Queer bars offer sacred space for LGBTQ community

When actor Daniel Franzese visited Jerusalem in November, he looked for God in all the usual places. But it wasn’t at the Western Wall or Mount of Olives where he encountered the divine, but in a hole-in-the-wall ’80s-style gay bar that was hosting a “David and Jonathan” theme night for religious queer people.

“There was no denying God was present in that place for me. I was in the little, tiny gay bar in Jesus’ town, and I was welcome there,” said Franzese, of “Mean Girls” and HBO’s “Looking.”

“Nobody can ever tell me that being in that bar wasn’t a sacred and holy place.”

For as long as LGBTQ folks have gathered in bars and nightclubs, such spaces have hosted weddings, birthed churches and been called “heavenly.” But November’s Club Q shooting was a grim reminder that even today gathering in queer clubs isn’t without risk. Amid a barrage