That emergence intensified in 1972, when three days after the Stonewall Riots, 300 activists took to the streets in the name of equality. In 1947, one of the first gay bars in Texas, Club Reno, opened in Dallas, heralding the city’s LGBTQ community as one of the earliest to form in the state. Their one-of-a-kind restaurants, vivacious nightclubs, and lovable locals crown these gayborhoods as attractive destinations-no matter where you fall on the sexuality spectrum. For decades, all types of people from cowboys to drag queens have lived, worked, and played harmoniously in these charming meccas of queer life. Texas’ “gayborhoods” aren’t just neighborhoods with rainbow-painted crosswalks at their intersections they’re historic communities where Texas pride and gay pride intersect in ever-fascinating unison. The Dallas Eagle is welcoming whatever your tastes in men (and drinks), and is equally suitable for a quiet pick-me-up at the start of the night as it is a full-on orgy of dancing stretching into the early hours of the next morning.One of Oak Lawn’s two gateway signs sits at the intersection of Douglas Avenue and Cedar Springs Road, in Dallas, right in front of Kroger. Don’t let the fact that this place unashamedly labels itself a leather, Levi’s and bears bar (with accompanying BDSM interior décor and Pup Socials and Underwear Nights) put you off. Gay Dallas wouldn’t be gay Dallas without Dallas Eagle, a gay bar one block over from Cedar Springs on Maple Avenue. With saloon doors that have been open for more than 30 years now, this sparkling combination of hoedown and sleek city bar with added southern pizzazz is another city favourite, welcoming everyone from the Stetson-wearing double-denim brigade seeking outline dancing to out of towners (including none other than Lady Gaga) looking for traditional Texan hospitality.
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Just opposite Station 4, you’ll find the Round-Up Saloon, the best of the bunch of country-themed Dallas gay bars. There are regular drag shows on the stage downstairs, including legend Cassie Nova’s Monday night slot, while the upstairs area hides a large patio with views up and down the strip.
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Sedate and relaxed, yet energetic, albeit in a different way (think the clank of pool ball on pool ball and the light hum of conversation over the long bar), the slightly more serene-minded clientele here are still not averse to having fun. Named after the main character in the strutting 1980s television hit Dallas, JR’s Bar and Grill is in many ways the complete antithesis to the chest-thumping dance tunes at Station 4.
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Known to pretty much everyone as S4, this two-floor extravaganza of a nightclub has one hell of a dancefloor on which to rock to the live DJ sets and kinetic light displays, more bars to grab a drink from then there are months of the year, a huge outdoor patio space in which to make the most of the fine North Texas weather while chilling out, and the second-floor Rose Room Theatre and Lounge, the place to head each weekend for the city’s foremost drag shows. Among them, you won’t fail to spot Station 4. Most gay bars Dallas are located on or close to Cedar Springs Road, the city’s very own strip, which extends from the superbly-named Dallas Love Fields Airport at its northern end to Oak Lawn, rated as one of the US’ best gaybourhoods, at the other.