This Pandemic Hurting Gay and Lesbian Bars
First, this pandemic is hurting the entire service industry, not just gay and lesbian bars. It’s putting restaurants, bars, and all kinds of other small businesses out of business. I’ve been to downtown Philadelphia and I’ve seen what it looks like in person. Boarded up shops, empty streets, and almost nothing going on. Second, gay and lesbian bars have been shutting down now for decades. I’ve been posting about how they’ve been closing over the years all over the world.
When he opened the Alibi Lounge in 2016, it quickly became a permanent fixture for LGBTQ life in Harlem. Not only is it the first LGBTQ bar in the neighborhood, but Minko is one of just a few Black gay bar owners in the entire tri-state area. And it has remained open almost every day since it opened.
Here’s more. I hope he makes it and I hope his business thrives. But the truth is that all the gay bars I know here in New Hope closed long before there was a pandemic for COVID. They have been closing all over the world because gay men aren’t going to bars anymore. And that’s partly thanks to the internet and hook up apps. Many of the gay men I follow on social media are posting about putting up Christmas decorations with their husbands and their kids, not which bars they went to last night. I have no reason to lie about that either.
Here’s a general link to multiple posts I’ve done over the years about gay bars closing down.
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