Fascinating, Jim. Thanks! I'm also a country mouse these days in an area where there are no queer bars, but the story is a bit different here in a part of northwest Lower Michigan popular with tourists and retirees.

Detroit and Ann Arbor (two liberal Michigan havens with lots of queer folks) are much further away from us than D.C. is from you. I guess that makes it less likely for trans and gay people to move up here. There aren't many jobs, and commuting is pretty much out of the question.

Nonetheless, a few odd ducks like me do end up here for whatever reason. I know an older gay couple from New York City who retired to a house on a lake a few towns over. I see them toodling about on their Harleys now and then, and we always wave.

But as far as I know, there just isn't a dense enough population of queer folks for regular socializing. Even Grindr (which is much more honest than other indicators 🤣) is a desert up here.

But then, I don't know that gay bars ever existed anywhere in this area, so I'm a little bit off topic.

I'll be interested to see if anybody answers you about the increased inclusivity of more modern queer bars. That is unfortunately a little bit outside my experience.