Supreme Court last year, applauded the fact that more young gay people are comfortable going elsewhere, but said the club’s closure is a real loss. Mary Bonauto, the Portland lawyer who successfully argued for marriage equality before the U.S. The club was known as The Underground starting in the 1980s - the decade when Charlie Howard was thrown off a bridge and killed by three Bangor teens, who later told police they’d been looking to beat up a “faggot.” Before that, it had been called Rumors and earlier The Limelight, Moody said. In Portland, Styxx’s history and name has tracked this sea change. Supreme Court affirmed same-sex couples’ right to marry, that number is 68 percent. In 1996, only 27 percent of Americans said same-sex marriages should be legal, according to Gallup. “I still get people in here quite often who say they only feel comfortable here, people from away, people from up north, people visiting … who wouldn’t necessarily go to a gay bar in their own town,” he said.īars and clubs have long served as centers for people whose sexuality was rejected by society at large and contending with anti-gay violence and police raids was a regular part of owning or patronizing a gay bar just a few decades ago.īut public opinion has dramatically shifted in the last 20 years.