Our findings add nuance to work on Foucauldian studies in geography, work on licensing and regulation, and urban gay histories. Gay bars were somewhat privileged vis-à-vis neighboring straight bars, due to the unintended consequences of certain state practices, a desire by state authorities to closet homosexuality generally, and a propensity for self-governance on the parts of gay bar owners, managers, and patrons. Adherence to the rules, meanwhile, relied upon an ability and willingness to understand authorities’ intentions and imaginations and to self-govern accordingly. Camp bar has a REALLY weird amount of lesbians and gay men who go there despite it not being a gay bar or gay owned at all. While the WSLCB governed heteronormatively, it did so with a relatively light touch through the deployment and selective enforcement of often vague administrative rules. Welcome to r/Tacoma, aka The Subreddit of Destiny. In order to explore the spatial governance of homosexuals, this paper uses a Foucauldian governmentality perspective to analyze data from Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) enforcement and hearing files between 19. In North America, Liquor Control Boards have been important in governing homosexuality. Gay bars have been central to the social and cultural geography of queer folk throughout the twentieth century.
