#gay bars

[genderoutlaws]

Vintage advertisement for Alex In Wonderland, a gay bar in New York City | c. 1984

[imfinereallyy]

“Steve, it’s an emergency. I need to kiss you. Actually, I need you to kiss me. But I can’t just do it without asking because what if you don’t want me to, and I practically attack you? So yes or no? I swear it’s for a good cause.” Eddie comes running up to Steve in the bar, panting so hard Steve can see the chest movements.

They have taken Robin to a bar out in Indy to get her laid finally. Or at least a tongue in her mouth. The girl is pent up. And it’s Steve’s job as best friend to make that happen (Robin has told him to stop saying that, ‘it is gross’). Eddie is the only other queer person they know and, luckily, has made quite a few trips to Indy to know which bars were the good ones. He tells Steve that, like Robin, he is desperate to get laid, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Steve does his best to try and ignore the burning jealousy he feels at that. Eddie doesn’t know about his feelings (hell about his sexuality), and Steve is pretty sure Eddie doesn’t see him that way.

“Huh?” Asks confused, his brain struggling to process.

“Okay, I see you’re stuck on how to answer, but Steve—“ Eddie grips Steve’s shoulder, and Steve tries not to swoon. “—my ex, the extra shitty one, is here, and if he sees me alone I’ll either a) go home with him tonight and—“

Steve cuts Eddie off with a searing kiss. The thought of Eddie going home with someone else was enough for Steve’s brain to catch up to speed. Steve presses Eddie against the bar. The loud bass of the music suddenly becomes a light thrum in the background. All that he feels is the delightful pressure of their lips together. Eddie’s hands slide up into Steve’s hair as he gets pressed harder into the bar. Steve’s hands' grip Eddie’s waist and give them a tight squeeze. The idea of bruises being left behind, a mark of what they are doing here, makes Steve deepen the kiss. His tongue used to massage Eddie’s, tasting the menthol and rum on his breath. Eddie moans loud and heavy, vibrating Steve’s entire body.

“Eddie?” A voice interrupts them. Steve feels his anger spark back slightly but wills it down because the interruption is probably needed. They are very close to getting kicked out for public indecency.

“Oh hey, Ryan.” Eddie looks the blonde man up and down. He’s cute, Steve notes, but he lacked personality in his appearance. He isn’t what Steve expects from an ex of Eddie’s. He isn’t naive enough to think Eddie dates exclusively metal heads, but he expects someone to match Eddie’s energy. This guy—Ryan apparently—looks like every other guy you’d find on a Sunday in Supermart. Boring and lacking imagination.

“Who’s this?” Ryan looks at Steve pissed.

“Steve?” Eddie wraps an arm around his waist, bringing Steve close up against him. “This is my boyfriend.”

“This dude’s your boyfriend?” Ryan snorts. “C'mon baby, I know you can do better.”

Steve feels his anger finally pop. “He is not your baby. Yea, he can do better than both of us combine, but I’m lucky enough to get him. Now, you interrupted our time together, and we both know you saw what we’re up to, so don’t act like it wasn’t on purpose.”

Ryan startles backwards, “I—“

“Sorry, maybe I wasn’t clear. I meant leave the fuck right now.” Steve grits out, some of his Upside Down protection mode popping out. Ryan scatters quickly.

“Jesus, Steve, that was amazing. I’m sorry I had to make you uncomfortable with that.” Eddie’s eyes find his and cuts Steve off before he can protest and explain no, he really did like that “—and you never even let me explain reason b, by the way! Reason b is b) he would probably humiliate me in the middle of the club.”

Steve nods at Eddie but has one track mind at this point. He grabs Eddie by the face this time before crashing their lips together once again. This time Steve moans into Eddie’s mouth as they both get lost in the kiss.

Steve pulls back ever so slightly and talks directly into Eddie’s mouth, “Sorry. I think he’s still staring. Needed to do more.”

Eddie, with swollen lips and a kissed-out face, looks around the bar to find nothing. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

Steve smirks and pulls Eddie by his belt loops so they are flushed together. Steve leans into Eddie’s ear and nibbles at his lobe. “Hmmm, you’re right. I think he’s actually in the bathroom. Maybe we should kiss in front of him there.” Steve whispers hotly.

Eddie’s brain, which has short-circuited much like Steve only minutes ago, finally catches up. Eddie groans, his face collapsing into Steve’s neck. He licks a stripe up Steve’s neck all the way to his mouth. “Fuck. Yea, baby, I think I saw him too. Think kissing, though, won’t be enough. We might need to up our game.”

Steve nips at Eddie’s lips, “I was hoping you would say that. Guess I just know how much you love your games, Eds.”

They meet each other for one last searing kiss before rushing to the bathrooms to share a very tight, very heated stall.

[gender0bender]

Photos of lesbians taken between 1983-1985 by Czech photographer Libuse Jarcovjakova in T-Club, a gay bar in Prague. Link to her website - http://www.jarcovjakova.com/albums/t-club-1983-1985/

[disastrid]

We are excited to announce that the Kim Deacon Collection photographs are now digitized and available to the public on provlibdigital.org!

[nansheonearth]

I saw you say something about “The largest lesbian centered events company in the greater Boston area”. What’s the company name so I can follow?

It's funny when I posted that comment I was thinking I should go back and add links for the lesbians. Sapphic Nights Boston hosts roughly 1-4 events every week. Mostly club nights with a theme (emo, woc, Slavic, masc, pop, Latin, bailefunk, etc). They also do events like drag race viewing parties, sip and paint events, yacht parties, there's a retreat weekend. The events are mostly in Boston with a few happening on a regular basis in Providence, Worcester, and Salem. I think they just finished a weekend in Provincetown. Second place is Lesbian Night Life who does more day parties, brunches, singles events, and over 30s events. Snatched Entertainment does 'queer poc' events but they lean more towards women.

Dani's Queer Bar is a lesbian owned bar that's supposed to open soon. Until then if you're willing to drive there's Femme Bar in Worcester. In addition to typically club nights they have lots more lowkey stuff like boardgames nights and book clubs. In the Jamaica Plain neighborhood is lesbian owned Drawdown Brewing that does some women's events. I've been there to watch women's hockey and they also have non-alcoholic drinks.

[aclaywrites]

You’ve all heard the joke, yeah? How many lesbian feminists does it take to change a light bulb? One, and that’s not funny.

I believe that there are more gay men’s bars for several reasons, the biggest reason being the stereotypes and attitudes of straight people towards gay men and lesbians. Gay guys are fun! They’re camp! There’s disco and drag shows and sexy shirtless guys with glitter on their ass cheeks. Gay men are fun, yeah? Always sassy and sardonic and love to look their best! Straight girls love to go to gay bars because the guys won’t hit on them, and they drag their dates along and it’s a wild good time for everyone! So new ones open, with a bigger dance floor, or a stage for better drag shows, or the biggest Halloween costume extravaganza in the whole city!

It’s also true that gay men on average earn a lot more than lesbians, and have much more disposable income for pricey cocktails and new year’s galas, so there’s another reason to open another club.

In some small towns there’s only enough market for one bar, so for sure it’s gonna be the boy bar because they’re gonna bring their straight girl friends, and maybe there’ll be a bachelorette party!

And who’s gonna go to a lesbian bar besides lesbians? Straight girls don’t want to get hit on by dykes. They’ll tell you that as soon as you come out to them (I don’t mind but I’m not gay, so….). Straight men are not welcome. I’ve danced on some lesbian bar dance floors, but they’ve never been mirrored and glittery with banks of video screens. I’ve been to a lot of women’s folk nights, with sliding scale cover charges and bottled beer. Women don’t make as much money, either, on average, so a bar wouldn’t be much of a big profit investment.

Gay men are fun and a good market. Lesbians aren’t and aren’t.

[princess-unipeg]

The Gay Bars of Alaska

[commiepinkofag]

Liquor and Cannabis Board Pauses Enforcement of Lewd Conduct Regulations

After raiding four gay bars last week and finding nothing but a nipple and jockstraps, the Liquor and Cannabis Board has paused enforcement of its lewd conduct rules, according to a signed letter sent to state officials. The Board also paused participation in Seattle’s Joint Enforcement Team, a coalition of police, fire, and other city departments, and will reopen rule-making to amend or repeal the lewd conduct violation regulations. The Board also said it won’t issue citations for anything they saw over the weekend—including a bartender’s exposed nipple at The Cuff Complex and jockstraps seen at The Seattle Eagle—and it will review its past practices and policies, including the use of photographs as evidence.

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

Good news has been happening concerning stopping the bar raids in Seattle, but now they need help more than ever to get there. As the campaign manager of Strippers Are Workers, Madison Zack-Wu, explained:

Between our bill passing the legislature and good communication with the Governor's office, we thought we were in the clear.

However, Republican Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison and the King County Prosecuting Attorney's office are pushing Governor Inslee to veto Section 3 of our bill. Section 3 bans some criminalizing laws on dancer conduct- legalizing super basic things like being tipped while performing on stage and taking payment upfront for private dances.

Unsurprisingly, cop-adjacent attorneys & prosecutors believe that these laws, which disempower dancers, are a good thing. We are of course disappointed that there is still so much acceptance and support for the harm of dancers, but we aren't really surprised. Luckily, this is truly the last fight on this policy."

I tried filling it myself, but as I'm Australian, it won't accept me.

Please help. I know a lot of USamericans were expecting the response to these bar raids to be a recreation of Stonewall, but, though hard to believe, there has been progress to ensure the queer community can be heard through lots of means. This is it. This could help save those bars and its communities.

USamericans, you're not there to throw bricks and hands, but you can do something if you know you would. Please submit that email.

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

Source: Sydney Star Observer: The Gay And Lesbian Communities’ Newspaper ( No. 220 Friday October 15, 1993)

Photos by: Jamie Dunbar Mazz

[thislesbiansays]

The lack of queer spaces in traditionally conservative cities, though unsurprising, continues to appall me to this day. Like ok maybe there’s a gay bar or two (!!) if you’re lucky, but these spaces are usually dominated by straight cis women.

While gay bars are a safe space for EVERYONE it is so debilitatingly difficult to find a solely queer space and frankly I’m sick of it.

[scotianostra]

Gay Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has a number of bars that cater for what is called The Pink Pound, but that has not always been the case.

The Kenilworth on Rose street is generally accepted as the first gay friendly bar in Edinburgh, but back in the 70's it must have been a difficult time for same sex couples to find somewhere to socialise. The Kenilworth is popular city centre haunt and was well-known as a place where homosexual men and women in the city could meet up and mingle in an era when being openly gay could technically see you fined and even imprisoned.

A change in management in the bar saw the LGBT community feel less welcome, but around the same time Edinburgh's first bar to openly welcome the gay community open in The New Town. The Laughing Duck on Howe Street in its 80s heyday was a haunt of drag queens and a then unknown act called Lily Savage entertained the crowds. I can only remember being in the bar once, my sister was a part time bar maid there. The "Duck" closed it's doors in 1994.

In the early 90's my sisters friend Douglas Cruikshank hosted a gay night at Manhattan's housed in part of the Playhouse Theatre, where the "Gay Quarter" still thrives. Lily Savage used to spend nights at the the flat they shared, and performed at nights in the venue. Douglas then took on a bar called " Millionaires" on Niddry Street. My brother and a few of our friends used to use Millionaires during day time hours, where it was generally a straight crowd, but at night time the bar turned into "Millies" probably Edinburgh's first gay night club. My sister used to manage the bar for Douglas, as well as working fill time during the day, and energetic lassie, she got on well with everyone and did the two jobs until she discovered she was pregnant, at 7 months gone she had little choice but to give up the job for a time, but went back to the job after her boy was born, relying on me to look after the baby most of the time.

I moved to France and then England and was away from Edinburgh for around ten years and by the time I returned in the early noughties the gay village at Greenside place had been firmly established.

The bars included GHQ on Picardy Place was the energized focal, point of Edinburgh's pink triangle till it closed in 2012, Planet Bar  on the opposite side is a very popular place, CC Blooms and Habana al vied for the Pink Pound, at Greenside. Habana however has closed, the whole frontage of this part of the building i clad in scaffolding, I am not sure what the ned product will be, but the bar will no doubt be missed.

In this day and age bars, in general are all gay friendly, some around Edinburgh hang n to their proud LGBT links though, The Regent, at Abbeyhill and The Dog House at Clerk Street on the Southside trade on this reputation, but cater for a very mixed crowd. Dog House has opened a second bar on Leith Walk, look out for a wee post about that later.

[nightmarefoxy69]

We should put this in front of gay bars

[nansheonearth]

Amanda is a producer for National Public Radio’s show 1A and tomorrow’s is about lesbian bars. They’re doing an open call for audience input (they share and discuss voicemails during the show). Feel free to send to folks you know!

Tomorrow’s show:

In the 1980's there were roughly 200 lesbian bars. Today, there are less than 30. We sit down with Krista Burton the author of "Moby Dyke" who journeyed around the U-S to visit all of them and find out why they're disappearing. If you frequent a lesbian bar in your town, we'd love to hear what this space means to you. Or, if you don't have a lesbian bar in your area, how does the lack of space affect the way you connect with your community?

Call us: 8-5-5, 2-3-6, 1-2-1-2.

How do you think spaces for lesbians and queer women have changed over time?

Leave us a voicemail: 8-5-5, 2-3-6, 1-2-1-2 or a message with our app, 1A Vox Pop. And we’ll get to your stories tomorrow on 1-A.

[lafseanchai]

Well, I got my queer moment on this very straight trip! Went to the oldest gay bar in Denmark (apparently the world!) and had a beer. Centralhjørnet opened in 1917, and was known on the down low to be a place for queer men to meet. In 1955 it came out and was known openly for being a gay bar.

If I hadn't had a moment of social panic when the bartender was Right There when I walked in, I would have thought about getting a drink I actually liked, but I saw the rainbows and the Stonewall Inn, and just asked for that. I don't like beer, and only managed less than half of it before I gave up.

But I am sitting here thinking about the long history of queer folks from around the world, about how a lot of things suck right now. But, there is also a little bar on a quiet corner in Copenhagen that a queer can buy a beer, not finish it, and think about all the queer history, as Queer As Fact say, "from around the world and throughout time".