Where Have All The Gay Bars Gone?

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Did you know that between 2006 and 2016, 58% of bars, pubs, and nightclubs that catered to the LGBTQ community closed in London? Sociologist Amin Ghaziani joins Jonathan to explain this phenomena and how the queer community is adapting. The two dig deep into how the norms of the typical gay bar often exclude already marginalized folks in the LGTBQ community, the underground parties like Buttmitzvah and Femmetopia that have filled this void, and the experimental economic models these parties use to disrupt capitalism. Plus, the deep importance of uplifting queer JOY!

Amin Ghaziani is Professor of Sociology at UBC, Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities, and co-editor of Contexts, the public-facing magazine of the American Sociological Association. Amin has written and edited 6 books and over 60 academic articles, book chapters, and essays, many of which he has published in top disciplinary and subfield journals. He’s won several awards, including a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Best Book in LGBT Studies. Amin’s been featured in places like The New Yorker, Time magazine, BBC Radio 4, CBC Radio, and The New York Times, among others. His latest book “Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution” was just published in the US on March 26th.

You can follow Amin on Instagram and X @amin_ghaziani.

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Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

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Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our editor & engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall.

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