THE BEST Washgton DC Gay Clubs & Bars (Updated 2023)

Contents:

• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC
• WASHGTON DC GAY BARS

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag. (Front Porch Market and Grill)What’s more, the Washers say, the ad rat was jt one more sult that the uple, who once planted an “all liv matter” sign their ont yard, have endured sce movg next door to a rtrant owned by a gay uple. They married 2020, five years after they opened the Front Porch, which quickly beme a statn The Front Porch has been flyg a Pri flag on s pat sce 2016, not long after a gunman killed 49 people a gay bar Orlando.

Waybourn was print of the Dallas Gay Alliance when sued Parkland Memorial Hospal for failg to provi readily available medic to AIDS patients. In 1991, he lnched the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund (now the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund) to elect openly gay policians to office. He served as managg director of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or GLAAD, which he helped turn to a natnal group.

He owned gay newspapers Hoton, Atlanta, New York and Washgton.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

“I had so many threats agast me that even the Dallas police statned squad rs outsi our home, ” Waybourn an activist, Waybourn says, his goals were clear: same-sex marriage, gays and lbians the ary, accs to lifavg medic.

To the activist, feels like a step backward after a lifetime of fightg for gay pack the seats at the Board of Zong Appeals hearg hosted at Grace Epispal Church. “I have que a few gay iends, clients and a fay member, and I have patronized a gay-owned rtrant for years, ” he whether the Washers are tryg to remake The Plas to their image of Ameri — Whe, nservative, Christian — Melissa said, “I n see where you’re g om. “Why don’t they have more gay villas, ” Whe said, “I liked wrg Ernte.

Whe, who liv New York, was a -founr of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and of the 1980s queer wrers group The Vlet Quill. “Whether ’s evotive pictn of gay life durg the tumultuo 1980s, pastakgly rearched bgraphy or elegant memoir, Whe’s work stands out across s as s ronance … for a multu of voted rears. ) Whe has been lled the “godfather of gay Amerin lerature, ” Prceton Alumni Weekly has reported.

THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC

“I’m workg now on a sex memoir about the lov of my life, ” Whe, who 1977 -wrote wh Charl Silverste, “The Joy of Gay Sex, ” said.

Beg gay was sful and illegal. In that era, “the three most heo thgs Ameri were hero, munism and homosexualy, ” Whe wrote an say.

LOUD AND PROUD: WASHGTON DC'S BT GAY BARS

“Or they would try to get passn for gays and prent as sick sad stori, ” Whe said. 's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street.

In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.

Those spots and more sports bars, dance clubs, and cktail havens are all clud Eater's round up of the District's gay-iendlit bars and hangouts. New gay dive bar Tra opened last year, urty of the team behd Town Danceboutique and Number Ne. New to the Shaw/U Street gay bar scene is Uproar, which buted last year.

LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY

We are proud to say that we were jt named 2022 BEST GAY BAR IN DC the annual "Bt of DC" ntt the Washgton Bla newspaper. Owner Spencer Hurd moled Licht after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. His dream: lnchg a cktail bar moled after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany.

“The goal is to foc on the classic cktails, rather than jt vodka-sodas and rose Kennedys, as you may get at other gay bars, ” he says. Licht Café is a reference to the spiratn om his go-to gay spot Mannheim, but also reflects his ial zy space. “I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay.

NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER

“I want the to be a bid edgy—this is a part of gay culture. The U Street NW strip’s gay bar scene is on the up as of late. Kiki owner Keaton Fedak, the former general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose, will expand Kiki to the next-door space that formerly hoed dive Dodge Cy.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

“We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw, ” he told Eater last month. Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div.

Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des. Tour historic LGBTQ+ s, grab a drk at the bt gay and lbian bars the cy, rock out at Capal Pri and so much more. A new nned cktail lled Gay Water is lookg to attract LGBTQ drkers and avoid the pfalls of Bud Light’s disastro marketg partnership wh transgenr fluencer Dylan Mulvaney.

BT GAY AND LBIAN BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS WASHGTON DC

The mixture of vodka and soda water, long known rmally as “gay water” the LGBTQ muny, is the brachild of 30-year-old gay entreprenr Spencer Hodson. He noted that the nctn aims “to stigmatize the word ‘gay’ by brgg reprentatn to spac that have not tradnally featured queer products, such as bars, liquor stor, grocery stor, rtrants, hotels and more. Hodson, who is fancg Gay Water wh his own money pl backg om fay and iends, his brightly lored ns are leang to their gayns stead of avoidg .

He told CNN that he worked wh a queer signer to base Gay Water’s red, purple, green and orange lor scheme on pop art and 1990s televisn shows om Nickeloon, a ble work for children. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.

A statement on the Gay Water webse not that the word “gay” appears barely any products outsi of Pri Month each June. Acrdg to the statement, the new cktail reclaims the ia that “gay means happy. The word “gay” speaks to our abily to do exactly that.

WASHGTON DC GAY BARS

The word “gay” lls to md our special knack for fdg the light the darkns, for buildg the dance floor off to the si of the cel world. Let’s take a look at some of the bt gay bars Ameri, om the open-air, vil-may-re spac Wt Hollywood to the neighborhood pub downtown St. The olst gay bar North Carola (found 1976) draws every tegory and mographic.

The entrance is through an unmarked shed behd a Chipotle, and featur a blend but unexpected gay/not crowd which same-sex grdg is rigur. —Alfonso Fernanz NavasCourtyAt: Cheer Up CharliBack when I was a young gay, I saw the olt, most betiful woman the world at Cheer Up Charli. —Abigail CovgtonCourtyBrooklyn: The ExleyFull of ntradictns, The Exley is a ltle different than other gay bars.

It’s gay Cheers. It feels like everythg a gay bar should be. When the bar fally reopened Sprg 2022, an entire borough’s worth of gays celebrated by floodg the new back pat all summer and Gger’s has been crowd wh queers ever sce.