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The decline started in the 1980s and continues to dwindle. By the 1970s, gay bars were openly spaces where you could find LGBT persons. As glbtq has reported, historically gay bars function "as sites for the development of gay culture and for political foment." When police started raiding gay bars in the 1950s and 1960s, they morphed into political zones: people started to fight back as exemplified by The Stonewall Riots. Gay bars have long been important political arenas. You lose the ability to congregate with other people who are going through the same struggles as you are.” Gay bars and other LGBT spaces are historic places of belonging, where queer persons could go to learn and find themselves in community. “You lose the ability to feel like you belong in a space.
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"You lose affirmation,” Shane’a Thomas, a Washington D.C.-based social worker and University of Southern California lecturer, told ATTN: by phone. Why are LGBT patrons leaving and where are they going? What are we losing when a storied gay venue loses its life? Are gay bars necessary in the age of marriage equality? Be it because of dating apps or because of rising rent, metropolitan gay bars are disappearing.Ĭultural voices like Michael Musto have mused over the subject but can’t quite figure out why, leaving many with the same lingering questions. Those closures were all in the past year, but they're only a small sample of the gay bars that have closed down. While there are many watering holes to choose from, it's also true that many iconic heritage spaces have closed their doors: Roosterfish, the only gay bar in Venice Beach, shut down after nearly forty years of business Los Angeles’s Jewel’s Catch One catered to the city’s LGBT African Americans for decades but is now gone for almost twenty years, Escuelita was a space for NYC’s LGBT Latinos but it wrapped up in March London’s Richard Arms closed after thirty years of service Santa Fe’s only gay bar no longer exists and San Francisco’s oldest gay bar - The Gangway - is on the brink of shuttering. This might mean you’ll be attending a Pride parade or heading to a gay bar to grab a drink with friends to celebrate equality.
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With June being Pride Month, issues impacting the LGBT community and LGBT celebrations are both in the spotlight.
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This story was written, edited and filed prior to Sunday morning's events.] Prior to the Orlando shooting, ATTN: had begun reporting on the gradual loss of these sanctuaries. In the wake of the shooting, Richard Kim wrote for the Nation about the horrific fact of the shooter targeting a gay bar, an institution that, among other things, serves as a "sanctuary against aggression." The massacre was a tragic reminder of the sometimes intense hatred still directed at gay Americans, even as the country makes gradual strides toward LGBT equality. In total, 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured. Mass shooting at Orlando nightclub 49 photosĬano was visiting from Florida, and said the Pulse nightclub is one of the known spots amongst her friends.[Editor's Note: Early Sunday morning, the largest mass shooting in American history took place at the gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando. "This is where the LGBT rights movement started, and I think the Stonewall represents hope," Cano told CBS New York. In front of the red brick façade, Cameron Cano stood proudly with a rainbow flag draped over her shoulders. The Manhattan bar became a national symbol of gay rights after a 1969 police raid led to violent street riots. In New York City, LGBT people and their allies converged on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in spontaneous reaction to the shooting. In many cities, vigils were planned at LGBT community centers and other gathering spots to commemorate the victims in Orlando. "Nightclubs have always been sacred spaces for queer people, places to gather and glitter away from the judging glares of society, where we could love and be loved for who we are and how we want to be," wrote Paul Raushenbush, a clergyman and popular gay writer, expressing his heartbreak in a lengthy, emotional post on Facebook in which he recalled going out dancing while at seminary in New York. Orlando nightclub mass shooting victims 49 photos Sunday's attack struck a place that has long been thought of as a safe haven for the community - the gay nightclub. Robert Matencio, who works as a host at Neighbours, said the club responded to the arson attack by adding extra security guards during large special events, and training employees in crowd control.