Gay bars have historically functioned as communal spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Because of neoliberalism, LGBTQ+ acceptance continues to rise as “post-gay’’ discourses, coupled with the inclusion of heterosexual audiences, have repositioned gay bars as inclusive spaces. In this study, we explore how the meaning of “gay bar” is communicatively negotiated. Specifically, we employed a co-sexuality lens with spatiality to understand how the “gay bar brand” is constructed and perceived. We used ethnographic methods including observation, 25 semi-structured interviews, and documents at two gay bars in a Midwestern college town. We demonstrate how gay bars, through neoliberal branding, reopened the meaning of gay bars as spaces for “all” sexualities. Three tensions emerged: (1) who gay bars are for (queer or general communities); (2) sexual autonomy (contested meanings around “safety” and “being yourself”); and (3) viable marketing (tension between “community” and “commodification”). This study contributes to the literature on sexuality, space, and branding by moving beyond utopian depictions of gay bars. Instead, it encourages scholars to understand the bars as destabilized and contested queer spaces.

中文翻译：

---

没有同性恋酒吧这样的东西：同性恋和酷儿空间的新自由主义品牌

同性恋酒吧在历史上一直是 LGBTQ+ 社区的公共空间。由于新自由主义，LGBTQ+ 的接受度继续上升，因为“后同性恋”话语加上​​异性恋观众的加入，将同性恋酒吧重新定位为包容性空间。在这项研究中，我们探讨了“同性恋酒吧”的含义是如何通过交流协商的。具体来说，我们采用了一个具有空间性的同性镜头来了解“同性恋酒吧品牌”是如何构建和感知的。我们使用了人种学方法，包括观察、25 次半结构化访谈和中西部大学城的两个同性恋酒吧的文件。我们展示了同性恋酒吧如何通过新自由主义品牌重新诠释同性恋酒吧作为“所有”性行为空间的意义。出现了三种紧张局势：（1）同性恋酒吧是为谁服务的（酷儿或普通社区）；(2) 性自主（围绕“安全”和“做你自己”的有争议的含义）；(3) 可行的营销（“社区”和“商品化”之间的张力）。这项研究超越了对同性恋酒吧的乌托邦式描述，为有关性、空间和品牌的文献做出了贡献。相反，它鼓励学者将酒吧理解为不稳定和有争议的酷儿空间。