{"id":77324,"date":"2016-06-14T06:53:22","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=77324"},"modified":"2016-06-14T06:53:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T10:53:22","slug":"gay-clubs-patrons-treasure-place-feel-safe-oneself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/06\/14\/gay-clubs-patrons-treasure-place-feel-safe-oneself\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay clubs: Patrons treasure a place to feel safe, be oneself"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"(Photo:<\/a>
(Photo: Bex Wade<\/a>\/Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2013 Like many gay men across America, Jamie Brown has treasured memories of nights spent reveling at a gay club, a boisterous community gathering place where he could feel safe and be himself. He remembers it as a sanctuary.<\/p>\n

After the nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida, \u201cit just won\u2019t be the same,\u201d Brown wrote in an emotional Facebook post. \u201cThe sanctuary has been defiled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s attack on the Pulse nightclub, in which 49 people were killed and gunman Omar Mateen died in a gun battle with police, prompted an outpouring of reminiscence and reflection on the vital roles that such clubs have played for many lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people across the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cClubs are terribly important to the LGBT community,\u201d said Ken Darling, owner of the Minneapolis club LUSH.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where we can be ourselves, develop relationships, be with your community,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s where our history is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, one of pivotal moments of the gay-rights movement revolved around a gay bar in New York City, the Stonewall Inn. A police raid there in 1969 led to violent street riots that emboldened gay activists nationwide.<\/p>\n

After the Orlando shooting, clusters of flowers were laid outside the Stonewall\u2019s door. Among them was a bouquet of white roses, accompanied by this message: \u201cNever stop dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club that holds such a fond place in Jamie Brown\u2019s memory is called Hula\u2019s, in one of Honolulu\u2019s edgier neighbourhoods. He was stationed in Hawaii with the Army two decades ago as a 21-year-old, in an era when being outed as gay would lead to ouster from the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine that a lot of young gay people could feel the same way about their own regular weekend hot spot as I did about Hula\u2019s,\u201d Brown wrote in his post. \u201cIt\u2019s where you go when you don\u2019t want to lie… It\u2019s where you go to connect, to experience community, forget your secret, and to combat the isolation that a secret of that magnitude can cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now 42, Brown lives in Columbia, South Carolina, and works as a brain-wave analyst for a hospital system. Two years ago, he married his longtime partner; they go out to clubs infrequently, usually for special occasions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do go, you still have that nostalgia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Paul Guequierre, now 38 and working for the American Constitution Society in Washington, D.C, says he has vivid memories of his first visit to a gay bar as a 21-year-old college student in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cYou walk into a club as a young gay man, barely out of the closet, and see all these other people who were just like you, and you felt this sense of community that you didn\u2019t know existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That communal sprit was especially powerful at holiday parties, said Guequierre, recalling times when he would have Thanksgiving dinner with his family in a small town about an hour from Milwaukee, then drive back to the city for the nighttime revelry at a club.<\/p>\n

In Madison, Wisconsin, members of the LGBT community still harbour fond memories of the Hotel Washington, a building housing a gay bar, dance club, restaurant and music hall that burned down in 1996.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still miss it,\u201d said Michael Bruno, 60, who sometimes served as a master of ceremonies there. \u201cI don\u2019t think the community has ever rebounded from its loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a Facebook page devoted to memories of the place. A reunion picnic is scheduled for this August.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a wonderful, safe place,\u201d said Bruno. \u201cEveryone was welcome \u2013 no one was made to feel ostracized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the country, many gay bars served as venues for vigils or commemorations honouring the victims of the Orlando attack.<\/p>\n

At LUSH in Minneapolis \u2013 where weekend brunches rival drag performances as favoured attractions \u2013 patrons were brimming with emotion on Sunday as details of the Orlando shooting emerged.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was exactly the right place to be \u2013 in my bar with all the people I care about,\u201d said Ken Darling. \u201cThere was singing and laughing. There were tears and hugs of love, not tears and hugs of fear and foreboding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the attack was sobering, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe in the LGBT community have had to live with this threat of random violence forever,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lull where we didn\u2019t have to think about it, and then something like this happens and we\u2019re reminded what\u2019s out there \u2013 an ideology of hate that\u2019s directed toward us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the attack on Pulse, a handful of other U.S. gay bars have been targeted, including Neighbours, a popular gay nightclub in Seattle. It was packed with New Year\u2019s Eve revelers on Dec. 31, 2013, when a man poured gasoline on a carpeted stairway and set it ablaze. No one was injured; Masub Masmari was sentenced to 10 years in prison for arson.<\/p>\n

Robert Matencio, who works as a host at Neighbours, said the club opened in 1983.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor gays and lesbians, before social media and the internet, we were forced to build community in person, and one of the most natural places for us to congregate are the nightclubs and bars,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a place to let loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Phuong Le in Seattle contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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