Gay Club! — Simon Jam Green

Contents:

• THE BT GAY CLUBS AMERI
• GAY CLUBS
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR
• THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH
• GAY GERMANY
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
•  GAY CLUB!
• WELE TO GAY IENDLY ALBUQUERQUE

THE BT GAY CLUBS AMERI

Once a btlg tourist stop on Route 66, the 39th Street District is now home to 45 lol bs, cludg several gay bars and clubs. Once upon a time, gay div and dance clubs were the only plac where gay men uld openly ngregate and cise.

Tim may have changed sce then, but gay clubs are still our ngregatn centers where we dance, drk, anize, show off, and meet others. 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 entrance is through an unmarked shed behd a Chipotle, and featur a blend but unexpected gay/not crowd which same-sex grdg is rigur.

GAY CLUBS

—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. 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.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

It began s life as a beer-and-we offshoot of the Metropolan Health Club, a gym that opened 1983 to serve the gay ctomers who’d been bullied out of other lol clubs at the height of AIDS hysteria. It gave the boys a place to gather the ‘80s, the first outpost that helped tablish the South End as the Boston gayborhood. While other gay bars of the time were basements or board up, Club Cafe faced by Columb Avenue wh floor to ceilg wdows.

Big Chicks serv a diverse crowd— ’s young, ’s old, ’s one of the only plac you’ll see gay men and lbians together!

HOW TO BEE POPULAR AT A GAY BAR

The legendary hoeband, Diamondback, has a 25, 000-song repertoire and a boot llectn that uld make a gay wboy cry.

While you won’t fd any Pri flags at Farraguts, you will undoubtedly hear Cele Dn and Melissa Etheri blarg om the bar’s dty, old jebox and, hontly, isn’t that jt as gay? CourtyDallas: Round-Up SaloonEqual parts wboy boots and dis ball, Round Up Saloon opened 42 years ago Dallas as a gay untry wtern dance hall.

Thanks to Perez-Gallardo and their team, gay people who love the outdoors (most lbians) now have a iendly place to unwd after a hike. Billed as Wt Virgia's olst gay bar, the venue regularly brgs some of the biggt queer performg artists the game right now. Live out your Brokeback Mounta fantasi at this verno club, where wboy stum are not nsired drag, and le dancg is not an explic exprsn of homophobia.

THE BEST MUNICH GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MUNICH

A gay gatherg spot sce 1939, and gay bar sce 1963, and the Bar Complex sce the 80s, s unassumg exterr beli a triple-threat treat of lounge, performance space, and a mirrored dance club reportedly moled after Stud 54. ) The glorly lively bar and rtrant scene is enhanced by a black box theater downstairs, where farcil plays, lbian standup, and gay dance troup reign.

Honey’s is sentially a sexy, gay speakeasy wh a DJ booth where queers of all strip n dance their hearts out until 2 am. Jt a uple of blocks om the beach, Twist brgs the whole breadth of the Miami gay world together to dance and flirt and keep movg. CourtyIndianapolis: English IvyEnglish Ivy advertis self as an “LGBTQ+-enthed” “gay-therg place” and that is not an overstatement.

If you want to get away om the typil scene at fellow gay bars Olly’s and Gregs Our Place, English Ivy is an ial place to meet iends: mature enough for a proper Ladi Lunch (or bnch or dner. But this is Nashville we’re talkg about so the gays who perform at Lipstick Lounge aren’t your average karaoke queens. They are stars the makg and their rendn of Cele Dn’s “It’s All Comg Back to Me Now” will shatter your pt glass and break your ltle, gay heart.

GAY GERMANY

It’s not a gay bar the tradnal sense, but a place where traed pianists play selectns om Broadway shows and all of the drama teachers and mil theater majors of the tri-state area nverge to sg along.

Juli’ is Greenwich Village’s olst bar and New York’s olst gay bar, havg attracted gay clientele sce the 1950s. It was the se of an early gay-liberatn “sip ” 1966, years before Stonewall, and has been a low-key haven ever sce, wh a diverse clientele, a small menu, classic cktails, and an extensive (and packed) 4:00-7:00 happy hour. : The Stable Gay nightlife the Ocean State’s pal is cltered the joyoly (though creasgly) seedy downtown.

In December, Dave’s hosted a queer holiday market wh “live gay bands” and “cute queer vendors” at nearby Bohemian Beer Garn.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

It’s not que French-themed, ’s not que Mardi Gras-spired, feels as close as we have experienced this untry to a gay neighborhood pub. The origal was burned down an anti-gay hate-crime a few years back, but the revival has jt opened across the street and is bigger and better, wh a new performance space. CourtyWashgton DC: TraIn a town where n feel like every other bar is crawlg wh Capol Hill staffers lookg to talk shop, Tra is the rare, glorly gay dive where absolutely everyone is wele to jt kick back.

Though you should prepare yourself for the fact that people might assume you're gay and might even exprs romantic or sexual tert you.

Dgs n feature the gay club scene, but dog dgs do not make you popular and may even isolate you or get you barred. The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement the Uned Stat and around the world.

 GAY CLUB!

Constant Raids at Gay BarsThe 1960s and precedg s were not welg tim for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Amerins. For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly.

But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U. Gay rights anizatn, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was found 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant.

WELE TO GAY IENDLY ALBUQUERQUE

Police raids forced them to disband 1925, but not before they had published several issu of their newsletter, “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did. When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars.

In 1966, they purchased Stonewall Inn (a “straight” bar and rtrant), cheaply renovated , and reopened the next year as a gay bar. It was a nightly home for many naways and homels gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee. And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi.

Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para.