He’s danced in them, had sex in them, drank and moved through gay bars with his “companion, the Famous Blue Raincoat,” and anonymously, and with friends-not-friends.Some bars were carved out of a back room or basement, or a place that used to be something else, maybe another bar. Ironically, he says, “I can’t remember my first.”Īs someone with a foot in each of two continents, he does have favorites, places that are now closed, re-named, or been moved. Long before it was legal for him to go there, Jeremy Atherton Lin, like most teenage boys, imagined going to the bar – though in his case, Lin imagined what it was like in a gay bar. It’s the right height, you can easily watch the door from there, and the bartender knows your favorites, so why not? As in the new book “Gay Bar” by Jeremy Atherton Lin, it’s one of the best places to be. Might be because you’ve spent a lot of time there.
