I think Eugene is slowly going more conservative.” “I’ve had a lot of friends move out of Eugene because of it, to Portland or Seattle.” Barber says, “It wasn’t always that way. And like any other community, we talk about it,” he says. “There’s places in town that say that ‘We’re gay friendly,’ but their staff really isn’t that way and we feel that. Barber says there’s Drag Bingo at Jogger’s and a gay men’s group, but that’s not the same as having a designated physical space and representation. isn’t exclusively for the queer community but that the staff at John Henry’s is very “pro-gay” and they “look out for their customers.” Barber, who moved to Eugene from Munich, Germany, in 1990 for school, remembers when Eugene did have more queer venues, like Club Arena, Neighbors and most recently, Club Snafu. “It’s a hard scene.” He points out that even G.L.A.M. “I don’t know they struggle,” Barber says. Nights (along with the Glamazons), what the queer community does when it’s not G.L.A.M. So I asked Anthony Barber, perhaps better known to Eugene as Diva-Simone Slaughter (pictured on cover), founder and host of G.L.A.M. “I don’t want to go up and make someone feel like they’re being harassed by me.” He adds, “It’s such an icky position to be in, because on one hand it’s me just wanting to fulfill my own wants and desires, just being myself, and then on the other hand, I’m possibly offending somebody.” “It’s not necessarily safety it’s expectation,” he says.
“It’s not that I’m old fashioned or anything, I just prefer to meet people in person.”Īs a man who is gay, Lenoir says he doesn’t fear for his safety in Eugene, but he does feel invisible to the community, which can make going out to “gay-friendly” bars problematic. (Grindr is a social network for “gay, bi and curious guys,” aka the “gay hook-up app.”) Although he has met some men through these sites, Lenoir says that there are a lot of flakey, “derpy” guys online. In the past six months he has tried sites like OkCupid and Grindr. Lenoir moved here from Delaware two years ago for graduate school, and for his partner - they have since gone separate ways. “There’s no place where you can actually go out and meet people unless it’s twice a month at G.L.A.M.”
“It’s very difficult to find guys my age around here,” says Ben Lenoir, a UO MFA student and graduate teaching fellow (and in the interest of full disclosure, a good friend of mine). So where does a young, gay man in Eugene go those 341 other days a year? The answer is, there is no answer. Nights are only held twice monthly and “gay-friendly” bars do not equal gay bars. Night,” the Saturday night dance party at John Henry’s complete with drag queens and go-go dancers, or point you to “gay-friendly” bars downtown, but G.L.A.M. Many people will tell you, “Go to G.L.A.M. And for a university town, where the UO was voted number one in Campus Pride’s Climate Index of gay-friendly colleges, it is puzzling that there are no designated queer spaces off campus. In a smaller city with no gay district, center or bar, Eugene is a difficult place for men to date.
Kimberly's expert tip: There's never a cover.San Francisco has the Castro, Seattle has Capital Hill, Portland has the Burnside Triangle. Recommended for Gay Clubs because: Kockout is the newest bar to open up on the strip, and therefore is the new hot place to hangout. Downtown Portland Bars that are in full support of the LGBTQ+ community All Downtown Portland & Vancouver Wa Bars listed below are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer friendly, and are open to and welcome all people of gender and sexual orientation. In the evening, they open up the Backroom Bar, where the real fun is said to be had. When you get nibbley, you can nosh on a yummy snack from their full kitchen or opt for a handmade pizza from Pup's Pizza, which is located right inside Knockout. Knockout invites guests to come in, enjoy the music, drink the cocktails and get great service from some of San Antonio's best bartenders. They have brand new pool tables, dart boards and even a punching bag, for working out that post-work aggression. it may be the first official gay sports bar in San Antonio, where you can watch games on one of their big screens or over 15 flat screen TVs. One of the newest additions to the LGBT nightlife is Knockout, located along the San Antonio strip, also known as Main Avenue.