Publisher's Note

I spent the July 4 holiday in one of my favorite places – northern Michigan, and for the first time managed to make it to Traverse City to take in their gay bar, SideTraxx. I drove into the city from Petoskey alone, and really just wanted to see what this place was like – a standalone gay bar, the only one for hundreds of miles. In my many years of vacationing Up North, I hadn't ever visited. That changed on Friday night as I walked in and found exactly what I had hoped – the sameness that I like about gay bars and clubs: mostly men of varying ages, familiar music, joyous attitude, and total freedom on the dance floor. I never tire of watching gay men dance. And I mean really dance. In a world gone mad, we still have dancing. SideTraxx could maybe use an upgrade to its interior, or maybe not. I still liked it, honestly. It was old-fashioned and people were still having a good time. By midnight it was packed and the black and white checkered dance floor was full, and thankfully there were even people my age still rocking it out. I sat alone for most of the night, watching and throwing back a couple of soft cocktails (I had to drive back to Petoskey) and amid the joy I was able to tap into the gratitude I felt for being a gay man. This year, The Fourth of July was just a month removed from the massacre at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, and we all know what we felt and still feel about that. A numbness and a familiarity with the victims that rattles our core because we know it could have been any of us, at any of our clubs. I joined so many of you at Below Zero in downtown Cincinnati as we showed our support for our fallen brothers and sisters in Orlando, and I cried with you in a way that I am not sure I ever had before. But resilience and strength are traits that I so admire in gay people.

And still, we dance. SideTraxx opened its doors and we all funneled through it that Friday night and we danced and we drank and we laughed and we talked and we watched. We carried on. There is a new fear among many of my gay friends now that the United States has elected Donald Trump its President. I can’t help but to be a sunny, optimistic guy – it’s in my nature, and sometimes feels like a curse. But I understand the fear and my optimism is cautious. I do know this, however: the strength and resilience of gay people will carry us forward. Goodness knows we have been battle-tested and are battle-ready at a moment’s notice. We’ve always had to be. Perhaps the saddest part for those of us who supported Hillary Clinton, is that in a lot of ways, we were more comfortable than ever. At least, that’s how I felt, and I’m not immune to being naïve. However, whatever threats may lie ahead of us, we know what we are capable of standing up against and fighting for. And when the dust settles, as we know it always will, we will come out stronger on the other side. And whether it be in the streets of Cincinnati or on a small dance floor in northern Michigan...still we dance!