Thursday, December 06, 2007
ENDING OF AN ERA
There was a time when gay life centered in the gay bars.
This was the case when I came out in 1975 but it is not so much the case today.
This article is written by a 'kid' who came out in the 90's and he is all nostalgic about the change in 15 years.
Think 30!
He doesn't even name the old ones I knew. Sporters, Chaps, 1270, and many more. Herby's Ramrod Room. Yup! Jaques. The Other Side. Skippers. I could go on and on. And that doesn't include Cambridge and the suburbs.
We could make the rounds of five in a night before we fell out.
Of course there was a downside.
Some of us were budding alcoholics and the bars pretty much brought us to our bottom. We either got sober or not.
Nevertheless it is truly the end of an era. Part of the new gay life style.
Which is good.
The bars were a lot of fun but they were also a ghetto. Some never left.
There are so many alternatives today.
A lot of guys come out in high school. Pre bar babies.
In the old days, kids had to sneak into the bars. Now they have their own clubs and peers.
It is so much more healthier.
I am glad about it.
We each have what we have in our own times.
The thing is that since being gay is not a choice it has been good that there was a place to go even if it was not wholesome.
Actually, the less wholesome the better as far as I was concerned.
