There he uncovered the remnants of a nearly extinct ecosystem of gay clubs and bars. A friend invited Apple to excavate an abandoned after-hours club in East Liberty. The project began as an undergraduate research fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University in the summer of 2012.
![best pittsburgh gay bars best pittsburgh gay bars](https://img1.10bestmedia.com/Images/Photos/319585/p-SouthernNights_55_660x440.jpg)
“What our project really tries to do is preserve a bygone era from the 1960s to the 1990s of all these LGBT individuals,” Apple said. Rehrer’s story is one of thousands collected by Harrison Apple, co-director of the Pittsburgh Queer History Project. They were stealing my food from the community kitchen I would walk into a bathroom and they would just run out and it’s like, don’t flatter yourself,” he laughed. “My life for the remainder of the school year was very interesting. Risking alienation, Rehrer wrote a letter to the administration and unfortunately, his identity was leaked. A fellow student told Rehrer he was being targeted for homosexuality and asked Rehrer to formally come out to the school. "It was liberating.”Īt the time, Rehrer needed a little liberation.
![best pittsburgh gay bars best pittsburgh gay bars](https://assets-varnish.triblive.com/2020/07/2764243_web1_ptr-ProtestSaloon941011-062520.jpg)
Rehrer worked at the Tender Trap, a gay bar located on South Highland Avenue in East Liberty.
![best pittsburgh gay bars best pittsburgh gay bars](https://gaybarsin.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/pittsburgh-pennsylvania-gay-bars.jpg)
“I got involved in the bar scene because my work-study fell through."Īlmost every night, from 9 p.m. Rehrer is not talking about his religion classes. “It was a fun time but you always had to be aware of your surroundings because you could end up in a very bad situation,” he said. Doug Rehrer started graduate school at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1978.