Longg and Belongg: Toward a Cultural History of Gay Motorcycle Clubs the US - The Rir's Digt Live

Contents:

• LONGG AND BELONGG: TOWARD A CULTURAL HISTORY OF GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE US
• HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE
• RIDG WH THE OLST ALL-GAY, ALL-MALE, ALL-RIDG MOTORCYCLE CLUB
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEATHER AND THE GAYS
• DYK ON BIK & GAY MOTORCYCLE CLUBS THE U.S.
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

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

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

HISTORY OF LEATHER WEAR AS A GAY SUBCULTURE

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. 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.

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. 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”.

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

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. 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.

Whether he was a member of any gay motorcycle clubs or was aware of or fluenced by Lembeck, who would be Hugh’s anctor biker archetype send-ups, has yet to be termed. AIDS, of urse, created a pture the ntuy of all the gay sub-cultur, and that is reflected the history of the clubs and the bikers, even if might not be as well documented as the sub-cultur related to such glamour dtri as fashn or theatre. 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.

As a longtime biker and an openly gay man, Tom Hood says there likely always will be a place for motorcycle groups that ter to lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr groups, he says, aren’t as necsary as they were years ago.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LEATHER AND THE GAYS

Origally om Platteville, Hood is print of the Rirs Motorcycle Club  Boston, one of the natn’s olst gay men’s motorcycle club was formed the early 1980s when the biker muny didn’t wele LGBT rirs who openly exprsed their, LGBT bikers say thgs are much better, although there are exceptns. Paras like this are a sign of better tim, acrdg to Hood, who attend Lawrence Universy Appleton om 1985 through ago, he belonged to an outlaw biker club, but as a gay man, he has sce ma Rirs his outlaw clubs — known as “1 percenters” bee 99 percent of bikers don’t belong to them — have a strong anti-gay most people motorcyclg pay ltle or no attentn to someone’s genr or sexual inty, acrdg to Hood. ”Yet Harleys are popular wh lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr bikers, said Chaz Antonelli, past print of the Empire Cy Motorcycle Club, New York, the olst gay men’s biker group the natn.

Still, not everyone has embraced some of the years ago, a Salt Lake Cy police officer got to trouble when he objected to ridg the motorcycle briga at the ont of a gay pri para, sayg was a vlatn of his relig Moutsos said he was unfairly labeled a bigot bee he simply asked to swap rol and work a different part of the para June 2014. … It’s a ltle too tight, ” he there will probably always be a place for LGBT motorcycle groups, Hood said, over time there will be ls need for them as society be more one time, Rirs Motorcycle Club had 140 members; now ’s down to about said he thks the LGBT muny n claim a victory when ’s no longer a big al for sports stars and celebri to announce they are homosexual. In fact, most people who have studied gay men’s leather subculture attribute s velopment as arisg om biker the years immediately followg the Send World War, leather beme a hallmark of many motorcycle clubs, particularly on Los Angel, New York, and San Francis.

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

It was also this character that some gay men began to emulate their style, leadg to the first associatn between leather and gay of Leather wh the Gay CommunyThe leather subculture expand quickly the gay muny due to the tablishment of leather bars. This served as another outcroppg of leather and grew to s own subculture wh the gay muny, later spreadg to the lbian muny and to cis-het culture as Evolutn of Leather SubcultureTradnal leather subculture the gay muny found self fallg out of favor the 1980s.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

This shift se self largely as an outcroppg of the gay liberatn movement and a broar foc on clivy the new shift leather subculture is referred to as the New Guard.

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. 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. "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.

Gays had flocked drov to large ci followg Blue Discharg om the army, a way of removg homosexuals om service, as dishonourably dischargg and imprisong gays beme impractil wh the huge number of recs durg WWII. By the 1970s, Tom of Fland (full name Too Val Laaksonen), a – you gused – Fnish artist, was able to qu his job and pursue his homoerotic art full time.

To save this piece of San Francis gay history, the bar was purchased by a -operative of lol artists who now n (cludg Drag Race alum Honey Mahogany). 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. Leather bars were sprgg up major ci and simultaneoly, seems, pneerg gay motorcycle clubs were formed: the Satyrs, tablished Los Angel 1954; Oedip, also tablished Los Angel 1958; the New York Motorbike Club and early San Francis clubs, cludg the Warlocks and the California Motor Club, started as well.