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| ‘It’s Sacred.’ A Gay Refuge, Turned Into a War Zone | ‘It’s Sacred.’ A Gay Refuge, Turned Into a War Zone |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| I remember my therapist’s advice when I was a 22-year-old, not yet out-of-the-closet gay man living in Washington — uncertain, unhappy, unready. | I remember my therapist’s advice when I was a 22-year-old, not yet out-of-the-closet gay man living in Washington — uncertain, unhappy, unready. |
| She knew that I wasn’t prepared to walk into a gay club — wasn’t prepared to acknowledge what that meant — so she recommended a kind of emotional compromise: Go into one, walk around and then leave. Test the waters. See how it feels. | She knew that I wasn’t prepared to walk into a gay club — wasn’t prepared to acknowledge what that meant — so she recommended a kind of emotional compromise: Go into one, walk around and then leave. Test the waters. See how it feels. |
| I did. It worked. It usually does, doesn’t it? | I did. It worked. It usually does, doesn’t it? |
| To fully grasp the unique horror of what happened inside Pulse — a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that became the site of the worst mass shooting in America — you have to understand the outsize role that gay bars play in the history, lives and imagination of gay people. | To fully grasp the unique horror of what happened inside Pulse — a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that became the site of the worst mass shooting in America — you have to understand the outsize role that gay bars play in the history, lives and imagination of gay people. |
| They are refuges and havens, places where, the moment you cross the threshold, there is an unspoken understanding: You will feel accepted and safe. | They are refuges and havens, places where, the moment you cross the threshold, there is an unspoken understanding: You will feel accepted and safe. |
| In Orlando, that concept was perverted and upended in the most brutal way imaginable. The safe harbor became a bloody death chamber. | In Orlando, that concept was perverted and upended in the most brutal way imaginable. The safe harbor became a bloody death chamber. |
| It was a gay bar that had liberated me and so many of my peers, once we finally summoned the courage to stick around and take a seat, putting us on a long path toward self-acceptance. | It was a gay bar that had liberated me and so many of my peers, once we finally summoned the courage to stick around and take a seat, putting us on a long path toward self-acceptance. |
| Will that change now? | Will that change now? |
| Murderous attacks on gay establishments are not new, of course. Arson at a gay lounge in New Orleans in 1973 killed 32 people, a number that was surpassed on Sunday in Orlando. Smaller-scale attacks have occurred at bars across the country. | Murderous attacks on gay establishments are not new, of course. Arson at a gay lounge in New Orleans in 1973 killed 32 people, a number that was surpassed on Sunday in Orlando. Smaller-scale attacks have occurred at bars across the country. |
| They are shocks, every time, precisely because these spaces exist to shelter their inhabitants from the slights and sallies of the world. | They are shocks, every time, precisely because these spaces exist to shelter their inhabitants from the slights and sallies of the world. |
| It is no accident that a major turning point in the modern gay-rights movement took place at a gay bar. The Stonewall Inn, in Manhattan’s West Village, was a refuge in a city where bars frequently refused to welcome gay men, lesbians and transgender patrons. When the police raided it in 1969, the gay community rebelled. This was their sanctuary. | |
| On Sunday night, in front of the Stonewall Inn, I met a 52-year-old gay man, David Drake. Older and wiser than me (I’m now 36), he described the outrage he felt about the Orlando gunman’s decision to carry out his massacre at a gay nightclub. His frame of reference was telling. | On Sunday night, in front of the Stonewall Inn, I met a 52-year-old gay man, David Drake. Older and wiser than me (I’m now 36), he described the outrage he felt about the Orlando gunman’s decision to carry out his massacre at a gay nightclub. His frame of reference was telling. |
| “It’s like when the gunman goes into a church and shoots people,” he said. “This is completely wrong.” | “It’s like when the gunman goes into a church and shoots people,” he said. “This is completely wrong.” |
| “It’s sacred,” he said of the bar behind him, draped in rainbow-colored flags. “These spaces, even though they are quote-on-quote ‘bars or clubs,’ are those spaces for people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Those are the spaces we come to.” | “It’s sacred,” he said of the bar behind him, draped in rainbow-colored flags. “These spaces, even though they are quote-on-quote ‘bars or clubs,’ are those spaces for people in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Those are the spaces we come to.” |
| He spoke of the thousands of young gay, bisexual and transgender people who flock to bars and clubs in the West Village: “Night after night after night, these kids come down here because they feel like it’s their safe space. The queer kids from various colors, various communities come here because it’s their space. They can be who they want, they can be who they are to themselves and each other, to reflect each other, to know each other, to love each other, to discover each other, to grow with each other, in order to become grown-up people.” | He spoke of the thousands of young gay, bisexual and transgender people who flock to bars and clubs in the West Village: “Night after night after night, these kids come down here because they feel like it’s their safe space. The queer kids from various colors, various communities come here because it’s their space. They can be who they want, they can be who they are to themselves and each other, to reflect each other, to know each other, to love each other, to discover each other, to grow with each other, in order to become grown-up people.” |
| The gunman who killed 49 people inside Pulse may have wanted to rob gay bars of that hard-fought role, but he did not. He could not. | The gunman who killed 49 people inside Pulse may have wanted to rob gay bars of that hard-fought role, but he did not. He could not. |