王大仁等名人講述自己的第一次同志酒吧經歷

For generations of gays and lesbians, especially those for whom walking into the sometime secret and darkened doorway of one was often the first step in the coming-out process, gay bars have long held a significant place in their personal histories.

對於好幾代的同性戀來說，同性戀酒吧一直在他們的個人生活經歷中佔據重要地位——對有些人來說，走進有時隱蔽陰暗的酒吧出入口是出櫃過程的第一步。

That was never more apparent than in the days following the mass shootings at Pulse, the gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in which 49 patrons lost their lives, and which prompted many to recall the nights they had spent in similar settings, and the sense of community they found there.

在佛羅里達州奧蘭多同性戀夜店Pulse發生大規模槍擊案之後，這顯得尤爲明顯。49名客人在那起槍擊案中喪生。很多人開始回憶他們在類似的同志場所度過的夜晚，以及他們在那裏找到的歸屬感。

“I can’t tell you how many bars and clubs I’ve been to over the years,” the CNN newsman Anderson Cooper told The New York Times last week. “Every gay man in America remembers the first time they went to a gay bar and how they felt.”

“我數不清這些年共去過多少酒吧和夜店，”CNN的新聞主持安德森·庫珀(Anderson Cooper)上週對《紐約時報》說，“美國的每一位同性戀都記得自己第一次去同性戀酒吧的情形和當時的感受。”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m speaking for the gay community,” said Mr. Cooper, who publicly acknowledged his sexual orientation in 2012. “But it certainly resonates very deeply for me.”

“我不想讓自己聽起來像是在代表同性戀羣體說話，”庫珀說。2012年，他公開承認自己的性取向。“但它無疑引起了我的深刻共鳴。”

Below, some other prominent gays and lesbians recall what gay bars meant to them as they began to embrace their sexuality, some eagerly and some nervously.

在下文中，其他一些著名的同性戀人士回憶起在他們開始接受自己的性取向時，同性戀酒吧對他們的意義——有些是充滿渴望，有些是感到緊張。

Jane Lynch

簡·林奇(Jane Lynch)

Actress

女演員

The first gay bar I ever went to was the Cubbyhole when it was on Hudson Street in the West Village. It would have been around 1984, which made me 23-ish and I was fresh out of graduate school. I looked very straight and very Midwestern cornfed. I walked around the block before I got the nerve to go in because the lady bouncers looked so fearsome and eyed me suspiciously.

我去的第一個同性戀酒吧是Cubbyhole，當時它在西村的哈得孫街上。好像是在1984年，我大概23歲左右，研究生剛畢業。當時我看起來一點兒都不像同性戀，帶着美國中西部的樸實感。我在那個街區轉悠了一會兒，才鼓起勇氣走了進去，因爲那裏的女保安看起來很嚇人，用懷疑的眼光打量我。

When I finally tried to walk in, the door lady stopped me and asked: “Do you know where you are? This is a lesbian bar.”

最後我想走進去時，看門的女士攔住我問道：“你知道這是什麼地方嗎？這兒是女同性戀酒吧。”

“Yeah, I know,” I said nonchalantly, as if I’d been walking into dyke bars since the beginning of time.

“是的，我知道，”我故作鎮靜地說，就好像我經常去女同酒吧似的。

Rosie O’Donnell

羅茜·奧唐奈(Rosie O’Donnell)

Actress and comedian

女演員、喜劇演員

It was 1980, maybe 1981. I was — 19, living at my dad’s home in Commak, Long Island. My neighbor was housing a relative from England for the summer. We were both gay newbies. There was only one gay club that we knew of. I think it was called Thunders. In French the word for lightning is éclair. How I remembered that from ninth grade French? No idea. I asked my dad if I could use the car to go out. “Where to?” he asked (at 10 p.m. on a Friday night). “The bakery,” I said, “to get éclairs.” Silence, and then, he said “O.K.” Peter and I drove the dented white Volare to the strip mall in Commack. We danced the night away — drinking Bud Light. I felt happy and free. On the way home we made sure to stop at the Candlelight diner — around 2 a.m. — to pick up éclairs. Dad was clueless. From that day on, “bakery” was our code word for gay bar.

那是在1980年，也可能是1981年。我19歲，住在長島康馬克(Commak)我爸爸家裏。鄰居家的一位英國親戚夏天來這裏小住。我們都是同性戀“菜鳥”。只知道附近有一個同性戀俱樂部，名叫雷聲(Thunders)。“閃電”在法語中叫éclair。我怎麼會從九年級法語課上記住這個單詞呢？我也不知道。我問爸爸我是否可以開車出去。爸爸問：“去哪兒？”（當時是週五晚上10點）。“去麪包房，”我說，“買點巧克力泡芙（éclairs在英語中是巧克力泡芙的意思——譯註）。”爸爸沉默了一會兒，說道，“好吧。”我和彼得(Peter)開着有凹痕的白色沃拉爾汽車(Volare)來到康馬克的單排商業街。我們一晚上都在跳舞——喝百威淡啤(Bud Light)。我覺得開心得不得了。在回家的路上，我們在Candlelight Diner買了巧克力泡芙，當時大概是凌晨2點。我爸爸毫不知情。從那天起，“麪包房”就成了我們去同性戀酒吧的暗號。

Alexander Wang

王大仁(Alexander Wang)

Fashion designer

時尚設計師

The first gay club I went to was probably when I was 16. It was called City Nights in San Francisco. I remember I would have to get a fake ID as it was an 18-and-over club. But all my friends were older at that point because I lived by myself in S.F. and made friends from just going out. Night life was my escape from the day to day. I would go every Thursday: hip-hop night. I was very lucky to have the community I grew up in be so supportive.

我第一次去同性戀俱樂部很可能是在16歲時。那個俱樂部叫城市夜晚(City Nights)，在舊金山。我記得我必須弄個假身份，因爲那個俱樂部只接待18歲以上的成年人。不過當時我所有的朋友年紀都比我大，因爲我一個人住在舊金山，朋友都是在外面玩的時候認識的。夜生活是我逃避乏味日常生活的一種方法。我每週四都去，那是嘻哈音樂之夜。我很慶幸自己在成長過程中能有這樣一個社區給予我支持。

Don Lemon

唐·萊蒙(Don Lemon)

CNN anchor

CNN主播

I was deeply closeted in college. Everybody was. It was the 1980s, it was the South, and people didn’t come out then as quickly as they do now. With my friends, mostly straight frat guys, I would frequent a popular college bar at L.S.U. called the Bengal on Highland Road in Baton Rouge, La. But inevitably I would sneak off, very carefully, to the bars down the road, just past the straight bar. One was named Xanthus, an “alternative” bar where the bouncer was a girl named Big Hair. (By the way, Hair and I are still friends to this day).

大學的時候，我是深櫃。大家都是這樣。那是在20世紀80年代的美國南部，大家都不像現在這麼快出櫃。我和朋友們（大多是兄弟會的直男）常去路易斯安那州立大學(L.S.U.)的一個很受歡迎的酒吧，名叫Bengal，它在路易斯安那州巴吞魯日市的高地路(Highland Road)上。不過，我總會非常小心地偷偷溜到街上的其他酒吧裏，就在那個異性戀酒吧附近。其中一個酒吧名叫Xanthus，它很“另類”，保鏢是一個名叫“爆炸頭”(Big Hair)的女孩（順便說一句，我和“爆炸頭”直到現在仍是好友）。

The dance floor there was filled with punk rockers, bow heads (sorority girls), gay boys, lesbians and every kind of person under the sun, and I loved it. But the flat-out gay bar was a bit harder to navigate because it was across the street and one could easily be spotted entering and leaving. After I finally built up the liquid courage to do it, I never turned back. The eclectic music, the light show, the cute guys milling about, the club kids dancing on speakers: It was gay heaven! I didn’t have to pretend anymore. I was finally at home.

那裏的舞池充滿朋克搖滾樂手、戴蝴蝶結的聯誼會女孩、同性戀男孩、女同性戀，以及各種各樣的人，我很喜歡那裏。不過，那個最張揚的同性戀酒吧很難溜進去，因爲它就在街對面，進進出出很容易被發現。我最終藉着酒膽走了進去，然後再也沒有回頭。那裏不拘一格的音樂、燈光秀、四處走動的帥哥、在揚聲器上跳舞的夜店男女：這裏是同性戀的天堂！我再也不用掩飾了。我終於找到了家的感覺。