Gay club in washington dc

Gay bars. Ask any member of the LGBTQIA community to reveal you a story about one and they’ll regale you with memories. Good ones, bad ones, wild ones, emotional ones—because for decades, these spaces have been homes to a community. They ushered us into adulthood; they provided sanctuary to be ourselves. We mourn them like family members after they’re gone. 

But “everything closes,” as formerly local writer June Thomas summed up at her book talk earlier this month. So if everything is ephemeral, what makes gay bars so special? 

The stories of these spaces are interwoven with our individual and collective histories. And in D.C. that history runs deep. According to the Rainbow History Project’s archives, more than gays bars have set up shop in the District since the s—decades before June 28, , when the Stonewall Riots marked an essential turning signal in the gay rights movement. 

“The reason Pride exists,” says Ed Bailey, a well-known local DJ and gay nightlife entrepreneur, is “because there was a prevent where a thing happened. It’s not like it’s surprising it happ