Slate’s June Thomas has a post titled “A Texas Ban on Gay Two-Stepping Shows Why We Still Need Gay Bars,” focusing on a case from that state’s 54th-largest city:
According to the Victoria Advocate, a gay couple was pulled from the dance floor of the Cactus Canyon on Dec. 20 and told that club policy prohibits gay couples from dancing to country music. Justin Meyer, 21, and James Douglas, 30, had already danced several songs without incident, but a manager intervened when the music switched to Dustin Lynch’s “Cowboys and Angels.” […]
Several [newspaper] commenters said that if gay men want to dance together, they need to go to a gay bar. Except, of course, that there isn’t one in Victoria. Indeed, there are fewer and fewer gay bars all across the United States. Back in 2011, when I wrote a series about gay bars, I reported that between 2005 and 2011, the number dropped from 1,605 to 1,405, a 12.5 percent decrease.
My recent conversations with gay men in their 20s leave me skeptical that the couple would even want to go to a gay bar. They may prefer a place like Cactus Canyon because they don’t want to be pursued by older — probably much older — gay men. I’d love to read about a gay bar opening in Victoria because of this story, but I wouldn’t consider it a wise business investment.
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