Gay bars have been closing by the hundreds. The story goes that
increasing mainstream acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, plus dating apps
like Grindr and Tinder, have rendered these spaces obsolete. Beyond
that, rampant gentrification in big cities has pushed gay bars out
of the neighborhoods they helped make hip. Who Needs Gay Bars?
considers these narratives, accepting that the answer for some
might be: maybe nobody. And yet... Jarred by the closing of his
favorite local watering hole in Cleveland, Ohio, Greggor Mattson
embarks on a journey across the country to paint a much more
complex picture of the cultural significance of these spaces,
inside "big four" gay cities, but also beyond them. No longer the
only places for their patrons to socialize openly, Mattson finds in
them instead a continuously evolving symbol; a physical place for
feeling and challenging the beating pulse of sexual progress. From
the historical archives of Seattle's Garden of Allah, to the
outpost bars in Texas, Missouri or Florida that serve as community
hubs for queer youth-these are places of celebration, where the
next drag superstar from Alaska or Oklahoma may be discovered. They
are also fraught grounds for confronting the racial and gender
politics within and without the LGBTQ+ community. The question that
frames this story is not asking whether these spaces are needed,
but for whom, earnestly exploring the diversity of folks and
purposes they serve today. Loosely informed by the Damron Guide,
the so-called "Green Book" of gay travel, Mattson logged 10,000
miles on the road to all corners of the United States. His
destinations are sometimes thriving, sometimes struggling, but all
offering intimate views of the wide range of gay experience in
America: POC, white, trans, cis; past, present, and future.
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