Queer Readg: Author explor DC's gay past 'Secret Cy' :: Bay Area Reporter

Contents:

• BIG GAY BOOK CLUB
• QUEER READG: AUTHOR EXPLOR DC'S GAY PAST 'SECRET CY'
• WHAT MA WASHGTON, D.C., THE “GAYT AND MOST ANTIGAY CY AMERI”
• READG GAY BARS
• MOVG TO LGBT WASHGTON DC? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

BIG GAY BOOK CLUB

Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!

QUEER READG: AUTHOR EXPLOR DC'S GAY PAST 'SECRET CY'

The above map and s acpanyg history tell the story of the bars, bookstor, group hom, clics, and church that have played sential rol DC's gay muny for the past half century.

Durg the 60s and 70s, as LGBT activism moved more to the public foreont, the number of gay bars grew throughout the District; also emergg this time were Guild Prs, which published gay travel guis, fictn, and a newspaper lled Gay Fom, as well as the Washgton Free Clic, which provid STD unselg to gay men. “Nowadays bars like Nellie's, one of the few notable gay bars to open sce 2000, are attend by straight people, and many bars whout the tentn of beg a gay bar wele and celebrate their LGBT muny. The data Kate ed to create the map is available through the Rabow History Project, an anizatn dited to llectg, prervg, and promotg gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr history DC.

This historic appotment has s roots an extraordary moment 1957 when Frank Kameny, a young astro-physicist, cid to stand his ground when the feral ernment dismissed him om his job for beg gay.

WHAT MA WASHGTON, D.C., THE “GAYT AND MOST ANTIGAY CY AMERI”

In The Deviant’s War, Cervi firsthand acunts, classified FBI rerds, and personal documents, predomantly om the Frank Kameny Papers at the Library of Congrs, to give the rear an sight to the 1960s when the Mattache Society of Washgton, the group Kameny found, beme the first anizatn to prott the systematic persecutn of gay feral employe.

As reviewed Washgton History, this volume b Kameny’s own words, cludg approximately 150 documents om his personal papers om 1958 to 1975, wh ntextual analysis and mentary to explore the evolutn of gay rights strategy.

Johnson explor the the experienc and ristance of the DC gay muny at the ontl of the ernment’s attempt to purge LGBT people om the Civil Service both before and durg the McCarthy era. Addnal llectns have been acced and/or ma accsible sce this gui’s creatn, cludg the digal llectns available through The People’s Archive, DC Public Library: Digized edns of the Washgton Bla, DC’s prcipal LGBT newspaper sce s first issue October 1969; and digized edns of Blacklight, an pennt newspaper servg DC’s Black gay muny. The book, by Jam Kirchick, is the story of how the closet impacted the liv of those who worked si the system (as opposed to out activists who protted the homophobic social norms the streets), pecially Republins who had to balance their sexualy wh their nservatism.

READG GAY BARS

The book, published by Henry Holt and Co., aims to tegrate gay history wh Amerin history to a herent whole, showg how gay people have shaped the untry at every level, whether they be clerks or high officials, to break open their closet doors and reveal fally the impact they had and uld have had, before they were exposed or fired. "Washgton has the hight per pa of LGBTQ people, acrdg to the most recent cens, but there's also this paradox that was also the most anti-gay cy Ameri bee the feral ernment didn't allow gay people to work the jobs officially, " Kirchick said.

MOVG TO LGBT WASHGTON DC? HOW TO FD YOUR PERFECT GAY NEIGHBORHOOD!

"At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexualy beme tertwed wh the growg threat of munism, leadg to a purge of gay men and lbians om the feral ernment, what was later termed the 'Lavenr Sre. Kirchick asserts, "Across the broad sweep of Amerin history, no mory group has wnsed a more rapid transformatn s stat, the ey of their fellow cizens, than gay people the send half of the twentieth century.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

Pierre L'Enfant, who signed the streets, squar, and parks which generatns of gay Washgtonians would meet each other, was a lifelong bachelor "sensive style and drs, " posssg an "artistic and agile temperament. Gay poli Harvey Milk outed Sipple to the news media, sayg he should be viewed as a hero, but the closeted Sipple beme emotnally distrght and prsed when his parents disowned him. Then there's tal about the "F Loop" of the Dupont Circle pickup scene the 1960s, the "gay rner" of the Congrsnal Cemetery, and the tablishment of the first gay bookstore, Lambda Risg.

Kirchick lls him "the first cizen to challenge the feral ernment over s discrimatn agast homosexuals by actually attachg his name to the se rather than to post psdonymoly. " In 1961, Kameny found the Mattache Society and s statement of purpose wrote, "to secure for homosexuals the right to life, liberty, and the pursu of happs, as proclaimed for all men by the Declaratn of Inpennce and to secure for homosexuals the basic rights and liberti tablished by the word and the spir of the Constutn. " Kirchick c a study missned by the State Department the early 1990s before the gays the ary bate, which found that over 100 s of Amerins who had mted pnage, not a sgle one of them did bee they were beg blackmailed for their homosexualy.