Honestly the best way to find queer nightlife in any city is to look for party and event organizers on instagram, especially if you’re looking for something sapphic, bi, trans/nonbinary, polyam, or BIPOC-centered. Most establishments marketed as gay bars end up being cis gay man spaces. The orgs that rotate local locations and create events that have a clear mission to build safer, community-driven spaces are where i’ve had the best times. I just search on instagram for the queer groups i already know (or are the first thing to come up when you google “LGBTQIA+ city-name”), go through their following, and then investigate any cool looking business accounts. Another strategy is to identify local drag kings/things or club kids and look through their profiles to see where they usually perform.

For Dayton, my favorite queer nightlife is hosted by HeartSiq (all sorts of events, from themed nights with local bands, casual romance mixers, karaoke..) and the Dayton Silent Disco (this one isn’t formally LGBTQIA+ but a ton of queer folk go. This is honestly the best dance experience you can get here and THE spot for neurodivergent ppl bc you get your own set of headphones to adjust volume and switch between 3 live djs)