That feeling is in some ways similar to when the HIV epidemic first began 39 years ago.Īfter emptying out her dressing room when the bar closed on October 11, Carmichaels went home and cried her eyes out. So while CC’s general manager Kevin Hutman recently told the local CBS affiliate KOIN that the business would “love to reopen” in the same location, an era has seemingly passed, leaving many queer locals sequestered in isolation, fearful to touch one another and wondering when, if ever, life will go back to normal. When it reopened at reduced capacity three months later, the area’s other shuttered businesses and expanded homeless encampments on the sidewalk reduced foot traffic, owner Bruce Rice said, and the bar’s business remained down by 80 percent, eventually forcing it to shut down for good.Īlong with CC Slaughters and 21 other nearby businesses, COVID-19 has ended many of Portland’s recurring queer dance events like Lumbertwink, Bearracuda, Club Kai Kai, Blow Pony, and Pants Off Dance Off.

But the pandemic ultimately forced CC Slaughters to close in April. Aside from its marked imperfections, it outlasted all the other aforementioned gay bars and others nearby, like The Escape, Embers, and The Fox and Hounds, which all closed in 2017.