At gay bars, customers just as likely to be straight

Seated in a dimly lighted booth at Axis, a gay nightclub in the Short North, Jordan Harris and John Peters sip cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon as nearby speakers blast techno music.

A blonde in a tank top approaches.

"Hey, are you guys gay?" she asks matter-of-factly.

Both shake their heads: They're straight.

"Want to dance?"

Through smoke from a fog machine, she leads Peters to the floor.

They move together closely for a few songs, his hands on her hips.

Despite the setting, with drag shows and male revues of "hot college jocks" making up part of the weekly schedule, a heterosexual presence (or even a pairing) isn't so strange anymore.

This month, Axis hosted Sweatin' -- a high-energy, agenda-free party that attracts gay and straight patrons interested in dancing, socializing and, perhaps, looking for a fling.

As for the gay-friendly location: "Nobody seems to think about it," said Harris, a 24-year-old who lives near Ohio State University.

"There's no pressure. It's just people who want to have a good time."

As younger generations benefit from increasingly diverse peer groups, night-life options that welcome all persuasions are prospering.

More people, from straight couples who join gay friends to single women who want to clink cocktails without the "meat-market" overtones, seem to be venturing into a once-segregated scene.

"I think we're seeing the post-Ellen (DeGeneres) generation: They've been growing up in a community that's always been mixed to some degree," said Chris Hayes, editor in chief of Outlook Weekly, a Columbus gay newspaper.

"They don't necessarily care about going to a gay bar as much as going to a bar with their friends."

At gay bars, customers just as likely to be straight
Columbus Dispatch, OH