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| - A gay bar is a drinking establishment which caters primarily to a gay or lesbian clientele. It may often be called a gay club or pub, and occasionally queer bar, lesbian bar, dyke bar, or boy bar. They include gay nightclubs, entertainment venues which usually do their primary business after dark. Gay bars range in size from the tiny, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story "super clubs" with several distinct areas and often more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs.
- Gay bars range in size from the tiny, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story "super-clubs" with several distinct areas and more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs. The only defining characteristic of a gay bar is the nature of its clientele. While many gay bars target the gay and/or lesbian communities, some (usually older and firmly established) gay bars have become gay, as it were, through custom, over a long period of time.
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| abstract
| - Gay bars range in size from the tiny, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story "super-clubs" with several distinct areas and more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs. The only defining characteristic of a gay bar is the nature of its clientele. While many gay bars target the gay and/or lesbian communities, some (usually older and firmly established) gay bars have become gay, as it were, through custom, over a long period of time. The serving of alcohol is the primary business of gay bars and pubs. Like non-gay establishments they serve as a meeting place and LGBT community focal point, in which conversation and relaxation is the primary focus of the clientele. Like other clubs, gay clubs are often advertised by handing out eye-catching flyers on the street, in gay or gay-friendly shops and venues, and at other clubs and events. Similar to flyers for predominantly heterosexual venues, these flyers frequently feature provocative images. Dance venues often feature elaborate lighting design and video projection, fog machines and raised dancing platforms. Hired dancers (called go-go girls or go-go boys) may also feature in decorative "cages" or on podiums. Some gay bars and clubs have backrooms, dimly lit rooms or corridors in which sexual activity takes place. This feature, once common, is now more unusual. Gay bars and nightclubs are sometimes segregated by sex. In some establishments, people who are perceived to be of the "wrong" sex (for example, a man attempting to enter a women's club) may be unwelcome or even barred from entry. This may be more common in specialty bars, such as gay male leather fetish or BDSM bars, or bars or clubs which have a strict dress code. It is also common in bars and clubs where sex on the premises is a primary focus of the establishment. On the other hand, gay bars are often welcoming of transgender and cross-dressed people, and drag shows are a common feature in many gay bars, even men-only spaces. Some gay bars and clubs which have a predominantly male clientele, as well as some gay bathhouses and other sex clubs, may offer occasional women-only nights. Some gay bars attempt to restrict entry only to gay or lesbian people, but in practice this is difficult to enforce. Most famously, Melbourne's Peel Hotel was granted an exemption from Australia's Equal Opportunities Act by a State tribunal, on the grounds that the exemption was needed to prevent "sexually-based insults and violence" aimed at the pub's patrons. As a result of the decision, the pub is legally able to advertise as a "gay only" establishment, and door staff can ask people whether they are gay before allowing them inside, and can turn away non-gay people. Already categorized as "gay" or "lesbian," many gay bars take this sub-categorization a step further by appealing to distinct sub-cultures within the gay community. Some of these sub-cultures are defined by costume and performance. These bars often forge a like-minded community in dozens of cities with leather gay bars, line-dancing gay bars and drag revues. Other sub-cultures cater to men who fit a certain "type," one that is often defined by age, body type, personality and musical preference. So there are gay bars that cater to "twinks," or young, smooth-bodied pretty boys, and others that cater to "bears," or older, larger, hairier and generally more good-humored alternatives to the standard well-manicured and fey gay stereotype. And there are also gay bars that cater to certain races, such as ones for Asian men "and their admirers," Latin men, or black men.
- A gay bar is a drinking establishment which caters primarily to a gay or lesbian clientele. It may often be called a gay club or pub, and occasionally queer bar, lesbian bar, dyke bar, or boy bar. They include gay nightclubs, entertainment venues which usually do their primary business after dark. Gay bars range in size from the tiny, five-seat bars of Tokyo to large, multi-story "super clubs" with several distinct areas and often more than one dance floor. A large venue may be referred to as a nightclub, club, or bar, while smaller venues are typically called bars and sometimes pubs. One of the oldest gay bars was the White Swan, on Vere Street, in London, which in 1810 was raided (called the Vere Street Coterie), leading to two executions for the then crime of sodomy, and which was frequently the scene of gay marriages carried out by the Reverend John Church [1]. Gay bars and nightclubs are often segregated by sex, though this is more common in some places than others, and people of the "wrong" sex may be unwelcome or even barred from entry. On the whole lesbian-only bars are comparatively uncommon. Gay bars may also attempt to restrict entry only to gays or lesbians, but in practice this is both difficult to enforce and generally undesirable. This may be more common in specialty bars, such as gay male leather fetish or BDSM bars, or clubs that have back rooms (see below), for example. Some unsegregated gay bars have occasional or regular "women only" nights. Gay bars are often welcoming of transgender people, and drag shows are a common feature in many gay bars. Music, either live or, more commonly, mixed by a DJ or DJs, is almost always a prominent feature of gay bars, as is the serving of alcohol. Music in gay bars, as in other bars, ranges in style from jazz and blues to disco, drum and bass, punk, house, trance, and techno. Depending on the size of the club and its image, music and clientele, common features of gay bars are light effects, including colourful moving and flashing lights, disco balls, etc, as well as fog-machines, screens showing special effects or videos, raised platforms or stages for dancing on and for special performances, and decorative cages or podiums for hired dancers (often called go-go boys or go-go girls). Some gay clubs also have "backrooms," dimly lit or darkened rooms where men can have sex. Like other clubs, gay clubs are oftened advertised by handing out eye-catching flyers on the street, in gay or gay-friendly shops and venues, and at other clubs and events. These flyers frequently feature provocative images. "Gay Bar" is also the name of a 2003 single released by Electric Six.
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