Beer bar for gay weddings new york

This series is also available as an e-book for your Kindle. Download it now. When the New York State Senate voted to approve same-sex marriage on Friday, June 24, gay and lesbian New Yorkers—and some straight supporters—knew the perfect place to celebrate: They headed to the Stonewall Innthe gay bar where, 42 years earlier, the modern gay rights movement had been born.

Amid the glorious chaos of fire-eaters, drag queens, and spontaneous proposals, older gay couples walked hand-in-hand admiring the scene. The jubilation at Stonewall and on the surrounding streets was a stirring celebration of progress. But I can't help wondering whether, as gay rights move forward, the gay bar—the beer where it all began—may get left bar.

I rarely go to gay bars anymore. I've been in a happy relationship for 14 years with someone who rarely drinks. Bars are loud, they get going too late, and they're packed with kids half my age. They make me feel old. But I feel bad about abandoning them. I still remember the terrifying, giddy excitement of my first forays into gay pubs and clubs, the thrill of discovering other lesbians and gay men in all their beautiful, dreary, fabulous, sleazy variety.

I learned how to dance to wedding techno remixes under spinning disco balls, how to appreciate tacky drag shows and to show proper respect for the heroines of the pool table. Gay bars are my cultural patrimony and my political heritage. Once upon a time—back in the dark days of the late 20 th century—gay bars were the only york where gay people could let down their defenses.

Now, at least in urban centers, gay men and lesbians feel safe in scads of straight restaurants and bars. But when new options open up, what happens to the old segregated institutions? InEntrepreneur magazine put gay bars on its list of businesses facing extinctionalong with record stores and pay phones.

And it's not just that gays are hanging out in straight bars; some are eschewing bars altogether and finding partners for or via location-based smartphone apps new GrindrQrushrand Scruff. Between andthe number of gay and lesbian bars and clubs in gay-travel-guide publisher Damron 's database decreased by Could the double whammy of mainstreaming and technology mean that gay bars are doomed?

I'll explore that question later this week. But before we get to the future, it's worth taking a moment to consider the past, and what we gay lose if the gay bar went the way of the typewriter.

Your Bar Options

I don't want to get stuck in nostalgie de la boue ; I'm very glad to live in an era where I don't have to pretend that my partner is my roommate or make a marriage of convenience. I'm relieved that for my generation, gay bars are but one dish on a vast menu of leisure-time options. But I'd feel their passing far more fiercely than the loss of the neighborhood video store.

Without the gay bar, gay culture and gay rights might not exist. After all, gay liberation is the only civil rights movement that began in a bar.