Gay Liberatn Movement · Civil Rights Digal History Project · exhibs

Contents:

• GAY NIGHTLIFE COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLA: BT BARS, CLUBS, & MORE
• WHAT HAPPENED TO COLUMBIA’S GAY CLUBS?
• GAY BOGOTÁ TRAVEL: COLOMBIA’S GAY-FRIENDLY CAPITAL
• THE 10 BEST COLOMBIA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS COLOMBIA
• THE 5 BEST BOGOTA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BOGOTA
• GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
• COLOMBIE GAY
• THE BEST CARTAGENA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS CARTAGENA

GAY NIGHTLIFE COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLA: BT BARS, CLUBS, & MORE

For a relatively small cy the nservative state of South Carola, Columbia has a surprisgly fervent gay nightlife scene.

WHAT HAPPENED TO COLUMBIA’S GAY CLUBS?

A uple of the town's most popular LGBTQ+ bars are wh view of the stately pol buildg, and a few more mixed but gay-iendly bars and hangouts are the Five Pots retail and entertament neighborhood, not far om the Universy of South Carola. While Columbia isn't a gay mec, do rank among the more welg statns the state, and the cy hosts the annual South Carola Gay Pri celebratn. Visors n enjoy some gay-iendly plac to drk, de, and tch live mic this iendly cy and hub of South Carola polics and tn.

While there aren't many exclively-gay bars or clubs Columbia, there are some lively on full of karaoke, dancg, drag shows, and drk specials, among other fun activi. The Capal Club: One of the longt-nng gay bars the Southeast, and the olst Columbia, the laid-back and private Capal Club is a block om the pol buildg downtown.

PT's 1109: In the shadows of the pol buildg, PT's 1109 is arguably the most popular gay bar and nightclub Columbia, wh a good-size dance floor and drk specials. The venue has drag shows, karaoke, and a variety of parti, pl events supportg Gay Pri and other muny anizatns.

GAY BOGOTÁ TRAVEL: COLOMBIA’S GAY-FRIENDLY CAPITAL

Some of the bt, most novative food the cy n be found a short walk om both the Capol and the cy's gay bars. The mt-do event is the South Carola Gay Pri celebratn which has taken place Columbia sce 1989 and is one of the state's ma events.

Columbia, SC Prime Timers is a group of olr gay or bisexual men (pl younger men 21 and up) that holds many activi: Check out their potlucks, piics, movi, plays, lol and out of town trips, and more.

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

He lik to tell younger people about The Capal Club’s early days, a very different — and ght — time to be a gay bar South Carola. The Capal Club, or simply “Capal, ” as patrons ll , is the olst operatg gay bar Columbia, and acrdg to s webse, the Southeast.

Jt around the rner is PT’s 1109, the cy’s other gay bar, which opened 2000. Through discsns wh bar owners and patrons and analyzg rerds om Historic Columbia, The Carola News and Reporter unvered a strange statistic: Columbia, 2022, has only those two gay bars, the lowt number the cy sce 1960.

Like a lot of gay bars at the time, Rumors started as a private club wh a guard list of members. A sign by the door said the membership clud gay, straight, Black and whe, and anyone who ed trouble would be asked to leave. On Two Notch Road, The Candy Shop was known as Columbia’s only Black gay bar.

THE 5 BEST BOGOTA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BOGOTA

“That was the only Black gay club for around, ” she said. You had gays there, straights there, you had everybody at The Candy Shop. It was also a place to get away om racism at other gay clubs, cludg for Snrs, a Black trans woman.

Lane remembers Traxx as a rary even among the few gay bars town, beg targeted towards women. Many of them were straight wh gay iends, but some were closeted, Skipper, the print, said.

Before he me to Columbia, someone shot through the wdows of a gay bar Wilmgton, N.

GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT

Straight people “me (to The Candy Shop) bee their iends were gay and they were jt hangg out, ” she said. In 1983, Tony Price, a regular patron of the clubs and a gay rights activist on USC’s mp, was a play at the school’s Longstreet Theater.

The first s were seen California and New York 1981, acrdg to In 1982, South Carola’s first se of what was dubbed the “gay ncer, ” bee disproportnately affected gay men, was diagnosed Charlton. The cy’s gay clubs soon were on the ont l of the epimic.

He said young men who had been diagnosed wh the disease would e to him the bathrooms of gay bars cryg and askg for help. After the ial wave of fear and silence, natnal AIDS activists forced discsn of the disease – and other issu the gay muny – to the mastream. Columbia hadn’t had a gay rights movement the 1970s like bigger ci, so the activism that spng om the clubs durg the AIDS movement was the first time gay liberatn had e to the cy and state.

COLOMBIE GAY

In 1990, the first “gay pri” march the state was anized Columbia. Snipers never attacked the pri march, and the AIDS crisis didn’t kill off gay bars, but many who are still around om that perd say there was a noted change the culture of the clubs.

THE BEST CARTAGENA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS CARTAGENA

Addnally, gay acceptance creased the 1990s, changg the mographics of bars.

Fally, the rise of the ter paralleled a drop the number of gay-only clubs, natnally and lolly. Other clubs opened the same buildg — at first they remaed predomantly gay clubs, Berler said, but each new eratn of the club beme more llege oriented and ls gay oriented.

Other LGBTQ bars opened throughout the ’90s, but Historic Columbia’s rerds show a sharp cle the number of gay clubs startg the early 2000s. Supreme Court, and 2014, gay marriage the state was legalized. Some who are still around om Columbia’s gay bar heyday thk there is ls mand for LGBTQ clubs bee members of the muny are more accepted society.