The Great Recession also hammered bars and full-service restaurants, pushing some vulnerable establishments to the edge.

“Every bar is a gay bar.” In addition, the debut of geolocating smartphone dating and hookup apps like Grindr also heralded an era where cruising for sex – one of bars’ primary offerings – could be conducted anywhere, anytime. “I go wherever I want with my friends,” one former employee of a gay bar told Talking Points Memo in 2015. What’s behind the trend? In this era of increasing LGBT acceptance, there’s growing competition from straight establishments. Unfortunately, gay bars in communities where they’re needed most – where they serve the most vulnerable segments of the LGBT population – will have the most difficult time rebounding from the crisis. On the one hand, this decline can be seen as a sign of shifting attitudes toward LGBT people on the other hand, their closure represents the loss of a vital community space. My research shows that as many as 37% of the United States’ gay bars shut down from 2007 to 2019.

Their decline began sometime around 2002 and has since accelerated. But gay bars were already closing their doors before the virus hit.