By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP In the 17th Century Wouter van Twiller operated a brewery here before this ty street was laid out the early 19th Century. The first documented mentn of Gay Street appeared the Common Council mut of April 23, 1827. Gay Street was wined 1833. 1820s perd ho
Contents:
- HOW A FIRST-TIME FILMMAKER SPENT YEARS REARCHG GAY SEX WORKERS FOR HIS STARTLG DEBUT
- A DAY THE LIFE OF A GAY TORONTO STREET KID
- THEN&NOW: THAT GAY STREET!
- MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST
HOW A FIRST-TIME FILMMAKER SPENT YEARS REARCHG GAY SEX WORKERS FOR HIS STARTLG DEBUT
Cale Vidal-Naquet spent years terviewg sex workers for his wrenchg gay drama, which premiered at Cann and opens this week. * gay street interview *
Over the urse of the early 20th century, was a safe haven for New York's LGBTQ muny and home to events—cludg the Stonewall Inn protts—that would bee flash pots for the mastreamg of the gay rights movement all across the remas to this day an important symbol of LGBTQ life New York (photographs of the sign at s tersectn wh Gay Street are tourist souvenir shop stapl), even though 's now more populated wh luxury shops and extravagant gyms than the nightlife hotspots that was once famo for. At this time gay bars were still not openly operatg, but the way the thory wrote s l meant they would later bee the unexpected llateral damage of the legislatn. While the thory did not directly ce gay bars any of s extensive regulatns, police will go on to terpret a le agast nng a "disorrly" tablishment to mean venu equented by gay people.
Pretty soon, the Fay will have ntrol over majory of the gay nightlife the Village, a monopoly that will ntue ep to the 1960s. A need for as many drafts as possible after Pearl Harbor meant that when gay people enlisted the army, they weren't turned away.
Durg this time, the FBI matas a list of gay Amerins, who will subsequently be targeted by police for an array of illegal activi, cludg habatn and kissg the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, many queer people of lor had been leadg a (relatively) open life the north Manhattan neighborhood—as celebrated gay artist Bce Nugent put : "Nobody was the closet. Drag queens beg to flock to the Village om all over the cy, pg plac where drsg female clothg public rults eher arrt, or beatg om homophobic vigilant. In the face of laws barrg gay men om beg seen public together, gay men and drag queens beg to cise the wateront and steal away wh anonymo lovers to the squalid flopho dotted along the P.
A DAY THE LIFE OF A GAY TORONTO STREET KID
Riley isn’t jt some rebell 19-year-old kid who hat his parents and is lazy. He was thrown away for beg gay and is now visible bee of . * gay street interview *
Proprietors of gay-iendly bars are routely harassed; gay patrons are refed a bid to spotlight this discrimatn, on April 21, 1966 the gay rights group the Mattache Society cis to hold a Sip-. Activists hatch a plan to go around bars the Village, and tt out whether they will still receive service after revealg to bartenrs that they are gay—all ont of the half dozen reporters they have ved along for the ri. The former 1920s speakeasy—which is still around today—is actually an gno gay bar, but the manager is hoots wh the activists and ref them service ont of the reporters.
They n wh stori about the cint, markg a signifint step on the road to endg gay discrimatn om the Mattache Society.
Throughout the late 1960s, raids on gay bars on the loose terpretatns of the state liquor thory regulatns, bee creasgly equent.
THEN&NOW: THAT GAY STREET!
* gay street interview *
Amid the chaos and uncertaty happeng on Christopher Street, 's a moment that's e to be known as the trigger for the morn mastreamg of the gay rights movement. In the immediate aftermath of Stonewall, gay activists and rints of the neighborhood beg batg how to harns the thst of the rts to an assertive fight for eedom.
MAKINGGAYHISTORY—THE PODCAST
On June 28, a few hundred gay men and lbians march om Christopher Street up Sixth Ave and to Central Park bearg handma banners wh slogans like "Gay Pri" and "Gay is Good. In 1970, for a brief perd of time, 's a gay dis lled Haven that circumvents the jurisdictn of the State Liquor Authory by operatg as a "juice bar.
" After Stonewall, relatns between the police and gay muny are still tense, and Augt, police raid the club on the grounds that they're searchg for dgs. The Osr Wil Bookshop, found by leadg gay activist Craig Rodwell as the first store New York to exclively sell tl by gay and lbian thors, mov to Christopher Street. First opened at 291 Mercer Street 1967, mov to the rner of Christopher and Gay Streets (the etymology of Gay Street's name, cintally, is a total cince) held on Christopher Street for the victims of the Orlando shootg.