GAY BARS IN CLEVELAND | Encyclopedia of Cleveland History | Case Wtern Rerve Universy

gay clubs 1940s

GAY BARS IN CLEVEAND have been existence sce at least the 1940s and have served as important s for the cy’s LGBTQ muny to socialize, anize, and distribute rmatn and rourc. ,

Contents:

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay clubs 1940s *

By the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibn era, they were attractg as many as 7, 000 people of var rac and social class—gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and straight alike. The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940.

By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village. Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned.

GAY HISTORY: THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950’S LOS ANGEL

A gatherg of gay men Los Angel 1951. This group found the Mattache Society In the wake of World War II a nformist impulse reasserted self Amerin society. At the same time thoands of gay men found themselv California after World War II, and they were prented wh the problem of… * gay clubs 1940s *

Though New York Cy may have been the epicenter of the so-lled "Pansy Craze, " gay, lbian and transgenr performers graced the stag of nightspots ci all over the untry. ”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co. In the mid- to late ‘30s, Heap pots out, a wave of sensatnalized sex crim “provoked hysteria about sex crimals, who were often— the md of the public and the md of thori—equated wh gay men.

THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL

In Los Angel throughout the 1950s, gay men lived unr nstant harassment by the police. They risked ostracism and loss of employment if outed. * gay clubs 1940s *

” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror. At the same time thoands of gay men found themselv California after World War II, and they were prented wh the problem of livg a life the midst of social disapproval and police reprsn. On this basis the practice of nversn therapy took hold, wh wispread attempts to change people om homosexual to heterosexual (here are jt a few exampl om stunts at Oberl College Oh).

THE PANSY CRAZE: WHEN GAY NIGHTLIFE LOS ANGEL REALLY KICKED OFF

It was New Years Eve, 1929. Three hundred men tuxedos were celebratg the openg of Hollywood’s first gay nightclub. It was lled Jimmy’s Backyard and sat a… * gay clubs 1940s *

A survey nducted as late as 1967 for a CBS documentary (see the full program or a shorter versn) termed that two thirds of Amerins viewed homosexuals wh “disgt, disfort, or fear” while a majory favored laws agast all homosexual acts. Some of the well-known gay bars of this time were the Hoe of Ivy and the Wdup Hollywood, and the Crown Jewel, Harold’s, the Waldorf, and Maxwell’s downtown Los Angel.

The more nservative group of the gay muny took pas to distance themselv om the “obv” crowd, believg that they perpetuated negative stereotyp and drew unwanted attentn. Divisns wh the muny would eventually e to a head the late 1960s, and the homophile label fell by the waysi as the gay muny asserted self more forcefully.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

The Nazi regime rried out a mpaign agast male homosexualy and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945. * gay clubs 1940s *

Some of them play fair, asmuch as they wa for the gay one to make a pass at them, but many others wa only long enough to get the r before clarg the arrt.

Bars and ClubsNY Magaze rerds that the first “gay bar” New York Cy opened the, same-sex attractn beme a distct inty and nceptualizatns of "straight" and "gay" began to form throughout the 20th century, muni of like-md people also began to form. Rather than a man who had sex wh men, a homosexual man) began to form and were medilised and penalised, for a long time was unsafe to adm to or act on any feelgs of same-sex attractn.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

A new book tells the te stori behd Cabaret, and what was possibly the most thrillg gay party scene the world has ever known. Read an excerpt here. * gay clubs 1940s *

This meant that tablishments that did serve people known or spected of belongg to the LGBT+ muny were closed down, which rulted a lot of gay bars and LGBT+-iendly tablishments were n by illegal anizatns and liable to shakedowns by the police.

GAY BARS IN CLEVELAND

* gay clubs 1940s *

Unfortunately, for a lot of reasons - certaly datg apps, but also the 2008 recsn, risg rents, a wir atmosphere of acceptance that renrs LGBT+ bars and clubs val but not a necsy - gay bars and clubs are begng to disappear om the landspe.

CHIGO GAY NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY

While there is certaly room to discs the disproportnate rat of alholism the LGBT+ muny, neverthels, gay bars rema important spac of LGBT+ herage and culture.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY CLUBS 1940S

The Pansy Craze: When gay nightlife Los Angel really kicked off .

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