In honor of Pri Month, take a ep dive to 200+ years of gay bar history and how they paved the way for the LGBTQ rights movement.
Contents:
- RUNNG A GAY BAR THE 1950S
- THE HISTORY OF HOW GAY BARS BEME THE BATTLEGROUND FOR LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
- THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL
- GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG. THEIR PAST HOLDS KEYS TO THEIR FUTURE.
- WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
- GAY HISTORY: THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950’S LOS ANGEL
- SF GAY HISTORY
- HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
RUNNG A GAY BAR THE 1950S
Culture Lt ntributor Randy Dotga disvers a memoir by an opnated straight woman bold enough to n a gay bar the 1950s. He also looks at the gay nightlife scene San Diego durg the 50s. * gay bars in the 1950s *
One such muny was Cherry Grove, which is the subject of an exhibn at the New-York Historil Society tled Safe/Haven: Gay Life 1950s Cherry Grove. As a trans woman, I fely felt like I was not prent Cherry Grove at that time, but gay men and women were there, rvg out space that I get to hab today. Soon the “theater people” would start to formulate a strong muny where people were able to be openly gay; they uld cross-drs and play wh genr mak the photos so wonrful is that they are very rare.
THE HISTORY OF HOW GAY BARS BEME THE BATTLEGROUND FOR LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
* gay bars in the 1950s *
The people are iendly, and we have always been on the ont of LGBTQ+ rights and fightg for eedom to be out and the 1950s, there was no nng water and no electricy, but gay men and women were happy to be roughg bee they were ee to be themselv.
If you were gay the cy, you went to the dark and dgy bars, which were n by the Mafia, and at any time uld be raid by the police and you uld be Cherry Grove, the police would leave on the last ferry to the maland at midnight, allowg same-sex dancg and open exprsns of affectn to occur the lol bars and rtrants. Each year, thoands of people e together to drs up and celebrate Inpennce Day the gayt way possible … wh hundreds of drag queens on a ferry returng to the P to keep the tradn gog.
THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950'S LOS ANGEL
In Los Angel throughout the 1950s, gay men lived unr nstant harassment by the police. They risked ostracism and loss of employment if outed. * gay bars in the 1950s *
When muny members Cherry Grove would pass away, their straight fay members would clean out their ho to sell bee they did not want to live a “gay town.
But then a Milwkee thor heard about and brought back to life the newly published "Gay Bar: The Fabulo, Te Story of a Darg Woman and Her Boys the 1950s.
GAY BARS ARE DISAPPEARG. THEIR PAST HOLDS KEYS TO THEIR FUTURE.
When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future. * gay bars in the 1950s *
Will Fellows: Helen Branson had many gay iends the 1940s and 1950s, and she was an extraordary straight ally at a time when beg a straight ally of homosexuals was unheard of.
She was wrg this book when Senator McCarthy was still rantg and ravg about thgs, a climate of what we uld all ll homophobia -- great antagonism toward homosexualy and homosexuals, perversn and viants, and all that sort of stuff.
She really saw as a kd of public livg had a lot of gay iends she'd veloped sce her divorce the 1930s, and she had managed other gay bars for other owners. She was able to do thgs her own way, a way that created a hospable, iendly and vg atmosphere but still mataed safeguards agast problems wh law enforcement and htlers and people who were not necsarily out to treat her gay iends well.
WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
A: At that time, there some gay men who their self-prentatn, bee of feelg so opprsed and beltled and beleaguered and trapped their liv, they kd of acted out almost wildly flamboyant ways, rryg on ways that were more than jt thentic exprsns of maybe an gree of effemacy on their parts. There's another thg that's a fascatg dimensn of homosexual thought at that time: even early gay rights anizatns were very tent on enforcg pretty tradnal standards of drs for men and women.
GAY HISTORY: THE GAY BARS AND VICE SQUADS OF 1950’S LOS ANGEL
When she realized that the men she found most appealg as iends when she was workg as a palm rear Los Angel the 1940s were gay, she beme really trigued by that. "The Brass Rail, which opened s doors Hillcrt 1960 (after apparently movg om downtown), is still a gay bar -- 's now known for s ethnilly diverse clientele -- and ss at the rner of Robson and Fifth. Durg the latter s of his life, gay bars went om rari San Diego to mon sights that serve a variety of typ of gay the past, kissg is most fely allowed.
Although is nice to thk of gay bars as unanimoly safe plac, where the LGBTQ+ muny uld exist whout threat, that clearly wasn’t always the se. ” Unfortunately, police reports and mastream media verage of a gay bar 1880 proved to be extremely unreliable and hyperbolic, fueled mostly by pearl-clutchg and fear-mongerg rather than actual rmatn. “ orr to tablish 'good e' for spensn of platiff's license, somethg more mt be shown than that many of his patrons were homosexuals and that they ed his rtrant and bar as a meetg place.
Jt as did California, this state law was short lived, wh urts eventually led that gays uld ‘peacefully’ assemble at bars, which paved the way for the inic Stonewall Inn to open 1967. “But that night, for the first time, the ual acquicence turned to vlent that night the liv of lns of gay men and lbians, and the attu toward them of the larger culture which they lived, began to change rapidly.
SF GAY HISTORY
This month pecially, ’s important to remember the signifince of the gay bar as an Amerin in, as somethg fiant and revolutnary— the most grassroots sense of the word. Whether you are a member of the LGBTQ+ muny, work at a gay bar, are an ally the dtry, or if you plan on celebratg this June, jt remember the bars and people who helped make all possible.
At the same time thoands of gay men found themselv California after World War II, and they were prented wh the problem of livg a life the midst of social disapproval and police reprsn. It was wily njectured that homosexualy rulted om emotnal trmas childhood, as is the se wh other mental illns, and that geics played ltle to no role.
On this basis the practice of nversn therapy took hold, wh wispread attempts to change people om homosexual to heterosexual (here are jt a few exampl om stunts at Oberl College Oh).
HOW THE MOB HELPED ESTABLISH NYC’S GAY BAR SCENE
A survey nducted as late as 1967 for a CBS documentary (see the full program or a shorter versn) termed that two thirds of Amerins viewed homosexuals wh "disgt, disfort, or fear" while a majory favored laws agast all homosexual acts. Some of the well-known gay bars of this time were the Hoe of Ivy and the Wdup Hollywood, and the Crown Jewel, Harold's, the Waldorf, and Maxwell's downtown Los Angel.
The more nservative group of the gay muny took pas to distance themselv om the "obv" crowd, believg that they perpetuated negative stereotyp and drew unwanted attentn. Divisns wh the muny would eventually e to a head the late 1960s, and the homophile label fell by the waysi as the gay muny asserted self more forcefully.
Often young and athletic, the men were traed to impersonate the gay mannerisms and language of the time, and were sent around to different bars. Some of them play fair, asmuch as they wa for the gay one to make a pass at them, but many others wa only long enough to get the r before clarg the arrt. Today, as bat ntue to surface about the need and sirabily of gay bars, one of the earlit gay-owned gay bars — Seattle’s Garn of Allah — has surprisg lsons about the history of gay bars and their likely War II is creded for a sea-change LGBTQ+ life.