Do we really need gay bars?

The last ten years there has been a growing straight friendly “gay village” in Athens. Vibrant and funky Gazi (Γκάζι) is a neighborhood located next to Kerameikos metro station and close to the Acropolis. Everyone hangs around there but do we really need it? Discussion has two reversed sides, yes and no.

Those who are advocating gay areas and bars say that indeed we do need them. Until every LGBTQ person feels safe to be who they are with whom they choose to be, in every area of the town, we need places like Gazi. Being in the gay bar is seen to be more relaxing and fun than other average places, and it has a special kind of atmosphere you cannot find from any other place on town. People share information, get to know other tolerant people and unite while having fun with better awareness.

Then again, some people are still in the closet or exploring their sexuality and do not wish to be seen openly. There are bars for everything but for many people going out means meeting someone special. With a good luck an average bar can have about 10 % of their clients gay. Arguably, at the gay bar your percentage to succeed to share the same sexual orientation with the person you meet will raise a bit. 

Why some people are against that? They say that these areas and bars promote everything LGBTQ ideology and awareness is against. They are decreasing diversity, transparency and acceptance but increasing discrimination. Gay bars are not just fun and laughter; they are also places for homogeneous boredom where trends and gossips have all too huge meaning in a one little merry-go-round because of limited amount of people visiting them. 

More and more every day people and role models kick thier closet doors wide open and most of the people seem to become more tolerant for that. From that point of view these bars are outdated and even having opportunity to explore one’s sexuality does not necessarily require gay bars to do the trick anymore.

So, what do you say? Should there be more or less gay areas and bars in the future?

Bisexual future from the past

“World population is moving towards a bisexual future”. One of the Europe´s most respected scientist, outspoken man and Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Umberto Veronesi raised some serious discussions few years ago with this statement. He cited scientific fact that the vitality of male reproductive cells has gone down by half since 1940s and raised up the discussion about endless new possibilities of artificial fertilization.

What will happen when the male-female intercourse will be more or less disconnected from reproduction of human life? Sex will not disappear but sexual intercourse would lose its reproductive function and our evolution will continue until the majority of people are bisexual according to Mr. Veronesi. 

In the future not only bisexual women are the fantasies of straight men. Bisexuality becomes even hotter and interesting orientation or behavior when the barriers of social and intergenerational relationships decrease. Meanwhile, the concept of family and domestic partnership evolve and idea of sexual freedom sees its full potential. 

One could add to Mr. Veronesi’s statement that history seems to repeat itself. It is not more than six centuries ago when bi- and heterosexuals did not raise that many eyebrows. That said, bisexuality of human kind is not only the future but also the past of all of us as loving human beings. As so many times before in human history we seem to invent a wheel again. What a pity. Instead of wasting our time we could have been doing so much more important things in life.