Licht Café, D.C.’s Newt Gay Bar, Is a Cozy, Art-Filled U Street Hiaway  - Eater DC

Contents:

• THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.
• D.C. NO LONGER HAS A CENTRAL GAY NEIGHBORHOOD. DO THAT MATTER?
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• WASHGTON DC GAY BARS
• DC’S GAYBORHOODS ARE DISAPPEARG. HOW SHOULD WE FEEL ABOUT THAT?
• D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB COBALT CLOS WH LTLE WARNG

THE GAY WAY: HISTORY OF LBIAN BARS SOUTHEAST WASHGTON, D.C.

RIP Gay BarsCi around the untry and globe have seen many of their most beloved gay and lbian waterg hol close down — often after the area's queer populatn dispers or the owner simply gets priced out.

[RELATED: 26 Dead (Or Dyg) Gay Bars NYC, L. Capal Pri, one of the largt gay pri celebratns the US, is this weekend. The above map and s acpanyg history tell the story of the bars, bookstor, group hom, clics, and church that have played sential rol DC's gay muny for the past half century.

Durg the 60s and 70s, as LGBT activism moved more to the public foreont, the number of gay bars grew throughout the District; also emergg this time were Guild Prs, which published gay travel guis, fictn, and a newspaper lled Gay Fom, as well as the Washgton Free Clic, which provid STD unselg to gay men. The growth of gay spac slowed down the 1980s, she says, but at the same time the clud DC's first gural High Heel Drag Queen Race, which has now bee an stutn.

D.C. NO LONGER HAS A CENTRAL GAY NEIGHBORHOOD. DO THAT MATTER?

The slowed growth ntued the 90s and 2000s, but 's very possible that's bee time has passed, there's been ls of a need for gay people to hi pla sight. “Wh greater acceptance has me blurrier l to what nstut gay bars and spac, ” wr Kate.

“Nowadays bars like Nellie's, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people, and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny. The data Kate ed to create the map is available through the Rabow History Project, an anizatn dited to llectg, prervg, and promotg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr history DC. The natn's pal is home to a lively LGBTQ+ nightlife scene wh plenty of gay and lbian bars jt wag for you to jo on the fun.

Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!). Number Ne to the btlg Logan Circle urty of -founr Ed Bailey, who helped DC’s gay nightlife scene to grow durg his days as a DJ. Suated right the heart of Adams Man’s btlg 18th Street is Pchers, a gay sports bar, and A League of Her Own, the adjacent bar for lbian and queer women.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

Neighborhood was once known as “The Gay Way, ” due to the number of LGBT tablishments on the street durg the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. I cid I wanted to tell the story of Phase One [for my this], but I also wanted to tell the history of how other spac existed around Phase One, and why Phase One had managed to last for 45 me a b more about the history of “The Gay Way. At that time, the 1960s, and ‘70s, was illegal to be gay.

[Some LGBT bars closed down] the 1980s, which is very clearly due to the AIDs crisis—the muny was takg re of the dyg gay men. Has been historilly gay, and the LGBT muny has been systemilly removed through gentrifitn and urban renewal.

Unr the Lavenr Sre the feral ernment fired gay dividuals en masse.

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

's longt ntuoly operatg gay bars and one of the olst Ain-Amerin gay bars the untry, opened 1957. Was the 'first gay-owned bar to offer same-sex dancg', sentially breakg the owner ban on dancg. Also ntributed to 'the iatn of dancg DC gay bars on a regular basis.

' Down the street published gay travel guis, gay fictn, physique magaz, and lol newspaper Gay Fom. The prs and publisher would be nvicted of obsceny., started at Geetown Lutheran, beme the first place to provi STD unselg to gay men. This would lead to the Gay Men's VD Clic, a precursor to Whman-Walker clic.

Others, like and, provid not only gay lerature but ccial space for activism and muny gathergs.

WASHGTON DC GAY BARS

Gay llectiv also emerged the 1970's as an important force gay activism. Was one of the first gay dance clubs around South Capol Street, a "relatively isolated lotn, gave a sense of secury that more -town lotns uldn’t. Barracks Row and Pennsylvania Avenue SE rema a vibrant LGBT scene, but faced harassment om Mar at the Barracks., a gay club that opened 1980, reported six cints by Mar cludg broken wdows, shoutg slurs, threateng patrons, and asslt.

MPD was strongly cricized when, durg a 1987 raid of gay bar, they donned "surgil masks and bber glov" for fear of ntractg AIDS. Nob Hill, one of the untry's olst gay bars, hosted the first AIDS fom the Ain-Amerin muny.

Provid a home for the Gay Men's Counselg Collective, which later bed wh the Gay Men's VD Clic, started at, to form the Whman-Walker Clic, the foremost provir of AIDS servic the regn.

DC’S GAYBORHOODS ARE DISAPPEARG. HOW SHOULD WE FEEL ABOUT THAT?

Phase 1 and Nob Hill, one of Ameri's olst lbian bars and Ain-Amerin gay bars, rpectively, closed. Wh greater acceptance me blurrier l to what nstut gay bars and spac. Monthly events like MIXTAPE and Guerilla Queer Bar Parti started up the 2000s to brg the LGBT muny en masse to non-gay bars and clubs.

Nowadays bars like, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny. 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.

D.C. GAY NIGHTCLUB COBALT CLOS WH LTLE WARNG

Read more om our 2016 Gay Issue here. “I told them I was gay, ” says the 73-year-old Dupont Circle rint, whose closet door me “flyg off” when he was 28. Gay polil groups and bars had taken root; anti-war and civil-rights monstratns abound.

In an age where g out was more dangero than ually is now, when beg openly gay often triggered prejudice and srn, books and newspapers like the Washgton Bla, tablished 1969, played a ccial role creatg muni.

Prt mattered, not only as a means of relayg rmatn on gay happengs but also as one of drawg queer folk together. He’d settled on the name after the Internatnal Gay Rights Congrs Edburgh adopted the Greek letter as a symbol of solidary.