I had a fascinating conversation with my uncle about how sacred those bars used to be.

For context, there's an area in Philly that's filled with gay bars, LGBT community centers, and other safe spaces (apartments, retirement communities, etc). We were standing across the street from one of the first bars he ever went in when he was a teenager that had just renovated it's front. For decades it only had small, opaque windows just to let in light. Now the front is almost entirely those big glass windows that can slide open in the summer.

He was saying it was such a bittersweet moment. On the one hand he was overjoyed to see young couples able to sit together in public without anyone blinking an eye. That is not something he thought remotely possible in the 1960s.

On the other hand, the neighborhood of his youth was kind of over. A ton of old bars have closed because young people aren't going there (because they don't need to. When my LGBT friends go on a date they aren't confined to that area anymore - they can pretty much go anywhere in the city). I guess he was mourning that it's no longer the place the entirely community is guaranteed to be every Saturday night.