Where I live there used to be two gay bars. One of them held events for queer people, things like a queer adult prom for people who weren’t able to go as themselves when they were teens. Or drag shows of course because that’s such a fundamental part of the community. These weren’t events only for queer people but they were primarily for queer people. The thing is they became more and more overrun by straight folks, including my parents and a bunch of their straight friends. So one day they changed ownership and stopped being a gay bar. Now my town only has one gay bar.

That shit fucking sucks. Come to a gay bar if you want, but you gotta understand that it’s not for you. It’s for queer people to have a space to be themselves without straight people judging them in some way. We use it to meet people like us, to have fun with people we can feel safe around. If you don’t respect that then stay the fuck away.