Who Needs Gay Bars?

Greggor Mattson, PhD, is an author and Professor of Sociology at Oberlin College & Conservatory where he teaches courses on sexuality, nightlife, and cities. He is the author of The Cultural Politics of European Prostitution Reform: Governing Loose Women (2016). His work has appeared in the Annual Review of Sociology, as well as in Slate, Literary Hub, Business Insider, and The Daily Beast.

I: Ambivalence II: Gay Bar Fundamentals III: Safe Spaces for Whom IV: Lesbian-Owned Bars V: Cruisy Men's Bars VI: How to Save a Gay Bar VII: National Monuments

"A fun, thoughtful, and nuanced examination of the past, present, and future roles of the 'gay bar' as the demand for and economics of queer community space is wildly in flux." -Hugh Ryan, author of The Women's House of Detention and When Brooklyn Was Queer "Who Needs Gay Bars offers a powerful collection of microsociological portraits of gay bars across the United States. It accumulates into a nuanced map of a queer world shaped by desire, social and political urgencies, and politico-economic pressures as diverse as the community-from large urban to isolate rural outposts. It is ambitious in its expanse and surprisingly intimate in approach."-Ramon H. Rivera-Servera, The University of Texas, Austin "Breathtakingly intimate and yet vast in scope, this passion project balances sharp insights with the kind of lived-in details that make you want to pull up a stool and stay a while."-Samantha Allen, author of Real Queer America and Patricia Wants to Cuddle "With intelligent and easily accessible writing, this account stands as a testament to our community's resilience."-Alex Espinoza, author of Cruising and The Five Acts of Diego Leon "Queer bars have been a life-saving sanctuary for LGBTQ people over the last century, and they continue to serve as incubators, not just for queer and trans culture, but how we might also continue to build an even queerer future."-Honey Mahogany, Co-Owner, The Stud "In Who Needs Gay Bars? [Mattson] paints a vivid and nearly comprehensive portrait of the current state of gay bars as an institution and as an important component of the LGBTQ community in all its unwieldy diversity. He also paints a personal journey that many LGBTQ readers will relate to."-Gary L. Day, Philadelphia Gay News "Mattson does his best to survey as many of the myriad issues as possible, faced by an equally myriad number of bars of a dazzling variety. It's also a personal journey by the author that many LGBTQ readers will identify with."-Booklist "[one of] the best queer American travelogues since Edmund White's States of Desire was published way back in 1980."-Passport "[Who Needs Gay Bars?] does an excellent job of addressing how both the LGBTQ+ community and the non-LGBTQ+ community are responsible for the decline in access to gay bars.... Recommended."-A. J. Ramirez, CHOICE "This literary barhopping is simultaneously poignant, nuanced, fun, and revealing of the current complex and contradictory landscape of places for queer communities."-Emma Bosley-Smith, Social Forces