The gay bar’s 1969 patron-police battle, hailed as a startg pot, actually followed many events the cy, now mapped a s project.
Contents:
- GAY NEW YORK : GENR, URBAN CULTURE, AND THE MAKGS OF THE GAY MALE WORLD, 1890-1940
- A WALKG TOUR OF 11 LANDMARKS GAY NEW YORK
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- GAY NEW YORK: 1930–1970
GAY NEW YORK : GENR, URBAN CULTURE, AND THE MAKGS OF THE GAY MALE WORLD, 1890-1940
The gay scene of New York Cy was promently thst to the public eye 1969, after rts at a Greenwich Village bar. But existed long before that. * gay new york history *
New York Cy’s gay scene was thst promently to the public eye 1969 after rts at a Greenwich Village bar. New York Cy – and Greenwich Village, particular – are associated worldwi wh gay rights and gay history bee of the Stonewall uprisg of June 1969 and the newly visible gay world that flowered the Village as a rult of .
role world gay history the late 1960s, 70s and. an important gay centre long before. By the 1850s, people that we would today ll gay began to play an important role New York – at least the cultural life that was beg a signifint feature of the cy.
A WALKG TOUR OF 11 LANDMARKS GAY NEW YORK
The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, took place on June 28, 1969, New York Cy, after police raid the Stonewall Inn, a lol gay club. The raid sparked a rt among bar patrons and neighborhood rints as police hled employe and patrons out of the bar, leadg to six days of protts and vlent clash. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement. * gay new york history *
Gay or gay-iendly social groups were startg up too. Whman read his most clearly homoerotic works, the ‘Calam’ poems, aloud to the circle of his iends who gathered at Pfaff’s beer cellar, at Broadway and Bleecker Street, which suggts that they were at least what today we ll ‘alli’. There is ls evince of gay life New York the s after the 1850s, perhaps bee the Civil War retard the velopment of alternative liftyl the US.
By the 1890s, however, New York already had what we’d ll gay bars or, more precisely, drag bars. As Gee Chncey explas his masterly book Gay New York, at that time people tend to divi men not to gay and straight, but to ‘normal men’ and ‘fairi’ and was nsired possible for ‘normal men’ to have sex wh ‘fairi’ whout brgg their normaly to qutn, so long as they retaed the sertive role sex.
The gay bars were known for their ‘fairy’ waers, who, acrdg to police reports, ‘rouge[d] their necks’ and sang ‘ filthy dti’, ie performed drag. By the 1890s, New York’s velopg gay world was already a paradoxil suatn and that remaed typil of the cy until the 1970s.
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
* gay new york history *
Throughout this perd, the cy was a mag for all kds of gay people. From the 1890s on, has an enormo history of gay liv, lov and muni, as well as of cultural productn by gay people and, om the 1950s, polil activism. There are even bars, such as Juli’ on Wt 10th Street – important gay history bee of the Sip-, a key gay-rights prott that took place there three years before the Stonewall – that have prospered through the whole time perd.
There have also been cultural movements, groups and stutns that were fluenced by the gay muny, such as the Harlem Renaissance, the Beat poets, o -o -Broadway and Andy Warhol’s Factory. And many gay-rights anisatns have been found New York, om the Gay Liberatn Front the early 1970s to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Act Up and Queer Natn.
GAY NEW YORK: 1930–1970
This Pri month, we’ll take you to important lotns L.G.B.T.Q. history and tell you the stori about the gay New Yorkers, ins and activists who lived and worked there. Along the way we’ll let you know about some upg events and a few sir tips. * gay new york history *
Today, the Stonewall Inn is one of the most famo plac the Village, but there are others nearby that are also important to gay history, cludg still-vibrant stutns such as Juli’ and the Cherry Lane Theatre.
Andrew Lear is a former profsor of classics and history and the founr of Osr Wil Tours, the first and only pany to o er tours foced on gay history New York and around the world.
The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement the Uned Stat and around the world. Constant Raids at Gay BarsThe 1960s and precedg s were not welg tim for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) Amerins.
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay new york history *
For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly. But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U.
Gay rights anizatn, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was found 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. Police raids forced them to disband 1925, but not before they had published several issu of their newsletter, “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did.