Gay bar

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A gay bar is a drinking establishment which caters primarily to a gay or lesbian clientele. Other names include gay club or a gay pub, queer bar, lesbian bar, dyke bar, or boy bar.

Gay bars range in size from the tiny, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story "super-clubs" with several distinct areas and often more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs.

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Characteristics

Music, either live or, more commonly, mixed by a DJ or DJs, is almost always a prominent feature of gay bars, as is the serving of alcohol. Music in gay bars, as in other bars, ranges in style from jazz and blues to disco, drum and bass, punk, house, trance, and techno.

Depending on the size of the club and its image, music and clientele, common features of gay bars are light effects, including colourful moving and flashing lights, disco balls, etc., as well as fog-machines, screens showing special effects or videos, raised platforms or stages for dancing on and for special performances, and decorative cages or podiums for hired dancers (called go-go boys or go-go girls). Some gay clubs also have "backrooms," which are dimly lit or darkened rooms where men can have sex, though this feature, once common, is now more unusual.

Gay bars and their clientele are sometimes indiscriminate as to which restroom (men's or women's) they use, though this may be illegal in some jurisdictions; unisex toilets are common in gay bars.

Gay bars and nightclubs are sometimes segregated by sex, though this is more common in some places than others. In some establishments, people who are perceived to be of the "wrong" sex (for example, a man attempting to enter a women's club) may be unwelcome or even barred from entry. This may be more common in specialty bars, such as gay male leather fetish or BDSM bars, or clubs that have back rooms (see below), for example.

On the whole lesbian-only bars are comparatively uncommon, but some gay bars, like some gay bathhouses, offer women-only nights.

Some gay bars attempt to restrict entry only to gays or lesbians, but in practice this is both difficult to enforce and generally undesirable. Gay bars are often welcoming of transgender and cross-dressed people, and drag shows are a common feature in many gay bars.

Like other clubs, gay clubs are oftened advertised by handing out eye-catching flyers on the street, in gay or gay-friendly shops and venues, and at other clubs and events. These flyers frequently feature provocative images.

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History

Image:Stonewall.jpg One of the oldest gay bars was the White Swan, on Vere Street, in London, which in 1810 was raided (called the Vere Street Coterie), leading to two executions for the then crime of sodomy, and which was frequently the scene of gay marriages carried out by the Reverend John Church [1].

Stonewall Inn, located in Greenwich Village, New York City is the location of the notorious Stonewall Riots of 1969, considered to be a major turning point of the modern gay rights movement in America.

"Gay Bar" is also the name of a 2003 single released by Electric Six.

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Notable gay nightclubs

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Canada

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Czech Republic

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Germany

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Japan

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Mexico

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Philippines

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Spain

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Taiwan, Republic of China


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United Kingdom

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United States

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Notable gay DJs (past and present)

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See also

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External links

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Outside Reading

it:Gay bar

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