Who Needs Gay Bars?: Bar-Hopping through America's Endangered LGBTQ+ Places

Description

Gay bars have been closing by the hundreds. The story goes that increasing mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, plus dating apps like Grindr and Tinder, have rendered these spaces obsolete. Beyond that, rampant gentrification in big cities has pushed gay bars out of the neighborhoods they helped make hip. Who Needs Gay Bars? considers these narratives, accepting that the answer for some might be: maybe nobody. And yet... Jarred by the closing of his favorite local watering hole in Cleveland, Ohio, Greggor Mattson embarks on a journey across the country to paint a much more complex picture of the cultural significance of these spaces, inside "big four" gay cities, but also beyond them. No longer the only places for their patrons to socialize openly, Mattson finds in them instead a continuously evolving symbol; a physical place for feeling and challenging the beating pulse of sexual progress. From the historical archives of Seattle's Garden of Allah, to the outpost bars in Texas, Missouri or Florida that serve as community hubs for queer youth—these are places of celebration, where the next drag superstar from Alaska or Oklahoma may be discovered. They are also fraught grounds for confronting the racial and gender politics within and without the LGBTQ+ community. The question that frames this story is not asking whether these spaces are needed, but for whom, earnestly exploring the diversity of folks and purposes they serve today. Loosely informed by the Damron Guide, the so-called "Green Book" of gay travel, Mattson logged 10,000 miles on the road to all corners of the United States. His destinations are sometimes thriving, sometimes struggling, but all offering intimate views of the wide range of gay experience in America: POC, white, trans, cis; past, present, and future. Contents Preface: A Sociologist Walks into a Bar Part One. Ambivalence Chapter 1 Ambivalence about Gay Bars Chapter 2 Changing Bars and Aging Bodies Chapter 3 Outpost Bars Put Assumptions under Scrutiny Chapter 4 Gay Bar History Chapter 5 Not-Quite-for-Profit, Privately- Owned Community Assets Part Two. Gay Bar Fundamentals Chapter 6 Mom and Moms and Pop and Pops Chapter 7 The Training Grounds of America’s Next Drag Superstars Chapter 8 Bars for People of Color and the Ambivalence of Racial Camp Chapter 9 There Are Easier Ways to Make a Buck in the Big City than a Big Nightclub Chapter 10 Queer Spaces in the Gayborhood Chapter 11 Small-City Gay Bars and the Only Gay in the Village Part Three. Safe Spaces for Whom Chapter 12 Gay Bars Were Never Safe Spaces Chapter 13 Undocu-Queer Dreaming and Government ID Chapter 14 Owners Behaving Badly Chapter 15 Our Gender Is Medicine Chapter 16 Conflicts over Safety in the Queer Pub Part Four. Lesbian-Owned Bars Chapter 17 Lost Womyn’s Spaces, Found Lesbian Bars Chapter 18 I Always Hated Lesbian Bars Chapter 19 Why Can’t We Be Straight Friendly? Chapter 20 White Folks, Gay Men, and Straight Black Folks Don’t Come Chapter 21 The Drama of Owning a Queer Bar Chapter 22 Women First, Lesbians Second, But Everyone’s Welcome Part Five. Cruisy Men’s Bars Chapter 23 Democratizing Sexy Community Chapter 24 We Were a Bear Bar. The Trans Community Was Extremely Forgiving Chapter 25 Rebranding The Eagle for the Next Generations Chapter 26 Leathermen at Drag Bingo Chapter 27 Queering the Gay Strip Club Part Six. How to Save a Gay Bar Chapter 28 Crowdfunding While Black Chapter 29 Nonprofit Ownership Means We Celebrate Pride Every Week Chapter 30 Part of an Otherwise-Straight Hospitality Group Chapter 31 The Benefits of Employee Ownership Caven Enterprises’ JR’s, Sue Ellen’s, TMC, S4, and Rose Room DALLAS, TEXAS Chapter 32 #SaveTheGayBars from Another Pandemic Part Seven. National Monuments Chapter 33 National Archive Chapter 34 National Memorial Chapter 35 Municipal Landmark in Exile Chapter 36 AIDS Altars in Plain Sight Chapter 37 A Post-Gay, Not-Gay, Very Gay, Un-Bar Acknowledgments Notes Index