Queer friendly places to grab a drink at in Chicago

There’s nothing more infuriating than walking into a gay bar and feeling like you don’t belong. I have a love-hate relationship with Chicago’s Boystown. I love the idea of it, but... it's a bit problematic for me. It’s a hot take, but I don’t find Boystown to be super welcoming of trans, queer and non-binary people.

As a queer person who is relatively femme, people usually assume things about me, which sometimes ends up with people in gay bars being passive aggressive, saying rude comments or both. However, I’m lucky. I haven’t had any horrible experiences like some have had because of my privilege of being femme.

Earlier this month, I turned to the Facebook group, Chicago Queer Exchange, to find out where the queer friendly places to grab a drink were at. I asked, you all answered:

Please note:

• Queer friendly isn’t the same as gay friendly.

• I have not been to all of these places and cannot personally vouch for them.

• Some of these places are cash-only.

• Some of these places aren’t bars but offer alcoholic beverages.

Bar Biscay

1450 W. Chicago Avenue

Bar on Buena

910 W. Buena Ave.

Beauty Bar

1444 W. Chicago Ave

Berlin

954 W. Belmont Ave

Big Chicks

5024 N. Sheridan Rd.

Bobby Loves

3729 N. Halsted

Bonus Round Café

3230 N. Clark St.

Burlington Bar

3425 W. Fullerton Ave

Café Mustache

2313 N. Milwaukee Ave

Chicago Diner - Lakeview

3411 N. Halsted St

Chicago Diner - Logan Square

2333 N. Milwaukee Ave

Community Tavern

4038 N. Milwaukee Ave

Cole's

2338 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Den Theatre's Bar

1331 N. Milwaukee Ave

Empirical Taproom

1801 W. Foster Ave

F. O'Mahony's European Tavern

3701 N. Broadway

Front bar: Coffee & Drinks

1700 N. Halsted

Glenwood

6962 N. Glenwood Ave

Gman Tavern

3740 N. Clark St

Jackhammer

6406 N. Clark St.

Jacqueline's

3420 N. Broadway St.

Jerry's -- Andersonville

5419 N. Clark St.

Kuma's Corner West Loop

852 W. Fulton Market

Kumiko

630 W. Lake St

Lady's Room at Fat Rice

2957 W. Diversey Ave

Logan Arcade

2410 W. Fullerton Ave

Lost Lake

3154 W. Diversey Ave.

Ludlow Liquors

2959 N. California Ave

Lula Café

2537 N. Kedzie Blvd.

Meeting House Tavern

5025 N. Clark St.

Nighthawk Chicago

4744 N. Kimball Ave

R Public House

1508 W. Jarvis

Reno Chicago

2607 N. Milwaukee Ave

Rocks in Lakeview

3463 N. Broadway

Rogers Park Social

6920 N. Glenwood Ave

Roscoe's Tavern

3356 N. Halsted St

Scofflaw

3201 W. Armitage

Shakers on Clark

3160 N Clark St

Simon's Tavern

5210 N. Clark St

Sovereign Liquors

6202 N. Broadway

Spyner's Pub

4623 N. Western Ave

Teacher's Lounge

2525 W Division St

The Call

1547 W. Bryn Mawr Ave

The Closet

3325 N. Broadway St

The Granville Anvil

1137 W. Granville Ave.

The Northman

4337 N. Lincoln

The Whistler

2421 N. Milwaukee Ave

Uptown Lounge

1136 W. Lawrence

Wakamono

3313 N. Broadway

Wangs

3317 N. Broadway St.

Woodlawn Tap

1172 E 55th St

Young American

2545 N. Kedzie Ave

To offer an edit/suggestion to this list, please email Nic at: yungmiga@gmail.com

Updated on June 4, 2019: Removed Progress Bar from the list.

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