Gay neighborhood dc

John Etienne is familiar with the drifting sounds from vodka-fueled conversations and the tapping of feet against the floorboards of Trade, a gay bar in D. On any other Thursday night, Etienne — a party host, judge, and queer nightlife socialite — would be up on the dance floor, sipping a gin and ginger ale, dancing to the new Beyonce song with friends.

Tonight he is sitting directly beneath the dance floor in a salon chair, adjusting his sparkly green dress and white go-go boots, flipping between checking his phone and looking at the clock, waiting for the other judges to arrive. It is just after 9 p. To him, gay bars that host events are instrumental in fostering a feeling of welcome and belonging for those who identify as LGBTQ.

And then, too, I think that these [queer] spaces are just a lot more fun. Historically gay bars have acted as places for the LGBTQ community to gather, celebrate, and mobilize for political causes when the general attitude was more hostile to the community. Nationwide, gay bars have been on the decline since the s.

A recent study published in the National Library of Medicine found that the number of gay bars gay the U. This trend is occurring at the same time as a record number of anti-LGBTQ legislation is popping up in state legislatures across the U. These laws restrict the ability of transgender Americans to get gender-affirming care, force teachers to out their students to parents, and ban First Amendment-protected actions like performing in drag, among other issues.

That has changed as numbers have increased over the years, making the whole city feel like the gayborhood. Then the COVID pandemic happened, causing the government to pause all non-essential businesses, including bars. After the neighborhood, the growth in the number of gay bars accelerated.

Ed Bailey, a well-known DJ and co-owner of gay bars Trade and Number Nine, located around the corner from each other in Logan Circle, agrees about the economic opportunities COVID was able to provide but says that gay bar success boils down to the economics of real estate. I have an option here. It has been recorded that as early as the s, Washington had become a space recognized for its ability to bring LGBTQ people together.

I also think about the nature of what goes on in D. Historically, the government has always had a neighborhood number of gay people working for it.

D.C.’s queer nightlife scene thriving, bucking national trends

A consequence of this, he explains, is that there was less of an outward recognition of these neighborhoods as being LGBTQ friendly, keeping the community a secret. This gay of accepting bar owners began to change in the s, as places that offered a safe space for LGBTQ people to meet, dance, drink, celebrate, and politically organize became more frequent and owned by more LGBTQ people.

This inspired others in the gayborhood to create more dance spaces. Not only did the expanding gay bar scene impact who was visiting the city, but the presence of the federal government and the number of universities located in the area also helped attract the gay community, Meinke explained. This era, which extended from the early s into the 60s, brought in political repression of left-leaning individuals in D.

This repression and eventual prosecution of people based on the fear of communism was led by Wisconsin Sen. This fear also heightened political tensions, eventually leading to Republicans accusing homosexuals of espionage. This fear prompted the 34th president to take more legal action against the LGBTQ people working in government.

This systematic injustice triggered many LGBTQ people to adapt techniques other marginalized communities were using, mostly inspired by the increasingly successful Civil Rights movement, to politically mobilize and reclaim their power.