The one time I tried entering a gay bar in the past was the only time my fake ID had ever failed. My heart started pounding faster as I entered the venue, though I felt relieved by the lack of a doorman. When I searched for the nearest LGBTQ+-friendly spaces in his Lower East Side neighborhood, a bar called Boiler Room popped up. I was in between apartments in New York and temporarily staying at my brother's. I entered my first gay bar on the eve of my 21st birthday.