Nathan Exposed » Life Guide #3: Where Are All the Gays?

Life Guide #3: Where Are All the Gays?

All the major gay meccas in the U.S. have seen a dramatic shift in culture. Some of the most famous and historic hotspots are shutting down, and the dividers between gay and straight community seem to be blurring.

My most recent article in Out & About Newspaper deals with this problem on both a local and national level. But the question remains — what can we do to restore gay culture, or does it even matter anymore?

Click here to read the entire article.

Tue, Mar 11, 2008 @ 3:14 pm | Filed in Life Guide | Permalink

5 Comments

OMG…this is great! nice one!

Posted by Cincinnati NAMjA on Tue, Mar 11, 2008 @ 6:40 pm

Nice Article. I see the same here in the UK. Where as about 5 years ago, there were only a handful of well established gay bars/clubs in my County, there are now a whole list of them. Something which you may think goes against your article, but what has happened during this time is that the more mainstream full time gay bars seem to be closing down, and instead straight bar/clubs seem to be hosting their own gay nights which have proven to be extremely popular.

Posted by stuart on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 @ 3:44 am

As we talked about while you, me and Rodney walked around NYC, the gay bars are getting watered down as more and more straight folks are becoming more comfortable at gay bars… and vice versa. As straight bars become less discerning, more gays are going to them. It’s sad to hear that in many cities, when most gay bars shut down, very few rise from the ashes.

The separation of Gay and Straight culture is a good and bad thing. While it’s true we need to find our own people and be proud of that, it also brings about Separatism and a sense of Segregation/Reverse Discrimination. And isn’t Integration and Acceptance what we’re hoping for?

As you know with me, I love my gay bars… and I love the fact that 90% of the time, if you see an attractive guy in a gay bar, chances are he’s gay and fair game. The ratios aren’t like that in straight bars… and some straight guys get offended or freak out (from internal homophobia?) if flirted with. So it makes it harder to figure out who’s who.

So while I love the fact that we, as gay folks, are becoming more and more accepted into the mainstream world, it’s making it more and more difficult to establish our own identity… and find out other’s as well.

Posted by Rey Rey on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 @ 9:15 am

It’s happening everywhere. The strictly “gay” places are fewer and less necessary. In Portland, we’ve had a huge increase in “gay friendly” places. Our community seems to be more and more integrated, at least in the city.

Posted by Lewis on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 @ 12:23 pm

Great to see the questions are starting to come in. I told you they would. As for your answer to your latest query, it was spot on as I would have expected it to be. I can also confirm that the de-gayifacation is happening in Sydney too. Oxford Street looks nothing like it did when I first saw in 1999, and I’ve been told by my partner who was born in Sydney that he has seen a huge transition in the gayborhood.

Posted by Tony on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 @ 4:37 pm