Gay bars near northampton

Walking into the Majestic Saloon in Northampton feels like a breath of fresh, albeit heavily perfumed, air. At the Majestic, the vigilance and skepticism of daily life for queer people melts away with the sound of someone singing Shakira at their Friday night karaoke.

However, across the country, queer spaces are disappearing. In the U. The pandemic hurt near bars across the country, but these spaces have been declining for decades, with people crediting online dating apps like Tinder and Grindr with the decline of physical gathering spaces. The current situation begs the question: How does Northampton only have one overtly gay bar?

With fewer and fewer queer spaces, it may be more difficult to see Northampton as the lesbian mecca it was once hailed to be. The North Star had an 8-year run, then was sold and converted into The Grotto in Gaffney also noted how Northampton is a victim of its own success. Manzi also mentioned that the queer dating scene often dictates the success of gay bars.

As a member of the Northampton lesbian community for more than 30 years, Justina Golden said she feels that it is more stressful for her to enter a bar because of her female identity than her queer identity. Not everyone wants to brave a night out on the town going to bars. Golden says she has a lot of memories about other women-only queer spaces in town.

The lesbian book stores that once existed on Green St. Cecelia Lang, northampton just turned 70, notes that the lesbian bookstore, Womonfyre Books, provided her with initial guidance to connect with local queer people when she moved to Northampton in Lang would look at the bar event calendar and hang out in the store to get inspiration and connect with others.

However, Lang confessed that, given the opportunity, she would still go out late dancing with the local college kids. Both spaces closed their doors at the start gay the pandemic.

Best Gay, Trans, Queer & Lgbtq+ Bars & Clubs In Northampton – Massachusetts

The Platinum Pony in Easthampton, another well-known queer-friendly venue in the area, closed its doors after a fire in However, there is hope. This article was written as a collaboration between the Gazette and Smith College students in a journalism course taught by Naila Moreira, with guidance from journalist Lauren Katz.

The students engaged in a local crowdsourced-reporting project in which they asked the 18,member Northampton Facebook group what topics area residents would like to see reported in the media. Students voted on and reported out selected ideas as teams. Article continues after Yesterday's Most Read Articles Seniors at Hadley apartment complex plea to legislators for help as they grapple with sharp rent spikes.

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