Strobe lights flash. Sweat rolls down the back. There is never a more delicate act, be it performing a death drop or going on the dance floor with a full drink in hand. For the LGBTQ+ community, clubs and bars empower people by allowing close interactions without the need to separate, while being the hot spot to challenge social restrictions. From shows likePOSEandA League of Their Own, to movies likeBut I’m a CheerleadertoBPM (Beats per Minute), these locations are as radical today as they were when police raided them because of the patrons there. Step through the doors to findRobin Williamsas a drag club owner and see the momentNatasha Lyonnerealizes you can’t just “turn” straight. It’s more than dancing that happens. On screen, these safe spaces capture the alluring, transformative power of what it feels like being inside.
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Right away, the opening toThe Birdcageis glamorous. DirectorMike Nicolsand cinematographerEmmanuel Lubezki,two acclaimed names in the movie industry, glide the camera across the ocean to reach the Miami shore before heading into the titular nightclub. Through its doors, the queens entertain with a good budget. That’s because Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) is dedicated to producing, “a good drag show, if possible, agreatdrag show.” The main attraction is Armand’s lover, Albert (Nathan Lane), who takes his drag persona of Starina as serious as a trained thespian. At a rehearsal, he can’t stand how disrespectful a dancer is by grabbing his crotch or blowing bubblegum. “Either I’m an artist or just some cheap drag queen playing it straight, so he can get laughs!” Albert cries out.
The Goldmans attempt to pose as straight for their son who’s marrying into a right-wing conservative family, and their act is almost convincing. Yet,The Birdcagesaves its best jokes to poke fun at the straight characters. News reporters swarm the club after they hear Senator Keeley (Gene Hackman) is at the Goldman’s residence upstairs. Albert devises a plan to help their son’s future father-in-law escape, disguising the right-wing conservative in drag. The reporters don’t notice as he passes (literally) during Sister Sledges’ queer anthem, “We Are Family." The out-of-touch reporters might have gotten their scoop if they had frequented a drag show or two.
But I’m a Cheerleaderuses a heavy pink and blue color scheme and campy aesthetics, looking as artificial as the agenda behind True Directions’ conversion camp. Throughout, the bathroom walls are covered in daisy flowers and the boys wear blue mesh tops. Megan (Natasha Lyonne) gets forced to participate in the activities, where if it isn’t ridiculous, it’s self-loathing. Listen to the ex-ex gay couple, the Morgan-Gordons, when they say it’s all a lie! Also at True Directions is Graham (Clea DuVall), who agitates Megan by not taking anything seriously. This tension soon melts away from annoyance and turns into a romance. Megan sneaks off with Graham and others, for a fateful night where she comes to understand her sexuality.
The fakeness to the movie is for a reason which is made clear at the gay bar, Cocksucker. To match Megan’s feelings, the music and setting are reflective and hypnotic. “We’re in the City” bySaint Etienneplays as Megan and Graham dance with other people until they can’t stand it anymore, heading outside where they finally kiss. The bar to the dance floor is low-key, not at all like the in-your-face plastic world over at True Directions. That’s a major point toBut I’m a Cheerleader: there is not one way to be part of the queer community. to figure that out, you have to accept yourself first. The raunchy-named Cocksucker is really a calm safe space where queer experiences are normalized.
‘Queer as Folk’ and ‘Looking’ Offers the City Gay Nightlife
Showtime invites everyone to the Pittsburgh gay scene where nightclubs are a place to let off steam. For five seasons,Queer as Folkfollows Michael (Hal Sparks) and his friends as they struggle with their personal lives and try to find the right guy to take home at night. The trippy intro, bursting with color and barely clothed men, also happens to be the visuals on a big screen inside the club the characters frequent. This isn’t just any club, this is Babylon. Based onRussell T Davies' underrated original, Showtime’s adaptation is just as sexy as the characters find pleasure in their sexual freedom, this version updating Babylon with two floors and a dark room for drugs and hookups. However, hatred targets Babylon in the final season, when a bombing causes fatalities and leaves many injured. It seems the destruction is permanent, with no plans to rebuild. But Michael’s best friend and horny party boy Brian (Gale Harold) reopens it in the series finale. The friends dance one last time for the series’ run, among a sea of queer folks getting lost in the music. No way will it be the last time they do in-show, as the party must go on.
On HBO’sLooking, San Francisco is a vibrant character rather than a backdrop. Part of this is how many real locations the show includes. Season 1 gets Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and his friends out to the Folsom Street Fair, a leather and BDSM festival held annually. When night falls, it’s time to head over to the Stud, a queer bar that playsBritney Spearsand where Patrick rekindles a date that went wrong with Richie (Raúl Castillo).Lookingrecognizes the Latin bars along the Castro district too, at Esta Noche there’s music by the band Kumbia Queers. In Season 2, it gathers everyone together again before it shuts down.In real-life, Esta Noche closed too, robbing a new generation of the LGBTQ community from stepping inside. And in 2020,the Stud shut down.Losing these monumental places loses a piece of history that can’t be relocated into a museum, nor would it be as fun if it could. Besides being a time capsule for these two bars,Looking’s mumblecore-style offers low stakes, in contrast to movies released around the show’s release where activism fights back against a dehumanizing society.
The Club Offers Relief From the Harsh Reality
InPride,which is based on a true story, a group of gay and lesbian activists gives their support to striking miners under Margaret Thatcher’s United Kingdom. After the public hears about this, a stranger vandalizes the bookshop that is headquarters for them. Co-founder Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer) sees his group described as “Perverts” from the newspaper-wrapped brick that smashes their window. “When somebody calls you a name…you take it and you own it,” he tells everyone. The Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners have a new plan, to hold a fundraiser at the Electric Ballroom, naming the benefit concert, Pits and Perverts. At a press conference, Mark tells a gay reporter why this is an important cause. “Because miners dig for coal, which produces power, which allows gay people like you to dance to Bananarama until 3:00 in the morning. Next question!” The band Bronski Beat, all members openly gay, perform at the concert, a pivotal moment in the movie and in real life for how united the LGSM and key faces of the miners have become.
DirectorRobin Campilloputs in a personal experience for the 2017 French movieBPM, which celebrates life during the AIDS epidemic. The members of ACT UP Paris, many of who are HIV-positive, go dancing at night, sweating away anger at the government and pharmaceutical companies' lack of response. Dust motes are in the air, the scene transitioning into the human body’s T-cells under attack by the HIV infection. Another scene cuts between a club night and a serodiscordant activist couple engaging in a sex scene that doesn’t shy away from anything, the camera staying on them without the urge to pan away. By the finale, ACT UP Paris throws the ashes of a loved one around at a health insurance conference, tainting the food buffet. Strobe lights suddenly strike on, turning the political funeral into a dance. Like inPride,BPMincludes Bronski Beat for a crucial sequence where their hit “Smalltown Boy” plays. No doubt the activists understand the lyrics to the synth-pop song: “The love that you need will never be found at home. Run away, turn away.” They are united in pain, anguish, and efforts to keep living.
Modern Queer TV Fights Back Against Bigotry and Hate
Ryan Murphy’sPOSEis hyper-stylized, with rain machines cranked up for aDiana Rosslip sync performance and a disco ball orbiting over everyone’s heads like a glistening moon. Here is a vibrant paradise for the central trans characters to be themselves and to live the fantasies they will be denied outside its doors. In Season 1, Blanca (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) deals with being discriminated against as a trans woman at a gay bar. She’s ostracized from the white gay men, even a Black gay man, who don’t view trans people as part of their community,which unfortunately still happens. The rise of AIDS activism has emcee Pray Tell (Billy Porter) chastise Elektra (Dominique Jackson) for avoiding a church protest, in favor of winning a trophy.
Over on Amazon Prime’sA League of Their Own, the ensemble of queer women finds two special places in Episode 6. Carson (Abbi Jacobson) stumbles upon a hidden gay bar in Rockford, Illinois, based on a real one from the state. A nearby theater playsThe Wizard of Oz, and it’s no accident. “Are you a friend of Dorothy’s?” is a question Carson can’t answer, not realizing it’spopular gay slangof the WWII time period. Walking down a blue-lit hall, she goes through a curtain into the warm yellow hue of the Office. Just asJudy Garlandsteps into a new world, Carson does too. She has no idea what “butch” means.Rosie O’Donnellis there as the bartender and owner. Max (Chanté Adams) gets her own experience at a private party thanks to her trans and non-binary Uncle Bertie (Lea Robinson). While Max’s night is peaceful, Carson’s return to the Office ends in a police raid, full of broken glass and beatings. Sure, the times might have changed, but so have the dangers.
Peacock’s 2022 reboot ofQueer as Folkincludes a mass shooting in Episode 1, similar to Orlando’s Pulse nightclub attack in 2016. Set in New Orleans, Brodie (Devin Way), plus new and old friends, wish to reignite the city’s queer nightlife. The house they host the inaugural celebration is met with hostility, with the F-slur spray-painted on the walls. Brodie decides to rework the hate into a mural, naming the party “Ghost F*g," which goes on to be an inclusive event for all. Whether it worksQueer as Folkincludes a tragedy that is too close to reality, it sticks to the decision, not ignoring the aftermath. In the finale, the characters revisit their version of club Babylon to purge the reminders of what happened, the power shifting back into their hands.
Recent real-life attacks at queer clubs and bars darken what these spaces should be providing. There was ashooting at Club Q in Coloradoand suspects wereapprehended over a series of drugged robberiesthat happened outside NYC gay bars, two of which were fatal. That is in the United States, alone. It makes sense on the big and small screen these sanctuaries are integral safe spaces for the characters and story. More than dance parties, they are a defiant act that pushes against the status quo. Even when hate and bigotry invade, these on-screen depictions have common intentions for the older and new queer generations. To reclaim. To seek joy. To take pride.
