Opening a gay bar in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, was not on Darin Becks bingo card a few years ago.Beck, the owner of a restaurant group with eateries and nightclubs in Cedar Falls and Iowa City, was already retired. But three years ago, as the COVID pandemic raged and the hospitality business ground to a halt in Waterloo, Beck came out as gay. He married his husband two years later. Related This city lost both of its LGBTQ+ spaces in the last two years. Now the community is rallying. They even got some help from Gloria Estefan. This one for me is very different and it really kind of comes from more of the heart than the head, so to speak, Beck told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. Its just something that I feel fortunate I got to do. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Its refreshing and liberating, Beck said of owning a gay club. I was never, you know, ashamed or anything. I lived a straight life in the straight world. Guys like me didnt come to places like this.The place like this is the Rail Station, a spit-polished version of a longtime gay mainstay that it replaced, the Kings and Queens Club. The Rail Station opened just in time for the Waterloo Pride Fest last weekend.Becks co-owner John Hayes bought Kings and Queens in 2010 and ran the rundown bar until early 2020, when he sold it. He bought it back again in late 2022 but had to close it down permanently because it was in such disrepair. Drag queen Jessi Jade-Michaels, who was a regular and a performer at the old club, said a gay outpost in Waterloo was missed.Straight people can go into any bar and not have to worry about onlookers, she said, but its different for patrons like her.For a lot of people within the LGBT community, they cant walk into (other bars) holding another guys hand or another girls hand without the whole bar looking, she said. This is the spot where they can.She also said the old clubs closure affected revenue during Pridefest and that other bars on towns main drag on Fourth Street suffered because many patrons would bar-hop after drag shows wrapped. The Rail Station marks a new era in Waterloos gay nightlife.When hes not prepping Rail Station for the clubs grand opening, co-owner Hayes runs the bar at The Broken Record across the street, saying that not a day goes by without people asking when Rail Station will open.I cant pump gas without somebody asking, he said. The hype is definitely there. Im excited that everybodys excited about it.Hayes and Beck say the name was inspired by the multiple rail lines that run through Waterloo and acknowledges how train stations were once vibrant social hubs in their own right, a trend on the upswing with increased attention to rail transportation across the country.Added Hayes, laughing, Then Ive always said, depending on how creative your mind is, you can make your own interpretation of the name.