If you’re straight, and worried that you will be sexually accosted by someone of (gasp!) your gender, just make sure that you clearly identify yourself as “with” someone or that you don’t want to be bothered - but thank you - and you should be fine. A gay bar is one of the few places where homosexuals can express their affection for one another without being subjected to someone’s narrow judgment, or, presumably, risking harm to themselves, so expect it to happen. That may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many people enter what is clearly a gay bar and say, “Hey, thar’s a bunch a queers in ‘ere.” And the homosexuals who are there will be dancing with one another, holding hands, hugging, and, yes, kissing. First, there are going to be homosexuals there. If you’ve never been to a gay bar, there are a few things you need to understand so that you can have the right attitude. This wouldn’t have happened at any of the gay bars in town, and we definitely would have had a better time, as the doorman was just the first of numerous snooty employees we encountered, there. We had been told that this particular club, now closed, was really hot, but it certainly wasn’t worth all the effort it took to get in. We wound up smuggling the same pair of leather-soled shoes out the door over and over, until each member of our group got in, but then they had to run around the club in their socks.
Years ago, I went to a straight club in Dallas with a group of friends, half of whom were refused admittance because they had on rubber-soled shoes. It won’t matter if you are alone or with a group, unless the club has exceeded its allowable capacity, and most clubs don’t care what you’re wearing, so long as you are wearing something that covers the main things that need to be covered.
You won’t have to prove to the doorperson that you are rich enough, cool enough, pretty enough, or popular enough to be there. Certain gay/lesbian clubs have their target clientele, of course - cowboys and cowgirls (The Round-up Saloon in Dallas), leather men (La Track in Montreal), punk lesbians (The Dyke Bar in Brighton, UK), and drag queens (1001 Pub Marylin in Istanbul), for instance - but what I’m talking about is your basic glitter-ball, all-welcome, humping-on-the-dance-floor disco.Īdmittance to these clubs requires two things: enough money to pay the cover charge (which can be ridiculously high, I’ll grant you) and a positive attitude. To be fair, there are straight clubs that play great music and have fun, nonjudgmental crowds, and there are gay bars that are nothing more than S and M (Stand and Model) clubs. But if you want to go dance, party, and have a good time, trust me - a gay club is where you should be headed. Or if you like Top 40 pabulum remixed to the point where it is nothing more than a steady thump, thump, thump, then a straight club could be your bag. If you’re not really interested in dancing and playing, but in mingling with stuck-up daddy’s girls or drunken frat boys, then straight clubs might be for you.
That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with straight clubs. (By “gay bar”, I mean any bar that caters primarily to gay men or lesbians.) Good advice, but you could just do it the easy way: find the busiest gay club in town. familiarize yourself with the city and its offeringsĢ. According to, there are four steps for picking the perfect nightclub:ġ.