Gay bars albuquerque social club

Gay bars are synonymous with charity events, and drag is as much a fundraising powerhouse as a performance art. I call gay bars not-quite-for-profits. Their owners tend to have day jobs, and they all agree that they could bar social money from a straight business. The bigger value, to them, is the creation of community.

Outside, Club Q was a low-slung one-story building northeast of downtown on the interior of a block between a Subway sandwich shop, a bowling alley, a Walgreens, and a mini-golf range. The bar was clearly marked by a large triangle sign on a post, and its walls were painted in vibrant rainbow panels: they did not hide their club light under a bushel.

A large rainbow Pride flag fluttered overhead, framed by the Rocky Mountain foothills. On the dance floor, attendants arranged four golden thrones, upholstered in red velvet, under professional stage lighting. A seated judge in a white gown balanced a towering crown with aplomb as she organized her papers.

The back bar featured illuminated bottles of liquor under a sign for Jared Polis, who later that year would become the first openly gay man elected governor in the U. Like many contemporary gay bars, Club Q also had a full-service kitchen. Club Q permitted unders. Stopping at Club Q was a bonus, a welcome halfway point between Denver and my destination.

It gave me a chance to stretch my legs, use the bathroom, and peek into the queer life of Colorado Springs. The city is infamous for Focus on the Family, a well-financed international hate group. Having a gay bar in its shadow is an act of resistance, and these days, Colorado Springs has two. Media reports that claim Club Q is the only gay bar in town are albuquerque Iconsgay opened downtown in Military personnel have been patrons of gay bars for generations.

Now they come to bars like Club Q wearing their uniforms.

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Gay bars thrive in culturally conservative areas as much as they do in coastal metropolises. InClub Q was what I call an outpost bar. Increasingly, across all gay bars, though, straight people are drawn in by drag performance, which is experiencing a golden age. Assuming that every man-woman couple in a bar is straight, however, erases bisexual people and heterosexual transgender folks drawn to gay bars for queer communion.

Gay bars have never felt like safe spaces for me. Yes, gay bars are often the only public places I feel safe holding hands with or kissing my partner on the lips. But the world is even less safe. In America, almost anyone has access to automatic rifles. This slander was evoked by a right-wing journalist who, at the press conference after the attack on Club Q, asked if any children had been present in the adults-only club.