Gay bars downtown madison wi

A woman sits at a bar, the lights beneath its surface transitioning through the colors of the rainbow. A man drapes his arm around her.

Gay Nightlife in Madison, Wisconsin: Best LGBTQ Bars, Clubs, & More

At a nearby table, another man kisses his date's neck as his hands move through the folds of her dress. Co-owner Rico Sabatini is proud that the Williamson Street bar brings in diverse crowds, but he and business partner Corey Gresen also want to ensure that Plan B retains its image as a gay establishment.

That's why they've put a rainbow flag outside. After Plan B opened inthe first wave of heterosexual women to patronize the bar presented a challenge. Other gay bars in Madison have faced the same sort of identity crisis. Should they embrace straight people in the name of fostering an attitude of tolerance toward the LGBT community?

Or should they remain more bar, offering a place where patrons can be sure they're among friends? Gay of the virtues of madison bars is that they provide gay people a place to relax among their peers. Emily Mills, the editor of Our Lives magazine and a former Isthmus contributor, was thrilled the first time she went to a local gay bar.

Mills says it was comforting to know her sexuality wouldn't be an issue because she'd be around fellow gay people. LGBT people have fought long and hard to be able to express their sexual orientation in public, according to historian Dick Wagner. And Madison's original gay bars were some of the first places gay people could socialize openly.

In researching the topic for a forthcoming book, Wagner found that gay people in Madison lacked gathering spaces for much of the 20th century. During the s, they often met in hotel lounges. In the '40s and '50s, they socialized at downtown events like house parties. By the '60s, some bars would accommodate them, but these places were not gay establishments.

Things changed in Rodney Scheel opened Madison's first gay-owned gay bar, the Back Door. True self-expression, and the resulting feeling of liberation, were finally possible. There was a sense of discovery of ourselves and how we could act with each other. The "carefree" part is especially important if past visits to bars have felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

For straight women, straight bars can be associated with unwanted sexual advances. Some find a respite at gay bars. UW graduate student Camille Rogers says it's comforting to know that most men will not make passes at her in a gay bar. Rogers says that, at straighter dance clubs in downtown Madison, "I know somebody's gonna try to grab me….

You have to be on guard.