Harry Hay, John Cage, and the Birth of Gay Rights Los Angel | The New Yorker

Contents:

• GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY
• A GLIMPSE OF GAY PRI THE 1950S
• US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT
• GAY PRI THE 1950S: THE PHOTO BOOTH AS A SAFE SPACE
• HARRY HAY, JOHN CAGE, AND THE BIRTH OF GAY RIGHTS LOS ANGEL
• THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• 10 GAY PRI HISTORY FACTS EVERYONE SHOULD HEAR ABOUT

GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY

“Homophile” was the term preferred by some early activists, small works of women and men who yearned for muny and found creative ways to rist legal and societal persecutn. The ary first veloped formal punishments for homosexual behavr durg WWI, and over time veloped creasgly probg means to root out “viants” om wh and prevent them om enlistg.

A GLIMPSE OF GAY PRI THE 1950S

ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archiv at the Universy of Southern California Librari, the largt reposory of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer materials the world, shared a heartwarmg uple of photos wh Time of two gay men showg affectn a photo booth durg the early 1950s honor of LGBT Pri public displays of affectn by same-sex upl are monplace today, the fact that this picture was taken 1953 - a time when LGBT people uld be arrted for simply holdg hands wh someone of the same sex - mak a powerful and betiful image monstratg the spir of LGBT Pri. But “Gay Water” — which adopts a moniker the gay muny has long given to the simple vodka and soda cktail — has been spired by the dtup to bee even bolr about the dience ’s targetg, founr and CEO Spencer Hodson told The Post. Gay Water — a nned cktail brand that plays on the gay muny’s lloquialism for the vodka-and-soda mixed drk — lnched on Wednday and promis to unrstand s dience better than Bud Light.Spencer Hodson/Instagram.

The 30-year-old Hodson said he is g suggtive — albe playful — msagg and imagery Gay Water’s social media and webse, cludg a provotive nod to the 12-ounce n’s 6.1-ch height.

US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT

“Our missn is to -stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products wh the word ‘gay’ their tle,” Hodson told The Post. “Part of the pot of lnchg outsi of Pri month is to rerce the msage that Gay Water is here to make the LGBTQ+ muny more visible 365 days a year, not jt a sgle month,” he said. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that.

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.

GAY PRI THE 1950S: THE PHOTO BOOTH AS A SAFE SPACE

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said.

Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space.

In addn to lnchg the New York chapter of the lbian anizatn, Dghters of Bilis (which she ran form 1958 to 1963), she eded their natnal magaze and was known for standg ont and center picket l prottg anti-gay discrimatn. Advertisement - Contue Readg Below14 Jam BaldwGetty ImagBaldw was wrg gay and bisexual characters years before the LGBTQ movement fully took form and up until his ath 1987.

HARRY HAY, JOHN CAGE, AND THE BIRTH OF GAY RIGHTS LOS ANGEL

Advertisement - Contue Readg Below17 Karl Herich UlrichsAlamyRevered as a pneer of the morn gay rights movement, Ulrich was a German wrer creded as the first person to publicly "e out" 1862.

Advertisement - Contue Readg Below19 Leonard MatlovichGetty ImagMatlovich stood up to the ary's ban on gay service members by g out a letter to his mandg officer 1975. Advertisement - Contue Readg Below20 Magn HirschfeldGetty ImagHirschfeld was a German doctor who began studyg sexualy while livg Berl 1896 wh a foc on homosexualy.

“There’s no greater reward than dog for the ltle Black gay boy who has someone to look up to now bee we didn’t have those people to look up to, ” says Phipps, reuntg a movg past experience where a preteen boy lled the duo his hero after seeg them perform. (Jason Armond / Los Angel Tim) (Jason Armond / Los Angel Tim) Through the Freaky Boiz’s high-energy live performanc and slick raps over stmentals sure to make you dance, they’re rvg their own lane hip-hop and treatg dienc to mic that highlights Black gay joy, datg adventur and wo and empowerg antiexploatn bops tailor-ma for the digal age like “Cash App. In 1966, the Mattache Society staged a “sip-” at a Greenwich Village bar after the New York Liquor Authory banned servg gay patrons bee they were “disorrly, ” PBS wrote.

THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Here are the fns to know:L: LbianG: GayB: Bisexual T: TransgenrQ: Queer, or sometim qutng+: Enpass other inti unr the rabow umbrellaDig eper: Learn the meangs, origs of Pri flagsPri Flag | Progrs Pri Flag | Lbian Pri Flag | Bisexual Pri Flag | Pansexual Pri Flag | Asexual Pri Flag | Intersex Pri Flag | Genr Inty Flags | Trans Pri Flag. Image source, North Country Off Grid/Youtube/via RtersImage ptn, Photos shared on social at the time allegedly showed dozens of the hate group's members beg arrted near the pri eventFive members of a whe supremacist hate group nvicted of plottg to rt at a gay pri event will spend three days jail, a urt has men and dozens other members of the Patrt Front group were arrted last June after a rint spotted them wh masks and shields gettg to a were lled and found rt gear and a smoke grena the lorry was stopped near where the North Idaho Pri Alliance was holdg an event the cy of Cor d'Alene. Poilievre tells T to 'butt out' of New Bnswick's policy on LGBTQ stuntsPoilievre wish Canadians a happy Pri month — but won't say if he'll attend an eventThe "straight pri" movement has emerged recent years as a backlash agast growg social acceptance of gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and other sexually diverse Pri paras are held around the world throughout the summer months.

They mark the June 1969 Stonewall rt, when gay bar patrons fought back agast a police crackdown — a pivotal moment wily seen as the start of morn gay rights paras are meant to celebrate a muny that has endured generatns of opprsn and events have taken on new promence at a time when some jurisdictns, notably the U. It was taken 1953, a time when purposefully vague statut on morals, lewd nduct, or disorrly nduct many stat allowed the police to target and arrt gay and lbian people for such transgrsns as wearg ems of clothg of the oppose sex, proposng someone of the same sex, or even holdg hands wh a member of the same sex. The image is part of the ONE Natnal Gay & Lbian Archiv at the Universy of Southern California Librari — the largt reposory of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer materials the world.

10 GAY PRI HISTORY FACTS EVERYONE SHOULD HEAR ABOUT

The steps—one of many pestrian shortcuts that terlace the hilly neighborhoods of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Echo Park—are named for the Mattache Society, the first endurg Amerin gay-rights anizatn. Hay himself was a wholly origal character who looked past the gay-straight divi to the multiplici of ntemporary queer gay-rights advanc pend heavily on the dignatn of whe men who uld not accept beg rced to margal stat. Hay was not surprised when his gay iends ma heterosexual tours—three years later, he himself married Ana Platky, a fellow-Communist—but he was unprepared for the chilly wele he received when he went to vis the uple.

Gays and lbians prized such spac for siar Hurewz’s revelatory 2007 study, “Bohemian Los Angel and the Makg of Morn Polics, ” shows how Hay’s gay activism was rooted lol Communist cells and the broar landspe of L. The story of how this particular night and this particular bar me to signify global gay rebelln is a story of how llective memory works and how social movements anize to memorate their gas. Crage tail four prev police raids on gay bars ci across the Uned Stat that prompted activist rpons—and lol gas—but that eher fad om lol memory, did not spire memoratns that lasted, or did not motivate activists other ci.

For example, San Francis activists mobilized rponse to police raids on gay bars the early 1960s, which me to a head durg a raid on a New Year’s Eve ball 1965 that eventually brought down the police missner. The cy’s gay tablishment did not participate, however, and distanced themselv om the transgenr and street youths and their polil anizatn, Vanguard, behd the “vlent” prott. The “Annual Remrs” were the rult of ordatn by activists New York, Washgton, and Philalphia, evince of burgeong regnal operatn by gay rights activists the 1960s.