And so gay bars began to pop up - the first, as far as we can tell was in Cannes, France (where homosexuality had been decriminalized since 1791.) That bar was Zanzibar, which was founded in 1885 and lasted 125 years - eventually closing in December of 2010. So, of course, as mainstream society started socializing in these places, the queer community followed suit.
I’d guess the invention of machines like the phonograph, which let places play music without having performers present, was probably a big part of that shift. It wasn’t really until towards the end of the 19th century when there started to be bars as we know them today - places that really just served alcohol. So, to separate molly houses from gay bars - and I’m not going to claim this is the official definition, it’s just what I’m working with here - I’m going to define gay bars as legitimate, legal businesses focused entirely (or almost entirely) on the sale of alcohol to queer customers.
They were also places where fake weddings and mock birth rituals took place. Molly houses were typically fronted by taverns, inns or coffee houses, and usually also made money off prostitution. The sale of alcohol was considered sort of a “side hustle” (even though it was probably where most of the profit came from.) Even saloons in the American western frontier were entertainment sites - where people could play games or see performances. Even pubs at the time served food and were intended as a place to have gatherings or meetings. For a lot of (at least Western) history, bars weren’t really a thing - you had inns and taverns, which served alcohol but also offered lodging or food. To separate molly houses from gay bars, we have to kind of look at the history of bars themselves. They’re a place for gathering socially with similar “deviants” and “sodomites,” to feel safe among those who have a shared lived experience. Gay bars were not, at least initially, all that different from molly houses and, in terms of their purpose, still aren’t.
We have previously talked a little about molly houses before - specifically Mother Clap’s and the White Swan, which were both pretty historically significant. A lot of these places will hopefully get posts of their own further down the line. But I’m not here to weigh the pros and cons of gay bars - we can all do that on Twitter (and we do) - I just want to talk briefly about the history of gay bars, talk a teeny bit about some of the first ones to exist, and some of the oldest ones that we still have today. It’s true that bars being basically the central gathering place for our community isn’t without drawbacks - although, personally, I love them. I’m not saying you’re doing queerness wrong if you haven’t been to a gay bar, I’m just saying it’s a pretty common shared experience. Even if you’re just someone who loves an LGBTQIA+ person, there’s still a good chance you’ve been to a gay bar. So….we’re back with even more queer history!Ĭhances are pretty good, if you’re an LGBTQIA+ person you’ve been to a gay bar. May not ever calm down but I’m handling the craziness better now that I’m kind of getting used to it. I know it’s been like a really long time - sorry about that! My real life job got absolutely crazy and hasn’t calmed down at all.