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“There’s a bar in Chelsea that I remember was always just a gay bar,” Will Sheridan, a bartender, party promoter, and performer, tells me, speaking on how the LGBT+ nightlife has changed since he first moved to the city many years ago.
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If sexuality is more fluid for Gen Z and millennials, so are the spaces we party in.Īnd gay bars in Manhattan are taking note of the growing disdain for homogenous groups. This Bushwick trifecta of queer-but-not-queer, straight-but-not-straight spaces perfectly capture how labels and signifiers are becoming obsolete in Brooklyn nightlife. And not too far from Bossanova is a queer bar called Happyfun Hideaway, which has become increasingly straight-friendly over the years (Proof: my female roommate met a manic pixie dream boy there). Not too far from Mood Ring is a straight techno club called Bossanova that has become increasingly queer-friendly over the years (Proof: I met a manic pixie dream boy there). You’d go out in neighbourhoods depending on what kind of “gay” you are. There were gay people, there were lesbians, there were black people, white people, trans people. “Those parties at Limelight and Tunnel and Club USA were so successful because everybody was there. He first moved to the city in 2004, before the emergence of Brooklyn’s queer warehouse parties. “I feel like I caught the tail end of the “old” New York nightlife,” Frank, a bartender at East Village’s Phoenix who tells me. My roommate and I just sat in a booth and talked. No one tried to dance with me or flirt with me or leave with me.
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Like everyone had received the memo to spend their adolescent years working out and not dancing to Rihanna’s Loud album (a masterwork of pop music, BTW). Something felt off about the whole experience. There was so much to take in: Muscled go-go boys dancing in jockstraps, muscled bartenders pouring drinks, and, again, muscled patrons standing around and devouring each other with their eyes. I can’t remember the name of the spot, or what Manhattan gaybourhood it was in, but I can remember how dark the space was and how chaotic things felt. “Let’s change that.” So we went to the lamest event you can think of: an 18+ night. “I can’t believe you haven’t gone out to a gay club yet,” he’d been saying to me for months. My roommate, a gay white boy, invited me out on a lacklustre Thursday with an obvious, slightly condescending, gay-fairy-godmother foundation to his actions. I was 19 and a sophomore at New York University. Then they rip their shirts off and dance like no one’s watching. You know, those EDM-soundtracked visions of gay men experiencing a sudden sense of belonging and liberation.
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You can check out the best drag shows or cabaret performances, but these queer spaces all offer something unique, from cozy vibes and cheap drinks to high energy dancing and brunch parties - sometimes in the same place on different days! Maybe your interests skew more trendy and urbane, or perhaps you're more of the down-and-dirty, "what happens on the weekends, stays on the weekends" type - we're not here to judge! There are plenty of LGBTQ+ things to do in New York, but if it’s a bar you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered.The first time I went to a gay club was nothing like how it is in the popular imagination. The West Village is a classic destination for queer nightlife, but you’ll find something exciting and welcoming in pretty much any part of the city. The best queer bars in NYC range from dive bars to dance clubs, with historic spots like the Stonewall Inn anchoring them all. New York has played a major role in LGBTQ+ history, and it’s no wonder there are a slew of bars that have been beacons for the community (and prime party spots) for decades.