THE BEST Washgton DC Gay Clubs & Bars (Updated 2023)

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• THE U STREET CORRIDOR FALLY HAS A GAY CLUB AGA
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• ESQUIRE NAM TRA ONE OF AMERI’S BT GAY BARS FOR SEND YEAR
• THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI
• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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.

Onle EventWed, Aug 16 · 10:00 PM UTCLGBTQ Women, Femm, & Thems Virtual SocialGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI) • Long Island Cy, NYGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI)Long Island Cy, NYOnle EventFri, Aug 18 · 11:00 PM UTCFor Us By Us- A LGBT BIPOC Meet-UpGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI) • Long Island Cy, NYGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI)Long Island Cy, NYOnle EventTue, Aug 15 · 10:30 PM UTCYou've Got Gayme: In-Person Game NightGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI) • Long Island Cy, NYGroup name:Trans/Nonnformg/Nonbary Programs & Events (Queens &LI)Long Island Cy, NYSat, Aug 12 · 2:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Bnch @ Freddie'sGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCThu, Aug 17 · 11:30 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Book ClubGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSat, Aug 19 · 2:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Bnch @ Freddie'sGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSat, Aug 26 · 2:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Bnch @ Freddie'sGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCFri, Aug 11 · 11:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Social @ Hotel ZenaGroup name:EQUALITY NoVa • Arlgton, VAGroup name:EQUALITY NoVaArlgton, VASun, Aug 13 · 4:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Coffee & Conversatn @ as you name:NoVA LGBTQ+ Profsnals • Arlgton, VAGroup name:NoVA LGBTQ+ ProfsnalsArlgton, VASun, Aug 13 · 10:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Dner & Conversatn @ FeriGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSun, Aug 27 · 3:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Bnch @ Puro GtoGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSun, Aug 27 · 10:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Dner & Conversatn @ FeriGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCMon, Aug 28 · 10:30 PM UTCQueer Book ClubGroup name:The DC Center • Washgton, DCGroup name:The DC CenterWashgton, DCFri, Aug 25 · 11:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Social @ DIK BarGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSat, Sep 2 · 2:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Bnch @ Freddie'sGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCFri, Sep 1 · 11:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Social @ The CommentaryGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSat, Aug 19 · 5:00 PM UTCNorthern Virgia LGBTQ+ Town HallGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSat, Aug 12 · 11:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Gam @ The Board Room VAGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCFri, Aug 18 · 11:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Speed Friendg @ Puro GtoGroup name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DCSun, Sep 3 · 4:00 PM UTCLGBTQ+ Coffee & Conversatn @ as you name:Go Gay DC • Washgton, DCGroup name:Go Gay DCWashgton, DC. Capal Pri, one of the largt gay pri celebratns the US, is this weekend.

THE U STREET CORRIDOR FALLY HAS A GAY CLUB AGA

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.

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. Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay.

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

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

ESQUIRE NAM TRA ONE OF AMERI’S BT GAY BARS FOR SEND YEAR

Bunker, a subterranean gay club, opened s massive doors to live DJ sets on Thursday, Febary 23. In the past three years, all of the cy’s siar clubs have closed, cludg Cobalt, Secrets, DC Eagle, and the largt gay dance club D.

While Bunker is the first bona fi gay club D. Owner Spencer Hurd moled Licht after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany. His dream: lnchg a cktail bar moled after his favore gay fé Mannheim, Germany.

“The goal is to foc on the classic cktails, rather than jt vodka-sodas and rose Kennedys, as you may get at other gay bars, ” he says. Licht Café is a reference to the spiratn om his go-to gay spot Mannheim, but also reflects his ial zy space. “I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay.

THE 42 BT GAY BARS AMERI

“I want the to be a bid edgy—this is a part of gay culture.

The U Street NW strip’s gay bar scene is on the up as of late.

Kiki owner Keaton Fedak, the former general manager at nearby gay bar Dirty Goose, will expand Kiki to the next-door space that formerly hoed dive Dodge Cy. “We’re hopg to make a gayborhood Shaw, ” he told Eater last month. Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div.

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des. “We’ve been throwg events now for que a few years, and the District, after the closure of really every gay nightclub — both before COVID and then durg COVID — has really been lackg a te dance floor, ” says Zach Renovát, one of the Bunker -owners.

THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC

The Ltle Gay Pub – Photo: Do Sevilla. The other new addn, The Ltle Gay Pub, is the brachild of three longtime rtrant and bar dtry fixtur — Do Sevilla, Dty Martez, and Ben Ganr.

The -owners, who have a bed experience of 37 years the bar and rtrant dtry, have a shared visn of The Ltle Gay Pub as a “gift” to the muny, providg an LGBTQ space for people the Logan Circle/Shaw neighborhood where one currently do not exist, and where there’s a arth of drkg or eatg tablishments that n rival those near the Walter E.

“It looks like an old hotel vibe, a very W Anrson-y take on quirk, where pomp and circumstance have been shelved and taken over by three quirky gays who cid to overrate to s next eratn. The Ltle Gay Pub has a kchen that the owners plan to utilize, begng wh about a dozen food ems that one uld classify as “elevated pub food, ” meang more than your typil ied pub fare. While the liquor license and fal settlement agreements are still beg procsed, the tr behd The Ltle Gay Pub note that their spotls rerds, as far as ABRA vlatns, and their longstandg reputatns appear to have aid them openg whout much phback om the cy, scribg the procs of applyg for var licens and perms as “drama-ee.