More On Dwindling U.S. Gay Bar Scene

From the article Last Call, by Robert David Sullivan in the Boston Globe:

In all, there were 16 gay bars in Boston and Cambridge, according to Pink Pages directories from 1993 and 1994.

Today, that number has been cut to less than half. None of the bars I've mentioned are still in business, and most of the city's seven remaining gay-every-night bars have sparse customers for most of the week. (Lesbian bars were never numerous to begin with.) The gay population may have political clout and the right to marry in Massachusetts, but it has fewer and fewer public spaces to call its own.

The lengthy article goes on to discuss the disappearance of gay bars in the larger framework of the loss of other vital, unique community gathering places: Jewish delis, indie bookstores, etc. It's a great piece, I recommend you read the entire thing.

As Sullivan notes, as far as gay bars disappearing, there are a number of other factors at play besides the Long Tail economy, but what we are seeing happen to gay nightlife nationwide is frighteningly similar to what has happened to record stores.
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