Gay New York: 1930–1970 | New-York Historil Society

Contents:

• WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)
• GAY NEW YORK: 1930–1970
• INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• GAY LIFE THE 1970S NEW YORK CY
• HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
• THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S
• SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

WHY BEG “GAY THE ’70S NEW YORK AND L.A. WAS MAGIC” — AND HOW HOLLYWOOD HAS CHANGED (GUT COLUMN)

There was a powerful work of olr succsful gay men like theatril agent Milton Goldman and entertament attorney Arnold Weissberger who troduced younger gay men to succsful showbiz typ at their betiful apartment on Sutton Place overlookg the East River. There was rampant homophobia by stud and work executiv and by some olr agents, notorly at CAA (though not Ron Meyer nor the Young Turks, several of whom were known to be gay).

Tommy Nutter, who was known for the betiful pipg on the cloth he signed for Mick and Bian Jagger, picked me up at a dis New York one night and I end up at Stigwood’s offic at 135 Central Park Wt, n by Peter Brown, who ed to be Tommy’s boyiend and who had worked for the very gay Beatl manager Brian Epste.

Amid the flurry of rabow-lan rporate logos, sponsored events and news ems about gay pengus, is difficult to turn on a televisn or set foot public durg June whout the remr that is Pri Month for LGBT and queer people. Gee Dudley, a photographer and artist who also served as the first director of New York Cy’s Llie-Lohman Mm of Gay and Lbian Art, documented scen om pri paras New York Cy om the late 1970s through the early ‘90s. The years saw Ana Bryant’s homophobic csa through the “Save Our Children” mpaign 1977, the electn and assassatn of Harvey Milk 1978, and the Whe Night rts the followg summer after the lenient sentencg of Milk’s murrer, Dan Whe.

GAY NEW YORK: 1930–1970

“It was, a sense, the year we buted on the larger public stage, ” says Jim Saslow, a profsor of art history at the Cy Universy of New York and an early gay activist.

“We were beg acceptable enough that a gay person uld have a signifint polil reer, but we also beme very aware of how much of a nerve that was touchg for nservative people. “The guy a drs wh a beard, nng ont of the task force banner, ptur a lot of the atmosphere of the early gay liberatn muny, bee so much of me out of the hippie movement, ” says Saslow. 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.

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.

INSI THE FIRST PRI PARA—A R PROTT FOR GAY LIBERATN

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. 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.

When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars.

And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi. Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para. ”In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay Gallery The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny.

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them.

After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay unintified group of young people celebrate outsi the board-up Stonewall Inn after the rts. ”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971. 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 . 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’.

GAY LIFE THE 1970S NEW YORK CY

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.

HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE

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. 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.

THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S

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. Valento, ‘I Was Born This Way’ (1975)The first rerd to feature lyrics about beg an out-and-proud gay man me om the mil performer Charl “Valento” Harris, who released “I Was Born This Way” as an apparently one-off release on Gaiee.

” “The lyrics were perfect, ” she told me Summer, ‘I Feel Love’ (1977)Gay male dance crowds were drawn to rerdgs that featured Black female volists, often intifyg wh their emotnal exprsivens and strength the face of adversy, often to the surprise of the artists, who were ually gospel-traed. Patrick Cowley, ‘Mutant Man’ (1982)Patrick Cowley fed his reputatn as one of the world’s most progrsive synthizer players durg rerdgs wh the dis pneer Sylvter, cludg “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), ” perhaps the ultimate gay male anthem.

The spac, whether always gay iendly or only durg certa tim of the day or week, gave LGBT people the eedom to be themselv a way they ually uld not be their personal or profsnal liv. Gee Chncey is DeWt Clton Profsor of Amerin History at Columbia Universy and the thor of the field-fg book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. Shop the NYHIstory Store for tl related to this program:Gee Chncey, Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940Go to our Vis page for the most up-to-date rmatn about safety requirements for program attendance, cludg vaccatn and maskg by the Amerin LGBTQ+ Mm and the Stonewall 50 ConsortiumGo to our Vis page for the most up-to-date rmatn about safety requirements for program attendance, cludg vaccatn and maskg procr.

SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

Known at the time as the Christopher Street Liberatn Day March, the route began on Washgton Place between Sheridan Square and Sixth Avenue Greenwich Village, moved north up Sixth Avenue, and end wh a “Gay-In” Central Park’s Sheep Meadow. At the fal annual Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) Philalphia, on November 2, 1969, the followg rolutn was proposed on behalf of Rodwell, reprentg the Homophile Youth Movement, and Broidy, of NYU’s Stunt Homophile League: “That the Annual Remr, orr to be more relevant, reach a greater number of people, and enpass the ias and ials of the larger stggle which we are engaged – that of our fundamental human rights – be moved both time and lotn. “Comg out” me wh threats of vlence and social that changed the aftermath of the 1969 Stonewall uprisg—when a group of LGBTQ people rted rponse to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar New York Cy.

“The homosexual who wants to live a life of self-fulfillment our current society has all the rds stacked agast them, ” read one 1970 article about the upg march the Gay Liberatn Front News.

” The same day, a small group of San Francisns marched down Polk Street, then had a “gay-” piic that was broken up by equtrian and other New York groups had spent months planng the Manhattan event wh the help of anizers like Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist who had cut her anizg teeth durg the anti-Vietnam movement of the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, the wtern end of Christopher Street and the adjacent blocks along Wt and Weehawken Streets, long tablished wh seamen-oriented wateront taverns, beme a nucls for bars terg to a gay male clientele.