Past Out - What is the History of Gay Motorcycle Clubs - OutVoic

Contents:

• RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB
• LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US
• GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS:
• DYK ON BIK & GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE U.S.
• THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• MEET OPENLY GAY PRO MOTORCYCLE RACER LE HUFF
• HANGG OUT WH RSIA'S ONLY GAY MOTORCYCLE GANG
• THE QUEER ISSUE: GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS NEW YORK

RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB

Found 1969, the Borr Rirs Motorcycle Club is one of the olst and largt gay motorcycle clubs North Ameri. We provi social and tnal opportuni for members and other gay men terted recreatnal motorcycle tourg.

Satyrs MC Archiv is the largt llectn of gay motorcycle historil documents, photographs, film, vio and club memorabilia of the olst gay anizatn the world. Looks like Satyrs Motorcycle Club of Los Angel is the olst nng gay men's motorcycle club and anizatn the world.

The Satyrs was not the first gay and lbian anizatn, that was the Mattache Society formed 1950.

LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US

While other motorcycle clubs have perhaps been active for longer perds of time (at least one group disput that they are the olst all-male, all-gay group), Empire Cy is the only one that requir, and has always required, all of s members to ri a motorcycle. "Beg a gay biker, beg a group, you fd yourself wh people who have the same terts, the same fort level, " he go on. Though E stopped ridg 1996, he is currently an ECMC Emer member, meang he don't have to own a bike or license signatn, or pay the 1960s, when E joed, "gay" was not somethg you discsed and "out" was not somethg you were.

"E lowers his voice when he says the word "gay, " even though we are chattg the lobby of The Center, as New York's Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Communy Center is known. Followg ECMC's history is a b of a Forrt Gump-like experience of gay history post-1950: E himself was a member of the Mattache Society which, tablished 1950, was one of the earlit gay rights anizatns the untry. ECMC also predat the fluential Stonewall Rts 1969; E actually participated Christopher Street Liberatn Day, which is now nsired the first ever gay pri para, 1970.

GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS:

ECMC survived the AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s; and today some members have married their partners wh the passage of gay marriage New York State. "Today, ECMC is vol about s existence—members wear those aforementned leather jackets and vts whout fear of repercsn; they rec members at fairs like Folsom Street East, the largt outdoor fetish ftival on the East Coast; and they hold meetgs the first Wednday of every month at The Center, which all terted men and prospective members are wele to be a member of the ECMC, you mt be a gay man over the age of 21, you mt own a motorcycle, you mt be sured for said motorcycle, and you mt be licensed to ri a motorcycle. Open to both members and ved guts, the meetgs are a great way to nnect wh like-md dividuals wh our gay motorcycle muny.

Jo for an unfettable journey, and be a part of our rich history as one of the longt nng gay motorcycle clubs! Though Amerin motorcycle culture began the late 1940s and early 1950s, homosexualy was crimalized many plac at the time, makg gay motorcycle clubs unique anizatns seen as outlaws on two unts — their motorcyclg and their sexualy.

The ia of a bunch of Levi’s- and leather-clad gay men rpoolg to the biker bar is peak St. In the begng, gay motorcycle clubs gave an opportuny to socialize wh our people, often for sex. If you’re lookg for the recreatnal enjoyment of ridg wh other gay and bisexual men and their iends, we’re the group for you.

DYK ON BIK & GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE U.S.

Established 1954 Los Angel and still gog strong, they have bee one of the bt known gay MCs the untry. We are lookg at how the nex of two inti – gay and motorcyclist – self-imposed as well as imposed by society at large, plays out public and private.

While there have been gay and lbian motorcyclists almost as long as there have been motorcycl, thgs don’t get tertg until World War Two ends.

The first imag popular culture of the gay motorcyclist seem to be tertwed wh postwar and Cold War polics, often reflectg and optg the imag of mastream motorcyclists the procs. The vtigatn supposedly was to addrs munist fluence and filtratn, but quickly veloped a homophobic and anti-Semic edge.

THE 5 BEST MOSW GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS MOSW

Homosexuals were seen as eher munists or secury risks, if not both, which lead to mass firgs of homosexuals om ernment agenci. By lkg munism wh homosexualy, the heargs created a sense of guilt through associatn, pecially when any real evince was lackg, as was so often the se.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

By the time the first half of the 20th Century was drawg to a close, both gays and motorcyclists had inti as outlaws, threats to the Amerin Way of Life, imposed by the mastream.

And ntug the ncept of guilt by associatn, many saw the aggrsively mascule behavr of the motorcycle clubs and gangs as exampl of overpensatn by men who really weren’t mascule, that is, were gay, or latent homosexuals. David Thomson his obuary of Brando for The Guardian claims “the biker…[is] a very mp figure, a gay in”. Bee of the Lavenr Sre wch hunt, most homosexual anizatns followed the cell stcture format tablished by Harry Hay for the Mattache Society, an early lbian and gay rights group.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

If Larry Townsend is unrstood rrectly a passage about gay motorcycle clubs The Leatherman’s Handbook, due to perd attus toward homosexualy, many of the gay motorcycl clubs beme disenchanted wh the AMA and broke formal ti while followg the anizatn’s lead qutns of safety and the like. While the two outlaw inti were beg creasgly tertwed, a third velopment grew importance: what Jack Frscher would later dub “homomasculy”, which the web-based Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia f as a “subculture of gay men who prefer mascule-intified men”, or men who prefer men who look and act like men, sometim exaggerated, vaguely workg class, who were often seen as more thentilly male than men form other soc-enomic class. Homomasculy was the real foc of the 1950s physil culture magaze, providg jt most imag of well-mcled men wh such mascule props as wboy hats, Roman swords, engeer boots, and the like.

His homoerotic imag of hyperstylized homomasculy were as facile as they were mercial: he was very much the right artist at the right time.

MEET OPENLY GAY PRO MOTORCYCLE RACER LE HUFF

The trial emphasized yet aga that dividuals were rponsible for war crim; while the novel troduced gay motorcyclists to the world at large. ) The workg-class gay lovers, Dick and Reggie, want each other to be as they are and not pretend to be women, htg that homomasculy note softly. The Hells Angels weren’t amed to be thought homosexual bee of the film; the Amerin Nazi Party threatened to sue Anger for famatn of character.

After that, the film versn of The Leather Boys 1964 would have seemed tame parison even if had left the gay ntent tact. Instead was toned down nsirably, but neverthels nveyed a more posive attu toward homosexualy than was ual for the time.

That same year, while the Beatl were by vadg Ameri, a small rerd pany Los Angel released a seri of 45 rpm novelty songs wh gay them and edic lyrics. The song is about an outlaw biker who wants to beat up effemate homosexuals, but who may be the closet himself. Whether that closet is imposed upon the biker by a society at large that rejects him bee he is not heterosexual or by a gay subculture that rejected the workg class as anythg more than rough tra is left ambiguo.

HANGG OUT WH RSIA'S ONLY GAY MOTORCYCLE GANG

The anti-war movement also lead to the femist and equal rights movements, the later origally lled the Gay Liberatn Front. It was time for homomasculy general and gay motorcyclists particular to e out of the closet, if not the garage.

THE QUEER ISSUE: GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS NEW YORK

Derated wh not much more than several ats of black pat and an old beat-up motorcycle, the Eagle beme the place where gay biker clubs held their club nights as well as other groups and dividuals wantg a more mascule atmosphere than was available the nventnal gay bar of the time.

In 1972, Townsend published The Leatherman’s Handbook, which Frscher argu his troductn to the Silver Jubilee edn “was a claratn of pennce for ‘anatomilly rrect’ homomasculy” and “as remarkable a nstct as Stonewall self” bee Townsend’s “specific subject is homomasculy” as well as that The Handbook is “targeted…to a mographic of mascule-intified men”. The target dience was also gay men terted S/M, here lled leathersex, or as Frscher puts , a “batn etiquette book and Boy Sut Handbook for the Mhaft’s epic nights of betiful people where early motorcycle-spired leather rebated (sic) s functnal ncept as ridg gear to clu the fartht reach of dg-driven S&M”, volvg “reciprol ncepts of power and non power.

The chapter focg solely on gay motorcyclists and gay motorcycle clubs is clearly thorative. He pots out that the gay clubs strs safety and behavg as if the club were not outlaw, which this se ually meant not beg affiliated wh the AMA bee of perd attus toward homosexuals and homosexualy. He timat that there are between 40 and 50 gay MCs the early 70s, and revis that timate lower the Silver Jubilee edn.