Gathering for the majority of this past year usually came with a cost.īut as spring began to bloom, the fear and stigma surrounding these gatherings began to fade. GaysOverCovid, an Instagram account that started posting last July, outed gay partiers who shirked CDC guidelines and shamed them for their carelessness. An occasional picture from these secret soirees made the rounds on social media, causing people to throw up their emoji arms in dismay.
Illegal queer nightlife bubbled underground, too, popping up in Manhattan apartments, Brooklyn warehouses, and Fire Island beaches. Social bubbles met for drinks in plywood shacks constructed outside the gay bars that remained open. They celebrated the presidential election by banging pots and pans in parks and on sidewalks. New York’s LGBTQ community never really stopped gathering in-person this past year: They rallied in the streets for Black lives, trans lives, and Asian lives.
