Gay bars indianapolis indiana
Indy Pride weekend is here - where's the afterparty?
Across the city, the gender non-conforming community has historically utilized bars and event spaces as life-saving sanctuaries for self-expression. There’s a tiny something for everyone!
Photo: Metro Nightclub
Metro Nightclub & Restaurant
Mass Ave | Massachusetts Ave
Located right on Mass Ave, Metro offers great diet, dancing, and outdoor seating. Pregame your night out with a bite to eat or dance all night until the lights come on, either way the musics great so you'll never have a bad time.
Photo: Tini
Tini
Mass Ave | Massachusetts Ave
Metro's next-door neighbor is also an LGBTQ+ nightclub called Tini! With a slightly smaller downstairs bar and boogie floor upstairs, the chances of running into your ex here triples.
Downtown Olly's
Downtown | N Illinois St.
Downtown Olly's used to be open 24/7, but now you can enjoy it from 7AM - 3AM daily. Their patio is the spot to be in June with events going on all the time!
Photo: Visit Indy
Gregs
Herron Morton | The Chase’s owner, Fred Cooney, helped fundraise for local gay rights organizations like the Gay People’s Union (more about the collective in the politics exhibit) and worked to enhanced the often-tense relationship between the city’s law enforcement and the gay community.3 Cooney and Mike Bohr also helped lead the Greater Indianapolis Gay Business Association (GIGBA), dedicated to promoting the interests of gay and lesbian businesses within the city. Male lover bars, with their evident connection to the group, were staples of the association. In , GIGBA President Bohr pushed to get free condoms and safe sex literature in all gay bars and bathhouses in the urban area in an effort to stop the AIDS crisis. “We owe it to [our patrons] and to ourselves to do whatever we can to limit the spread of AIDS,” Bohr explained.4 1. George Chauncey, Homosexual New York: Indianapolis businesses that cater directly to the LGBTQ+ community provide performance opportunities for artists, such as drag performers and DJs, good diet and drinks, and safe spaces to gather. Gay bars and restaurants are important because, in establishments made without gender non-conforming people in thought, they may experience out of place or even be harassed, said James Alexander, assistant general manager at Almost Famous and a manager at Tini. Gay bars offer LGBTQ+ collective members a place to go in which they can be comfortable and treated as humans, they said. It’s significant that these spaces remain open, as a business and to the common, so people in and outside of the LGBTQ+ community can enjoy the bars and experience gender non-conforming culture, said Alexander, stage name Duchess Morningstar. “There are people that haven’t show up out yet or don’t know anything about that and they can just walk off of the street,” they said. These are establishments in Indianapolis which cater directly to the Queer community: Located at E. 16th Street, Gregs is one of the most popular gay bars in Indianapolis and is a frequent stage for drag performances. Indianapolis has had roughly fifty gay bars in the last few decades, according to new information gathered by Indiana Landmarks. It is difficult to identify gay bars because many of them include kept very low profiles, sometimes with shuttered windows and limited publicity, because of anti-LGBT+ policies and public opinion. Some endure concealed to this day, despite changing attitudes. While Gregs does not draw attention to itself as a public space, it has a very public profile and presence in the town today. The Beginning of Gregs Gregs first opened on July 1, , as the Wawasee Tavern. In , Phil Denton purchased the bar and changed the name to Our Place. Denton transformed the space, which hosted several Leather and Bear Clubs, subcultures within the LGBT+ group known for their hyper-masculine image. The bar also hosted the T.G.I.F. Bowling Classic, the Circle City/Indy Cup Volleyball Tournament, the Halloween Bag Ladies bus tour and coronation, aWhere Everybody Knows Your Name
Community Debt
Indianapolis gay bars: 7 spaces made for the LGBTQ+ community