Zoe Treibitz

Two weeks ago, I spent the first half of a Friday night downtown celebrating a friend’s birthday and the rest of the night texting friends to make sure everyone was safe from a shooting. After midnight on Saturday morning, students received an email notifying us that shots were fired at an intersection near campus. We got four more emails throughout that night about the shooting, only adding to the confusion about what was happening and whether we were still in danger.

The Blacksburg gays deserve a bar. Frankly, it’s shocking that we don't already have one, and with students recently celebrating Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about just how hard it is for gay people to find each other in this town. There are dating apps, but they’ll only get you so far: It’s too easy to swipe past someone who maybe you should have messaged, and with only a fraction of the number of options as our heterosexual counterparts, 12 swipes later and you’ve run out of options.

The Blacksburg gays deserve a bar. Frankly, it’s shocking that we don't already have one, and with students recently celebrating Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about just how hard it is for gay people to find each other in this town. There are dating apps, but they’ll only get you so far: It’s too easy to swipe past someone who maybe you should have messaged, and with only a fraction of the number of options as our heterosexual counterparts, 12 swipes later and you’ve run out of options.