America’s gay bars
are closing — one
city at a time.
We’ve documented 14 gay bar and nightclub closures across 11 cities — each with a date and a source. A 40-year-old Chicago nightclub. A New Orleans bar shuttered after the Bourbon Street attack. Milwaukee’s gay bar of 57 years. Set against where the bars still are.
Open gay bars,
city by city.
The other side of the story: where the bars still are. Open gay bars and clubs Out x Out tracks in each metro right now — with a link to that city’s full guide where we’ve published one.
| # | City | Open gay bars | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City, NY | 64 | Top gay bars |
| 2 | Los Angeles, CA | 47 | Top gay bars |
| 3 | Chicago, IL | 40 | Top gay bars |
| 4 | San Francisco, CA | 38 | Top gay bars |
| 5 | Washington D.C., DC | 25 | Top gay bars |
| 6 | Dallas, TX | 23 | Top gay bars |
| 7 | San Juan, PR | 19 | Browse gay venues |
| 8 | San Diego, CA | 18 | Top gay bars |
| 9 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 18 | Top gay bars |
| 10 | Seattle, WA | 17 | Top gay bars |
| 11 | Minneapolis, MN | 16 | Top gay bars |
| 12 | New Orleans, LA | 16 | Top gay bars |
| 13 | San Antonio, TX | 16 | Top gay bars |
| 14 | Santa Fe, NM | 15 | Browse gay venues |
| 15 | Atlanta, GA | 15 | Top gay bars |
| 16 | Phoenix, AZ | 15 | Top gay bars |
| 17 | Denver, CO | 15 | Top gay bars |
| 18 | Houston, TX | 14 | Top gay bars |
| 19 | Philadelphia, PA | 13 | Top gay bars |
| 20 | Milwaukee, WI | 13 | Top gay bars |
| 21 | Baltimore, MD | 13 | Browse gay venues |
| 22 | Columbus, OH | 13 | Top gay bars |
| 23 | Cincinnati, OH | 12 | Browse gay venues |
| 24 | Provincetown, MA | 12 | Top gay bars |
| 25 | Palm Springs, CA | 11 | Top gay bars |
| 26 | Las Vegas, NV | 11 | Top gay bars |
| 27 | Boston, MA | 11 | Top gay bars |
| 28 | Charlotte, NC | 10 | Browse gay venues |
| 29 | Portland, OR | 10 | Top gay bars |
| 30 | State College, PA | 9 | Browse gay venues |
| — | Rest of the U.S. · 71 more cities | 310 | All cities |
879 open gay bars and clubs across the U.S. in the Out x Out directory (category: bars/clubs), updated continuously. A complete count of what we track as open — not a claim about every bar in each city. “Top gay bars” links go to the full city guide where one exists.
Documented closures.
| Status | Source | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bossy Grrl's Pin Up Joint 2598 N High St; final day December 13, 2025 (owners cited finances, seasonal slump, tariff costs). The space reopened April 3, 2026 as 'Proof by The Alibi,' a cocktail lounge. | Columbus | gay/drag bar | Dec 13, 2025 | closed | Columbus Underground |
| Ginger's 86 Hardie Pl, Financial District — downtown's only LGBTQ+ bar (often miscategorized as a lesbian bar). Final service Oct 30, 2025; went on indefinite hiatus citing monthly losses. Not counted in lesbian-bar figures. | San Francisco | cocktail bar (mixed LGBTQ+) | Oct 30, 2025 | closed | The San Francisco Standard |
| Salty Nun Queer-women-owned gay bar and restaurant in the Grand Central District (restaurant by day, outdoor club by night), opened 2022; permanently closed Aug 17, 2025. Often called St. Pete's 'unofficial lesbian bar' for its programming, but not a dedicated lesbian bar. | St. Petersburg | gay bar | Aug 2025 | closed | Creative Loafing Tampa |
| Misfits Bar + Lounge LGBTQ+ bar at 2530 NE 82nd Ave; closure announced May 2025 after low business and failed fundraising. One of several Portland LGBTQ+ bar closures in 2024-25. | Portland | gay bar | May 2025 | closed | Willamette Week |
| This Is It! Wisconsin's oldest gay bar (418 E Wells St, founded 1968), closed after 57 years. Owners cited COVID aftermath and 2024 street reconstruction outside the bar; the site was later approved for a state historic marker. | Milwaukee | gay bar | Mar 9, 2025 | closed | Urban Milwaukee |
| Napoleon's Itch 734 Bourbon St. Owner-operator Ron Julian announced permanent closure less than 12 hours after the January 1, 2025 Bourbon Street terror attack, after 23 years; it never reopened. | New Orleans | gay bar | Jan 2025 | closed | Out |
| Level Up Bar 1330 Walnut St Gayborhood bar (POC-owned, opened a week before the COVID lockdown). Closed December 9, 2024; owners sought a new location. | Philadelphia | gay bar | Dec 9, 2024 | closed | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Progress Bar 2440 Wilton Dr, Wilton Manors (opened 2014). Yelp lists it permanently closed; closure corroborated by the space now operating as LIT Wilton. Date approximate. | Wilton Manors | gay bar | Oct 2024 | closed | Yelp (listing) |
| Hamburger Mary's Milwaukee 730 S 5th St (Walker's Point) closed after service July 28, 2024. A planned relocation to the Borger Building was not yet operating as of mid-2026. | Milwaukee | drag bar / restaurant | Jul 28, 2024 | closed | Urban Milwaukee |
| Hamburger Mary's Orlando 110 W Church St (downtown) closed June 2, 2024 after 16 years; relocating to Old Town, Kissimmee — no longer a walkable downtown venue. | Orlando | drag bar / restaurant | Jun 2, 2024 | relocated | Orlando Weekly |
| Charlie's Las Vegas Country/western gay bar (former 5012 S Arville), closed its location January 2024 for a planned relocation. As of 2026, reopening is uncertain (TBD) — verify current status on the official site before citing. | Las Vegas | gay bar | Jan 2024 | closed | charlieslasvegas.com (official site) |
| Berlin Lakeview nightclub at 954 W Belmont; final night Nov 19, 2023 after 40 years. The space reopened April 25, 2026 under new ownership (HV Entertainment) as a dual concept, The Belmont + Decibel. | Chicago | gay nightclub | Nov 2023 | rebranded | Block Club Chicago |
| Stonewall Bar 741 W Church St. The space later became Heatwave (opened Aug 2025), which also closed around March 8, 2026; the space is now vacant. | Orlando | gay bar | Dec 31, 2021 | closed | Orlando Weekly |
| The 700 Club Long-running French Quarter gay bar at 700 Burgundy; last day Dec 15, 2019. The owner relocated to 1012 N Rampart, which became a different bar (American Townhouse), seriously damaged by fire in March 2025. The '700 Club' brand is defunct. | New Orleans | gay bar | Dec 2019 | closed | LGBT Archives Project of Louisiana |
Documented closures surfaced during Out x Out city audits — sourced examples, not a complete count of every closure. Sort by any column; some sources are pending URL verification.
How to read this.
The closures listed here are documented, individually-sourced EXAMPLES surfaced during Out x Out's city content audits. They are NOT a comprehensive count of every LGBTQ+ bar that has closed. Cities shown are cities Out x Out has audited — not 'the hardest-hit' cities. Where an open-venue count is given, it reflects venues Out x Out verified as open during that city's audit, not every bar in the city.
- — Not a 'net openings minus closings' census.
- — Not a per-city total of closures (we report documented examples, not totals).
- — Not a 'live' feed — v1 is a hand-compiled snapshot. A live, DB-backed version is planned but does not exist yet.
- — Cities included reflect Out x Out's audit coverage, not a ranked list of decline.
A documented record of LGBTQ+ nightlife venue (gay bar, lesbian bar, gay/queer nightclub) closures, rebrands, and relocations across US cities, with per-venue sourcing. Compiled from Out x Out's primary-source city content audits, June 2026, with closure source URLs recovered and dates verified against published news reporting.
Per-venue closures are individually sourced; a couple of sources are pending URL verification and are labeled accordingly in the table. Looking for lesbian bars specifically? See our State of the Lesbian Bar.
Free to cite.
This data is free to use with attribution to Out x Out. Reporters: for a custom city cut, an updated figure, or an interview, email info@outxout.com.
Out x Out, "The State of the Gay Bar" (2026), https://outxout.com/data/state-of-the-gay-bar