Before there was glterg and flashmob dancg, there was Arthur Evans and the Gay Activists beg gay was still a crime this untry,
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SUNDAY TEA DANC, A PROUD GAY TRADN WORTH REVIVG
Have you ever attend a gay tea dance party and want to throw your own? Click through to learn more about which brews, spic, and sugars have to make onto your menu! * tea party gay *
To gay lennials the ia of gog to a bar while light out is unheard of; fact, gog to a gay bar to meet new people and socialize is almost unheard of. But to generatns of gay men ’s what we did, what we looked forward to, where we created Communy. Sadly tea danc, once an tegral part of the Gay Communy, have all but died out.
Our iends at recently posted a terrific article by Will Kohler*, “The Very Gay History of the Almost Lost Tradn of the Sunday Tea Dance. “Gay people, of urse, were still largely unrground the 50s, but was the discreet speakeasi that social (nonpartnered) dancg was evolvg.
In the event of a raid, gay men and lbian women would quickly change partners to mixed-upl.
WHEN THE TEA PARTY WAS GAY
By the late 60s, gay men had tablished the Fire Island Cherry Grove and also the more subdued and “closeted” P (off of Long Island, New York) as a summer rort of sorts. It was illegal at that time for bars to ‘knowgly sell alhol to homosexuals’ and bis many of the venu there were not licensed as ‘night clubs’ or to sell alhol.
*Will Kohler is a noted LGBT historian, wrer, blogger and owner of A longtime gay activist, Will fought on the ont l of the AIDS epimic wh ACT-UP and ntu fightg today for LGBT acceptance and full equaly. Social bubbl met for drks plywood shacks nstcted outsi the gay bars that remaed open. GaysOverCovid, an Instagram acunt that started postg last July, outed gay partiers who shirked CDC guil and shamed them for their relsns.
GaysOverCovid ma their last post on March 5, and by early May, 3 Dollar Bill was marketg Ty Tea. Send Sundays, a ee monthly Central Park meet-up equented by gay men, rumed s daytime gathergs on June 13 after a one-year hiat.