Still, several stalwarts remain, and even venues that are not strictly defined as gay bars host regular events that are LGBTQ-friendly. While some of the oldest staples of Boston’s gay nightclub scene are now defunct - like Manray, Axis, and Buzz - they were trailblazing spaces that propped up “communities who play on the fringes, generators of subversive cultural movements that eventually go mainstream, and bulwarks against the sterilization and homogenization of city life,” as Scott Kearnan wrote in Boston Magazine last year.īut, as he noted, recent decades have seen a decline in Boston’s gay nightlife scene with dating action moving online, married couples moving out of the city, and less of a need for a secretive scene of gay-specific venues in an increasingly accepting state. Today, the state has the second-largest LGBT population in the nation, according to a recent report. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and has long been home to establishments that support and advocate for gay rights and inclusion.