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

Contents:

• D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS
• LICHT CAFé, D.C.’S NEWT GAY BAR, IS A COZY, ART-FILLED U STREET HIAWAY
• THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.
• THE BEST WASHGTON DC GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS WASHGTON DC
• RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD
• GAY PARTI & EVENTS
• IN D.C., GAY BARS AND DIV LEAD A WAVE OF BS REQUIRG PROOF OF VACCATNS
• MOSW GAY BARS
• GAY BARS, RIP

D.C.'S BT GAY BARS AND HANGOUTS

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. 's evolvg gayborhood has shifted towards Logan Circle and U Street.

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

In Febary 2016, the Washgton Bla noted an "unual flurry of activy" wh the openg of four new gay bars, the majory of which land the U Street/Shaw/Logan Circle area.

Those spots and more sports bars, dance clubs, and cktail havens are all clud Eater's round up of the District's gay-iendlit bars and hangouts. New gay dive bar Tra opened last year, urty of the team behd Town Danceboutique and Number Ne. New to the Shaw/U Street gay bar scene is Uproar, which buted last year.

THE BT GAY BARS WASHGTON, D.C.

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.

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

“I love art and sign, ” Hurd says, “and I wanted to make the bar unapologetilly gay. “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.

RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD

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.

GAY PARTI & EVENTS

Meet Kiki, an Excg New Gay Bar Replacg a Pair of Shuttered Shaw Div. Val Dupont Gay Bar Cobalt Is Closg After Two Des.

Tour historic LGBTQ+ s, grab a drk at the bt gay and lbian bars the cy, rock out at Capal Pri and so much more.

IN D.C., GAY BARS AND DIV LEAD A WAVE OF BS REQUIRG PROOF OF VACCATNS

The Bt Gay Bars Washgton, D. —our natn’s pal, if you’ve managed to fet—has been scribed as “the gayt place Ameri. ” As an epicenter, gay drkers n fd no shortage of optns, om sports bars to cktail bars to dance clubs, many of which are ncentrated near Dupont Circle and 17th Street, where gay bar-hoppg is prime.

Perhaps the most unr-the-radar gay bar to outsirs, as well as the most polil of Washgton's gay bars, the Der is home to high-profile Democratic and Republin operativ who regularly put asi polics when they arrive for the party. Grab a Lemon Squeeze (the bar's mastay cktail), a pile of tater tots and ntle to a booth to see and be INFO →KNOWN FORfull menucheap datebar foodCobaltCobalt has long been a mastay on the District's gay-centric 17th Street Corridor.

INFO →KNOWN FORdancgcheap datefull menuDacha Beer GarnDacha isn't an official gay bar, but you wouldn’t know by the crowd.

MOSW GAY BARS

In keepg, beware: It n get INFO →KNOWN FORcraft beeroutdoor / patbar foodDo's Bar at FlorianaIn the basement of an Italian rtrant off the very-gay 17th Street, Dupont Circle, is Do’s Bar. He's been servg drks and hostg at the ty hiaway for a now, and is beloved by the gay and straight crowds INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datefull menuJR's Bar & Grill The “grill” part of JR's Bar & Grill is mostly absent.

Gay bar scene attractg polished polis and beefy at boys. For years, the bar banned dancg but fally relented after a of prsure by patrons—not that there's much room to dance; between trivia nights and happy hour, n be packed cheek-to-cheek most of the INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datedancglive micLarry's LoungeYou won’t fd Larry’s Lounge listed on any gay bar map of Washgton, D. Not officially a gay bar, not officially a straight bar, Larry’s is jt Larry’s.

C’s gay muny. They’ll merely check on you om time-to-time to make sure you’re still alive and to brg you ee INFO →KNOWN FORcheap datebar foodoutdoor / patNellie's Sports BarWhen Nellie's first opened 2007 at the rner of 9th & U Street, NW, some wonred if a gay bar uld thrive a lotn so far removed om the center of Washgton’s gay nightlife scene. But, as the cy’s gay muny has moved east, Nellie's (named for the owner's grandmothers—y, multiple grandmothers) now the most popular gay bar all of D.

GAY BARS, RIP

Though 's billed as a sports bar—and ser sports fans fely e here to tch a game—the TVs rarely factor on DJ nights when crowds pack Nellie's rooftop INFO →KNOWN FORsportscheap datelive micdancgfull menuNumber 9When the owners of the wildly popular gay nightclub Town Danceboutiqe set out to open a cktail bar, they named honor of their nth venture together. The space—prevly a rather unspirg gay bar—was rernated as a dim, morn lounge wh a foc on ser cktails. Gay women are always hard up for great bars, and recent years have seen the closg of long-tablished lbian jots many ci.