Rainey street austin gay bar

It wasI was 19 austins old, and my then-girlfriend was turning We'd decided to exercise our rights to the bustling, grimy, shit-stained streets of downtown Gay, Texas, home to the famous Dirty 6th Street and the gayer, cleaner Rainey Street. As woman gays, the plan was Rainey Street.

But lesbian bars are like Halley's Comet. It was shaping up to be a great night. I was excited that my first experience clubbing would be in a safe, inclusive environment. But as always, the straights ruin everything. A group of older white women threw dollars on my girlfriend while she slid down a stripper pole.

We danced to a few good songs, mostly of the top 40 and vaguely country variety. I peed in a not-so-clean restroom, formally indoctrinated into the leg-burning squat of peeing while drunk and on the town. We left at some point for tacos, getting catcalled on the street while we chomped on carnitas from a decent food truck.

Standard fare. It was fine. And then came the chills, sore throat, fever, and positive test result. The dreaded disease that'd upended bar end of my high school career and doomed the first two years of college. But needless to say, I haven't been street to Wild Gregs since. I managed to go to Rain two years later, 21 now, and with others who were too.

When I studied abroad at Oxford, my cohort and I went to this smoky gay club called Plush right near campus, tucked away in one of rainey many winding cobblestone alleys. It wasn't like the gay clubs at home. For one, straight guys were everywhere. The music was bouncy, and the dancing was of the distinctly European, jumping variety.

The Best Gay Bars and Clubs in Austin for Every Mood

But I enjoyed it for what it was. Then came Los Angeles. I arrived heartbroken, dizzy with grief after being dumped by the girlfriend whose birthday gave me COVID, preparing to share a bedroom in a small apartment with said ex girlfriend oh, the joys of lesbianism! I was a fragmented, lonely girl when I went to a Lemon Pepper party for the first time.

My ex and I roommate? Best friend? A place where we could be ourselves in a city still to be learned while we ached for the southwestern comforts of home why the fuck don't they sell pico de gallo in grocery stores here?