Gay Bars Lure Straights to Stay in Biz

Gay bars across the country are facing an unexpected dilemma, the Anchorage Daily News reports: Attract straight customers or close down. With Americans growing more tolerant and gay connections moving online, one gay activist says "it's like 'mission accomplished.'" But bars from Pittsburgh to San Francisco are shutting their doors as more gays integrate into the straight world.

Successful bars, like Mad Myrna's in Anchorage, are increasingly filled with women and straight couples there for the drag show. "Everybody's money is green," says the manager. Backstage, the youngest of the drag queens—Trevor "Ashley" Council, 24—is used to a diverse crowd. His fans "are the kind who are straight and more accepting of gay people," he says. "It's nice to be around those kind of people."
(More Drag Queen stories.)