"You just never imagine that your world would just be turned upside down, seemingly overnight." It may never re-open, according to owner Tom Johnson. Therapy closed and let go of all of its employees in mid-March.
This week marks the 17th birthday of Therapy, a sprawling two-storey gay bar in Hell's Kitchen, the hub of New York's LGBT+ culture, home to many performers who found fame on the TV show "RuPaul's Drag Race," like Monet X Change and Bianca Del Rio.īut there will not be a party. Many LGBT+ venues said they could not afford to re-open at a lower capacity if social distancing rules were mandated. Handout courtesy of Tom Johnson / Therapy Sakura, Jackie Cox, Pixie Aventura and Kizha Carr at Therapy in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen, earlier in 2020.
"Our long-term future is not clear at all, it's a week by week discussion," said Sizzle, who has put The Glory's 11 staff on furlough.ĭrag performers Heidi N Closet, Dahlia Sin, Jan Sport, Nicky Doll, Brita Filter, Rock M. LGBT+ venues that have already closed for good include the DC Eagle, Washington D.C.'s oldest continuously operating gay bar, which opened in 1971, and the gay-focused hotel and bar Legends in the British seaside town of Brighton.Īs social acceptance of LGBT+ people has grown over the last decade, the number of gay bars in the United States fell by almost 40% to about 800, according to Greggor Mattson, a sociologist at Oberlin College in Ohio.īritain has experienced a similar decline and the remaining venues are under great financial pressure as they often operate with thin profit margins due to their "niche" market, said Sizzle, who sports a long blonde wig and moustache when in drag. Once-crowded bars and clubs fear they will collapse, despite government grants, if they have to remain closed for a prolonged period and have to adopt social distancing when they re-open. It's where we form and nurture our community and the individuals within that," said John Sizzle, a "Drag DJ" who co-owns The Glory, an LGBT+ bar in east London known for its avant-garde cabaret acts.Ĭountries across the world are feeling the human and economic pain wrought by the coronavirus, which has infected 4.2 million people and killed almost 300,000, and is likely to trigger a global recession.
That will leave gay, bisexual and transgender people with fewer safe spaces to express themselves freely, meet like-minded friends and find respite from the discrimination they often experience in their day-to-day lives, bar and club owners said. LONDON/NEW YORK/BERLIN, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - From pulsating gay superclubs to basement drag cabarets and dimly-lit lesbian bars, the new coronavirus has shuttered LGBT+ nightlife venues worldwide, with some already forced to close permanently while others are scrambling to avoid the same fate.Īs strict shutdowns have dried up cash to pay vital bills and wages, the future of a vibrant nightlife scene - already hit by rising rents and competition from dating apps before the pandemic - now hangs in the balance, industry figures said. LGBT+ bars and clubs were already under pressure from dating apps and rising rents - now the coronavirus threatens their survivalīy Rachel Savage, Matthew Lavietes and Enrique Anarte