Many straight readers are sounding off as well. One writes:

You see, when I was underage (late '80s, early '90s), the local gay bar was the only one that would let me in and serve me. It was next to the Frontier Room in Seattle. Every Monday night they would have Reggae night. My friends and I all worked in restaurants and so Monday night was our Friday night. If you were a straight kid and acted nice and well behaved to the big bear doorman, he would let you in. We would go to the back and dance with the gay guys, the rastas and the white girls all sweatin it up to Sugar Minot, Steel Pulse and Black Uhuru. We would smoke doobies, drink Sea Breezes and have a great time. I wish I could remember the name of that place. Taking a chick to a gay bar to dance to reggae pretty much guaranteed some action later that night.

Another writes:

My first gay bar was the Spectrum Disco in Gainesville, Florida.  For a highschool boy growing up in a redneck town in the sleepy South, the Spectrum was an eyeopener to the great world beyond.  I was hetero then (as now) but damn it was a fun place to dance.

Another: