Gay chattanooga bars
What are people saying about gay bars in Chattanooga, TN? "My name is Clayton Thomas. I stopped by passing through and it is the most fantastic gay bar I've ever visited. Or do they say queer bar now? I'm 38, meaning gay 92 forgive me if so. Moving from my home town Nashville which feels like a "Florida Man" headline when going out these days. With favorites like Pickle Barrel, Alan Gold's Discotheque, and Alleia and more, get ready to experience the best flavors around Chattanooga.
We scoured through the internet and read through 4 reputable sites and blogs like dapperQ | Queer Style and While Chattanooga’s North Shore district is sometimes referred to as the town’s “gay-friendly neighborhood,” you are likely to find a diverse mix of folks wherever you go.
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Members of the LGBTQ+ community report feeling welcome at the majority of the restaurants, bars and shops throughout the town. Gay Bars and Hotspots in Chattanooga, TN: Alan Gold's Discotheque: This is a long-standing gay nightclub in Chattanooga, known for its energetic dance floor, drag shows, and themed nights. Please feel free to send an email to the master and he'll be sure to get them on here for you!
FLOOD IN Welcome to Chattanooga's Party Place for 40 years! We hope to keep you informed of all the events going on at Alans. Please feel free to browse through the pages and if you have content you would like to add, please send us an email. A circular sign signals the entrance across from the railroad tracks that run through Durham.
Sade and Tracy Chapman croon from the speakers overhead, and owner Erin Karcher is behind the bar, chatting with two women seated on the stools in front of her. They address her by name. Arcana is part of what has been dubbed a dying breed in the country: a lesbian-specific bar, of which there are only 33, according to The Lesbian Bar Project. While not an official tally, the Lesbian Bar Project aims to amplify and keep track of these spaces, which can register with the project.
On a slow Wednesday evening, with just a handful of customers stopping in for a drink, Arcana is operating at a low, comfortable hum. In the back, a burlesque class is in session, and a tarot card reader wearing a rainbow face mask sits in the corner near the bar, offering her services. Before she started doing tarot readings at Arcana, Joy Carter, who lives in neighboring Raleigh, would often make the trek out to Durham just to stop in.
Arcana, which opened in , also hosts regular craft nights, figure drawing, and even queer bachata lessons. These bars are more than just spots to grab a drink. For most of US history, being gay was a criminal offense, one that could lead not only to social ostracization but jail time. Being seen out in public, socializing with visibly queer people, was shrouded in shame. The only place to be out and safe was in bars and parties, where the cover of night, close quarters and plausible deniability — a bar, after all, is a place for petty sin — provided shelter.
In the 19th century, women socialized and slept with other women at private parties and gatherings. As they left, each man would pair with a woman, so neighbors would be none the wiser. Today, these bars offer an alternative to the straight mating rituals of common watering holes, where groups of women and men circle the room like predator and prey. Most American lesbian bars exist in large cities.
Although Arcana is the only known lesbian bar in Durham, there are a handful of other gay and LGBTQ bars in the city, hosting everything from queer dance parties to fundraisers for sexual violence survivors. These events can be packed. Nights out here attract dozens of locals and students from neighboring colleges. Over the course of nine months, writer Krista Burton visited 20 lesbian bars around the country, going to each one multiple times and immersing herself in their scenes.
Strangers would readily talk to her. The vibe was relaxed. Call it queer Southern hospitality. By the time she left, she had met every person in the bar — about 50 people. At Yellow Brick Road, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, bartenders eagerly introduced her to regulars to chat with. Sexuality and gender identity can be fluid.
The customer base is there. When customers realize the two are married, some of them have questions — sometimes about managing a business with a spouse, sometimes about being young Black business owners, and sometimes, of course, about their sexualities. As LGBTQ bars became more popular, these watering holes were still subject to police raids and other violent upheavals in the late 20th century. Notably, the watershed Stonewall riots, which inspired our modern Pride parades , began as a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a known gay bar.
These days, for most people, the sense that a bar would be the only safe space has lessened, which could be one reason behind the seemingly fading culture of lesbian-specific bars. Still, there are more general challenges facing these spaces.