90s gay club old bridge

Even the genesis of the gay-rights movement traces back to a bar. When New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn on June 28,patrons fought back, refusing to forfeit their primary gathering place. Many who scuffled with police said that attacking the gay bar was the last straw - an assault on something their community simply couldn't lose.

It's a whole different day here. Cultural change is often slow, painful and incomplete, and that day has come slowly to Columbus.

Three dozen of Philly’s bygone queer bars are memorialized in new Art Museum installation

Gay bars opened, folded and faded from memory. Most importantly, though, they never went away. Gradually, one would put up a real sign or a neon banner bearing a rainbow. They crept into neighborhoods outside Downtown. Eventually, in the mid '90s, openly gay places like Out on Main, The Grapevine, Havana and Union Station began competing with the best in the industry.

These bars and restaurants never hid who they were - they simply invited everyone, straight or gay, to enjoy it. Other places followed suit, attracting a more empowered gay community and straight people less afraid to be near it. By now, you could actually find them.

Opened inUnion Station even featured windows. Centered in the city's main entertainment district, it's a place where businesspeople eat lunch and families come in for dinner. The bartender will still call you "Honey. Biv, which operates Union, Axis and Havana. The GLBT community still battles countless issues in the political arena, but an increasing number of local bars foster a cultural blending that many advocates see as a distinct success.

Even the cultural cache of being progressive has worn off. Most don't go to Union, Level or Club Diversity to be seen with gay friends - they just go to eat, drink and dance. Lahoti added, "For us, success is that when people walk down the street or come in for Gallery Hop, and they see two guys holding hands, it's not a head-turner.