Remind me again which country had state sponsored gay bars? honecker-interesting Which country has the most LGBTQ-friendly family laws? fidel-cool (hint for the second one: it's the same country that covers transistion in its state-sponsored health care fidel-balling )

[–] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Can you point me towards further reading on these state sponsored gay bars? It sounds really cool and I'd love to know more!

[–] Egon@hexbear.net 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I'll go looking for something that isn't just a quirky online article, but it's been a while since I read about it and it wasn't in English sadly. I know I've seen other users on here post about it (with sources) so I know there is some stuff in English.

A little bit of search found me this article https://www.jstor.org/stable/2500548 which looks to be ok, but it is written by a former spy and smuggler, so I don't feel like I can vouch for it.

I think @kristina@hexbear.net is from a former eastblock country, and she seems very knowledgeable on the area (or at least about everyday life - I've seen her write about restaurant culture and the like) so maybe she has some good sources in English. I don't know if it was her that was talking about queer zines worrying about the fall of the GDR.

There's also this thread from two years ago

[–] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago

Thanks, much appreciated!