I LOVED the diversity and beautiful patrons- true celebration of all walks of. Best Gay Bars in Chicago (Boystown & Andersonville) Sidetrack Boystown 3349 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60657, USA Kit Kat Lounge & Supper.
These organizations are going beyond designing safe spaces for queer Black folks to dance, make out, and meet-they’re creating moments that decenter the white gaze (not to mention white gays), showcasing the artistic talents and sweet joy of Chicago’s Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming residents and curating welcoming opportunites for folks to get down free from inhibition and fear. Progress was my first Chicago gay bar when I moved to Boystown a few months ago. Several of Chicago’s queer event collectives are set on partying with a purpose, especially those with Black queers at the helm. Much of that is thanks to the hard work of folks like the Chicago Black Drag Council and countless other queer Black nightlife prose, all backed up by those of us happily partaking in the scene. While Boystown and Andersonville continue to flourish with queer and queer-friendly businesses on every corner, since last year’s uprisings and calls for accountability in Chicago’s gay nightlife scene, things have started to (slowly) change. During the 80s and 90s when AIDS was at an all-time high in the United States, gay bars such as The Closet Bar in Chicago were where gay men and lesbians could hang out.
We have some of the most renowned drag performers, incredible queer nightlife artists of all kinds, and queer neighborhoods teeming with bars and clubs. The Closet Bar offered a space where gay men and lesbians could party, drink, flirt, and not have to worry about harassment or code-switching for the comfort of straight people. With its exciting gay nightlife, its no wonder why many gay, lesbian and LGBT-friendly patrons travel to these locations. Note: Restaurants on this map are listed geographically. As the country marks the Stonewall anniversary, Johnson recalled key moments over the last 50 years when Chicago’s gay bars have been at the center of the LGBTQ community’s fight for equal rights.Chicago has transformed into a true queer destination in recent years, no longer looked at as some podunk midwestern city cast in the shadow of coastal meccas like New York and Los Angeles. Chicago, Illinois has much to offer its gay bar visitors for a fun night out. Whether they include drag, dancing, or are divesor a little bit of all threeChicago’s best gay bars have a little something for everyone. Still, like the Stonewall Inn, Johnston said Chicago’s gay activism took place in the bars - including Sidetrack, which he opened 37 years ago in the historic Boystown neighborhood.Īs co-founder of the civil rights organization Equality Illinois, Johnston has been an outspoken leader of Chicago’s anti-discrimination movement.
The Stonewall riots helped galvanize the gay rights movement nationwide.īut in Chicago, even after the riots, activist Art Johnston said police raids of gay bars would continue to make headlines for another decade. Rioters barricaded cops inside the bar and for several days took to the streets in an effort to put an end to years of harassment. It’s been 50 years since violent protests broke out on June 28, 1969, following a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York.