“Our gay bars are still our safe spaces,” Lobato said. Many of their social events take place at queer bars in the Boston area, such as their Bear Tea event at Club Café and Bear Trivia event at The Alley Bar. Louis Lobato is the president of Mass Bears and Cubs, a non-profit that promotes inclusiveness and camaraderie in the LGBTQ+ community through social and service-oriented programming. Bella Luna & The Milky Way, an LGBTQ-friendly Italian restaurant in Jamaica Plain, permanently closed at the start of the pandemic. Shortly before the pandemic, Fenway nightclubs Machine and Ramrod officially shut down and were demolished for the construction of a mixed-use building, which will include The Boylston Black Box, a performing arts space created by and performed for queer and trans people of color. In recent years, queer bars have faced many challenges, which were only worsened by the COVID-19 crisis. “ people don’t feel like this is the only place they can go, they can now go anywhere, and have a good time … It doesn’t necessarily need to be a gay bar or gay establishment to have that sense of comfort.” “Before the bars were all about where you can feel safe and comfortable around other gay people and not have any persecution,” Furno said. The Alley Bar had its own financial trouble during the pandemic, posting on Facebook on May 29 a tribute to their loyal patrons who “kept us open.” He said that in recent years, the need for gay bars as an “oasis” for queer people has waned, affecting the bars themselves. “There are times where during the pandemic, we were the only bar in the entire area that was open, so we were getting people from out of town, of all walks of life.” “We’re accepting of all people that come through the door,” Furno said.
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While the club has been open since September, the bar opened in full on May 29 with celebration and relief. Since Boston has “so few distinctively queer spaces,” gay bars and clubs still function as places for the community to meet, hook up, dance and have fun, Ilacqua said.Ĭourtney Furno is the general manager at The Alley Bar, a gay nightclub in downtown Boston.
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Their collections include flyers, menus, swizzle sticks and even the original stained glass windows from The Napoleon Club: a gay piano bar near Park Square in the latter half of the twentieth century. The History Project has collaborated with bar workers and goers to document artifacts, photos and stories from over the years.
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“ also a place where you meet other people in the community … you’re creating and living out your identity as a queer person in public in bars,” said Joan Ilacqua, executive director of The History Project, an organization that aims to document, preserve and share New England’s LGBTQ+ history. But they were unable to recreate the bars’ unique social atmosphere.
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Throughout the pandemic, local bars such as Back Bay’s Club Café and Dorchester’s Blend continued to engage their patrons by hosting virtual drag queen performances. LGBTQ+ bars and social spaces have begun reopening to in-person social and community activity since state-wide COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted. Attendees of the Heels for Hope fundraiser at Club Café in Boston June 2018.
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After a long period of inactivity due to the pandemic and state-wide restrictions since March 2020, queer bars and nightlife spaces are starting to fully reopen, attracting individuals of all ages and identities.