There's No Such Thing as a Gay Bar: Co-Sexuality and the Neoliberal Branding of Queer Spaces

Gay bars have historically functioned as communal spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Because of neoliberalism, LGBTQ+ acceptance continues to rise as post-gay'' discourses, coupled with the inclusion of heterosexual audiences, have repositioned gay bars as inclusive spaces. In this study, we explore how the meaning of gay bar is communicatively negotiated. Specifically, we employed a co-sexuality lens with spatiality to understand how the gay bar brand is constructed and perceived. We used ethnographic methods including observation, 25 semi-structured interviews, and documents at two gay bars in a Midwestern college town. We demonstrate how gay bars, through neoliberal branding, reopened the meaning of gay bars as spaces for all sexualities. Three tensions emerged: (1) who gay bars are for (queer or general communities); (2) sexual autonomy (contested meanings around safety and being yourself); and (3) viable marketing (tension between community and commodification). This study contributes to the literature on sexuality, space, and branding by moving beyond utopian depictions of gay bars. Instead, it encourages scholars to understand the bars as destabilized and contested queer spaces.

Automated summary

Through studying two gay bars, it is revealed that the meaning and branding of gay bars have been repositioned to be inclusive of all sexualities due to neoliberalism. The study shows that there are three tensions present in gay bars, including the target audience, sexual autonomy, and the conflict between community and commodification in marketing.