Then&Now: An Overlooked Christopher Street Gay Scene - WESTVIEW NEWS

Contents:

• THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE
• REMEMBERG THE 1970 CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATN DAY MARCH
• CHRISTOPHER AND GAY STREETS
• EURO MEN'S CLUBPARISMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETON TODAYBARSLBIAN BARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASSHOPSMASSAGECAFéSSERVICCY GUIGAY MAPTOURSEURO MEN'S CLUB
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE

The June 1969 rebelln agast police harassment by the patrons of the Stonewall Inn, at the eastern end of Christopher Street, helped to lnch a natnal gay rights movement and make Christopher Street the social and cultural center of New York’s lbian and gay muny. Today, almost all of the attentn to the historic gay scene is foced on the east end of Christopher Street, but there is another important area of Christopher Street that serv attentn: the wt end.

” The area wh long-tablished wateront taverns, losg the rough seamen and longshoreman patrons by the 1960’s, had bee a nucls for bars terg to a gay clientele (those bars that rema still draw nice crowds). 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. And so gay bars (and also servg gay people any bar) beme, practice, Mafia se a bs opportuny here.

REMEMBERG THE 1970 CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY LIBERATN DAY MARCH

Pretty soon, the Fay will have ntrol over majory of the gay nightlife the Village, a monopoly that will ntue ep to the 1960s.

For many gay and lbians livg WWII Ameri, their sexual inti were relatively tolerated. 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.

CHRISTOPHER AND GAY STREETS

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.

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. 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.

EURO MEN'S CLUBPARISMENUHOTELS · LUXURYHOTELS · MID-RANGEHOTELS · BUDGETON TODAYBARSLBIAN BARSDANCE CLUBSCISE CLUBSSNASSHOPSMASSAGECAFéSSERVICCY GUIGAY MAPTOURSEURO MEN'S CLUB

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.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

The Gay Liberatn Front is born, wh a flyer announcg the ocsn: "Do you thk homosexuals are revoltg? 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. " It's the first gay pri march New York—known back then as the Christopher Street Gay Liberatn Day.

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.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

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. Cmpley opens fire outsi a li at the rner of Washgton and 10th Streets, woundg two people before movg on to Ramrod, a gay club on Wt Street between 10th and Christopher.

Durg the spree he is reported to have said, "I'll kill them all—the gays—they everythg.