RESISTANCE! How Unrground Gay Life Thrived the 1950s | Boston Lyric Opera

Contents:

• GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY
• A GLIMPSE OF GAY PRI THE 1950S
• GAY RIGHTS
• 100 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY MEN LOVE
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• ‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945
• GAY PRI THE 1950S: THE PHOTO BOOTH AS A SAFE SPACE
• THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• SANDRA GAY HACHULLA OBUARY
• STORIES FROM THE CAMPUS CLOSET / UC BERKELEY'S 1950S GAY, LBIAN ALUMNI TELL HISTORY
• THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO TO JAIL IN ENGLAND JT FOR BEG GAY
• RESISTANCE! HOW UNRGROUND GAY LIFE THRIVED THE 1950S
• 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY

ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archiv at the Universy of Southern California Librari, the largt reposory of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer materials the world, shared a heartwarmg uple of photos wh Time of two gay men showg affectn a photo booth durg the early 1950s honor of LGBT Pri public displays of affectn by same-sex upl are monplace today, the fact that this picture was taken 1953 - a time when LGBT people uld be arrted for simply holdg hands wh someone of the same sex - mak a powerful and betiful image monstratg the spir of LGBT Pri.

A GLIMPSE OF GAY PRI THE 1950S

If you were gay the cy, you went to the dark and dgy bars, which were n by the Mafia, and at any time uld be raid by the police and you uld be Cherry Grove, the police would leave on the last ferry to the maland at midnight, allowg same-sex dancg and open exprsns of affectn to occur the lol bars and rtrants. Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.

Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group.

GAY RIGHTS

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze. Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review.

That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D. ”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

100 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY MEN LOVE

1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event. Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri.

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U.

Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth. This cint spired the novel and motn picture Advise and Consent  which the blackmailer of the Senator wh a homosexual cint his past is a left-leang member of the Senate - ignorg the fact that the actual blackmailers belonged to the Republin Party.

‘COULDN’T BELIEVE I WAS SEEG ’: HOME MOVI OFFER RARE GLIMPSE OF GAY LIFE ST. LOUIS 1945

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. ”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. ” 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.

GAY PRI THE 1950S: THE PHOTO BOOTH AS A SAFE SPACE

” It offers a rare glimpse to a largely visible world, a time when same-sex relatnships were not only looked at as immoral — they were a gay man, Story is fascated by the brtle, flickerg scen that clu a uniformed World War II soldier kissg another man.

It was taken 1953, a time when purposefully vague statut on morals, lewd nduct, or disorrly nduct many stat allowed the police to target and arrt gay and lbian people for such transgrsns as wearg ems of clothg of the oppose sex, proposng someone of the same sex, or even holdg hands wh a member of the same sex.

THE HIDN GAY LIV FALLY BEG UNVERED

For a long time, the mastream public didn't want to hear our Ca's The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle tells the story of a secretly gay postman searchg for a lost love om his youth (Cred: Headle Review)"I would venture to say that the public were disgted and outraged, " says thor Crystal Jeans.

It's about a lonely, socially awkward and secretly gay postman livg a fictnal town the north of England who hs retirement, realisg he wants to turn his life around and fally be happy – but to do this, he needs to fd the love of his life, a man he hasn’t seen for nearly 50 years. That same year, the so-lled "Alan Turg law" offered pardons to 49, 000 Brish gay men who’d been nvicted of homosexual acts – followg a mpaign arguably bolstered by the greater awarens brought about by The Imatn Game, the h film that picted the nvictn and chemil stratn of the Enigma-breakg puter scientist.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Over the last five years, a tr of Irish wrers have livered stunng gay-themed novels set predomantly perds of history that didn't wele them – John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furi), Graham Norton (Home Stretch), and Sebastian Barry (the Costa Award-wng Days Whout End). In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons.

In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women. In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act. Now headquartered Geneva and renamed the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA World), plays a signifint role ordatg ternatnal efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimatn agast LGBTQ and tersex persons.

SANDRA GAY HACHULLA OBUARY

This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat. Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage).

Ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (1993–2011), which had permted gay and lbian dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual orientatn or engage homosexual activy; the repeal effectively end the ban on homosexuals the ary. Most LGBT+ performers om Freddie Mercury to Gee Michael keep their sexualy quiet as the mic dtry mands, but two new bands wh out-gay members and lyrics wh gay them break nventn wh their h but sgl Frankie Go to Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ and Bronski Beat’s ‘Smalltown Boy’. The Homosexual Condn had taken three years to e to air, amid a climate of nsirable opprsn which you uld still be imprisoned for beg documentary was later lost but, followg the efforts of a Leictershire amic and an award-wng wrer, a play named The BBC's First Homosexual has been created about which is havg s first performance on Thursday.

STORIES FROM THE CAMPUS CLOSET / UC BERKELEY'S 1950S GAY, LBIAN ALUMNI TELL HISTORY

Intrigued, he read on to disver the lost script of one of the BBC's first attempts to exame the liv of gay men - a documentary named The Homosexual Condn, which had been broadst on the Home source, Picture suppliedImage ptn, Jordan Tweddle plays one of the lead rol the new productnIt had been rerd on 24 May 1954 but was nsired so taboo that had not been broadst until 25 July 1957. "As he examed the papers, Marc found the origal script for the documentary, as well as memos om those behd and letters tailg the reactn om listeners - cludg one om a gay man who had scribed as a the time the BBC ma the documentary, people were beg sent to prison for beg gay.

"The qutn arose about whether you uld actually have any homosexual people on the programme, given that was a crimal offence, " says programme makers eventually opted to terview somebody who had been sentenced for gross cency but who appeared to nsir himself "reformed" source, Shay RowanImage ptn, Those behd the play say helps terrogate the attus of 1950s BraMarc adms such termology would s uneasily wh a morn dience.

"The programme was mothballed for several years before eventually beg broadst at around the time of the Wolfenn Report which remend a partial crimalisatn of source, Shay RowanImage ptn, Marc felt the script was ripe for dramatisatnFollowg s broadst and the subsequent reactn, the director general at the time - Sir Ian Jab - mted to rea om broadstg any further ntent relatg to homosexualy, apart om for "special purpos", spe s flaws, posive thgs did emerge as a rult of the broadst. "Beg gay 1950s EnglandImage source, otherImage ptn, The arrt of Alan Turg and other celebrated figur highlighted the jtice of the lawsThe years followg World War Two saw a rise the arrts and prosecutns of gay - such as wartime breaker Alan Turg and knighted actor Sir John Gielgud - were high-profile figur. Even as gay Amerins were beg labeled natnal secury risks by the feral ernment and blacklisted om jobs, the magaze ntued publishg fictn, stori on gay figur history, scientific news, poetry — “anythg wh a gay affirmative perspective and worldview, ” as historian Craig Loft puts .

THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO TO JAIL IN ENGLAND JT FOR BEG GAY

He went on to scribe beg a “practicg homosexual” sce pre-adolcent days, listg ways to bt hi one’s queer leangs om straight men, whom he par to ostrich (“jt as long as is not brought to his attentn an obv manner, he r ltle what his fellow man do. Dorr Legg, one of the magaze’s founrs (who would also go on to found the precsor to the Log Cab Republins, the natn’s largt Republin anizatn advotg for LGBT people), wrote back to the wrer, emphasizg the universaly of his stggle for self-acceptance and enuragg him to look to the blogil basis for homosexualy.

“Some were plete panics, wrg that when they got the magaz, the brown envelope had been torn, and that the magaze had been slightly revealed, ” says had reason to be paranoid: The USPS of the 1950s regularly cracked down on “obscene” gay ntent, even openg private, send-class mail their hunt for offensive materials. But the letters also reflect plenty of hope — that the general public would e around to sex rearcher Aled Ksey’s rearch, which found that 37% of adult mal had had at least one homosexual experience, and that homosexuals would one day be treated as equal cizens the ey of the law. 'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife. Leave a sympathy msage to the fay on the memorial page of Sandra Gay Hachulla to pay them a last was loved and cherished by many people cludg: her parents, Bill Eggers and Joyce Eggers; and her children, Melissa Coria, David Hachulla and Peter Hachulla. Chronicle photo by Kendra Luck2000-09-06 04:00:00 PDT BERKELEY -- Gay and lbian stunts at the Universy of California at Berkeley may have been forced to rema the closet 50 years ago, but that didn't stop them om venturg out to gay bars San Francis wh their straight iends.

RESISTANCE! HOW UNRGROUND GAY LIFE THRIVED THE 1950S

Only the 1970s was the ban on gay telligence muny members relaxed, and took until 1995 for another executive orr, signed by Print Bill Clton, to explicly state that the ernment may not discrimate based on sexual orientatn when to grantg accs to classified rmatn.

He is old now – 81 – but the events of his youth, when Bra hated gay men, still is 50 years this month sce the laws forbiddg sex between men were overturned England and Wal – laws that led to the nvictn of World War II breaker Alan Turg, the rceratn of Osr Wil, and thoands more jailed like Biddlebe. It would be another before people ed the word “gay” to mean anythg other than happy, and another 15 before sex between men beme law agast “buggery” – as the offence was known – dated back to 1533, but 1885, the related offence of “gross cency” was add, outlawg any sexual ntact between such, the law did not only mean jail; s impact sd out, ntrollg and suffotg: an all-pervasive prison. Turg subsequently killed Biddlebe served his sentence, a report was beg prepared that would beg the procs of overturng four centuri of legal opprsn agast gay Wolfenn report, as beme known, was missned by the Conservative ernment, and prised a mtee of experts, led by Lord Wolfenn, who nducted terviews wh people affected by the laws.

”And so, as a few dozen marchers swelled to hundreds of thoands, as discrimatory laws were torn down one by one, and as the pk triangl pned onto gay men by the Nazis morphed to lns of flutterg rabow flags, Keh Biddlebe rried on, workg, lovg, never fot what was done to him, or the man who uld not pe wh the shame. The play, often dismissed by mastream crics but hailed as "funny, sexy, and important" by the gay prs, ran for 140 performanc off-Broadway, then toured to eight ci over ne months, and returned to Broadway starrg the legendary adult film star Casey Donovan the lead role.

10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS

Dpe s unprecented succs and acclaim, the play was not officially published until wh the but publitn of the script of the play, this edn clus a foreword by Jordan Schildcrout tled "Tubstrip and The Erotic Theatre of Gay Liberatn", which exam the signifince of the play as one of a wave of erotic gay plays (most of them fotten or lost) that emerged between 1969 and 1974.

A few d homosexuals n be found  Aled Hchck’s early work (check out the swishy drsmaker 1925’s The Pleasure Garn), while Ivor Novello’s films play up the flamboyant star’s androgyny, playg very odd, allegedly heterosexual men  The Lodger (1926) and The Man whout Dire (1923). It took another 10 years before partial crimalisatn took effect wh the Sexual Offenc act 1967, which allowed homosexual acts, private, between two men over the age of 21 – many feel Basil Dearn’s film helped liberalise attus and pave the way towards tolerance towards gay people.

The Leather Boys (1964)The Brish ‘kchen sk’ dramas, foced around workg-class liv, that prevailed the late 50s and early 60s ocsnally ntaed sympathetic gay characters, such as Murray Melv’s stunt  A Taste of Honey (1961) and Cicely Courtneidge’s ageg actor  The L-shaped Room (1962).