CursiD: Did Detro Ever Have A 'Gayborhood'? - WDET 101.9 FM

Contents:

• GAY DETRO TRAVEL GUI
• WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
• GAY DETRO, MI : WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU’RE MOVG TO THE MOTOR CY
• FORMER SE OF DETRO'S LONGT-NNG GAY HEALTH SPA, TNT HEALTH CLUB, FORECLOSURE
• CURSID: DID DETRO EVER HAVE A ‘GAYBORHOOD’?
• GAYT PLAC IN MICHIGAN FOR 2020
• THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT DETRO
• LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS DETRO, MI
• WHERE THE GAYS ARE
• JAGUARS ACH MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

GAY DETRO TRAVEL GUI

Like all major US ci, there is a lively gay scene here (if you know where to look) and this is somethg a gay realtor Detro n help you navigate as you fd your new perfect home here. The Bt Gay Neighborhoods In DetroFerndaleRoyal OakPalmer ParkMidtownIndian VillageLGBTQ+ Communy Organizatns In DetroRegular LGBT Events In DetroLGBT Owned Bs DetroFal Thoughts on Movg to LGBTQ DetroFdg Gay Realtors In Detro Michigan. Thanks to some thrivg gay scen, cludg a few of the cy’s most popular neighborhoods, makg a move here will allow you to meet people wh siar terts.

So, when relotg to LGBTQ Detro, you should be aware that there are a few areas that are close to all the fantastic gay clubs and nightlife, allowg you to pull your U-Hl up to your new hoe a gay-iendly neighborhood or part of town. If you’re a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or otherwise queer person seekg a welg neighborhood wh facili you’ll cherish, start wh the top gay and gay-iendly Detro neighborhoods to disver your perfect new home, each wh s distct personaly.

The Palmer Park area, is named after the town’s 296-acre public park, and was the center of gay life Motor Cy  the 1970s and 1980s, wh numero pubs, rtrants, a bookshop, and offic for a variety of LGBTQ anizatns.

WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS

Many LGBTQ people Detro now live the geo apartment plex and stately mansns erected by the first r dtry giants, and we suggt you ask your gay realtor to show you at least a few.

The event began June 1972, wh the first march held  downtown Detro to promote LGBTQ rights and equaly, as well as to nmn homophobic laws. This might sound a ltle odd at first, but there are plenty of reasons why a gay realtor Detro is your bt bet lookg for the home of your dreams. Everyone should be assured of a pleasant, smooth home buyg or sellg experience while beg fully reprented – and that is why we believe you should let a gay realtor help you fd your next home.

Gay realtors tend to have an unrstandg of the different neighborhoods their area and know which on they should select ho om. Instead of jt beg ncerned by how by, trendy, or up-and-g a neighborhood is (or what may look like), gay realtors do a ep dive to the areas they sell ho to make sure they are safe for their clients. Thankfully, you no longer have to hunt for a realtor whout knowg if they are acceptg of others, as you n e a directory of gay, lbian, and gay-iendly agents Detro to do all the legwork for you.

GAY DETRO, MI : WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU’RE MOVG TO THE MOTOR CY

Jt vis the page, and you’ll stantly be prented wh a ee list of gay, lbian, and gay-iendly agents who uld not only assist you wh your move but also provi other beneficial rmatn such as help wh LGBT+iendly schools, shoppg, storage pani, ntractors, etc. As one of the olst gay spac Detro, this spot is te to s gay roots but is always open to anyone who wants to jo the fun. Loted the former gay mec of Detro, Palmer Park, the plex clus the Menjo’s Bar, the Eagle Leather Bar, and the Olymp Theater.

FORMER SE OF DETRO'S LONGT-NNG GAY HEALTH SPA, TNT HEALTH CLUB, FORECLOSURE

Ferndale has been the center of gay life Detro sce the 2000s and Soho is the classy yet sual spot for gay men, women and everyone between right the heart of the downtown area off Wt Ne Mile Road. Whether you’re gay, straight, bi, trans, or queer, the are great tablishments to make a night of and teract wh a diverse muny.

When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self, but also where was suated Detro gay history more broadly — and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future. The fire happened the middle of Pri Month, and not jt any Pri Month Detro: This year marks 50 years sce the cy's first Pri march, held June 24, 1972 to mand "full civil rights for gay people" and a repeal of all anti-gay laws, the Free Prs reported back then. The march, officially lled Christopher Street '72, was self a remembrance of the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street New York Cy on June 28, 1969, when protts broke out rponse to a police raid at a gay bar.

In s 70-odd years, The Woodward has been part of many tersectg stori of gay life and culture Detro, cludg policg of gay spac, ownership shifts, racial segregatn and populatn trends the cy.

CURSID: DID DETRO EVER HAVE A ‘GAYBORHOOD’?

"We jt opened up and whichever way went, went, " Andy Karagas told "Gayzette" 1973 (as reported Andy's obuary 1997). Gay sex was a crime Michigan — as had been sce the 1800s — and police equently harassed and arrted gay people and raid gay bars. "It was technilly illegal to operate a bar that was a renzvo for homosexuals, " said Tim Retzloff, adjunct assistant profsor of history and LGBTQ studi at Michigan State Universy.

Startg after World War II and to the 1960s, several gay bars were cltered around Farmer and Bat streets downtown Detro, cludg Club 1011, La Rosa's and The Silver Dollar. Very few gay bars at the time tered to Black patrons, although there were two Paradise Valley that Retzloff has intified his rearch: The 705 and the Ra-bo Mic Club.

GAYT PLAC IN MICHIGAN FOR 2020

Gigi's, on Wt Warren near the Southfield Freeway, will take on the mantle of the olst operatg gay bar Detro if The Woodward do not survive. It dat s foundg to 1973, when the former supper club was purchased by Tony Garne — a gay man and one of the founrs of Bars and Towels, Inc., an early associatn for owners of gay bars and bs.

Other notable Detro gay bars of the 1970s clu The Famo Door, on Griswold near Grand River Capol Park, which had been a straight bar until was purchased 1972 by Ernt Backos, the owner of the old Club 1011, which by then had been sold and molished for parkg.

On the east si, at Seven Mile and Van Dyke, an terracial gay uple, Bobby Calvert, who was Black, and Dan Campbell, who was whe, opened Todd's Sway Lounge 1975.

THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT DETRO

Todd's was one of the few racially tegrated Detro gay bars s the mid-1980s, there were about four dozen gay bars Detro, pared to about a dozen 20 years earlier. Retzloff said several factors played to the rapid growth of the gay bar scene Detro the '70s and '80s, even as Detro's populatn cled.

Though many gay people had moved to the suburbs, few gay bars existed outsi Detro until the mid-1990s, due to trenchant suburban anti-gay discrimatn. And as factori closed throughout those s — particularly Dodge Ma 1980 — bars that had prevly served workers shifted to servg a gay clientele.

"The ugly part of that is that the owners preferred to have gay ctomers to havg Ain Amerin ctomers, " Retzloff said.

LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS DETRO, MI

"Bee of the pal vtment that tak to n a bar and the st of a liquor license, there were always far fewer Black (owned) gay bars, " Retzloff said. Detro's gay bar scene cled the '80s and '90s as Baby Boomers aged out of their bar-gog years and the HIV/AIDS epimic renewed discrimatn agast gay people and cimated the muny. Today, there are about 10 gay bars the metro Detro area, acrdg to a listg OutPost magaze — not cludg the Woodward.

It wasn’t a llege gree or even a doctorate that led Tim Retzloff to pose his dissertatn on gay life metro Detro om 1945-85, but rather his passn to wre the dissertatn that led him to get his doctorate at Yale last month.

Well, that and his keen sire for Detro to have a gay trospective done on , jt as such other major ci as New York, San Francis and Chigo have had done. “It has played a pneerg role gay liberatn, particularly the early 1970s when Detro had the first cy charter that clud protectns for gay people. Detro was also home to a Catholic nscient objector by the name of Brian McNght who staged a hunger fast to ll attentn to the plight of gay Catholics 1974, which drew natnal attentn.

WHERE THE GAYS ARE

The document prents a fascatg look at multiple facets of gay life Detro and s surroundg suburbs durg those four s: police crackdowns when gays met rs or popular meetg spots durg an era when homosexualy was looked at as a mental illns; the burgeong bar scene when gay bars more than doubled om 1965-1985; an all-women mune lled Geneva Hoe that served as sort of the nerve center for the lbian muny of metro Detro for much of the 1970s; the populary and acceptance of black drag performers; lively characters as Prophet Jon, who was featured regularly the Saturday Eveng Post, Time, Newsweek and Life magaz the 1940s and 1950s. Retzloff graduated om Flt Northern High School and went to Universy of Michigan-Flt, but when he me out, he felt isolated and alone like many gay people that era. It also guid him to wre an stutnal history of gays and lbians at the three mp of Universy of Michigan, his first paid history gig.

Retzloff then rells – “Oh yeah” – he was part of Digny Flt 1975, the Stonewall Fom and one of the ial gay and lbian groups at the Universy of Michigan-Flt.

Ined, Retzloff’s dissertatn leav few parts of gay life untouched – cy to suburban, whe to black, female impersonators to tough lbian bars, p arrts rs, outsi bars and popular gay hangouts and the polics that bloomed om all of . The social and legal attus were cidly anti-gay, unlike today’s mountg acceptance of same-sex marriage and anti-discrimatn protectns of LGBT rints.

JAGUARS ACH MAXEN OUT AS GAY HISTORIC ANNOUNCEMENT

So the gay men most of the perd Retzloff studied took great risks gog to gay bars or other hangouts and took even greater risks approachg anyone for sex.

Although Detro’s gay bars were primarily male, there were some for women, and the most famo may have been The Palais, which opened 1949 at 655 Bebien, three blocks om police headquarters.