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

Contents:

• SEX ARRTS ON A GAY BEACH PROVOKE A HAMPTONS DEBATE
• THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE
• LOOKG FOR THE GAY OLD DAYS THE EAST VILLAGE
• EAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENE
• PLEASE CHILL OUT ABOUT THE ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ GAY SCENE
• DISNEY BREAKS NEW GROUND WH GAY SCENE 'BETY AND THE BEAST'
• THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON
• A CHANGE OF LIFE THE GAY HAMPTONS
• NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON

SEX ARRTS ON A GAY BEACH PROVOKE A HAMPTONS DEBATE

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTJuly 19, 2003At Two Mile Hollow Beach, the longtime center of gay life the Hamptons, the language of the parkg lot pickup scene is very any given summer weekend eveng, there may be dozens of men parked alone the lot here.

Sce then, the East Hampton Village Police Department has n addnal Friday night unrver operatns and creased uniformed patrols lookg for sex crackdown has sce lated to a public ntroversy, wh officials and some rints sayg the operatn is a rponse to clearly appropriate and unlawful public behavr and many gays sayg has bee a form of harassment. ''But town officials and many rints say the actns are not anti-gay, but rather an appropriate attempt to curb illegal public sex acts. ''The issue arose after the police received plats om rints of Further Lane, a picturque road led wh oceanont mansns behd tall hedgerows and whose rints clu Jerry Sefeld, the art aler Larry Gagosian and the Washgton lobbyist Liz have been no addnal arrts, but the police prence alone has riled many regular ers of the beach and ed an uproar the East End's gay muny.

THEN&NOW: AN OVERLOOKED CHRISTOPHER STREET GAY SCENE

So has the actn of some lol rints tryg to crack down on gay sexual activy here by hirg uniformed secury guards to patrol the beach and parkg lot and to viotape people engaged sex Nordmeier, a postal clerk om East Hampton, said he was handcuffed on the beach that night, June 13, and marched to the parkg lot ont of many onlookers. ''He was released later that night on bail and told by a judge recently that the actn would be dismissed if he mted no other vlatns for six Kirdahy, a -chairman of the East End Gay Organizatn, said that most gay beachgoers agreed wh and obeyed the public sex laws, but saw the recent rint and police actn as ''crackdowns to stop om meetg one another.

''''We want assuranc this is not about homophobia, '' he early June, a group lled the Further Lane Associatn began plag to the village police about public sex and uratn by beachgoers. The rints hired a private secury firm to patrol the beachont property, viotape beachgoers havg sex and uratg and give the tap to the East Hampton Village Police Department, said the police chief, Gerard Larsen of the rint group's members have been intified publicly, but gay lears and village officials say that their movement is spearhead by the Wall Street vtor Ron Baron, who last year bought a $23 ln beachont property, apparently unaware of the beach's history as a gay trystg place. For weeks, uniformed guards have been statned at the end of his property watchg over men skimpy bathg the suatn ma newspaper headl (an East Hampton Star edorial lled the arrts ''anti-gay'' and a ''wch hunt, '' and The East Hampton Inpennt ran the ont-page headle ''Home Sweet Homophobia?

''Chief Larsen said that officials om the secury firm hired to patrol the beach had told him that guards would patrol the beach, viotape public sex acts and possibly make civilian said he had received plats that guards were shg lights at gay beachgoers and followg them on the beach. ''This summer, social and sexual activy has creased at Two Mile Hollow, now that there are no gay bars left the Hamptons.

LOOKG FOR THE GAY OLD DAYS THE EAST VILLAGE

Gay beach ers here say the beach remaed the only spot for gay men to mgle whout shame, embarrassment or fear of beg some, is a pickup spot, wh a ser cisg scene on weekend evengs. Many gay beachgoers go to the beach at any time of day to nverse, sip ffee and walk their Friedman, 44, a real tate agent om Brooklyn walkg his German shepherd, Beethoven, on Tuday eveng, lled the crackdown another example of the historic persecutn of gays. ''On the other hand, a man walkg the beach at sunset sippg om a glass of red we, who said he was 45, gay and a personal traer, agreed wh the homeowners.

''A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn B, Page 1 of the Natnal edn wh the headle: Sex Arrts on a Gay Beach Provoke a Hamptons Debate. 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). If the East Village uld talk, would have fascatg tal to tell about the early years of the gay rights neighborhood n’t talk, but Moe Angelos n, and she will provi livg history on a tour that don’t show up on any New York Saturday May 18, Angelos is leadg a walkg tour, “This Used to Be Gay!

EAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENEEAST END LOLISM AND URBAN Y: SHOREDCH’S RE-EMERGG GAY SCENE

” through the bars, baths, stor and performance spac that were sential buildg a stronger Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer muny. And now the East Village is you know gog the way of Chelsea, ” Angelos told the Daily News, referrg to the gay-mec-turned-straight-paradise neighborhood on the Wt year, she lent her East Village expertise to MoMA, by participatg the panel on “Performg Difference: Genr the 1980s Downtown Scene, ” as part of the mm’s crilly acclaimed exhibn Club57: Film, Performance, and Art the East Village, 1978– year she’s gog on “a shamelsly nostalgic journey” through the gay old days of her neighborhood; and she wants you to sashay through LGBTQ history wh her.

PLEASE CHILL OUT ABOUT THE ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ GAY SCENE

(Monaster, Thomas)While the buildgs may be gone or the storeonts changed, the spir of the gay rights revolutn and s pneers rema on the her scriptn of the tour, Angelos wr, “Born the murky shadows, bars wh sticky unters, watery drks, and postage-stamp dance floors, diss and clubs and bathho now bearg no plaqu to memorate them, the gay ghosts of my past will be rurrected for your entertament and cursy as we vis a few of the hallowed s and trace a path of queer life through the East Village.

This paper explor the recent re-emergence of a gay scene Shoredch and argu that s reappraisal of Brish pub culture and appropriated versns of East End lolism n be nsired as a untercultural rponse to the marketed smopolanism of Soho’s gay village the early 1990s.

In ntrast, Shoredch’s gay scene evok lol workg-class them and the area’s yg urban athetics attempts to market self as an ‘thentic’ alternative to the ‘artifi cial’ Wt End. This paper begs by discsg a number of reoccurrg them lerary and media reprentatns of East London before analysg specifi lly how some of the them have been appropriated on Shoredch’s gay scene.

DISNEY BREAKS NEW GROUND WH GAY SCENE 'BETY AND THE BEAST'

Like all our areas London, East London had s challeng wh revelopment and losg queers spac, to the excg recent openg of new plac like The Glory and Bethnal Green Workg Men’s Club, Queen Alai and Vogue Fabrics already makg their lible mark on the UK gay scene, never md jt the East End. The Glory is East London’s famo gay bar, drag hothoe, LGBTQ+ performance venue, nightclub and curators of major events and ftivals.

East Londons Biggt and most famo gay sna space, a large venue wh areas for everyone om spa, snas and steam, numero private bs and tv rooms, Pl an array of fantastic theme events om Big and Cuddly wh a whole buffet put on, to Lato Thursdays and even a Sunday roast served on a Sunday. Named after the Walthamstow lol famo for his volvement the Arts and Crafts movement, The William Morris Bar is a neighbourhood gay pub for the rints of E17, but the vast and varied range of events happeng throughout the week means that ’s well worth anybody makg the journey to the end of the Victoria Le. But that has nothg to do wh a barely-there, old-school, implicly gay scene; ’s bee ’s Disney’s Bety and the Freak’ Beast.

Instead, nsir that one month ago, “Moonlight, ” a film featurg assuredly gay characters alg wh real-life stggl, won the Amy Award for Bt Picture — the first gay movie to ever do so.

THE BT LGBTQ+ AND GAY CLUBS LONDON

By Anna Pujol-MazziLONDON, March 2 (Thomson Rters Foundatn) — Disney will feature s first gay scene when a character is seen stgglg wh his sexualy the live-actn remake of “Bety and the Beast, ” acrdg to the film's film's stars will be heterosexual — Brish actors Emma Watson and Dan Stevens play the tle rol — and manservant LeFou, sikick to the film's macho ma man Gaston, will grapple wh his own More: Fewer Teens Tried to Take Their Liv Once Gay Marriage Was Legal"LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston, " director Bill Condon told gay magaze Attu an terview published on Wednday. It is a nice, exclively gay moment a Disney movie, " he told the Brish More: Powerful KissCam Ad Is Like No Other KissCam You’ve Seen BeforeAttu edor--chief Matt Ca said was an important step toward fair reprentatn of LGBT people the media. "By reprentg same-sex attractn this short but explicly gay scene, the stud is sendg out a msage that this is normal and natural — and this is a msage that will be heard every untry of the world, even untri where 's still socially unacceptable or even illegal to be gay, " he More: Stars Speak Out Agast Anti-LGBTQ Bills Texas“Bety and the Beast” tells the story of a prce who is transformed to a beast, and a young woman who is imprisoned his stle, as he tri to w her love.

A CHANGE OF LIFE THE GAY HAMPTONS

The party was a $90-a-person fund-raiser for New York Cy's Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Communy Center, held at the home of Bce Anrson and Ken Kuch, which was draped a rabow-striped Gay Pri fund-raiser, s third year, attracted 750 guts, far more than the past, no small part bee was jt steps om Two Mile Hollow Beach, where on the eveng of June 13 two men were arrted for havg oral sex. Many gay Hampton, while acknowledgg the illegaly, viewed the arrts as a form of harassment, prompted by prsure om a lol homeowner's associatn.

Ined, the anizers of the fund-raiser said they nsired the large, joyo turnout a symbolic many ways the mostly male party -- and the beach cint and pickup scene themselv -- are anachronisms, remiscent of an earlier era when the Hamptons were a statn for many gay sgl their 20's, who easily met at bars like the Swamp.

NIGHTCLUBBG: GAY CLUBBG ’70S LONDON

Today there is no gay bar anywhere between Southampton and Montk, and the gay Hamptons have bee a staid place where people socialize over dner and talk of kchen renovatns and children's play dat. Marto, 59, a eelance art director, live full time , another uple, Mark Field, 42, and Greg Ventra, 40, his partner of 15 years, said they have grown bored by the lack of a scene the Hamptons and now prefer to vatn plac like Ibiza and South Beach where there is a public gay scene. -Tropez, for example, there are gay beach clubs known for their theme parti that provi a sense of excement and where people spend the whole day.

''The cle the young sgle gay populatn trac most obvly to soarg real tate pric, which have phed a summer share a group hoe om $2, 000 the mid-80's to around $10, 000 today. ''This is a fairly affluent area, and for a long time two men wh high salari and wh no pennts were better able to afford hom than anyone else, '' said Diane Saatchi, print of Epste, owner of Devl McNiff Real Estate East Hampton, said about 25 percent of his clients are gay men and women, and the proportn has creased the last five years.

''While some lament the absence of the kd of gay bars that would ter to a young clientele, most regnize that the scene has changed so much there is ltle mand for one. ''What the Hamptons needs is an -your-face, gay-style gay nightclub, but people are too old for , '' said Steven Ga, a longtime gay Hamptone and thor of ''Philist at the Hedgerow, '' a social history of the Hamptons.