How the Mob Helped Establish NYC’s Gay Bar Scene | HISTORY

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS
• PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S
• BARBARA GTGS HELPS LEAD FIRST 'ANNUAL REMR' PROTTSGGS WAS AN ACTIVIST BOTH THE PRE-STONEWALL HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT OF THE 50S AND 60S AND THE POST-STONEWALL GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT. SHE ANIZED THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE DGHTERS OF BILIS AND, 1965 – ALONG WH FRANK KAMENY – GTGS WAS STMENTAL LEADG THE “ANNUAL REMR” PICKETS, WHICH WERE SOME OF THE VERY FIRST PRO-LGBTQ+ PROTTS VISIBLE TO THE AMERIN PUBLIC. ONE RNERSTONE OF HER WORK CLUD PRSURG THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN TO CLASSIFY HOMOSEXUALY AS A MENTAL DISORR. FOR THREE NSECUTIVE YEARS BEGNG 1970, GTGS ANIZED PROTTS, STORMED TO, AND PARTICIPATED THE ASSOCIATN’S ANNUAL MEETG. IN 1972, GTGS ANIZED A PANEL ON HOMOSEXUALY ALONG WH AN ANONYMO PSYCHIATRIST WHO WAS MASKED AND ED A VOICE MODULATOR. FALLY 1973, THE ASSOCIATN ANNOUNCED S REMOVAL OF THE CLASSIFITN AND VED GTGS TO THE MEETG. ‍COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT CATALYZ TRANS COMMUNY POWER IN SAN FRANCIS
• GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
• THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN
• WHEN PSYCHIATRY AND THE MEDIA COLLUD AGAST THE GAYS
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S
• GAY 1960S 1979 BOOKS
• GAY PURGE: THE PERSECUTN OF HOMOSEXUAL STUNTS AT THE UNIVERSY OF WISNS–MADISON, 1962–1963
• THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• 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 RIGHTS

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. ”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. 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. 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.

PNEERG PHOTOGRAPHS OF GAY LIFE THE 1960S

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. 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 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.

BARBARA GTGS HELPS LEAD FIRST 'ANNUAL REMR' PROTTSGGS WAS AN ACTIVIST BOTH THE PRE-STONEWALL HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT OF THE 50S AND 60S AND THE POST-STONEWALL GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT. SHE ANIZED THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE DGHTERS OF BILIS AND, 1965 – ALONG WH FRANK KAMENY – GTGS WAS STMENTAL LEADG THE “ANNUAL REMR” PICKETS, WHICH WERE SOME OF THE VERY FIRST PRO-LGBTQ+ PROTTS VISIBLE TO THE AMERIN PUBLIC. ONE RNERSTONE OF HER WORK CLUD PRSURG THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN TO CLASSIFY HOMOSEXUALY AS A MENTAL DISORR. FOR THREE NSECUTIVE YEARS BEGNG 1970, GTGS ANIZED PROTTS, STORMED TO, AND PARTICIPATED THE ASSOCIATN’S ANNUAL MEETG. IN 1972, GTGS ANIZED A PANEL ON HOMOSEXUALY ALONG WH AN ANONYMO PSYCHIATRIST WHO WAS MASKED AND ED A VOICE MODULATOR. FALLY 1973, THE ASSOCIATN ANNOUNCED S REMOVAL OF THE CLASSIFITN AND VED GTGS TO THE MEETG. ‍COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT CATALYZ TRANS COMMUNY POWER IN SAN FRANCIS

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).

Queerns uld be appreciated on stage, but the every day liv of major stars was often hidn sham unns known as "lavenr marriag, " acrdg to Stephen Tropiano, profsor of Screen Studi at Itha College and thor of The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lbians on marriag were arranged by Hollywood studs between one or more gay, lbian or bisexual people orr to hi their sexual orientatn om the public. In December 1963, a ont-page article the New York Tim began wh the newspaper’s equivalent of htg the panic button: “The cy’s most sensive open secret—the prence of what is probably the greatt homosexual populatn the world and s creasg openns—has bee the subject of growg ncern of psychiatrists, relig lears, and the police.

GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

“Fat Tony, ” for one, paid New York’s 6th Precct approximately $1, 200 a week, exchange for the police agreeg to turn a bld eye to the “cent nduct” occurrg behd closed Photo<em>An NYPD officer grabs someone by their hair as another officer clubs a young man durg a nontatn Greenwich Village after a Gay Power march New York, 1970. " Beyond her LGBTQ activism, DeLarverie also anized and performed at fundraisers for women who suffered om domtic vlence and their Jam Baldw (Photo by Ted Thai)The LIFE Picture Collectn/GettyJam Baldw (1924-1987)A wrer and social cric, Baldw is perhaps bt known for his 1955 llectn of says, "Not of a Native Son, " and his groundbreakg 1956 novel, "Gvanni's Room, " which picts them of homosexualy and bisexualy.

WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET

Baldw spent a majory of his lerary and activist reer tg others about Black and queer inty, as he did durg his famo lecture tled “Race, Racism, and the Gay Communy” at a meetg of the New York chapter of Black and Whe Men Together (now known as Men of All Colors Together) and playwright Lorrae Hansberry her New York Cy apartment April Attie / Getty ImagLorrae Hansberry (1930-1965)Hansberry was an activist and playwright bt known for her groundbreakg play “A Rais the Sun, ” about a stgglg Black fay on Chigo’s South Si. The inic work was then ma to a 1961 film starrg Sidney Poier and Ruby to “A Rais the Sun” fame, Hansberry — who never publicly acknowledged she was a lbian — joed lbian rights group Dghters of Bilis and ntributed letters about femism and homophobia to s magaze, “The Ladr, ” acrdg to LGBTQ historian Eric Marc, host of the “Makg Gay History” podst. Now 79, Miss Major, known to many simply as “Mama, ” ris Ltle Rock, Arkansas, where she ntu to be a vol Sprg's mayor Ron On, April 18, Khan / LA Tim via Getty ImagRon On (Born 1950)When On was elected mayor of Palm Sprgs, California 2003, he ma history by beg the first openly gay Ain Amerin man elected mayor of an Amerin cy.

But the people who shaped and advised those artists – the on who managed the stars of the classic rock age – were, by an outsized marg, gay terwoven muny clud Brian Epste (who brought the world the Beatl), K Lambert (who -managed the Who), Simon Napier-Bell (the Yardbirds, and a young Marc Bolan), Robert Stigwood (Cream, the Bee Ge), Billy Gaff (Rod Stewart), Ken Pt (David Bowie), Barry Krost (Cat Stevens), as well as Tony Stratton-Smh (who formed the visnary label Charisma for bands like Genis).

A new book tled The Velvet Mafia: the Gay Men who Ran the Swgg Sixti aims to tell the Brish si of this story by focg on several key players the scene, cludg a few of the aforementned nam along wh the novative producer Joe Meek and the head of the UK’s most powerful label at the time, Sir Joseph Lockwood.

THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN

And they were dog so right when many other movements—the Black Panthers, the antiwar and stunt movements, women’s liberatn, the unterculture and so on and soon enough gay liberatnists and lbian femists—when all of the movements were makg profound criqu on Amerin polics and culture and were mandg fundamental, even revolutnary, change.

WHEN PSYCHIATRY AND THE MEDIA COLLUD AGAST THE GAYS

Ian Lek: There’s Jam Baldw, the openly gay Ain-Amerin novelist and cric whose searg dictments of Amerin racism his letters, his nonfictn such as The Fire Next Time and Not of a Native Son and novels such as Another Country and [Go]Tell on the Mounta burn jt as hot two s to the 21st century as they did when origally wrten the ’50s and early ’60s. 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. In dog so, they lnched the morn lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer movement, creatg a touchstone moment that would fe the next half-century of activist the Supreme Court’s historic legalizatn of same sex marriage 2015, Congrs’s recent approval of the Equaly Act, and the creased acceptance and reprentatn of LGBTQ people popular culture, we have unniably e a long way om the time when ps routely raid gay bars and beg outed nearly guaranteed a person would be labeled a sexual psychopath, blacklisted, ostracized by iends and fay, and legally barred om employment most occupatns, as scribed by John D’E his classic book on the pre-Stonewall era, Sexual Polics, Sexual much ls is known about day-to-day life for LGBTQ people pre-Stonewall, and what took place prr to the rebelln that laid the groundwork for events that would change the urse of morn LGBTQ people have been sexually timate wh others of the same sex sce the begng of time, the social nstctn of a gay inty is a relatively new phenomenon.

In the Uned Stat, this has happened mostly wh the last hundred D'E argu his groundbreakg 1993 say, Capalism and Gay Inty, was only through the velopment of palist dtrializatn, the acpanyg expansn of large urban centers, and the transformative effect this procs had on social life that the material ndns for the velopment of LGBTQ inti and muni beme possible. The personal tonomy and privacy afford by cy life allowed for exploratn of non-heterosexual sir and greater genr exprsn, and the velopment of a muny based on those shared terts a way that was generally not possible unr prev “hoehold-fay based” mos of the late 19th and early 20th centuri, an extensive unrground gay world veloped major U.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

Genr relatns and sexual behavr were a big part of this shift, as lns of men and women were lled away om their hom and placed overwhelmgly sex-segregated environments, like ary bas, hospals, dtrial factori, ernmental offic, and urban new material ndns, upled wh the emotnally tensive circumstanc of war, enuraged unknown numbers of men and women to explore and pursue homosexual sir and to form timate and meangful same-sex relatnships on a sle that was prevly returng om bat abroad or ary productn at home, many gay men and lbians opted for the pennce offered by Ameri’s urban centers. As Sherry Wolf scrib her book, Sexualy and Socialism, those arrted often had their nam and pictur published newspapers, which often led to beg fired om their job and beg ostracized by iends and the other hand, Amerin society was more ncerned and terted homosexualy than ever before, thanks part to the 1948 publitn of Aled Ksey’s Sexual Behavr the Human Male, which fundamentally transformed the way society unrstood sexualy and quickly beme a media sensatn.

The Ksey reports showed that homosexual acts were far more wispread among men than prevly assumed, and nclud that such behavr was not as abnormal as believed and would be more openly practiced if weren’t for societal rtrictns and documented Bronksi’s A Queer History of the Uned Stat, durg the 1950s and early '60s, there was an unparalleled outpourg of reprentatn and discsn of gay people lerature and the media.

THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S

However, as D’E explas Sexual Polics, Sexual Communi, like Mattache, the Dghters of Bilis was heavily fluenced by the opprsive climate of McCarthyism and remaed a self-help anizatn for most of s existence, shyg away om open polil agatn and never growg beyond a uple hundred active gay people the 1960s, there was a ntradictn at play.

As David Carter explas his book, Stonewall: The Rts That Sparked the Gay Revolutn, even as eedom, openns, and a mand for change creased throughout society, many areas (and New York particular) were simultaneoly creasg enforcement of anti-homosexual and genr-policg laws to such an extent that many plac beme effective police stat for LGBTQ people. Across the natn, genred clothg laws that began to appear the mid-19th century stayed on the books for s, makg variant genr exprsns who were charged wh a sex offense unr dranian laws like the uld lose everythg: profsnal licens, jobs and future prospects, and nnectns wh straight iends and the mid-1960s, thgs started to change the homophile movement. As documented by D’E Sexual Polics, Sexual Communi, young homophile activists who had not been polilly active durg McCarthyism began to ph for Mattache to take a more ant, bative stance bee they were spired by Ain-Amerins who fied racist opprsn and a petn to the Supreme Court, Frank Kameny, founr of Mattache’s D.

GAY 1960S 1979 BOOKS

Arguably, the most important and largt homophile anizatn the untry was San Francis’s Society for Individual Rights, which anized mpaigns agast police entrapment, phed for anti-discrimatn laws, and spearhead buildg a gay muny 1966, San Francis saw s own precursor to the Stonewall nontatn, the Compton Cafeteria Rts.

GAY PURGE: THE PERSECUTN OF HOMOSEXUAL STUNTS AT THE UNIVERSY OF WISNS–MADISON, 1962–1963

This spurred other gay ctomers to rist — they turned over tabl, smashed their dish, threw objects through the wdows, and began fightg wh the the Compton Cafeteria, bars provid a place for LGBTQ people to meet one another and socialize a reprsive society, but also ma them targets for police actns.

In a untry where police officer entrap members of the LGBTQ muny through text msag and beat those they perceive to be gay, Nkom bravely fights for rights on behalf of the LGBTQ Nkom intifi as heterosexual, she has dited her work to fightg for Cameroon’s LGBTQ muny and found the Associatn for the Defence of Homosexualy 2003. Jonathan Van Ns, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk, and Karamo Brown om Queer Courty of NetflixThe all-star st of Netflix’s new Queer Eye seri — a reboot of Bravo’s early 2000s seri Queer Eye for the Straight Guy — may be all fun when to makeovers, but they’re ser about makg a difference the “Fab Five” — Tan France, Jonathan Van Ns, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, and Antoni Porowski — speak openly on Queer Eye about their personal stggl and experienc wh homophobia and discrimatn. Rentment at beg targeted by the police me to a head the Cooper Do-Nuts, and when police me to the pecially popular gay hangout attemptg to arrt three people (Rechy among them), some of the trans women and gay patrons bombard the officers wh donuts, ffee, and paper plat until the police ran out seekg backup.

THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Though no longer makg new ntent prt or onle, the "famo pk perdil" mak sure you're 18 before enterg s webse -- which is jt as famoly featured photography and terviews wh renowned gay artists, such as German fashn signer Bernhard Willhelm, whose nu portras -- taken by Wolfgang Tillmans -- appeared the magaze's first issue May 2001. Sce then, BUTT has featured gay artists such as Casey Spooner, Michael Stipe, John Waters, Hez Peter Kn, Edmund Whe, Terence Koh, Walter Pfeiffer, and Slava 's athetic was memorable for the way sexualized men you'd fd on the street or subway; they had body hair, teeth that weren't perfect, even pnch. Even though other LGBT magaz at the time knew that sex sells - and ed that to their advantage - HERO Magaze steered clear of pornography and other sexual s foundg 1997, HERO Magaze ma mov that were clive and progrsive, as was more acceptg of upl and men over 40 than other gay publitns at the time.

Men -- which was origally named Advote Men until 1997, sce was a sister publitn of The Advote -- drew an dience by feature popular male mols like Zeb Atlas and Mark Dalton, among 2009, the publishers of the Los Angel-based magaze, Specialy Publitns, announced was movg all s gay porn magaze to an onle platform, lled, you'll e up unlucky if you try to accs the webse now; and no new issu of Men have seen the light of day sce. Loted on D’Arblay Street, Soho, the centre of London, was nceived as a gay versn of the mod venue the Scene – a club for ’s list of tun om Le Duce’s jebox ntas a great al of Motown (the Elgs, the Marvelett, Martha and the Vanllas, the Suprem), soul (Otis Reddg, Bob & Earl) and Dty Sprgfield’s You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.

Wh equent black Amerin and female guts and the gay prenter Michael Aldred, was a visn of a more pluralistic world to were gay rerds released the mid 1960s, but they were paratively few and aimed at an dience still strictly wh the ghetto: drag queen rerds by the lik of Mr Jean Frerick, or the extraordary seri of sgl released on the Camp label, wh tl such as I’d Rather Fight Than Swish.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

In tumn 1966, the Who had a No 2 h wh I’m a Boy, an extraordary rerd which had as s subject the angst of a young boy drsed by his mother as a girl – helpfully scribed by bassist John Entwistle as “almost a queer song” the pop prs of the ’s temptg to thk that 1967 would be full of gay pop statements: this was not the se. On the way to Lola, he’s clearly havg a great 1967 Sexual Offenc Act was many ways promised – as Peter Tatchell has noted, nvictns for var gay offenc went up the years followg s enactment – but, as wh the laws ncerng abortn and divorce, began to loosen up society a manner that reflected the openns of pop at the time. 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.

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

That tersectn is as old as the morn fight for LGTBQ rights, and perhaps no moment illtrat that as well as the movement’s most famo turng pot: the 1969 Stonewall Rts, the uprisg sparked by a police raid at a gay bar New York Cy’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, and the tone to which Pri Month is pegged. The fact that several members of the Black Panther Party, cludg Angela Davis, Afeni Shakur and Joan Bird, had also spent time the prison speaks to the shared nnectns a broar stggle, Ryan says, as lks emerged between the Black Panther Party, the Gay Liberatn Front, radil lbians and the femist and women’s movements.