLATED'
• GAY NEWPORT BEACH TRAVEL GUI

WH NO GAY BAR OR SPACE TO LL S OWN, NEWPORT'S LGBTQ MUNY FEELS 'ISOLATED'

“A gay bar or an LGBT tablishment, of urse there is a need for that, and the muny will rpond to that place.

Several gay bars have opened and closed the cy, but there has not been one operatn sce 2006.

The last one, Castaways, was open for jt two years at the former lotn of the cy’s longt-nng gay bar, David’s, which had closed years Pir, the owner of Castaways, remembers when more than one gay bar dotted downtown Newport, drawg tourism om the LGBTQ muny the late 1970s and early 80s. Back then, he said, Easton's Beach was predomately populated by gay men and women.

GAY NEWPORT BEACH TRAVEL GUI

It's hard to put to words how vastatg was to the whole gay muny. Around 1995, Pir attempted to buy the buildg, at 28 Prospect Hill St., and retablish a gay effort to tablish a bar that lotn was rife wh barriers, om neighbor plats about havg a bar the area to stggl obtag a liquor license om the Cy Council, an issue eventually picked up by lol news outlets.

“I feel like if the gay muny don't do somethg about ... “I worked for a long time wh Disver Newport to try to crease gay tourism here and one of the issu wh that is, if there isn't a bar, people aren't gog to e.

He said this kd of club uld f more of the needs for the diverse people unr the LGBTQ someone who intifi as nonbary, Newport Health Equy Zone strategy specialist Rex LeBe said although they would like to see a gay bar Newport, they agree a tradnal gay bar would not necsarily f the needs of the entire gay bars ter specifilly to gay men or feature bathrooms separated by genr, which n be disuragg to transgenr and nonbary people. Lebe said the only nsistent space for LGBTQ socializatn Newport has been the Gay-Straight Alliance at Channg Memorial Church. Newport Gay bars and clubs by distance.