The Death of the Gay Bar - Boston Review

Contents:

• GUNMAN KILLED 5 AT COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB BEFORE BEG SUBDUED BY PATRONS, POLICE SAY
• 'JTICE FOR JUL': VIGIL HELD FOR 25-YEAR-OLD WHO DIED AFTER LEAVG NYC GAY BAR
• FATAL OVERDOS OF 2 WHO DIED AFTER LEAVG GAY BARS ARE RULED HOMICIS
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• THE 10 BEST BERL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BERL
• ALMOST 50 YEARS LATER, ADLY ATTACK AT NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR REMAS UNSOLVED
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• THE DEATH OF THE GAY BAR

GUNMAN KILLED 5 AT COLORADO SPRGS GAY CLUB BEFORE BEG SUBDUED BY PATRONS, POLICE SAY

A 22-year-old gunman opened fire wh a semitomatic rifle si a gay nightclub Colorado Sprgs, killg five people and leavg 25 jured before he was subdued by "heroic" patrons and arrted by police who arrived wh mut, thori said spect the Saturday night shootg at Club Q ed an AR-15-style semitomatic weapon, a law enforcement official said. Suthers said there was "reason to hope" that all of those hospalized would shootg rekdled memori of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. He said patrons who tervened durg the attack were "heroic" and owed a bt of gratu for preventg more Q is a gay and lbian nightclub that featur a drag show on Saturdays, acrdg to s webse.

Experts warned that extremist groups uld see anti-gay rhetoric as a ll to prev month, a fundamentalist Idaho pastor told his small Boise ngregatn that gay, lbian and transgenr people should be executed by the ernment, which led up wh siar sermons om a Texas fundamentalist 2006, there have been 523 mass killgs and 2, 727 aths as of Nov. Colorado Sprgs, the state’s send-most populo cy wh jt unr 500, 000 rints, is home to a number of ary bas and is the headquarters for Foc on the Fay, the nservative Christian group that says homosexualy and same-sex marriage are ss. Jared Polis, a Democrat and the natn’s first openly gay ernor, issued a statement Sunday llg the attack “horrific, sickeng and vastatg” and offered state rourc to lol law enforcement.

Friends and muny members gathered Wednday eveng for a ndlelight vigil and moment of silence memory of Jul Ramirez, 25, who died April shortly after leavg a popular New York Cy gay bar.

'JTICE FOR JUL': VIGIL HELD FOR 25-YEAR-OLD WHO DIED AFTER LEAVG NYC GAY BAR

Their last stop was the Rz Bar and Lounge, a multilevel gay venue the heart of the neighborhood’s Rtrant beg separated om his iend, surveillance footage om a nearby secury mera showed Ramirez walkg away om the Rz wh three unintified men at 3:17 a. The only gay bar Arlgton, Tex., has shuttered due to the 1851 Club, which for s operated as a Cheers-style waterg hole for the lol LGBTQ+ muny, announced the sad news to s patrons a January 2021 Facebook post.

Oil Can Harry's has had s last gay untry-wtern bar, which has provid le-dancg and a waterg hole for the LGBTQ+ muny Los Angel's Stud Cy neighborhood for 52 years, was sold December to a new owner who plans to nvert to a venue wh jazz mic, acrdg to owner John a Monday Facebook post, Fagan revealed that the landlord of the buildg, Monty Overstreet, had ma the sale. The Atlanta Eagle has end s more-than-30-year flight midtown Richard Ramey announced that the gay bar would be vatg s longterm lotn at Ponce De Leon Avenue November 2020. Although no reason was given the post, the popular dive bar was the fourth gay bar after Rage, Flamg Saddl, and Gym Bar to shutter Wt Hollywood durg the COVID-19 panmic, which has forced all Los Angel bars that nnot nvert to rtrants wh outdoor dg to cease Coast was also the third closed WeHo gay bar to have had Monte Overstreet as a landlord.

Except for a brief wdow, bars Wt Hollywood had been closed to prevent the spread of the Robert Maghame and Saeed Sattari opened the gay bar on Santa Moni Boulevard 1983, reports Wehoville.

FATAL OVERDOS OF 2 WHO DIED AFTER LEAVG GAY BARS ARE RULED HOMICIS

Sadly, there will be no more socializg at the Albuquerque Social New Mexi gay club, known to lols as the "SOCH, " operated for nearly four s before shutterg Augt 2020 due to fancial issu tied to bar had first opened as The Heights the 70s before takg on the Albuquerque Social Club name 1983. Flamg Saddl Wt Hollywood has hung up s Squatriglia and Chris Barngay, owners of the untry-wtern bar, announced Augt 2020 that COVID-19, bed wh a failure to renegotiate the lease wh the landlord durg the panmic, has led to s permanent tablishment, known for shirtls wboys and wgirls who danced on the bartop, opened January 2015 on Santa Moni Boulevard. Ltle Jim's Tavern -- the olst gay bar Boystown, and the send olst Chigo -- closed s doors July 2020 orr to open a satelle lotn for Howard Brown Health, an LGBTQ+ clic.

The Stud, San Francis's olst gay bar, shuttered s lotn of 33 years rponse to the health opened 1966 around the cy's burgeong leather muny by founrs Gee Mason and trans bs owner Alexis Muir, who was mored to be the spiratn of Anna Madrigal Tal of the Cy, the Stud grew to an LGBTQ+ stutn and safe hosted many drag and muny events over the s.

BT2, a gay bar North At, had to permanently close s doors after beg impacted by the COVID-19 panmic, acrdg to an update on s Facebook page.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

The only gay bar on Barracks Row, a mercial strip near the Navy Yard, Orchid was known for s Prohibn-era style, a 40-foot marble bar, and an upsle menu that clud avodo gazpacho, seared sea sllops, and magnums of rose.

THE 10 BEST BERL GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BERL

It also featured a cktail named for Hay and others named for one of his lovers, fashn signer Rudi Gernreich, and Pershg Square, once a gay cisg an terview wh The Advote, owner Garrett McKechnie said gay bars were still relevant. As a club, cisey MJ's was a happy medium between Silver Lake's other gay bars -- the rough-and-tumble Eagle and the PG-rated, hipster-iendly Akbar.

A sad story is nnected wh the bar; a manager, Sean Verdi, died sudnly at age 23 2014, possibly of a dg overdose, a Central Park South apartment belongg to Ian Reisner of Out NYC hotel fame (and known more recently for hostg a receptn for antigay printial ndidate Ted Cz).

ALMOST 50 YEARS LATER, ADLY ATTACK AT NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR REMAS UNSOLVED

Jewel Thais-Williams bted through the male-domated, mostly-racist gay club culture of the early 1970s by openg Jewel's Catch One, a dis loted a stgglg neighborhood near downtown L. It actually occupied the same spot as Black Cat, a gay bar that was the se of protts and ristance 1967 followg a jarrg police raid (the cint was the impet for The Advote g to existence).

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

When closed 2013, a ntributor to SFist lamented, "We don't want to live a world wh no Marlena's, Hay Valley's sgle greatt bar, gay or otherwise.

When Rawhi closed due to a rent crease 2013, after 33 years bs, the Chelsea spot was mourned as "one of the last of a handful of old-school, unpretent gay bars" the cy, as a blog lled Jeremiah's Vanishg New York put . The View's reputatn helped draw straight guys and gals to b (and lift) elbows wh the gay clientele, but everyone seemed to get along.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

Most gay New Yorkers n claim at least one dnken night here -- there was an open bar if you got there early enough -- and some n even say they say Madonna or Beyonce perform there. Openg unr the name Badlands 1983, this club fally and abptly fold 2011, cg enomic difficulti, thereby endg the reign of the longt-nng gay dance club D. Dpe s proximy to Dupont Circle, a rzy District gayborhood, Apex was a notor dive; patron Charlie Leveridge wr, "I remember drivg past s cr block, wdowls fa high school and wantg so badly to venture si....

A historic rriage hoe turned gay bar, this buildg was sold at for undisclosed sum 2013 and has sce been nverted to an Asian rtrant, a bagel store, and a hair salon.

Hung Jury was proud to be a space for women, often to the excln of men; one gay patron remembers feelg unwele and spurned by the female clientele.

THE DEATH OF THE GAY BAR

Perhaps bee of this fact, Hung Jury remas a spot of pri for lbians, some of whom feel that such excln was jt serts for gay men who regularly exclu women om their nightlife venu. At s closg, owner Lda Rodgers, explaed why lbian bars had more trouble stayg afloat than their gay unterparts: "Men have more expendable e -- that's a fact. Image the chagr of Miami's gay muny when, after seven years of outstandg club culture, Mova Lounge closed both s Brickell and South Beach lotns 2014.