The number of gay bars has dwdled. A new generatn plans to brg them back. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• ADAMS MAN'S GAY SPORTS BAR
• PCHERS DC GAY SPORTS BAR SOFT OPENS ADAMS MAN
• THE NUMBER OF GAY BARS HAS DWDLED. A NEW GENERATN PLANS TO BRG THEM BACK.
• SEND GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF SUPPORTS PRI WH A VIS TO PCHERS GAY BAR
• CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS
• GAY CHIGO

ADAMS MAN'S GAY SPORTS BAR

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.

Adams Man is losg four eateri but gag a new five--one, gay-iendly sports bar this summer wh Pchers. Adams man's gay sports bar2317 18th St. Pchers is a bar for Perzza has opened up a gay sports bar the heart of Adams Man.

PCHERS DC GAY SPORTS BAR SOFT OPENS ADAMS MAN

Wh the migratn of gay bars movg om Adams Man to Shaw and U Street, the ladi have been lost the shuffle. READ NEXTIsland Hoe Staff Says “Keep Key Wt Gay”Chechen Pop Star Was Tortured and ExecutedActor Tom Holland’s Gay Sex Scene Sparks ControversyMissouri Sued Over Ban on Genr-Affirmg Care.

THE NUMBER OF GAY BARS HAS DWDLED. A NEW GENERATN PLANS TO BRG THEM BACK.

Bounce closed 2017, and hundreds of other gay bars have shut down, too. A group is planng a lbian and queer “clubhoe” Los Angel, and an “old-school gay girl” Norfolk plans to reopen the lbian bar she found four s ago.

Pike and McDaniel know openg a bar durg a panmic may be risky, but they say they’ve learned one thg om years of visg and workg other queer tablishments: If they want to survive, they first have to build a better and more clive than a barThe gay bar was long the ma, and sometim only, space where queer people uld gather.

SEND GENTLEMAN DOUG EMHOFF SUPPORTS PRI WH A VIS TO PCHERS GAY BAR

A few opened quietly the early 1930s, then after World War II, hundreds more began servg gay men and women. About 200 of those tered to, like Hershee Bar Norfolk, opened when their stat had laws that prohibed bar owners om employg gay people or creatg gatherg spots for them. She mentored foster children whose parents had kicked them out, and every Thanksgivg, she threw a dner for people whose fai didn’t accept 1987, Norfolk had four or five gay bars, and the number natnwi peaked at more than 1, 700.

CHIGO GAY BARS AND CLUBS

Many stayed open through the 1990s, but the early 2000s, hundreds of gay bars started to close. Those servg lbians and people of lor were h all gay bar listgs cled by 37 percent between 2007 and 2019, the number of queer bars servg people of lor cled by 59 percent, and bars for lbians cled by 52 percent, Mattson Francis lost the Lexgton Club, and Rubyu Jungle shut s doors New Orleans. Still, Mattson has found two prevailg factors — the rise of datg apps and a growg acceptance of gay people.

“Gay bars were never jt hookup plac, but they were plac to meet other LGBTQ+ people, and now that you n meet them om your bedroom or while you’re wag for the b, that has taken away some of gay bars’ monopoly on beg the place where you fd other LGBTQ+ folks, ” he bars are also no longer the only place some queer people, pecially Whe and cisgenr men, feel safe. “I thk this is highly uneven, ” Mattson said, “but for gay, Whe, middle-class people like myself, any bar feels like a gay bar if you show up wh six iends. ”Mattson has terviewed 120 bar owners 35 stat for a forthg book lled “Who Needs Gay Bars?

GAY CHIGO

For some bar owners, Mattson found, that’s jt enomics, but for a new generatn, “lbian” and “gay” don’t pture their full and fluid inti. ”A fay-oriented spacePike and McDaniel have spent the past 20 years workg gay and lbian spac.

Pike did secury for Nellie’s Sports Bar, and McDaniel bartend at APEX, Cobalt and other gay bars before workg alongsi Pike at A League of Her Own (ALOHO) Adams was one of jt 21 lbian bars left the untry when Pike and McDaniel worked there, but durg the early days of the ronavis panmic, the uple cid they wanted to create a new spot, one they owned. As You Are won’t have secury guards; stead, Pike is trag a fleet of “safety managers” — a change Pike hop will attract applints who are ls ncerned wh actg tough and more terted creatg a safe atmosphere for and McDaniel know that some people thk the gay bar era is over, that spac like theirs are no longer need, but people who say that tend to have more privilege, McDaniel said. “He was clearly homophobic, ” Pike said.