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Despite recent articles about the supposed demise of gay bars, lounge nightspots like D.C.’s Halo appear to be a successful trend in cities. (Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FEATURE
By: ZACK ROSEN COMMENTS
 
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“If someone were to predict that there wasn’t going to be a need for viable, human interaction I would be shocked,” Bailey says. “A lot of people over the past three years try to attribute their lack of business to the onset of the Internet. Clearly that is a way [gays] can interact with each other, and for some people it’s a more comfortable way to interact, but more often than not people want human interaction. They want a personal relationship with another human being, and I can’t imagine that ever being something that would go away.”
D.C.’S LESBIAN POPULATION provides an interesting look into the possibility of life without gay bars. A number of factors have left Phase 1 as the city’s only exclusively lesbian bar, but D.C. women’s social life has hardly ground to a halt. A number of lesbian nights or events at otherwise straight bars have given the District’s women a social outlet.
“There’s a lot of community around those kinds of events, or events that take place once or twice a month,” says Amy Mulry, an organizer of Guerilla Queer Bar, a monthly event in which gays “crash” a straight bar. “I don’t know if there needs to be more 100 percent lesbian bars, but the more options the better. It’s not like there’s only one type of D.C lesbian.”
Mulry’s words likely represent the future of the gay bar. As the definition of gay expands, so does the idea of a gay social life. Monthly alterna-queer dance party Taint has seen continued success at DC9, which is not a specifically gay venue.
“I think that mixed spaces will continue to become a more common thing, but I don’t think the idea of a gay bar would become obsolete,” says Taint organizer Karl Jones. “I think you’ll see gay bars become more and more aware of the standard viewpoint.”
Doug Schantz recently opened Nellie’s, a “straight-friendly” sports bar close to Bailey’s upcoming Town location in Shaw. Nellie’s has proven popular because it’s unlike any other gay space in the District. Gays can take their straight friends and, even though straight families will take their kids there for dinner, everyone can still kick back for a beer or two on a Friday night.
“I’m trying to create a neighborhood place where anyone would feel comfortable hanging out,” says Schantz. “There will always be a need [for gay bars]. People like to hang out with people like them, but the days of hidden bars and that sort of thing are in the past.”
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