Gay Guide to Columbus
On 17 June 2017 four queer Black and trans protesters stepped into the Stonewall Columbus Pride parade intending to stand silently for seven minutes, one for each of the seven bullets a police officer had fired into Philando Castile. That officer had been acquitted the day before. Columbus police pepper-sprayed the protesters and put them on the ground, and all four were arrested, one of them on a felony charge. The festival's organizer resigned. The group behind the action went on to found a separate event by and for queer and trans people of color, and in 2019 Stonewall Columbus formally apologized. Both Prides run now, which is a more honest outcome than a single reconciled one would have been.
The Short North, the arts district running up High Street, holds most of the scene. Union Cafe is the anchor, with Axis and District West taking the club nights and Slammers, Boscoe's and Club Diversity nearby. It is walkable, busy and thoroughly mixed in with the galleries and restaurants around it.
The rest is spread across the neighborhoods and is the more interesting half. AWOL sits in Olde Towne East, the Southbend Tavern draws a local crowd out in Merion Village, and the Toolbox Saloon, Tremont Lounge, O'Connor's Club 20 and The Go Go each hold their own regulars. Club Columbus covers the bathhouse end.
Columbus Pride fills a June weekend and is one of the largest in the Midwest, with Columbus Community Pride running as the alternative built out of 2017.
Columbus is young, cheap and considerably larger than people outside Ohio assume, and the scene reflects all three. It is also the state capital, so the politics are close by in both directions.