Gay clubs durham
“Diverse” “inclusive” and “locally-owned” are a few descriptors that every new business in the Triangle aspires to. Club ERA, dreamt up by Triangle drag queen Naomi Dix and put to open in second for Pride Month in June, may be all that and more.
“As a young queer person, I always wanted a place where I could scout who I was,” Dix wrote in a recent Instagram post, “but spaces often lacked representation and diversity and made it difficult to find my community.”
Dix says that the bar and club, slated to take over the basement of The Fruit on Dillard Street, will feature local artists, DJs, and drag queens.
Dix, born and raised in Durham (and then born again, as a drag queen in Durham), emphasizes that Club ERA is meant to be a piece of a bigger homosexual puzzle in Durham, rather than a new competitor with existing nightlife.
“This club is not, in any way, in competition with anything,” she says. “This is just us continuing the legacy of Durham and continuing the legacy from all of the other businesses that came before us.”
To that show, on Instagram, Dix shouted out several Bull Urban area queer establishments past and present, including Ringside, The Bar, the Pinhook, and
Social Groups
Hint: Use your device's search function (Ctrl-F or Command-F on a computer) to search through the listed resources for key terms, such as 'games' or 'family'.
February 2023: We have recently added two fields to our ask for form. You will see LGBTQ-owned? and AAILA-owned? on some entries. These are self-declared fields. AAILA is 'African, Asian, Indigenous, Latin American'.
Social Groups
- Bull City LGBTQ Professionals • tacnc@aol.com • Bull Town LGBTQ professionals is a social community designed for networking and mingling that meets bi-monthly in the downtown Durham area. Locations vary each time. It is a kind, welcoming group and average attendance ranges from 30-90.
- Geeks & Gaymers of North Carolina • mnysewan@gmail.com • Website • Facebook • Geek Club located in the Raleigh/Durham, NC Metropolitan Area for members of the Gay, Lesbian, Pansexual, and Transgendered Group and their allies.
- Kappa Xi Omega • 951-109-5152 • kappaxiomega@gmail.com • Website • Facebook • Twitter • Kappa Xi Omega Sorority Inc is defined as a sorority for the professional and cultured lesbian lady and her members adhere to that definition in all aspects. In keeping with
This post is part 2 of a series that chronicles the history of prominent LGBTQ+ bars and nightclubs in Durham, NC, through an intersectional lens. Part 1 is available here.
By Mad Bankson & Duncan Dodson
To the 80s, and BEYOND!
As the eighties rolled around, gay people around the world were forced to become more visible. The AIDS crisis and increasing attacks from the Christian right led people to advocate for their right to exist and survive, necessitating more of a public presence. [1] This increased visibility led to a significant shift in queer culture, especially when it came to bar and club life. Though discretion was still preferred by many, there was more social space for lgbtq+ establishments, and secret bars and informal gay spaces became less central in queer life. Though Durham was still a petty Southern town, the changes of the eighties allowed it to expand into something radically beautiful.
The Power Company
Opened in the promptly 1980s, the Power Company was known as “the best same-sex attracted club between DC and Atlanta .” [2] Jeff Inman, a DJ there from 1984 to 1988 said of the club, “The Power Company was a gay force. It was Grand [sic] period, packed with the
LGBTQIA-Owned & Operated Businesses in Durham
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3 minSustain these local LGBTQIA-owned businesses this month and the other eleven months of the year, too.
Posted By Discover Durham Staff on Jun 23, 2025
Designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, the unique Pride flag incorporated eight different colors to represent eight different aspects of the queer people. While the colors of the flag changed over age to incorporate more groups and to recognize the contributions of LGBTQIA people of color, the meaning of the rainbow flag is the same — it's a symbol of diversity, self and support for the LGBTQIA society. In Durham, we proudly wave and display our rainbow flags, cherish our queer community and support our queer-owned businesses.
While you'll identify safe, queer-friendly spaces acros