Gloves Come Off Manchester’s New Cuckolds Walk is a great name for a nightclub, but the reality is a lot different from what’s in their name. There’s been no shortage of strip clubs in the area, as all of their neighboring buildings once housed strip joints. There was a time where Manchesters were known for a great culture and a thriving LGBTQ scene. But things have changed over the years, and with that change has come the transformation of many queer Mancherster bars and clubs. They are turning into places full of white cisgender men. I walked into Manchesters after hours and found a bunch of guys sitting in the VIP booths and tables. I had been into this club for a few months now, and I was interested to see the difference a few months made. It was mostly the same, but there were a few new things. Instead of there being a lot of women inside, I was now surrounded by dudes. The crowd was mostly a group of twinks who were probably around my age and I could hear two men screaming about who was going to get top or bottom. It was all very homo, and I could tell the space was very cis-oriented. Even though I’ve always had a thing for the dick, it felt a little off to be so surrounded by dicks in this new place, surrounded by all my friends. I walked to the DJ booth in the front and heard a man tell me there was no dance floor because of it being a gay bar. Again, it was pretty bad. The DJ booth was open in the floor, and people danced in front of the DJ booth, but still, it just felt awkward to be surrounded by naked men, while the only place to get my dick sucked was in the bathroom with the dudes. It felt bad because of how much everyone told me they loved the venue. Everyone said it was a great space and it was just weird. They kept saying that I should look for a place to get my dick sucked. I was in disbelief. I took a look around and saw that not only was it a homo space, but it was a cishet white guy space. I went out onto the patio and checked out what was going on. All I saw were dudes sitting on the patio drinking. The only people on the patio who were under the age of 40 were all gay men and they were all dudes sitting in a circle drinking and telling jokes to each other. It was clear why cishet dudes go to this club. “This was the most cishet space I’ve ever been in, and it was a cishet space that’s supposed to be a queer space.” They just had no idea how to set up a queer space. They didn’t understand the concept of creating a safe space for trans and non-cis people who have less representation in queer nightlife spaces. The way you do that is by providing a place for all genders and races to freely interact with each other, instead of hiding from everyone but yourselves. The reason why I can say with certainty that this is cishet is because of the amount of dick in my face. This was a gay bar, and so, I had no excuse to miss the dick. There was enough dick in the bar to make me want to throw up. The bar itself was really large and there was so much dick I couldn’t even get my feet around it, and it was just more dicks. It was kind of like being at the airport, except instead of all these dicks surrounding me, they were surrounding me in a way I didn’t really appreciate. But I think the fact that there were so many dicks there was weird for me because I know the space had gotten more popular with the time, but I just didn’t realize how much dick there would be. After visiting this bar for a few months, I now know that it’s a cishet space. It used to be a place for dudes to get off, and now it’s a place to get off. This makes sense because if you were going to build a bar in a predominantly cishet area, then having dicks on the side was a good idea. It was not a good idea to build a queer space, and that’s all there was to it. Trans-friendly gay clubs have been few and far between. With the rise of gay clubs in Manchester, we were in desperate need of more trans and non-cis people in our community. It’s important for queers to realize that being queer doesn’t mean you aren’t a part of the community. It’s as simple as using a code word, saying the right thing, and using different gender pronouns. “Folks need to be a part of their community, and they need to create safe spaces for others that are not cis-gender or heterosexual, in order to make space for all the different identities in the community.” Trans-friendly LGBTQ+ clubs are just as important to gay clubs, and we need to keep these spaces open and thriving. Cis people shouldn’t be allowed in these spaces as they are often privileged and not actually trans-friendly. Queer spaces can’t be created without trans-friendly spaces. And trans folks need support to be safe in these spaces, which they don’t always get. By building a space that promotes inclusivity and welcoming everyone, it also creates a space that can sustain itself. When these bars have a dedicated queer space, they are more likely to stay open for a longer time and support the community they claim to be there for. It’s important for queer folks to support these spaces as well as others who are in them. I would have never expected the venue I’ve been going to the most would become such a cishet space, and it made me think of all the places I’ve been to in Manchester in the last few years. I have been to more LGBTQ+ bars than I can count, and every single time I’ve gotten there, it’s been a gay space. This made me think about other LGBTQ+ bars in Manchester that have shut down recently. In the last few years, queer and lesbian bars have been closing down at an alarming rate. I know of a few bars that have closed, like Milk & Honey, The Clapham Grand, and Dingwalls. Most of the bars were closing down, but I never understood why or how. In the early 2000s, the LGBTQ+ scene was thriving in Manchester and the queer community was full of life. People could be themselves and love anyone they wanted. But now it feels like everything has changed, and it has been this way for awhile. There was a time when this was where you could go to meet people, and meet up. I’ve gone back to these places because I want to see if there’s anything there now. It’s a new city for me, so I don’t want to judge too soon. “It seems like Manchester’s queer community is trying to stay afloat without really changing. There’s a few places in Manchester, but none of them really keep me too excited.” My only issue is that some of these places I’ve gone to have some of the same names, like Milk & Honey. It’s a great name for a bar, but if you have a bar called Milk & Honey, I expect it to be filled with milk and honey. I didn’t expect to find this bar to be a trans-friendly space, which made me feel like it didn’t care about the queer community at all. It’s as simple as renaming your bar to something else if you don’t want it to be a cishet space. I went to another LGBTQ+ bar I thought was a homo space that wasn’t called Milk & Honey, but it was in that area. There were groups of people just sitting in the bar, making out. There were dicks everywhere, but most of the dudes I could tell were just waiting for someone to approach them. But no one did and then they just left. This is what it’s like in Manchester right now. There are some places that want to have us as the stars, but only want to serve us cocktails. But that’s not what it’s about. It seems like Manchester’s queer community is trying to stay afloat without really changing. There’s a few places in Manchester, but none of them really keep me too excited. This is an updated version of the article, which was originally published on Gay United in 2018