1920s Gay Culture: ✓ Meang ✓ Laws ✓ Homosexualy ✓ LGBTQIA ✓ Vaia Origal
Contents:
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- 1920S GAY CULTURE
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
- GAY RIGHTS
- THE ROARG 20S AND THE BLOSSOMG OF GAY CULTURE
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay culture in 1920 *
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.
1920S GAY CULTURE
While watchg a screeng of Paris is Burng hosted by the Smhsonian Lato Center, I was entranced by the dazzlg participants as they peted, fiercely owng the floor their glamoro gowns. Twenty-five years ago, this famo cult documentary ptured the liv and culture of Ain Amerin, Lato, gay, and transgenr muni volved New York Cy drag * gay culture in 1920 *
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.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
* gay culture in 1920 *
” 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. What were once known as Masquera and Civic Balls were dubbed "Faggots Balls" by the general public after beme well known that the spectacl were equented by gay, lbian, and transgenr people.
GAY RIGHTS
" Though drag balls were created for fun and as a place to nnect wh other gay men, the associatn of the notor balls to LGBTQ people helped pave a way for the tablishment of queer balls were ccial the creatn and matenance of LGBTQ culture.
It is this fightg spir that allowed balls to thrive, and that spir liv on through today wh the LGBTQ more rmatn about the early drag ball scene, the thor remends Gee Chncey's Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890– Stabbe is a former tern the Divisn of Medice and Science and an unrgraduate stunt at the Universy of Rochter. Durg the “Pansy Craze” om the 1920s until 1933, people the lbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) muny were performg on stag ci around the world, and New York Cy’s Greenwich Village, Tim Square and Harlem held some of the most world-renowned drag performanc of the time.
“They didn’t see a nflict between not beg openly gay at work and sort of only beg gay durg their leisure time, ” says Heap, addg that a person’s class was likely ditive of how you might participate gay and lbian culture at the time.
THE ROARG 20S AND THE BLOSSOMG OF GAY CULTURE
“The were moments when workg class gay men and women uld more eely explore their sexualy, sir, and terts cross drsg, but probably no doctor or lawyer is gog to drs up drag at the events, out of risk of beg exposed. Prohibn was repealed, and the New York State Liquor laws were updated to serve alhol only plac that were “orrly”, which didn’t apparently clu gay and lbian nightclubs.
” In the mid ‘30s, productn s were put to effect that rtricted and prevented performanc of openly gay characters film or theater, and the followg s, thoands of LGBTQ people were arrted post WWII for equentg their own clubs.