My beef with The Back Door

They say a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet.

While that’s true, I just can’t help but wonder if The Back Door, Bloomington’s new gay dance bar, would sit a little better with me if it didn’t have such a cheap and vulgar name.  

Please do not mistake my distaste for this particular gay bar’s name as disdain for gay bars in general. Gay bars are a significant component in the promotion of gay culture and a mecca for the rise of the gay rights movement.

For more than a century, gay bars have been meeting places and private celebrations of a sexuality and culture not commonly accepted in society.

As early as 1890, gay men met up in selective bars to seek prospective partners. In 1969, the now-legendary police raid at the Stonewall Inn ignited the contemporary gay rights faction.

But we no longer live in a society where being gay is something that must be hidden away in a concealed club.

While I personally don’t see the productivity in labeling bars as “gay” or not, I understand gay bars are a necessary cog in the machine of gay culture, and I think it’s great Bloomington now has a gay dance bar for those who will enjoy it.

I can imagine that on numerous occasions, Bloomington’s LGBT residents have felt harassed and unsafe in bars such as Kilroy’s or Dunnkirk. It’s vital those people have a place where sexuality of all kinds is accepted and celebrated.

But why on earth does it have to be called The Back Door? To be honest, when I first heard about this establishment being called such a tacky name, I thought people were joking.

Once I was assured it was actually called The Back Door, I was just plain embarrassed.

It reduces a bar that’s supposed to be an inclusive and convivial haven to a crude sex joke I would expect Dane Cook or Larry the Cable Guy to crack.

It also isn’t helping that all the logos I’ve seen for The Back Door feature a unicorn superimposed over a flash of rainbows. Because the title alone wasn’t gay enough, a unicorn and rainbows were necessary to drive the concept home.

My personal feelings aside, I’m worried naming a bar The Back Door would make it the butt of every joke.

See what I did there? It isn’t hard when the name itself is a seemingly un-ironic self-parody.

I would have the same issue if Kilroy’s suddenly decided to change its name to The Breast Bar or Missionary Position. It’s tasteless and shamelessly advertises the shock factor, not to mention its demeaning demeanor.

Still, the name isn’t ruining what the bar’s message seems to be. Bloomington deserves a place where members of the LGBT community and beyond can openly drink, play and dance in a welcoming environment.

But the next time someone is locally opening up a gay bar, I hope they take a hint from such establishments as The Abbey in Los Angeles or Heaven in London.

Stick to simple and classy names, not ones that invoke lowbrow schoolyard jokes.

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu