Are Gay Bars Going the Way of the Dodo?

Andrew Gonzalez dances at Savoy on North Orange Avenue, Orlando - Florida

The Full Moon Saloon went back to the days when gay bars didn't advertise their existence. No signs out front. No name on the door.

Faces was for lesbians only. No men allowed.

Southern Nights, one of the first gay bars in Orlando, built its business around drag-queen shows and "Lesbo a Go-Go" nights.

The Lava Lounge was an idea hatched at poolside by four friends, gay and straight, who thought it would be fun to run a bar. It lasted five years.

All four bars are gone -- victims of circumstance and changing times. Within a matter of months, Orlando's gay and lesbian community witnessed its bar scene shrink by a third, seemingly overnight.

To some, the loss of Full Moon, Faces, Lava and Southern Nights signals the end of an era in which bars served as the hub of social life in the gay community. They offered sanctuary, anonymity and intimacy in a world that was largely hostile toward gays and lesbians.

"It was the community center. There were no other social places to gravitate to," said Steve Tuhy, 54, a gay bar owner who moved to Orlando three years ago from Minneapolis.

But that changed as gays gained greater acceptance in society, older gays became more monogamous, and younger gays gravitated toward nightclubs that cater to a mixed crowd. "The larger percentage are in relationships, taking care of things at home. A lot have kids," Tuhy said. "If you're under 30, you don't care. You just go wherever it's a cool, hot bar."

The four bars all closed within the past six months for different reasons.(keep reading)