Has the paradigm changed for gay bars?

[East]

The bar/nightclub I worked in for 20 years closed it's doors earlier this year. It was one of the oldest gay clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area having been gay since the 1960s.

I did not go to the closing party....

I started in 1978 and from 1978-1984 it was a line down the street to get it a lot of times..same with the big dance clubs I went to when I went out to dance (except I rarely had to wait in line..I got whisked in a lot by one of the bouncers )

Then there was AIDS..starting in 1981 and solid thru maybe 1996 it took away most of my generation and the one before and behind mine.......

I think the people changed a lot right before I left which was one of the reasons I left. They weren't nearly as friendly as the people before them and they would ask me questions like "How much money does that guy make?"...or "What kind of car does he drive?" ...or "Where does he work?"....those were all VERY NEW QUESTIONS and I hated them

Very materialistic...and I wasn't into it. They were also a lot more judgmental and snotty in general than the guys before them...not wanting to converse with anyone unless they met some silly standards they had set in their minds.....

Uh...OK...that was it for me. It was depressing. They were depressing. I was done....

I hear that the ones that closed limped their way to the finish line.....

Those guys in the late 90s began the descent. They brought alot of heteronormative standards with them and were quite the oppressive little fucks. I went to two others for a night with friends since the day I quit....it has been years now since I have been in one....not in this century at all. I will probably never go in another one.