We all have fond memories of dingy bars filled with even dodgier people where, despite the tin foil serving as decoration on the bar shelves and the ever-present whiff of disinfectant from the toilets, we came together as some kind of a community. I remember stepping inside and feeling the beat of the music vibrating on my skin, and the energy of the people around me vibrate in my soul. All of this is captured wonderfully in a quote from Jeremy Atherton Lin’s Gay Bar: Why We Went Out: “I was under the impression I was always late to the party, but in fact, I may not have been invited. While sex positivity is something that is something that has always been attributed to the gay community, it’s important to remember how narrow that community has viewed beauty and attractiveness: White, cisgender, masculine.

From this he considers the meaning of gay identity itself, notions of intimacy and the political/personal importance that these physical locations played in queer communities. From leather parties in the Castro to Gay Liberation Front touch-ins; from disco at Studio One to dark rooms in Vauxhall railway arches, the gay bar has long been a place of joy, solidarity and sexual expression. I'm surprised to learn that there are public urinal in London to collect discarded semen where men rendezvous in public places to reduce the odor left on the streets or alleyways. Of which the number is startling, to say the least, and engaged in with a commitment to synaesthesia and general wanton abandonment that is, well, quite alluring. This public facing situation points to a loss of a nighttime aura and the magical, dirty smell of piss and beer that might bring an ambivalent reverie to any self-aware, and wistful gay.I found Jeremy Atherton Lin's writing to be strikingly vivid, Gay Bar made me nostalgic for experiences I've never had. In Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Lin traces the history of the gay bar through time, from truly secret places where discovery could be deadly, to places where joy could reign unfettered, even for a few hours, from places where people gathered to mourn, to spots that have their own places in their neighborhoods.

There’s a camaraderie at bars that’s always fun to watch as an observer, as everyone goes to bars for different reasons, but the less enamored I became of crowds the less frequently I went.Those people and that nightlife seemed so very far away from me and Minneapolis but it was the feature I always turned to first. It is an achievement that the book is able to balance and guide readers through numerous perspectives and timelines, achieving a weighted density of thought that is still incredibly lucid. I was hoping to learn about gay bars from around the world that were influential to the gay liberation movement but what I got was a gay only going to white gay bars in white gay areas. And some close or morph beyond recognition when the community shifts- either growing younger, older or less inclined towards a certain demographic. First, a travelogue about the various bars that Lin has frequented throughout the various stages of his life.