During this time, gay bars transitioned into headquarters for community organizing. This was especially seen during the AIDs epidemic of the ’80s, when casual sex became scary, and ‘the gays’ became even scarier. Gay bars, and other queer spaces, were so much more than a place to hook up or find opportunities for sexual relationships. While this provides a relatively easy way to explain the decline of gay bars, I don’t think it’s fully accurate. One no longer needs to flag a colored handkerchief around to signify their preferences now, you can just list ‘top’ or ‘bottom’ in your bio. Cruising was a huge part of the culture for gay men, and it no longer seems necessary. Many have argued that hookup apps, such as Grindr and Her, are to blame. But with the digital age offering safe spaces to anyone with a working WiFi connection, that may be changing.ĭamron, a resource known for tracking Gay and Lesbian bars since the 1960s, reported a twelve percent drop in their count from 2005 to 2011. It’s hard to imagine something as central to the LGBTQ+ rights movement being the gay bar. While straight, cis-gender people tend to view bars and clubs as places to get a bit rowdy on the weekends and maybe pick up someone before going back to their desk job Monday morning, the queer community has a long history of gay bars being their sole beacons of safety and acceptance in an otherwise harsh world.
