Most of the bartenders were white and the rest Latinx, none were Black. Almost all the bartenders at this location were straight.
Eventually you become cool enough with the bartenders that you start to learn more and more about them. To say I became a regular would be an understatement. I was going through a lot of stress on the job front so after work I would stop in for my Tito’s, club soda, splash of cran. TODD T: I worked by a popular Chelsea watering hole. In light of all this, as three Black gay men in New York, what do you see for folks like you in the gay bar and club scene, often described as our “safe spaces” and “churches”? And we are one year removed from the tragedy at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a tragedy borne of the intersection between the LGBTQ community and People of Color. People of Color have aligned themselves in resistance to policies we see threats to our safety and livelihood in the racism (alt-Right, Nazi, whatever) that has been coddled by journalists and the media writ large. America has just elected a staunchly anti-LGBTQ Vice President, and our own President courts a violently anti-LGBTQ regime in Russia. Below is the complete conversation, originally posted in three parts.ĬHIEF: Consider this: we are in the year 2017. For SPACES, we asked three Black gay men in New York City to share their thoughts on the bar and club scene in America's largest city.
