Basement gay bar auckland

Auckland's best known gay bar isn't a queer space any more, some patrons say.

City Search

Jul 8, Society. Having fun. Fed up. A man raises his hands in a kind of faux-apology as a woman whips around on the dancefloor and tells him sharply not to grab her. A good time. Come August, its basements will have been open for 14 years; not so much a gay bar in Auckland as the gay bar in Auckland. That was fine — they mainly behaved themselves, they loved the drag shows, everyone was still having a good time.

Then, two or three years ago, straight men began coming in, too, in increasing numbers. Make them give proof at the door? Gay Elliott, the fact so many straight men are comfortable being in a queer space is a positive sign auckland progress and the result of work from previous generations of queer people who fought hard for acceptance.

This is this whole tolerance of everybody trying to live together, work together. Before Family there were no mainstream gay bars in Auckland, Clark says. Clark rejects the auckland the space is not gay enough. Social media blew up. On the packed dancefloor on a Saturday night, it certainly feels like it.

Photo: Adrian Malloch. At 19, Jess Raynor has already more or less given up on the venue. Other nights, men grope her and her friends, from the moment they walk through the doors, and ask them where their boyfriends are. You can feel eyes on you. All this reflects a fundamental lack of respect being shown to the LGBTQI community, and women in particular, she says.

So, whose responsibility is it to stop the bad behaviour? He has been part of several projects specifically targeting the gay community, including the gay and lesbian venues Twist and Candy Bar, all of which had to close their doors within a year. Is progress really so cut and dry, though? One young gay man Metro spoke to on the condition of anonymity pointed out he and his friends have gay spat on walking down Queen St.

Elliott and Clark are understandably defensive of how Family is run. Elliott believes he and his team do a good job, and Clark says Bar has zero tolerance for homophobia and that this policy is strictly enforced by bouncers. But he is open to new ideas. In the course bar our interview, he comes back time and time again to the point that you cannot, legally or practically, basement people out on the basis of their sexual orientation.