The History of Greenwich Village's Gay Street - CySignal

Contents:

• TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE (NEW YORK CY)SEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE
• GREENWICH VILLAGE, STORIED HOME OF BOHEMIA AND GAY HISTORY
• GAY NEW YORK CY
• STONEWALL INN, FAMO GREENWICH VILLAGE GAY BAR, BEG NSIRED FOR LANDMARK STAT BY NYC
• THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET
• Y, THERE’S A NEW GAY BAR GREENWICH VILLAGE

TOP 5 GAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE (NEW YORK CY)SEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS GREENWICH VILLAGE

All thgs to doBars & ClubsComedy ClubsGay Clubs & BarsDance Clubs & DissJazz Clubs & BarsBar, Club & Pub ToursBlu Clubs & BarsKaraoke BarsPiano BarsWe BarsDowntown Manhattan (Downtown)Greenwich VillageHell's KchenWt VillageGood for a Ray DayBudget-iendlyFree EntryGood for CouplGood for KidsGood for Big GroupsHoneymoon spotGood for Adrenale SeekersHidn GemsAdventuro7 plac sorted by traveler favorWhat travelers are saygDgn1010Dungannon, UK392 ntributnsSo ol to be drkg such a historil bar. Both were the subject of vice raids and vilifitn the prs and were closed down equently durg the “Gay 90s.

The first meetg of what me to be the anizatn now known as PFLAG — Parents, Fai, and Friends of Lbians and Gays — took place at what is now known as the Church of the Village, at 13th Street and 7th Avenue, then known as the Metropolan-Duane Uned Methodist Church.

In June of 1972, Jeanne Manford, a schoolteacher om Queens, marched the Christopher Street Liberatn March, the precursor of today’s LGBT Pri Para, wh her gay son Morty to show support for her child. So many people me up to Jeanne and asked her to speak to their parents that she cid to hold a meetg for parents stgglg wh acceptg and supportg their gay children. That meetg took place on March 26, 1973, and eventually led to the foundg of PFLAG, which now has 400 chapters natnally and 200, 000 members, provis rourc and support to the fai of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr people, and lobbi for greater unrstandg and equal treatment of LGBT people.

GREENWICH VILLAGE, STORIED HOME OF BOHEMIA AND GAY HISTORY

But In 1982, the first meetg of the Gay Officers Actn League (GOAL)–now a 2, 000 member anizatn wh 36 chapters across the untry reprentg LGBTQ persons law enforcement and crimal jtice profsns–was held the basement. By 1982, the church had bee known as one of the most welg and acceptg Catholic church the cy for gay ngregants, and to this day the church holds a special mass durg LGBT Pri Month June to memorate those lost to AIDS. In 1981, Cochrane beme the first NYPD officer to publicly reveal that he was gay when he ttified ont of the New York Cy Council support of the gay rights bill.

Cochrane’s public claratn was historic and directly followed ttimony by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Associatn opposg the legislatn, which clud the assertn that there were no gay police officers the NYPD. Though Cochrane’s ttimony received a standg ovatn om supporters and he reportedly receivg a posive rponse om fellow officers to his g out, the gay rights bill was feated and did not bee law until 1986. The empty firehoe soon beme the home of boistero parti, meetgs, and polil anizg when the Gay Activists Alliance, one of the most highly fluential LGBT groups of the post-Stonewall era, took over the space 1971.

GAY NEW YORK CY

Found 1969 by Marty Robson, Jim Owl, and Arthur Evans, the group was an offshoot of the Gay Liberatn Front. Their lotn at 99 Wooster Street beme the first gay and lbian anizatnal and social center New York Cy. It served as var typ of schools for over a century and was sold to the Lbian & Gay Servic Center, Inc.

Other anizatns that have been loted here (or got their start here) clu SAGE (Senr Actn a Gay Environment), the Metropolan Communy Church (an LGBT ngregatn), the AIDS activist group ACT UP, and GLAAD (Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn).

The Natnal Gay Task Force (now lled the Natnal LGBTQ Task Force) was found 1973 and was origally loted the buildg at 80 5th Avenue. Among s early acplishments, the Task Force helped get the feral ernment to drop s ban on employg gay people, helped get the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn to drop homosexualy om s list of mental illns, and arranged the first meetg between a stg U. The Task Force remas a social jtice advocy non-prof anizg the grassroots power of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr muny.

STONEWALL INN, FAMO GREENWICH VILLAGE GAY BAR, BEG NSIRED FOR LANDMARK STAT BY NYC

The Osr Wil Bookshop origally opened 1967 at 291 Mercer Street as the first gay bookstore the world (that buildg has sce been molished), a full two years before the Stonewall Rts.

Owner Craig Rodwell stocked his shelv wh lerature by gay and lbian thors and refed to stock pornography of any kd, spe havg a limed selectn of materials. Sce s closg, the Osr Wil Bookshop has been lled “clearly pneerg” as monstrated for the first time that was possible to own a bookstore, however small, that tered to a gay clientele.

One of the most shockg and visible maniftatns of the backlash agast creased gay visibily the 1980s was the btal shootg and massacre that took place outsi the Ramrod Bar on November 19, 1980. Usg two stolen handguns, a ranged and homophobic former NYC Trans Authory p named Ronald K. Cmpley opened fire on two gay men outsi a li on the rner of Washgton and 10th Streets.

THE HISTORY OF GREENWICH VILLAGE’S GAY STREET

The gay prs reported at the time “there were few, if any, lls for the blood of Ronald Cmpley… Anger was directed at the system which treats gay people as a subhuman speci. The Ramrod was one of the dozens of bars, clubs, and other tablishments that tered to LGBT people the Wt Village the heyday of gay life Greenwich Village between the Stonewall Rts and the onset of the AIDS crisis the 1980s. Jam Baldw was born Harlem 1924 and beme a celebrated wrer and social cric his lifetime, explorg plited issu such as racial, sexual, and class tensns, as a gay Ain-Amerin man.

” Many of Baldw’s works addrs the personal stggl faced by not only black men but of gay and bisexual men, amid a plex social atmosphere. Hoed a buildg which dat to 1826 and a space that has served as a bar sce the Civil War, Juli’ has been servg a predomantly gay clientele sce at least the 1950s, makg currently the cy’s olst gay bar.

In 1966, the Mattache Society, an early LGBT rights anizatn, set about to challenge New York State regulatns allowg bars to be closed for servg alhol to gay people or allowg same-sex kissg or hand-holdg.

Y, THERE’S A NEW GAY BAR GREENWICH VILLAGE

On April 21, the activists went to Juli’ Bar, which was popular among gay people but, like many “gay bars” at the time, required a level of secrecy by gay patrons or risked beg shut down. This actn led to a 1967 New York State urt cisn strikg down l allowg bars to be shuttered simply for servg gay people, pavg the way for greater eedom om harassment and abe by LGBT people, and set the stage for future progrs. This event might be nsired noteworthy for takg place nearly four s before the legalizatn of gay marriage New York and across the natn.