Photos of New York's Beloved Inclive Gay Beach, Jab Riis Park That Feel Like Home

Contents:

• THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC
• 10 BT GAY BEACH THE WORLD
• A GAY GUI TO BROOKLYN
• NEW YORK CY GAY BARS
• THE ULTIMATE LGBTIQ+ TRAVEL GUI TO NEW YORK CY: OM QUEER HISTORY TO THE BT GAY BARS

THE BT GAY HOOK-UP SPOTS NYC

Many are left wonrg what will happen to the plot of land the hospal habed; some have fears the spot will be taken over by velopers and transformed to a space that is no longer welg and nothg will ever tly pture the sense of The People’s Beach, there are some optns for those still seekg a queer-iendly summer two down is Fort Tiln, a seclud beach where gays gather when search of a more low-key, remote vibe. Acrdg to Rodwell, gay men were nstantly harassed and given catns by police over alleged vlatns of the size of their bathg sus (Rodwell was later arrted for objectg to this).

Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) softball team, wh gay rights lear Barbara Gtgs kneelg at right, at Riis Beach, early 1970s.

By the 1940s the most eastern end of the beach had bee a documented well-known statn for mostly whe gay men to sunbathe and cise.

10 BT GAY BEACH THE WORLD

Durg the 1960s this area of the beach beme clothg optnal and was affectnately referred to as “Screech Beach” due to the gay prence.

Acrdg to future gay rights lear and bookshop owner Craig Rodwell, gay men were nstantly harassed and given catns by police over alleged vlatns of the size of their bathg sus. As a se of activism, the beach was the lotn of a 1971 voter registratn drive led by the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), one of the first gay rights groups to form after the 1969 Stonewall Uprisg. Though, at tim, beachgoers have alt wh homophobia here over the years, the area still matas s queer inty as one of New York Cy’s popular and diverse LGBT public spac.

A GAY GUI TO BROOKLYN

Gee Chncey, Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of a Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (New York: Basic Books, 1994). It's known today by lols as a gay beach, an affirmg space for queer and trans bodi to be publicly visible, but few know s history as such, which dat back nearly a beach was named for the Progrsive-era photojournalist Jab Riis 1914. A 1963 New York Tim feature dubs Jab Riis Park among the summer vatn spots "the New York homosexual n fd" that are "equented by his kd.

NEW YORK CY GAY BARS

" Later 1974, the Tim noted that "Bay 1 at Riis for some years been a gatherg place of homosexuals. "We don't thk of queerns as havg such a long lifpan, but this has been a gay beach for longer than most people live, " he ntu. Pri month may have jt passed, but we suggt checkg out the famo Jab Riis Park Beach—the gayt shorele town.

THE ULTIMATE LGBTIQ+ TRAVEL GUI TO NEW YORK CY: OM QUEER HISTORY TO THE BT GAY BARS

Origally a place where whe gay men typilly gathered, tchg some rays and cise, Riis has sce weled a more diverse range of beachgoers. Back 1971, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), one of the first gay rights groups to form after the 1969 Stonewall Uprisg Greenwich Village, anized a voter registratn drive. Though gay beach span the globe, there’s somethg distct about Riis—a place wh lks to activism and a ep history of queer culture.

“Queers always exist at the margs, ” one of them says wryly; the gay part of the beach technilly li at the eastern edge of Riis Park, ont of the s of a tuberculosis sanatorium.

“It feels like a gem the sense that I don’t particularly thk the beach is the prettit, but I thk the people are, ” says Abi Benez, -founr of Gayletter and a equent visor. By 1963, the New York Tim was regnizg Riis as a place “the New York homosexual” uld fd iends of “his kd, ” and a lol guibook was llg “one of the bt Gay Rivieras the world … so crowd, nus go unnoticed.

” After Stonewall, Riis beme a se of polil participatn where gay activists uld hold voter-registratn driv on the sand. Baldg gay guys wh matchg potbelli eat guamole unr a circle of Life Is Good umbrellas; others throw back tall boys unr a shady tent.

There are several acunts of gay Puerto Rin men talkg about the importance of Orchard Beach as a safe haven when they otherwise didn’t feel fortable beg openly gay public or when wh their fay. In 1994, Orchard Beach also hosted the triathlon event of the annual Gay Gam, which took place at several venu around the cy. Gee Chncey, Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (New York: BasicBooks, 1994).

An inic gay beach statn sce the 1970s, Fire Island is 5 kilometers off the ast of Long Island, New York, and pris a dozen beachsi muni.