We talk a lot about how times have changed, but the gay bar remains a staple of gay life'a lifeline for many of us, an old friend for the rest. For many of us, it's hard to describe that strange, stomach-churning combination of trepidation and expectation, a sense that here is a place where you can drop any pretense, study the go-go boys with abandon, shimmy to Cher, and blow kisses at the drag queen vamping on the stage. There's a first time for everything, but the first visit to a gay bar occupies an entire place of its own.
